Oblivion instability

[Taejang007]

So I'm trying to replay Oblivion. And of course I have mods installed. I've worked out most of the kinks myself, but there are still some random crashes and problems.

 

I know Oblivion has always (and will always) have some random crashes. But this is more frequent; I'm thinking I did it with a mod(s). If anyone is already aware of a problem, it would save me hours and hours of troubleshooting, and I would really appreciate it.

 

The only reproduce-able crash I'm experiencing right now is a chest in the sewers. Locked, hard difficulty. If I open the unlock 'mini-game' and exit, the game crashes. If I open the mini-game and unlock the chest, I can loot it (15 gold), and upon closing the chest the game crashes. This does not happen with other chests, locked or not, in the sewers or not. I've also had the game crash when opening a sewer gate and when walking in the sewers (not fighting or anything). I've spent roughly 2 hours in-game.

 

Mod list (in load order)

 

 

Note: This is the order BOSS gave me.

Note2: Many of these were installed with NMM; mods only manually installed when NMM couldn't (NMM crashed, gave errors, or content wasn't in game)

Note3: Using OBSE and Archive Invalidation setting on NMM

 

Oblivion.esm

All Natural Base.esm

RealisticLeveling.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp

UOPS Additional Changes.esp

UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp

Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp

DLCShiveringIsles.esp

Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp

USIPS Additional Changes.esp

All Natural.esp

Sounds of Cyrodiil.esp

All Natural - Real Lights.esp

SkeletonShaders.esp

VA_BetterGold.esp

Display Stats.esp

Spell Delete And Item Remove.esp

DLCHorseArmor.esp

DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp

DLCOrrery.esp

DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp

DLCVileLair.esp

DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp

DLCMehrunesRazor.esp

DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp

Sounds of Cyrodiil - Mehrune's Razor Add-On.esp

DLCSpellTomes.esp

DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp

CapesandCloaks.esp

samurai.esp

Underworld Armor.esp

DLCThievesDen.esp

DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch.esp

DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch - SSSB.esp

Sounds of Cyrodiil - Thieves' Den Add-On.esp

Alluring Potion Bottles v3.esp

KnightlyArmory.esp

Portrait Painter.esp

24HrArenaAliveV2.esp

24HrArenaAliveV2Towers.esp

24HrArenaAliveLow.esp

DLCBattlehornCastle.esp

DLCBattlehornCastle - Unofficial Patch.esp

DLCFrostcrag.esp

DLCFrostcrag - Unofficial Patch.esp

Knights.esp

Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp

Sounds of Cyrodiil - KOTN Add-on.esp

Real Lava 1.3.esp

Auto Update Leveled Items And Spells.esp

2nd to 1st person.esp

P1DkeyChain.esp

RenGuardOverhaul.esp

Archery Rebalance.esp

Cava Obscura - Cyrodiil.esp

Ren_Soya_KD's.esp

Advanced Water Modification-2734.esp

 

Mods installed without .esp or .esm:

Abnormal Caves

ConScribe

Cooked Steaks

Display Stats

FrancescosLeveldCreatures (and the optional package)

Hi-Res Varla and Welkynd Texture Replacer

Improved Facial Textures

Improved Doors and Flora

Improved Doors and Flora IDFUpdate

Improved Trees and Flora

Improved Trees and Flora 2

Improved Trees and Flora 2 ITF2Update

Improved Trees and Flora 2 ITFBark2012

Map Marker Overhaul

Mythic Animals high res part 1

Mythic Animals high res part 2

Mychic Creatures

Oblivion Graphics Extender

Oblivion Stutter Remover

Oblivion Symphonic Variations

Qarl TP3 (parts 1-11)

Silent Tracks Expanded

Subtle Sunshine

Unofficial Official Mod Patch

 

 

 

Other important details

 

 

Win 7 Pro, 64bit, fully updated

8GBs RAM, i5 processor

ATI Radeon HD 5145 M, with 1GB VRAM and 13-1 drivers

Programs in the background: FRAPs, GameBooster 3, and NMM. I disconnect from 'net and disable all anti-virus, etc, when playing

Oblivion is updated fully, along with all DLCs, mods, OBSE, etc

 

 

 

Oblivion.ini changes:

 

 

iShadowMapResolution=1024 (was 256)

iPreLoadSizeLimit=157286400 (was 26214400; changed to allow Qarl and other mods, effort taken to not use too large a number)

bUse Joystick=0 (was 1)

uInterior Cell Buffer=16 (was 3) and uExterior Cell Buffer=102 (was 36; changed to match iPreLoadSizeLimit)

SMainMenuMovieIntro= and SIntroSequence= (prevents opening movies)

iIntroSequencePriority=0 and bPreloadIntroSequence=0 (was 3 and 1)

 

 

 

Stuff I've already done to eliminate crashes:

 

 

Using BOSS load order

Activated Archive Invalidation (stopped crash with Mythic Creatures/Animals)

Removed DarNifiedUI (NMM couldn't load it properly)

Restored Display Stats "Vanilla" mode, since DarNifiedUI wasn't working

Extracted several mods and installed them by-hand when NMM failed to do so properly (including Display Stats, Map Overhaul, UOMP, etc)

Removed several mods that weren't compatible with each other (mostly texture mods that conflict with Qarl's)

Removed Book Jackets, Grimbots Spell Tomes, Shivering Book Jackets, several LOD replacement mods, PiiiP, and Natural Environments when they caused problems

Console commands: sdt 13 and tdt; saw that VRAM usage was between 200-300MBs, well below my 1GB limit

 

 

[Legotrash]

Just a little something before someone more experienced replies. Find the chest,open the console and then click on the chest to get its formid. If I remember correctly,if it starts with anything else than 00 then it means something modifies it. Write down the id,exit and open OBMM or Wrye Bash and find the mod by its index number. Then load it in CS and see if there's anything going wrong.

[Taejang007]

The FormID for the chest is "000831ae". Not modified by anything. It is in the Elven Garden section of the sewers, in case that rings a bell for anyone.

 

As a further update, the crashes happen more frequently when I'm actively doing things- fighting, making potions, etc. It never seems to crash when game time is frozen (so it doesn't freeze during conversations, when the inventory is open, when picking a lock or making a potion, etc). This lead me to think maybe it had to do with sounds, so I disabled various sound mods, then music mods, then the silent tracks mod, then other mods that add sounds (like All Natural)... no luck so far.

 

EDIT: Upon further reflection, I realized level-ups preceded most (but not all) of the crashes. Disabled Realistic Leveling, and my only crashes now are when I quit. I don't know how that mod could cause many of the crashes (such as with the chest- I didn't have to level up my security skill to crash, merely had to open the unlock dialog). But the chest works as intended now, and I haven't had other problems.

Edited February 5, 2013 by MXan

[Hickory]

As a further update, the crashes happen more frequently when I'm actively doing things- fighting, making potions, etc. It never seems to crash when game time is frozen (so it doesn't freeze during conversations, when the inventory is open, when picking a lock or making a potion, etc). This lead me to think maybe it had to do with sounds, so I disabled various sound mods, then music mods, then the silent tracks mod, then other mods that add sounds (like All Natural)... no luck so far.

 

EDIT: Upon further reflection, I realized level-ups preceded most (but not all) of the crashes. Disabled Realistic Leveling, and my only crashes now are when I quit. I don't know how that mod could cause many of the crashes (such as with the chest- I didn't have to level up my security skill to crash, merely had to open the unlock dialog). But the chest works as intended now, and I haven't had other problems.

 

With all of the mods you have installed, especially the graphics enhancers, it looks like your video card cannot cope, and is manifesting during stress times. With a HD 5145 (which is only very slightly better than a 4570), you need to tone it down a touch on the graphics -- getting rid of Quarls would be the starting block.

[discovery1]

I agree with hickory, the more mods you have, the more the graphics card has to render and of course the more your resources have to cope with. Oblivion will crash, end of, when the ram usage exceeds 2 gigb.

[Taejang007]

Hate to disagree guys, but after removing Realistic Leveling, I'm crash free. Played three hours in a row without a hitch.

 

I agree that my 5145 is pretty weak, but Oblivion is a six-year-old game. Even with all the mods and the graphic settings cranked up, my piddly little card is doing fine. Now Skyrim, on the other hand... :facepalm:

[Legotrash]

If the game keeps crashing on quit,download Fast Exit 2.

[Taejang007]

If the game keeps crashing on quit,download Fast Exit 2.

Sound advice. This works pretty well so far. Actually played without any crashes, at all! Is it weird that that is an amazing feeling?

[Legotrash]

Not at all! :biggrin: