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Hey guys. I have an issue that seems to affect some, but not all. I recently just installed Oblivion in Windows 7, fully updated to the latest patch, installed Shivering Isles, and Knights of the Nine expansions, then went to start the game... crashes instantly. Try again, crashes instantly, restart, try again, crashes instantly. I try changing the graphics options, crashes again, and again, same place. I lower the graphics further and further, crashes, crashes. I try only loading the master file... crashes. Nothing I do seems to work. Any help anyone can give would be greatly appreciated. Here's my build...

Windows 7, 64-bit
ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe mobo, latest drivers
8gb DDR2-800
NVidia GeForce 9800 GT, latest drivers
Quad-Core AMD 9600 2.3ghz processor

I'm really confused as I've updated to all the latest drivers, updated the game to the latest patch, etc. and nothing. Still crashes in the same exact spot every time. I would think the game to be completely incompatible with Win 7, if not for all the people who say they run it.

Any assistance anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

- Mike

Genius. Thank you. It was the simplest solution to a problem I thought was a lot more difficult. In my My Games directory, I had old Oblivion files. It was trying to load them and couldn't. I deleted them (no prob losing them... wanted to start over), and the game loaded just fine. Thank you all! Now I can finally play it on the highest graphics settings! Woohoo!

A classic scenario. Crashes were most likely due to an old Oblivion.ini file, maybe tweaked for an older PC? Deleting it and allowing Oblivion to create a new one is the best way to start on a new system.

Glad you got it sorted, and welcome to the forums!

As previously said on how to fix this problem I have tryed that and I am still not able to get Oblivion GOTYE to work on Windows 7 64bit. I have tryed reinstalling many times and checked the disk for scratches. I have all my drivers up to date and I have searched on many different forums with people who have also had these problems like the Windows 7 forums and just googling it. I have also tryed putting the game launcher in administrator and in XP mode and gave it all permissions and also did it for the plain Oblivion shortcut. I am well aware of the useless feature of windows 7 making a game tab in my documents and my games. I deleted everything In the oblivion game folder and including saved games(I want to start over). I have also heard that the windows 7 game explorer is to blame for this so i turned it to never check in the options and I unchecked everything. When I start up the game there is a little black box that starts up in the top left corner and then it maximizes. Then it crashes to desktop. Then windows tells me that the game stoped working and wants to check for a solution. The funny thing is it will work sometimes, like I can play it but when I quit it will do it all over again and seems to be completly random. but for the most part it wont run. It has a 95% chance that it will crash. Most of the time when I quit the game it's because it needs to restart the game fot my graphic settings to work(windows set them by default to medium 800x600 I think). I am sorry if i am reviving an old post but every where I look the posts are from last year or months ago. I have also noticed that some people that dident have this problem with windows 7 and oblivion was because they had earlier builds of windows 7. I have build 7600 of windows(I got this by typing can you run it in google and found a nice program that showed I am more than capable of running this game. Any help would be just awesome I have been trying to fix this for 4 days now and any help at all would help me alot

My specs:
Intel(R) core(TM)2 quad cpu q9450 @ 2.66GHz 2.67GHz
Nvidia GTX 460
Ram 6GB

Sorry mate, but you've made a nine month necropost. Check the date before you post in a subject, as the problem was probably solved before (not like the Tech Desk gets much traffic anyway).

Should i post a new topic? I have searched these forums thoroughly for my problem and i couldent find one that fixed it.

The Tech Desk doesn't have many posts, and there's no sense clutterin up the forums with more threads when this one is so small anyway, so you might be alright. I'd ask a mod though.

Thank you will do. I just tryed to pm a Moderator but since I am very new it wont let me pm yet.

You're asking for more help on the same subject, so I'll allow the necro-post to pass. Better than creating a new topic anyway, since it was short and the original fix is still relevant for some readers seeing it now. Has to be the biggest necro-post I've seen yet, though. Woot! NINE months! The forums gave birth right on time, and the baby's name is Fisticuffs! Coochi-coo!

@Fisticuffs

Hi, and welcome to the forums! If you haven't already done so, please follow the Welcomes and Goodbyes link in my signature and introduce yourself. I'm sure the members will welcome you.

OK, on to your problem...

You might want to check in Event Viewer (Application event log) to see what Windows has to say about the cause of the crashes. To find out how to run Event Viewer and view the logs, go (Microsoft, Windows 7, Using Event Viewer).

In the Application event log, look for Application Error events where Oblivion.exe crashed and post the exact error message(s) here. I'll try to help you from there.

First of all I want to humbly apologize for necro posting because it is not my intention at all to flood post or be a jerk on these forums . I laughed pretty hard at what you said h8ball it is a monster of a post .
Now about what you asked me to do

Faulting application name:Oblivion.exe
Version:1.2.0.416
time stamp:0x462392c7
Exception code:0xc0000005
Fault offset:0x0000548e
Faulting process id:0x568
Faulting application start time:0x01cb5eb4b64a4432
Faulting application path:C:\Program Files (x86)\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Oblivion.exe
Faulting module path:C:\Program Files (x86)\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Oblivion.exe
Report ID:f7692a70-caa7-11df-b825-002215824402

I checked my updates for windows and it says I am all up to date on that. I have had UAC disabled since I installed Windows 7. It just causes to many problems for me. With unnecessary Windows services, I found a website that helps with this and a handy tool called GameBooster . Do you think I should get GameBooster to solve the unnecessary Windows services? I would do this manualy but I fear I might mess something up .

I had a full comprehensive scan done last night and it only found two cookies. I have Norton security suite and spybot search & destroy. With the Oblivion.ini file I went into my computer, and did a search, and it found two ini files. Just to be sure, do you mean the one found in my documents or the one in program files? With the mp3 fix, I am not hardware-savy so I am not going to try that one right now. With the OBSE I extracted( I use 7-zip) the obse_1_2_416.dll,obse_editor_1_2.dll, and the obse_loader to C:\Program Files (x86)\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion. With the other plugins like fast exit 2 they have Data/obse/plugins files. Since I only extracted those three files of obse I dont know where to put these files. Do i simply put the main Data file in my Oblivion Data file to overwrite it?

h8ball I want to thank you for helping me. I bet it can take quite a bit of time to post and help me with this rather annoying problem . I should also mention that when I try to run Oblivion and it crashes a few times it messes up my computer. It happens with my documents and my computer/pictures etc. It will minimize when I click on them and no matter what I do it wont maximize. I fixed this problem by going to system restore and restoring it to an earlier time. I know this may have nothing to do with my problem but I thought you would like to know. Hopefully it helps solve the problem.

Thanks for the thanks! I always try to help as much as I can.

You need to put the main three OBSE files in the Oblivion folder, then copy your Oblivion shortcut and edit it so that the Target is not Oblivion.exe, but obse_loader.exe instead. The OBSE Loader starts Oblivion.exe automatically.

You should also set Oblivion.exe and obse_loader.exe to Run as Administrator (with FULL permissions). If they run with normal limited user permissions, they may behave strangely, even crash.

The correct copy of Oblivion.ini is the one under Documents. The copy under Program Files is called Oblivion_default.ini. Don't delete that copy OR edit it, as that's the default template Oblivion uses to rebuild Oblivion.ini under Documents if it doesn't find it (i.e. it's been renamed, moved or deleted).

Now, down to the real meat of the problem. From your DXDIAG, I see that your PC is an HP Pavilion D5000T. I've checked the specifications of it and, as is typical with PC manufacturers, they've skimped on the Power Supply Unit (PSU) to keep build costs down and make as much profit as possible. It's only a 460W PSU (where W=Watts), which is likely insufficient for your nVidia Geforce GTX 460, a dedicated video card. I'm assuming you've upgraded from the on-board (integrated) Intel G33 video chipset. When you fit a powerful video card, you should always consider upgrading the PSU as well!

Check at nVidia for the GTX 460 specs and you'll see that this video card draws a maximum of 160W in full power 3D mode and nVidia recommend a minimum 450W PSU. Yours at 460W is only 10W higher, which is nothing. You'll be OK at the Desktop because the card is in lower power 2D mode. But it's a different story when you run a 3D game and the card switches to full power 3D mode. If your PSU is even slightly out of tolerance or you have other system devices that draw significant power, the GTX 460 will very likely overstress your PSU.

Think about it. When Oblivion starts up, the GTX 460 switches to full power 3D mode, suddenly drawing MORE than 460W from the 460W PSU, thus causing the PSU to start heating up. You may get your last savegame loaded and do some exploring but, sooner or later, the PSU will reach a threshold temperature and do one of two things...

1. Brown out... Your system goes unstable, usually resulting in a crash, random lockup or reboot.
2. Trip (thermal cutout protection)... You'll hear a click and your system will suddenly crash, lock up, reboot, or power off.

OK. Oblivion crashes and you immediately restart it. But now, because the PSU is already hot, it takes LESS time to reach the threshold temperature and go unstable again. In fact, it can take almost no time at all, which would explain why Oblivion crashes before it even gets to its Main Menu. A good test for this is to see if powering your PC off completely for a while (to let the PSU cool down) causes you to get further into the game before it crashes again.

Also, when the system browns out or trips, the hard disk momentarily loses power which can corrupt what Windows is doing if it happens to be writing files at the time. This would explain why you keep having to use System Restore to recover to an earlier (non-corrupted) state.

Tip: Top-end gaming rigs usually have PSU's in the 700W+ range. Many dedicated gamers buy 1000W PSU's to make sure their systems have plenty of power to spare (this is termed "headroom")! For a near top-end video card like the GTX 460, I'd recommend at least a 700W PSU to give the card and your system plenty of headroom.

I'd also recommend a dedicated sound card if you're still using the on-board (integrated) sound. It makes a difference to performance, because it takes some of the load off the CPU, leaving more horsepower for the game.

Hope this gets you up and running.

I am stunned at how well written and clear your help has been h8ball . I wish I could give you a gift basket instead of saying THANK YOU a thousand times . Seriously h8ball you are awesome and since I play games as my hobbie I think I am going to upgrade to a 1000W .

Good advice from H8ball, if i could just add, make sure you get a quality brand psu, Corsair, Seasonic or Enermax all make very stable power supplies.
You definately don't need a 1000w psu though, 650 - 750w would suffice.

Heh heh. I'm always happy to help, because gratitude is the greatest gift of all!

Just for confirmation, do other 3D games crash as well? The video card switching to full power 3D mode is a very common cause of heat-related PSU brown-out, so crash problems won't be limited to just Oblivion because 3D mode kicks in whenever any game starts up. Some games are more stressful on the system than others, and Oblivion is a particularly stressful game.

The PSU is the most overlooked component of a PC. After all, it supplies power to the ENTIRE system and, when you upgrade, you typically draw MORE power from it, so it shouldn't be neglected. Actually, the higher the overall wattage rating of your PSU, the more stable your system will be and the more headroom you have for future upgrades. And quality is a big factor too. You get what you pay for, basically.

Here's some good reading on PSU's, which should clear up some of the misconceptions surrounding them...

- The basics
- Everything you need to know!
- More useful info (although a little technical)
- Great source of info (although technical)

In particular, read up on "De-rating" at BFG Tech (under heading "What is the "wattage" number actually telling me?"). It explains the most probable reason why your PC keeps crashing under stress. The wattage rating stated on a PSU is for a particular operating temperature. However, the more power that's drawn from the PSU, the higher its temperature rises, so its actual wattage rating falls. This is termed the "de-rating" effect.

If your 460W PSU is running too hot due to the GTX 460 drawing more power, it's actual rating could perhaps be only 380W! If your normal system load when running Oblivion is 360W, a momentary 50W power fluctuation (i.e. video card suddenly drawing more power) will push the load to 410W, which is 30W above the 380W. This may cause the PSU to suffer a momentary brown-out or trip. The classic symptom of this is a seemingly random crash, lock-up or reboot. A higher rated PSU typically solves the problem.

Hope this helps.

Well the games I am playing right now are Team Fortress 2, Bioshock 2, and Arma 2. I know alot of two's right ! They all work fine and are very fast with no problems.With the recommendations you gave me RyderUK(regarding the PSU) what do you think is the best of the three? Thanks again h8ball for the links! I have a better understanding of the problem now . I feel guilty about how much info I have gotten on my problem it's very generous of you guys/gals Thank you!

Oh and I almost forgot I am running Team Fortress 2 and Bioshock 2 on max. Except Arma 2 I have that on high settings.

Thanks RyderUK for the reply.

Hi I have a problem with oblivion crashing and i didnt found any similiar case! My PC is custom build and may be problem in that!
So anyway... My game crashes after i load and play for a minute or so or if i try "new game" at character creation screen.
I tryed to update Windows, my graphic driver, game patches, DirectX, reinstalling the game, compatibility mode and as administrator even try setting core affinity and no success
in any hope of help i add some dxdiag specs and 2 diferent event log of crash
If any flaw in my hardware can be spotted let me know!

Thanks for help!

Faullting application name: Oblivion.exe, version: 1.2.0.416, time stamp: 0x462392c7
Faulting module name: ASAudio.ax, version: 1.3.1.65, time stamp: 0x46b98764
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000073b4
Faulting process id: 0x644
Faulting application start time: 0x01cbd45f54f1cb2d
Faulting application path: E:\Igre\Oblivion\Oblivion.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ASAudio.ax
Report Id: b6be83f0-4052-11e0-81a3-485b3908ca8b


Faulting application name: Oblivion.exe, version: 1.2.0.416, time stamp: 0x462392c7
Faulting module name: Oblivion.exe, version: 1.2.0.416, time stamp: 0x462392c7
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00376cad
Faulting process id: 0x378
Faulting application start time: 0x01cbd672449b3a8b
Faulting application path: E:\Igre\Oblivion\Oblivion.exe
Faulting module path: E:\Igre\Oblivion\Oblivion.exe
Report Id: d5de91b1-4265-11e0-b497-485b3908ca8b




Sry got a solution already:
I went to this location by explorer (Faulting module path: "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ASAudio.ax")
and rename "ASAudio.ax" and oblivion works fine now

Hi, By4ce.

That would have been a serious necro-post (4-5 months) if the rules didn't have a loophole to permit topics to be resurrected to ask for help on the same subject.

Anyway, on to your problem. Looks like an ActiveX-based audio codec is triggering it (.ax file extension). One quick Google for ["asaudio.ax"] and the FIRST result matches your problem EXACTLY! It's apparently a common problem with Oblivion running under Windows Vista/7 with ArcSoft MPEG installed. Oblivion uses DirectSound (the DirectX audio component) for MP3 playback and relies on DirectSound to load a compatible MP3 codec. Unfortunately, DirectSound loads the newest codec it can find and certain codecs, especially custom ones that come with some modern media software, aren't compatible with Oblivion's 5 year old built-in MP3 player and cause the game to crash.

Apparently, the cure is to simply delete, move or rename the file ASAudio.ax. You should find it in folder C:\Program Files\Common Files\ArcSoft\MPEG Engine. I'd recommend renaming the file to ASAudio.ax.bak (where bak is a standard 3 letter file extension short for backup). As long as the last extension isn't .ax, DirectSound won't recognise it as an ActiveX codec and will fall back to the next compatible codec it finds, usually the generic one that comes with Windows which doesn't crash Oblivion.

This shouldn't cause problems playing MP3 files outside Oblivion, unless you USE the Arcsoft software and it specifically tries to load that codec directly, bypassing DirectSound. If that's the case, you'll have to rename the file back and forth to use either Oblivion or Arcsoft.

Hope this solves your problem.

Exception code 0xC0000005 means Sharing Violation. A process (running program) has attempted to write data to a block of RAM (memory) allocated to another process. It doesn't "own" the allocated block, so will potentially crash the process whose memory it's overwritten, and potentially crash itself too because the other process could overwrite the data just written. Windows assumes the offending process is "out of control" and terminates it to prevent it corrupting other processes, itself, and even Windows.

Have you tried Oblivion Stutter Remover (OSR)? It's a DLL plugin for Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) which can replace Oblivion's buggy heap (memory) management code. I used to suffer with Oblivion frequently crashing, typically several times an hour, sometimes even every few minutes. Highly annoying! Since I installed OSR and configured it to use the Borland FastMM4 heap supplied with it, Oblivion's crash frequency has dropped hugely! It now averages one crash every 10 hours or so, which is a tolerable minor annoyance. If you Quicksave every 15 minutes or so, you'll never lose more than 15 minutes of gameplay.

To configure OSR for heap replacement, edit the sr_Oblivion_Stutter_Remover.ini file in Oblivion\Data\OBSE\Plugins as follows...Another essential OBSE plugin DLL is FastExit2, which cures the infamous "Oblivion crashes on exit" bug.

Hope this helps.

I went and patched my game, it crashed.
I installed shivering isles, it crashed.
I again patched my game, it crashed.
I "installed" OBSE, it crashed.
I "installed" OSR, it still crashed...

same error code


perhaps I should have mentioned, the game never even loads. I click on the icon and my screen goes black, then I get dropped back to desktop and get that error code...

EDIT: I also checked the log files for OBSE and OSR and they don't report any problems...
EDIT2: I just went and reinstalled and patched just oblivion, same error code... I did neglect to mention that I ripped my CDs to my computer and am using Daemon Tools... is there any chance that could be the culprit? It works for all of my other games... Perhaps I'll try and dig out my CD tonight.