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OK, the Sharing Violation error coupled with your statements makes me suspect that something is already in memory and is conflicting with Oblivion when it starts up.

Unfortunately, software often installs a LOT of unnecessary rubbish you don't need. Even nVidia and ATI are at it! Their driver Setups typically install an icon in the System Tray (beside the clock on the Taskbar) which when right-clicked gives you a menu. With nVidia, it's nothing more than screen resolutions, etc. Since 99.99% of us set the resolution ONCE then forget about it, we DON'T need to change it on-the-fly, so WHY have a 99.99% UNnecessary background program running? And why bother installing an nVidia Update Service to automatically download/install driver updates when 99.99% of us just download the drivers manually anyway!

Microsoft are a prime culprit too. They assume that we're all idiots who can't install new hardware, so Windows Setup leaves a boatload of Services running, all set to Automatic so they run on Windows startup. They sit there 100% of the time waiting for that one day when you plug in the hardware they service (e.g. a Smart Card Reader device) and, from your point of view, the new hardware just works without any hassle. But if you NEVER buy that new hardware, you have unnecessary Services sitting there 100% of the time doing nothing more than taking up CPU time and memory, and they'll NEVER be of use!

Can you think of anything more useless than a pit stop crew standing around for years waiting to service a racing car that hasn't been bought yet, and might NEVER be bought? Well, that's exactly what Microsoft have Windows Services doing!

And, if you're not on a network protected by a Proxy Server running a Firewall, some of the network-related services EXPOSE your PC to hackers anywhere in the world! A good example is Remote Registry Service and Remote Assistance, which give hackers a direct line into your registry and a way to control your PC remotely!

I don't mean to scare you. If your Internet connection is via a router with a built-in hardware Firewall, you're relatively safe. Although you should STILL Disable the remote assistance related services just in case, AND have a Software Firewall running on PC's connected to the router to control outgoing traffic. Most routers (and Windows Firewall too) allow ALL outgoing traffic, assuming it's safe, but that's an unsafe assumption. Malware "phones home" which IS outgoing traffic, isn't it?

I'd suggest you Stop/Disable as many Services as possible (if you can't Disable, set to Manual) and check MSConfig for unnecessary startup processes. The more Services and processes you can prevent from starting up, the more memory you'll free up. You'll also lock down the dangerous Services which leave your PC wide open to attack. Finally, you'll have extra CPU time free because it's no longer task-switching between as many background tasks, so gaming performance may increase.

There are plenty of websites dedicated to helping Windows users to determine what Services and background programs do, and whether it's safe to Disable them. Just Google for [windows +services] or [windows +startups] and you'll find them.

Hope this helps.

woo progress!
I left task manager open while I loaded the game and found I had two instances of oblivion running concurrently (?perhaps the process doesn't close when I use terminate the process from taskmgr?)... so I close one and I get to see the credit videos (Bethesda, etc.), until I get to the story intro video... my screen goes black and it will just sit... the process is still responding, but it's just not doing anything.
so I tried skipping the videos, this gets me to the loading bar, which then hangs once it's something like 99% done, and the program will just hang indefinitely (I went out for breakfast while I waited)... again the process is still responding, but it's just not doing anything.

I also tried creating a batch file to run the program with processor affinity set to exclude cpu0, (START/AFFINITY E Oblivion.exe) which doesn't seem to help any...

I really appreciate your help on this...

EDIT: I edited the sr_Oblivion_Stutter_Remover.ini to use the threaded heap (iHeapAlgorithm = 5) to no avail...
I also noticed that when I use the "End Task" button from the "Applications" tab in taskmgr it doesn't end the process though it "closes" the program. subsequent attempts to start oblivion result in an immediate crash + error code.

Oblivion's movies are in Bink video format. Sounds to me like as soon as Oblivion's built-in Bink movie player tries to play any Bink video file, it causes Oblivion to hang/crash. Oblivion Setup installs a Bink movie codec which the game needs for the built-in Bink movie player to function correctly. You may have installed other software that replaces the Bink codec with a version that causes Oblivion to crash when it tries to use it.

To test this theory, make a backup copy of your Oblivion.ini then edit the original as follows (comments prefixed with semicolons)...

;Advertising blurb sequence on running Oblivion
;SIntroSequence=bethesda softworks HD720p.bik,2k games.bik,game studios.bik,Oblivion Legal.bik
SIntroSequence=

;Animated Oblivion logo shown before Main Menu is displayed
;SMainMenuMovieIntro=Oblivion iv logo.bik
SMainMenuMovieIntro=

;Animated map of Cyrodiil behind Main Menu
;SMainMenuMovie=Map loop.bik
SMainMenuMovie=

;Emperor's introduction on starting a new game
;SOblivionIntro=OblivionIntro.bik
SOblivionIntro=

;Credits movie (played on choosing Credits from Main Menu)
SCreditsMenuMovie=CreditsMenu.bik

As you can see, except for SCreditsMovie which is unchanged, ALL of the movie filenames are removed, so Oblivion will NOT play any of those Bink movie files. If, on running Oblivion, it now gets all the way to the Main Menu OK, then the Bink codec is likely the culprit. Further proof. If you choose Credits from the Main Menu, Oblivion WILL try to play CreditsMenu.bik. If this causes a hang/crash, it IS the Bink codec!

Try downloading and installing the latest version of the free (topmost link on page). These are the people who invented the Bink movie format, and the Tools include the latest Bink player AND latest Bink codec.

If this solves your problem, I'll crack a can of beer and toast your health! <waits with bated breath and finger trembling on pull-tab>

made the changes to the .ini and no dice...

(I can't post non-elder scrolls URLs so I had to make it not a url... fyi I have this uploaded to my website)
demenna <dot> net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/obvscrn.jpg

This is where I always get stuck... if only it would tell me what it was loading...

I'm starting to think Elder Scrolls just isn't meant to be played on this laptop... (Morrowind wouldn't run either...)

OK. Can you please post your DxDiag log (in spoiler tags because it's LONG)? I'll read it and see if I can spot any obvious problems.

The game is loading, but hanging just before it displays the Main Menu. This may be MP3 music related. Oblivion (and Morrowind too) both have a built-in MP3 player which requires the correct MP3 codec installed under Windows. If they don't find the codec, they hang or crash on trying to play the game's music, which is in MP3 file format. Try bMusicEnabled=0 in Oblivion.ini. This completely disables Oblivion's built-in MP3 player. The Main Menu plays Oblivion\Data\Music\Special\tes4title.mp3 in the background. With music disabled, the Main Menu will be silent. If the game GETS to the Main Menu with music disabled, then you'll be missing the right MP3 codec.

If that's the case, your DxDiag report will reveal whether you have the correct MP3 codec installed. Other players have had Oblivion/Morrowind MP3 playback problems under Windows Vista/7, presumably because Microsoft started installing a different MP3 codec as standard. The games need the OLD codec and can't find it, so they hang/crash as soon as they try to play an MP3 file. You may want to try the K-Lite Codec Pack from free-codecs.com. I think this comes with the same MP3 codec as Windows XP which Oblivion was designed for (and also Windows 9x which Morrowind was designed for).

Also, if you're having problems with an older game hanging/crashing on startup, make sure you set the game's EXE files to run in the compatibility mode for the Windows version the game was developed FOR. Oblivion was developed for Windows XP and, under certain conditions in Windows Vista/7, it just won't run correctly. Morrowind was developed for Windows 98 but runs fine under Windows XP, so same goes. Try setting all EXE files in the Oblivion/Morrowind folders to Windows XP compatibility mode.

I ran both 32bit and 64bit... but the forum keeps preventing me from posting the 64bit one, it says it has links in it or something... I can PM it to you perhaps

32bit:

Yep. Thought so. I've seen this before with other people who've had MP3 playback problems. In your DxDiag, under DirectShow filters...

MP3 Decoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,mp3dmod.dll,6.01.7600.16385

I have Windows XP. In my DxDiag, this entry doesn't exist. Instead, I have...

WMAPro over S/PDIF DMO,0x00600800,1,1,,
MPEG Layer-3 Decoder,0x00810000,1,1,l3codecx.ax,1.06.0000.0051

MP3 stands FOR MPEG Layer 3. Microsoft have changed from using an ActiveX control (l3codecx.ax) in Windows 9x/XP to a full-blown Dynamic Link Library (mp3dmod.dll) in Windows Vista/7. It also has a different DirectShow filter ID. In your case 0x00600800. In my case 0x00810000, which doesn't exist in your DxDiag. In my DxDiag, ID 0x00600800 does exist, but it's for a Windows Media Audio (WMA) decoder which is built in to Windows itself, hence no external codec filename or version number.

Oblivion and Morrowind are obviously requesting a DirectShow filter BY ID, which is bad programming. They're assuming ID 0x00810000 will always exist and will always be assigned to an MP3 decoder, but neither outcome is guaranteed. DirectShow filters are dynamic! The correct way to request one is by file type, and let Windows return a list of filters capable of playing that file type.

Hopefully, the K-Lite Codec Pack will solve the problem by installing an MP3 codec and creating a DirectShow filter that links to it using the correct ID 0x00810000. Oblivion and Morrowind should then play MP3 files OK, and get to their Main Menus with MP3 music playing in the background.

Hope this works for you!

So I went and installed K-Lite Mega pack (for other stuff too) and re-ran dxdiag and the pack didn't change the DSfilter ID... is there some patch/mod for the game that addresses this dependency?

Or, is there some configuration I missed during setup to assign a filter ID? I think I ran through every menu I could... but maybe I missed something.

I'm going to have to send you a six pack after this... :p

it worked!
bMusicEnabled=0

So now we know that the music /was/ the issue, though the mp3 codec you linked did not change the filter ID...
it seems like the ID we want (00810000) is not used... I wonder if there's some way I can just change the ID?

Aha! We're getting somewhere! It's definitely related to MP3 playback, as I suspected.

If you download and install the Fraunhofer MPEG Layer-3 codec as suggested, it may solve the problem. Oblivion MAY be requesting a codec by ID, then again, it MAY be requesting by playback capability and Windows returns a list of available codecs, but none of them are compatible with the way Oblivion programs a codec for playback. Solution is usually to give Windows a larger list of codecs to return and hope that one of them IS usable by Oblivion.

The other possibility is that media software on your PC is interfering. PowerDVD installs its own codecs, for example, and they've been known to cause MP3 playback problems with Oblivion/Morrowind. The only solution is to uninstall the media software so its codecs are removed and can't interfere, or log in to Windows as a different user for whom that software (and its codecs) aren't present. That way, Windows returns a codec list which doesn't include the ones that cause problems.

Oh, AFTER installing the codec, you'll have to set bMusicEnabled=1 to re-enable the game's MP3 player, otherwise all you'll have is silence which isn't a fair music test, is it?

Apologies if this is incredibly frustrating. It is for ME too! Codec problems are amongst the most difficult to diagnose, I'm afraid. There's zero visual feedback of which codecs are offered or chosen, so all you have to work with are blind logical guesses. At least we NOW have it narrowed down TO a codec issue, anyway.

Edit: Been reading up on other forums. Some people have cured Oblivion MP3 playback problems by searching for the file l3codecx.ax (MPEG Layer 3 codec ActiveX control, it'll be somewhere under the Windows folder) and moving it OUT of the folder it's in to somewhere else (as a backup). If it's offered by Windows, Oblivion seems to prefer it, but under Windows Vista/7 it often causes a hang/crash. If it's missing, Windows doesn't offer it and Oblivion is forced to use a different MP3 codec. If the file doesn't exist on your system, don't worry as I'm only making a logical guess here (the first of many, I suspect).

sorry I haven't posted in a while, I haven't had a chance to play with anything in the past couple days, and it may be a couple more before I get another chance...

I just didn't want you to think me rude... I'll post what I've found out tonight or tomorrow.

No problem, my friend. I know it's a lot to take in. Take as much time as you need.

Also having a problem with Oblivion crashing

First off I'd like to say I have been reading this thread extensively and would like to thank you H8Ball for such amazing responses, in both detail and personality.

Currently my game won't load my save after multiple crashes (event log below). Previously I would only get the errors, but now its escalated.

I do have OSR and OCPS installed, and did just do a save game bloat check. Along with that I did previously check sound (still got sharing violation errors). I also have oblivion and obse running as administrator with the compatibility changed to XP SP3.

If you have any advice on how I should tackle this, I'd greatly appreciate it.

EVENT LOG:

MOD LIST:

DxDiag:

Hi,

If it's a random crash, i.e. anytime during gameplay, the cause is typically Oblivion's buggy memory (heap) management code. Have you tried using OSR's heap replacement options? I'm using its Borland FastMM4 heap under Windows XP SP3, and it's reduced Oblivion's random crash frequency to almost nil! I still get the occasional random crash, maybe after about 10 hours continuous gameplay, sometimes not at all even after a 14 hour marathon! That's very tolerable compared to the crashing on average every 10 or 15 minutes I used to suffer. In fact, come to think of it, I can't even remember the last time Oblivion crashed, because I don't usually exceed about 6 hours continuous gameplay!

If it's the infamous "on exit" crash, there's a quick cure. Install the FastExit2 plugin for OBSE. This bypasses Oblivion's buggy "on exit" code which attempts to tidy up by de-allocating all RAM blocks the game has allocated. This causes heavy Page File thrashing which means the game often takes up to several minutes to exit and, if the tidy-up gets too complex, it crashes anyway. The tidy-up is superfluous anyway because Windows automatically de-allocates RAM. FastExit2 simply saves the Oblivion.ini and requests Windows to forcibly terminate the Oblivion process. No tidy-up does no harm whatsoever. I've been using FastExit2 for nearly 2 years now, and Oblivion for me drops flawlessly to the Desktop in a few seconds!

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the speedy response H8Ball!

Sorry about leaving that out. It is crash that usually occurs when I travel into a new area. This could be walking up to a new place outside a Dungeon or Fast Traveling to the Imperial Sewers. Currently my character is stuck on the Road towards the Kvatch Oblivion Gate in the Main Quest, and the game crashes while I'm loading the save (usually goes about half way).

I have used OSR's heap replacement options, testing it with options 1, 3, and 5.

Do you know anything about this Fault offset: [0x003d22d5]? I've noticed it to be unique compared to the other crashes presented in this thread.

Thanks again!

Unfortunately, memory offsets are only useful in an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), where the programmer has a background debugger running to trap the error. The offset points to a particular CPU instruction, the compiler knows from its linking info which line of source code it read to create that instruction, so it opens the source file and points the programmer to that very line! It's then up to the programmer to figure out what's going wrong.

OK, crashing halfway through loading a savegame? Sounds like savegame bloating to me. Some mods use scripts that make heavy use of commands such as PlaceAtMe to create thousands of temp objects (references, or refs). Unfortunately, every temp ref gets saved so the savegame ends up bloated to the point where Oblivion starts behaving unpredictably, even crashing. If you have Wrye Bash, there's a quick fix but it's not fully tested, so back up the savegame FIRST in case the fix makes things worse. Run Wrye Bash, go to Saves tab, right-click the savegame and choose Remove Bloat. It will report either "No bloating found" or the number of "Null Ref Objects". A few hundred are OK. If it's in the thousands, though, click Yes to remove the bloat.

Note: ONLY use Remove Bloat if you're actually having a problem, and ALWAYS back up the savegame beforehand.

Null Refs are objects created by mods which persist in the savegame after the mod has been disabled. E.g. If a mod adds a sword, it adds a base ref which describes the sword (name, enchantments, etc). Whenever that sword is added to the world, it's a temp ref that points TO the base ref. If you leave an instance of the sword lying on the ground, you create a temp ref which is saved in your savegame. If you then disable the mod, the base ref disappears, but the temp ref is still present in your savegame and now doesn't point to anything. It's then termed a null ref, which is invisible in-game.

My savegames are now over 9Mb in size (due to creating hundreds of potions as labels), but they have ZERO bloat because I use NO mods that are known to create savegame bloating. It's because I always read people's comments on mods before downloading them, to see if there are any known problems.

If that doesn't cure the savegame corruption, I suggest you revert to an older savegame. It may be a mod conflict causing the corruption, so try disabling mods one-by-one to isolate which two are conflicting.

Sorry for the delayed reply

First off thanks for the information on the Fault Offset. I was curious what it was and a google search didn't conjure up any straight information. Happy to know for the future!

I tried the savegame bloating, and the utility found no bloat. I tried disabling mods and wonderfully found the game working!

Sorry for bugging you for such a simple debugging technique. Thanks so much though! Oblivion here I come!

I saw that Mr. H8ball seems to know his stuff and was wondering if he or anybuddy is having a similar problems as I and maybe able to fix it. I get a CTD when I play the game, just installed the game, think you guys here call it the vallina verson. Never played while on this OS. I can play the game and go for a little bit but sometime between 2-10 minutes, it crashes. The error details are :
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Oblivion.exe
Application Version: 1.1.0.425
Application Timestamp: 444e8718
Fault Module Name: RealMediaSplitter.ax
Fault Module Version: 1.0.1.1
Fault Module Timestamp: 43877827
Exception Code: 40000015
Exception Offset: 00030bea
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.49
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: c4a9
Additional Information 2: c4a9d20a03d355ca971266640fa7c360
Additional Information 3: 5986
Additional Information 4: 59868cd70975ce6f3f8a83f571c36252

Not sure what to do, I tried some of the things suggested on the first page but still happens. The only thing I have downloaded for it is the unoffical patch. Any help in this matter would be great and if you need more info just ask and I'll try to get it to ya.

Hi,

Well, it's obviously a RealMedia codec (.ax = ActiveX Control) that's the culprit (the faulting module). Do you have the RealPlayer media player installed? Did you know that you DON'T need it to play .RM (RealMedia) files? RealPlayer is bloatware, a known system resources hog that installs its own codecs. One of them is obviously interfering with audio playback in Oblivion, causing it to crash. I'd suggest you uninstall RealPlayer (which will remove the ActiveX control), and instead download and install the "Real Alternative" codec from free-codecs.com which allows ANY media player on your system to play .RM files.

For others reading and having audio-related problems with games, I have ZERO problems with the audio player. It's completely free and is the best audio player I've ever used. It has a very small memory footprint, takes up very little screen space and audio quality is excellent. It doesn't install any codecs, only uses existing ones, so doesn't interfere with audio in games! To play RealMedia files, you'll need the RealAudio (RA) plugin from the . It's in the Native Input Plugins section under Add-Ons. There are many other plugins for other popular audio file types as well.

Hope this helps.

PS. Anyone else while I'm on a roll?

Hi H8Ball, just wondering if you could help with a similar problem.
I am running 64 bit windows 7, after running 32 bit when it was working.
my error is:

Oblivion.exe
1.2.0.416
112c
01ccb0e3a5486190
5
or:

<Provider Name="Application Hang" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">1002</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>101</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-12-02T11:15:49.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>4846</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>10-44-56902-LM.TGC.LOCAL</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data>Oblivion.exe</Data>
<Data>1.2.0.416</Data>
<Data>112c</Data>
<Data>01ccb0e3a5486190</Data>
<Data>5</Data>
<Data>D:\Users\46902\Saved Games\The Elder Scrolls - Oblivion\Oblivion.exe</Data>
<Data>f89c35a4-1cd6-11e1-8403-002326b62f1b</Data>
<Binary>55006E006B006E006F0077006E0000000000</Binary>
</EventData>
</Event>

Im running a laptop, fujitsu lifebook t4410 and it has an administrator and domain (school laptop)
i know that it can run it because it worked before.

Here is my specs and weather or not it can run:


DXDiag:

when i open Oblivion.exe it just makes a black window at the top left of my screen and wont load.
If there is any other info that you may need just ask.

Hi,

Your specs indicate the integrated video chipset on your Laptop doesn't meet Oblivion's minimum graphics requirements (upgrade suggested for the Intel integrated graphics chipset). Unfortunately, it's not possible to upgrade a Laptop's video capability (unless it's one of the newer gaming Laptops that has a dedicated video slot).

The small black window is the game running BEFORE it switches to full-screen, which can ONLY happen once it's successfully initialised its 3D Renderer (video) and Sound systems. The fact that it's crashing before going full-screen tends to indicate the Laptop's video chipset isn't compatible with the game.

One thing to try, though, just on the off-chance. A similar crash before full-screen can occur due to an MP3 codec-related problem. To test this, edit Oblivion.ini (under C:\Users\<yourusername>\My Documents\My Games\Oblivion) and set bMusicEnabled=0 to disable Oblivion's built-in MP3 player (which it uses for its MP3 music). If the game IS able to reach the Main Menu with NO MP3 title track playing, it's definitely an MP3 codec issue. There are known MP3 codec problems if you have certain media software installed, such as PowerDVD. They often install their own codecs and change the default codecs that Windows returns when it's asked for a "compatible codec". Oblivion expects Windows to return the default Fraunhofer MP3 codec, but ends up with a different one it doesn't know how to use and crashes at or before the Main Menu (as soon as it tries to play its MP3 title music).

If it's not MP3-related, then it MUST be video-related. Your best bet might be OldBlivion, which reduces Oblivion's graphics requirements from DirectX 9 SM2.0 to DirectX 8 SM1.1. OldBlivion is often the ONLY way Laptop users can get Oblivion running on their systems, especially with Intel video chipsets. The game won't look as good eye candy wise, but that's a small price to pay. The gameplay is far more important than the graphics.

Also, Windows 7 requires about 1.5Gb RAM leaving only 2.5Gb or less free out of your 4Gb total, and the video chipset's Shared Memory leaves even less free. Oblivion requires a 256Mb video card supporting SM2.0 minimum, and runs best with 2Gb free RAM. With only 64Mb Dedicated Memory, your Intel chipset is using a MINIMUM of 192Mb Shared Memory when running Oblivion (192+64 = 256). So that reduces the 2.5Gb free to about 2.3Gb free, even less if you have MANY services, Firewall and Antivirus running in the background.

I had to upgrade my new Windows 7 PC from 4Gb to 8Gb RAM to stabilise games requiring at least 2Gb free, because the amount free would sometimes drop to slightly LESS than 2Gb. Some games were frequently crashing with only 4Gb RAM installed. And yes, Oblivion was one of them. With 8Gb RAM, I now have a minimum of around 6Gb free and all games run fine.

Hope this helps.