# Oblivion won't load



## TheLugz88 (Apr 14, 2006)

When ever I try to load Oblivion, a small black box appears in the upper left corner of the screen then about two seconds later it disappears and the error report box pops up. I can't even get into the game. I have the latest version of directX and my display adapters updated.
I have reinstalled it twice and it is still not working.


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## PureTitanium (Apr 18, 2005)

The same thing happens with me >.< the little black box appears and it closes itself right after.

I'm so glad i'm not the only person with this problem  i've looked all over the internet for an answer!


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## kombat75 (Jan 12, 2006)

After install try to put a setting display to 840 x 640 and try to start see if it can work or not.. 

It happen to me too.. After i change the setting b4 start..it working fine !!!


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## PureTitanium (Apr 18, 2005)

there isn't a 640x840 resolution >.<

I did try all of the resolutions though and the same thing still happens =\


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## TheLugz88 (Apr 14, 2006)

PureTitanium said:


> there isn't a 640x840 resolution >.<
> 
> I did try all of the resolutions though and the same thing still happens =\


Changed my resolution several times and it is still happening. Also, when I tried this on my other computer, the exact same thing happened.


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## kombat75 (Jan 12, 2006)

What brand of pc u guys using ?

ANd many gigs of rams u guys using ?


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## TheLugz88 (Apr 14, 2006)

This computer is an MDG, has 512mb of ram. I took the 512 stick out of my other computer and put it in this one to see if it works and the same thing happens. I'am sure that it is my GFX card, (an Intel(R) ) I'm planning on buying a new one sometime this weekend.


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## kombat75 (Jan 12, 2006)

Maybe the Ram tat coz the game to have problem..

Recommended is 1gigs rams...less than tat i don't think it can even run the game..


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## darkpodo9 (May 1, 2006)

yea... i just bought the game yesterday and installed it this morning. for some reason i get that box at the top and the "Oblivion has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." message comes up. it would be nice if that box would go away and let me play the game


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## photolady (May 5, 2004)

It will only let you play the game if you have the recommened specs on your computer. if you don't have a P4 3Ghz or an equivalent AMD, with 1gb memory and a graphics card not on board, but in an AGP slot and is in the list below:
Supported Video Card Chipsets:

ATI X1900 series 
ATI X1800 series 
ATI X1600 series 
ATI X1300 series 
ATI X850 series 
ATI x800 series 
ATI x700 series 
ATI x600 series 
ATI Radeon 9800 series 
ATI Radeon 9700 series 
ATI Radeon 9600 series 
ATI Radeon 9500 series 
NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series 
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series 
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series 
NVIDIA GeForce 6200 series 
NVIDIA GeForce FX series


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## phlail (May 9, 2006)

Thank god i am not the only one!! i have exactelly the same problem! Wot do i do!! plus i havent a clue wot computer secs i have. how do i find out


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## Kramer55 (Jan 18, 2005)

phlail said:


> Thank god i am not the only one!! i have exactelly the same problem! Wot do i do!! plus i havent a clue wot computer secs i have. how do i find out


Go to Start -> click Run, then type dxdiag

Look for the processor speed and RAM on the first page; the video card information is stored on the Display tab.

Post that info. when you have the chance.


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## Loyal Sojourn (Sep 17, 2006)

My processor speed and ram are fine, however, the video chip type reads 
Intel(R) 915GM/GMs, 910GML Express Chipset.

So, is that my problem?


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## JEBWrench (Jul 4, 2006)

Yep. You need a real video card to run Oblivion. That's an integrated chipset, and doesn't support most of the features of Oblivion. Welcome to TSG, by the way.


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## Loyal Sojourn (Sep 17, 2006)

I figured as much. Thanks for the wlecome.

After doing some fruitless searching, I was wondering if you could offer your opinion on perhaps one of the cheapest sets needed to run it efficiently? (and, if possible, on a laptop?)


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## JEBWrench (Jul 4, 2006)

I'm not sure about upgrading video cards on laptops. I think others here might be able to help you better if you were to post the make/model/specs of the laptop, though.


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## Loyal Sojourn (Sep 17, 2006)

Its a Dell- Inspiron B130 (system model ME051) Pentium M Processor 1.70GHz 1016MB RAM Windows XP...


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## JEBWrench (Jul 4, 2006)

I don't think that processor will hold up for Oblivion - requires a 2 GHz or equivalent, I think.


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## Loyal Sojourn (Sep 17, 2006)

That is true, I actually misread the system requirements. It looks like Ill be looking for one for my desktop, then.


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## JEBWrench (Jul 4, 2006)

Better idea anyways - you can get more power from a desktop than a laptop. What's your desktop got in it?


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## photolady (May 5, 2004)

You cannot change the video card in your laptop. But can in your desktop. If you want to know if your laptop's processor will run Oblivion, follow the link in my signature about "will your specs run Oblivion" Do the same on your desktop and it will tell you what you need to run the game.


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## Loyal Sojourn (Sep 17, 2006)

So, I got a GeForce FX 5200 video card, as the Oblivion box said the FX series would work.
And the game started. But, its incredibly slow, like, skipping slow.

Is this card still not enough?!

(all the other desktop functions and specs are more than good enough)


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## JEBWrench (Jul 4, 2006)

Heh... Crank the settings waaaaay down. And get the newest patch that enables "Ultra-Low" settings; it better supports the FX series cards. (I think it was made specifically for them.


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## titanania (Feb 10, 2005)

You might also try Tweaper. It has some "tweaks" to make Oblivion run at "low-quality" and if you ever get a better graphics card, it also has tweaks to improve the quality.


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## JEBWrench (Jul 4, 2006)

There's also the "Oldblivion" mod you could look into. An older thread here talks about it.


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## jayIT (Feb 23, 2006)

People don't realize how demanding Oblivion is. In fact, it is arguably the most resource demanding game on the market. 

In most of the benchmarks I've seen, even the top video cards are lucky to get 20+ FPS (Frames per Second) in the out door areas. Remember, 30 FPS is considered the lowest reasonable amount of frames.

If you want to play Oblivion, you must have:

a P4 3GHz or an equivalent AMD (3000+) <--- make note that is a 3000 MHz CPU equiv
at least 1 GB of RAM (=1024 MB)
a minimum video card (In my opinion):
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series or
ATI x800 series 

but honestly, to really enjoy the game you are going to need a video card more like:

NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series (or better)
ATI X1600 series (or better)

and 2 GB of RAM and a 4 GHz Intel or 4000+ AMD CPU

I kid you not, this game will simply not load on lesser than recommend PC's.


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## Ellises (Jan 6, 2007)

Even through Oblivion is a resource demanding game, it can still be played on moderate systems.

My system for a while had 512mb + 128mb of ram and a Geforce FX 6600 AGP, and the game was running great. My system speed is 2.0ghz... I then updated last year to a kinda better setup (not really), but to 1gig of ram, and bought the Geforce 7300 PCI-Express. The game was running better.

Then when college started up I didn't had time to play the game anymore, then recently I reinstalled the game again to get rid of all my mods and save games to start from scratch and I now have this problem of what the original poster is complaining about, the game starts to load, then closes and displays that annoying error box.


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## Ellises (Jan 6, 2007)

Well here is a quick update, I got mine to work again, I deleted the "Oblivion" save game folder that was inside "My Documents\My Games", and now the game runs and plays fine. I don't know if this will help anyone else if the game was played before hand... If the game was never played before there could be a problem with the Oblivion.ini file in that folder, I wish I would have more information on that file but I don't, and if you have previous save game data, make sure you back up that data before hand.


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## DarqueMist (Jan 16, 2001)

jayIT said:


> but honestly, to really enjoy the game you are going to need a video card more like:
> 
> NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series (or better)
> ATI X1600 series (or better)
> ...


Simply not true, I'm playing oblivion on a P4 3.2, geforce 6800 256, 1G of ram and am getting little or no stuttering (occasionally when outdoors in the mountains where long distances can be seen), playing with HDR enabled and on med / high setting for all effects. You can check out some of my screenshots to see how good it looks on my rig in this thread.

Oblivion screenshots

as an FYI, my rig is having a harder time with Gothic 3 and struggled as much with Titan Quest


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## acameron (Dec 20, 2004)

Same here, I am running with everything set to high except the grass distance, it is set to 0, and the resolution set to 1680x1050 using HDR. The only time I get any lag at all is when there is 4 or more monsters attacking me at once. All the magic and weapons flying start to stutter a bit but otherwise it runs fine.

The best way to run Oblivion on an older less powerful machine is with Oldblivion. My friend runs it on his machine with no problems and it still looks pretty good. AMD processor 2.2GHZ equivalent I believe, 512MB of ram and an ATI 9600 128MB gfx card.


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## bsalt (Aug 14, 2007)

Hey guys, to all you who are unable to run Oblivion...

I found out how to get it to work using the Oldblivion tool recommended previously.

Check it out here:
http://thecrosstalk.blogspot.com/2007/08/running-oblivion-with-less-than-par.html


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## PEP (Mar 1, 2006)

Well.. if oblivion crashes right after box it obviously means you dont have a pixel shader 3.0 card.. but if you have one at all you can use oldblivion...


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## bsalt (Aug 14, 2007)

Yes. If you don't have Pixel Shader 3.0 compatible hardware, the game will not load. But don't throw in the bucket and give up on the world's greatest game. Until you have that newer video card or computer, use Oldblivion to solve your problems. 

I know your dilemma, and Oldblivion can help.


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## C7B (Jul 27, 2007)

Hmm, I have the same problem on a machine with a 2.1 GHz Athlon 64, 512 MB of Memory, and an X1600 Pro. The card does have Pixel Shader 3.0, but it gives me the error right when it loads. I'm thinking if I were to disable most of the running processes I could get it to run. I'll update when I see if it works.


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## x_B3njam1n_x (Oct 11, 2007)

Sorry to necro this but...

Oblivion won't launch, it gets a box in the corner, and then it's just my desktop.

The funny part is this EXACT computer played it before :| (at ultra-high )

Help!!!1!!1fourtytwo


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## Twaxter (Jul 25, 2008)

I hope this helps.

I have a dell demension 4700,
my specs were 512 ram, a radeon x300, and a 3.2 processor.
I could run the game, and it still looked pretty good, (on lowest)and it lagged sometimes. I could play it fully, but the only problem is that the game wouldn't turn off .. , Id have to manually shut down my computer,.

If my computer can run it, almost every other compute can run it. Close down some programs b4 you run it to. MSN, will completely ruin the game, and cause alot of lag. If you have 512 mb, I recomend closing exlporer.exe, and simply just presing new task, and clicking oblivion on the task manager.


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## x_B3njam1n_x (Oct 11, 2007)

I know I can play it :|

It just won't work!


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## PEP (Mar 1, 2006)

whats the error??


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## thefugitive87 (Jan 1, 1970)

i really dont think its a hardware problem because on both computers i have i installed the game then played it and it played fine its when ever i try to add any plugins or patches like the latest version of the game that it has the black window in the upper left hand corner that closes within seconds and brings up an error report sayin oblivion encoutered an error report saying that oblivion has encoutered a problem and it needs to close.


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## thefugitive87 (Jan 1, 1970)

i looked at my video card its an nvidia geforce 7300 le
shouldnt i be able to run the game?


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## PEP (Mar 1, 2006)

Perhaps you messed up the files or something... try the elder scrolls help forums??
http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/


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## thefugitive87 (Jan 1, 1970)

i got it running but i never really found the problem although i still doubt its a hardware problem


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## PEP (Mar 1, 2006)

welll you got it running  good!!


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## redgazelle1 (Sep 9, 2008)

I Have the same problem but im trying to run it on Macs Bootcamp. Any advice?


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## PEP (Mar 1, 2006)

No idea..... can you even run it on that "thing" you named....
system specs??


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## redgazelle1 (Sep 9, 2008)

i did manage to get it running with olblivion, but as soon as i installed the knights of the nine/shivering isles it went back to not loading

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 9/9/2008, 21:12:51
Machine name: SAMWINDOWS
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp.080413-2111)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
System Model: MacBook4,1
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T8300 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2012MB RAM
Page File: 279MB used, 3626MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode


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## PEP (Mar 1, 2006)

video card??


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## redgazelle1 (Sep 9, 2008)

i did get it working with Olbilvion. but the expansions dont work


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## PEP (Mar 1, 2006)

video card?


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