# Oblivion Issues (GeForce 9600 GT)



## rotseken (Jun 19, 2008)

Hey guys, this is my first post! *does a first-post dance* 

I've been playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on this computer for the past month or so on really low settings.

This Computer = HP Pavilion a1330n
Specs:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3800+
2.39 GHz (performance rated at 3.8 GHz)
1.00 GB of RAM
ATi Radeon XPRESS 200 (Standard integrated Intel crap)
200+ GB Free Space

First things first, I know that the integrated graphics are extremely sub-standard. The only reason I mention them is because Oblivion actually ran through them for extended periods of time without crashing, albeit slowly.

I ran a CAN YOU RUN IT? scan online and they told me that everything about my PC was golden, except for my graphics card. My integrated graphics had all the required pixel/vertex shaders, etc. etc., but was not of the recommended calibur... I thought on it for a while and decided to invest in a PNY nVidia GeForce 9600 GT (512 MB GDDR3) graphics card. I brought it home, installed it exactly as the instruction manual described and seemingly had everything up and running smoothly. I tested out Oblivion and was blown away! I was able to load it on maximum graphical settings with no stuttering. I did not play for any length of time, because at that moment I had things to do. So, satisfied, I closed the game and didn't come back to it until today. Since then I uninstalled my graphics drivers and installed the latest drivers (v.175.19). The game started giving me strange problems the next time I tried to play. I noticed my graphics settings had not been saved, and upon further investigating I realized that whenever I tried to exit the game it would crash with a windows error:

AppName: oblivion.exe AppVer: 1.2.0.416 ModName: oblivion.exe
ModVer: 1.2.0.416 Offset: 00098749
 
I circumvented this problem by opening up the console in-game and typing: saveini

However, after a few minutes of playing (specifically after engaging in a battle) the game crashed with the same error. I've tried many graphics settings and none of my changes seem to fix this problem.

I uninstalled my new nVidia drivers and updated to the beta drivers(v.177.79). This actually fixed the crash-on-exit problem. It also allowed me to play for a bit longer. But, the game froze during my second battle. I alt-tabbed to Internet Explorer and searched for solutions, found very little and alt-tabbed back to my frozen game (which was then miraculously unfrozen, but with severe glitches... For example, a yellow floating wolf-head with no textures attacked me and I attacked back with a perfectly rendered sword but no hand to speak of). Shortly after, the game crashed again. The game will not let me reopen it until I restart the computer.

The game Vanguard: Saga of Heroes also gives me these crash-to-desktop problems... And now that I have a viable graphics card I'd really like to get these games to run.

I have some extra RAM chips that I may consider putting into my PC (which would total 2.00 GB of RAM), but I'm almost convinced it's not a RAM issue.

If anyone knows how to optimize the GeForce 9600 GT to run with this computer or how to keep my games' from crashing I would really appreciate any advice you have to offer. Thanks! :up:


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## rotseken (Jun 19, 2008)

P.S. I forgot to mention that I'm running Windows XP Media Center Edition


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## rotseken (Jun 19, 2008)

Update (10:31 PM, Aug. 6th): I fully uninstalled and reinstalled Oblivion to see if this would help. No luck. I read a rumor online that said Oblivion may respond poorly to all-in-one codec packs (and I have one installed), so I will investigate this possible fix and report back. I will also try the latest Shivering Isles patch, but I'm not very hopeful that the patch will work.

Update (11:46 PM, Aug. 6th): I just tried uninstalling the codec packs that I have and it seemed to make absolutely no difference with respect to stopping game crashes. I started to notice that my video was having very unusual anomalies such as solid color polygon heads on monsters and solid shapes floating around for no reason. This led me to believe that there was a driver issue. I rolled my driver back to the last stable release (v.175.19) and tried to play [by that I mean that I uninstalled the current beta driver and installed the stable one]. I was able to get a full 30 minutes of game-time in! So I set the game graphics to default and continued playing with no trouble... Sadly, after another 10 minutes or so the screen went black. The music continued playing on and on... Then, The Blue Screen of Death! It said something about an infinite loop and driver or hardware malfunctions. Weird! I should be able to play this game (and others) just fine with my specs... But it seems that at every turn I'm hitting road blocks. Could it be my power supply? I should have a 450W power supply installed. The minimum requirement for the GeForce is a 400W. Shouldn't that suffice? *sigh* I will continue my quest for answers. Any help you can offer is appreciated!

Update (12:03 AM, Aug. 7th): I searched online for problems specifically related to the GeForce 9600 GT and looked more closely into specific requirements that the card had. It turns out that the total wattage of the power supply must be at least 400W, and IN ADDITION each +12V rail must be capable of supplying a minimum current of 26A (mine supplies 22A). I think the power supply may be the issue after all, but I'll try a friend's power supply before I spend another $100 on something that won't solve my problem. If I can get it to work I will post another update.


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## sup2a (Oct 9, 2007)

Yeah, it could be the power supply, other parts of your computer have to use it too, not just your graphics card, no doubt your system is underpowered, however the first set of drivers you say worked? If you are convinced they worked, try uninstalling the newer drivers and install the original ones, the ingame issues are probably caused by you alt+tabbing out of the game, it can leave the game very unstable, make sure the game's patches are up to date as well.


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## DerekIT (Aug 6, 2008)

If you do decide to break down and get a PSU, you can get a very nice power supply with great wattage.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023 That's a great well known brand of power supplies. Also you need to make sure that your onboard video is completely disabled in device manager.


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## sup2a (Oct 9, 2007)

If you are looking to upgrade in the future, id go with a bigger, better PSU, 430W is only just going to run the system, I, personally would go with a corsair 500-550W PSU, they are a VERY good power supply (and i don't think any1 will disagree with that) and will certainly be good enough to run most single graphics cards and all your other hardware without a problem


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## DerekIT (Aug 6, 2008)

Sup2a is right, but I was just offering a quick 40 dollar solution for the possible problem.

I would just get the latest non beta drivers on Nvidia's website and also patch Oblivion to the latest version. I would most definitely get a new PSU first.


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## rotseken (Jun 19, 2008)

Thanks a bunch. I'm probably going to buy a new PSU tonight. I'll report back with any successes or failures.


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## rotseken (Jun 19, 2008)

I'm sad to report further failure on my end. There's more that can be done in the way of tweaking, and I will continue trying anything and everything, but the addition of a 650W BFG GS Series PSU has not helped the situation any. Though, I need to explain my new situation, because things have changed since I last explained my problem.

First off, I was able to play Oblivion on maximum graphics for over 4 hours the other night!! Why? ... Well, that's the question I'm asking myself. I believe the "change-of-state" that my computer was in was the following:

-Latest non-beta drivers for GeForce 9600 GT installed (v.175.19)
-All-in-one Codec Packs uninstalled (CCCP)
-PCI-E to 2 separate molex slots adapter attached to GPU (came with the GPU)
-Two separate rails from PSU connecting to 2 separate molex slots on the GPU adapter (mentioned above)
-Oblivion fully reinstalled

The 4 hours of gameplay followed immediately after attaching the 2 separate wires from the PSU to the GPU adapter. I thought my problems had been solved without even buying a new PSU!

I slept easy and woke with the prospect of a fixed and functioning computer. I went about my day, came home from work, loaded up Oblivion, and in the first 5 minutes it crashed! That was certainly a head-in-my hands moment...

The BSOD I mentioned in an earlier reply is back now with a vengeance. Now I don't even seem to get windows crash errors. It's almost exclusively limited to the BSOD errors. The BSOD is the following:

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------_
_The problem seems to be caused by the following file: nv4_disp_

_The device driver got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly._

_Please check with your hardware devices vendor for any driver updates._

_Technical information:_

_*** STOP: 0X000000EA (0X85A1F8E0, 0X85A0D898, 0XF7A07CBC, 0X00000001)_

_nv4_disp_
_Beginning dump of physical memory_
_Physical memory dump complete._
_Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance._
_---------------------------------------------------------------------------_

There seem to be many people out there with this same BSOD problem. I ran a google search and it's a common problem with no single solution nor cause.
I think we can all agree that my new graphics card is the source of these errors (the nv4_disp error is an nVidia specific error).

So... My current setup is as follows:

-New BFG 650W GS Series PSU
-GPU connected directly to PCI-E cable
-All-in-one Codec Packs still uninstalled
-Original drivers for GeForce 9600 GT installed (The first fix I'll try will be updating these drivers to v.175.19)

I played Oblivion for a short test-run and the game seemed fine, so I maxed out the graphics again and shortly after doing so received the same BSOD as before.

So here I am again. The power supply is a lovely (and expensive) addition to my PC, but has not fixed my problem with the infinite loop.

I'll keep searching for answers and report back... In the meantime, suggestions are definitely appreciated!


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## sup2a (Oct 9, 2007)

hmmm, that doesn't sound too good... is the video card under warranty? if so, it maybe worth sending it back... thats if its the card, have you tired rolling back to the old drivers?


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## rotseken (Jun 19, 2008)

Yup. I rolled the drivers back to the original installation CD. Absolutely no luck. I also just reupdated my card to nVidia v.175.19 drivers with my new PSU installed. Total disaster... It didn't help at all.  I just don't understand what the deal is.  Some people in other forums mention that the memory utilization by windows and nVidia drivers sometimes conflicts. I don't know how to fix that though. Something in the BIOS... It could be the card I suppose. It's hard to believe that it would survive manufacturer testing if it had a defect, but it is possible.

I bought the card from Best Buy a few days ago, and they have a 30 day guarantee return policy with no restocking fee. :up:

I'd like to see if I can solve this problem before trying to return the card though.

........I'm still wondering about that whole +12V rail, 26A minimum requirement... Next I'll try attaching the GPU adapter to two separate rails again. Could there be a problem with uninstalling nVidia drivers and reinstalling them a lot?

Does anyone have a working GeForce 9600 GT? If so, what type of PC are you running?


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## sup2a (Oct 9, 2007)

there are many cards that are faulty, just look around www.newegg.com and take a look at the bad feedback on good cards and you will see "DOA" or "faulty" it does happens a lot, anything can go wrong really, yeah, if it is the card you would want to make sure you CAN return it if needed so leave yourself a week or so. would the conflict cause BSODs? seems pretty serious if it does. Still... im lost... This as far as my experience goes


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## Geoman121 (Aug 27, 2008)

Have you found a solution? I have very similar issues with mine, which is a KFA2 series 9600GT. I've tried drivers, a clean install on Windows (Media Center), all the same I get very strange graphics glitches and slow downs, eventually leading to a desktop crash. The only other potential issue I can come up with, in defense of the video card, is the PCI-E slot. These cards are suppose to operate in a PCI-E 2.0 slot, mine is a 1.0. By the computer specs of your system it sounds the same. I did have a Geforce 8500 installed in mine, never a problem. What do you think?


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## peck1234 (Aug 27, 2008)

Update the patch, 

Hate to say it buy your cpu is awful slow....... oblivion needs a good 3.5ghz processor.....


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## DevilRat (Nov 8, 2006)

peck1234 said:


> Hate to say it buy your cpu is awful slow....... oblivion needs a good 3.5ghz processor.....


I have to disagree here. I ran Oblivion on high settings with a 2.0ghz AMD 64 3000+, 2 go RAM and a 256mb AGP graphics card.

OT rotseken, have you checked for heat issues? You mentioned anomolies is why I ask.


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## Super-D-38 (Apr 25, 2002)

Toss out my 2 pennies as well. 

I was facing Oblivion BSOD for a week.. I couldn't figure it out, since the only hardware change I did was a new graphics card. 
Newer should = better right?..

Well, in truth yes. After I found my problem.
I went searching the net for .ini tweaks, forcing shader 3, shader 1, newest ATI drivers, older drivers.. Nothing. 
Finally I remembered Omega drivers.

*OBLIVION WORKS!!!* Muhaha. On near max detail to boot.  :up:

Just give those a try, couldn't hurt right?


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