Stability

[sumeldar]

hey all, first, thanks for all the great threads and help you can find at lovers lab!

 

So I got Oblivion on steam when it was on sale just a few days ago. Downloaded a ton of mods ( 120 or so ), got it all working, had boss put it in order. Not once but twice I have had the game crash or die so hard that I have ended up just removing the game and downloading it over. ( steam would not load the game up, when I had it fix its self it pasted over the mod files hehe )

 

What are the best tweaks or mods to help Oblivion stay stable with many mods running? How do I see screen shots of people with crazy amounts of mods, armor, AI tweaks, overhauls, scripts and graphics enhancements run without them fearing a crash ever 15 mins or when they look at a zone door funny X_X

 

Things I have so far are...

 

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

Fast Exit

4gb Patch

stutter remover

 

Thanks in advance! Waiting for the download of oblivion to get done and will check back here for your input before modding again XD

 

[gregathit]

1. OBSE - http://obse.silverlock.org/

2. Wrye Bash - grab from the nexus. Use this to make a bashed patch to resolve conflicts. Also this powerful tool can detect missing masters as well as identify conflicts so you can head off problems.

3. Streamline - use version 3.1 (again at the nexus)

4. Disable autosaves and DON'T EVER quicksave. Make manual saves and use streamline to make autosaves.

 

You already mentioned BOSS or I would also have recommended it.

[Sand_Dragon]

Seconding turning off Autosave/Quicksave. A huge number of problems can come from that alone. I've heard people say they've played twenty-forty hours of oblivion without experiencing any weird problems, but it's always better to be safe.

 

What kind of machine are you running Oblivion on? Turning down the graphics alone can help you out on that end.

[sumeldar]

Wrye Bash freaks me out when I look at it, but ill force my self to figure out how it runs and use it lol. Had no idea the Autosave and quicksave was a problem! I love my F5 button X_X

 

Thanks so much for the tips! going to try em out today!

[gregathit]

Wrye bash DOES look intemidating but it really isn't. There is a built in help page that walks you through almost everything (see bottom of the window there is a blue question box with a quesiton mark) and just read up on bashed patches. Other features will come in handy later but that is the main one to master at the beginning.

 

Additionally type in wrye bash at the nexus search engine and it will pull up a pictoral guide (among other things) that you can download and read up on. Believe you me Wrye will make a huge difference for you in the long run.

 

I hear you on the ease of quicksaving but loosing savegames to corruption just isn't worth it....

[EvenstarGW]

I wasn't aware autosave caused problems as well. I though I read in Streamline's guides that autosaves were safe to use. Only times I stay away from them is when something crashes my game during or shortly after autosaving. In fact I don't use streamsave for save on wait/travel/transitions as they crashed a few times during saving. It still crashes on ocassion during the timed streamsaves as well.

 

Another tip for crash prevention is weOCPS :

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22282

 

Also, I have a feeling that when the game crashes, something gets buggered up or stays behind in windows. Lately every time my game crashes, if I start it back up straight after and load the last save it crashes on completing the load. Restarting again and loading the same game, it suddenly does work.

[gregathit]

Autosaves are bugged and to have it enabled will lead to crashes. They do also have a tendency to get corrupt. Of course the choice to use it is yours but it is merely a matter of time before it tanks on you.

 

Streamlines autosaves are in fact safe to use, it is just the Oblivion autosaves I am referring to. On rare occasions I have had a timed save crash but it was generally when I did not allow the timed save a couple of seconds to complete and tried to either fast travel or go through a loading area.

 

WeOCPs is indeed a good thing to have but if you are hearing the dings too frequently then it is time to investigate what is the root cause to them.

[Dreamer102]

Gregathit hits the nails on the heads.

I follow all of those rules including using "WeOCP" and I agree, if you are hearing the ding-bells more than once a minute...there is something seriously fundamentally wrong with your install or load order.

 

I got rid of HentaiMania-2 recently and cleaned up my load order and I hardly hear the ding-bell lately.

 

I also increased the page-file size on my win-7 gaming PC to "4096mb-10240mb" (4gb-10gb) I've noticed a slight increase in gameplay stability and a reduction in stuttering. But I did that just as an experiment in addition to the changes I listed above.

 

I still get the "Loading area" lag when I enter a new area and I have to stop holding down the directional keys so that the pc can catch up and load the new data.

 

If I don't let go of the directional key and try to keep running in a direction while the area is loading, the game will crash. I know that this is because I have a slower/older processor and motherboard (Asus a8n5x with AMD dual core 2.4ghz chip)

 

Once I upgrade this christmas, I should have much better gameplay with a quad-core 2.8ghz chip and mobo.

 

 

[Rogue13]

I wonder if you are experiencing a ram issue. I recommend the following. I use them all and very, very rarely experience CTD.

 

1. 4GB patch ( http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php )

 

USE ONLY IF:

1. You are running on a 64bit OS, and,

2. You have at least 3GB of RAM

 

When using the 4GB patch, I believe many people do not patch enough files. I patch obse.dll, obse.exe and oblivion.exe (Please make copies first). Then you want to be sure to set DEP (Data Execution Prevention) in Windows to ignore Oblivion and OBSE.

 

 

2. Streamline - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10400

 

3. Oblivion Stutter Remover http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=23208

 

4. Oblivion Crash prevention System ( http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22282 ). I love this one.

 

5. Tweak’s Guide ( http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_9.html ). Look particularly at Memory, Loading & Multithreading Variables to adjust the iPreloadSizeLimit.

 

[gregathit]

Rogue13, there is no reason to patch anything but the original oblivion.exe with the 4GB patch. Making a dll file LAA is silly for too many reasons to go into here and OBSE doesn't need the flag either. The other 4 items you list are rock solid and with them I very rarely ever crash even running right at the mod limit and settings maxed out with Qarl's texture pack.

 

Of course you can disagree with me on patching everything but I have yet to see anyone post evidence that marking the obse files with the LAA flag does diddly.

[Rogue13]

Hey there gregathit,

 

You may be right that patching a .dll file may be unessessary, but it also does absolutely no harm. This thread is about stability and my Oblivion appears to be much more stable than most.

As for others with similar experience about patching obse, A quick search here led to this thread http://www.loverslab.com/showthread.php?tid=2889&highlight=4gb+patch .

 

sumeldar, I forgot to mention making sure you have the ' Unofficial Oblivion Patch' also I find TesEdit better than WyreBash for finding and resolving problems.

[gregathit]

Howdy Rogue!!

 

If you closely read that link you will see that the info was loose hearsay as to it making any improvement (I was "in" on that thread's discussion ).

 

I have yet to hear any heavy weight modders or even the OBSE folks recommend it so that is why I won't recommend it to anyone (or use it myself). But enough about that. If it works for you then Great!!!

 

I don't use the unoffical patches at all simply because I run OOO. OOO contains all that and more and UOP is simply a waste of esp's. If you aren't running OOO or some other overhaul mod then for sure do run UOP as it fixes a ridiculous amount of bugs that Beth left in

 

TesEdit is better but, it is also is quite a bit more complicated for the novice user (I remember the first time I wanted to change a field and that warning box popped up, and it so badly scared me I hit cancel .

 

Wrye is faster at finding missing masters as it gives you all of them where as tesedit will only give you them one at a time.

 

 

[Symon]

Got to say I use auto-saves (not quick-saves) with no issues at all. I mean zero! Load from them without issue.

 

I run Wrye Morph, which relies on Auto-Saves to work. If Wrye thought it stable.....

My understanding has always been if you think you have problems with Auto-saves, you actually have a problem elsewhere.

[Dreamer102]

But where "elswhere" is the problem.

 

I am going to try the turning off DEP trick tonight as it is something that I hadn't considered and possibly a reason why win-7(32) crashes so often with some of my virtualized games.

 

Thanks!

[gregathit]

Ah the beauty and diversity of PC's

 

What works on one system seemly won't work on another. Is it the difference in components, software, or us lame-brained users?????

 

I think we will figure out the origins of the universe before we solve that one

 

 

[Rogue13]

Hey there gregathit,

 

Thanks for the heads up, I have been running both UOP & OOO. But, just to confirm, OOO has the same fixes as UOP?

 

Thanx:).

[gregathit]

Yep, a lot of what UOP fixes where corrected or eliminated by the changes OOO made. If you run FCOM (I did for a bit but it was difficult to keep it stable when adding mods to it) it revamps things "that much more" to overwrite darn near everything.

 

I run UOP free and have not encountered any problems and have completed all the quest lines with no issues, so if there is something OOO didn't fix I didn't notice it.

 

My load order:

 

 

Oblivion.esm

Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esm

Beautiful People 2ch-Ed.esm

x117race.esm

Enhanced Daedric Invasion.esm

CyrodiilUpgradeResourcePack.esm

Better Cities Resources.esm

CURP_Controller.esm

Toaster Says Share v3.esm

Kaleah.esm

Nec Mystic High Elf-Remake.esm

Lovers with PK.esm

LoversCreature.esm

BreakUndies.esm

HorseCombatMaster.esm

Younger Hotter NPC's v1.0.esp

DLCShiveringIsles.esp

Better Cities .esp

Idle Dialogue.esp

Arena_Ring_V2.esp

Living Economy.esp

Oblivion Graphics Extender Support.esp

Spell Delete And Item Remove.esp

Streamline 3.1.esp

Map Marker Overhaul.esp

Map Marker Overhaul - SI additions.esp

DLCHorseArmor.esp

DLCMehrunesRazor.esp

BSK Break Undies.esp

superSP_fatigue_restore_ring.esp

Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esp

OOO-Map_Markers_Stock.esp

OOO-No_Guild_Ownership.esp

KvatchAftermath.esp

KnightlyArmory.esp

Ivellon.esp

TalosBridgeGateHouse.esp

300_KillTheDB.esp

daedric BU.esp

Hentai Mania.esp

QQuix - Divine Elegance Showroom.esp

(SFL) Makeover - White Stallion Lodge.esp

TEC_4ERA_Dialog_Filter.esp

Vampire Hunting - Order of the Virtuous Blood.esp

WSL_Redone.esp

DLCBattlehornCastle.esp

DLCFrostcrag.esp

Knights.esp

Origin of the Mages Guild.esp

HoarfrostCastle.esp

Enhanced Daedric Invasion.esp

ElsweyrAnequina.esp

Walkabout.esp

ImpeREAL Empire - Unique Forts.esp

ImpeREAL Empire - Unique Forts - OOO FCOM patch by Xtudo.esp

FightersGuildContracts.esp

Dremora Churl Addon.esp

Oblivifall - Ambiant Dungeon SFX.esp

P1DKeyChainSI Merged.esp

Colourwheels Sexy Ayelid Shrine.esp

Colourwheels Sexy Skyrim Outpost HGEC.esp

Oblivion Gate Closer Spell V2.esp

RestoreAllAttributesSpell.esp

BudongsNarcolepsySpell.esp

Alternative Start by Robert Evrae.esp

zzEstrus.esp

SetEssentialActors.esp

SetBody.esp

AinmhiRace.esp

From2ch Lives.esp

Beautiful People 2ch-Ed MS Elves - NoSc.esp

F2L_FaceChange.esp

Ta22's 01Army.esp

117NPCs.esp

From2ch Lives Boss.esp

F2LHideRaces.esp

F2LAddon_MSElves.esp

FutaPriory.esp

F2LMiqoteAddon.esp

DKImperials.esp

CompanionshipRing.esp

KW-AlliesPlayNicer.esp

Colourwheels Sexy Oblivion OverHaul.esp

ZUAmberMadnessOverhaul.esp

ZUSIO-Map MarkerOverhaul SI-patch.esp

SMYB Female Only.esp

BBBRoseoftheGuard.esp

Better Cities Full.esp

Better Cities - VWD of the IC.esp

Better Imperial City.esp

Better Cities Full FPS Patch.esp

Better Cities - Knightly Armory.esp

Better Imperial City FPS Patch.esp

Better Imperial City - OMG.esp

Better Cities - No LEYAWIIN Flooding.esp

Alternative Start for Better Cities Fix.esp

Real_Mannequin.esp

Nitiren's Genji Armor2.esp

LoversRapeSlave.esp

LoversAdultPlayPlusforSSP.esp

LoversVoiceSSPplus.esp

LoversRaperS.esp

LoversSlavePlay.esp

LoversBed.esp

LoversClubCats.esp

LoversProstitute.esp

LoversFSE.esp

LoversStupidNpc.esp

LoversEscapeRapeVPlayer.esp

Lovers with PK.esp

LoversStopKillRaper.esp

LoversSetBody.esp

LoversSetScale.esp

LoversStopCombatEx.esp

Bashed Patch, 0.esp

xeosp++.esp

xeosp++ Vwalk.esp

MadCompanionshipSpells.esp

MCS extension.esp

LoversMB2.esp

LoversCreature.esp

LoversIdleAnimsPriority.esp

LoversAnimObjectsPriority.esp

DeadlyReflex 6 - Combat Moves.esp

Deadly Reflex 6 - HeX NifSE Patch.esp

 

 

[Manzor]

About "Windom Earle_s Oblivion Crash Prevention System", in tesnexus I have read the next comment, and I need to know if it is true for more people:

 

"it does odd things to the way oblivion works after installing it. For example, I noticed that after installing it, you can't choose your hairstyle when making a new character or using the showracemenu command. Also, all the custom animations I've added into the game don't seem to function anymore. This also seems to clash a little with UVII for whatever reason.. and the game seems to build a dependency on it because after removing the plugin it starts crashing a lot more than it was originally. It still is a good thing to have, but once you're on it, you're in for life or something"

 

After read that, I fear the plugin. Someone has the same problem as this guy?

[Dreamer102]

Can't say that I do, as I have not tried to uninstall it...and don't plan to.

I haven't had any of the issues that the narrator speaks of with hair selection or animations not showing up. However, I did install "WeOCPS" early in my rebuild process the last time Oblivion dumped and I didn't have a backup. So all of my "entertainment" mods followed what I call my "Core Stability" mods.

 

 

[gregathit]

About "Windom Earle_s Oblivion Crash Prevention System"' date=' in tesnexus I have read the next comment, and I need to know if it is true for more people:

 

"it does odd things to the way oblivion works after installing it. For example, I noticed that after installing it, you can't choose your hairstyle when making a new character or using the showracemenu command. Also, all the custom animations I've added into the game don't seem to function anymore. This also seems to clash a little with UVII for whatever reason.. and the game seems to build a dependency on it because after removing the plugin it starts crashing a lot more than it was originally. It still is a good thing to have, but once you're on it, you're in for life or something"

 

After read that, I fear the plugin. Someone has the same problem as this guy?

[/quote']

 

 

Totally FALSE!!! The guy is a nut job that likely couldn't tear his way out of a wet paper bag. WeOCPS is a single dll file that functions using OBSE. Delete the weOCPS.dll from your obse plugins folder and it is gone. Don't listen to the freak. People like make me sick. By the way I do run DR6 and a retardedly huge amount of custom animations along with having just about every race that has ever been made in my game and NEVER had a problem. So as you can see, he is talking out of his ass

 

Now having said that I will say this, if you are hearing the ding (it dings when it prevents a crash) very often you really need to find out what is going on. WeOCPS doesn't fix anything, rather it is just designed to keep you playing through the occasional Oblivion crash. Installing OSR and Streamline to redo your stack hashes (memory management) and memory purging and having WeOCPs as a backup to them can have you actually playing for hours upon hours without crashing.

 

[Manzor]

Thanks!! I'll intall it.

[Dreamer102]

 

Now having said that I will say this' date=' if you are hearing the ding (it dings when it prevents a crash) very often you really need to find out what is going on. WeOCPS doesn't fix anything, rather it is just designed to keep you playing through the occasional Oblivion crash. Installing OSR and Streamline to redo your stack hashes (memory management) and memory purging and having WeOCPs as a backup to them can have you actually playing for hours upon hours without crashing.

 

[/quote']

 

 

For truth!

This is the first time (since the first day I installed Oblivion years ago) that I can play for more than 2 hours without a crash. I get to play for 4-hour timesets now because that's all the free time I can get. But I am more than sure that the game would go longer than that if I had the available time to throw at it. Using the combination of mods that Gregathit listed WILL stabilize your game to the point of extended playability.

 

[Honesty]

I have to wonder about this mod myself .. way too many people say this will eventually corrupt/bloat your save game files.

 

I mean.. I can understand, this prevents crashes .. where the game would normally crash, and make you restart "freshly" before playing again. However wont all that 'corrupted crashy data' save itself into your save file?

 

I mean, all that shit can keep building up over time into the save file(s) .. I can see where it would leave to corrupted data.

 

Many of us who still "play" Oblivion, on this board; never seem to have/play with the same character for a very (VERY) long time.. possibly "eliminating" the fact that our shit isn't being corrupted because it didn't have too much time to build.

 

All that said (whew) can any of you guys CONFIRM, with characters you have well over 80+ hours on that this crash prevention fix has been all and well the whole time you used this? Because I would like to give it a go as well, if it is indeed limited to only a small about of people.

[gregathit]

I have to wonder about this mod myself .. way too many people say this will eventually corrupt/bloat your save game files.

 

I mean.. I can understand' date=' this prevents crashes .. where the game would normally crash, and make you restart "freshly" before playing again. However wont all that 'corrupted crashy data' save itself into your save file?

 

I mean, all that shit can keep building up over time into the save file(s) .. I can see where it would leave to corrupted data.

 

Many of us who still "play" Oblivion, on this board; never seem to have/play with the same character for a very (VERY) long time.. possibly "eliminating" the fact that our shit isn't being corrupted because it didn't have too much time to build.

 

All that said (whew) can any of you guys CONFIRM, with characters you have well over 80+ hours on that this crash prevention fix has been all and well the whole time you used this? Because I would like to give it a go as well, if it is indeed limited to only a small about of people.

[/quote']

 

Those people don't understand the principle of a dll injection mod. The dll only changes things in the RAM and doesn't get passed into your save games (think of it like a game trainer). I have one character that has 300 hours (Yes, it is ridiculous and I don't have any excuses as to how or why I spent this much time on one damn character and the only thing I did have to do is use wrye to do the abomb fix as my animations "slowed down to a crawl" - note this is a common problem with oblivion once you get up around 100-200 hours and is a very easy fix with wrye) My current PC is now at 70 hours (just completed shivering isles). I have never had any of the so called problems that these cats complain of.

 

The thing to remember is WeOCPs doesn't "fix" anything it just covers over certain glitches that could cause oblivion to crash. The problem that might have caused oblivion to crash is still there (assuming it is not just the random Oblivion crash that just happens regardless of what you do ). And it is that lingering problem that is still there that will cause your save game bloat not WeOCPs.

 

If you treat this as a band aid then you won't have problems. If you hear an occasional ding once per play session (3-5 hours) then you can likely ignore it. If you are hearing dings 1-3 times per hour you know you have a serious issue that you need to address. It is not a miracle pill that you take and it fixes everything.

 

Sorry for waxing long on the explanation here but few people actually understand what this mod was intended for, and what it was not.

[Honesty]

Actually that was an awesome explaination. I appreciate it. I'll probably give it a go and see how long I can play without crashing.

 

I also applied the 2GB+ address space to my OBSE .dll and to the .exe as recommended, and ALSO turned off DEP for ALL of Beth's games (I never knew about this little hidden gem .. ashamed of myself)

 

Thanks again : )