Forum Home
Press F1
Thread ID: 81890	2007-08-09 23:51:00	Constant Game Crash	SouthernCross (12644)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
578840	2007-08-09 23:51:00	Please forgive my faintly pathetic lack of any computer knowledge beyond the most very basic. I'll do my best to use correct terminology, of course, but there's no point pretending like I really know what I'm talking about. I don't mean to be groveling, but I think it's best to make it clear that your average discussion on this site is most likely over my head. Anyway, I'm having one hell of a time with a game; you'll have heard of it. Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Big-name title from Bethesda; great fun, in my opinion. Thing is, I just can't get it to run correctly, and I'm looking for advice on the matter. For reference, a rundown on the relevant computer specs: It's an almost-new Dell running Windows XP, with an emphasis on media; I made the mistake of ordering straight from the company instead of building it myself. Meaning that the C-drive has all kinds of junk; I'm not even sure what some of the programs are. Which might be the problem. It has one gigabyte of physical memory, with an additional 256 megabytes on the video card, which is a Nvidia GeForce 7300 LE. The processor is a 2.6 Ghz dual-core (Athlon). I'm guessing that's nothing to be excited about for the types of people on this forum, but that meets the performance specs for Oblivion. I also have all the current drivers as of two days ago, if that's important. My problem is extremely frequent crashes when I play the game. Never any longer than about five minutes after I begin playing (and at any time; it doesn't seem to be aggravated by loading a new area or such), the game completely errors out, with the garden-variety Windows error message to accompany this: "Oblivion has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry any inconvenience. Blah, blah, blah..." No matter what I do, I just can't shake the error. I encountered the exact same problem a while back; I've owned Oblivion for a while, and it almost never glitched or crashed at first. I finally contacted Bethesda (the game authors, if you missed that) Tech Support, and they advised me to shut down all running programs before starting Oblivion. The only way I know how to do this is exit all programs running in the lower-right hand corner (I think that's the taskbar, but I'm probably wrong), next to the clock. To my amazement, it actually worked. Hurrah, right? Wrong. After a month, the bleeding error is back. Abruptly, too. Goody for me. Even when I shut down all the programs I can (which are things like PC-cillin security and my web browser), it still doesn't work. The only thing I can't shut down is the 'volume control.' Not really a surprise. My guess is, there's either something else, or was always, something still running in the background, and it doesn't show up in the Task Manager or in that lower-right corner. First and foremost, it'd be great if someone could tell me how to find other running programs, and shut them down. If you don't think that's the issue, then any advice is also appreciated. I've already sent an e-mail to Bethesda again, but I'm always a little wary of tech support; I can't help but think one nevers gets a straight answer. So, I figured posting on a forum wouldn't be a bad idea either. Thanks in advance.	SouthernCross (12644)
578841	2007-08-10 01:04:00	Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion . It's an almost-new Dell running Windows XP,It has one gigabyte of physical memory, with an additional 256 megabytes on the video card, which is a Nvidia GeForce 7300 LE . Sorry but that graphic card is far, far too lame for Oblivion .	pctek (84)
578842	2007-08-10 01:11:00	Hi, I would like to congratulate you in your attempt to run Oblivion on a 7300LE!! That must be an accomplishment in itself. What resolution on the monitor are you using?. Seriously, this game hammers video cards and you have the bottom of the run 7 series.... I would look at doubling your RAM, if you are worried about apps running in the background, however for a better appreciation of the game, you are going to have to be careful to find a powerfuller card that will run with the bespoke Dell PSU!	SolMiester (139)
578843	2007-08-10 01:31:00	Well from this page (www.elderscrolls.com) it would appear that the 7300 isn't supported in Elder Scrolls. However, I guess that doesn't mean to say you can't make it work. In my opinion though it would be a bit like trying to polish a turd... no matter how hard you go it will still be a turd in the end. I would up the RAM and invest in a more compatible graphics card. Cheers	chiefnz (545)
578844	2007-08-10 01:43:00	I've been wondering about that . The requirements mention "7" series video cards, and I wasn't sure what 'series' meant . Incidentally, though, I don't think that's the issue . The constant errors don't strike me as a performance thing, see; the game runs fine for the few minutes it manages to, and craps out all at once . Thanks, though . I'll look into it .	SouthernCross (12644)
578845	2007-08-10 01:55:00	Hi, I would like to congratulate you in your attempt to run Oblivion on a 7300LE!! That must be an accomplishment in itself. What resolution on the monitor are you using?. Seriously, this game hammers video cards and you have the bottom of the run 7 series.... I would look at doubling your RAM, if you are worried about apps running in the background, however for a better appreciation of the game, you are going to have to be careful to find a powerfuller card that will run with the bespoke Dell PSU! I didn't see anything in the rules about double-posting, so I hope that's not going to bother anyone. Eh, PSU? What? Remember, I don't know much about this kind of thing. As for the apps...well, that's just it. Anything qualifying as an app should show up in the task manager, and it doesn't. Right? Incidentally, the tech support just told me to set the affinity to one CPU. Maybe it's just me, but somehow it seems like a new game should be designed for dual or triple-core.	SouthernCross (12644)
578846	2007-08-10 04:23:00	I've been wondering about that . The requirements mention "7" series video cards, and I wasn't sure what 'series' meant . Incidentally, though, I don't think that's the issue . The constant errors don't strike me as a performance thing, see; the game runs fine for the few minutes it manages to, and craps out all at once . Thanks, though . I'll look into it . What makes you think it's not the card? The web site specifically states which 7 series cards are compatible . . . . the 7300LE you are running isn't mentioned at all . . . I would assume that this card isn't compatible because it is unable to render the game properly . . . that is it lacks the hardware functions to run the game for an extended period of time . . . for example . . . if a game requires say Shader Model 3 and the card you are using doesn't support shader model 3, it may well be possible to force the game to run at reduced settings but doesn't gurantee that the game won't crash . . . So in other words . . . your card IS NOT compatible . . . either change it or stop playing the game . There may also be a heat issue running the game so it's crashing because the card is overheating . You could try running the game with the side cover off . . . if that gives you more game time then possibly you could improve the card's cooling to get it to run the game appropriately . Personally, I think you're flogging a dead horse . . . Cheers	chiefnz (545)
578847	2007-08-10 05:10:00	Like I said, I don't think it's card compatibility simply because the game has run fine before and doesn't appear to have problems for the short time before it errors out. That's not to say that isn't the issue, just that it doesn't strike me as so. Though as you mentioned, the site specifically says the card isn't compatible, so...hmm. Is there any way I can test the compatibility on the computer, that you know of? I know for a fact it's not the card overheating, though, as that was a suggestion of a guy who works for my dad. I've told the computer to alert me if my card overheats, and check the temp before and after playing for extensive periods. It never rises more than five degrees C above the resting temp. Playing with the side panel off didn't help.	SouthernCross (12644)
578848	2007-08-10 05:16:00	www.systemrequirementslab.com It's like trying to run a car with not enough fuel. You can get it to go for a mile then it will die, because there isn't enough fuel to go on.	--Wolf-- (128)
578849	2007-08-10 05:23:00	Like I said, I don't think it's card compatibility simply because the game has run fine before and doesn't appear to have problems for the short time before it errors out . Note: SHORT TIME . Exactly . Give up .	pctek (84)
1 2