Oblivion won't launch

[theguys0ssy]

I've been trying to play Oblivion but the game won't launch; I get the launcher but after that the game doesn't start. is there a way to fix this?

[WildPaw]

same here, various answers on reddit, nothing works yet

[CHASE6]

Vanilla should work if steam and pc are up to date. Did you have a previous install? If so, there may be leftover garbage. Purge everything related to oblivion, then reinstall.

[theguys0ssy]

Not a new install, I guess just doesn't work for some people

[WhateverWorks]

Delete the Oblivion file in My Games under Documents. Then run it again. I've run this game vanilla and extensively modded on 6-7 computers over the years with dramatically varying hardware. I've never even once had issues getting it to run. Getting all mods tweaked just right and working together took tons of trial and error, but never the vanilla game.

[theguys0ssy]

Originally posted by WhateverWorks:

Delete the Oblivion file in My Games under Documents. Then run it again. I've run this game vanilla and extensively modded on 6-7 computers over the years with dramatically varying hardware. I've never even once had issues getting it to run. Getting all mods tweaked just right and working together took tons of trial and error, but never the vanilla game.

Tried that a bunch of times but it doesn't fix it

[CHASE6]

Originally posted by theguys0ssy:

Originally posted by WhateverWorks:

Delete the Oblivion file in My Games under Documents. Then run it again. I've run this game vanilla and extensively modded on 6-7 computers over the years with dramatically varying hardware. I've never even once had issues getting it to run. Getting all mods tweaked just right and working together took tons of trial and error, but never the vanilla game.

Tried that a bunch of times but it doesn't fix it

See my post above; you may have more oblivion related content. Search Windows and delete all you find for Oblivion.

[theguys0ssy]

Originally posted by CHASE6:

Originally posted by theguys0ssy:

Tried that a bunch of times but it doesn't fix it

See my post above; you may have more oblivion related content. Search Windows and delete all you find for Oblivion.

No still didn't work

[CHASE6]

Bizarre. I'm at a loss. I have run this on Windows 7 - 11 with no issues. Wondering if you have a software or hardware issue.

[theguys0ssy]

Originally posted by WildPaw:

same here, various answers on reddit, nothing works yet

Originally posted by CHASE6:

Bizarre. I'm at a loss. I have run this on Windows 7 - 11 with no issues. Wondering if you have a software or hardware issue.

I was able to find fix for it; by going to browse local files, then going into properties, then compatibility, and clicking disable fullscreen optimizations and run this program as administrator for both oblivion and the oblivion launcher

[Zuggaz]

Im having the same problem on new hardware and none of these issues mentioned above fixed anything for me

[CHASE6]

Originally posted by theguys0ssy:

Originally posted by WildPaw:

same here, various answers on reddit, nothing works yet

Originally posted by CHASE6:

Bizarre. I'm at a loss. I have run this on Windows 7 - 11 with no issues. Wondering if you have a software or hardware issue.

I was able to find fix for it; by going to browse local files, then going into properties, then compatibility, and clicking disable fullscreen optimizations and run this program as administrator for both oblivion and the oblivion launcher

That's good news. I'm surprised though; whenever I have had issues with anything and followed that process, it has never worked for me.

[lonetrav]

You'll have to leave it at that. Oblivion works without disabling fullscreen optimisation. If disabling it fixes a problem, then the problem was elsewhere - Oblivion may have played a role, but other factors must have contributed, too.
You'll never have complete information about a remote PC (probably not even about your own).

[marvispontiax]

I think I fixed it (but maybe without DLC?)
Mine crashed on launch when the Bethesda intro logo vid starts.
In the launcher I clicked "Data Files" and then "Reset to defaults".
After that only "oblivion.esm (master file)" was checked.
It seems to startup now but I think DLC files have also been unchecked not sure.
EDIT: hand deleted all the local oblivion files (you know: steamapps/common/oblivion....) and the files under "My Games/oblivion") and redownloading as we speak. My problem was due to old mod files still being in there.

[lonetrav]

I appreciate it when posters inform the community when they manage to solve the problems they reported themselves - even though the solution may not work for everyone. I don't like these "fire-and-forget" posts, where someone writes "Oblivion crashed" (with or without additional details), then there are a number of posts offering help, and then - nothing. No reply, no feedback from the problem reporter ...

[WhateverWorks]

Originally posted by marvispontiax:

I think I fixed it (but maybe without DLC?)
Mine crashed on launch when the Bethesda intro logo vid starts.
In the launcher I clicked "Data Files" and then "Reset to defaults".
After that only "oblivion.esm (master file)" was checked.
It seems to startup now but I think DLC files have also been unchecked not sure.
EDIT: hand deleted all the local oblivion files (you know: steamapps/common/oblivion....) and the files under "My Games/oblivion") and redownloading as we speak. My problem was due to old mod files still being in there.

I've been playing (and modding) Oblivion since launch. Like I play it regularly to this day, and tweak my mods regularly to this day. I've probably set it up on 6-7 computers with varying specs over the years. And this is almost always the problem when someone can't get Oblivion running. I'd bet my account that most people who complain the game won't run are neglecting to mention that they were playing around with installing mods and didn't follow directions. If Oblivion isn't running on a modern computer, you need to go through and be absolutely sure there isn't ANYTHING left over from a past install anywhere on your computer. Not in the games install location (wherever yours is, I use external to simplify this stuff), and not in documents with your saves and .inis. You need to be sure Vortex or whatever modloader you're trying to use isn't still applying Oblivion files (don't use vortex or even anything new, use the old OBMM or Wyrebash they have the longest track record).

I've never been unable to get this game running. For that matter, I've never been unable to get any game I've purchased running unless the computer in question simply didn't have the required specs.