Black Screen Bug?

[Special Ed]

When I start Oblivion everything runs fine... Until I start playing and I'm blind. HUD shows up and I can hear NPC's talking, but I can't see squat. anyone know more about this "Black Screen Bug"?

[Meepus Moopus]

Try turning HDR off from the launcher.

[Special Ed]

neither turning HDR on or off helps, but thanks for taking interest

[Special Ed]

fixed it! I had to turn on bloom from inside game... I guess switching off HDR from the launcher was not enough

[gedebas]

Activating Bloom actually worked, thx

[Jersh]

Originally posted by Klatuu:

fixed it! I had to turn on bloom from inside game... I guess switching off HDR from the launcher was not enough

OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. Thank you for sharing your otherworldly wisdom.

[Special Ed]

You are most welcome. If only my otherworldly wisdom was enough to do the vampire cure quest... I am so mad at that dark brotherhood vampire for biting me.

[Rommel_QC_CA]

I'm running a modded game and one of my mods needed HDR. Another way to solve the black screen problem (just HUD showing during play) when HDR is enabled:
Go the Oblivion Shaders folder and backup ShaderPackage002.sdp, then replace it with a duplicate of ShaderPackage019.sdp (i.e. rename 019 to 002). What I read is that this forces the use of a newer shader version. Finally, run with HDR enabled. Voilà! (image shakes a bit, but not sure if this is the cause or not)

[SplitHead]

Originally posted by Rommel_QC_CA:

I'm running a modded game and one of my mods needed HDR. Another way to solve the black screen problem (just HUD showing during play) when HDR is enabled:
Go the Oblivion Shaders folder and backup ShaderPackage002.sdp, then replace it with a duplicate of ShaderPackage019.sdp (i.e. rename 019 to 002). What I read is that this forces the use of a newer shader version. Finally, run with HDR enabled. Voilà! (image shakes a bit, but not sure if this is the cause or not)

This is actually the simplest and best solution I was able to find. Thank you very much for sharing this! My OS just updated a couple days ago and I guess Oblivion lost it's shader support with the update :) - this fixes it perfectly. (and I'm not experiencing any image shaking or stuttering - no more than usual that is)

[CorwinSF]

OS updated today - Black screen upon firing up Oblivion. Worked yesterday just fine.

The ShaderPackage002.sdp file switch suggested by Rommel_QC_CA fixed me right up.

Thank you!

[76561197977267103]

Originally posted by The Funniest Joke:

fixed it! I had to turn on bloom from inside game... I guess switching off HDR from the launcher was not enough

Thanks for that. Fixed.

[76561197977267103]

Originally posted by NPCCorwin:

OS updated today - Black screen upon firing up Oblivion. Worked yesterday just fine.

The ShaderPackage002.sdp file switch suggested by Rommel_QC_CA fixed me right up.

Thank you!

I also have the shader package installed. I put that in and it didnt help. The HDR/Bloom changes worked here today.

[ᴀpocғyphaᴙevənant]

Originally posted by Rommel_QC_CA:

I'm running a modded game and one of my mods needed HDR. Another way to solve the black screen problem (just HUD showing during play) when HDR is enabled:
Go the Oblivion Shaders folder and backup ShaderPackage002.sdp, then replace it with a duplicate of ShaderPackage019.sdp (i.e. rename 019 to 002). What I read is that this forces the use of a newer shader version. Finally, run with HDR enabled. Voilà! (image shakes a bit, but not sure if this is the cause or not)

I was having this issue, and tried this method to fix it. However, it made no difference for some reason. I had used the TweakGuides method for enabling shader model 3.0 shaders (renaming shaderpackage019.sdp to shaderpackage013.sdp and enabling the Allow30Shaders INI setting), so I restored the backup of the original shaderpackage013.sdp in case that was messing it up, but it still didn't work. Enabling bloom instead of HDR has fixed it for now, but I don't want to leave it that way due to the loss in graphical quality. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

[marmormurmel]

To replace the right Shader:
You have to check the last line at "RendererInfo.txt".
To do this: enter the "Oblivion" directory located in the "My Games" folder (which is in turn located in the My Documents directory). There should be a file named "RendererInfo.txt". Locate the bottom entry in that text file and take note of the number listed (it should be between 1 and 19). The Number you find there is the shader you have to replace with shader19.



Explanation found at: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Tweaking

Game Mistakes Newer Hardware's Capabilities

When Oblivion is first run, it attempts to autodetect the maximum Shader Model and Shader Package the video card is capable of using. Unfortunately, some newer cards (both ATI and NVIDIA) are sometimes misdetected and Oblivion configures itself to use a Shader Package lower than the video cards maximum supported. While this may not always cause issues, some cards will experience a drastic difference in performance between newer and older shader packages. Using the highest shader model supported by your video card is generally recommended, as newer Shader Models often include improved shader algorithms as well as visual enhancements.

To force Oblivion to use the highest possible shader package (Oblivion only supports up to Shader Model 3.0, by default 2.0 is used), first enter the "Oblivion" directory located in the "My Games" folder (which is in turn located in the My Documents directory). There should be a file named "RendererInfo.txt". Locate the bottom entry in that text file and take note of the number listed (it should be between 1 and 19), then enter the "Data" folder located in Oblivion's directory in "Program Files", there should be a folder named "Shaders". Assuming your video card has support for Shader 3.0 or higher, make a copy of the file named "shaderpackage019.sdp". Now make a backup copy of the file "shaderpackage0[number you found in the RenderInfo file here].sdp (i.e shaderpackage007.sdp). Once you have made a backup copy of the shader delete the original file. Now rename the copy you made of "shaderpackage019.sdp" to the name of the shader that you made a backup of.

You should now have 2 copies of "shaderpackage019.sdp", except one should now have the name of the shader package that contained the number written in the "RenderInfo.txt" file. Now, whenever the game attempts to use the incorrect shader package, it will instead be using the highest one.

Note that this may cause some issues such as crashing, if this is experienced, simply recopy the backup of the shader package you made.

Alternatively, you can simply edit the RenderInfo file to use the correct shader package. Once you saved the text file change it to read only. This way the file won't revert to it's original state each time you run Oblivion.

[RCMetalhead101]

Originally posted by Rommel_QC_CA:

I'm running a modded game and one of my mods needed HDR. Another way to solve the black screen problem (just HUD showing during play) when HDR is enabled:
Go the Oblivion Shaders folder and backup ShaderPackage002.sdp, then replace it with a duplicate of ShaderPackage019.sdp (i.e. rename 019 to 002). What I read is that this forces the use of a newer shader version. Finally, run with HDR enabled. Voilà! (image shakes a bit, but not sure if this is the cause or not)

Thank you so much! I had tried uninstalling and reinstalling, deleting the ini files to see if my game was just corrupted but I had NO idea what was going on. You're advise worked for me so I really am appreciative!

[Erei]

I reinstalled Oblivion today, but I had this bug (black-ish screen with UI and sound). None of what was mentioned above worked (bloom, HDR, file swapping).

Edit : nevermind, I was an idiot, typed 02 instead of 002 in the file name. Derp.