I've been having a really infuriating problem with CTDs for a while and I was wondering if anyone recognises what I'm doing wrong here.

About a year ago my harddrive got fried in a power cut and I lost my Oblivion install. When I finally worked up the energy to reinstall the game plus my myriad mods, I noticed an odd pattern - I would install the vanilla game fine, get through about 50 mods or so, and then a certain time after that Oblivion would no longer play without CTDing right after startup. I would assume I got something badly wrong, uninstall, and start over again - with the same results. Funnily enough, this did not pertain to a specific mod - I noted the exact one I had installed before the CTDs started happening and it was a different one in each case - it just seemed to happen a certain time after install.

I gave up and left Oblivion in its box for a while. Then this autumn, Princess_Stomper clued me into the fact that the game has a cap on installed mods - too many in your data folder and it has a tantrum. Feeling sure I'd found the problem, I halved my list and tried again this week. Until... you guessed it, same thing. I noted everything down very carefully this time. The first CTD directly after startup happened 3 1/2 hours from the first vanilla install, on the fifth time I fired up the game, after 108 mods had been installed, the final one being Mannimarco Revisited. Here is my load order:




What's infuriating is that before I had my harddrive meltdown, my data folder was a shocking mess. My load order was a pigsty, I was running numerous dubious mod tweaks of my own (negligibly talented) make, and despite all that the game ran sweet as a nut. Now, since my HD failure, I've gone all conscientious and have tried my best to follow standard install orders, used BOSS to sort everything properly, made my bashed patch in Wrye Bash, the whole 9 yards. I did everything I could to make a clean tidy install, and this CTD happens EVERY TIME no matter what I do. I just spent 5 hours trying again and was crushed at 11th hour when yep, CTD right after startup again. I didn't even make it through the Bethesda logo screen. I'm tearing my hair out and trying to remember that hey, wasn't this game supposed to be fun once upon a time?

Does anyone recognise this problem or have a clue as to what I'm doing wrong? I'll even bake you cookies!

I would guess that there's nothing wrong with Oblivion OR the mods. The problem is with the Harddrive itself.

Most likely, your harddrive or computer was damaged during the meltdown. If you haven't, you should replace the harddrive (and carry over any data on it) and see if that helps. If not, then something bad probably happened to any number of components on your PC that hasn't been replaced since the meltdown, and you can either A: buy new parts until you can play Oblivion without CTDing, B: get your computer looked over by a technition, who will then (hopefully) tell you what's wrong, or C: buy a new computer.

I'd reccomend B, then C, given the circumstances.

Not sure if you said you ran Oblivion without mods to see if you got the CTD. If you have, and got the CTD, then that's a definate sign that you've got a hardware problem.

You should re-run BOSS (make sure lock times is off in Wrye Bash), since you have lots of mods after Bashed Patch. You're also missing UL patch for Lost Spires and possible some other mods. When rebuilding bashed patch make sure you select all import boxes (except formids and names) and all mods inside(if you have a mod that has those tags ofcourse). You should also check: http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/TES4Edit_Cleaning_Guide , mod cleaning can make a big difference in stability and here is a very detailed guide with all dos and don'ts. Besides that, I can't remember anything else since only overhaul you have is OOO and it's very stable :unsure:

EDIT:
Freshened up, got some new ideas. Make sure you use latest version of obse(v20 beta 4), get http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=27710, http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10739, http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9969 (use just knights patch obviously).
I'm not sure as I've never used either, but check if Roleplaying Dialogues.esp and Enhanced Quest Roleplaying.esp are compatible (judging by their names, they seem to do similar thing).
Do you have latest OOO? (1.34b5), on OOO- COBL says 1.32. Check for any issues with sound mods since Oblivion is very sensitive with audio things.

A couple of things that jump out at me regarding your LO.

There shouldn't be anything under your Bashed Patch, especially UL mods. Re-BOSS your list, or re-order those esp's manually.
Where are all the Better Cities esp's? (I'm assuming that Thievery and COBL aren't stand-alone)

Have you installed (or uninstalled) any UI mods? And have you tried deleting your oblivion.ini to generate a new one?

Yeah, I agree with all the above ^^^

Also, you didn't mention if you were trying to load old save-games, or trying starting a new one from scratch...

I would suggest, also, that it would help a lot if you can post your load order using Bash List mods function, since it show mod's versions. That would help the troubleshooting, I think.

One final thing... this: "Salmo The Baker v2.0.esp" was a known origin of random CTD's (back in my time, at least!)...

Thank you so much for your detailed and prompt replies! I spent the last 2 hours painstakingly following all of your suggestions and advice - patches downloaded, missing mods located and installed, load order BOSSed, some problems mods gotten rid of (although I'm sad to lose Thievery, Bash just wasn't happy with it)... and at last, it's working! Thank you so so much!

Now I have to make good on that cookies promise...