I have had Oblivion GOTY Edition for months and it worked great.

I didn't play the game for a week or so, and now when I start the game, I hear music, see the launcher pop up, then get the Windows 7 "Oblivion Launcher has stopped working. Windows is checking for a solution to the problem...."

I have looked relentlessly on the internet for a solution, seeing that many people have the same problem I do. Some of them found solutions, and none of them worked for me. I would be grateful for any help whatsoever.

I have tried:
Restarting my computer.
Uninstalling and reinstalling the game (making sure there were no traces of the game on my computer when I uninstalled).
Launching from Oblivion.exe and launching from OblivionLaunch.exe.
The set launch options trick.
Adding Oblivion.exe to steam as a non-steam game.
Verifying the integrity of the game cache.
Deleting Oblivion.ini.
Deleting the Oblivion folder in My Games.
Updating DirectX.

I have Windows 7, downloaded the game from Steam, and have not even attempted to get a mod for Oblivion EVER.

I am aware that my computer meets the requirements to play Oblivion:
My processor is a AMD Athon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ 2.00 GHz.
I have 4GB of RAM.
I have a 64-bit operating system.


I have no idea what the problem could possibly be, and I would be grateful for any help whatsoever.

What directory is Oblivion installed in?

If it is anywhere under, for example, C:\Program Files (x86)\, you will need to uninstall it totally, and reinstall it somewhere else (I use C:\Games\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion, but you could put it somewhere else if you prefer). What's more, if you have Steam instlled under the forementioned directory, you will probably need to uninstall and reinstall that elsewhere* to begin with, seeing that the game, if I recall correctly, would in that instance have to be underneath the base Steam directory.

This has to do with security measures inherent in both Vista and Windows 7.

* Like C:\Games\Steam or whatever else appeals.


edit: You would probably get more (and/or better) answers if you posted this in the hardware and software forum instead...