I want to reinstall Oblivion to try to see if it will fix a constant CTD I've been having non stop. Recently my Oblivion just keeps crashing over and over. I thought it was specifically north of Leyawiin but it seems that my game will crash as long as I either go outside, or play too long and load too many new maps. If I go outside and press nothing at all, after 15 seconds my Oblivion will crash. If I run around indoors too long I will crash. If I walk outside, or transfer from indoor to outdoor, sometimes I will crash as I load it up. Sometimes I'll also crash while walking outside after more than 15 seconds. But its unpredictable and its been making me so frustrated.

So yeah I want to try to install Oblivion from scratch without removing any mods/resources other than the default oblivion stuff (since I mod and I use a ton of resources). Is there any way I can do this? Help would be very much appreciated!

Yes there is but it might be better to track down the ctd. I recently went through this with one of my installs (FCOM again) and it was about reducing load order and removing mods that just aren't working - even though they did previously. You'd be surprised how creating a few test saves in an isolated cell and the deactivating mods and doing cell resets - you can identify what mods are causing the ctds - a large step toward either looking at fixing them or removing them.

But a reinstall? Why? it will be the same files and resources put back in. You could delete your ini and see if that helps when the game generates a new one.

Still to answer your question - when you uninstall it will only remove what was placed with the original install. So if you uninstall and then reinstall it will place the files back to where they were.

But again other than an ini setting that may be bad - it is doubtful your problems are due to the vanilla game - more likely a mod issue. And keeping all modded material will not solve that.

Mmm then how might I go about finding the rogue troublemaker? I can't make any progress on my mod because of the CTD's =/. It svcks too because I've been having lots of inspiration lately.

Yes I want you to finish your mod too! :goodjob:

There are a few things to consider.

1. The ini for one - bad settings can cause this. delete the current on and the game will make a new generic one.

2. Bashed patch settings - make one with reduced settings. try loading without the bashed patch.

3. The issue could be a corrupt spawn point or even a mesh that is bad spawning at a point. http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Tracking_Down_Corrupt_Spawn_Points. Crashing in the same area could be that or a bad mesh on architecture. Find out what cells your crashing in then start up tes4edit and search out that cell - note all mods that affect that cell then either
A. Disable them all and see if it continues - if not then then re-enable in chunks until you find the culprit.
B. Disable in chunks until it is clear what is causing it. I do this by mod themes (remove AI mods first then landscape or architecture, then quests, etc)

4. You could save before the crash and the open the console in game and type tai (to toggle off AI) or tscr (toggle off scripts) - if no crashing that is a solid lead - it is likely not a mesh then.

5. here is one Arthmoor taught me. To test if it is meshes - just rename your meshes folder and load the game - you may see a lot of yellow excalamtions, but if no crash that is a solid lead. To test Textures rename that folder and load the game - if that it loads you will see a lot of purple but maybe no crash?

6. It could be the save game file is corrupt. try generating a new character and go there with the same load order. does it crash then?

7. It could be the mod your working on (but ... how could that be - no nevermind).

These are just ways of dancing the same dance of disabling until stability returns.

Maybe an answer here: http://tesivpositive.animolious.com/?page=cps_library

As for uninstalling/reinstalling what makes managing resources for mods really effective is http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1084204-bain-mod-installation-projects/ as it will show you that perhaps that mod you thought was not interefered with may have textures or meshes overwritten by another mod. BAIN tracks all that.

best of luck.

I tested pretty much all of those and still crashed...but I saw something interesting just now. When i was loading up the new area I got the Crashed message...but Oblivion still didnt "close" yet. So it stayed open. The new area opened up and I was able to walk around for a bit. Then I got another crash that said that the memory allocated couldn't be read...something like that. Do you think it might be a hardware failure?

Have you tried using the Large Address tweak on the Oblivion.exe - so that it can use more memory ... can't find the link where is that at?

Can't say that it is a cure-all but may help.

But - is it a matter of crashing no matter where you go - even if no mods are active? Could be hardware. Have your tried without OBSE if you have it?

What is your operating system and did you install in the default location?

Really - all those options and the game still crashes? wow - well again I don't know if a reinstall will help, but you could try this - This requires disc space.

1. Copy and back up your game folder, save game folder, and AppData folder (location depending on operating system - wherever it saves the load order info).

2. Then uninstall your game.

3. Then remove all the rest of the content of those locations. Remembering that you backed up the installs elsewhere.

4. Then reinstall the game.

That will give you the base install and have all your regular install stuff backed up - you can copy back over the back-ups to get it back to where it was.

If you installed in the default location and decide to do this - I'd reinstall outside UAC areas of control.