This is copy and pasted from another forum.

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So I have been having troubles with this game and mods, and ended up uninstalling and reinstalling the game about...eight or nine times so far; maybe ten. Now, when I install Oblivion, with no mods or updates/patches added, just install Oblivion, the game is unusually bright. The prison you start in is as bright as day and the walls are like whitish grey mixed with white. Characters with light skin are so bright, they are glowing. This is very annoying. I think the reinstalls I did, and the number of them, screwed up some things on my computer. That is my guess.

I have Windows 7 Home Edtion 64 bit. I read this extensive uninstallation guide (part of this forum): http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=561101&st=0&p=8103714&#entry8103714. I followed it a couple of times. I notice that it is written for a Windows program other than Windows 7. It says to delete files in C:/Documents and Settings, which isn't on my computer, so I don't think it's on Windows 7. Also, the guide says this: "6.)Now still in Regedit find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{35CB6715-41F8-4F99-8881-6FC75BF054B0} and delete it the same way you deleted oblivion in the last step.(If it is still there - this is the uninstall key for add\remove programs)". That thing in bold isn't found there when the game is installed, which must mean that it's for regular Oblivion, not GOTY edition, which I have.

I'd like to remove all traces of Oblivion from my computer and reinstall it. Hopefully that will stop this annoying problem. But I don't know the cause of my problem, I'm just guessing that this is it. Any help is appreciated.

Edit:I went into HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and looked at register entries that looked the same as the one I bolded (series of random numbers and letters) and counted 17 of them when the game was installed. I uninstalled the game and 17 of those register entries are still there. I guess I'm reinstalling the game many times without it being clean of the game first. Might be the source of my problem.

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So that is my guess to what is causing my problem. If anyone knows this issue and knows how to fix it, please help. Or if you know how to do an extensive cleaning of the game from your system on Windows 7, and/or know which registry key to delete for Oblivion Game of the Year Edition, please help. Thanks to any and all that help.

In Vista with a graphical problem I usually go into C:\Users\(My Name)\Documents\My Games\Oblivion and delete a file called "Oblivion". This is my configuration (ini) settings for Oblivion.When you start a new game this file is replaced with a clean file after you pick your screen resolution. Doing this can avoid reinstalling a whole new game and will fix quite a few problems caused by deleted and inactive mods.

I will try this out. Hopefully it works.

It won't let me edit my post. Anyway, it didn't work.

The way that I usually delete Oblivion from my sytem to try out new builds, is to manually delete everything inside of C:\Games\Oblivion\Data folder, then delete everything inside C:\Games\Oblivion Folder. I then delete everything inside of My Games\Oblivion (this is the same folder your saves are stored in. I then manually start the Oblivion Installer on my GOTY disc one and let it do its job. I will usually make a copy of my saved games before I delete them. I just rembered that Windows recently blessed us with a new update recently, are the drivers for your graphics card updated from the company that makes your graphics card?

I did update the drivers today. It didn't solve the problem.

When you manually delete Oblivion files, do you uninstall first?

Refering back to my first post, I mention this uninstallation guide on this forum mentioning deleting an uninstall key in the registry. It is bolded and underlined in the post. I then mention that I find 17 uninstall keys that look like that on in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. When the game is installed, 17 uninstall keys are there. When I uninstall the game and manually delete files, 17 uninstall keys are still there. I think that I reinstalled the game multiple times with that registry entry still there, and I think it lead to my problem. If anyone knows the uninstall key for OB GOTY, that might help me.

And I was thinking, I'm mostly just interested in OB and not the expansions. I want to beat OB before Skyrim hits. If I bought OB Vanilla and installed that, it should be separate from OB GOTY. Does anyone think that if I install OB Vanilla, this could walk around my problem? Is it worth a shot? I don't mind buying OB Vanilla for $15.

I suspect the auto detect for settings in seeing your vid card as one of the older FX models, and setting your graphics accordingly. Fire up the launcher, set everything there the way you want it, fire up the game, go thru the graphics settings there, restart the game (if it tells you too) and see if that doesn't help.

Okay, I'll give that a shot.

That didn't fix the problem.

Did you try while in game adjusting the brightness slider? I notice on my install on W7 that when I adjust it slightly the first time it jumps to a higher brightness but then I slide it back and forth until a comfortable setting is obtained.

What kind a video card do you have? If it's an ATI then you may need to adjust the settings under both the Desktop Properties > Color tab and under the Desktops & Displays > RClick on the monitor at the bottom > Configure > Color. This is where the saturation setting is also. You can balance around with the settings under both these areas so that the Desktop is comfortable to view (first area) and also the settings in games is acceptable (second area).

I haven't had an NVidia for awhile so I can't really comment on if there are different areas for setting visual qualities for desktop and in games.