No matter how I tweak the Oblivion.ini file, screenshots are simply disabled. I've tried every graphic setting, anti aliasing on/off, HDR on/off, bloom on/off, every combination I could think of and all I can think is that something is either bypassing my INI file, or it just isn't being read as an updated one. I don't know what to do, but my character is so beautiful, I really want to share her on the Photos of Characters thread. So I'm frustrated and deeply incompetent.

Can anybody help me out, please?

Not sure why that's not working for you, but if you really can't get it working, you could always try a dedicated app, like Fraps, Screenshoter or ATI Tray Tools (the last of these actually just happens to do that, among other things...)

Sorry, but I honestly can't think of why you're not having any luck at the moment. :/

You got the Oblivion.ini in the Document/My games/Oblivion folder (where you got your Save files) - NOT the oblivion Install folder.
And the setting

bAllowScreenShot=1

Mind, if your oblivion crashes on exit your screenshot index wont update - while in-game go to console and type "saveini" and the index will be saved.

Cheers and good luck!

First off, let's make sure you aren't editing the ini in your Oblivion folder: Oblivion_default.ini. That's a no-no. The one you want to edit is Oblivion.ini in C:\Users\<your name>\My Documents\My Games\Oblivion. Also, you mention lots of stuff you modified, but no NOT mention the one setting that must be altered to allow screen capture: bAllowScreenShot=0, which must be changed to bAllowScreenShot=1.

[NOTE: The above file-path is correct for Windows 7, and if memory serves Vista too. Might be different for XP users.]

Hope this helps.

-Decrepit-

Heh. I thought I saw that in the OP. Well anyway, that's certainly the first thing to try!

Ah. I was modifying the wrong wretched file. That would explain a lot, haha. Thanks guys, I'll try it again.

Um, big problem. I overwrote the INI file with the one I'd been modding, and then all the text in-game was way too big. Unusably so. So I deleted the file, but I hadn't backed it up. Now all my inventory screens are unusable. ... My game's wrecked. I'm using DarkUI, I think I changed a setting there I wasn't aware of. I really don't want to start again. I'm running OB on the highest settings, my PC's pretty good. Can anyone please share a working INI file with me? Otherwise I just can't play my game anymore. I can't play it with the text taking up half the screen, I can't see what I'm doing- this REALLY, REALLY svcks. I don't care about screenshots anymore- it'd be nice, but right now I have no game to take shots of. I can't play it. It's absurd. Ridiculous. The text is just huge. I hate this. Please help me?

I may possibly have panicked and overreacted- sorry for that. Looks like I fixed it... it wasn't so complicated after all, I'm just way stupider than my ego will permit my believing. But it's fixed, so sorry for the panic. Plus, screenshots now work, so I'll share Sabine Luna with you soon. She's lovely, a gothic Breton in the Blood List dress, dual wielding a Daedric sabre in her right hand, and a traditional Daedric dagger in her left. I'll share her soon. Tonight's a terrible headache.

Eep!

OK, worst case scenario...

There should be nothing wrong with your current Oblivion installation other than the ini snafu... assuming you didn't/don't have any unmentioned issues. Copy your entire playable Oblivion directory (with all sub-directories, of course) to a SAFE location, either on another partition/drive or burned on DVDs or other portable media. Verify that everything is good ... you don't wanna miss anything in during the copy process. Also backup up your game saves and any extra Oblivion related utilities/files housed in that location. Those should be fine too, all but Oblivion.ini. Once you have good safe backups, do an un-install / re-install of the game, in the same location it was before. That SHOULD give you a basic working game, with a good working default_ini plus a playable if basic Oblivion.ini. Copy both those ini's to another save location.

With all that done, copy your backed up current playable Oblivion directory on top of the newly installed version, letting it overwrite everything. Be aware that doing so will ruin your default_ini again. That's why we backed the new good one up. Copy the backed up good default ini over the bad one. (Alternatively, you can delete the corrupt default_ini before copying things back.) One problem solved.

Now go to the appropriate spot on your "C" drive and restore those game-saves if need be, as well as any other files related to Oblivion. But DO NOT restore the bad Oblivion.ini. You want to leave the good one from the fresh install in place. Another problem solved.

With both those steps done, assuming all went well, you should be back to normal, or at least as normal as your game ever was. At worst, you'll lose mod altered ini settings. But there aren't many mods that do that. Streamline comes to mind, though I know there are others. You'll also lose any ini modifications you made yourself, but I doubt that applies since you were messing with the wrong ini all this time.

There might be a simpler way to solve your dilemma, but if all else fails this SHOULD work. Might want to wait for others to comment and amend my directions before performing the corrections. I mighta forgot something, or made a few slip-ups. Plus, someone might send you the desired default_ini file.

OK folks, if I got any of this wrong, please CHIME IN AND CORRECT ME. I don't wanna make a bad situation worse by providing incorrect info.

UPDATE: Oho! You fixed it. Congrats! My solution was rather convoluted. Glad it wasn't necessary.

-Decrepit-