So I just nabbed Oblivion GOTY edition off of Steam the other day, but I've been having exceptional problems actually getting the danged game to work. Namely, after the word "Oblivion" appears, all text/buttons on the start menu disappear completely. Running in window mode fixes that, but suddenly every person in the game has no face now. I've tried running the game in different compatibility modes, as an administrator, and gotten rid of all other unnecessary programs, with no improved results.

I've been at this for hours, so I'd really appreciate any and all help.

Sounds like a bad install...... Might try redownloading it, or, if steam has a "file checker" function, might wanna run that, and see if it missed anything.

I've actually re-installed it twice now. I just tried verifying the game cache, pretty much the closest thing to a file checker, and it reported jack diddly.

Lots of folks are having similar problem over at the Steam Forums too. I have a bad feeling it's on the fault of Steam, and considering Valve time...ugh.

Might be less frustrating just to buy a copy of the game........ although, I hear getting money back from steam is a lot like pulling hen's teeth....

Ahah! Figured it out, I had to disable the Steam Community In-Game option. Thanks for helping anyway.

Really? That seems odd...... If you want to run OBSE mods, that option will need to be turned on. Wonder what that's all about.....