Oblivion Crash Fixes (Probably...)

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » March 29th, 2006, 9:12

Ripped off the Elder Scrolls forums, I'd tried loads of other stuff before these and after going through this list i've not crashed yet, but I've not really had a chance to play it much since trying these out.

SOLUTION: There are five solutions that will solve 99% of all crashings

1: Update your video and audio drivers, or roll them back if
necessary. I know it sounds retarded, but it works.

2: FOR USERS WITH AN HP PRINTER: Before loading Oblivion: enter the
task manager (Ctrl Alt Del on a windows XP comp.) Look for any
processes starting with the letter hp. Left click them, and then click
end process. This should clear up most of your problems with crashing.
Lets hope this gets patched!

3: Go to your desktop. Hit f3 (alternatively, go to start menu and
click Search). Choose "All files". For location, go to browse, then
C:/Windows .
For file name type "mpeg2dmx.ax". Rename this file (right click,
rename) "mpeg2dmx.ax.old"

4: Remove any instances of StarForce from your computer. Star horse is
a nasty little piece of spyware included in many games from the past
two years or so. It has a performance issue that can degrade CD and
HDD access speeds to the point where the game will crash, or your
computer will Blue Screen of Death. The worst part is, you never
consented to it's installation: it's a completely stealth form of copy
protection. Thousands of people have it and don't know.

To detect if you have Star horse, right click "My computer", click
properties, click the hardware tab, click Device Manager.

In the device manager, click View --->show hidden devices (something
like that, it says show hidden).

Now look down the list for a section called "Non Plug n Play devices".
Expand that section (click the +). If you see between 1 and 3 devices
in there named "Star horse", you're infected.

To remove it: First, check if this will make you lose compatibility
with any of your other games....There is a complete list at
www.glop.org/starforce/list.php

If you have a compatability issue, sorry: your games may be unplayable
if you remove starforce.

Removal: Once you've determined you won't have a compatability issue,
download the official (from the makers of starforce) removal tool:

http://www.onlinesecurity-on.com/protect.phtml?c=55
also http://www.glop.org/files/sfdrvrem.zip

Run the tool. You will need to reboot. Do so.

Check and see if those drivers in your Device manager were removed. If
not you'll need to manually uninstall them (right click their name,
uninstall). You'll be asked to reboot. You don't have to reboot until
the last one, so if you have 3 drivers there (most people have 3),
click no for the first two, and yes for the last one. If you're scared
about uninstalling the driver, you can just disable it, but you'll
still need to reboot.

Next, remove the Starforce files from your hard drive: The tool should
have done this, but make sure just in case:

Go to start->search. Search all local hard disks. (no CD/DVDs) for the
following 3 files:

sfsync*.sys
sfhlp*.sys
sfdrv*.sys

type them in just like that. If you find anything, remove them. DO NOT
REBOOT YET!

Now here comes the part you need to be VERY careful:

Go to start ---> run. Type REGEDIT.
VERY FIRST THING YOU NEED TO DO IS BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY!!!!

Hit File----> Export. Make a name like starforcebackup.reg or
something you'll remember, in a place you'll be able to find,
preferably in C:/ (remember exactly where you did it, incase you mess
up and have to find it again in DOS).

Go to the Edit menu, click Find. Alternatively, hit Ctrl+F. These are
the 3 things you'll be looking for

sfsync
sfhlp
sfdrv

Make sure you're looking through KEYS, DATA, VALUES, everything.
They're ALLLLL over.

When you find it, delete it. Odds are it will say "Hahahah you can't
delete this sucka!". This is when you say "Boomshakalaka windows, you
can't stop me!" and right click the key you're deleting, click
Permissions, and then make sure "Grant full control" is selected. Then
you can delete it and be smug in your superiority. Close out regedit,
your changes took effect immediately. If you haven't crashed out of
windows, you didn't mess anything up. If you deleted any files in the
last step, when you were doing the file search (not the registry
search), reboot your computer now.

Finally, go to start---->run, and type MSCONFIG. Go through all the
tabs there and make sure anything relating to Starforce, including
anything with those 3 names: sfsync, sfhlp, sfdrv is unchecked or
removed. If you didn't have to edit anything here, you're done. If you
DID edit something there, reboot, and you're done.

5. Finally, if you are running a creative sound card (soundblaster
series), hit Ctrl Alt Delete and go to the task manager. If you see
something like Soundman.exe, end that process. For some reason it can
be touchy with Oblivion.

Hopefully that should fix 99% of your problems with crashing.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » March 29th, 2006, 15:41

Thanks for this, it's helped I think and I'm probably up to the 99% of crash free play now.

I mananged to minimise and reopen the game with no crash, can you believe it?!

Post by **FatherJack** » March 29th, 2006, 17:51

spoodie wrote:Thanks for this, it's helped I think and I'm probably up to the 99% of crash free play now.

I mananged to minimise and reopen the game with no crash, can you believe it?!

I think there's a trick to it - I did with no probs it without thinking half a dozen times over the weekend, but now I think about it and ESC-pause or go into the inventory first it locks up.

The ones that worked I just pressed ALT+TAB without pausing, then left another window open when switching back in - to find the game had paused itself.

Lee · Post by **Lee** » March 29th, 2006, 18:36

Bah, all of a sudden I cant fast travel or even enter a location manually without it crashing

Edit: Actually, ignore that... was messing about with various tweaks earlier on and hadnt tried changing location till now, tis fixed now.

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » March 31st, 2006, 11:15

Well after many more hours of gameplay I havn't had a single crash since trying these out, I suspect it was the 'mpeg2dmx.ax' or StarForce (paranoid) issue. or both (ultra paranoid). or evil pirate ghost aliens (Lock me up paranoid)

Post by **Dog Pants** » March 31st, 2006, 11:55

mrbobbins wrote:Well after many more hours of gameplay I havn't had a single crash since trying these out, I suspect it was the 'mpeg2dmx.ax' or StarForce (paranoid) issue. or both (ultra paranoid). or evil pirate ghost aliens (Lock me up paranoid)

LeChuck was an alien?

Post by **Roman Totale** » March 31st, 2006, 19:15

I can't find 'mpeg2dmx.ax' anywhere.

Boo hiss!

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » March 31st, 2006, 20:31

Roman_Totale wrote:I can't find 'mpeg2dmx.ax' anywhere.

Boo hiss!

It's part of the Elecard codec package, so you probably don't have it installed. I found mine here: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Elecard

I've just spent 1 or 2 hours fixing my PC after flashing an updated BIOS and my balls are too big for me to have a floppy disk installed in my PC for restoring an old BIOS.

Now back to trying to make the game work better.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » April 5th, 2006, 7:40

easier way to kill starforce is by downloading the remover.

run it, if you don't have starforce drivers, it'll tell you.

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » April 5th, 2006, 8:30

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:easier way to kill starforce is by downloading the remover.

run it, if you don't have starforce drivers, it'll tell you.

I did this, but it still had registry entries, naughty SF