Oblivion will not run

[Guest]

Hello, I just bought Oblivion Elder Scrolls IV and it will not run on my computer. Everytime I go to play it, a small black screen appears in the left upper right hand corner and the game stops responding. Here are my specs:


Windows XP
448 MB Ram
2.1 GHz
NVIDIA Geforce4 MX INtergrated GPU
NVIDIA(R) nforce (TM) Audio

Thank you!

I have tried installing this on 3 different computers with no luck! The other 2 were on Windows Vista but had the same issue!

 

[isamuelson]

More than likely it's the integrated GPU.

What were the system specs of the two Vista machines?

Integrated video cards suck. You really need a dedicated GPU card if you want to see any reasonable performance out of a game, especially one like Oblivion even though it's not the top-of-the-line graphic-intense game anymore. But still, you can't expect even that to run on a dedicated Geforce4 card.

Plus, if you only have 448 MB of ram, you're REALLY hurting because that memory is also shared with the graphics card on your MB since it's not a dedicated GPU.

Also, you list 2.1 ghz. 2.1 ghz what? Pentium? Core Duo, P4?

 

[Guest]

The processor is an AMD Anthlon XP 2800+, MMX, 3DNow, 2.1 Ghz

Sorry I am not the most computer literate person in the world, so I am not sure what this means exactly.

The computer is pretty old, from 2003 or 2004.

The Vista laptop is a DELL Inspirion from 2007. This laptop had the same problem I am having with the XP computer. It is not my computer so I am not sure what the system specs are offhand.

The other laptop I tried it on never actually installed because there is an I/O device error with the CD-ROM drive. I researched to find a way to resolve this problem, but couldn't find anything that worked.

Do you think I would probably have to buy a new computer to run this game?

 

[victordilorenzo]

yeah, new comp needed. even though oblivion is older, it still requires a decent computer because it was the best of its time for visuals and the engine sucks and is the most inefficient engine that I have played on.

 

[victordilorenzo]

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:System_Requirements


Read that too, sounds like you may be able to run the game using oldblivion.

 

[jaguarskx]

The problem with you old Windows XP PC i the video card. You CPU does meet the minimum requirements.

Oblivion was the first game that dropped support for DirectX 8.1. Your video card NVIDIA Geforce4 MX only supports up to DirectX 8.1 games. Oblivion requires a card that supports DirectX 9 or higher. You will need to buy an AGP or PCI video card (if you do not have an AGP port). Do not confuse a PCI-e video card with a PCI video card; the PCI interface is ancient.

Download CPU-Z to determine which video card interfact (port) you have:

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html


Since AGP and PCI card are older interfaces they cost more than the PCI-e equivalent due to less demand. PCI cards are especially more expensive and slower compared to AGP. Here's my recommendation:

AGP = HD 4670 - $123
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161284

PCI = HD 2400Pro - $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129120

You should consider buying a new computer if possible. The amount of money you will be spending for an AGP or PCI card is quite high compared to the performance you will be getting. That especially true for the PCI card.