Dave54o's forum posts
internet, and it ends with the fix I discovered that finally worked. Hopefully this guide will help anyone else who has the nVidia Black Screen Bug.
1. What is the nVidia Black Screen Bug?
In order to run into the nVidia Black Screen Bug, you must be playing Oblivion with HDR Lighting enabled, and you usually must have an nVidia series 7 or 8 graphics
card.
The bug looks like this: You're doing something in oblivion, when suddenly the world goes black. You still have the user interface, you still have sound, and if you
turn or walk, the compass and sound indicate that the game is still running. If you exit to the main menu, and load any game, the world will still be black. You have
to quit Oblivion and start it again before you can see again.
2. How can I fix the bug?
This is where it gets tricky. While the above description seems universal for anyone who has the bug, different fixes work for different people. Here's a list of all
the fixes I've found, but I recommend that you read this entire post before attempting any fixes:
a. Disable HDR Lighting. This works for everyone, but makes the game look like crap.
b. When you run into the bug, turn your character around (180 degrees), type either ` or ~ to open the console, type "cal" (without the quotes), hit enter, and type
either ` or ~ to close the console. This will allow you to see again, however it will not prevent you from running into the bug again.
c. Tweak your video settings in Oblivion. Put every bar at half way. Some people find that the bug only occurs when specific bars are at full or zero.
d. Disable all your mods. It's possible a mod could be causing the problem.
e. Use one of the following mods: or . These mods use
different techniques to attempt to solve the problem. Try each of them.
f. Update your graphics card driver.
g. Disable overclocking on your card. In fact, try underclocking too.
h. Clean the dust off your graphics card. Seriously. If your graphics card is overheating it could cause this problem.
i. Reflash your bios. (I've heard this suggested several times, but haven't seen someone fix the problem this way yet.)
3. None of the above fixes worked (except for "a"). What do I do now?
None of those fixes worked for me either. Here's some more information on exactly how my version of the bug works:
If I go to "Sideways Cave" (directly east of the Imperial City Prison), as soon as the door at the entrance of the cave loads (when I'm looking towards it), I get the
black screen. Every single time without fail. In the video options, HDR Lighting must be enabled for this to happen, but no other options affect the bug. If I turn
"Object Fade" all the way down, I have to be quite close to the door before it loads and I get a black screen. The higher the "Object Fade" bar is, the farther away
from the door I have to be to not get a black screen.
Frustrated that I could not find a fix, I uninstalled everything on my computer that was oblivion related. Then I deleted the program folders. Next I installed
Oblivion and checked for the bug. The bug was gone! Then I installed The Official Oblivion Patch (v1.2.0416), Oblivion Script Extender (v0014a), and Oblivion Mod
Manager (1.1.9) without the bug showing up.
Then I installed The Unofficial Oblivion Patch (v3.0.0), and the bug was back! Disabling The Unofficial Oblivion Patch did not stop the bug. However, uninstalling it
did stop the bug. You can uninstall The Unofficial Oblivion Patch by using the windows uninstaller in the control panel (It's called "Unofficial Oblivion Patch
v3.0.0") or by going to "Start > Programs > Unofficial Oblivion Patch > Uninstall".
I hope this guide helps, and that you finally find a fix to your problem.
-Dave
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