oblivion and morrowind on windows vista

MJB wrote:
> "Margo" <mromberg DeleteThis @blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:gApqi.30529$2U6.16073@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>> Don't know if this is a stupid question but I recently bought a new laptop
>> which has windows vista and have tried installing both games with no
>> success. My desktop runs Morrowind no problem, but is not able to cope
>> with the demands of oblivion. I was not sure if Oblivion would run on the
>> laptop, but why not Morrowind?
>>
>> Margo
>
> What do you mean by 'won't run'?
>
> a) Won't install game?
> b) Installs game but won't actually get past the load screens?
> c) Gets past the load screen to the actual game but crashes to the desktop?
> d) Or something else entirely?
>
Game seems to install no problem.

Can't get as far as the load screens. When I tried morrowind last
night, it ran for about 15 seconds, showed the "bethesda" name, then the
screen freezes. There is a message saying that windows had found a
problem, and will gather info to let me know, then everything freezes
including the mouse pointer. I had the hell of a job last night trying
to work out how to get the laptop to restart.
 >> Stay informed about: oblivion and morrowind on windows vista 

"Margo" <mromberg RemoveThis @blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Ccrqi.30543$2U6.26062@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> MJB wrote:
>> "Margo" <mromberg RemoveThis @blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:gApqi.30529$2U6.16073@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>>
> Game seems to install no problem.
>
> Can't get as far as the load screens. When I tried morrowind last night,
> it ran for about 15 seconds, showed the "bethesda" name, then the screen
> freezes. There is a message saying that windows had found a problem, and
> will gather info to let me know, then everything freezes including the
> mouse pointer. I had the hell of a job last night trying to work out how
> to get the laptop to restart.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/913818/17286

http://forum.notebookreview.com/archive/index.php?f-26-p-22.html

The above two links might be helpful in finding similiar issues to your own
and potential solutions. The other thing that some people have had luck
running any sort of xp / win98 game in vista is to run the game in the xp
compatibility mode.

--
MJB

Mr. Tin's Miniature Painting Workshop:
http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/
 >> Stay informed about: oblivion and morrowind on windows vista 

On Jul 27, 2:55 pm, Margo <mromb....DeleteThis@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> MJB wrote:
> > "Margo" <mromb....DeleteThis@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> >news:gApqi.30529$2U6.16073@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> >> Don't know if this is a stupid question but I recently bought a new laptop
> >> which has windows vista and have tried installing both games with no
> >> success. My desktop runs Morrowind no problem, but is not able to cope
> >> with the demands of oblivion. I was not sure if Oblivion would run on the
> >> laptop, but why not Morrowind?
>
> >> Margo
>
> > What do you mean by 'won't run'?
>
> > a) Won't install game?
> > b) Installs game but won't actually get past the load screens?
> > c) Gets past the load screen to the actual game but crashes to the desktop?
> > d) Or something else entirely?
>
> Game seems to install no problem.
>
> Can't get as far as the load screens. When I tried morrowind last
> night, it ran for about 15 seconds, showed the "bethesda" name, then the
> screen freezes. There is a message saying that windows had found a
> problem, and will gather info to let me know, then everything freezes
> including the mouse pointer. I had the hell of a job last night trying
> to work out how to get the laptop to restart.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Does Vista have a backwards compatibiity mode you could activate for
the game?
 >> Stay informed about: oblivion and morrowind on windows vista 

"Margo" <mromberg DeleteThis @blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Ccrqi.30543$2U6.26062@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> MJB wrote:
>> "Margo" <mromberg DeleteThis @blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:gApqi.30529$2U6.16073@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>>> Don't know if this is a stupid question but I recently bought a new
>>> laptop which has windows vista and have tried installing both games with
>>> no success. My desktop runs Morrowind no problem, but is not able to
>>> cope with the demands of oblivion. I was not sure if Oblivion would run
>>> on the laptop, but why not Morrowind?
>>>
>>> Margo
>>
>> What do you mean by 'won't run'?
>>
>> a) Won't install game?
>> b) Installs game but won't actually get past the load screens?
>> c) Gets past the load screen to the actual game but crashes to the
>> desktop?
>> d) Or something else entirely?
>>
> Game seems to install no problem.
>
> Can't get as far as the load screens. When I tried morrowind last night,
> it ran for about 15 seconds, showed the "bethesda" name, then the screen
> freezes. There is a message saying that windows had found a problem, and
> will gather info to let me know, then everything freezes including the
> mouse pointer. I had the hell of a job last night trying to work out how
> to get the laptop to restart.

I run Oblivion on Vista no problems. It just installed and ran. I have the
Home Premium edition with Aero and all that other sexy stuff running as
well.
 >> Stay informed about: oblivion and morrowind on windows vista 

"Margo" <mromberg.TakeThisOut@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Ccrqi.30543$2U6.26062@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> MJB wrote:
>> "Margo" <mromberg.TakeThisOut@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:gApqi.30529$2U6.16073@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>>> Don't know if this is a stupid question but I recently bought a new
>>> laptop which has windows vista and have tried installing both games with
>>> no success. My desktop runs Morrowind no problem, but is not able to
>>> cope with the demands of oblivion. I was not sure if Oblivion would run
>>> on the laptop, but why not Morrowind?
>>>
>>> Margo
>>
>> What do you mean by 'won't run'?
>>
>> a) Won't install game?
>> b) Installs game but won't actually get past the load screens?
>> c) Gets past the load screen to the actual game but crashes to the
>> desktop?
>> d) Or something else entirely?
>>
> Game seems to install no problem.
>
> Can't get as far as the load screens. When I tried morrowind last night,
> it ran for about 15 seconds, showed the "bethesda" name, then the screen
> freezes. There is a message saying that windows had found a problem, and
> will gather info to let me know, then everything freezes including the
> mouse pointer. I had the hell of a job last night trying to work out how
> to get the laptop to restart.

Actually, I had a problem like this once when I cranked up the video res
beyond the memory available on my video card. The video card tries to
capture main RAM to hold the textures etc and this doesn't leave enough for
the game + O/S.

My fix was to go into "settings" on the first screen and turn the video res
down - try 640 x 480 with everything "off" to see if this is the problem.
You can turn it back up when you identify the problem.
 >> Stay informed about: oblivion and morrowind on windows vista 

Peter Webb wrote:
>
> "Margo" <mromberg DeleteThis @blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:Ccrqi.30543$2U6.26062@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>> MJB wrote:
>>> "Margo" <mromberg DeleteThis @blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>>> news:gApqi.30529$2U6.16073@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>>>> Don't know if this is a stupid question but I recently bought a new
>>>> laptop which has windows vista and have tried installing both games
>>>> with no success. My desktop runs Morrowind no problem, but is not
>>>> able to cope with the demands of oblivion. I was not sure if
>>>> Oblivion would run on the laptop, but why not Morrowind?
>>>>
>>>> Margo
>>>
>>> What do you mean by 'won't run'?
>>>
>>> a) Won't install game?
>>> b) Installs game but won't actually get past the load screens?
>>> c) Gets past the load screen to the actual game but crashes to the
>>> desktop?
>>> d) Or something else entirely?
>>>
>> Game seems to install no problem.
>>
>> Can't get as far as the load screens. When I tried morrowind last
>> night, it ran for about 15 seconds, showed the "bethesda" name, then
>> the screen freezes. There is a message saying that windows had found
>> a problem, and will gather info to let me know, then everything
>> freezes including the mouse pointer. I had the hell of a job last
>> night trying to work out how to get the laptop to restart.
>
> Actually, I had a problem like this once when I cranked up the video res
> beyond the memory available on my video card. The video card tries to
> capture main RAM to hold the textures etc and this doesn't leave enough
> for the game + O/S.
>
> My fix was to go into "settings" on the first screen and turn the video
> res down - try 640 x 480 with everything "off" to see if this is the
> problem. You can turn it back up when you identify the problem.
>
>
Thanks for all advice. I wasn't aware of vista having a backwards
compatibility mode. Will investigate and try again.
 >> Stay informed about: oblivion and morrowind on windows vista 

Margo wrote:
> Peter Webb wrote:
>>
>> "Margo" <mromberg DeleteThis @blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:Ccrqi.30543$2U6.26062@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>>> MJB wrote:
>>>> "Margo" <mromberg DeleteThis @blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>>>> news:gApqi.30529$2U6.16073@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>>>>> Don't know if this is a stupid question but I recently bought a new
>>>>> laptop which has windows vista and have tried installing both games
>>>>> with no success. My desktop runs Morrowind no problem, but is not
>>>>> able to cope with the demands of oblivion. I was not sure if
>>>>> Oblivion would run on the laptop, but why not Morrowind?
>>>>>
>>>>> Margo
>>>>
>>>> What do you mean by 'won't run'?
>>>>
>>>> a) Won't install game?
>>>> b) Installs game but won't actually get past the load screens?
>>>> c) Gets past the load screen to the actual game but crashes to the
>>>> desktop?
>>>> d) Or something else entirely?
>>>>
>>> Game seems to install no problem.
>>>
>>> Can't get as far as the load screens. When I tried morrowind last
>>> night, it ran for about 15 seconds, showed the "bethesda" name, then
>>> the screen freezes. There is a message saying that windows had found
>>> a problem, and will gather info to let me know, then everything
>>> freezes including the mouse pointer. I had the hell of a job last
>>> night trying to work out how to get the laptop to restart.
>>
>> Actually, I had a problem like this once when I cranked up the video
>> res beyond the memory available on my video card. The video card tries
>> to capture main RAM to hold the textures etc and this doesn't leave
>> enough for the game + O/S.
>>
>> My fix was to go into "settings" on the first screen and turn the
>> video res down - try 640 x 480 with everything "off" to see if this is
>> the problem. You can turn it back up when you identify the problem.
>>
>>
> Thanks for all advice. I wasn't aware of vista having a backwards
> compatibility mode. Will investigate and try again.

Problem solved. I found that I had to run the program in a window, not
widescreen. All now works as expected.
 >> Stay informed about: oblivion and morrowind on windows vista 

"Margo" <mromberg.TakeThisOut@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:xa%qi.11273$7c.819@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> Margo wrote:
>> Thanks for all advice. I wasn't aware of vista having a backwards
>> compatibility mode. Will investigate and try again.
>
> Problem solved. I found that I had to run the program in a window, not
> widescreen. All now works as expected.

Your solution triggered a random synape to fire. When I first tried to run
the GOTY edition of Morrowind on my old win98 computer, I had a similar
issue with not loading / CTD's. And I had a similar, short-term solution -
the game would run for 'awhile' in a window. But would eventually hang-up
or CTD. That issue was caused by having an inadequate video card that
barely matched the minimum requirements for the game. My only long-term
solution was to upgrade the video card - eventually going from a 32 to a 64
to the 128 VC currently living in my win98 box.

Good luck.

--
MJB

Mr. Tin's Miniature Painting Workshop:
http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/
 >> Stay informed about: oblivion and morrowind on windows vista