Trouble with Animated Fog in Caves and Crypts

SoberFix · Post by **SoberFix** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 6:45 pm

I've been playing Oblivion now for the past month, addicting. However, I'm having an issue with animated fog most often found in caves and ruins, and sometimes in forts and mines. If I try and walk/run/jump through the fog, the game will freeze along with the music and I get bluescreened eventually.

I have experimented with this animated fog and ways to avoid it. My best description of it is that it looks "gassy" and usually appears in long corridors and large open areas of caves and ruins. One lame way I've found to get around it is to have my character in sneak mode constantly looking down while walking through the fog. Yeah, it sounds pretty silly, but it has gotten me out of the situation before. Another way I've been able to avoid it is to save before going through the fog, exiting the game, reloading and the fog my not be there when my save is freshly reloaded. But this type of solution doesn't always work.

For help, I visited TweaksGuide.com and found a few commands to hopefully get rid of this fog.

One console command is "SetFog" - And I set both values at 0 in hopes of eliminating it. Nope. I'm thinking this command is for the world map and not in caves, crypts etc.

Another console commmand is "Toggle FogOfWar". I disabled it, but that pesky animated cave fog still remains. Frankly...i doubted this command would have helped, but any command with the word "FOG" in it was worth a shot. What the hell is "FogOfWar" anways? Heh.

I'm at the end of my rope with this problem. While my system isn't so tip-top compared to today's standards, it runs Oblivion very well at a 640 480 resolution and running the game at Low to Mid quality. The only other times Oblivion crashes on me is when I'm hit with a frost missile...say from a Lich's staff. But most times, my game will work out of it after a 5 to 10 second delay.

So here goes,
Running Oblivion with FinalPatch
640 by 480 Resolution
Anti-Aliasing Off
HDR and Bloom Off
Fullscreen with VSync
No Mods

Always play Oblivion on a Clean Boot

*Note on GeForce Graphics Drivers*
Recently downloaded and installed Nvidia's new drivers package 93.71 and my game CONSTANTLY crashed.
So I had no choice by to rollback my drivers to 91.47. Oh yeah, and the game still crashed with the fog too with the 93.71. So the new drivers did nothing but harm.

Is there anything I can do in the .ini file to eliminate this fog? Note that the fog is the animated type that is giving me this problem. There is some kinds of fog in caves and crypts that is motionless...this type does NOT make my game crash.

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System Information
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Time of this report: 11/2/2006, 22:31:56
Machine name: WINDOWS-PO1IYKC
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
BIOS: BIOS Date: 01/28/04 19:18:42 Ver: 08.00.09
Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor 3000+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.0GHz
Memory: 1278MB RAM
Page File: 170MB used, 1728MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6800 XT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0048&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A1
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.9147 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 8/11/2006 20:42:52, 4496128 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys
Mini VDD Date: 8/11/2006 20:42:42, 3958496 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4308-11CF-0B40-0A2000C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0048
SubSys ID: 0x00000000
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_B ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D
Deinterlace Caps: {212DC724-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{212DC724-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{212DC724-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{212DC724-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: SoundMAX Digital Audio
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3059&SUBSYS_80B01043&REV_60
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: smwdm.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.3713 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 8/19/2003 21:25:56, 593152 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Analog Devices
HW Accel Level: Full
Cap Flags: 0xB5B
Min/Max Sample Rate: 8000, 48000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX™ 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2™ Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura™ ZoomFX™: No
Registry: OK
Sound Test Result: Not run

---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
Description: SoundMAX Digital Audio
Default Sound Capture: Yes
Default Voice Capture: Yes
Driver Name: smwdm.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.3713 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 8/19/2003 21:25:56, 593152 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x41
Format Flags: 0xCCC

-----------
DirectMusic
-----------
DLS Path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\drivers\GM.DLS
DLS Version: 1.00.0016.0002
Acceleration: n/a
Ports: Microsoft Synthesizer, Software (Not Kernel Mode), Output, DLS, Internal, Default Port
SoundMAX Digital Audio, Software (Kernel Mode), Output, DLS, Internal
Microsoft MIDI Mapper [Emulated], Hardware (Not Kernel Mode), Output, No DLS, Internal
Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth [Emulated], Hardware (Not Kernel Mode), Output, No DLS, Internal
Registry: OK
Test Result: Not run

-------------------
DirectInput Devices
-------------------
Device Name: Mouse
Attached: 1
Controller ID: n/a
Vendor/Product ID: n/a
FF Driver: n/a

Device Name: Keyboard
Attached: 1
Controller ID: n/a
Vendor/Product ID: n/a
FF Driver: n/a

Poll w/ Interrupt: No
Registry: OK

-----------
USB Devices
-----------
+ USB Root Hub
| Vendor/Product ID: 0x1106, 0x3038
| Matching Device ID: usb\root_hub
| Service: usbhub
| Driver: usbhub.sys, 8/3/2004 23:08:42, 57600 bytes
| Driver: usbd.sys, 8/23/2001 08:00:00, 4736 bytes

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 7:05 pm

I'm not a techie, so all the info is useless to me! Someone else will tell you about that.

The 'Fog of War' is simply the fog effect you get beyond the 'view distance' you have set. I alway have this as far out as I reasonably can, because I like to see stuff.

That glowing 'fog' in dungeons is damned irritating, because it can be so bright you often can't see through it, and there is very likely something nasty beyond it....
It is worse if you have an item of Night Eye equipped. I take off my ring of Night Eye when there is a lot of nasty bright fog around in ruins. The fog has never caused my game to crash, but a mixture of fog and spell effects DOES sometimes cause the game to stop and think about it before carrying on. And the ring of Night Eye is just another factor the game has to factor in. I don't think our machines are quite up to the game's demands!

REal953 · Post by **REal953** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 9:21 pm

I don't think the fog appears when the game is on easy but i may be wrong.

Technical wise you look ok, I only glanced but what I say looked pretty good. The fist thing I would do is reinstall the game, maybe there is a problem with the game and not your PC.

If you don't want the fog hit the "~" key and key in "tfow" it will go away.