Trouble Running Oblivion using an ISO

[Bananator5]

Hello all, my name's Tim and I'm new here at the forums. Now that I've introduced myself, you all HAVE to respond to my pleas: it would be the polite thing to do in your situation.

Jokes aside, about a week ago, I decided to download an Oblivion ISO (I paid for it once already, but my brother took it off to college with him, and thus I didn't want to pay for it again), and it loads fine; my PC meets the minimum requirements to run the game, and, up until I reach the actual gameplay, I see no problems. However, when I load up my save game, the environment around me is glitchy: there are no problems with textures or framerate, but the space around me is filled with polygons (that's the best way to explain it). The ground and trees have trouble rendering, leaving see-through graphical "holes" everywhere; similarly, people and other objects, such as statues and chests, have holes in them too. I honestly don't think there's a problem with my computer, as my Morrowind ISO has nearly identical problems. I have a NVidia 6600 graphics card, sufficient ram (1 gig), and other than this rather remarkable problem the game runs fine.

Any advice? If you need pictures, I can get them, though I don't know how to take in-game screenshots. I have the suspicion that the error is the result of my using an ISO, as my Call of Duty game (which is running from a disc) works fine, and it came out after Morrowind did (I think...).

Also, I want to note that this has happened both while using Alcohol120% and while using Daemon Tools. Is PowerISO a better choice for PC ISO-running?

Any help or assistance will be appreciated, and thanks again for your time.

--Tim

[onewecallgod]

i downloaded the game and played it all the way through without seeing issues like that, so it can't be due to the ISO, although i may have been using a no-cd, but i can't remember. if that doesn't work, try reinstalling the game.

just curious, does everything "fall" into place when you load the game?

[Bananator5]

Nope, all of the problems are there right when the game loads. I've also tried adjusting in-game video stuff, like resolution and grass-rendering, but even on low settings the problem persists. That's the funny thing--even on high settings, this is the only noticeable problem with the game.

Would uninstalling my current ISO mounting software, uninstalling the game, installing a new ISO software, and then reinstalling the game help? I'm using a NoDVD crack to play it (one that came with the game), as I did with the morrowind ISO. Normally I would just suspect that it were a problem with the graphics card, but the fact that Morrowind has trouble with a 6600 leads me to believe that there is something else doing it. Is Call of Duty much more or less graphically demanding than Morrowind?

[onewecallgod]

if i remember correctly, morrowind is a fairly basic game compared to CoD or oblivion.

i wouldn't go as far as uninstalling ISO mounting programs; that's just overkill. if uninstalling and reinstalling the game doesn't fix it, i'd try updating your graphics card drivers.

[Bananator5]

Yeah, I'll check to make sure my drivers are updated--I got my graphics card relatively recently, so I think it has the latest, but heck, you never know.

Also, is there an offbeat chance that the crack I used had anything to do with it? I know that there are different cracks for different versions, and maybe mine just doesn't work well with this version. Thanks again for all the help!

--Tim

P.S. Speaking of ISO programs, is there one out there that's particularly superior to the others? Alcohol 120% seems good, but it's gonna cost me money in a few weeks.* I might try that PowerISO program; I've heard relatively good things about it from other places.

[onewecallgod]

i highly doubt it's the no cd that's causing it. just make sure the versions match.

alcohol is very good, but it's mainly for making backups. if you need just virtual drive, then stick with daemon tools