Steam – Only the Elderscrolls.com and Exit buttons are enabled on the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion launcher

steamthe-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivionwindows 8

When I launch the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion via Steam I get this launcher come up, but the Play button is disabled.

What could be causing this?

It works fine on my laptop. Both machines are running Windows 8 Pro. I'm signed out of Steam on the other machine.

Yes, this is a legitimate paid for version.

Screenshot

Best Answer

This problem is the result of missing entries in the windows registry file.

If the game files are present on your hard-drive then this would indicate problems in the windows registry. The launcher reads the registry for the locations of the objects the links point to. If a link cannot be found the corresponding button will be greyed out. One way to solve this is to reinstall the game. On steam, verifying the game cache should have the same effect, otherwise you may have to completely remove oblivion and re-download.

If you are comfortable with manually editing the registry file yourself then make sure the following registry entries exist:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bethesda Softworks]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion] "Installed Path"="Path to game folder on your hard-drive"

Example: "c:\Program Files(x86)\Steam\SteamApps\Common\Oblivion\"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\1.00.0000]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion - Construction Set]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion - Construction Set\1.00.0000]

Run as Administrator

First, completely exit Steam, and right-click on the shortcut which you use to launch Steam and select "Run as Administrator." This step may be enough to fix the problem. If not, continue below:

Additional Installers

You may need to manually run secondary installers required by this game. Exit Steam entirely. Browse to your Grand Theft Auto 4 installation folder (Usually C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\grand theft auto iv\)

You will need to run each of the following installers:

...\steamapps\common\grand theft auto iv\Installers\DirectX_jun2008\DXSETUP
...\steamapps\common\grand theft auto iv\Installers\DirectX_Mar2009\DXSETUP
...\steamapps\common\grand theft auto iv\Installers\vcredist_x86

Games for Windows Live

Also, install the latest version of the Games For Windows Live software, which can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-US/Live/Pages/livemarketplace.aspx

Restart your computer and test the issue again. If you continue to have difficulty, run this installer:

...\steamapps\common\grand theft auto iv\GTAIV\Activation\SteamActivation

References

Taken from this steam forum post. In addition, there is another thread of a huge list of GTA IV steam issues which you can find here.

All is gray in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

This is mostly caused by some bugs with newer graphic cards and HDR + AA (Anti Aliasing). Either turning HDR or AA off, or setting HDR to Bloom should fix the issue.

I do not know about any patch that fixes this issue. However, there is a few workarounds to get both of them working together:

Enabling HDR, and disabling AA in the game options, while forcing AA to be enabled via CCC (Catalyst Control Center)
Editing the "Oblivion.ini" file manually. Find and change the iMultiSample=0 in [Display] to 4 to get 4xAA.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Steam – GTA IV will not start

Run as Administrator

Additional Installers

Games for Windows Live

References

All is gray in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

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