Oblivion Remastered black screen error: Possible reasons and fixes explored

The Oblivion Remastered black screen error has plagued many PC players since the game’s launch, exacerbated by the latest patch locking out upscaling options. This has caused a massive backlash among the playerbase, who praise the use of Unreal Engine 5 for its graphical fidelity, alongside criticizing it for various issues like stuttering and frequent crashes. Thankfully, we found many possible solutions on Reddit and Steam Community discussions.

This article will explain how to possibly fix the Oblivion Remastered black screen error issue by finding out what might be causing it.

Note: The fixes mentioned here are workarounds and aren't guaranteed to work.

What causes the Oblivion Remastered black screen error?

While there are no specific answers as to why the Oblivion Remastered black screen error occurs, some of the most accepted answers on the internet so far have been:

Conflicting mods or improper installation of mods: Since Oblivion Remastered now unofficially supports modding, many users have been facing the black screen issue due to the improper installation of mods. Many mods require other prerequisite mods to run, which is always stated on their Nexus Mods page. Therefore, failing to use prerequisite mods, alongside placing them in the wrong load order in the Vortex Mod Manager, can cause black screen errors.
GPU driver update issues: Your latest GPU driver may have some bugs causing this issue. This might be the cause if the black screen error started cropping up after you updated your GPU drivers.
AMD Adrenalin and Nvidia App optimizations: The AMD Adrenalin app and the Nvidia App have an automatic optimization option that changes the game’s graphical settings based on your PC’s configuration. As such, this auto-optimization might cause black screen errors.

Also read — Oblivion Remastered EULA Error: Possible reasons and how to fix, explored

Possible fixes for the Oblivion Remastered black screen error

1) Verify file integrity on Steam

Verify the integrity of game files to solve black screen errors (Image via Steam)

To solve any issues regarding games installed from Steam, always verify the integrity of the files first before trying other methods. Follow these steps to do so:

Open Steam.
Go to Library.
Right-click on Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.
Select Properties.
Open the Installed Files tab and click on Verify integrity of game files.

Also read — Best Oblivion Remastered settings for RTX 3080 and 3080 Ti

2) Uninstall and reinstall all mods in the correct order through Vortex (Nexusmods)

While it’s not an absolute necessity, we recommend all players use the Vortex Mod Manager app for reliably installing mods from Nexus Mods. As such, uninstalling and reinstalling all your mods might prevent the Oblivion Remastered black screen error.

We advise installing mods individually and checking whether the issue persists or not. Additionally, ensure their prerequisite requirements are met and the mods are in the correct load order (this is typically stated on the mod’s download page).

3) Roll back graphics card driver updates to the previous version

You can reinstall older drivers through the Nvidia app (Image via Nvidia)

Since the latest driver updates have created issues in the Nvidia 50-series GPUs running this game, it might be a good idea to revert driver updates and reinstall a previous version. We recommend doing so if the Oblivion Remastered black screen error started happening after such an update.

Nvidia users, follow these steps:

Open the Nvidia App.
Go to Drivers.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for the previously installed driver.
Click on the options icon (three vertical dots) and click on Reinstall.

Also read — Best Oblivion Remastered settings for RTX 3070 and RTX 3070 Ti

4) Revert AMD and Nvidia auto-optimizations

Auto-optimization can cause black screen errors in Oblivion Remastered (Image via Nvidia)

AMD Adrenalin is an app similar to the Nvidia App that optimizes your game’s graphics to give you the best performance possible. However, this can often brick games, resulting in black screen issues and more. AMD users can revert this by:

Open AMD Adrenalin.
Go to Gaming.
Select The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.
Navigate to the Graphics section.
Change optimizations to Default.

Nvidia users can do the same by:

Open the Nvidia App.
Go to Graphics.
Select The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.
Click on Restore.

Also read — Best Oblivion Remastered settings for RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti

5) Disable Steam Big Picture mode

Disable Steam Big Picture Mode to prevent black screen issues (Image via Steam)

While this instance is rare, many have reported that the Oblivion Remastered black screen error is caused by the Steam Big Picture Mode setting. This setting optimizes the game’s visuals and resolution as per your TV settings and configurations. Follow these steps to disable it:

Open Steam.
Click on the Steam icon at the top-left corner of the screen and select Settings.
Go to Interface.
Disable Start Steam in Big Picture Mode.

We hope these possible solutions helped you fix the Oblivion Remastered black screen error conundrum. If the problem persists, comment on your experiences and let us know if you have found any other fixes for this issue.

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About the author

Debamalya is a Gaming Writer for Sportskeeda, specializing in writing news, guides, and other features about various games. He has over five years of experience and has been following the video game and esports industry since he started playing games on his mom's Nokia 3110.

He initially began his career as an academic writer before shifting to web content writing. He has worked for various tech and gaming websites, writing gaming and tech news and guides. He loves playing action-RPG games, being an expert in Souls-like and Metroidvania games.

In his free time, Debamalya also enjoys playing drums and listening to hip-hop and heavy metal music.

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Edited by Sijo Samuel Paul