Tes4Mod:Complete Installation Guide for Oblivion/Part 1/Uninstall Oblivion

Uninstall Oblivion

This step is only for users that have Oblivion installed and need to move it, or those that, for some reason, feel that completely reinstalling the game is the only way to have it work properly again. The former consideration applies to users Win7 and Vista users that have the game (or Steam) installed in the default foler, Program Files, or those that simply want to move the game. Some of the reasons for the latter motivation might be that Vanilla Oblivion does not seem to work as it should, the game was patched with an official (beta) patch other than the latest official patch (v1.2.0416), such that they are unable to patch the game with the latest patch. Whether the patch was for Oblivion or SI does not matter as the patches apply the same fixes. Installing SI does not change the game's version. If it is patched, it is patched. If none of the above is applicable, it should be safe to skip this step.

:''Note: 1) The game's version number is shown at the bottom of the screen when launching the game. 2) Users of the GOTY edition have a beta version of the game, until it has been patched with disc 2, which applies the v1.2.0416 patch. 3) GOTY users that do not want to install SI, can stil patch the game with the latest official Oblivion patch.''

Terms

GOTY - Game of the Year Edition
SI - Shivering Isles
My Games Oblivion folder - Documents\My Games\Oblivion|| - symbol for OR
modded - has unofficial modifications installed
Oblivion install folder - (default non-Steam) C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion
Saves folder - Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Saves
OBMM - Oblivion Mod Manager
TESCS - The Elder Scrolls Construction Set
Data folder - Oblivion install folder\Data
Oblivion Mods folder - (BAIN-only) (default) directory above Oblivion Install Folder\Oblivion Mods
OMODs folder - (OBMM-only) (default) Oblivion Install Folder\obmm\mods

Uninstallation Steps

# Make sure you are running with administrator privleges.
# Move your Saves folder to another location (i.e., the Desktop) temporarily.
# Delete the contents of the My Games Oblivion folder.>> notes: 1) This folder has to be manually removed because the setup process does not touch this folder as the game is uninstalled. 2) After doing hardware upgardes, sometimes even software and driver updates, the Oblivion.ini file in this folder has to be removed to preven crashing on launch from incorect configurations. It may be best to remove the renderinfo.txt file as well, as it also contains hardware configuration information.
# Move the Saves folder back into the My Games Oblivion folder.
# (OBMM) Move the OMODs folder onto the Desktop (or another location external to your Oblivion setup.)
# (BAIN) Move (not copy) the Oblivion Mods folder onto the Desktop (or another location external to your Oblivion setup.)
# Uninstall all utilities that added entries to the Program Files list and were also installed to the Oblivion install folder (i.e., OBMM, TESCS.)
# Delete the Oblivion install folder (in order to get rid of leftover files.)
# (Steam) Steam users, in order to move the game outside of the protected folders, have to reinstall Steam outside of those folders. It will save much effort in the futures, so if you wish to pursue this option, reinstall Steam to a custom folder (i.e., C:\Games) and Oblivion will be uninstalled in the process.
# (non-Steam) If you are one of the fortunate few, either the Setup option in Oblivion's Programs List menu will start the uninstallation process or going through Add/Remove Programs to uninstall Oblivion will be successful.
# (non-Steam) Those without as much luck (which includes most that have played the game for some amount of time) run Oblivion's setup and proceed with the reinstallation.  Install it on top of the current installation to keep the cleanup to a minimum.
# (Recommended) Defrag your hard drive to reduce the fragmentation from the setup process and using Oblivion, especially if it was modded.

Alternate instructions can be found in JDFan's uninstallation guide on the BethSoft Hardware and Software Issues forum