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I think I accidentally pressed something, now my camera will snap back to the center (directly behind character's body) whenever I try to move it. This also causes my player to strafe instead of moving left/right, because the character now always moves "forward" with my mouse the only method of controlling the direction (before I used left/right keys to control direction). Does anyone know how to reset the camera mode back to normal? I don't think it was a console command as I didn't use any, must be some shortcut I accidentally pressed.
I already tried sitting, sleeping, and riding horse, none of these worked.

Have you logged into Windows as a different username? If so, Oblivion.ini will be read from THAT user profile, and may be using a different controls setup to the one in your normal user profile. Example:-

C:\Users\Player1\Documents\Games\Oblivion\Oblivion.ini - Custom controls
C:\Users\Player2\Documents\Games\Oblivion\Oblivion.ini - Default controls

If you log in as Player1, Oblivion reads Oblivion.ini from Player1's profile and uses the custom controls. If you log in as Player2, it reads a DIFFERENT Oblivion.ini and uses the default controls.

If you've created a NEW user, its profile will contain NO Oblivion.ini and, the first time Oblivion is run, it will create a NEW Oblivion.ini from its template, Oblivion_default.ini. This reverts the game BACK to the "factory default" controls, which would explain what has happened.

Failing that, all I can suggest is to check your controls setup. You may have set them back to default settings, so they'll need setting up again.

No I only have one user on this laptop. I checked all the in-game settings and none of them mention any camera/turning control mode. Everything was working fine, then I think I installed some mod outfits (only containing files that go to meshes and textures folder so shouldn't mess up any system files), started the game, and the camera/turning controls messed up.

Are you sure a mod isn't doing this? Nowadays, with Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE), mods can do ALL sorts of advanced things via scripts, such as disabling specific controls, reading the keyboard or mouse, issuing key/button presses, moving the mouse X,Y position, controlling the 3rd person camera, and even changing Oblivion.ini settings (i.e. altering the control bindings on-the-fly).

If your key/button bindings on the Controls menu keep changing, or controls aren't behaving as you expect, I'd suspect a mod is doing it. Try disabling mods one-by-one until it stops. The last mod disabled will be the culprit. Note: Don't save during testing, as disabling certain mods will remove their quests, etc, and re-enabling those mods will mean you'll have to do those quests all over again.

Hope this helps.

I disabled every single mod except unofficial oblivion patch, also deleted oblivion.ini (the settings) to force it to create a new one, and even completely reinstalled OBSE, used BOSS, and it's still like that awkward camera. That leaves me to assume that it's a mod that actually changed the camera for the better, and the game's default camera is the awkward center-snap one. The problem is, I disabled the new mods I installed over the last two days and the camera is still stuck like that, so now I don't know what to do anymre. One of the new mods must have made some permanent changes to oblivion.ini or OBSE or something... Does anyone know of any settings in OBSE or oblivion.ini that has to do with camera modes?

Just to eliminate a possible conflict between input devices...

Edit Oblivion.ini and make sure you have the following settings in the [Controls] section...

bBackground Keyboard=0
bBackground Mouse=0
bUse Joystick=0

The first two tell Oblivion to runs its keyboard and mouse input handlers in DirectX background threaded mode, which sometimes causes problems with input lag or spurious signals. The last ensures that the game ignores ALL signals from any joystick or gamepad that's plugged in, just in case it's sending out spurious signals because it's not calibrated correctly. In all cases, spurious signals can cause odd effects in-game.

And to eliminate the possibility of a stuck or unresponsive key...

Run Notepad. If you see it typing certain characters by itself, one or more keys on your keyboard are stuck down and sending constant signals. If not, test each key in turn to ensure that Notepad DOES respond to them by doing something. If any key fails to respond, that key probably has a faulty switch. Note that Notepad doesn't respond to ALL keys. For a comprehensive test, Google for [keyboard test] to find free test software to download which displays a complete on-screen keyboard that visually indicates whether a key is pressed or not.

If your keyboard IS faulty, it's MUCH cheaper to simply buy a new one than get it repaired. Unless you have a Laptop, of course, in which case repair is the only option.

I use a good quality Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 keyboard (£10 at UK supermarket ASDA - who are now owned by US superstore chain Wal-Mart). I had to buy a brand new one recently when the Insert key stopped responding.

All the settings are at 0, and my keyboard isn't faulty either. Ugh guess I just have to reinstall Oblivion...

That's an idea, but it's a REAL pain reinstalling the patch, all those utilities, mesh optimisations, replacement meshes/textures and mods. Typically takes DAYS of laboriously installing each "add-on" in turn, getting load order correct, configuring, tweaking and testing.

This is why, once I have the game patched, everything installed, in good working order and acceptably tweaked, I make a backup copy of the ENTIRE Oblivion folder and my tweaked Oblivion.ini file. If I ever need to do a reinstall from scratch, I can just uninstall, make sure the registry entries are deleted, reinstall the game from DVD, then copy the entire backup in over the top, overwriting ALL files if prompted. That way, I get the game BACK to the exact working state it WAS in and pick up exactly where I left off. Correct load order, no content errors, no frustration, and minimal effort that takes about 30 minutes or less, not DAYS.

Let's isolate whether the fault IS caused by a mod. Disable ALL of them, then load your savegame and OK the "content missing" warning. DON'T save again! Just test whether the camera is working as expected. If it is, then it's a mod that's caused it. If not, it's something about Oblivion itself, probably settings in Oblivion.ini. If renaming Oblivion.ini so the game creates a default one doesn't work, then something running in the background on your PC is causing the problem.

Tips: Stop and disable ALL unnecessary services. Many of them just sit there waiting for you to plug in new hardware, and some even leave the back-door wide open for hackers, e.g. Remote Assistance, Remote Registry. Also run MSConfig to ensure ALL unnecessary startup programs are disabled too. Most of them just display useless splash screens and put useless icons in the System Tray anyway. The more CPU time and memory you can free up, the more the game has to work with, for better performance and stability.

Hoping this helps.

Yup tried disabling all mods and forcing a new oblivion.ini already. Just out of curiosity. when you're playing and your character is in sneak mode, does s/he strafe left/right/backwards when you press left/right/down keys on keyboard, or does s/he turn to face that direction and start sneaking? Also when your character is running left/right, does s/he appear to be running slightly diagonal , and when you move the mouse the character will follow your mouse?

To answer your questions, no, my controls setup works fine on all counts. FYI, I use the following basic controls setup in all 3D games...

Turn Left/Right = Mouse X (left/right)
Look Up/Down = Mouse Y (back/forward)

Walk/Run Forwards = Up Arrow
Walk/Run Backwards = Down Arrow
Strafe Left = Left Arrow
Strafe Right = Right Arrow

Note: I prefer a flight-simulator style look up/down, i.e. climb/dive as if I'm flying a plane and the mouse is the joystick. To do this, I always enable the game's Reverse Mouse Y option so pulling the mouse back (towards me) tilts up and pushing it forward (away from me) tilts down. The default in most 3D games is the opposite to this, push forward to tilt up, pull back to tilt down, which just doesn't "feel natural" to me.

The basic setup is mouse to control your "head" for LOOKING up/down and left/right (in 3D terms, rotation), and keyboard to control your "body" for MOVING forward/back and left/right (in 3D terms, translation). It simulates how, in real life, you turn your head to look along the line you're moving forward or backward along, or move sideways while keeping your head turned to look at something. The mouse makes for fast intuitive aiming at a target, whether it's where you want to go or what you want to shoot at.

The trick is to make sure the keyboard and mouse don't conflict with each other. In Oblivion, the mouse is used for look up/down and left/right by default, and this can't be changed. If you're using the keyboard for Forward, Back, Slide Left and Slide Right, make sure NO mouse buttons are assigned to the same controls, or they'll conflict when you press both at the same time and cause strange movement behaviour.

If you're ONLY using keyboard and mouse in Oblivion, make sure you have no joystick/gamepad plugged in, or set bUse Joystick=0 in Oblivion.ini. If your joystick/gamepad is miscalibrated, it will send out constant signals which will conflict with keyboard/mouse if bUse Joystick=1 in Oblivion.ini. Examples: 1. If the gamepad thumbstick that controls movement is miscalibrated and is sending constant left signals even when it's centred, your Oblivion character will be constantly strafing left. 2. If the gamepad thumbstick that controls turning is miscalibrated and is sending constant left signals even when it's centred, your Oblivion character will be constantly turning left (spinning). Solution is to use the Windows Control Panel (Game Controllers) to calibrate the gamepad correctly or set bUse Joystick=0 so Oblivion won't read its signals.

Nope I got no gamepads plugged in. Yes originally my controls were:
Mouse controls -LOOKING- left/right/up/down, it won't affect the body of the character, in other words mouse does not affect direction my character walk/runs.
A - face left then walk/run left, not strafing
D - face right then walk/run right, not strafing
S - turn around then walk/run backwards
Now for some reason when I move my mouse my character's body will turn with it while walking/running, so my mouse basically replaced the keyboard in controlling direction. In options, directional input are assigned as WASD and mouse is "--", which is empty.

Does the mouse scroll wheel have any game input? (I know, probably a stupid question, but I'm not a PC gamer.)

The reason I ask is because I've seen worn-out scroll wheels cause jumping and jittering on ordinary internet pages. I've also seen unknown causes of uncommanded mouse inputs, which simple shutdown/restart has cured. Don't know if it's due to malware/infections, or just a case of the Operating System needing a breather to clear its head.

Also, I've seen console systems with worn-out controllers, where the no-longer-crisp controls wouldn't return to a true "neutral" position. When you load a game with this kind of setup, the on-screen character/object will exhibit movement when none is intended. It might be possible that your mouse is worn-out/imprecise (or just plain dirty inside) and is trickling movement commands from the neutral position.

So moving the mouse left strafes you left? Moving it forward makes you walk forward? And so on? Oblivion isn't supposed to behave that way. The mouse ONLY rotates, never moves you, so I suspect something running in the background is causing the odd behaviour.

Just on a hunch here... Check the Windows "Accessibility" options for disabled people. In Windows 7, it's called the "Ease of Access Center". If any Accessibility options are enabled, DISABLE them. They're KNOWN to conflict with games and, for non-disabled people, they're an annoyance. Trust Microsoft to enable Accessibility options by default when the MAJORITY of people DON'T need them!

The StickyKeys feature is activated by tapping the Shift key 5 times quickly. Easy to do in games if the Shift key is bound to a control that's often hammered, and then you wonder what's going on when you press say your Jump control and your character starts excitedly bouncing up and down like a Chimp who's had a peek inside the banana warehouse! It's because StickyKeys running in the background is "holding" the key bound to the Jump control DOWN! You can disable StickyKeys by pressing BOTH Shift keys.

The MouseKeys feature allows disabled people to control the mouse pointer with the keyboard, and is activated by pressing Shift+Alt+NumLock, or tapping Tab then Enter quickly. VERY easy to do in Oblivion because, by default, Journal=Tab and Activate=Enter. If you close your Journal then immediately Activate something, MouseKeys will turn itself ON! I strongly suspect that THIS is what's happened!

Best thing to do is disable Accessibility options COMPLETELY so they can't interfere with gaming.

Here's Microsoft's page on Accessibility for Windows 7. Complete details on ALL Accessibility options and how to enable/disable them.

Failing that, you may have an old/dirty/faulty mouse. If it's a ball mouse, try cleaning the ball and rollers. If it's a laser mouse, try replacing it. Mice and keyboards are cheap enough that you can buy spares in case they go wrong. I have a 5-button Trust EasyClick wired USB mouse, costing £5, and a Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 wired USB keyboard, costing £10. I bought TWO of each, total cost £30. I'm using one set, and the other set is my spares, tested, known working, and in storage under my bed in a plastic bag to keep the dust out.

Another possibility. Do you have a wireless mouse and/or keyboard? Something else in the room may be interfering with the radio transmissions between mouse/keyboard and PC. It's called "signal crosstalk", and results in spurious signals. Try a wired mouse/keyboard. If the problem disappears, it was interference. Personally, I PREFER a wired mouse and keyboard. After all, they're about 3~4 feet from my PC, the wires reach easily and there's no possibility of signal dropout (keys not responding, mouse pointer freezing) or signal crosstalk (spurious keypresses or mouse movements).