Longstanding Skyrim CTD issues

[haswellgamer]

Here we go....

So tons of people have had this happen to them with seemingly successful solutions. You are playing a lovely game of Skyrim when all of a sudden the game crashes to the desktop with no warning or no error message. I have a normal amount of mods installed and have everything on ultra settings because it is my belief that my system (GTX 1080, i7-4770k, 24GB of RAM) is able to handle it. A lot of people have reported that the main issue that seemed to be the culprit was always the game not having enough RAM allocated to it due to the game devs. So I have downloaded the Memory Blocks Log mod to check out how much is being used when the crash happens. And so far Block 1 doesn't go above 185 MB(Blocks 1 & 2 both have 256MB as their limit), which tells me it's not a memory issue. I would still like to allocate more RAM somehow, but at this point, I just want the crashes to stop. I need some serious help with this one.

[corrado33]

Do you have SKSE installed with the memory fix implemented? 

 

Have you installed the unofficial patches?

 

Have you installed the "Bug fixes" mod? 

 

Is your load order correct? 

 

Do you have enboost installed with THAT memory fix implemented? 

 

EDIT: Also, which mod organizer are you using? Nexus? Mod Organizer? Manual? 

[haswellgamer]

4 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

Do you have SKSE installed with the memory fix implemented? 

 

Have you installed the unofficial patches?

 

Have you installed the "Bug fixes" mod? 

So far I've got all of the unofficial patches installed and I've tried the memory patch called Skyrim Startup Memory Editor, using the non-skse base game. The SKSE thing doesn't seem to want to work, I have the Data file in an .zip file and when I try to "add from file" on the nexus mod manager, it just says can't be added.

[corrado33]

18 minutes ago, haswellgamer said:

So far I've got all of the unofficial patches installed and I've tried the memory patch called Skyrim Startup Memory Editor, using the non-skse base game. The SKSE thing doesn't seem to want to work, I have the Data file in an .zip file and when I try to "add from file" on the nexus mod manager, it just says can't be added.

Yeah SSME (Skyrim startup memory editor) isn't required with skse. And you can't add skse with nexus mod manager. You have to install it manually, just read the directions, it's literally just "drag and drop". Heck, I think they even have an installer version now. 

 

http://skse.silverlock.org/

 

That's the most important thing you should do.

 

Then you should really look into installing enboost. This one is a bit harder, but there are plenty of tutorials online. Again, it's mostly drag and drop, but you have to go into the .ini files and change some numbers. This one allows skyrim to use ALL of your video card ram and computer ram. Makes an absolutely massive difference. 

 

Finally, you should run LOOT to figure out your load order. Load order could DEFINITELY be causing CTDs. I have 200+ mods installed and I don't get any CTDs just using LOOT to sort the load order. 

 

Double finally, you should really consider switching over to Mod Organizer 2 as nexus mod manager is extremely outdated and doesn't work super well. (Hell, their own site doesn't even offer it anymore.)

[haswellgamer]

2 hours ago, corrado33 said:

Yeah SSME (Skyrim startup memory editor) isn't required with skse. And you can't add skse with nexus mod manager. You have to install it manually, just read the directions, it's literally just "drag and drop". Heck, I think they even have an installer version now. 

 

http://skse.silverlock.org/

 

That's the most important thing you should do.

 

Then you should really look into installing enboost. This one is a bit harder, but there are plenty of tutorials online. Again, it's mostly drag and drop, but you have to go into the .ini files and change some numbers. This one allows skyrim to use ALL of your video card ram and computer ram. Makes an absolutely massive difference. 

 

Finally, you should run LOOT to figure out your load order. Load order could DEFINITELY be causing CTDs. I have 200+ mods installed and I don't get any CTDs just using LOOT to sort the load order. 

 

Double finally, you should really consider switching over to Mod Organizer 2 as nexus mod manager is extremely outdated and doesn't work super well. (Hell, their own site doesn't even offer it anymore.)

Ill try those things. Hopefully one of them will work! And yes, I will try MO2. Looks like it is directly off of the nexus. Is that where I should get it or is there another method you would recommend?

[corrado33]

37 minutes ago, haswellgamer said:

Ill try those things. Hopefully one of them will work! And yes, I will try MO2. Looks like it is directly off of the nexus. Is that where I should get it or is there another method you would recommend?

Yep, that's where I downloaded it.

 

The reason MO2 is superior to NMM is that with MO2 you can see which mods interact with each other. Say, for example you have a high res texture mod installed that includes everything from ground textures to clothing textures, then you also have a clothing retexutrer or remesh mod installed, MO2 will say "hey, these two mods are trying to overwrite the same file" and then you can go in and decide which one you actually want. With NMM the one you installed LAST would take precedence. With MO2 you can SAY which one you want to keep.

 

Plus, unlike NMM, MO2 allows you to create "profiles" for the game, so your actual game folder stays "stock" (with the exception of SKSE and ENboost). This allows you to install/uninstall mods super easily, and "install order" no longer matters. 

 

You can still download mods directly to MO2, or install them simply by adding the .7z or .zip file.

 

EDIT: Also MO2 has the "sort" button (which runs LOOT) enabled by default so you just click it and it does it all for you!

 

Good luck! Quote me or pm me if you need help in the future. 

[Tsuki]

its your load order

[jones177]

If you want less CTDs use Skyrim SE. With about 240 mods installed I get a CTD about every 30 hours. The CTDs are from the same mods that cause CTDs in Skyrim LE.

 

With Skyrim LE there are lots of mods that cause CTDs. Most of these CTDs are from interactions between the mod and the game engine and not between mods.

 

With LE 80% of the CTDs that I get are from spawning mods. They mainly have issues with the parts of the game world that were made first(Whiterun to Falkreath). I can go for weeks without CTDs in other areas of the map.

Another type of mod that have issues with the engine are weather mods. These CTDs occur where weather triggers are. Mods that have NPCs interact with the weather make things worse. If you get a CTD on the road from Whiterun to Riverwood close to the top of the waterfalls that is a weather change CTD.

  

The mods the cause the most CTDs in interactions with other mods are perk mods. These are also the type of conflicts that show up in the papyrus log. Mods like Ordinator are a minefield of CTDs if you pick a perk that conflicts with another mod on your load list. The last time I did the Dragonborn DLC was to remove perks that caused CTDs.

 

Also the more mods you have the more likely you will have a conflict. After 180 mods installed every 2 new mods out of 3 installed caused conflicts. At that point even updates cause conflicts. 

 

Load orders cause conflicts between mods but rarely CTDs. 

With heavily modded games, utilities like Loot cause more problems than they fix. The reason is that sometimes there are no good solutions. That is why I do my load lists manually. If I am having trouble with a mod I run Loot to see where it would put it but I never apply the change. If I did that with my LE game it would not run at all. 

 

Hardware CTDs are usually caused by vram. LE needs 4gbs and SE needs 8gbs for heavy modding. All setups need ENB/ENBoost. 

Weak CPUs will cause lows and lower frame rate but not CTDs unless you are near 100% usage. 

Having the game on a HD will cause pauses and CTDs when saving. It depends on the amount of load. Some 2k/4k texture packs can cause this with HDs.

 

I stopped modding my Skyrim LE game in 2016. It is the same game I started in 2011. I keep it on a portable HD and copy it over on to new installs as I upgrade computers.

My Skyrim SE game is just starting to look the way I want it to. It will probably be a year or two until I think it will be done. 

   

 

[haswellgamer]

On 12/12/2018 at 9:18 PM, corrado33 said:

Yep, that's where I downloaded it.

 

The reason MO2 is superior to NMM is that with MO2 you can see which mods interact with each other. Say, for example you have a high res texture mod installed that includes everything from ground textures to clothing textures, then you also have a clothing retexutrer or remesh mod installed, MO2 will say "hey, these two mods are trying to overwrite the same file" and then you can go in and decide which one you actually want. With NMM the one you installed LAST would take precedence. With MO2 you can SAY which one you want to keep.

 

Plus, unlike NMM, MO2 allows you to create "profiles" for the game, so your actual game folder stays "stock" (with the exception of SKSE and ENboost). This allows you to install/uninstall mods super easily, and "install order" no longer matters. 

 

You can still download mods directly to MO2, or install them simply by adding the .7z or .zip file.

 

EDIT: Also MO2 has the "sort" button (which runs LOOT) enabled by default so you just click it and it does it all for you!

 

Good luck! Quote me or pm me if you need help in the future. 

 

On 12/14/2018 at 2:43 PM, jones177 said:

If you want less CTDs use Skyrim SE. With about 240 mods installed I get a CTD about every 30 hours. The CTDs are from the same mods that cause CTDs in Skyrim LE.

 

With Skyrim LE there are lots of mods that cause CTDs. Most of these CTDs are from interactions between the mod and the game engine and not between mods.

 

With LE 80% of the CTDs that I get are from spawning mods. They mainly have issues with the parts of the game world that were made first(Whiterun to Falkreath). I can go for weeks without CTDs in other areas of the map.

Another type of mod that have issues with the engine are weather mods. These CTDs occur where weather triggers are. Mods that have NPCs interact with the weather make things worse. If you get a CTD on the road from Whiterun to Riverwood close to the top of the waterfalls that is a weather change CTD.

  

The mods the cause the most CTDs in interactions with other mods are perk mods. These are also the type of conflicts that show up in the papyrus log. Mods like Ordinator are a minefield of CTDs if you pick a perk that conflicts with another mod on your load list. The last time I did the Dragonborn DLC was to remove perks that caused CTDs.

 

Also the more mods you have the more likely you will have a conflict. After 180 mods installed every 2 new mods out of 3 installed caused conflicts. At that point even updates cause conflicts. 

 

Load orders cause conflicts between mods but rarely CTDs. 

With heavily modded games, utilities like Loot cause more problems than they fix. The reason is that sometimes there are no good solutions. That is why I do my load lists manually. If I am having trouble with a mod I run Loot to see where it would put it but I never apply the change. If I did that with my LE game it would not run at all. 

 

Hardware CTDs are usually caused by vram. LE needs 4gbs and SE needs 8gbs for heavy modding. All setups need ENB/ENBoost. 

Weak CPUs will cause lows and lower frame rate but not CTDs unless you are near 100% usage. 

Having the game on a HD will cause pauses and CTDs when saving. It depends on the amount of load. Some 2k/4k texture packs can cause this with HDs.

 

I stopped modding my Skyrim LE game in 2016. It is the same game I started in 2011. I keep it on a portable HD and copy it over on to new installs as I upgrade computers.

My Skyrim SE game is just starting to look the way I want it to. It will probably be a year or two until I think it will be done. 

   

 

Looks like @jones177 was on to something. Disabled Ordinator in the data files menu and have been playing for 30 minutes without a CTD. Normally a CTD would happen for me within the first minute of playing. I will continue to investigate and center my anger towards the developer of Ordinator(sarcasm). Hopefully I can re-enable Ordinator one day but it's not a necessity. I'm just glad to be playing again! 

[jones177]

9 hours ago, haswellgamer said:

 

Looks like @jones177 was on to something. Disabled Ordinator in the data files menu and have been playing for 30 minutes without a CTD. Normally a CTD would happen for me within the first minute of playing. I will continue to investigate and center my anger towards the developer of Ordinator(sarcasm). Hopefully I can re-enable Ordinator one day but it's not a necessity. I'm just glad to be playing again! 

 

Glad I could help.

I still use Ordinator because it will trash my old character saves if I remove it. That is on my Skyrim LE game.

On Skyrim SE I don't use any perk tree mods yet.

[corrado33]

On 12/14/2018 at 3:43 PM, jones177 said:

If you want less CTDs use Skyrim SE. With about 240 mods installed I get a CTD about every 30 hours. The CTDs are from the same mods that cause CTDs in Skyrim LE.

 

With Skyrim LE there are lots of mods that cause CTDs. Most of these CTDs are from interactions between the mod and the game engine and not between mods.

 

With LE 80% of the CTDs that I get are from spawning mods. They mainly have issues with the parts of the game world that were made first(Whiterun to Falkreath). I can go for weeks without CTDs in other areas of the map.

Another type of mod that have issues with the engine are weather mods. These CTDs occur where weather triggers are. Mods that have NPCs interact with the weather make things worse. If you get a CTD on the road from Whiterun to Riverwood close to the top of the waterfalls that is a weather change CTD.

  

The mods the cause the most CTDs in interactions with other mods are perk mods. These are also the type of conflicts that show up in the papyrus log. Mods like Ordinator are a minefield of CTDs if you pick a perk that conflicts with another mod on your load list. The last time I did the Dragonborn DLC was to remove perks that caused CTDs.

 

Also the more mods you have the more likely you will have a conflict. After 180 mods installed every 2 new mods out of 3 installed caused conflicts. At that point even updates cause conflicts. 

 

Load orders cause conflicts between mods but rarely CTDs. 

With heavily modded games, utilities like Loot cause more problems than they fix. The reason is that sometimes there are no good solutions. That is why I do my load lists manually. If I am having trouble with a mod I run Loot to see where it would put it but I never apply the change. If I did that with my LE game it would not run at all. 

 

Hardware CTDs are usually caused by vram. LE needs 4gbs and SE needs 8gbs for heavy modding. All setups need ENB/ENBoost. 

Weak CPUs will cause lows and lower frame rate but not CTDs unless you are near 100% usage. 

Having the game on a HD will cause pauses and CTDs when saving. It depends on the amount of load. Some 2k/4k texture packs can cause this with HDs.

 

I stopped modding my Skyrim LE game in 2016. It is the same game I started in 2011. I keep it on a portable HD and copy it over on to new installs as I upgrade computers.

My Skyrim SE game is just starting to look the way I want it to. It will probably be a year or two until I think it will be done. 

   

 

I dunno man. I have ~200 mods installed on my skyrim LE install and I rarely... if ever, have a CTD. I can't remember the last time I crashed. I just let LOOT sort out the order every time I add something, and I read the install guide on the mod page. But usually LOOT gets it right.  I have ordinator installed and have never had any issues with it and dragonborn. I only have one weather mod installed, and that's "real thunder". That said, the first 20 or so mods are various bug fixes and tweaks. 

 

Yes technically SE is superior, but LE is superior for modding as in more mods support it. 

[haswellgamer]

34 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

I dunno man. I have ~200 mods installed on my skyrim LE install and I rarely... if ever, have a CTD. I can't remember the last time I crashed. I just let LOOT sort out the order every time I add something, and I read the install guide on the mod page. But usually LOOT gets it right.  I have ordinator installed and have never had any issues with it and dragonborn. I only have one weather mod installed, and that's "real thunder". That said, the first 20 or so mods are various bug fixes and tweaks. 

 

Yes technically SE is superior, but LE is superior for modding as in more mods support it. 

For me it didn't seem to matter, I could run LE with mods that require SE. Though it didn't matter with the CTD issue I was having either, since Ordinator was used on both of them. I've always viewed SE the same as LE, as I could never tell any difference. I could always run the same mods no matter what. 

[corrado33]

17 minutes ago, haswellgamer said:

For me it didn't seem to matter, I could run LE with mods that require SE. Though it didn't matter with the CTD issue I was having either, since Ordinator was used on both of them. I've always viewed SE the same as LE, as I could never tell any difference. I could always run the same mods no matter what. 

I mean... that could be your issue. LE and SE handle memory significantly differently. While it may not crash on startup, as soon as an SE mod tries to write to a memory address that's not there (because of LE) then it'll crash. 

 

Regardelss, good luck. Try LOOT. Try the crash fixes mod, etc.