Just Started Using Mods, and CTD all the time. Help?

[PsylentFox]

Hello everyone, I am stupid new to Skyrim for the PC, and I decided that after years of playing Vanilla Xbox 360 Skyrim I would try my hand at playing Skyrim on the PC with mods! I spent *hours* pouring over all of the different Mods that are available on the website, and I selected the ones that I really wanted; a vast majority of them are immersion/weapon/armor mods with a few personal mods thrown in. So I downloaded them using NMM, installed them, and I used LOOT to build a load order for me. It literally took me hours to get everything done, and once I had the task completed I booted up Skyrim to see my handiwork first hand... and it Crashes to Desktop before I can even get to the main menu. I believe it has to do with the load order of the mods, and since I'm a complete noob at this whole mod'ing thing I let LOOT pick a load order and assumed that it would function properly.

 

A few notes, this will be a new game (I don't have any saves on my PC version of Skyrim). This is the list of mods with the load order as prescribed by LOOT. If there is something funny that isn't right please let me know!

 

(Instead of Hand Jamming the LOOT order for all 82 mods I selected, I made this beautiful paint .jpg that has the LOOT load order. Laziness at its finest...but in my defense I *was* up all night! If I need to edit this post and manually enter the load order I can. Just let me know!)

 

 

[bben46]

Not every mod is going to work with every other mod. If a mod tries to change the same thing as another mod it can do one of several things - one of those is just fail and CTD (crash to desktop).

You never mentioned SKSE - that is required for many mods. Your lazyness will not get you much help as the NMM list doesn't have all of the details from the LOOT log. However it's not necessary to type in the loot list because Windows on PC has this very handy copy/paste feature built in. :cool: And the LOOT messages can often show exactly where the problem is. (how to copy the loot log is included in the 'How to Ask for Help' below

 

Then, before piling on mods you MUST actually start the game once and make a save using the steam launcher - this allows the launcher to set up the ini files that it uses to work with your hardware properly.

 

Here is a link to my how to ask for help post. :thumbsup:

 

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1592053-how-to-ask-for-help/

[MotoSxorpio]

If I read correctly, your first mistake was pouring 82 mods into your game folder all at once. Where this might be doable when the mod is only a texture pack, doing so with mods the change mechanics can and will throw errors or CTD.

 

My recommendation would be to deactivate the whole lot. Clean the data folder of any leftovers. While you have a cleaned up data folder, go create a fresh new game, save it just as you get to character generation. This will be your test save. Label it. Keep it clean, don't overwrite it. Once you've gotten that done, proceed with installing mods. But...start with Unofficial Patches, fixes not included in the USKP series. Those should be safe. Once those are installed, use LOOT to sort the load order. The most common CTD is at the main menu, as the menu loads. If this happens to you, likely you have an issue with load order...and more likely, it is a plugin that needs a prerequisite plugin. This is called a Master. LOOT can help here, but nothing can auto-sort perfectly.

 

The key to modding your game will be testing each mod you install, as you install it. So that if any problems occur, you will know which mod is causing the issue, and support or help will be easier obtained. Remember to read ALL the things; description, change logs, readmes, blogs, articles that accompany each mod. In these writings could be the answer to any issues.

 

Good luck and happy modding.