Freezing all over Whiterun!

[padmaus]

[FIXED]

 

ok this stuff is probably common sense to most of you. but for those who were, like me, missing something huge, this may help. i have tried to make this as noob-friendly as possible... forgive my slang. :~1

if you are having problems with skyrim freezing, crashing, lagging, or something weird (floating horses, for example) there are some simple things you can do which (hopefully) will fix it.

 

1. Up-to-Date Software. Before doing anything, be sure your Skyrim version is up-to-date, and you have the latest version of your graphics card driver installed. if you use an Nvidia graphics card, you can download the latest version here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us. if you use an AMD graphics card, you can get the latest version here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx. if you have some other kind of graphics card, im sure you can find a driver download site using Google. be sure to get it from the official site!

 

2. Load Order. this was my #1 problem because i didnt understand how to structure load orders, or that i needed to structure them at all. i thought BOSS was all i needed... BIG HUGE MISTAKE OMG. no. no no no no no. Load order is entirely your responsibility... but i wont get into that here. there is a wonderful sticky by missjennabee AT THE TOP OF THIS FORUM that everyone should read if they are unfamiliar with load orders and having trouble:

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/753253-only-you-can-prevent-forest-fires/

reading this helped me out so much. i used her example load order as a basic structure for mine, and also learned about some great mods.

 

of course, dont forget to use Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) or a similar program to structure your load order. this can be downloaded here: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/modmanager/

if you are brand new to modding, you should download this before doing anything!!!

also if you are going to be doing modding or following the steps on this list, or downloading ANYTHING from the internet EVER, you will need a handy program called 7zip. i love 7zip, i use it all the time, and if you dont have it then you should definitely get it even if you dont think you need it. it is a freeware that can extract pretty much any type of compressed file. you can download it here: http://www.7-zip.org/

 

3. BOSS. After setting up or making changes to your load order, or activating any new mods, always run BOSS. it can be downloaded here: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/6

simply put, BOSS will arrange your mods so that they will not conflict. You still need to maintain a tidy load order, think of BOSS as a guidline. also, once you run BOSS, always read the Summary, Recognised Plugins and Unrecognised Plugins sections. it is important to make sure there and NO Errors, and AS FEW Warnings as possible. (no Warnings is of course ideal, but sometimes the Warning is a dirty edit in a mod that you cant really do anything about. in this case, it is up to the mod author to fix the problem. if the Warning mods are causing issues for you, my best advice is to deactivate them, tell the mod author about it, and wait for them to release a fixed version.)

 

4. .INI files. in your Documents folder, upon launching SkyrimLauncher.exe, there will appear two .ini files in your Documents\My Games\Skyrim\ folder. they are called Skyrim.ini and Skyrimprefs.ini. there are many, many tweaks and fixes for these .ini files, i suggest you look up some guides on Google if you want to get fancy. :~) when downloading a mod, be sure to always read the Description AND the Readme, as some mods require you to add or modify lines in your .ini files. also, it is a good idea to back up your .ini files before making changes to them. the tweak that helped me the most with fixing my severe lag issues was this (Show the Spoiler to see):

 

 

+open your Skyrimprefs.ini file by double-clicking it, or by right-clicking it and selecting Open. it should bring up a text window.

find the header [MAIN] and underneath it,

bGamepadEnable=1

simply change this 1 to a 0. it should look like this:

bGamepadEnable=0

now find the header [Controls] and underneath it,

bGamePadRumble=1

again, change this 1 to a 0. it should look like this:

bGamePadRumble=0

now save it (go to File->Save) and close.

This turns off the Game Controller and Rumble features, so only do this if you use a Mouse and Keyboard to play Skyrim.

DO NOT change these lines if you use a Game Controller! if you suffer from lag this should help tremendously... it may be worth switching to keyboard and mouse. :~p

 

 

5. Outside Programs. Operating Systems (OS) love to run things youre not aware of--at least i know for a fact Windows 7 does. if you dont have a million gigabytes of RAM to spare, your computer needs to be able to devote as much memory to your game as it can. this will greatly reduce lag, ctds, and freezes. i use a program called Razer Game Booster, which you can download here: http://www.razerzone.com/gamebooster its light, quick to install (you will have to make an account with them) and easy to set up. with this program you can create game-specific profiles--you can tell it to turn off all unnecessary processes while you play, and they will start back up again once you close the game.

There is also a nice little program called Optimizer Textures: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/12801/? which compresses all your texture files (including mods) to help your game run faster. it is easy to use but will take a while to run. i always put it on the maximum setting, check the BSA box and the 3 boxes under the BSA tab, and run it. if there is any loss of quality in the textures from compressing it, i sure cant tell.

 

6. Unpack .BSA files. this was suggested by Sibastion as a fix for all crashes and freezes in and around Whiterun (original post here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/543886-ive-discovered-a-sure-fix-for-all-whiterun-crashes-in-skyrim/ ). some people were skeptical about unpacking your .bsa files, but it worked for me with no problems, and many others have claimed the same. to do this you will need to install a BSA Unpacking tool. there are many different programs that can do this... i will list just a few:

BSA Unpacker: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/4804/?

Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM): http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/2097/?

Wrye Bash: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/1840/?

When i did this i used BSA Unpacker, so i will tell you how to do it this way:

 

 

+First, make a new folder on your Desktop by right-clicking it and going to New->Folder. Name this folder "meshes" or "Meshes BSA" or something like that. Download BSA Unpacker if you havent already.

+then, using 7zip, extract the .rar file to your Documents folder or wherever you want--i have made a folder in my Documents\My Games\Skyrim folder called "Skyrim Utilities" so i can keep all handy little tools like this in one place.

+you dont need to install anything, just run the BSAUnpacker.exe. in the BSA Browser, click Open, and navigate to your Skyrim directory (wherever you have Skyrim installed, usually in Program Files or Program Files (x86)), open the Data folder, and find the file called Skyrim - Meshes.bsa. select this and click Open.

+wait a few seconds and you should see it loading the files. once it is done, click Extract All and find the folder you made on your desktop, click OK. Now, it may not look like its doing anything, but you need to give it several minutes to make sure its extracted everything.

+after 5 minutes or so, right click your meshes folder on the desktop, click Properties, and look at the number next to the word "Size". if the number is changing, wait until it stops changing (it will be around 2 gigabytes i think).

+when it stops changing, you will know your extraction is complete. inside your folder you should have two subfolders, "lodsettings" and "meshes." now highlight them both and drag-n-drop them into your Data folder in the Skyrim directory. this may take a minute or two. if it asks you to overwrite anything, click No. if it asks you for Administrator Permission to move the files, click Yes.

+when it is done moving the files, you are done. Yay!

 

 

7. Graphics Options. If you have done all of the above and it STILL is lagging and freezing and crap, you must do the UNTHINKABLE---turn down your graphics settings, fool. you might want to try this at the beginning if you dont feel like doing all that work, and graphics arent your top priority. When you first open SkyrimLauncher.exe, it should automatically detect your most appropriate graphics settings. If you are using 100+ mods however, you may need to *gasp* turn them down EVEN MORE. i know, no one wants to do this, but high FPS count is preferable to being able to count the seeds on every blade of wheatgrass. i mean... come on.

 

 

 

there! thats all the advice i have! hope this helped, and Happy Modding!

Edited June 15, 2013 by padmaus

[padmaus]

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/825/o5l.png/

 

this is titled: "Waiting for Skyrim to finish Crashing"

[ENTSLAVER]

yeah man i gues bsa unpacking does really help... at least after 5 min running back and forth next to breeze home, no shutterings anymore... meshes need now more time to load but after that the game is smooth and stable! so thank you very much for your expirience sharing!

[XdebbysaurusX]

I never heard of this BSA unpacking until now, and it fixed all my "whiterun freezes"

Thank you :)

[mastershoka]

Can anyone explain this Step by step in instructions?

I hav skyrim With Real vision SkyUI racemenu XPMSE HDT and other basic mods with bunch of clothing my skyrim freezes in Whiterun and DragonReach Help Please.

[bigbangman99]

Can anyone explain this Step by step in instructions?

I hav skyrim With Real vision SkyUI racemenu XPMSE HDT and other basic mods with bunch of clothing my skyrim freezes in Whiterun and DragonReach Help Please.

Do you use Static Mesh Improvement?

 

-- This causes my game to crash and stutter and freeze a ton. Also, the HDT causes a few issues with my game as well. Try disabling HDT and SMI ((if you have it) And see what happens.

[kurecore]

[FIXED]

 

ok this stuff is probably common sense to most o......

 

there! thats all the advice i have! hope this helped, and Happy Modding!

 

Thanks For The Razer its better with it now ...

 

Also in my case it was load order .. i tend to move Purity II at the verry end od the load order .. this time i let LOOT handle it it was placed somewhere in middle,,before house mods etc. .. i give it a try and its about 60% better .. now will try to unpack my bsa ..

 

And one last thing,read out somewhere that if your GFX support triple buffering you should use it too,it may smoother your game.

 

Anyway thanks a lot this community rulles !! :smile:

Edited November 24, 2016 by kurecore

[IrNepo]

Does the extract bsa thing also work for modded games?

[Starbase503]

my game crashes or freezes just in Whiterun, but do I have to or should I extract EVERY bsa file, or are there specific ones that will help Whiterun's stability? I unpacked the Ladies of Whiterun mod's bsa files, but not sure which others would help.

[nixnixnix]

Something that is not mentioned here and has caused me crashes in Whiterun, Winterhold, etc. for a year:

 

Check your skse.ini file in your Skyrim/Data/skse folder.

It should have the following lines:

 

[General]
EnableDiagnostics=1
ClearInvalidRegistrations=1
[Display]
iTintTextureResolution=2048
[Memory]
defaultHeapInitialAllocMB=1024
scrapHeapSizeMB=256

 

My ini file only had the iTintTextureResolution line. After I copied in the missing config lines, my crash issues disappeared.

Google around for a more detailed walkthrough of the skse.ini configuration.