Is the mini-freeze normal?

[Elwen90]

Hi, lately I've been having a problem with Skyrim freezing for half a second at random places, this is in no way game breaking but it's still annoying and I can't find a solution for it yet. I'll give a few examples, sometimes when I kill a guard the game will freeze for half a second right before the "1000 gold has been added to your bounty" message shows up, sometimes it happens when I or an npc uses magic, it can happen right before an npc speaks, or in combat when I'm attacking the enemy. Now again it's not a big deal because it doesn't happen all the time but if anyone has a fix for it that'd be great.

These are my specs
Processor: AMD FX-6300 six-core 3.5ghz
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 2gb
Ram: 8gb
OS: Windows 8
2TB HDD
Driver version: 355.60

I should mention that aside from this issue the game runs well on this setup, I run the game at ultra high settings and I get 60fps most of the time, although in very busy areas fps can drop to 40. The game by default selects ultra and nvdia experience also recommends ultra. I should also mention that I'm not using mods(at the moment), no graphical mods, no enb and no dlc.

I tried running the game on the lowest setting and the mini-freeze kept happening, it feels as if the game is trying to load something which causes it to freeze for half a second. Skyrim is the only game with this issue, other games like Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, Shadow of Mordor and Dragon Age Inquisition don't have this problem on my setup.

While playing the game CPU max temp is 46°C and usage is 30%, GPU max temp is 52°C and usage is 61%. Memory usage is 26%.

any help is appreciated.

[gamefever]

Hi, lately I've been having a problem with Skyrim freezing for half a second at random places, this is in no way game breaking but it's still annoying and I can't find a solution for it yet. I'll give a few examples, sometimes when I kill a guard the game will freeze for half a second right before the "1000 gold has been added to your bounty" message shows up, sometimes it happens when I or an npc uses magic, it can happen right before an npc speaks, or in combat when I'm attacking the enemy. Now again it's not a big deal because it doesn't happen all the time but if anyone has a fix for it that'd be great.

 

These are my specs

Processor: AMD FX-6300 six-core 3.5ghz

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 2gb

Ram: 8gb

OS: Windows 8

2TB HDD

Driver version: 355.60

 

I should mention that aside from this issue the game runs well on this setup, I run the game at ultra high settings and I get 60fps most of the time, although in very busy areas fps can drop to 40. The game by default selects ultra and nvdia experience also recommends ultra. I should also mention that I'm not using mods(at the moment), no graphical mods, no enb and no dlc.

 

I tried running the game on the lowest setting and the mini-freeze kept happening, it feels as if the game is trying to load something which causes it to freeze for half a second. Skyrim is the only game with this issue, other games like Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, Shadow of Mordor and Dragon Age Inquisition don't have this problem on my setup.

 

While playing the game CPU max temp is 46°C and usage is 30%, GPU max temp is 52°C and usage is 61%. Memory usage is 26%.

 

any help is appreciated.

 

There are a lot of potential sources that this issue can come from.

 

I have had a CMStorm Recon Mouse cause issues such as this. Simple fix for me was stop using that mouse...Thing is later I discovered it had to do with its DPI settings that effected how fast the mouse is supposed to move on the screen, Skyrim would hiccup/freeze on occasion due to having the highest DPI on the mouse.

IF your using a game mouse be sure to check out its control panel and look for your DPI setting.

 

The thing is a lot of the settings in your Graphics Card Panel should be tailored specific to Skyrim's needs,

I don't know all of them off hand but for the most part you do not want to have forced anything on Skyrim (which might seem brilliant to some but uh no bad idea).

 

Experienced modders will use ENB Boost, ENB doesn't need to be enabled to get a lot of graphics fidelity or the benefits of crash reduction either.

ENB Boost in fact does address a lot of inherent issues that can cause slight freeze, thing is its too much effort to list out for you.

 

Even playing Default Game I'd suggest you to get yourself a copy of Unofficial Patches, thing is these are best on a new game. They effect a great deal of things Skyrim is a fairly big place after all.

 

VSYNC,

 

That is something better set in ENB Boost but normal game use the one in the launcher not forced in Graphics Panel.

Edited August 20, 2015 by gamefever

[Elwen90]

Thank you for answering, I will try another mouse to see if the problem goes away. Also thanks for recommending ENB, I'll finally give it a try

[jones177]

Hi

 

I ran a 670 back in 2013. The only mini freezes I got were from female NPCs. I us mods to add NPCs to the roads I also used MHIYM for the followers that were not in use.

All the females used hires textures & meshes. If I ran into enough of them I would get a mini freeze as they loaded in. At certain times of the day around Whiterun I would get CTD caused by NPCs entering & leaving the city. I fixed most of the issues by reducing the texture sizes of the female NPCs. I also reduced texture sizes in followers. As I added more mods things got bad again & I replaced the 670 with a 680 4gb. That permanently fixed the problem.

Back then mods like ENBoost were just coming out. I am Shure with todays memory patches I could have gotten the 670 last a lot longer.

 

 

Later

[Elwen90]

Thanks for answering Jones177, I might try decreasing the texture size and see if that helps

[Elwen90]

I forgot to update this thread, I tried every fix given to me in the comments but nothing worked. I did find the solution to eliminate the freezes though, all I had to do was install the game in another hdd and now it runs perfectly. I really don't understand why my 2tb hdd (which I bought 3 years ago) is giving me problems with this game, when my old 500gb hdd (which I bought back in 2007) is running it perfectly. Anyway problem solved, and thank you to anyone who replied.