What is VRAM and how does it relate to the game randomly crashing when loading interiors?

[TreshMek]

I like to think that I know my computer... but then again. Anyway, yes, the question is the title.

 

On uncommon occasions, the game suddenly CTD's whenever I enter or exit some interior cells. This happens most often when entering Inns, especially Inns in the major cities. Other times, the game instead does an infinite loading screen. The worst of these CTD's were those when I am simply traveling the outdoors, outside of cities.

 

Googling around led me to other users having similar problems and they solutions often involved VRAM. From their knowledge, it's because various texture and model mods that enhance vanilla assets are the cause. Are these CTD's simply a matter of not having enough of this "VRAM?" And is it related to RAM itself?

 

Any help is appreciated.

[anjenthedog]

RAM is the memory that is on your computer It is generally used for the computer operations.

 

VRAM is installed on graphics cards and generally speaking, it's used solely for graphics operations

 

And of course NVRAM is Non Volatile RAM, (Shutting down the power does not clear its contents) also generally used on the computer itself, mainly as fast "hard drives" but don't confuse it with the V in VRAM which is Video on the one and Volatile on the other

 

Both RAM and VRAM are generally volatile, which means when power is removed, they lose whatever they were storing.

 

And now you know (roughly)

 

for a more detailed and authoritative and technically dtailed explanation, I'd recommend doing a wide net search with google or bing, or whatever, but this should give you a rough idea.

[TreshMek]

RAM is the memory that is on your computer It is generally used for the computer operations.

 

VRAM is installed on graphics cards and generally speaking, it's used solely for graphics operations

 

And of course NVRAM is Non Volatile RAM, (Shutting down the power does not clear its contents) also generally used on the computer itself, mainly as fast "hard drives" but don't confuse it with the V in VRAM which is Video on the one and Volatile on the other

 

Both RAM and VRAM are generally volatile, which means when power is removed, they lose whatever they were storing.

 

And now you know (roughly)

 

for a more detailed and authoritative and technically dtailed explanation, I'd recommend doing a wide net search with google or bing, or whatever, but this should give you a rough idea.

 

So, in my case, the game will CTD when the VRAM is "overloaded," so to speak?

 

My graphic card is pretty powerful (GTX 1060 msi), so could it be that I am overestimating the amount of graphical enhancements it can take? I have several HD texture and model mods (Enhanced Flora and Enhanced Lighting FX, for example). Have I been enabling too many?

[anjenthedog]

Well, when you run out of video memory...yeah... the game will CTD.

 

I have a 1060 as well.... a 6G 1060SC

 

And it sometimes CTDs. (when the VRAM use hits 100%)

 

If you have a 3M 1060, you may want to reduce your game res to high (if you're running in ultra now)

 

Or start replacing those sweet 4K textures with something a bit less intensive

 

Also...IF you're out in the wilds (like in that area between Whiterun and Rorikstead, make sure to save along the way, and after the save reload that save. Maybe even drop to the main menu and then reload

 

Skyrim seems to be pretty poor at in game garbage collection (for instance, it rarely does the dead character purges. sometimes it'l be a week or so and then I get a message from the game that "393 dead characters removed" or something to that effect...indicating that it hasn't done squat forever), and as well, it can hold onto "dead" cell data long after you've exited a different area.

 

Also...there's a console command for purging "leftover" cell data PCB (purge cell buffer) , which *may reduce the video load, although I'm not 100% sure, because I haven't used it myself yet. Just read about it from a skyrim vet and added it to my "list of things" for future use

 

so...yeah, you *might be enabling too much "rich content" for your card. Like I said I get CTDs...in my case, usually in that Whiterun to Rorikstead area...

[xrayy]

first i recommend to verify if there is a relation between your ram/vram and ctd. this is very unlikely but it is possible. more likely is a mod conflict.

so start task manager and your GPU-Tool (i use nvidia inspector for Vram check) which shows you the amount of memory used while running skyrim and check if ram saturation is the assumed reason. 32bit skyrim is at its limits if it reaches a size of about 3,1GB+ if you do not use a memory manager (enboost). it depends on the amount of ram available if skyrim reaches a memory limit or not. if you do not reach the mem limit (this is what i assume) and game still ctds search for another reason instead (mod conflicts)!

if you use sse it is very unlikely that the ctd is memory or vram related unless your availalable ram and vram is not very low (ram < 8GB and vram < 2GB).