Any non papyrus log files to help me troubleshoot CTD?

[Manway]

For some reason when I walk around parts of Solstheim I CTD, it's super sudden too. I can save 2ft away from whatever is causing it and everything works fine, as soon as I cross some threshold, instant CTD. I've already looks at papyrus and it does seem like there are some issues, none of the timestamps match the crash. I sit around and let all the scripts run and generate their errors and everything still works in-game. Then I run into whatever causes the crash and there is a clear gap in time between the last papyrus message and when my game crashes.

 

So is there anything else I can look at to figure out the cause? I know I can just disable the most recent mods, but I'm wondering if there is a better way than just guessing. I use Vortex to manage my mods and I enabled LOOT messages and followed most of the suggestions, only ones I have left are some "Check compatibility list" and one for XPMSE saying "Do not clean ITM records", which I'm assuming is just a warning, not something I need to fix.

 

Edit: oh yeah, forgot to mention, I don't have any mods that effect Solstheim specifically, so not sure what could be effecting just specific areas.

[VulcanTourist]

There may be logs for any SKSE plugins, but in my personal experience with Crashes To Desktop there is no log that will deliver a smoking gun to you: there simply isn't opportunity for the game to log anything useful. Dead men don't tell tales, so to speak.

[Algabar]

If CTDs occur always at the exact same spot (as described in the first post), running NifScan might be worth a try. Yes, it's on the "Oldrim" Nexus, but it also works for SE. Maybe you have a corrupted/damaged mesh or texture (e.g. from some landscape mod). Corrupt meshes and textures in teh "wrong" file format CAN cause CTDs...

 

Other than that, there is no easy way of troubleshooting CTDs. As VulcanTourist said, Papyrus logs are more or less useless for pinpointing CTDs (and the part that lead to the actual crash often isn't even in the logs because the game had already crashed...).

 

If NifScan doesn't give you anything, you will need to go the long and winding road: First of all test with a new game. If the CTD occurs in a fresh game, too, it's most likely a mod issue. If a fresh game doesn't crahs, it's probably a problem with your savegame. In this case, a savegame cleaner might help - or not. If it's a mod problem, systematically disabling mods and testing until you find the culprit is the way to go...

[Manway]

Gave NifScan a try, what should I be looking for? It gave me a lot of errors, but I'm guessing most of them arent serious because they're for objects that shoulda given me problems days ago, a quick skim doesnt show me any Solstheim specific errors.

 

So the logs can be interrupted? Doesn't that defeat the purpose? How are we supposed to use log files to find the problem, if the log files arent aloud to write the problem?

 

Yeah, I'll try the tedious way, though the real problem is that I have no idea what it could be. It can't be something in a specific location, because I walked from one side of the island to the other with no issues, it wasn't until I tried going back the same way that I got constant CTDs. :sad:

 

Edit: Ok, so not sure what it means, but I started a new game, with all my mods still on, and teleported outside the problem area, no CTD. Load my main save, crashes in the same spot as always. So what do I do?

[Algabar]

Gave NifScan a try, what should I be looking for? It gave me a lot of errors, but I'm guessing most of them arent serious because they're for objects that shoulda given me problems days ago, a quick skim doesnt show me any Solstheim specific errors.

 

NifScan errors in general aren't good. Ideally, you shouldn't have any. If you get a lot of them, this probably means that you have some mods installed that weren't properly ported to SE (i.e. "Oldrim" .nif format). In general, SE CAN handle meshes made for "Oldrim". They usually won't crash your game, but can have some impcat on performance.

 

So the logs can be interrupted? Doesn't that defeat the purpose? How are we supposed to use log files to find the problem, if the log files arent aloud to write the problem?

 

 

 

Basically, you're right. But this is a game, not a perfect software development environment. At least from my experience, Papyrus logs CAN stop and not record everything... Papyrus logs are for testing and debugging scripts mainly. It is a common misunderstandning that they are some sort of "Crash log". They were never ment to be one...

 

Yeah, I'll try the tedious way, though the real problem is that I have no idea what it could be. It can't be something in a specific location, because I walked from one side of the island to the other with no issues, it wasn't until I tried going back the same way that I got constant CTDs. :sad:

 

Edit: Ok, so not sure what it means, but I started a new game, with all my mods still on, and teleported outside the problem area, no CTD. Load my main save, crashes in the same spot as always. So what do I do?

 

If the CTD only occurs on specific saves and you have no issue with a new game (or other save games), then the problem very likely aren't mod conflicts, but your save game. The most common reason is leftover data from previously installed mods. In Skyrim, quite a lot of stuff gets baked into your save game. If you uninstall mods, there can still be remnants of them in your save - which can cause problems. This is why you should not change your mod setup during a playthrough.

 

Unfortunately, this could mean that your save game is not usable any more.

 

As a last ressort, you can try a "save game cleaner" (e.g. "Fallrim Tools").

 

WARNING: Using a save game cleaner CAN "repair" your save game, but it can also break it beyond repair. There were severe issues reported with the tool I linked (and with other save game cleaners as well). ALWAYS backup your save games before using a save game cleaner on them. And keep in mind: Using any save game cleaner is always AT YOUR OWN RISK.

 

 

[bloodritual1974]

you could try installing mod netscript framework, it has a crash log, it can be very helpful, i would try it, sometimes it can point directly to the problem.