egamar

I too am doing much the same! (I can't yet justify spending £999 on a new PC to play FO4, so this is my next-best option). Could some wise person point me at a 'load order guide'? ISTR seeing one years ago, and I rememebr it being critical to a stable system to ensure the right load order. I also recall something about creating a 'merged ESM file' (I think) also being important, but I can no longer find the links or documentation. There was also a 'recommended MODs' website - and again I've lost the link in the intervening years. Many of my favourite mods seem to have been further developed or have had their functionality included in larger mods and of course there are some new ones too: that is quite the enticement for yet another play through. Thanks in advance for any pointers

FO3MasterUpdate? I'm trying to read-up on what that does ... but ... what does it do? :smile: This is HOW you do it (copied from the manual) but I've no idea WHY! I'll jut follow the insdtructions, though! Launch FOMM and Uncheck any previous merged patches, then close FOMM Launch FO3Edit, making sure the correct mods are checked, select, “OK” Right-click in Left-Side Panel and select, “Create Merged Patch” Close FO3Edit and Save the new Merged Patch. Launch FOMM and Check/Select the new Merged Patch, then close FOMM Launch FO3MasterUpdate, ensure no errors occur, then close the program Launch FOMM and select, “Launch FOSE” to play!! BTW: FO3MasterUpdate is just FO3Edit renamed to FO3MasterUpdate , which, when run, recognises that it is to do some different things. Apparently.

ALWAYS use FO3edit to create a Merged Patch after installing any mod! I just wanted to share my recent experience after returning to FO3 after a year or so. I decided to start from scratch, delete everything I had before reinstall and add selected mods, this time carefully reading the big 'readmes' that come with the big mods such as FWE. This time I picked up the need to use FO3Edit to create a 'merged patch' to (try to) ensure Mods don't conflict with each other. The result? A rock solid installation for the first time ever with each mod actually doing what it is supposed to do with (apparently) no conflicts! Most (if not all) of the (smaller) mods don't make reference to using FO3Edit to create a merged patch, so - if you follow just their installation instructions - I suspect you will experience conflicts and/or CTDs. The 'trick' is to create a merged patch with F03Edit after EVERY mod you install, whether the readme tells you to or not. This appears to be particularly important with any mods that alter textures AND with 'competing' mods that alter the same files (e.g. UI files that alter barter_menu.xml, weapons and suchlike). I would also note in passing - and I guess many folks know this or have experienced this - that FOMM will not install Mods downloaded with NMM (because NMM adds some content to the info.xml file which FOMM doesn't recognise), downloading manually and using FOMM to install works well for me, but is much more cumbersome than using NMM. However, I found that NMM didn't always successfully install mods and didn't seem - for me anyway - to create a good load order. I started the reinstall using NMM, but could not get a stable start-up (even installing batches of mods incrementally) so I had to start over using FOMM. That might not be the case for everyone, of course. FOMM, however, won't install some Mods successfully no matter what ("DALCO inventory sorter" and "Better high detail maps and icons" in my case) so I do use NMM for those few mods, checking that they are enabled in/via NMM, of course. I also found that FOMM didn't seem initially to create the optimum load order for the 'major' mods such as FWE, MMM, Unofficial Patch and some of the lighting mods, so I used BOSS for that - creating the load order in BOSS first, then using autosort in FOMM, which then seemed to respect the major changes made by BOSS just tweaking the smaller mods successfully. The instructions I found in 'old' readmes for using FO3Edit to make a merged patch made it seem a really difficult task - mainly because it was incorporated with instructions for using Fo3edit for the heavy-duty tasks it was designed for (and I think outdated in one small respect), but it's really quite quick and simple, and this is what I did - in an iterative manner, adding batches of 'compatible' mods and ensuring I had a stable system after each batch before continuing: 1. Download all mods manually 2. Install the 'big ones' using FOMM 3. Install those that FOMM won't install using NMM 3. Create sort order in BOSS 4. Switch to FOMM 5. Autosort load order in FOMM 6. Select/enable desired Mods in FOMM (Note, you can/should double-check these in the pop-up shown by FO3Edit when it runs) 6. Exit FOMM, load FO3Edit 7a. Let Fo3edit do its stuff, keeping an eye out for error messages in the right-hand panel - if there are any, fix them (read the FO3edit help - most errors are caused by forgetting to enable a mod in NMM or by a failed installation using NMM/FOMM - use the other one and make sure it installs successfully) 7b. Create 'merged patch' (Note: merged patch option is accessed by right-clicking on the Left-hand panel of F03Edit and selecting 'other' from the popped-up menu, otherwise the isntructions in e.g. FWE are correct) 8. Load NMM to check that the 'merged patch' is selected/enabled 9. Run F03 to check for stable system. 10. Install next batch of Mods & autosort in NMM 11. Enable these Mods in NMM and 12. DISABLE the merged patch made in step 7 (If you forget, you can uncheck/disable it in the pop-up window offered by F03Edit, and it's worth the double-check) 13. Load FO3Edit (double-check everything is enabled/disabled as it should be) and create another merged patch (call it what you like, it doesn't matter as long as you enable it before running F03) 14. Make sure the new merged patch is ENabled and the previous one DISabled, and run F03 to check stability. 15. Rinse and repeat 16. Always create a merged patch even if you've just installed a teeny-tiny mod. Anyway- that's what worked for me! Don't despair if you have loaded hundreds of mods and have never created a merged patch though, just do it now! No need to uninstall all your mods although you might want to disable them and go through this routine or something similar in batches to let you use FO3Edit to highlight any errors in small chunks. In conclusion, my recommendation ALWAYS use FO3edit to create a Merged Patch after installing any mod!

Thanks for that advice too.

I haven't no: but I will! Thanks for the tip, it'll certainly be easier than using the console each time. Having said that, Karliah's bow is a "game-created" bow, not one I enchanted myself - I wonder if that might make a difference. I'll try giving her Karliah's bow first, thanks.

Errr, no.

Are you making changes to the correct file? There are two. The one in "My Games" (or similar) is the one to edit. I do wish folks would stop posting daft suggestions about making it 'read only'. A little knowledge is truly;y a dangerous thing. Oh, and there are many threads about this same problem: search is your friend.

"i just installed the blood textures (update) tytanis ultimate mod (2k hd textures Update) enhanced night (update) before playing again (game was fine untill i added these )" Emm ......

I cannot seem to persuade my two lady followers to use a wonderfully enchanted Daedric bow I give them Instead they insist on using their own hunting bows. I have removed their own (hidden/base) bows from their inventories, but they respawn. I recall Stenvar happily using the bow I gave him, and Faendal might have done (but he was killed by a dragon, so I can't check :) ) Is this something I'm doing wrong, or is it a "feature"? Thanks for any input

OR Go back through the backups of the .ini files you took before each tweak until you find the one that doesn't have this problem. Can't be too old as you'd soon notice this sort of problem. You did backup your ini files each time before tweaking them, didn't you?

Which wouldn't help if s/he was tweaking the WRONG .ini file, and could cause issues with mods which need to write to the .ini file.

Make sure you're editing the right .ini files: the ones in the "My Games" directory - NOT the ones in the same tree as the Launcher and TESV.exe. Some tweaks (mainly screen dimensions in my experience, but possibly other graphics quality ones) will get overwritten if you use the Launcher to run the game, just make a shortcut to TESV.exe once you've set what you need to using the Launcher. I rarely use the Launcher now - only once if I've had to reinstall, and maybe after an upgrade to see what default settings have changed. Always keep backups of your ini files (and TESV.EXE) somewhere where neither steam nor the game can get at them . Personally I replicate the entire directory tree on another hard-drive immediately after a clean install that I know works - then I've always got something to go back to. Then uninstall the FXAA injector to prevent problems in future :) Make sure you track down and manually delete any files it left behind when you uninstalled.

There we are then, that'll be the problem - I think my solution will work.

I doubt your guess is correct unless you'd unwisely tweaked the shadow settings beyond what is sensible. Reinstalling cures a MULTITUDE of ills, and I doubt the shadow settings were the cause of the problems - reinstalling cured the REAL cause of the problems you just don't know what they were .... That is nonsense, sorry. Read the excellent tweakguide on geforce.com to learn how to PROPERLY recover from messing about with ugridstoload. Bad advice is worse than no advice. Guessing is probably worse than even bad advice ...

Hmm .. the description of your problem seems to contain the solution ...

Well, that's one way to get CTDs. I find immersion is broken better by CTDs than by trivial graphical deficiencies. Tweak at your peril. Oh, and if a bit of shadowing breaks your immersion I suspect you haven't played enough ;) There's MUCH worse than that yet to come ...

I completely agree

Downgrade the graphics settings until you've passed by the problem then up them again?

Downgrade the graphics settings until you've passed by the problem then up them again?

I have no idea what a toon is, but I repeat the suggestion to delete the entire directory structure before re-installing. Do you understand what that means? Eradicate all traces of Steam and Skyrim from your PC, and start afresh. Update your video drivers, and check the 'sound glitch' problem (altho it should have been fixed in 1.3.10). If you have TRULY done a CLEAN install at 1.3.10 AND your PC is stable with the latest (or at least stable0 set of drivers - video, sound etc and you haven't OC'd your GPU or CPU or RAM or MOBO, then there's something wrong with your PC, I suggest, 1.3.10 seems pretty stable, and I have OC'd every damn thing I can :)

When you say "clean reinstall" did you completely delete the whole directory structure and start again? Or just install over or into the existing directory structure? If you didn't delete the whole lot, there might have been some files (e.g. texture files) left behind deep in the directory tree. In my experience it was either a few .dds files or the FXAA Injector files that caused EXACTLY the problems described. I just (after two days of hair-tearing, mind) hit "delete" at the top of the Skyrim/Steam directory tree and started again. Where 1.3.10 crashed repeatedly, repeatably and predictably for me but 1.2.10 was stable, now 1.3.10 is rock solid. I've carefully addd back trustworthy tweaks and mods, SKSE and ScriptDragon and all is well. Don't forget to save your savefiles though: they should still all work UNLESS you tweaked ugridstoload (or did something else unwise). A solution to rolling back the ugridstoload tweak can be found in the tweakguide on geforce.com... It's a generic solution, not just for nVidia cards. If it works for you, spread the word: lots of folks have this problem and I fear it's been self-inflicted. I certainly inflicted it on my sorry self.

If you want my 2p, the CTDs are nothing at all to do with ffdshow. Nor any shadow setting that you haven't unwisely tweaked. If you don't want my 2p, then CTDs are still nothing to do with ffdshow, nor any shadow setting you haven't unwisely tweaked. Most likely it's mod you've installed or tweak you've made. Especially mods that you can't disable e.g. in NMM, because you dropped a few files deep inside the directory structure. That's what my problem was. Once I got rid of a texture mod and the FXAA injector my 1.3.10 game ran rock solid where previously it would crash at every save - auto (fast travel, wait, transition etc) or manual. If you are plagued with CTDs do a CLEAN reinstall, add tweaks cautiously and test, add mods only via NMM (except SKSE and ScriptDragon themselves which are rock solid) and be selective about whose mods you use - be cautious if it's from a 12yo who wants a rainbow coloured glass sword or some other worthless eye-candy. Steer clear of fancy high-risk tweaks like ugridstoload etc too.

Sure: here you go. Hope that helped some.

Read the tweak-guide on geforce.com. There's an explanation on how to UNDO the ugrids "tweak" - you need to follow the instructions exactly, but they do say it works. It probably would "work" even if it had never existed (if you see what I mean - you're undoing something that wasn't done, but it doesn't matter). I think the info (whatever it is) is stored in the savegame file - but no idea what or where. The geforce guide is, of course, aimed at nVidia cards - but the solution for the ugrids thing is generic. However, before panicking, get rid of ALL the texture mods and fancy whatnots. Get rid of ALL mods. When you've got rid of all the mods, check to make sure you've got rid of them all. You'll have forgotten one or two. Or do a clean reinstall. Then see what happens. If you're stable, put back a few mods at a time and check each time. Be selective about the mods and tweaks (use the geforce guide or similar - its excellent) you install and make sure they come from trusted reputable modders, and only take ones that are worth the risk of f*cking things up. Use NMM and if they don't support NMM, don't install them (except for ScriptDragon and SKSE - safe as houses those two). My recommendation: stay clear of texture mods, FXAA injectors and the like and install mods form only trusted reputable modders, not some 12yo who wants his Glass Sword in all the colours of the rainbow.

I'd suggest you haven't actually disabled ALL the mods you've installed. I had the same problem; I was convinced I'd disabled ALL mods, but the problem wouldn't go away. 1.3.10 crashed repeatedly, repeatably and predictably as described above (which I think is linked to saves - autosave (e.g. on transition, fast travel, wait) or manual)). 1.2.10 was stable. When I did a folder/file compare against a clean install I found I'd forgotten about the FXAA Injector mod and a small texture mod. Once those were deleted the problem went away, and 1.3.10 is rock solid. I'd be wary of any texture mod that is't from a highly reputable source, and even then I'd think twice about whatever stability is preferable to eye-candy. I had the same issue with FO3 and textures. I thought the little texture mod I added would have been trouble free - it might not have been. elsewhere, however, someone also seems to have a problem with the FXAA injector. Now I'll only add mods from trusted modders, and I'll steer clear of texture mods, no matter how pretty.