saurusmaximus

Short advice: Don't. Explanation: What you want IS OFC doable, but it might be more work than you expected. You could use either "Merge Plugins" (meanwhile quite outdated) or "z-edit" (more modern tool by the same author, but still in alpha...). TBH, I don't have much experience with "z-edit". So I can't say how well it works. "Merge Plugins" is difficult to use especially with mods concerning NPCs. When I used it for something similar as you're planning, I had a lot of issues with FaceGen data named incorrectly (or not changed at all). Took me a lot of time to sort this out... I doubt if it's worth the hassle. If your setup is running and working as intended, don't change it. If you want or need to save plugin space, there are probably easier methods like converting some of your .esp plugins to ESPFE format. I've used zEdit to successfully merge follower mods without any issue. The nice thing about either of those tools is, they create a new mod when they do a merge, so even if it doesn't work, you're only out the time it takes to do the merge in the first place; your original mods stay untouched. HOWEVER, in the OPs case, before doing that I would ensure that you have gotten rid of all unnecessary records from your various mods before attempting to merge, and then I would make a new 'Test Save' to try everything out before committing to a new playthrough, just in case something went wrong.

I'm assuming you're on LE Skyirm? Try reading this.

Go into TESVEdit, load up the mod that has the NPCs you don't want. Delete their records from the mod, save and close. I would also recommend disabling/deleting their respective meshes and textures, depending on which mod manager you are using, just to be safe.

Have you tried rebooting your computer? Also, I didn't see that you answered the question about savegame size.

I don't know specifically if this is the case with the mods you are talking about but, for example, there are a couple scripts you can apply to keep static objects from flying around when you load into a cell; basically the script tells Havok to ignore that particular item. It's one tiny script that fires once when you first load into a cell, but if you have a lot of them, it does become a cumulative thing.

The standard wisdom around here is that BSAs load faster, but I've never seen anything that actually confirms that, so who knows? Personally, I tend to run with loose files as much as possible, mainly because I had a large number of mods in LE that I ended up porting over myself, and I had to unpackage them when doing so. And, it's a PITA to repack everything. If I d/l a mod that's packed and it works I don't usually bother with it, but if I want to change something, it gets unpacked and I leave it that way.

Is this your first time leaving Dragonsreach this save game? Your problem is probably one of two things: either a script is stuck and it's mucking things up, or there is a problem with one of your texture mods. Try a simple test: go into the console by pressing the " ~ " key and type coc whiterun and press Enter. You should spawn near Honningbrew Meadery. Assuming your game doesn't crash again, run back and see if you can get back into the city through the main gates. If you can get back in, run back to Dragonsreach go back in, then see if you can get back out. We are trying to see if there is a problem with Whiterun itself, or if there is something else going on.

It can happen if you have a lot of scripted mods, I don't know all of the programming mechanics that causes it, but it definitely is a thing (I've done it myself). In regards to AFT, the biggest risk you run by shuffling things around is you could end up in a situation where one of your followers is above/below AFT from where it used to be, and they will no longer function properly. That is can usually be fixed with some console commands, but it's best to avoid it altogether if you can.

That's because there is no navmesh past a certain point on the map - you're not supposed to be able to go there, so why navmesh it? Was that Skyrim Better Roads by any chance? I had trouble with a few spots when I installed that mod. I had a helluva time getting the navmesh fixed on that one bridge outside of Whiterun. Is that area modded in your game? I've never encountered that before.

Not that I've ever heard of. Out of curiosity, why would you need to? If you are having navmesh issues, they are easily fixed in the CK.

What did you do to fix it?

Installed on it's own, PapayrusUTL doesn't really do anything, it's just a utility that allows other mods to use more advanced scripting. So, unless you have a mod installed that uses it, it shouldn't affect your game in any way; the caveat being that there are no guarantees when modding skyrim. The flying around Skyrim thing is just a stress test that tests your system's ability to load in data without crashing. I've never been a huge fan of it - back when I was playing on LE I had load orders that wouldn't pass that test that were still stable in normal gameplay - and always felt it was more of a way for guys with top-end graphics cards to flex than anything else. Is it possible that it's slowing the scripting engine down enough to to cause problems? Sure, but if everything else is running smoothly, I personally wouldn't worry about it.

My educated guess is, one of the numerous patches you have installed is patching a mod that you don't actually have, if that makes sense (it's been a long day). Or, you have two mods that are trying to do the same thing, and they are hanging things up. If LOOT isn't throwing any errors about incompatibilities, you may have to go through and check yourself. Using an external drive could be an issue, depending on how it's hooked to the computer (I'm assuming USB3?) you may not have the bandwidth to run the game smoothly. But that is a desperate last resort right now. Start with your load order and see what you find.

I've found the easiest way (because I'm generally too lazy to bother with bodyslide) is to just manually d/l the base UNP or CBBE meshes, and replace the follower's body meshes with whichever one is appropriate. 99% of the time, the textures still work, and it takes like 2 minutes to do.

Creationkit.com is the official wiki for using the CK, it's a great resource for learning how to use it. Otherwise, google it. There are Youtube videos for pretty much everything now, you just have to look for them. In your case, you will want to search for something like: 'modding interior cells in skyrim' or some such. It will get a little complicated because you will have to learn how to navmesh a cell (it's not hard, but there is a learning curve).

I was asking about savegame size because an excessively large file is a good indication that you have a corrupted save. Doesn't look that way here. I'm not familiar with any alternatives to that mod, I guess just browse around the nexus and see what you can find.

I wouldn't merge those, as you will likely end up with conflicts, i.e.; some of the dialogues won't work correctly, she won't use her spells from QoD, etc. You can try converting those mods to .esl files, as VulcanTourist suggested, or find some mods in your load order that will merge better.

The problem with those logs is, they don't really tell you a whole lot about what was going wrong, they just log errors that the engine sees in Papyrus. For example, the only dragon-related error I noticed was actually a script from the vanilla game that is attached to dragon mounds (you can tell because the refid's start with "000"), so most likely, that isn't an issue. Now, it's possible another mod is referencing back to that script, but that is the way it's being logged. How big is your unstable save game, in MB? Based on the list you gave, if I had to pick a mod out of that group that is the culprit, it would be flora respawn fix, simply because it does use a lot of scripts. So I would start there. One other thing, are you running any third-party applications in the background that could be messing with your game? If so, try disabling those and see if you get any results.

The short answer is, you really can't. But reading your log, almost the entire thing is a mod called "NewArmouryRprNPC" spamming quests, which could mean there is a problem, or it could just be the way the mod runs. But it would be a place to start.

Before you get too carried away replacing your p/s, does your system crash when playing any other games? If nothing else, can you play Skyrim mod-free without any issues? Based on your comment, it sounds like it's stable for a little while, then gets all crashy after your save is a few hours old, is that correct?

You have a crap ton of lighting/shadow mods. Being that they aren't going away, even with those removed (You're sure you got them all, right?) that's telling me something is baked into your save. Try this: disable one of those mods, start the game and from the main menu go into the console and type coc whiterunorigin . That will drop you right into Whiterun proper on a fresh save. Check the shadows, if they still suck, close the game, disable another, and repeat until you narrow down the culprit.

The biggest thing I noticed with SE is that my load times are much faster, even heavily modded (~230 at present). With LE, the load screen sometimes dragged on for 2-3 minutes, now it's maybe 10- 15 seconds on a bad day.

Honestly, just go to the ENB mods catagory and browse the screenshots until you find one you like. With that setup, performance shouldn't be an issue. Also, if you want to try a few different presets, use an ENB manager, it makes everything much simpler.

While I agree with the sentiment, the fact is a well-done NPC needs a good voice actor with well-written lines to be convincing, and I don't know how many modders can pull that off. As an example, I've had this very same idea for years, but I can't afford to hire anyone to record dialogue for me, so I thought, 'Hey, I'll just do it myself!'. So I recorded myself just repeating some lines from the game to try it out. Long story short, I sounded terrible, to the point where even I would be annoyed listening to my own dialogue. Not saying it can't be done, just that it isn't for anyone to do.

Personally, I've never had much luck with Compatibility Mode, I suppose it depends on the game you are trying to run.