CTD just after Play

[CaptainPatch]

I'm about as tech UNsavvy as you can get and still be able to use a PC. I've had Skyrim from Day One, and have been loving the game. About a year ago I imported @70 mods and eventually had everything sorted out. But then about a month or two ago, my Motherboard fried and I had to get a replacement. For some reason, my Skyrim went back to an unmodded vanilla.

 

Over the last couple days, I've added about 40-50 mods, all of them heavily endorsed (by like thousands). But now when I try to start, after I hit Play, the Load screen comes up, and the music gets as far "Boom, boom-boom" and then I get a CTD. Doesn't matter f I try starting from desktop, or from the Steam Library; same thing happens.

 

Obviously, the game doesn't like _something_ in those recent changes. But what? I really don't relish the idea or removing ALL of the mods, and then one by one, add one/start/quite/repeat 40-50 times.

 

Seeing a similar situation involving CTDs, I (renamed and) deleted the Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini and then started the game from Steam so it would do the autodetect bit. But I still get that same CTD.

 

Does this look familiar to anyone? Any suggestions (Other than the one-by-one mod install/start/quit/repeat approach would be nice.)

[ripple]

CTD during logo screen is typically a mod dependency issue. Download BOSS, run BOSS, then download TES5Edit and load all your plugins in it. If TES5Edit stops loading and bounces an error message, the plugin that causes the error message is the one that is missing a master.

[CaptainPatch]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is BOSS again?

 

THANK YOU for addressing my concerns, btw.

 

I'm going to Search for the BOSS download; so I might have done this before you read this post. I just hope that "load all your plugins" doesn't amount to going one-by-one to the Nexus mod pages and adding them to the list. Would the list be that "Data Files" menu from the game start menu?

 

ADDENDA -- Located and installed BOSS. Unfortunately, it uses Internet Explorer as its UI. Unfortunate because for some unfathomable reason, the ONLY web browser I can get to work on my PC is Chrome. All others consistently freeze within a short time; IE is one that freezes _instantly_, before the opening page even has a chance to load beyond the basic page frame. Is there any way to get BOSS to open in Chrome instead?

Edited June 1, 2013 by CaptainPatch

[ripple]

Sounds like you have some serious issues with your PC, which may be (at least partly) responsible for the game instability you are experiencing. If you've set Chrome as your default browser on your PC, the html log from BOSS should launch Chrome, not IE. At any rate, you can also click on the BOSS GUI.exe, and select 'plain text' form for the BOSS log. Run BOSS, install and run TES5Edit, find out which plugin is missing a master, and report back.

 

After you've done all of that, copy/paste your BOSS log here, and enclose it in a spoiler tag so it doesn't clutter the screen. If BOSS additionally generates a list of plugins it does not recognize, post that here too (enclosed in a spoiler tag).

[CaptainPatch]

Weeeeelllll, I've managed to finally make Chrome my default browser. (No help from M$ Win 7; the Internet options allows to set _IE_ as the default browser, but if you want to use any other, Win 7 doesn't want to know what it is. I can just see the programmer with his nose in the air, sniffing at the very concept that _anyone_ would want to use anything other than IE.) I already had BOSS downloaded, so now in opens in Chrome just fine. Then I downloaded TES5Edit and ran that.

 

So much for the good news. The rest.... Just perusing all of the MANY things that is being designated as Things To Do is daunting. It's like, "If thou shalt use mods, then thou shalt be QUITE (not quite as much as VERY) proficient in performing programming-related tasks." If it wasn't for the fact that I literally _love_ what Skyrim and its mods have done to provide me.... (Checking Steam Library tally) ... 2073 hours of entertainment, I would probably say "To heck with it" and go play something else.

 

Couldn't find anything specifically labeled "BOSS log", but this is what I've gotten from BOSS:

 

Summary --

 

Plugin Type Count

Recognised (or sorted by user rules) 56

Unrecognised 1

Inactive 0

All 57

 

Plugin Message Type Count

Warning 11

Error 1

All 41

Your masterlist is already at the latest revision (r7037; 2013-05-31). No update necessary.

No change in recognised plugin list since last run.

Recognized Plugins --

These plugins are recognised by BOSS and have been sorted according to its masterlist. Please read any attached messages and act on any that require action.

• Skyrim.esm Active
• Update.esm Active
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}
  • Contains dirty edits: 92 ITM, 3 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
• Dawnguard.esm Active
  • Contains dirty edits: 607 ITM, 82 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}
• HearthFires.esm Active
  • Contains dirty edits: 171 ITM, 11 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
• Dragonborn.esm Active
  • Contains dirty edits: 57 ITM, 8 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
• AP Skyrim.esm Active
• BBLuxurySuite.esm Active
• moonpath.esm Active
• SPIKE.esm Active
• WARZONES - Civil Unrest.esm Active
  • Contains dirty edits: 66 ITM, 1 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
• HighResTexturePack01.esp Active
• HighResTexturePack02.esp Active
• HighResTexturePack03.esp Active
• Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp Active
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}
• Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp Active
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}
• unofficial hearthfire patch.esp Active
• Unofficial Dragonborn Patch.esp Active
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev}}
• fantasy music overhaul.esp Active
  • Contains dirty edits: 3 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
• fantasy music overhaul - no vanilla music.esp Active
• fantasy music overhaul - unique town music.esp Active
• lockpickvision.esp Active
• TradeBarter.esp Active
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}
  • Requires: SKSE.
  • Requires: SkyUI
• Chesko_WearableLantern.esp Active
• Tytanis.esp Active
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}
• Convenient Horses.esp Active
• Footprints.esp Active
• 1nivWICCloaks.esp Active
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Relev}}
• 1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp Active
  • Error: Cloaks.esp is not present or is not active. Skyrim will CTD when loading if using this file without it.
• hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp Active
  • Contains dirty edits: 7 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}
• Dr_Bandolier.esp Active
• DeadlyDragons.esp Active
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}
• DeadlyMonsters.esp Active
  • Warning: SkyUI.esp is not present or is not active. You will be unable to use the SkyUI MCM
  • Requires: SKSE 1.6.6+
• BBLuxurySuiteExt.esp Active
  • Contains dirty edits: 24 ITM, 3 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
• BBLSHousecarlsmovein.esp Active
  • Contains dirty edits: 1 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
• BBLSspouse.esp Active
  • Contains dirty edits: 1 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
• BBLSVisitors.esp Active
  • Contains dirty edits: 14 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
• buildablehouse.esp Active
• moonpath_questdata.esp Active
• Run For Your Lives.esp Active
• AchieveThat.esp Active
  • Requires: SkyUI 3.1+
  • Requires: SKSE
• Headbomb's Better Sorting - Ammo.esp Active
  • Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)
• Headbomb's Better Sorting - Books.esp Active
  • Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)
• Headbomb's Better Sorting - Food (Weightless).esp Active
  • Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)
• Headbomb's Better Sorting - Ingredients.esp Active
  • Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)
• Headbomb's Better Sorting - Miscellaneous.esp Active
  • Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)
• Headbomb's Better Sorting - Potions (Weightless).esp Active
  • Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)
• Headbomb's Better Sorting - Soul Gems (Ranked).esp Active
  • Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)
• Headbomb's Better Sorting - Spells.esp Active
  • Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)
• Guard Dialogue Overhaul.esp Active
• Immersive Weapons.esp Active
  • Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev}}
• Helgen Reborn.esp Active
• EnhancedLightsandFX.esp Active
• DeadlySpellImpacts.esp Active
• EMCompViljaSkyrim.esp Active
• UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul.esp Active
  • Warning: UFO - Dawnguard AddOn.esp required to work properly with Dawnguard (Official Bethesda DLC)
  • Warning: UFO - Heartfire AddOn.esp required to work properly with Hearthfires (Official Bethesda DLC)
  • Note: For safe install need dismiss all your followers, save, delete all included mods, load again, save and install UFO. For safe uninstall or update see special instructions on mod page.
  • Contains dirty edits: 18 ITM, 0 UDR records Needs TES5Edit cleaning. A cleaning guide is available here.
• Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp Active

Unrecognized Plugins --

The following plugins were not found in the masterlist, and must be positioned manually, using your favourite mod manager or by using BOSS's user rules functionality. You can submit unrecognised plugins for addition to the masterlist directly from this log by clicking on a plugin and supplying a link and/or description of its contents in the panel that is displayed.

• Inconsequential NPCs.esp Active

Just as a quick forlorn hope, I unchecked the unfamiliar Inconsequential NPCs mod; didn't change anything.

Watched the TES5Edit (revised) video. I gather this is where I am told that if I want my mods (all of them), I'll be spending a fair amount of time Cleaning about 16 of them?

Edited June 2, 2013 by CaptainPatch

[Georgiegril]

YOu need to address the messages BOSS is giving you. For example, it is telling you :

 

1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp Active

• Error: Cloaks.esp is not present or is not active. Skyrim will CTD when loading if using this file without it.

 

 

There are others, too-- if BOSS tells your game will crash without a requirement, or that you are running too many versions of something, etc., you need to take care of those things.

 

You may be able to get away with not using TES5Edit, but warnings abotu compatibility or requirements, etc you do have to fix.

[CaptainPatch]

Zzzoooo, I followed the advice of removing mods that had Warnings attached. (Those that I _could_ remove, anyway.) This allowed me to actually get back into the game. Yaaaahhhh!

 

Two issues though:

 

1) I tried to remove the two Weapons & Armor fixes and Deadly Monsters from the NMM list, bbbuuuuttttt, those three mods do NOT appear on the NMM Mods tab. They DO have checkboxes on the Plugin order list, so I unchecked them. But how do I manage to get them removed entirely? In the meantime, BOSS is still showing Warnings for them, so I'm guessing this is a problem, even if they are unchecked.

 

2) I reinstalled Moonpath to Elsweyr, bbbbuuuuutttt now when I enter The Dead Man's Drink, the door to the "garage" where you're supposed to start the quest is absent. The two Khajit are there in the inn, and they'll invite you to come along with their caravan, but there's no getting to the wagon. The quest map marker shows as being _in the wall_, but no doorway. Further, when I first played this, the door was located in the middle of the right-hand wall as you entered the inn. Also, the inn entry used to be somewhat centered in the wall paralleling the street. (Wall, entry door, wall, bedroom, bedroom, wall.) Now, however, the entry/exit door has slid all the way to the corner. (Entry door, wall, bedroom, bedroom, wall.) The door to the "garage" -- if it was there -- is now in the wall opposite the entry door instead of being in the right-hand wall.

 

Does all of ^^those^^ graphic changes indicate a botched mod update? Or is there still a mod conflict scrambling Moonpath to Elswyr?

[ripple]

1) Cleaning: Use TES5Edit and follow the instructions on the page linked by the BOSS log to clean the plugins flagged by BOSS as containing 'dirty edits', including the patch esm and the DLCs. It's basically a '3-steps' process and shouldn't consume too much time. Just remember you'll need to remove identical to master records as well as undelete/disable deleted references. Remember to clean only the plugins flagged by BOSS as containing 'dirty edits', and clean each of those plugins only once.

 

2) Maintenance: go through your BOSS log and attend to all the error messages, such as this

• Headbomb's Better Sorting - Ammo.esp Active
  • Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)

This mod was made using a pre-CK tool and contain error records (which can cause CTDs). Sharlikran has a 'fixed' version of this mod and you should uninstall the old version, than update to the new version. Which mod manager do you use, incidentally?

[FiftyTifty]

Wait. When you CTD, do you choose "Continue"? I crash when I choose that option, but if I use the "Load" option, I don't crash.

 

Try loading a save without any mods on it, then loading your current save. If it works, ta-dah! You've got the loading bug that folks have had since Fallout 3.

[CaptainPatch]

Wait. When you CTD, do you choose "Continue"? I crash when I choose that option, but if I use the "Load" option, I don't crash.

When I was getting the CTDs (before I removed the mods that had BOSS warnings), the game hadn't gotten that far. The music barely started, but the menu hadn't appeared yet. So, choosing Continue or Load weren't even options at that point.

Edited June 2, 2013 by CaptainPatch