CTD when saving.

[RGS]

Hi guys,

 

Have encountered a strange and very irritating bug.

 

Having had no trouble playing the game previously, yesterday I loaded my latest save and went to sleep in a bed - CTD. Tried it again - same result. Restarted my computer - same again.

 

Discovered that my previous few saves (manual and auto) also displayed the same CTD issue (the crash when sleeping appears to be due to the game creating an autosave; regular and quick-saving also results in a CTD, as does entering/exiting a building for e.g.).

 

Third hard-save back seemed to work (just prior to marrying Lydia), thus I continued playing from that, retraced my steps and caught up to where I was before the issue began. Things seemed to be OK, but then the CTD returned - just the once (auto-save), but it worried me (still just testing at this point, not playing). Out of curiosity, I loaded the original save I'd had trouble with - and this time it worked! Tried it a couple more times without issue.

 

Started up the game today, loaded my original save and slept - still working, great! Pleased that all seemed to be OK, I quit Skyrim (was just a test).

 

Now this eve, going to play - and it's back to CTD again.

 

Would really appreciate any help here, particularly as I've put hundreds of hours into this character.

 

Some more info: I've completed the Main Quest and Dawnguard; the CTD issue began when attempting to sleep in the (player) bed in The Retching Netch, Solstheim. Had married Lydia the same day. Running a fair few mods, but no new ones for some time and all seemed to be working OK - until now... This is my first playthrough (yes, really!) so no spoilers please.

 

Thanks is advance!

[Helmsmasher]

Turn autosave off and never quicksave. It bloats the f*** out of your savefile and eventually it just overfills and corrupts.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Helmsmasher

[wfandrews]

In my opinion quicksave is fine as long as you remember to delete it after exiting your game. Also do not pile too many quicksaves on top of one another in game.

 

I agree with Helmsmasher completely on autosaves, the first thing I would do is turn off autosave.

[RGS]

Thanks for the tips guys. But I don't understand the problem with auto and quick saves - are they not entirely different file?

 

I tend to load from manual saves, creating around 2 per session, with one prior to exiting the game (which I load when re-starting). I usually keep 10 manual saves, writing over the old ones first.

 

Bit of an update:

 

1. I loaded my previous save - CTD on sleep (auto-save).
2. Re-loaded the game, same save as just CTD. Dismissed Lydia, dropped EVERYTHING and tried again - it worked! (I had tried dismissing Lydia previously, but not joy)
3. I then reloaded the save the had failed (same Skyrim session - this is important, I think...), and with no change whatsoever - the sleep (auto-save) worked! I did not dismiss Lydia or drop ANYTHING - literally everything was identical to step 1, with the exception that I had managed to get past the issue and then re-load the old save without quitting the game...
4. I played for a good 3+ hours; quick save, auto and manual, all working fine. Not a single CTD.

 

I shall try again this eve. Anticipate the same (will CTD initially, find a way past, then all OK). Will report back later.

 

Additionally, my issue seems almost identical to this one: Confusing CTD on save - Skyrim Special Edition Technical Support - The Nexus Forums (nexusmods.com) however I don't have iNeed or RND installed; I am using the CC Survival mode. This was originally a LE save, which I continued in SE. I have over 400 hours on it in SE alone (and yes, I've still not finished the game - first time is Solstheim this week!).

 

From the other thread linked above: "There's a fairly definite pattern I'm noticing as well... I can play for ages and save loads and everything seems fine, but if I exit the game and reload from my desktop, then I can no longer save without a CTD. And the saves from my previous session seem to be broken too." Sounds rather familiar...

 

Thoughts appreciated as always.

Edited May 26, 2021 by RGS

[Helmsmasher]

Many items from LE cause a crash, may very well be that Lydia was carrying one of these items that don't work in SE.

[RGS]

Yes, possibly there could be something in her or my inventory that the game didn't like. However remember that following the successful save (with Lydia departed and all my items dropped), I was then able to reload the previously broken save game and continue on just fine (saves working) with no changes whatsoever (Lydia NOT dismissed and NOTHING dropped).

 

It's all very odd really...

 

I got another couple of hours in yesterday; just picked up where I left off. All appears to be working fine, at the moment anyway.

 

Hopefully just a very strange glitch.

 

I wonder if it might have something to do with saving a game, then loading from a previous save (which then creates new auto-saves) and somehow the game gets confused as which 'branch' certain saves belong.