Skyrim CTD on Load/New Game... FNIS Error? Something else?

[Adamasin]

(Accidentally posted this in the wrong forum, so I'm reposting it here and I'll have the other one deleted.)

So, my Skyrim has decided to poop out on me.

Two nights ago, when I went to log in to Skyrim, I had a slight UI bug causing a $ to appear before the first letter of the words in the menu and on the word Level on load files.
I.E, $New Game, $Continue, $Load, $Credits, $Quit, "... $Level 11...". So I went to the internets to figure out how to fix it. All the forums I went to said to verify integrity of local files. I was wary about doing this, because I have a vague recollection of having to do that before and it didn't work out well. I looked up whether or not it would mess with my mods, The people on reddit, here, steam, etc. (That I could find at least) more or less had a consensus that it couldn't possibly do so.

So I did that. Now I can't open any of my old saves or start a new game, as it results in an immediate CTD. I have done everything I can think of so far--

• running the base Skyrim to let it fix my settings,
• running LOOT to make sure my load order was working,
• carefully looked through my modlist for missing dependencies
  (there was a mod that was mistakenly enabled with a dependency I don't have, but I disabled it and it's still broken)
• Checking FNIS-- this threw up an error, but I'm not sure what it means. "Error 2021 Language file(s) missing in Data\Tools\GenerateFNIS_for_Users\languages OR wrong generator path: E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\tools\GenerateFNIS_for_Users"
  

So, does anyone know what that FNIS error means, and if/when that does not fix it, does anyone know what might? 99% sure it's not a load order issue because I had this same load order the last time I played Skyrim on 3/30/2022 (according to my last save file), and I even went so far as to remove the mods I had downloaded then to make sure they hadn't done something somehow since the last time I played.

Please help. I'm trying to avoid a complete restall because of a specific configuration of texture mods I use that I forgot how to replicate... It would destroy a character I've had since 2016.

[Adamasin]

Please help. I can't really play Skyrim until I get some help on this, because I quite frankly don't want to reinstall.

[wfandrews]

Verifying the integrity of your game files should not cause your game to crash.

 

Did you right click on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, go to properties, click on that, go to Local files, click on that, and then Verify integrity of game files. Then launch the game once from the Steam launcher after Steam downloads any files that were changed. If you had cleaned your Update and DLC masters you will have to do so again. Also Steam will download those 3 texture files which come with Skyrim so you should delete those before launching the game if you had not used them before.

 

A simple verification like this will not cause your game to crash unless something else is going on. This will not affect your texture files at all. It could be that Steam reinstalling the 3 default texture files could cause a conflict with those texture files you mentioned, that is just a guess I do not really know. If you did not have those texture files installed before I would manually delete them and see what happens.

[Adamasin]

Verifying the integrity of your game files should not cause your game to crash.

 

Did you right click on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, go to properties, click on that, go to Local files, click on that, and then Verify integrity of game files. Then launch the game once from the Steam launcher after Steam downloads any files that were changed. If you had cleaned your Update and DLC masters you will have to do so again. Also Steam will download those 3 texture files which come with Skyrim so you should delete those before launching the game if you had not used them before.

 

A simple verification like this will not cause your game to crash unless something else is going on. This will not affect your texture files at all. It could be that Steam reinstalling the 3 default texture files could cause a conflict with those texture files you mentioned, that is just a guess I do not really know. If you did not have those texture files installed before I would manually delete them and see what happens.

 

We have a misunderstanding, the texture files aren't part of the problem. The textures I mentioned are a reason I'm trying to avoid reinstalling to fix this CTD. As for cleaning the Update and DLC masters, I have no idea how to do that, so I haven't done it before. I don't know what those 3 textures are either.

 

But yes, I did verify integrity of the files and after that I started having CTD issues. I don't know why, because I'm aware that it shouldn't cause any issues when I verify.

Edited July 27, 2022 by Adamasin

[wfandrews]

Do you have the Legendary edition of Skyrim or did you buy the Vanilla edition? If you have the Legendary edition it will automatically install the three texture packs, HighResTexturePack01,02 and 03 when you verify the integrity of your game files. As I do not know what mod manager you are using I do not know where your mod manager keeps your mod files, so I do not know where to tell you to check and see if those files are there.

 

Although I do not Know whether conflicting textures will cause a CTD, seems to me that one would just overwrite the other, it is the only thing I can think of that verifying your files would cause a CTD.

 

Do you remember how many files were reacquired when you verified your files?

 

It would help if you could say what mod manager you are using and what version of Skyrim you have.

[Adamasin]

I use the updated original NMM. I use Legendary Edition, and only 3 files were installed when I verified. Sorry, been without internet for a while due to a move...

As for the CTD, I have checked and made sure that mods aren't causing it-- I disabled all ESPs/ESMs except for base game and DLCs. Something aside from that is causing the issue, as I had originally expected.

[wfandrews]

NMM puts its mods in steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\data. Check in that folder to see what mods are loaded. You could also check in C:\Games\Nexus Mod Manager\Skyrim\Mods which is where NMM places the mods you have downloaded.

 

You may have Steam and NMM installed on a different drive so just substitute that drive where applicable.

 

Those three files were probably the three texture files 01, 02 and 03., you can check if that is so by looking in that first path I gave you. they would not be in the second path as they are game DLCs and thus not downloaded by NMM.

 

The reason I keep coming back to those texture files is because that is the only reason I can think of for verifying the integrity of your game files causing a CTD or failure to launch and you mentioned you had custom configured some texture files. If those files are not the problem then I really do not have a clue

 

All I can think of is to run FINIS again, although you probably have done so. Wish I could be of more help but as I do not use FINIS I have very little knowledge of that mod.

 

Just checked with Google and there is a a discussion on FINIS errors by Dusk Dweller on a Steam forum some time ago. The problem is Caused by Windows UAC preventing NMM from creating any FINIS link files, I believe he means dll files, although thats a guess. He said to try running NMM as an administrator and see if that helps. The problem with Windows UAC is a well known problem for those who have Steam installed in program files. I would recommend you move Steam out of program files, Windows is very leery about any program making changes to Program Files (86) which is where Steam installs itself by default..

 

You can read the forum entry by googling "FNIS error 2021 :: The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim General Discussions" without the quotation marks.

 

I would really recommend moving Steam out of Program Files (86) as if you do not you may have problems with Windows UAC again. Of course if you have Steam installed somewhere else then you can just ignore that advice. Anyhow I would recommend you go to that Skyrim General Discussion and read what it has to say about any FNIS errors that occur.

[Adamasin]

Not in Program Files. I move all my single player games into my larger E: drive. Still going to tinker with this because FNIS was having issues...

[wfandrews]

What is the path you have to Steam on your E: drive?

[Adamasin]

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for the assistance, but I gave up and re-installed. I don't know what caused it to this day, as when I slowly readded anything, nothing went wrong.