CTD @ Castle Volkihar & CTD @ Fort Dawnguard, Hollowed Eyes and Tunnel Mouths

[Anubis9500]

Hi folks,

 

 

I have uploaded my Mod list at ModWatch (https://modwat.ch/) under the name Anubis9500 for your reference.

Using about 86 Mods through Vortex and running Skyrim Anniversary edition, I managed to get as far as Fort Dawnguard using the Mod which offers a better entrance through DaySpring Pass, but began to notice one of the NPCs (Celann) outside the fort had hollowed out eyes (Dark or Black) and a tunnel through his mouth allowing me to see terrain detail the other side of his head as he spoke. I was able to enter the fort at this time and proceed through the quest dialogue, but both Isran and Vigilant Tolan (NPCs) also had this facial problem. After plundering what was on offer in this Immersive Fort Dawnguard design and making my way to the rooftops, I had my first crash of my playthrough thus far. I loaded again, made a fast travel trip to sell gear and returned for the rest to fast travel again out of there, but I seem to remember further crashes to desktop. I tried to clean up files using TES5EDIT relating to Fort Dawnguard and when I entered the fort again there was a weird graphical glitch seemingly connected to the Crossbow of the new recruit practicing in the entrance area. As I moved my cursor either side of the NPC, the graphical glitch (Triangular-ish) moved with it, until I moved the cursor far enough away for it to not be focused on the NPC. So this was the beginning of problems for this play through, but something I felt I could live with. Later on, trying to return via fast travel to Fort Dawnguard crashed the game every time and attempting to use the DaySpring Pass on foot, also resulted in a crash to desktop as I made my way into the Fort Grounds. Removal of the Mods for the DaySpring Pass and the Immersive Fort Dawnguard along with patches associated with them, did not result in preventing a crash. I should note, that I did not remove these Mods until after the issues with Castle Volkihar which I shall discuss next, as I know uninstalling/reinstalling Mods mid-game can break it. It was a final try on my part after using TES5EDIT to clean every file and realising I could not progress in the Dawnguard quest.

 

 

You may be able to tell from my Mod list that I'm going for a Vampire play-through and so after freeing Serana and using the rowing boat to reach Castle Volkihar (Later tried swimming there just in case), I progressed through the bit of dialogue with Serana by the entrance, the gate was opened, interacted with the door, then the loading screen and then a crash to desktop every time I tried. After troubleshooting, I did try a console command someone suggested to spawn inside, but that didn't work. Reviewing past forum posts does suggest that this first entrance into Castle Volkihar can throw up a few issues for some, going back years in the game’s history.

 

 

I suspect the Mods 'Castle Volkihar Rebuilt', 'Immersive Fort Dawnguard’ & the 'Dayspring Pass New Entrance' are likely suspects, but plenty use them without issue, so I'm asking for help with identifying a possible clash between Mods I'm unable to spot on my own. The LOOT program reveals no specific issues/conflicts I haven't addressed or missing plug-ins I've not installed. TES5EDIT does throw up some results in the Red which as I understand are not always game breaking and although I have screen captures, the files are too large to upload here. Hopefully the lists on ModWatch will suffice for examination.

 

 

I had previously tried to get this Mod list working after reverting my game to Skyrim Special Edition 1.5.97 and while I did manage to enter Castle Volkihar and progress through the quest-line and got transformed into a Vamp Lord and also did not notice the facial glitches at Fort Dawnguard, nevertheless my game began to crash, so out of days of frustration and re-learning this and that, here I am trying to get the Anniversary Edition to work. Every other Mod seems to be running splendidly and of course as a last ditch effort I removed the likely suspects, admittedly mid-game, but a last resort, just to see if I could enter Castle Volkihar or enter Fort Dawnguard without crashing.

 

 

Thank you in advance for any help and advice you can offer. I am not clued-up on using TES5EDIT as of yet, but have simply used it to clean files along with LOOT for ordering and checking. I have read sometimes this can affect Vortex's own list order etc, however, this is me trying to learn and do what I can to resolve issues currently beyond my comprehension. Many thanks.