CTDs after loading specific vanilla outfits

[HadenMH]

I have a problem that's evidently unique to me which is rendering my game unplayable and I can't find any help on how to fix it. I am on Skyrim AE and every time a character loads in wearing specific vanilla outfits (have confirmed the barkeeper outfit, vampire robes, Forsworn armor, and Dark Brotherhood armor so far), the game immediately CTDs. Based on what my crash logs tell me, I figure that those outfits' meshes must have gotten messed up when I upgraded from SE to AE. How do I fix this issue? Note: I am not using any replacers for those outfits, I have tried verifying local files and cleaning with xEdit, neither of which fixed it, and this even happens when I play with no mods at all.

 

(Also, may or may not be related, when equipping various mod outfits, it results in an invisible torso, despite me being able to drop said outfits on the ground and see them plain as day. I'd like a fix for this as well, but the crashes are the more pressing concern.)

 

I'm at a loss. Someone please help.

[7531Leonidas]

Maybe a complete reinstall? You could try to copy your current game folder, name it as a backup, and move all of its contents completely out of Bethesda's installation path, delete the original folders, then a completely fresh d/l and install from Steam (or GOG, should come from the identical source you first used). Wait a bit for more input before trying this.

[HadenMH]

Thanks, but I already tried that too

[7531Leonidas]

Do you have the Steam cloud save backup stuff running - found in the 'Properties' of your SSE Steam listing? You could try to turn it off. That never worked well for me. You might also check on the 'Cloud' settings in the Steam settings, you may be syncing with something you didn't intend to.

 

What about temporarily disabling anti-virus for the SSE game folder? I have not had problems, but others have.

 

Are you running any mods that have outfits? One or more of them may also be corrupted.

 

If you have the full paid AE, with all of its varied added CC content, check for the unofficial patch for the CC stuff. I don't use it b/c you need the complete set of AE CC mods that the paid version installs.

Edited January 3, 2023 by 7531Leonidas

[scorrp10]

Which mod manager are you using?

Are you getting CTDs trying to load saves made when you had mods active? Or on a brand new game started AFTER update?

You are saying you tried a complete reinstall of the game. If so, you should have very little under your SSE's Data directory, as nearly all resources would be packed into .bsa archives.

 

Do this:

Start Skyrim.

At main menu, instead of choosing an option, open console and type 'coc qasmoke'

You will spawn into a test area as a male Nord wearing some iron armor.

You can use 'showracemenu' console command to customize your sex/race to be same as your character in the saves that CTD.

Run following commands:

player.additem d8d50 1

player.additem d2844 1

player.additem 2019adf 1

player.additem 5b6a1 1

Which should put forsworn armor, barkeep clothes, vampire robe and shrouded armor in your inventory.

Make a save. Try equipping these armors and see if you get a CTD.

 

If not, and you can save/reload wearing these armors, then your meshes and textures are fine, and you introduced some incompatibility to your existing saves when you updated.

Suppose you get CTD wearing DB (shrouded) armor on a female.

 

Launch SSEEdit. if you did clean reinstall and mods are off, there should be only the official files listed.

Expand Skyrim.esm - Armor, look for 000D2844 - DBArmor - Shrouded Armor. It should not be overloaded by anything, and its Armature should be 'DBArmorAA' - 000D2841

Expand ArmorAddon section and look for 000D2841. Again, should not be overloaded by anything. Note the mesh file paths for female world model and female 1st person.

 

Next, under SSE directory, go Data - meshes - armor - DBArmor - see what you have there. If your mods are off, that path should not even exist, or at least be empty. If it actually contains some files (i.e. DBArmorTorso_F_0.nif and _1.nif), those meshes are from some mod. Maybe a result of BodySlide builds, and are likely what causes you to crash. Erase everything there, and see if you can equip shrouded armor in-game now.

[anjenthedog]

Forgive me for asking what's likely a stupid question, but if the CTD is related to armor, perhaps it hasn't been fitted in Bodyslide?

 

I've found that many armor/clothing mods that I attempt to use, prior to having built them in Bodyslide, result in a CTD. I realize this is "vanilla" armor, but are the bodies onto which they're being applied also vanilla, or are they Himbo and 3BBB (just an example)?

 

Also, first thing I thought of is performing a file integrity check with the bethesda/steam tool, but you reinstalled, so probably not a fix, (or at least we'll never know), but had to say it anyway, for future reference, if nothing else.

[HadenMH]

Forgive me for asking what's likely a stupid question, but if the CTD is related to armor, perhaps it hasn't been fitted in Bodyslide?

 

I've found that many armor/clothing mods that I attempt to use, prior to having built them in Bodyslide, result in a CTD. I realize this is "vanilla" armor, but are the bodies onto which they're being applied also vanilla, or are they Himbo and 3BBB (just an example)?

 

Also, first thing I thought of is performing a file integrity check with the bethesda/steam tool, but you reinstalled, so probably not a fix, (or at least we'll never know), but had to say it anyway, for future reference, if nothing else.

I actually probably should have already specified that: yes, I have fitted everything in Bodyslide.

[HadenMH]

As for the others, I do not have the unofficial CC patch, so I'll go snag that first and foremost. If that doesn't work, I'll give skorrp10's suggestion a go (to answer your questions, I'm using Vortex and this happens with new and existing saves).

Honestly, I'm just glad I'm finally getting some help for this, so whether or not it works, thanks guys

Edited January 3, 2023 by HadenMH

[HadenMH]

Which mod manager are you using?

Are you getting CTDs trying to load saves made when you had mods active? Or on a brand new game started AFTER update?

You are saying you tried a complete reinstall of the game. If so, you should have very little under your SSE's Data directory, as nearly all resources would be packed into .bsa archives.

 

Do this:

Start Skyrim.

At main menu, instead of choosing an option, open console and type 'coc qasmoke'

You will spawn into a test area as a male Nord wearing some iron armor.

You can use 'showracemenu' console command to customize your sex/race to be same as your character in the saves that CTD.

Run following commands:

player.additem d8d50 1

player.additem d2844 1

player.additem 2019adf 1

player.additem 5b6a1 1

Which should put forsworn armor, barkeep clothes, vampire robe and shrouded armor in your inventory.

Make a save. Try equipping these armors and see if you get a CTD.

 

If not, and you can save/reload wearing these armors, then your meshes and textures are fine, and you introduced some incompatibility to your existing saves when you updated.

Suppose you get CTD wearing DB (shrouded) armor on a female.

 

Launch SSEEdit. if you did clean reinstall and mods are off, there should be only the official files listed.

Expand Skyrim.esm - Armor, look for 000D2844 - DBArmor - Shrouded Armor. It should not be overloaded by anything, and its Armature should be 'DBArmorAA' - 000D2841

Expand ArmorAddon section and look for 000D2841. Again, should not be overloaded by anything. Note the mesh file paths for female world model and female 1st person.

 

Next, under SSE directory, go Data - meshes - armor - DBArmor - see what you have there. If your mods are off, that path should not even exist, or at least be empty. If it actually contains some files (i.e. DBArmorTorso_F_0.nif and _1.nif), those meshes are from some mod. Maybe a result of BodySlide builds, and are likely what causes you to crash. Erase everything there, and see if you can equip shrouded armor in-game now.

Edit: quoted the wrong reply

Okay, I've followed everything here and it all worked pretty smoothly. Interestingly, my unmodded game didn't crash this time, despite there not really being much difference between now and the last time I tried that.

Question for the last step, though: do you mean that I shouldn't see that file path in the expanded directory in SSEEdit, or I shouldn't see it in my file explorer? Because it is indeed absent in the former, but not the latter. In the latter case, it doesn't have the nif files, though, instead having that "folder managed by vortex" file in the dbarmor folder, dated from two years ago. Not sure if that should be there since I stopped having mods be downloaded directly to Vortex a long time ago. What do you think?

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by HadenMH

[scorrp10]

Interestingly, my unmodded game didn't crash this time, despite there not really being much difference between now and the last time I tried that.[/size]

With 'problem' armor equipped, make sure to go into racemenu, and play with 'weight' slider - set it to 0, 0.5 and 1 on both male and female. Sometimes, when for a given armor, the _0.nif is fine, but _1 has issues, you do not observe a problem unless you set weight to 1.

 

Not really sure what you means by this:

Question for the last step, though: do you mean that I shouldn't see that file path in the expanded directory in SSEEdit, or I shouldn't see it in my file explorer? Because it is indeed absent in the former, but not the latter. [/size]

What do you mean by 'expanded directory in SSEEdit?'

 

The 'ArmorAddon' form associated with the Armor form in question is going to have entries for:

-Male world model

-Female world model

-Male 1st person

-Female 1st person.

(1st person entries are typically only set for body and hands items)

I.e. for DBArmorAA (D2841), 'Female world model' is "Armor\DBArmor\DBArmorTorso_F_1.nif"

 

 

The indicated path is relative to Data\meshes\ inside SSE folder.

 

Now, if you open File Explorer, and try to go to your SSE directory - Data - meshes - armor - DBArmor, you might not find those files. If they DO exist, they are placed there by some mod.