Anyway to reduce save file size?

[Aeskuro]

When my save file gets to about 55 - 60 Mb large (uncompressed, ReSaver) the save becomes unusable/corrupted, might have to wait until someone comes up with a unlimited save file size mod lol. Game corrupts my save every time a character does a few dozen quests and reaches something like level 20, even with this (wonderful) mod and specific instructions followed.

Tried every fix known to man (SSE Engine Fixes + MaxStdio = 8192, Fresh Skyrim Install, ReSaver etc.) and nothing seems to work, is there a fix for this yet or not? Unfixable engine limitation?

[Billy1969]

 

When my save file gets to about 55 - 60 Mb large (uncompressed, ReSaver) the save becomes unusable/corrupted, might have to wait until someone comes up with a unlimited save file size mod lol. Game corrupts my save every time a character does a few dozen quests and reaches something like level 20, even with this (wonderful) mod and specific instructions followed.

 

Tried every fix known to man (SSE Engine Fixes + MaxStdio = 8192, Fresh Skyrim Install, ReSaver etc.) and nothing seems to work, is there a fix for this yet or not? Unfixable engine limitation?

 

 

 

There is definitely a limitation but it is 128Mb with engine fixes savegame fix enabled and 64Mb without it, my current playthrough reached 95Mb save and I'm level 67 but I have a megaton of mods (over 4k with 2.5k enabled in esp, esm and esl the rest are graphics like meshes and textures or animations) so it's not normal your save breaks at around 60Mb unless the engine fixes fix is somehow not enabled, then you're hitting the limit.

 

Edit: you can slightly reduce the size of the savegame by selling all the stuff you don't need and cleaning your save with resaver to clean some unatached scripts ofr formid's but it's bandaid, don't expect miracles, maybe a few Mb less max.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Billy1969

[scorrp10]

A save file that size means only one thing: you got one or more leaky mods. Mods that spawn lots of new script instances and do not properly remove them.

I.e. imagine a mod that places a certain effect on every NPC within a certain radius of player.

Now imagine this mod does not include destruction clauses for events like unload, cell detach, death, etc.

Now imagine this mod also does not check if NPC already has an instance of this effect, before applying another one.

 

My most recent playthrough, already close to lvl 60, done pretty much all there is to do in the game, with 320+ plugins, barely topping 11MB.

Even if you load up an added content mods that double lands/houses/people/quests of all of Skyrim + its DLCs, your save should hardly hit over 20-25MB

 

Open your save file in ReSaver, see how many script instances you have in total, and if you have an inordinate amount of certain instances.

I.e. the latest save I got has ~143k instances, about 80k of them from Skyrim.esm. It can be a royal pain to go through instance counts plugin by plugin, but that is pretty much what you have to do.

[Billy1969]

Yeah, I guess my load order has some problematic mods with script bloat, when I start a brand new character with alternate start, spawn in the old prison cell, create my character in racemenu and save my first save is already between 30 and 40Mb big, that's not good at all. I'm going to take a look at the script instances somewhere when I have lots of free time in April or something, right now I have barely time to play. Will report back here if I find strange things when scanning the script instances when I get to it.

[Aeskuro]

Thanks for the replies! I'll try to work something out. :thumbsup:

[Billy1969]

 

 

 

Above is the summary of my last save in resaver, check the script instances 482k.!

 

I checked number of scripts by plugin and besides Skyrim and the DLC's it's Dyndolod that has the most, followed by 10-15 big mods like Vigilant, Beyond Reach, Bruma etc...

 

I looked for a user manual or a how to for resaver but didn't find any, because for example the script instances are sorted alphabetically by default so plugin scripts are mixed in the output, also I'm not sure what I'm looking for exactly, empty forms? spawned actors with an id starting with FF (Skyrim Immersive creatures for example does that a lot) and more importantly which ones are safe to remove?

[scorrp10]

Any mod that adds a large amount of content will have a fair amount of instances initially, and may grow 3-4x as player does said content, but still should be nothing like what you got.

 

I.e, a save from 'barely started' (4MB) ~65k instances

28k from Skyrim.esm

5k Dragonborn.esm

1.1k Vilja

 

A save for lvl 55+ (11Mb)

146k instances

82k Skyrim - this much growth is expected as player explores, does quests, etc.

13.4k Dragonborn

1.5k Vilja

 

I.e. it would be interesting to see ScriptInstance and ChangeForm counts from your 'just started' save which immediately bloats to 40MB,

when I start a brand new character with alternate start, spawn in the old prison cell, create my character in racemenu and save my first save is already between 30 and 40Mb big, that's not good at all.

 

 

specifically from: Skyrim.esm and say, top 10 other offenders.

 

As fort that posted summary, it does not tell much beyond the fact that it indeed has massive bloat.

 

I.e. from 'BeyondReach' description: 'Beyond Reach is a DLC-sized mod'

Even assuming it is 2x the size of Dragonborn, it should not contribute more than 1MB to a just-started save game file, and maybe 3-4MB fully explored. Same for other large content mods.

Just think about it:

Skyrim.esm:

Fresh start: 28k instances, 6k changeforms, 4MB save

Did everything there is in vanillla game and DLCs: 82k instances, 76k changeforms, 11MB save (Which also includes DLC, and 300+ mods)

[anjenthedog]

idk... run a leaner game. Adding everything under the sun is going to take a lot of storage space on save files.

 

I have an active mod count around 550 ish (maybe a little less. I uninstalled a few last weekend...hmmm but I installed some too...idk. )

 

My current new game vector is at level 26, and the associated save files are ~8.1 M, in comparison to what you say yours are even at level 20. My level 62 player save files are slightly less than 15M each. Sompins different.

[Billy1969]

On my latest save I analyzed the stats on the plugins both full and light ones, here are the 12 largest ones, listed from largest to lower size of script instances:

In my game I didn'tt do any DLC yet and never even went to Solitude, I did complete some large quest mods and dungeon mods already though, note that since my last post from yesterday my script instance count went up from 482k to 485k after playing for roughly 6-7 hours.

 

1.Skyrim.esm

Index: 00

Metrics

ChangeForms

86.318 out of 257.112 (33,57%)

ScriptInstances

115.118 out of 485.208 (23,73%)

Plugin-Unique Data

23.790 kb (33,57%)

Indirect ChangeForms

86.318 out of 257.112 (33,57%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

116.675 out of 485.208 (23,73%)

2. DynDOLOD.esp

Index: f9

Metrics

ChangeForms

11.521 out of 257.112 (4,48%)

ScriptInstances

96.088 out of 485.208 (19,8%)

Plugin-Unique Data

15.212 kb (4,48%)

Indirect ChangeForms

11.521 out of 257.112 (4,48%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

96.092 out of 485.208 (19,8%)

3. 3DNPC.esp

Index: 17

Metrics

ChangeForms

4.028 out of 257.112 (1,57%)

ScriptInstances

7.053 out of 485.208 (1,45%)

Plugin-Unique Data

1.321 kb (1,57%)

Indirect ChangeForms

4.028 out of 257.112 (1,57%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

7.061 out of 485.208 (1,45%)

4.HearthFires.esm

Index: 03

Metrics

ChangeForms

7.356 out of 257.112 (2,86%)

ScriptInstances

7.369 out of 485.208 (1,52%)

Plugin-Unique Data

1.136 kb (2,86%)

Indirect ChangeForms

7.356 out of 257.112 (2,86%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

7.510 out of 485.208 (1,52%)

5.Rigmor.esp

Index: f3

Metrics

ChangeForms

5.719 out of 257.112 (2,22%)

ScriptInstances

5.985 out of 485.208 (1,23%)

Plugin-Unique Data

1.625 kb (2,22%)

Indirect ChangeForms

5.719 out of 257.112 (2,22%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

6.079 out of 485.208 (1,23%)

6.Dragonborn.esm

Index: 04

Metrics

ChangeForms

1.063 out of 257.112 (0,41%)

ScriptInstances

5.957 out of 485.208 (1,23%)

Plugin-Unique Data

781 kb (0,41%)

Indirect ChangeForms

1.063 out of 257.112 (0,41%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

5.964 out of 485.208 (1,23%)

7.SMSkyrim.esp

Index: 35

Metrics

ChangeForms

2.529 out of 257.112 (0,98%)

ScriptInstances

6.569 out of 485.208 (1,35%)

Plugin-Unique Data

1.048 kb (0,98%)

Indirect ChangeForms

2.529 out of 257.112 (0,98%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

6.589 out of 485.208 (1,35%)

8.Vuldur.esm

Index: 40

Metrics

ChangeForms

2.826 out of 257.112 (1,1%)

ScriptInstances

6.192 out of 485.208 (1,28%)

Plugin-Unique Data

1.325 kb (1,1%)

Indirect ChangeForms

2.826 out of 257.112 (1,1%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

6.261 out of 485.208 (1,28%)

9.RelicsofHyruleDragonborn.esp

Index: 1d

Metrics

ChangeForms

1.925 out of 257.112 (0,75%)

ScriptInstances

5.618 out of 485.208 (1,16%)

Plugin-Unique Data

1.251 kb (0,75%)

Indirect ChangeForms

1.925 out of 257.112 (0,75%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

5.653 out of 485.208 (1,16%)

10. Artaeum.esp

Index: 28

Metrics

ChangeForms

2.016 out of 257.112 (0,78%)

ScriptInstances

5.576 out of 485.208 (1,15%)

Plugin-Unique Data

1.191 kb (0,78%)

Indirect ChangeForms

2.016 out of 257.112 (0,78%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

5.583 out of 485.208 (1,15%)

11.middenexpandedSSE.esp

Index: 5a

Metrics

ChangeForms

4.420 out of 257.112 (1,72%)

ScriptInstances

5.537 out of 485.208 (1,14%)

Plugin-Unique Data

1.013 kb (1,72%)

Indirect ChangeForms

4.420 out of 257.112 (1,72%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

5.661 out of 485.208 (1,14%)

12.Dawnguard.esm

Index: 02

Metrics

ChangeForms

1.697 out of 257.112 (0,66%)

ScriptInstances

5.433 out of 485.208 (1,12%)

Plugin-Unique Data

734 kb (0,66%)

Indirect ChangeForms

1.697 out of 257.112 (0,66%)

Indirect ScriptInstances

5.438 out of 485.208 (1,12%)

[scorrp10]

You realize if you add up those you listed, you end up with a total of 271895 instances out of 485000. The elephant is the room is still missing.

 

I really got no idea what DynDoLod is doing that it needs that many instances, but if it is not showing significant growth, it should not be much of a cause for concern.

I.e. I would go through several previous saves of that playthrough and compare.