Main Menu takes a long time to appear

[GallifreyanTimeLord]

I had this problem sorted out once somehow but it has started again recently...

So, I start up Skyrim (via SKSE Loader), the SKSE command prompt window appears and closes again... then the Skyrim window opens, so far so good. The Bethesda Logo Animation plays and then the Skyrim Logo appears, but - none of the options (Continue, Load etc) appear, and there's no smoke in the background. There's only the dragon emblem on a black background. After maybe 3-6 minutes of waiting the smoke and the options finally appear, and the music starts playing. This is really getting on my nerves, especially when testing new mods or ini settings, because I have to wait such a long time to really get into the game. I tried disabling all mods (including DLCs) leaving only Skyrim.esm and Update.esm in the Load Order, didn't fix it. I tried turning down the graphics settings (idk why exactly that might help lol) but that didn't have any effect either. Maybe it was an ini Setting that fixed it in the past and I accidentally deleted said setting. If anyone has any ideas please tell me. I don't understand what the game is doing there, I mean it doesn't load anything BEFORE the main menu, does it?

 

Interesting fact #1: Opening task manager while Skyrim is in this frozen state, reveals that the CPU usage is at a constant 100% for the duration of the freezing. As soon as the options, the smoke & the music appears, the usage drops down to 0-10% again.

 

Interesting fact #2: I tried out ENB just for fun to see what it looked like (my rig's far too weak for something like ENB) and the menu loaded INSTANTLY. But I can't use an ENB cause I get like 5 FPS with it.

 

Well I hope anyone's got an idea, thx

 

~GallifreyanTimeLord

[vlaka]

have you tweaked your ini's with ridiculous core threading and/or papyrus tweaks by any chance?

You know you can get the benefits of ENBOOST without the graphical effects?

Just download the latest binary from the ENB site, ONLY copy over d3d9.dll, enbhost.exe and enblocal.ini

open up enblocal.ini and beneath [GLOBAL] find the entry UsePatchSpeedHackWithoutGraphics and change it to true

 

Might help you here :D

[GallifreyanTimeLord]

I (think I) didn't. If someone's interested in my INIs here they are:

Skyrim.ini:

[General]
sLanguage=GERMAN
uExterior Cell Buffer=36
uGridsToLoad=5

SLocalSavePath=Saves\

[Display]
fShadowLODMaxStartFade=2000.0
fSpecularLODMaxStartFade=2000.0
fLightLODMaxStartFade=3500.0
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=512
bAllowScreenshot=1
fSunShadowUpdateTime=0.10
fSunUpdateThreshold=2.0
fDefaultWorldFOV=80.0
iPresetInterval=0

[Audio]
fMusicDuckingSeconds=6.0
fMusicUnDuckingSeconds=8.0
fMenuModeFadeOutTime=3.0
fMenuModeFadeInTime=1.0

[Grass]
bAllowCreateGrass=1
bAllowLoadGrass=0
iMinGrassSize=45

[GeneralWarnings]
SGeneralMasterMismatchWarning=One or more plugins could not find the correct versions of the master files they depend on. Errors may occur during load or game play. Check the "Warnings.txt" file for more information.

[Archive]
sResourceArchiveList=Skyrim - Misc.bsa, Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Skyrim - Textures.bsa, Skyrim - Interface.bsa, Skyrim - Animations.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes.bsa, Skyrim - Sounds.bsa
sResourceArchiveList2=Skyrim - Voices.bsa, Skyrim - VoicesExtra.bsa

[Combat]
fMagnetismStrafeHeadingMult=0.0
fMagnetismLookingMult=0.0



[interface]

fSafeZoneX=15
fSafeZoneY=15
fSafeZoneXWide=15
fSafeZoneYWide=15

[Actor]
fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=12288.0000




[Camera]
fOverShoulderPosX=0.0000

 

 

 

SkyrimPrefs.ini:

[General]
fBrightLightColorB=1.0000
fBrightLightColorG=1.0000
fBrightLightColorR=1.0000
iStoryManagerLoggingEvent=-1
bEnableStoryManagerLogging=0
[imagespace]
bDoDepthOfField=0
iRadialBlurLevel=0
[Display]
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=0
fInteriorShadowDistance=2500.0000
fShadowDistance=4000.0000
iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=512
iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=512
iShadowSplitCount=0
iMaxAnisotropy=1
fLeafAnimDampenDistEnd=200.0000
fLeafAnimDampenDistStart=100.0000
fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=5000.0000
fGamma=0.8400
iShadowFilter=0
fDecalLOD2=1000.0000
fDecalLOD1=500.0000
fSpecularLODStartFade=1280.0000
fShadowLODStartFade=200.0000
fLightLODStartFade=2345.0000
iTexMipMapMinimum=4
iTexMipMapSkip=0
iActorShadowCountInt=4
iActorShadowCountExt=2
bTransparencyMultisampling=0
iWaterMultiSamples=1
iMultiSample=1
iShadowMode=0
bTreesReceiveShadows=0
bDrawLandShadows=0
bDrawShadows=0
bFull Screen=0
iSize H=480
iSize W=600
fMeshLODFadePercentDefault=1.2000
fMeshLODFadeBoundDefault=256.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance=2000.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance=2844.0000
fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=9999999.0000
fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=9999999.0000
iScreenShotIndex=63
bShadowMaskZPrepass=0
bMainZPrepass=0
iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=10
iMaxDecalsPerFrame=30
sD3DDevice="NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GS"
bFXAAEnabled=0
iShadowMapResolution=512
fShadowBiasScale=0.5000
iShadowMaskQuarter=3
iAdapter=0
iPresentInterval=0
bFloatPointRenderTarget=0
bShadowsOnGrass=0
bDeferredShadows=0
[Grass]
b30GrassVS=0
fGrassStartFadeDistance=6400.0000
fGrassMaxStartFadeDistance=10000.0000
fGrassMinStartFadeDistance=1000.0000
[Water]
iWaterReflectHeight=512
iWaterReflectWidth=512
bUseWaterDisplacements=1
bUseWaterRefractions=1
bUseWaterReflections=1
bUseWaterDepth=1
[MAIN]
bGamepadEnable=0
bCrosshairEnabled=1
fHUDOpacity=1.0000
bSaveOnPause=1
bSaveOnTravel=1
bSaveOnWait=1
bSaveOnRest=1
fSkyCellRefFadeDistance=150000.0000
[GamePlay]
bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=1
bShowQuestMarkers=1
iDifficulty=2
[interface]
bDialogueSubtitles=1
bGeneralSubtitles=0
fMouseCursorSpeed=1.0000
bShowCompass=1
[Controls]
fGamepadHeadingSensitivity=1.0000
fMouseHeadingSensitivity=0.0280
bAlwaysRunByDefault=1
bInvertYValues=0
bGamePadRumble=0
bMouseAcceleration=0
bUseKinect=0
[Particles]
iMaxDesired=250
[saveGame]
fAutosaveEveryXMins=15.0000
[AudioMenu]
fAudioMasterVolume=5.0000
fVal7=1.0000
uID7=0
fVal6=1.0000
uID6=0
fVal5=1.0000
uID5=0
fVal4=1.0000
uID4=0
fVal3=1.0000
uID3=94881
fVal2=0.8500
uID2=466532
fVal1=1.0000
uID1=554685
fVal0=0.8000
uID0=1007612
[Clouds]
fCloudLevel2Distance=262144.0000
fCloudLevel1Distance=32768.0000
fCloudLevel0Distance=16384.0000
fCloudNearFadeDistance=9000.0000
[TerrainManager]
fTreeLoadDistance=40000.0000
fBlockMaximumDistance=150000.0000
fBlockLevel1Distance=40000.0000
fBlockLevel0Distance=25000.0000
fSplitDistanceMult=1.1000
bShowLODInEditor=0
[NavMesh]
fObstacleAlpha=0.5000
fCoverSideHighAlpha=0.8000
fCoverSideLowAlpha=0.6500
fEdgeFullAlpha=1.0000
fEdgeHighAlpha=0.7500
fEdgeLowAlpha=0.5000
fTriangleFullAlpha=0.7000
fTriangleHighAlpha=0.3500
fTriangleLowAlpha=0.2000
fLedgeBoxHalfHeight=25.0000
fEdgeDistFromVert=10.0000
fEdgeThickness=10.0000
fPointSize=2.5000
[Trees]
bRenderSkinnedTrees=1
uiMaxSkinnedTreesToRender=20
[Decals]
uMaxDecals=10
bDecals=1
bSkinnedDecals=1
uMaxSkinDecals=20
uMaxSkinDecalsPerActor=15
[LOD]
fLODFadeOutMultObjects=9.4000
fLODFadeOutMultItems=10.1000
fLODFadeOutMultActors=10.4500
fLODFadeOutMultSkyCell=1.0000
[Launcher]
bEnableFileSelection=1
bShowAllResolutions=0
uLastAspectRatio=1
[blurShaderHDR]
bDoHighDynamicRange=0
[blurShader]
bUseBlurShader=0
[LightingShader]
fSpecularLODFadeEnd=0.0
fSpecularLODFadeStart=0.0

 

 

I once played around with the numerous Papyrus tweaks you can find on the Internet, but since they didn't really have an effect for me I just deleted the whole [Papyrus] section again. My CPU is the bottleneck in my system anyway, being a Single Core, so I completely stay away from any tweaks regarding CPU. And before you ask, yes, it's playable ;) I get 20-25 FPS on my native res which is enough for me. I don't think the hardware has got anything to do with this freezing does it? I mean what the hell is the game even doing there? I appreciate your help. Gonna try ENBoost now.

[vlaka]

Hate to say it but if your system is pushing 20-25fps then a few mods will indeed cause the freezing/lag

[GallifreyanTimeLord]

Yeah, well, the game itself runs fine with mods ( I only install mods I am sure of they don't cause any freeze / lag, e.g. no script heavy mods or graphical modifications ). It's only this time I have to wait before the Continue/Load/New etc appears together with the smoke and the music. But as I said before, disabling all mods doesn't do anything - happens even with complete vanilla Skyrim

[GallifreyanTimeLord]

OK, so ENBoost is just causing trouble, menu seems to appear a little faster but I get infinite loading screens with it xD Does someone have another possible solution?

[vlaka]

Besides your pc not being a power house i'd say it's more than likely one of your mods or a corrupt file somewhere.

Try verifying file integrity via Steam.

[HeyYou]

EnbBoost, and SIMM work really well together. Might try adding that too.... (alters how memory is handled.)

 

Also, is your anti-virus running when you fire up the game?

[GallifreyanTimeLord]

A quick google search didn't enlighten me: what exactly is SIMM? Given the fact that not even ENBoost is working properly for me, I don't think anything could help there....

Well, each time before I play I disable Avira's Real Time Scanner (or whatever it's called in English, so that the umbrella is closed). I don't even know how to disable Avira completely :D

[HeyYou]

My bad. SSME