CTD's on Entering Korcari Wilds and in Circle Tower - DAO:UE

[Zelsaard]

As the topic states, I have recently begun having issues with ctd's on first entering the korcari wilds during the ostagar mission series and on area transitions in the circle tower during the broken circle questline. The ctd's in the circle tower do not occur on area transitions during the mage origin questline; additionally, I am unaware as to whether or not these ctd's will occur in other areas of the game as I cannot access those areas. Attempting to transition between areas within the circle tower and into the korcari wilds (these two events are on separate playthroughs, clearly), even using the console debugging menu, causes a ctd with no error messages other than the obligatory "Dragon Age Origins has stopped working" notification.

 

These ctd's are a recent occurrance and only affect characters started after a certain date. I still maintain two characters of varying progression within the story that can be played without any notable problems; however, any new characters I now create, regardless of race/origin/class will inevitably ctd on attempting to access the korcari wilds. The one character which was able to progress beyond the wilds after the point during which the ctd's began occurring could not achieve area transitions within the circle tower; however, this character was able to progress through all three official DLC for the base origins game without any problems. The crashes in the circle tower were the first occurrence of the problem, using the debug menu I tried various methods to progress in the storyline, including setting plot flags for completion of the broken circle questline, this tactic resulted in my being placed in the first room in the tower with Greagoir giving his normal congratulations and such. However, when attempting to leave the tower and transition to the map, the game would crash (before opening the world map).

 

Currently, the only method of troubleshooting I have been able to come up with was to delete any additional mods installed between the time that the crashes on the character in the circle tower began and the last time I played the game prior to that incident (when no problems were had). The deleted resources consisted of various tattoo pack mods, none of which were in direct use in any of my playthroughs; after deleting these mod resources I then started a few new games with different races/origins/classes, all of these new characters also crashed at the korcari wilds transition (I also had a new character crash in this manner before deleting the mod resources).

 

I am unsure as to what can be done further exempting an entire reinstall of the game and the associated mods (something I would very much like to avoid). Any assistance pertaining to this matter would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

--Rashideddin

 

Currently Installed Mods (in no particular order):

 

 

 

1) RLs Fashion Bazzar
2) Mages of Ferelden Original
3) Ferelden Models & Tattoo/Texture Resources (included)
4) The Winter Forge
5) Luna's Textures
6) Freckles Plus
7) Lioncloth Fashion
:cool: Grey Warden Runic Armor
9) Grey Wardens of Ferelden
10) Armor of the Sten
11) Orator's Vestments
12) A Year With Sten
13) A Lovely Leliana Morph - NMM
14) ZDF Dialogue Fix
15) The Elegant Morrigan - NMM
16) Two Specializations Sten - NMM/INACTIVE
17) Lock Bash
18) Awakening in the OC
19) Combat Tweaks
20) Slinks s3 Ravage
21) Level 50
22) Forced Deathblows
23) Loot and Gamebalance Revision
24) Faster Weapons
25) Faster Bow Talents
26) Bidelle's Cosmetics
27) Hairstyle Day
28) Additem Script
29) Expanded Invetory
30) Divine Spell School - INACTIVE
31) Armageddon (combo spells)
32) JB3 Textures (only running main resource pack)
33) More Hairrstyles
34) Dragon Age Extended
35) Jojjo Weapons - NMM/INACTIVE
36) Qunari Update
37) Dialogue Tweaks
38) Gift Guide
39) The Attractive Wynne
40) Pineappletree's Vibrant Colors
41) A Wolf is a Man's Best Friend
42) Add Points Console Script
43) Morrigan Resoration Patch
44) CC Extra Tints and Tones
45) Winter Elves
46) The Ivory Tower/Nightfall Bloom - INACTIVE
47) Tucked Hair
48) Anto Hairstyles
49) Dragon Age Redesigned (aesthetic pack)
50) Camp Storage Chest
51) Skip the Fade
52) Not Another Alistar Morph
53) LOTC's Female Eyelashes
54) Eyebrow Presets
55) Platinum Blonde
56) Axed Face to Scalp Scar
57) Kirkwall Exports
58) Templars of Ferelden
59) DA2 Isabella and Flemeth
60) Kossith Add-On
61) Add Any Item Visual Deluxe
62) Devilthorn Armor
63) Corrupted Warden Armor
64) Better Dwarf Massive Armor Models
65) Better Qunari Massive Armor Models
66) REN Hair Pack
67) Artifacts of Souls and Swords - INACTIVE
68) Elvhenan Wepons - INACTIVE
69) Weapons of Andraste - INACTIVE
70) Sword of Mercy - INACTIVE
71) Fenod Weapon Pack
72) Kilgorin Sword of Darkness - INACTIVE
73) Swords of Urukathek - INACTIVE
74) Simple Tattoos - Some Tattoo Pack
75) Reaper (scythe) + Glowing Textures

 

 

 

Mod Notes: All mods were installed manually (or with DAUpdater) and are currently active unless otherwise stated in the list. The "INACTIVE" tag should be self-explanatory, the "NMM" tag means that the mod and its resources were installed using the latest version of the nexus mod manager. Additionally, all mods are updated to their latest respective versions.

 

 

System Specs:

 

 

 

Processor: Intel Core i7-3960X CPU 3.3 GHz
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 Lighting 2x (in SLI)
Sound Card: Creative SB X-Fi (sound routed through Razer Megalodon headset, no external speakers used)
Installed RAM: 32GB
Installed HDD Space: 4TB (2x 2TB HDD)
Operating System: Windows 7 x64 (Service Pack 1 Updated)
Power Supply: 1200W
Cooling: Liquid Cooled

 

 

General Notes: If any further information is required, please inform me and I will post the requested information as soon as I am able.

[Thandal]

Have you done the obvious? Just cut-paste your "\override" folder somewhere else, "Disable" everything on the Additional Content - Installed screen, and then see what happens.

 

If that solves the problem, then you know it's a mod.

If not, then you know to look elsewhere.

 

When I have to do this, and if it is a mod, then I start adding them back in batches of 10-12 at a time, re-starting the game at the crash point after each batch until I hit the problem again. Then I take out the last group added and cut it in half. Rinse-repeat until I've isolated the troublemaker! :geek:

[Zelsaard]

After following the method you suggested, I found the culprit. The file talent_aoe_duration.ncs in the zz_JX Resources folder installed for Dragon Age Extended seems to be the source of the issue. Thanks for the suggestion, I hadn't bothered to approach it that way as I knew some of the installed mods had modified other game files in a non-restorable manner and figured that deleting those resources would just cause more damage.

 

EDIT/UPDATE: This problem occurs because the file talent_aoe_duration.ncs is present in both the core resources of DA Extended and Combat Tweaks, for one reason or another, the game will not simply utilize the aspects of the file which is loaded later during start-up. Basically, you just have to choose the file which makes the modifications more to your liking. More specifically, there are many duplicate files between these two mods, but only this one seems to cause a conflict which results directly in a detriment to gameplay/game stability.

 

--Rashideddin

Edited May 17, 2014 by Rashideddin

[Offkorn]

EDIT/UPDATE: This problem occurs because the file talent_aoe_duration.ncs is present in both the core resources of DA Extended and Combat Tweaks, for one reason or another, the game will not simply utilize the aspects of the file which is loaded later during start-up. Basically, you just have to choose the file which makes the modifications more to your liking. More specifically, there are many duplicate files between these two mods, but only this one seems to cause a conflict which results directly in a detriment to gameplay/game stability.

 

The only way what your describing should be possible is if the CT version were placed in an override location that were overriding JX's files, and if it's happening with that file then it should be happening with all of them.

 

Incidentally, the above reason is while you really shouldn't have any Mod-specific subfolders within your core override folder at all. All the files in there should either be loose with no subfolders whatsoever or grouped into filetype-specific subfolders, and there should be absolutely no .erf files in there. That ensures that you will only ever have the version of a file active that you want active.

 

The only reason the JX Mod is packed with a subfolder is because I get far, far too many people who don't understand how the DAO override system works and rely on things like Mod Managers to manage their conflictions/installations (which is an absolutely awful idea for this particular game due to the tiered override directories and .erf format), and that subfolder in most situations should ensure the JX files are loaded last.

 

How your installation managed to load CT before JX is something of a mystery, unless you went and re-named the subfolder to something other than "zz_JX Resources" or CT is in a subfolder that comes up even later in alphabetical order. If your directory structure isn't in English, that also might play a part in how the alphabetical order is decided.

[Thandal]

LOL! I summarize the Eclipse game engine's search for files (the analog of having a "load order" that the BethSoft games use) this way:

 

"The last file found using an alphanumeric search of folders, then any sub-folders, then any sub-sub-folders, etc., is the one that will be used."

 

But as for leaving files "loose" in one's "\override" folder, I disagree. I keep EVERYTHING there in a mod-specific sub-folder. That way I can a) quickly unload a given mod knowing that I got rid of everything belonging to that mod, and b) quickly compare across mods to locate duplicate file names. (It goes without saying that it's the Player's job to resolve any duplicates!)

[vinrioja]

I also has a CTD issue trying to enter the Great Hall in the tower. The cause was Wynne's Cleansing Aura sustained spell that was used after fighting the Revenant ealier on the level. Even after waiting for the spell to dissipate, the game would still crash. The only way to pass through was to replay the level without using the spell. I also have CT and DA Extended running, but I hadn't used that particular spell before. Thanks for the insight...