Am I suffering save bloat?

[GDMFSOB81]

I've been noticing that my save game seems to be growing in size more than I think it should. Last time I paid attention to the size, 2-3 days ago, it was 15MB and today I'm up to 18MB without installing any huge mods (except one) or making any real progress in the game. In fact, I've been selling off and smelting a ton of loot in an attempt to clean house but it keeps growing... Yesterday, I loaded my save, checked something quickly, saved again and quit out and the file grew by 300k from me doing absolutely nothing! That doesn't seem right to me.

The biggest mod I've installed in a long while is Legacy of the Dragonborn but through some googling it seems like no one is commenting on it causing save bloat, so I don't know what it could be (if anything). Here's my load order, in case any of you can identify a known save bloater... I could try to clean and trim the list if it helps.

(I've only been modding Skyrim for a month and a half so I'm kinda new at this, sorry if this is a dumb or obvious question. I can add that I use LOOT and I've properly cleaned all mods that LOOT reports as dirty, following Gopher's walkthrough for cleaning. The bashed patch is only for leveled lists, no mod merges yet.)

Mod list:

Skyrim.esm

Update.esm

Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp

Dawnguard.esm

Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp

HearthFires.esm

Unofficial Hearthfire Patch.esp

Dragonborn.esm

Unofficial Dragonborn Patch.esp

Skyrim Project Optimization - Full Version.esm

JSwords.esm

RSkyrimChildren.esm

ETaC - RESOURCES.esm

SkyTEST-RealisticAnimals&Predators.esm

Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm

dragonborngalleryNEW.esp

Nock2Tip.esm

HighResTexturePack01.esp

HighResTexturePack02.esp

HighResTexturePack03.esp

VioLens.esp

Better Dynamic Snow.esp

Smoking Torches.esp

Combat Evolved.esp

DeadlyCombat.esp

Immersive Sounds - Magic.esp

Skytest USKP.esp

BetterQuestObjectives-DBForevertoMisc.esp

Chesko_WearableLantern.esp

AMB Glass Variants Lore.esp

GQJ_DG_vampireamuletfix.esp

dD - Realistic Ragdoll Force - Realistic.esp

ETaC - Better Dynamic Snow Patch.esp

EnchantedArsenal.esp

DeadlyCombat_GiantsAIFix.esp

Brows.esp

dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp

dD-Larger Splatter Size.esp

CalienteVanillaArmorTweaks.esp

DeadlyMonsters.esp

Differently Ebony.esp

Dragonborn HD Ultra.esp

dD-Dragonborn-Dawnguard-EBT Patch.esp

DeadlyDragonsArmory.esp

Beards.esp

RealisticEyeLighting.esp

DYNAVISION Dynamic Depth of Field.esp

When Vampires Attack.esp

ExpandedJewelryCrafting.esp

BetterQuestObjectives-Hearthfire.esp

Ghosu - Weapon Pack 1.esp

Footprints.esp

GrassOnSteroids_NaturalEdition_Vanilla.esp

SplashofRain.esp

Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp

EnhancedLightsandFX.esp

ETaC - Complete.esp

DragonbornGalleryPatchV2.esp

BetterQuestObjectives.esp

BetterQuestObjectives-Dawnguard.esp

DeadlyDragons.esp

No Dragon LODs v2 full.esp

Guard Dialogue Overhaul.esp

ETaC - Dragon Bridge South.esp

3DNPC.esp

FCO - Follower Commentary Overhaul.esp

Patch - Interesting NPCs - RS kids.esp

SkyFalls + SkyMills.esp

ETaC - Complete RS Patch.esp

Improved Combat Sounds v2.2.esp

Improved Dragon Shouts - Dawnguard.esp

Improved Dragon Shouts.esp

JSwords_Load_Screens.esp

MoonGlow.esp

Moss Rocks.esp

moveitLWT.esp

TheEyesOfBeauty.esp

NB-Scars.esp

No More Glowing Edges.esp

RealisticWaterTwo.esp

towConversation.esp

Rainbows.esp

randomthunder.esp

Reduced Distance NPC Greetings.esp

Runed_Nordic_Weapons.esp

Skyrim Sizes.esp

SkyUI.esp

LessIntrusiveHUD.esp

UnreadBooksGlow.esp

Weapons & Armor Fixes_Remade.esp

Daedric Dawnbreaker.esp

AmazingFollowerTweaks.esp

Clothing & Clutter Fixes.esp

RSChildren - Complete.esp

Complete Crafting Overhaul_Remade.esp

Book Covers Skyrim.esp

Skyrim Immersive Creatures.esp

ScopedBows.esp

Skytest Immersive Creatures.esp

Lore Weapon Expansion - Goldbrand.esp

ETaC - Complete ELFX Patch.esp

Breezehome_Fully_Upgradable.esp

Size does matter.esp

BCS - CCOR Patch.esp

SoS - The Wilds.esp

83Willows_101BUGS_V4_HighRes.esp

Luminescent Luna Moths - 101BugsHD HighRes NW.esp

SoS - Civilization.esp

ELFX_2_0_BFU_Patch.esp

OBIS.esp

Improved Artifacts - Complete Collection.esp

Immersive Sounds - Aural Assortment.esp

Complete Crafting Overhaul.esp

Immersive Weapons.esp

ElementalArrows.esp

Unique Uniques.esp

N2T IW.esp

Birdsofskyrim.esp

Skyrim Immersive Creatures - DLC2.esp

DawnofSolitude.esp

OBISDB.esp

OBISDB-FaceMasksFix.esp

ParalysisImmunity.esp

Improved Dragon Shouts - Dragonborn.esp

SoS - The Dungeons.esp

ETaC - Complete LoS Patch.esp

FS_UltimateAssortment.esp

Immersive Whiterun.esp

Immersive Solstheim.esp

DawnofWindhelm.esp

JKs Windhelm DoW comp.esp

Remove Interior Fog V2 - Skyrim.esp

Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp

BirdsHFclean.esp

JKs Solitude.esp

Lore Weapon Expansion.esp

Nock2Tip.esp

aMidianborn_Skyforge_Weapons.esp

BetterQuestObjectives-AMBSkyforgePatch.esp

RealisticWaterTwo - Legendary.esp

JKs Riften.esp

Run For Your Lives.esp

Cloaks.esp

Lore Weapon Expansion - Daedric Crescent.esp

DawnofWhiterun.esp

Smithing Perks Overhaul_Remade.esp

ImmersiveArmorsNPCs.esp

Lore Weapon Expansion - Relics of the Crusader.esp

DawnofRiften.esp

JKs Whiterun DofW Comp.esp

LC_immersiveLoot.esp

Immersive Orc Strongholds.esp

fallentreebridges.esp

JKs Markarth.esp

Acquisitive Soul Gems.esp

Pureweather.esp

Supreme Fog.esp

Natural Skyrim Rain.esp

Supreme Storms.esp

SMIM-Merged-All.esp

About horses 1.5.esp

Populated Lands Roads Paths.esp

JSwordsDistributionBalancePlugin.esp

LostLongSwords.esp

ScopedBows_LL.esp

Catlike Khajiit + NPCs.esp

Archer's Armory Skyrim.esp

Bijin Warmaidens.esp

housecarl_fem.esp

N2T AA.esp

RapierCollection.esp

skycity3.esp

DawnofMarkarth.esp

Populated Forts Towers Places.esp

DBM_IWIA_Patch.esp

Ducks and Swans.esp

DBM_IW_Patch.esp

DBM_IA_Patch.esp

skycity.esp

Catsofskyrim.esp

More Interesting Loot for Skyrim.esp

GoldenVendors.esp

DetailedMineMarkers.esp

Dogsofskyrim.esp

Populated Skyrim Prisons Cells.esp

PlayerHomeMapMarkers.esp

UniqueBows.esp

RecurveLongBows.esp

RosaFollower.esp

IS-AA Complete Crafting Overhaul Patch.esp

Bashed Patch, 0.esp

 

[DoctorKaizeld]

saving saves what has happened in the game from when you load the game. in other words every movement, item made, item sold, item rendered, object rendered, world section loaded, ect are recorded and saved in your game save... im not sure if you're actually suffering from an issue since i havent ever dealt with save bloat (has never been an issue) so i can't help you any further than that sorry.

[GDMFSOB81]

saving saves what has happened in the game from when you load the game. in other words every movement, item made, item sold, item rendered, object rendered, world section loaded, ect are recorded and saved in your game save... im not sure if you're actually suffering from an issue since i havent ever dealt with save bloat (has never been an issue) so i can't help you any further than that sorry.

Thanks, man, I understand that but I think 300k for taking a few steps is a little extreme... Sure, NPCs moved around and some minor stuff happened in Whiterun but 300k is a lot of data to save a couple dozen coordinates for moving NPCs.

 

I guess I'll keep playing for a day or two and see if my save file grows as quickly as it has these past few days...

[BlackRampage]

What difference does it make how big or small your savegame is? None of course.

My savegames have been around 19 MB for ages. As long as they load without problems and don't contain any orphaned script data, I couldn't care less.

 

That said, there are a couple of tools that can help reducing the size of your savegame:

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31724/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52363/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53045/?

[GDMFSOB81]

What difference does it make how big or small your savegame is? None of course.

My savegames have been around 19 MB for ages. As long as they load without problems and don't contain any orphaned script data, I couldn't care less.

 

That said, there are a couple of tools that can help reducing the size of your savegame:

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31724/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52363/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53045/?

 

Well... The obvious response here is: if save game size doesn't matter at all, why would multiple tools for trimming the files even exist in the first place?

 

But I've been looking at my file sizes today and it seems like the game really does fluctuate several hundred kilobytes up and down. That's a bizarrely large amount of data to save some NPC coordinates and weather/time details... But, really, what worried me was the large jump from 15MB to 18MB seemingly overnight. It doesn't fluctuate that much from what I can see, but it didn't grow very much after I did a quest or two.

[CreativeB34ST]

I've been playing modded Skyrim for a long while now and I've never ever paid attention to the size of my savegame. Does it matter?

[BlackRampage]

Well... The obvious response here is: if save game size doesn't matter at all, why would multiple tools for trimming the files even exist in the first place?

 

Because trimming the file size is not their true purpose. Their one and only true purpose is to get rid of orphaned scripts and the like. Obviously, this decreases the file-size.

[KCarver]

Save file sizes can affect people at 15Mb and others work fine at 30Mb expect it to always fluctuate a bit in size but, unless your getting lags I wouldn't worry about it, there are cleaners and other programs that can try to shrink down the save file but clearing out unused or broken scripts, a more sure way is to simply disable all mods that you can afford to turn off without losing data, log in-game, save, shut down and reactivate mods and confirm load order. I had issues with bloated saves and cleaners didn't help, turning off and on the mods cut 25Mb off my save file down to 7Mb.

[GDMFSOB81]

 

Well... The obvious response here is: if save game size doesn't matter at all, why would multiple tools for trimming the files even exist in the first place?

 

Because trimming the file size is not their true purpose. Their one and only true purpose is to get rid of orphaned scripts and the like. Obviously, this decreases the file-size.

 

 

I realized that after my post, but the actual question then becomes: are you saying save bloat is a myth? Have you personally had 30MB save files that ran fine for hours on end with no issues?

 

Save file sizes can affect people at 15Mb and others work fine at 30Mb expect it to always fluctuate a bit in size but, unless your getting lags I wouldn't worry about it, there are cleaners and other programs that can try to shrink down the save file but clearing out unused or broken scripts, a more sure way is to simply disable all mods that you can afford to turn off without losing data, log in-game, save, shut down and reactivate mods and confirm load order. I had issues with bloated saves and cleaners didn't help, turning off and on the mods cut 25Mb off my save file down to 7Mb.

 

What are the symptoms of having save bloat issues? Can you define "getting lags"?

[Eiries]

 

I think 300k for taking a few steps is a little extreme...

 

 

I dunno man I Ctrl+F'ed for "footprints" and got one more result than desired.

 

I'll try to list some mods that may leave accumulating data in your save:

 

EBT

DYNAVISION (disregard if you're using a version with MCM)

When Vampires Attack

Run For Your Lives

Footprints

splash of rain

Deadly Dragons

Sounds of Skyrim

 

I'm not slandering these mods. They may add data to your save, but hopefully over the course of in game days, weeks etc data should clear out, leaving you with a fairly stable save size. If it continues to only get larger and it starts going far beyond like, 30 MB, consider starting a new save and cutting down on some of these mods. They're all great, but the game (and your system) can only take so many scripts gathering at once. Footprints in particular though, I noticed you have the Populated series too (which I love.) That's an awful lot of footsteps to account for. Same deal with Run for your Lives and When Vampires Attack. The mods have to account for all those new NPCs, can get rough after a while.

 

Keep in mind it's generally not safe to disable these mods mid-game. It's recommended that if you want to get rid of script-intensive mods, be ready to abandon existing saves that use them.

 

Good luck.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Eiries