CTD When Trying To Enter Northwatch Keep

[MatthiosArcanus]

Hey everyone, hope all is well on your end!

I've re-encountered a very frustrating issue where I can't enter Northwatch keep, the game just crashes out whenever I try.
I've run out of ideas on how to fix this, so any outside insight would be much appreciated.

I'll include some files detailing my list of mods.

Thanks, and take care!

[Darkstyler35]

Hello,

• CTD in a particular cell / location.
• CTD doing a particular action.
• Make sure you're using the good mods >> Dangerous mods list.
• Verify gamecache.
• CTDs troubleshooting page on Reddit, depending on what's happening in game, choose the subsections that describes the best your problem.

Here is a list of things that may help stabilizing your game if not already been done. :

/// Cleaning and correcting potential bugs :

• Clean your master files to eliminate potential problems : Gopher's videos cleaning your masterfiles on the Nexus Tesedit page. You may use this updated guide to clean your masters. It contains the same automated cleaning procedure as Gopher explains in his video + repeating once for Dawnguard.esm + some selective manual cleaning.
• The method above can be used to clean mods. LOOT should tell you which plugin you should clean. You may also do a check errors.

/// Load order / mods conflicts :

• Use L.O.O.T once and click on the "sort plugins buttons".
• Create a wryebash patch including leveled lists.
• Create a merged patch with Tesedit excluding leveled lists
• How things work in Tes5edit : load order / conflict looser - winner / Forwarding / adding as a master. More specifically, you may create a manual patch between two or more mods.

/// Settings / memory :

• Preferably, use crash fixes with the UseOSAllocators=1 instead of skse memory patch or SSME.
• You may also install safety load if you experience infinite loading screens or freezing in game.
• Memory blocks log will help to refine memory settings.
• Skyrim performance monitor.
• Backup your ini files and delete the files. Skyrim.ini / SkyrimCustom.ini / SkyrimPrefs.ini found in C:\Users\User\Documents\My Games\Skyrim then use your vanilla launcher to autodetect and use best settings for your computer.
• STEP INI tweaking wiki.
• You may install ENBOOST >> ENB graphics / ENB haxx.

/// Save game :

• Don't uninstall mods at mid-game, there are no clean save in Skyrim but using save script cleaner can help removing orphan scripts.
• New SkyrimTools, (corrupt saves topic).

/// Meshes healer :

• Read here, this is potentially a cause of CTD that you can resolve by following the mod procedure on this page.

/// Useful informations :

• Selective loading : untick 50% of your mods, beginning by the end of your load order and test in game. Then depending on if the problem occurs again or not, increase /decrease the remaining loading mods to find the culprit.
• If you're using win8-10 + a GPU with more than 4GB VRAM + a heavily modded game and experiencing stuttering, random freezes or / and FPS drops, this may occur when the VRAM usage exceeds 4GB, read here for more details.
• Skyrim requirements wiki.
• Skse installation : skse on steam or Manual install. (SKSE, memory and skse.ini). SKSE logs are here : C:\Users\User\Documents\My Games\Skyrim\SKSE. SKSE troubleshooting guide.
• STEP troubleshooting page.
• An efficient guide to build your game : STEP / Official S.T.E.P. Mod Organizer video series.
• Ensure your skyrim installation is healthy = Make skyrim vanilla again.
• Make sure you're using the latest USLEEP instead of the obsolete unofficial patches. If some of your old mods require them, you may use the USLEEP swap masters.
• Crashdump analysis.
• Papyrus log is a scripts log only and doesn't cover anything else, not a crash log. Interpreting Papyrus Log Errors, thanks to Arthmoor. Enabling papyrus logging
• Need a tool to manage GPU fan speed that works with ENB ? You may try Afterburner, (tested)

Hope this helps.

[MatthiosArcanus]

Hey Darstyler!


Thanks so much for the very in-depth response, it's much appreciated. =-)

Looking through all this, it looks like I had my enblocal ini file set up incorrectly, to start with.
I've looked at similar lists of unstable mods and did my best to avoid them, good to see you link a different one, though, to compare to what I remember.
I've ensured my master files are all clean, so there shouldn't be any issues there.
As far as a merged/bashed patch goes, after having some weird leveled lists, I decided to go without those and instead use Mator Smash to create a smashed patch. The issue presented itself regardless of which patches I used (I've verified the issue to be present in two different playthroughs, one with merged/bashed patches, the other with a smashed patch.)
Concerning memory, I've had crash fixes installed for quite some time now, as well as ENBoost and the SKSE memory patch.
I do my best to avoid ever removing mods mid-playthrough. Which is honestly why I probably have gone through hundreds of (very much incomplete) playthroughs/playtests...
Let's see, I also ran through the game a few times at the problem area with the Skyrim performance monitor. From what I recall, I had about one GB of headroom on the VRAM and RAM when the crash happened.
I've never heard of that mesh healer tool, and reminds me of a notification crash fixes gave me not too long ago, it was about corrupted nif files. It's something I'll be looking into as I proceed.

Now, for an update.
I looked at my current mod list, and due to not only the aforementioned issue, but also overall instability, I decided to basically scrap the entire thing and start over, weeding out mods I didn't want or need anymore.
This time, though, I made sure to test to see if I got a CTD at any point in Northwatch keep. So far, the problem has not resurfaced.
Granted, I've not started the quest that sent me there, but I'll be checking that soon enough.
Fingers crossed that with your help and a new mod list, things will work quite smoothly.


Thanks for your time and for the help!

[Darkstyler35]

You're welcome.

<Concerning memory, I've had crash fixes installed for quite some time now, as well as ENBoost and the SKSE memory patch.> I think crash fixes with the allocator enabled should be more efficient managing memory patch than skse. Have you tried ?

<Fingers crossed that with your help and a new mod list, things will work quite smoothly.> you may use STEP, this would improve your game stability. You also should have some interresting links above about inis and other stuff.

 

Good luck, we stay in touch.

[MatthiosArcanus]

To be honest, I never thought about not using the SKSE memory patch, but it's something that I'll definitely try.
I've heard a lot about STEP, but never really looked into it, guess I need to research that as well. =-)

 

Thanks again!

EDIT: Well, found my first issue with this playthrough: I can't grab the Glenmoril Witch Head item from their bodies without crashing. Time to start debugging once again...

Edited August 21, 2016 by MatthiosArcanus

[Anjoss2a]

Skytest - realistic animals and predators, disable and test.

Edited December 4, 2018 by anjoss