At 400+ Hours Game Has Gotten Unplayable

[Kodiak412]

I posted something similar to this in the Support Thread but after a lot of work today the game has basically become unplayable. Please read below and my apologies to any mod if they deem this as spamming. Please remove the other thread if you see fit however I do believe this may be something many people will experience as they rack up the hours of playtime.

 

For a number of days now I have been getting CTD's periodically when entering new cells. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when it occurs. It will happen when I go to leave the world environment and enter a new building or dungeon. I will get the CTD as soon as I enter. It is always repeatable for that area. I can go to other areas but not that area. If I play for a while, leave and reboot, it will usually work but it then happens to some other area.

 

No CTD's during regular play but I will get freezes. Game just stops and the music keeps on playing. This too is repeatable at the same location. This just started after 1.3.10, but I do think I used that update for a number of days before this issue. Do not know if that is a connection or coincidence.

 

Anyone else experience this, and any solutions? I have been scouring around the different forums but have not found this topic. I am on 1.3.10.

 

Since I posted this in the Support Thread I downloaded the nVidia 290.53 beta drivers for Skyrim improvement. They did not help. I now have many areas that will not let me load into. I can travel around the world but if I try to enter a new cell I get the CTD. It is not every cell or dungeon but it is becoming more and more will each passing hour. I now have 3 quests that require me to go somewhere but I cannot enter that cell. One are for the Dawnstar sleeping issue will let me enter the temple but most of the "world" inside is missing. I can see many parts of the cell but many parts or floor spaces are missing. I typically will fall until I land where I standed from. Other cells will just CTD.

 

I saw one thread where the person thought that the size of the save game files might be causing unstability. I am up to 17megs per save. I tried to wait "sleep" for 10 days hoping that might clear out some world debris but that had no effect. Exiting and restarting the computer, then reentering the game used to help fix game bugs but that doesn't do anything any more.

 

If it is corrupt saves I will try to find out but I do not think that is the issue. Maybe I am wrong though and someone out there knows better. Any help will be greatly appreciated as I hope I do not have to abandon this game.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Kodiak412

[Elsarian]

Greetings, I do have your problem as well. Only for one of my characters though. I have clocked 217 hours with him and I CTD everywhere I go. Even randomly out in the world. The area outside Riften triggers it, the area right out side of Falkreath triggers it, right out side of Riverwood causes it and so on. If I enter Jorrvaskr and try to leave, I crash, if I try to enter the Dawnstar Sanctuary, I crash instantly. There is absolutely no fix until Bethesda tries to find what the problem is.

 

It's terrible. I pretty much started a new game and none of these issues occur. So I had to abandon my old character. Not completely though, I will keep him until there is a fix for this.

[Xouthpaw]

I only have 100+ Hours, I hope I don't start crashing :/

[Elsarian]

I only have 100+ Hours, I hope I don't start crashing :/

 

I wish you luck my friend because it is literally like a ticking time bomb. Once you get your first random CTD out of nowhere with no explanation, then it will only get worse from there. Good luck.

 

Hopefully Bethesda will hear our pleas and try to address this issue.

[HadToRegister]

Can the new version of Wrye Bash do that ABomb thing on save games?

It saved me more than once in Oblivion, because once the savegame gets to a certain size you just can't play without CTD's anymore.

[jeters5]

I'm disappointed to hear of your problem. Regrettably, this was the pattern with Oblivion as well. After the save file grew enough, the game would CTD with painful regularity. Oblivion essentially became unplayable. I only bought Skyrim on the hope that the problem would have been addressed.

 

Apparently not. I decided when I bought the game that, if the problem arose in Skyrim, I would abandon it and Bethesda. The problem is just too irritating for such a wonderfully conceived game series. I have a few hundred hours to go, but I've emotionally prepared myself to just walk away if I must.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

Make new saves often, don't use auto or quick. Keeps you from degenerating.

[Allebane]

At 281 Hr with 16.7 M save game I am having the same problem. CDT out side of Rifren and can't get in the Markarth castle to do the Thievs guild quest. I've tryed changing the shadows setting and downloading the new vedio drivers and nothing is helping. This sucks.

[Seviche]

Well, I guess my habit of making new characters before the previous one hits level 40 is the way to go. My love of starting anew has accidentally defeated the dreaded Savegame Bloat Monster! I only wish the reward for that wasn't a crappy smithing skill. :unsure:

[elleonblanco]

And here I thought you were going to say like me you have hit over 200 hours and leveled to the mid 60s and are completely out of things to do. I too have the Jorvasskr exit crash and the occasional random CTD. I guess this is just BUGTHESDA at it's best. Sorry it cost 60 bucks to find it out. :facepalm:

 

I just looked and my savegame is at 17.4 megs.

Edited December 27, 2011 by elleonblanco