CTD on cell transition (?)

[TristanIseme]

I've started getting a CTD that first occurred on leaving Folgunthur during the Forbidden Legends quest, outside cell loads after going through the door, then CTD within a few seconds. Crash Fixes message suggested a corrupted nif file, though half of the most recently opened files it listed weren't nifs.

 

Things I've tried/observed

 

• No issues inside Folgunthur at all - CTD within 5-10 seconds of exterior loading
• Used console (coc ) to move to Riverwood Trader interior cell - no issues here
• Leaving Riverwood Trader took several attempts to do it without a CTD (similar error messages from Crash Fixes)
• CTD on wait in Riverwood exterior

the most recent Crash Fixes error is

 

 

 

24 Nov 22:01:08 Game has crashed while reading binary data stream! This could indicate a corrupt NIF file. Here are the last opened files starting from most recent:

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\actors\character\imperialmale\malehead_msn.dds" 0.891000 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\MESHES\armor\steel\f\boots_1.nif" 2.34 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\MESHES\armor\steel\f\boots_0.nif" 2.38 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\MESHES\actors\character\character assets female\skeleton_female.nif" 2.45 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\MESHES\armor\nordplate\nordgauntletsf_1.nif" 2.52 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\armor\nordplate\nordplateglovesf_m.dds" 2.61 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\armor\nordplate\nordplateglovesf_n.dds" 2.69 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\armor\nordplate\nordplateglovesf.dds" 2.77 seconds ago.

 

 

 

Papyrus logs only show issues with XPMSE styles which the author has stated are harmless.

 

"[11/24/2016 - 10:01:08PM] Error: Unable to call UnregisterForAllModEvents - no native object bound to the script object, or object is of incorrect type
stack:
[None].XPMSEWeaponStyleScaleEffect.UnregisterForAllModEvents() - "<native>" Line ?
[None].XPMSEWeaponStyleScaleEffect.Unregister() - "XPMSEWeaponStyleScaleEffect.psc" â"

I haven't added any new mods or removed any mods. I've reinstalled XPMSE and FNIS, run generate FNIS, checked loot order (and redone bashed/merged patches) and looked for any similar issues, but not managed to find an answer. I'm fairly certain its not a mod conflict since I haven't changed anything and the game was playing fine for several hours prior to the first CTD. Not sure if I have missed anything.

 

 

[Varichi]

I will say that the "Corrupted Nif" from Crash Fixes can be rather misleading. I've had that error before and it was actually tied to a faulty .esp (one that did not enable any meshes or textures). I will also say that I've had a similar issue before with Deepwood Redoubt, and I left that quest and returned two or three ingame days later and the cell loaded fine.

 

There are a number of things you can try off the top of my head.

 

First is resetting the cells. The second post here will detail an easy way to do that ingame. Alternatively, some mods that you have (such as Immersive Creatures, I believe) have a cell reset feature that might work depending on the mod. You said you can coc to the Riverwood Trader? That would be a good place to try it out. See if that gets you anywhere. I've had more about debugging interiors in this sort of thing than the exteriors, as that could be anything.

 

The second thing I would do is delete/rename the folder containing those nordplate textures (and the meshes, just in case). Might not do much, but if the game is having trouble loading those for some reason, that would be an easy solution.

 

Just some general things I thought of off the top of my head to try out. Someone might have better ideas, but maybe you can try those.

 

EDIT: Just remembered a couple of other things. I remember having a parallax mod way back that was causing me crashes everytime I left an interior. If you've got one that you installed recently, I would rename whatever folder it went to and try that. I would have suggested Crash Fixes with the Preloader, but you already have that-as you are probably aware, that only lets you use as much memory as you can spare though, so there's still the possibility that your system is being overtaxed.

[TristanIseme]

Thanks for your reply, I'll work through your suggestions when I get home from work. One question though, what's a parallax mod? Not sure I have heard that term before.

 

Fairly sure my system is not overtaxed, but I can try dropping the graphics quality and see if that makes any difference. Fairly recently (within the last 2 months) I switched to using Mod Organizer and followed the recommended clean set up guide to the letter so I'm using the ENBboost, the various recommended memory tweaks/patches and cleaned masters as well as Crash Fixes.

[Varichi]

Parallax is a form of texturing that adds 3D effects to the texture, as I understand it. Things like bumps that are common in trees or rocks, things like that. There are a number of parallax texture mods on the Nexus-a quick search will bring up a bunch. I can't remember which parallax mod it was that gave me trouble. It's not that they're not safe or anything, I just had trouble with one. The main reason I brought it up was to say that sometimes simple texture mods like that, if even for things you don't always see or are minor, can cause a crash.

 

You can try renaming your entire Textures folder (or at least your landscapes portion, which would contribute a lot to memory usage) while leaving your .esps the same. Your game will probably look strange but that would be one way to eliminate textures as a possibility. Wish I had more concrete suggestions for you, but the unfortunate thing about fixing mods in Skyrim (or engine bugs) is how imprecise and reliant on trial and error it is.

[TristanIseme]

So, I really have no idea what actually fixed the problem, or even what the cause was, but it seems now to be gone.

 

I dropped my graphics settings from high (what Skyrim decided was optimum) down to medium, and still got the same CTD on waiting outside. I reinstalled the mod that changes armour since it seemed to be the same meshes and textures each time (not sure if that's simply because they were the nearest ones to where I was standing in riverwood or not), still got the same CTD. I established that it only happened in the exterior cell. Last thing I did was rename my texture folder, and that's when the CTD stopped. I changed its name back, still no CTD.

 

I checked the textures folder itself, and there's only 2 textures in there that I added by hand, I think because I use Mod Organizer and its virtual directories, not sure though.

 

EDIT: Ok, no, the same CTD started up again, but gave me a Crash Fixes error that pointed to assets added by a specific mod (Tiwa44's minidress collection) which interestingly enough contained the single item I added by hand at an earlier point. Deleted the stuff I added by hand and removed that mod (redid patches accordingly) and got another CTD with a Crash Fixes error that was different again, though it was referring to assets from Moonlight tales now. I'm beginning to think its not related to loading any particular assets.

 

 

 

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\actors\character\Eyes\MoonlightTales\eyewerewolfbeastbrown.dds" 0.094000 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\actors\DLC02\Werebear\MoonlightTales\werebearhead_n.dds" 0.110000 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\actors\DLC02\Werebear\MoonlightTales\werebearhead.dds" 0.141000 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\actors\DLC02\Werebear\MoonlightTales\werebearbody_n.dds" 0.219000 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\actors\DLC02\Werebear\MoonlightTales\werebearbody.dds" 0.313000 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\actors\DLC02\Werebear\MoonlightTales\werebearmouth_n.dds" 0.313000 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\actors\DLC02\Werebear\MoonlightTales\werebearmouth.dds" 0.328000 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\MESHES\actors\DLC02\Werebear\MoonlightTales\Werebear_Vanilla.nif" 0.360000 seconds ago.

 

 

 

and another one, different again

 

 

 

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\aag" 1.375 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\aag" 1.750 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\MESHES\actors\canine\character assets dog\skeleton.nif" 1.797 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\MESHES\armor\steel\f\boots_1.nif" 1.875 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\MESHES\armor\steel\f\boots_0.nif" 1.922 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\MESHES\armor\nordplate\nordgauntletsf_1.nif" 2.00 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\MESHES\armor\nordplate\nordgauntletsf_0.nif" 2.08 seconds ago.

C:\Users\Jay\Desktop\Steam Library 2\steamapps\common\Skyrim\DATA\TEXTURES\armor\steel\m\steelboot.dds" 4.4 seconds ago.

 

 

Edited November 26, 2016 by TristanIseme

[Varichi]

Well, it sounds like a corrupt texture could be causing your problem. I wouldn't use the Crash Fixes message as a guide to finding what file it is. Honestly the best way would be a little more trial and error-renaming individual folders in your textures folder (or cutting and pasting them out to another spot en masse to save time) until you can narrow down which one contains the corrupted file. Turning down Skyrim's graphics settings will not make much difference if you have custom textures installed.

[TristanIseme]

Yeah, I realised that. My current problem is, because of MO's virtual directories, I'm not sure where to find the textures since the skyrim/data/textures folder is practically empty. From what I can make out MO keeps all the mods in their own folders and just tells the game where to look for the textures/meshes etc that it needs. I'm new ish to MO though, so I could be wrong.

 

On a side note, I moved my saves into a separate folder and started a new game, and the CTD is gone for the moment at least. Not sure what that means, hopefully not that my saves got corrupted at some point.

[Varichi]

That's kind of how it works. I don't use M.O. (never got used to the setup, I'm a little too old school) so I can't be of much help there unfortunately. I think I'm the last one who doesn't. :smile:

 

Save corruption would involve a crash on the load screen. If the game loads up, and then crashes, I highly doubt that save corruption is the issue. A forlorn script in the save on the other hand...if you've uninstalled any mods midsave at any point, it would be worth it to try and tie the error to that.

 

The advantage of Mod Organizer is that you can change out textures without losing them to overrides. When I read over your original post, I initially thought that you stopped the crashes by renaming the Textures folder, but now I see that was not the case after seeing your edit up there. The only way I could think of a texture causing an outright crash is if it's corrupt.

 

There is also a script analysis tool that you can use to try to remove unattached scripts and other things from a save (I've not had much luck with it, but others say they have) that you can find here to try on your save. It saves a new file, so you don't have to worry about it messing up the original, but I always back up the original file just in case.

 

Have you loaded up the loadorder in TESVEdit? Merged Patches are a good tool as well if you don't already use them, though they're more aimed at compatibility than preventing crashes.

[TristanIseme]

I've used the simple savegame cleaner on this save and it says that there are no orphaned scripts, and no scripts tied to forms that no longer exist. I tried using script scalpel but get it won't work for me, apparently there's a known issue with Windows 10 that can occur that didn't have a fix last time I checked. I hadn't uninstalled any mods for a while either, though I am guilty of tinkering with my mods list to an extent, mainly in the form of adding retextures in this playthrough though. Still, that could be it.

 

I do use a single merged patch (loaded right at the end of my load order, after the bashed patch) though in all honesty I don't understand how it does what it does, or if I should be using multiple separate merged patches at other points within my load order.

 

I'm curious on two points, a) does the save file record texture data within itself - as in could there be textures saved within the save file that have gotten corrupted by something (my tinkering, for example) and b) if that is the case, is there a way to force the game to reacquire those textures somehow, since the ones in my new game don't appear to have an issues. Of course, I could be completely wrong here :smile: