Dawnguard CTD; Forebears' Holdout

[RyanBurnsRed]

Hello all. I'm about to give up on Skyrim again because of a seemingly unfixable, explainable, annoying CTD that happens. During the quest Prophet, related to Dawnguard, I get to the point where I have to enter Forebears' Holdout to rescue the moth priest. But the game CTD a few seconds into loading. I have tried with no mods, I have tried with only texture mods (uninstall all script mods), and I've even started a new game! it crashes at the exact same spot. The list of mods I am using now is similar to what I used a couple years ago when I was able to successfully complete Dawnguard. But now even if I use the console to fast forward this part, it will crash in the exact same spot under Castle Volkihar where you go with Serena to find her mother under the moon dial.

 

This is my load order, sorted with LOOT:

 

 

Skyrim.esm

Update.esm

Dawnguard.esm

HearthFires.esm

Dragonborn.esm

Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch.esp

ApachiiHair.esm

ApachiiHairFemales.esm

Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm

ClimatesOfTamriel.esm

HighResTexturePack01.esp

HighResTexturePack02.esp

HighResTexturePack03.esp

Unofficial High Resolution Patch.esp

barenziahquestmarkers.esp

Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Major City Interiors.esp

RealisticWaterTwo.esp

Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Major City Exteriors.esp

markarth_plus.esp

tavewindhelm.esp

RealisticWaterTwo - Legendary.esp

SMIM-Merged-All.esp

Killable Lootable Children for Hearthfires.esp

Killable Lootable Children.esp

whiteruninenhanced.esp

Killmove Control.esp

taveriften.esp

Skyrim Flora Overhaul.esp

Verdant - A Skyrim Grass Plugin.esp

detailed outskirts.esp

tavefalkreath.esp

isilNarsil.esp

Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Dawnguard Interiors.esp

Further Dark Dungeons for ENB.esp

RevampedExteriorFog.esp

AMatterOfTime.esp

AmazingFollowerTweaks.esp

dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp

dD-Dragonborn-Dawnguard-EBT Patch.esp

Evil MasterMind Armor.esp

FNIS.esp

vindictusblackleather.esp

SkyUI.esp

MinimalHUD.esp

Brevi_MoonlightTalesEssentials.esp

WerewolfMastery.esp

Real Feeding V3.esp

Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Minor Cities and Town Interiors.esp

Chesko_WearableLantern.esp

momijic4.esp

ClimatesOfTamriel-Dawnguard-Patch.esp

ClimatesOfTamriel-Dragonborn-Patch.esp

Auto Unequip Ammo.esp

Skyrim Particle Patch for ENB - Flame Atronach Fix.esp

Vivid Landscapes.esp

Marriable Serana.esp

Marriable Serana HF.esp

WondersofWeather.esp

Unlimited_Amulets.esp

Serana.esp

LeftHandRings - Dawnguard.esp

LeftHandRings.esp

Footprints.esp

DesyncBirdsOfPrey.esp

HighHrothgarWindowGlow.esp

SolitudeExterior.esp

tavesolitude.esp

WhiterunExterior.esp

Convenient Horses.esp

Blaze Of Eventide.esp

Better Dynamic Snow.esp

AelaTheHuntress.esp

DynDOLOD.esp

I have a few Steam Workshop mods that are mentioned in there. They are:

taveriften.esp

Towns and Villages Enhanced: Riften

1

whiteruninenhanced.esp

Towns and Villages Enhanced: Whiterun

1

markarth_plus.esp

Towns and Villages Enhanced: (Markarth+)

1

tavefalkreath.esp

Towns and Villages Enhanced: Falkreath

1

tavesolitude.esp

Towns and Villages Enhanced: Solitude

1

tavewindhelm.esp

Towns and Villages Enhanced: Windhelm

1

detailed outskirts.esp

Detailed Outskirts

1

barenziahquestmarkers.esp

Stones of Barenziah Quest Markers

1

Also a few mods mentioned that are probably not very popular are:

• AelaTheHuntress.esp found here
• Unlimited_Amulets.esp found here
• Serana.esp found here
• momijic4.esp is an armor mod by Jackga. He removed it from his Steam Workshop page for storage reasons.
• vindictusblackleather.esp same as above.

 

Any help is appreciated...although I'm pretty close to just giving up again and moving on to other games

[snelss0]

1. Don't give up. It's just an experience, a puzzle if you will. While it can be frustrating, fixing it can be very rewarding.

2. Here is what I would like to know: What is your system and graphics card, and what mod organizer are you using? NMM? MO? I see you have some workshop mods. These can cause many issues with your game if they are not put in the right load order, and your mod organizer may not recognize them to do so. I've never used workshop, so I'm not sure.

3. You have CoT installed. His mod is not compatible with any weather mod he says. That likely will include Revamped Exterior Fog unless specified elsewhere.

4. You have a lot of mods affecting textures of cities. Read their instructions and make sure they are compatible running together, especially since you have lighting affecting the interiors of these locations with RLO. I know for instance (even though you don't have it) JK Skyrim says that using texture enhancers or other texture mods can cause CTDs with him. This is likely part of your problem here.

5. I would put your animations down at the bottom of your load order, your skeleton below them, and then your DynDOLOD.esp.

6. If you are not, make sure you are using an SKSE.ini for help with your memory allocation. This is different from your SKSE scripts, which I hope you are using atm as a lot of your mods probably require them properly installed.

7. Making changes to your mods, moving them, or deleting them can cause CTDs. It could be that your game is fixed, but you won't know it unless you start a new game. This is because skyrim bakes scripts into your saves. There are save cleaners out there, but they don't work 100%. I suggest starting a new game.

8. If nothing else works, I suggest performing a clean install: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/906390-cleaning-skyrim-for-fresh-install/

[RyanBurnsRed]

Thank you for the reply :) Apologies for not including that stuff.

 

2. System specs are:

 

Intel Xeon X5675 4.0 Ghz

GTX Titan X 1246 Mhz

12GB DDR3 1600 Mhz

Windows 10 Pro x64

 

I use NMM. Because I have Skyrim installed on my SSD, it is installed on the same drive as Windows, but in a Steam folder outside of the Program Files directory along with Fallout 4 and Red Orchestra 2.

Previously I had problems with getting all of the DynDOLOD files to correctly install in the Data folder. I realized that I had to run NMM as admin. Since then I have completely reinstalled the game and installed all mods with NMM in admin mode.

 

3. CoT I use for the amazing weather and sound effects, also because I use Project ENB. I'll remove Revamped Exterior Fog.

 

4. I looked at the info for the Workshop mods. It says they are compatible with all the DLC, but not with mods that alter the cells of those cities and villages. I have removed Skyrim HD Riften and Towns along with RLO.

 

5. What would those mods be in my load order?

 

6. I'm using the SKSE memory patch :) With it I am able to play for 3+ hours without a single crash...when I'm not playing the Dawnguard quests that is...

 

7. This is on a new install and new save that I started on the 23rd. Before that I reinstalled the game for the first time in 2 years on the 17th. When I came across the issue I mentioned, that's when I started over and have not done any changes to my mod list until now.

 

8. If nothing else works then...I guess this is it...lol. I can only start over so many times doing the same things before I get bored or frustrated. I have a save I made before I installed the mods. This is in Whiterun, right after you kill the first dragon. I suppose I could try from there...? I haven't done much since then other than a handful of side quests and lots of exploring.

[snelss0]

Be advised, when removing mods from the workshop, I believe you have to unsubscribe first and then remove them or they just reinstall later. Make sure they do not exist in your data folder or they are still working and can screw up your game.

 

I wouldn't start from that save, I would start brand new, and I would also suggest you get the Alternate start mod. It lets you do the vanilla start if you want, or you can start elsewhere in the many options it has. it may help you pick up where you left off. Put it right above your DynDOLOD in load order if you do use it. This is also a good mod because it lets your game load in all the scripts really well before you even start playing.

[RyanBurnsRed]

Okay thanks for the help. I really appreciate it :)

[RyanBurnsRed]

I figured out my problem, nearly 2 months later. The whole time it was DynDOLOD causing the crashes.

Why was it the culprit? I'm not sure. This is something I'll have to ask the mod author. But I have basically reinstalled the game and installed all the mods one by one, entering Forebear's Holdout until it gave me the same symptoms.

 

I've installed every mod except DynDOLOD, and am able to enter the two areas that were crashing for me. At this point I'm 99.9% certain it was the culprit.

[snelss0]

Just follow the install directions to the letter before you contact him. DynDOLOD shouldn't have issues in compatibility and should actually make your game run smoother.