CTDs are giving me the blues.

[Kyronik]

The problem is that my game keeps crashing, but not only that, it is occurring more and more frequently. Skyrim has become unplayable in its current state.

My question: Does Skyrim have some limit that I'm pushing too hard, a limit that no amount of processing power or RAM would fix? Or do I finally need to get a gaming rig?

I realize that the latter is the more likely of the two, given that I have a medium quality gaming laptop, but I want to get another opinion before building a PC.

My meager laptop specs are as follows:

Acer Aspire E5-573G

Windows 10

CPU: i5 - 5200U (2.20GHz)

RAM: 8 GB

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 940M

VRAM: 2 GB

1000 GB HDD

Below is my load order, sorted automatically by LOOT.

0 0 Skyrim.esm

1 1 Update.esm

2 2 Dawnguard.esm

3 3 HearthFires.esm

4 4 Dragonborn.esm

5 5 Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch.esp

6 6 JSwords.esm

7 7 SomeguySeries.esm

8 8 ApachiiHairMales.esm

9 9 MolagBalsInferno.esm

10 a Cutting Room Floor.esp

11 b LegacyoftheDragonborn.esp

12 c Immersive Sounds - Compendium.esp

13 d dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp

14 e dD-Dragonborn-Dawnguard-EBT Patch.esp

15 f dD-No Screen Blood.esp

16 10 dD-Very Long Screen Blood Duration.esp

17 11 dD-Shorter Screen Blood Duration.esp

18 12 dD-More Screen Blood.esp

19 13 dD-Medium Screen Blood Duration.esp

20 14 dD-Longer Screen Blood Duration.esp

21 15 dD-Less Screen Blood.esp

22 16 SkyUI.esp

23 17 TimeStopRing.esp

24 18 dD-No Spinning Death Animation.esp

25 19 VioLens.esp

26 1a UIExtensions.esp

27 1b FISS.esp

28 1c SkyTweak.esp

29 1d Auto Unequip Ammo.esp

30 1e NonEssentialChildren.esp

31 1f InigoPerkPointGiver.esp

32 20 NoIceSpike.esp

33 21 Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp

34 22 AddItemMenu2.esp

35 23 No More Glowing Edges.esp

36 24 Loadout.esp

37 25 ogDiverseDragons2.esp

38 26 Nordic Adventurer's Armor.esp

39 27 ResplendentArmor.esp

40 28 Thanatos Dragonx.esp

41 29 Shadow Ranger Gear by Natterforme.esp

42 2a Skyrim Knights.esp

43 2b Duelist-Longcoat.esp

44 2c SwordsmansCoat.esp

45 2d lilithseviscerator.esp

46 2e CL BladeofSacrifice.esp

47 2f JaxonzRenamer.esp

48 30 BlitzConsoleCommandsMCM.esp

49 31 iHUD.esp

50 32 MainMenu.esp

51 33 Pincushion - MoreArrows.esp

52 34 Quickshot.esp

53 35 TKDodge.esp

54 36 HitStop.esp

55 37 WeaponRangeFix.esp

56 38 CreatureSizeVariants.esp

57 39 PC Head Tracking - MCM.esp

58 3a PC Head Tracking - Patch.esp

59 3b Pauldrons.esp

60 3c ISCompendium Enhanced Blood Patch.esp

61 3d JaxonzMCMKicker.esp

62 3e KillingTraps.esp

63 3f DeadlyHeadshots_v200.esp

64 40 HonedMetal.esp

65 41 When Vampires Attack.esp

66 42 360WalkandRunPlus-RunBackwardSpeedAdjust.esp

67 43 CuttingRoomFloorRemoveAltArmorEffect.esp

68 44 TakeNotes.esp

69 45 AHZmoreHUD.esp

70 46 Onehanded.esp

71 47 UnlockUniqueEnchantments.esp

72 48 RealisticNights.esp

73 49 RealisticNightsDB.esp

74 4a RealisticNightsDG.esp

75 4b Faraam Set.esp

76 4c Plate Armours - Credo.esp

77 4d PKNordicSpellweaver.esp

78 4e UndeadFX.esp

79 4f Skyrim Immersive Creatures.esp

80 50 SoS - The Wilds.esp

81 51 SoS - Civilization.esp

82 52 OBIS.esp

83 53 OBISDB.esp

84 54 Sea of Spirits.esp

85 55 Thunderchild - Epic Shout Package.esp

86 56 Skyrim Immersive Creatures - DLC2.esp

87 57 SoS - The Dungeons.esp

88 58 Hidden Hideouts of Skyrim - Merged.esp

89 59 Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp

90 5a LeftHandRings.esp

91 5b LeftHandRings - Dawnguard.esp

92 5c DFB - Random Encounters.esp

93 5d BirdsHFclean.esp

94 5e RealisticWaterTwo.esp

95 5f Unrelenting Force Spell.esp

96 60 Ice Form Spell.esp

97 61 Cavern Pitfalls.esp

98 62 Kynesguard.esp

99 63 RealisticWaterTwo - Legendary.esp

100 64 Artifacts.esp

101 65 Run For Your Lives.esp

102 66 Immersive Weapons.esp

103 67 PrvtI_HeavyArmory.esp

104 68 Skippy's Book Overhaul.esp

105 69 Populated Forts Towers Places.esp

106 6a Shout-tastic_no CD.esp

107 6b Hidden Hideouts of Skyrim City Edition - Merged.esp

108 6c JetsSwordCollection.esp

109 6d JSwordsDistributionBalancePlugin.esp

110 6e Immersive Patrols II.esp

111 6f BloodOfTheNord.esp

112 70 ArmorConvert.esp

113 71 DawnguardArsenal.esp

114 72 DBM_HA+IW+IA+DG_Patch.esp

115 73 DBM_ImmersiveCreatures_Patch.esp

116 74 MusicMerge_NR.esp

117 75 Vigilant.esp

118 76 deadmanor.esp

119 77 MOLAGBALKNIGHTLAGRIE.esp

120 78 ForgottenCity.esp

121 79 Mannequins.esp

122 7a Darkend.esp

123 7b Unique Unique.esp

124 7c Another Daedric Artifacts.esp

125 7d DBM_CRF_Patch.esp

126 7e ApotheosisDemo.esp

127 7f HHoS Subterranean Hot Spring.esp

128 80 HHoS Ancient Shrine.esp

129 81 AncientFalmer.esp

130 82 Throwing_Weapons_Redux.esp

131 83 The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp

132 84 Sneak Tools.esp

133 85 Vampire_NoSunDamage_Hoods&Helmets.esp

134 86 Sneak Tools Vanilla Masks.esp

135 87 Dark souls 2 Armor Pack.esp

136 88 valkyrja.esp

137 89 BlackSacramentArmor.esp

138 8a chfshImbuedSword.esp

139 8b Soul Collector.esp

140 8c GiftsOfAkatosh.esp

141 8d Ish's Souls to Perks.esp

142 8e Medusa and Drakul Armors.esp

143 8f Inquisitor Set.esp

144 90 DragonLordSwords.esp

145 91 Evil MasterMind Armor.esp

146 92 Contractor Armor.esp

147 93 KTAAncientShroudedArmorUNENCHANTED.esp

148 94 ESO Daedric Armor by NewerMind43.esp

149 95 AedraWeaponSet.esp

150 96 ZenitharWorkshop.esp

151 97 loners_sword.esp

152 98 DBM_UUU_Patch.esp

153 99 Sneak Tools Vanilla Hoods.esp

154 9a CL NettlebaneOrg.esp

155 9b SummonSmough.esp

156 9c Fetchers Knife.esp

157 9d Upgrade Leveled Items Spell.esp

158 9e PrvtIRoyalArmory.esp

159 9f WeaponizedTools.esp

160 a0 TradeBarter.esp

161 a1 AutoHarvest2.esp

162 a2 Two Handed sneak perk x3-x6.esp

163 a3 EliteKnightArmor.esp

164 a4 ADHopesfire.esp

165 a5 Daedric Dawnbreaker.esp

166 a6 DBM_RoyalArmory_Patch.esp

167 a7 DBM_ISC_Patch.esp

168 a8 Bulwark of Azzinoth.esp

169 a9 Public Executions.esp

170 aa MannequinStayStill.esp

171 ab IvarsCleaver.esp

172 ac HelmetToggle.esp

173 ad Jormundandr Dragon.esp

174 ae LessIntrusiveHUD.esp

175 af ORDERSWORD.esp

176 b0 Kyne's Warden.esp

177 b1 Breakerwaraxe.esp

178 b2 HeavyGreatsword.esp

179 b3 DraconicBrigandAxe.esp

180 b4 Crescent Axe.esp

181 b5 SKSE Hotkeys.esp

182 b6 NoSneakAttackSound.esp

183 b7 ThaneWeaponsReborn.esp

184 b8 Fenrir Blades.esp

185 b9 TribalMightArmor.esp

186 ba hmkLockOn.esp

187 bb FNIS.esp

188 bc FNIS_PCEA2.esp

189 bd Red Eagle's Swords replace & craft.esp

190 be Cataract.esp

Relevant information:

-I have tried adjusting the game settings, including resolution, for maximum performance and I still get consistent CTDs.

-I have installed practically everything from the Nexus using NMM, save for, like, two armor mods from loverslab.

-There are about 20 inactive mods I have sitting in NMM, but those are seldom activated.

-If available, I typically download the lower res meshes and textures.

-My current in-game save has me playing through the VIGILANT (by Vicn) questline.

-These crashes started happening exponentially more frequently while I was playing through VIGILANT, specifically while I was

starting to explore Coldharbour. (I wouldn't want to spoil this magnificent story for anybody.)

-The only visible bug I experience during normal gameplay is that every forward power attack with a sword will result in a fireball firing out of my sword. (This happens only from the second forward power attack onward in a series of rapid forward power attacks. The first results in a message saying, "Red Eagle's Bane doesn't have enough charge.")

-I cleaned my save and followed all the steps when installing Legacy of the Dragonborn: Dragonborn Gallery.

-I have not cleaned this save file for any other purpose, despite uninstalling some scripted mods that probably affected my save. (I haven't done it because I doubt that it is the source of my problems.)

-Never have I ever manually tweaked and .ini file.

-Never have I ever used and ENB.

-I have had this laptop for a little over a year now, so the inexplicable performance degradation that laptops face is likely a cause of this.

[Kroekr]

Since you removed "some scripted mods" I suggest you do so. That can be a cause of CTD's having orphan scripts running around creating problems.

[Algabar]

Just one thing I noticed:

 

13 d dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp

14 e dD-Dragonborn-Dawnguard-EBT Patch.esp

15 f dD-No Screen Blood.esp

16 10 dD-Very Long Screen Blood Duration.esp

17 11 dD-Shorter Screen Blood Duration.esp

18 12 dD-More Screen Blood.esp

19 13 dD-Medium Screen Blood Duration.esp

20 14 dD-Longer Screen Blood Duration.esp

21 15 dD-Less Screen Blood.esp

This is doesn't make sense. You installed mutually exclusive options of "Enhanced Blood Textures" together. Don't know if this causes CTDs, but it definitely isn't right. Uninstall and reinstall EBT. Use the current FOMOD installer version.