Game Crashing at Beginning

[ariinya]

All right, so, the first time I installed the game and tried to add mods, perhaps I went a little overboard. There were SO many I liked, so I grabbed them all. I have a computer that has the processing power to support them, so why not? However, the game crashes! I believe the problem comes when I try to integrate two different types of video mods, or audio mods, etc. So, I'd like a little help; what I'd like to know is what you guys suggest, mostly for video, what can be combined, what can't be. I'm a total amateur at this, so I simply DON'T KNOW what I can do.

 

What I did before was to take two video mods, extract them, and combine them. You know how sometimes one mod has more files than another? I wouldn't let it override anything, I'd simply take the files that weren't in the other mod and go from there. I suppose... that created a problem! There's just SO much out there, and I'm having trouble deciding. I like mods that make the environment look nicer, the night sky, the weather, the beasts, everything really, so I tried to find things that did each of these. I also don't like the default characters, so I grabbed a lot of mods that could make them prettier (always updating that one annoying file, I forget what it's called), and again, combining mods.

 

I'm really very lost at this point. I've tried asking before, and got very little response. Second time's the charm, right? Or... maybe third time, but I hope I get a good response this time! Something like... what mods YOU use... and combine.

 

Thanks in advance! It's been awhile since I tried to play again, so I hope I can figure out what I did wrong, and what I can use to make my game GORGEOUS. And, remember, I just got a new computer with the best video card available (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 was the best offered when I was ordering this computer), so I'm HOPING it will be able to process high levels of graphics without issue.

[MShoap13]

Alright... Let's take it from the top here.

 

By "beginning" do you mean at the menu, or before the menu, or when you try to load a save? "Video Mods"? Would that be texture replacers (Skyrim HD 2K for example) or Post Processing (ENBSeries, FXAA PPI) or a Post Processing Plugin (Realistic Lighting)?

 

Are you running SKSE? What mods (that require a plugin) are you using?

[ariinya]

For the video mods, I believe the best answer would be: All. Whenever I try to look at these video mods, I see multiple ones I think look good. It's been awhile... I don't remember exactly which ones I got. Skyrim HD 2k sounds correct... as does the post processing, but not SURE. Definitely the realistic lighting one as well.

 

And I also believe I loaded it with SKSE. As I said, it's been awhile, I haven't even begun to try again. Beyond that.. not sure.

 

When I loaded all the plugins, it would end, it seemed to me, just before the first dialogue began. And I could not load a save. It would always crash. As I turned off the plugins, I tested it by making a new game. It never worked, so I assume it was one of the plugins that couldn't be turned off from the menu.

[6Domino6]

I would honestly start by disabling half of your mods in NMM and seeing if it still crashes. Most of the time I'll disable until it stops crashing then re-enable in groups of 5 until it crashes again and then figure out which one crashed me. Usually I only have to kick 2-3 mods out of 50 to the curb.

[MShoap13]

I would honestly start by disabling half of your mods in NMM and seeing if it still crashes. Most of the time I'll disable until it stops crashing then re-enable in groups of 5 until it crashes again and then figure out which one crashed me. Usually I only have to kick 2-3 mods out of 50 to the curb.

 

To elaborate on this, sometimes CTDs caused by mod conflicts can be subverted through changing around your load order, so you may not have to get rid of the mod(s) causing the crash.

 

But... In your case (where you don't even know what mods you do or don't have installed) I highly recommend starting from scratch. Completely uninstall Skyrim (I recommend using Revo Uninstaller to uninstall the game as it will automatically scan for and ask you if you'd like to remove any left behind registry entries relating to the program you're uninstalling).

 

If your \Steam\ directory is installed in the default location (C:\Program Files\ or C:\Program Files (x86)) then I'd recommend moving it while Skyrim is uninstalled to avoid any future issues with Windows UAC. Place Steam in a location that's not affected by UAC (most people create the folder C:\Games\ and place it there, along with any other games that have issues with Windows UAC).

 

Next, manually verify that the \Skyrim\ directory is completely empty before reinstalling the game to ensure you're not leaving behind all of your broken mods, etc. (C:\...\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\). You can simply delete the \Skyrim\ folder located there. Once you're sure you're not installing Skyrim back into a bunch of broken mods, you can reinstall the game.

 

This sounds like a lot, and it's gonna take an hour or so (longer if you have to redownload Skyrim from Steam) but it will probably end up saving you a lot of time and headache in the long run. To avoid having to repeat this in the future, you should install mods one at a time and actually go in-game and test them (make sure your game isn't crashing and actually test the functions of the mod in question to see if it's working properly). That way when issues do arise (and they will) you'll know where to start troubleshooting. It's also wise to keep the archives you download here on the Nexus in a backup location for future reference. The archives can be useful if you ever need to manually uninstall a mod or if you need to reinstall a mod, etc..

[ariinya]

All right... new computer, starting over clean. What programs would you recommend I have to start off? I tend to manually put the mods in the folders. At first, I tried to keep them separated, but then I just sort of... jumbled them together. Probably not the smartest idea. So, maybe a good program that installs the mods for me?

[MShoap13]

NMM is your basic mod manager though enhanced functionality is being coded in as we speak. Keep in mind that NMM will only install mods that belong in the \Skyrim\Data\ directory properly. Any ENBseries/SKSE/ScriptDragon mods (anything that belongs in the \Skyrim\ folder) will still need to be installed manually for the time being. NMM is still in Beta and new updates may or may not cause issues in the future, but if issues arise from patching you may be able to revert to an earlier version and remember that the devs are working on it as fast as they can.

 

Wrye Bash is a more advanced mod manager, with the capability to make mods, that wouldn't normally work well together, get along. It's got a steep learning curve and I'd say stay away from it for the time being.

 

From here, start getting mods you feel have the largest impact on your gameplay (SkyUI, ENBseries, and Large texture overhauls for me personally) and install them one by one, testing each time you add something new.