Tsukika Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Before purchasing Skyrim, I made sure that computer met, at least, the minimum requirements. My question now is this: Have those requirements changed? Ever since the patch was released that made the game able to use more than 2GB of RAM, I've been getting CONSTANT 'Crash To Desktop' (CTD) issues with no error messages. It literally happens after just a few minutes of play, now, leaving the game mostly not enjoyable for me. Before the patch that made this change was implemented, I did get CTDs sometimes, but it was extremely infrequent, and I was able to play the game on satisfying settings despite having only those 2GB of RAM, and I see no reason for this to have changed. I did not install the high-resolution texture pack, for fear of loosing performance, so I know this is not my issue. I also know that having only 2GB of RAM is outdated by now and that I need to update. However, I would like to get my game functioning again, in the meantime, while I build up the funds to do so. I do extensive searching every few days for a solution, and I have changed my sound settings, as suggested somewhere, but all of the other references to this problem seem point toward getting the unofficial Large-Address-Aware patch to allow Skyrim to use more than 2GB of RAM, which I don't need since I only have those 2GB. I've also uninstalled all mods for the time being, until I can get this working, doing so by means of uninstalling Skyrim, going to the folder to delete the excess files, and then reinstalling. Please, please help me find a solution! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitualBlack Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Skyrim will automatically use over 2GB ram now without a patch and it should be playable without a need for 4GB. Try doing a clean install and remove all the old .dll and exe performance enhancers (*edit* when you say you removed all old files did you delete the entire folder or just the mods?). They probably would be what is causing you to frequently ctd. If that doesn't help getting x2 2GB ram modules is fairly cheep and would be a simple (and quick) upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsukika Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 I never did use any .dll or.exe performance enhancers. And when I say that I removed the excess files, I mean the entire folder. I even used the latest cCleaner to do a clean-up of my registry before reinstalling; there couldn't have been a trace of previous installs there.. My motherboard can only support the 2GB of RAM that I currently have, so getting more RAM would be more costly than just buying the RAM itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitualBlack Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Oh, I didn't know a new motherboard would have been required. What is your video card and OS (I would assume xp32 and a AMD 3000 series or Nvidia 8/9000 series)?(Good thing purple is my favourite colour or my eyes would have melted by now :laugh: ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsukika Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 My video card is an nVidia GeForce 8600 GT, updated with the latest drivers and set up to alert me about new drivers becoming available, and I am running Windows Vista Home Basic 32-bit. My biggest issue is that I was able to play FINE before; this is a completely new problem, and there's no reason I shouldn't be able to fix it without upgrading my hardware. Before the patch that made this change was implemented, I did get CTDs sometimes, but it was extremely infrequent, and I was able to play the game on satisfying settings despite having only those 2GB of RAM, and I see no reason for this to have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitualBlack Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 You may be maxing out at times. Vista uses more memory than xp and Skyrim once in a while can spike to really high memory usage. Have you tried to disable windows visual effects while launching Skyrim? I am pretty sure it can be done through the Skyrim.exe properties. Also make sure you don't have background programs running (like itunes or any other of those unnecessary ones) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsukika Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 I am aware that Vista uses far more memory than other operating systems, and I do close everything that I possibly can before launching Skyrim (I'd love to close Steam, but..). I wasn't aware of the option to 'Disable visual effects.', though I did just locate it and place a check in that box. It was where you said: in the properties of the .exe file. I will give the game another try with that option checked in a bit, but since I never had it checked before, I don't think that was what changed that suddenly made this so bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitualBlack Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Visual themes wouldn't be the recent change but if skyrim is using more memory for some reason disabling the windows visual themes may give you enough to keep it running. Hopefully this works out for you and if not you may have to rollback to a previous patch. I don't know exactly how to do that for Skyrim but it may be a similar process to GTA4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsukika Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 (edited) This hasn't actually solved my issue. Does anybody, at all, know what the change may have been that caused this, even if you don't know a solution? I got very minimal CTDs before 1.4, and after 1.4 I got them very frequently, and since then it's gotten continually worse with each patch. Nothing has changed about my computer, and I regularly run up-to-date virus and malware scans, as well as regularly defragmenting and clearing out unneeded files and my Internet cookies, history, and cache. If I was able to play fine before, I should be able to play fine now, and I'm dying to know the reason that I can't. Hopefully this works out for you and if not you may have to rollback to a previous patch. Bethesda stated in an E-mail from their technical support department that, as of now, there is no way to roll back to a previous version. The technical support department has also, so far, been unable to help me. Edited March 8, 2012 by Tsukika Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsukika Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 So, does nobody know what might have changed to make this happen more? I'm still getting these crashes far more frequently than I did originally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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