Crash on Load: Before or At Main Menu

[BlackCompany]

Greetings. I posted this over in the Modder's area, as well, but thought it might go here too. Now, I have spent two days verifying the below information. (Except the theory part - I can't prove that, which is why that part has a "speculation" warning.) This IS happening to me. I DO have the latest patch and I AM loading through Steam. No pirating here. And the below fix, as nonsensical as I know it seems, DOES work for me.

 

I don't know why or how, but I will let others in on it in case it works for them too. Again, this is two days of troubleshooting and step by step isolation of the issue:

 

 

 

Quick FYI for modders: Lately, I have been working on a serious, modular overhaul for Skyrim. Well, I ran into a nifty, load-order related bug upon trying to load a mod which alters leveled wildlife spawns. Here is how it went down:

 

-Copied vanilla EncWolf. Created several new ones, of varying sizes and aggression. Did the same for fox, sabre cat, bear, etc.

-Added them to spawn lists, including Forest, hills, Canyon, Predator and prey

-Saved and exited

 

Result: Game crashed before loading menu screen.

 

Removed the mod from data folder. Loaded fine.

 

I created a completely clean version of the mod, from scratch, and did everything the same, one animal at a time, beginning with Wolves. Game loaded fine. No issues. Now, here is where it gets tricky. This is important. I THEN went on to work on my Subtle Magic overhaul (still a WIP, for way too long) and saved THAT file.

 

Tried loading my game: crash to desktop before the menu loaded.

 

Fed up, I went into the now-built-in load order managed, and moved my magic mod one space up, then one space back down. Guess what: Game loaded just fine, no issues. That is literally all I did. Everything. Just moving it in the load order - and then putting it right back where it was before - was enough to convince the executable that it should load the mod. Weird goings-on.

 

I duplicated this - numerous times - with my wildlife spawn mod. Saved it and loaded. Saved it, worked another mod, crashed. Move them both around in load order, loaded just fine again. I have a (admittedly weak) theory about why this happens all of a sudden, and it goes something like this:

 

(What follows is pure speculation):

 

I think maybe when you introduce a mod which changes something new in the game, you have to move it in your load order to "tell" the executable where it is supposed to be before the executable can load your game again. That this is the same mod I have been using for hours now does not matter. I did something new in it, and now I need to tell the game where to load it in my load order - again. Once I do that it works - and that last sentence is not speculation. It does work, once its moved around - even if I then just move it back to the same spot it was in before.

 

Real weird stuff. Just thought other modders should know, in case they run into this. And yes, I do have Steam and the latest non-beta patch for Skyrim. Anyway, just wanted to post in case anyone else runs into this.

 

Important Edit: If the above does not work, cut - not copy, but cut - the esp file and move it out of the data folder. Now, start the game and let it make a new load order list, without your latest mod. Exit the main menu. Paste the mod back into the data folder and load your game. This has worked for me 100% of the time, even when simply moving the mods around in load order fails.

 

It is, however, getting to very close to my last straw with Bethesda. The game was fine - minus the horrid UI and complete lack of role playing - before these patches. Nothing they have done thus far has made things anything other than worse.

Edited March 7, 2012 by BlackCompany