Random Exterior CTD Fix

[d4em]

Hi all ;]

 

I've been getting tons of random crashes while loading exterior cells, so I took a look at my Skyrim.ini and changed

uExteriorCellBuffer from 36 to 24

After that, the crashing stopped

Just thought I'd share

[GomuGomu64]

Sounds about right. Whenever you go to a cell that is loading everything, and you do stuff in it, you get a ctd. The more cells to load, the longer each individual loading takes.

 

Nice find.

[xlcr]

@FakePersonality, thanks for sharing the tip glad this worked for you, that line in my skyrim.ini has spaces in it like this:

[General]

uExterior Cell Buffer=36

not 'uExteriorCellBuffer' with no spaces.

 

as far as i know, the default line 'uExterior Cell Buffer=36' is tied to the default setting 'uGridsToLoad=5' (usually not listed).

these lines control uGrids, default is something like 5 closest line-of-sight grid sections +1 (player occupied).

beyond these 5 grid sections low detail rendering is used for everything.

as you may know, each grid section is loaded from your data drive as your player character moves through the world..

 

changing uExterior Cell Buffer from 36 to 24 might change the game's default uGridsToLoad from 5 to something lower.

anyway, i am not sure about this, but, i have heard that altering uGrid modifies your save game.

[d4em]

Altering uGridsToLoad indeed does have effects on your save files, mostly lowering it does - it makes you unable to use a save game with a higher grids to load, leading to an immediate crash on use. I have use my exterior cell buffer change on an existing save game with mostly default .ini's (this was in fact my first ini tweak on a completely new install) and with an existing and older save that did not crash.

I therefore believe this tweak does not affect the ugridstoload setting ;]

 

If anyone with similar crashes to mine can confirm that this tweak either does or does not work for them, that'd be awesome

 

Edit - also, uGridsToLoad usually affects how many cells are loaded around the player in a square field, :

xxxxx

xxxxx

xxoxx

xxxxx

xxxxx

Where o is the player's current cell. Therefore if cell buffer would affect uGridstoLoad my save game would crash in an instant as 25 cells are loaded by default.

I believe uCurrent Cell Buffer (as it is indeed spelled, sorry for that) holds recently loaded cells, the ones the player has recently visited. This is my own theory, I have no idea if it's true.

Edited June 17, 2012 by FakePersonality

[GomuGomu64]

If UGridsToLoad was changed by this tweak, you'd see the change in your ini.

[MrBuio]

is tied to the default setting 'uGridsToLoad=5' (usually not listed).

Correct, default is not having it listed, and it is somehow different from "uGridsToLoad=5", because if you save a game with the latter setting, you will get a crash loading that save if the setting is removed. At least I got it last time I was fiddling with uGrids (using the Skyrim 1.5 patch).

 

Someday I hope Bethesda makes the engine so stable it's possible to play with higher uGrids. I really like the higher settings (I used 9) but it makes the game unstable when I've played some time on my character. I use default now (i.e. not listed).

[xlcr]

@MrBuio, thanks for the confirmation, i suspected changing 'uExterior Cell Buffer' would impact the unlisted 'uGridsToLoad' and

impact the savegame permanently (not good! lol)..

(FakePersonality, sorry for going slightly off-topic..).

 

You'd probably need a high performance rig to bump these settings higher and

still expect Skyrim gameplay to consistently run smoothly and be stable.

Only other time I've read people discussing these particular settings was when they were forcing Skyrim to

produce ultra high quality detailed renderings to make great looking wallpaper screenshots.

There is a Skyrim uGrids tweaking guide i found here (scroll approx 2/3 of the way down for uGrids):

http://www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/five-fast-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweaks-guaranteed-to-make-your-game-look-even-better/

 

@FakePersonality, just a suggestion about your random crashes, are you using a lot of HD environmental texture mods or

mods that add/change objects in the Skyrim game world?

More importantly, instead of messing with your 'uExterior Cell Buffer' setting, have you looked into dialing down

other INI settings like LOD stuff and maybe tweaking these (there are many) from default:

 

SkyrimPrefs.ini

[Display]

fShadowDistance=2000

bTreesReceiveShadows=0

bDrawLandShadows=0

iShadowMapResolution=1024

fShadowBiasScale=0.3000

iShadowMaskQuarter=2

[Particles]

iMaxDesired=500

 

Skyrim.ini

[Display]

fSunShadowUpdateTime=1.00

fSunUpdateThreshold=2.00

Edited June 17, 2012 by xlcr

[d4em]

@MrBuio, thanks for the confirmation, i suspected changing 'uExterior Cell Buffer' would impact the unlisted 'uGridsToLoad' and

impact the savegame permanently (not good! lol)..

(FakePersonality, sorry for going slightly off-topic..).

 

You'd probably need a high performance rig to bump these settings higher and

still expect Skyrim gameplay to consistently run smoothly and be stable.

Only other time I've read people discussing these particular settings was when they were forcing Skyrim to

produce ultra high quality detailed renderings to make great looking wallpaper screenshots.

There is a Skyrim uGrids tweaking guide i found here (scroll approx 2/3 of the way down for uGrids):

http://www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/five-fast-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweaks-guaranteed-to-make-your-game-look-even-better/

 

@FakePersonality, just a suggestion about your random crashes, are you using a lot of HD environmental texture mods or

mods that add/change objects in the Skyrim game world?

More importantly, instead of messing with your 'uExterior Cell Buffer' setting, have you looked into dialing down

other INI settings like LOD stuff and maybe tweaking these (there are many) from default:

 

SkyrimPrefs.ini

[Display]

fShadowDistance=2000

bTreesReceiveShadows=0

bDrawLandShadows=0

iShadowMapResolution=1024

fShadowBiasScale=0.3000

iShadowMaskQuarter=2

[Particles]

iMaxDesired=500

 

Skyrim.ini

[Display]

fSunShadowUpdateTime=1.00

fSunUpdateThreshold=2.00

 

No ;p I've been modding for nearly 6 years now, both making them and using them, and I've gotten to know the engine the TES games use - it's had suprisingly few upgrades, another thing that makes me doubt beth somewhat.

Point is... I like to think I know what I'm doing, ofcourse I'd try playing without high texture packs and apply traditional fixes before trying out experimental ones ^^

No offense ;p

Edited June 18, 2012 by FakePersonality

[phdcoder]

Hi all ;]

 

I've been getting tons of random crashes while loading exterior cells, so I took a look at my Skyrim.ini and changed

uExteriorCellBuffer from 36 to 24

After that, the crashing stopped

Just thought I'd share

sorry to necro the post. But i spent a whole day trying to figure out why i got constant CTD on exterior, and you solution worked flawless!!

[Laughingman1]

 

Hi all ;]

 

I've been getting tons of random crashes while loading exterior cells, so I took a look at my Skyrim.ini and changed

uExteriorCellBuffer from 36 to 24

After that, the crashing stopped

Just thought I'd share

sorry to necro the post. But i spent a whole day trying to figure out why i got constant CTD on exterior, and you solution worked flawless!!

 

Me too, thx.