Memory Taxing Mods for Skyrim

[steve40]

@killerbuddy: keep in mind that memory intensive mods are not the only cause of CTD's in Skyrim. Here are a few other causes that I have found:

 

- Corrupted sound files. Skyrim crashed every time it tried to play the bad files. I replace the files with good ones and the crashes were fixed.

 

- BSA packing problem. I packed a mod's loose files using BSAOpt then later traced repeatable CTD's back to that mod. I repacked the loose files using BSAOpt. The new BSA was exactly the same size as the previous one, but after I replaced the old BSA the repeatable CTD's were cured. This makes me think that BSAOpt might be a bit glitchy and needs to be used with caution.

 

- Bad meshes. An actor mesh that displayed perfectly ingame was causing CTD's every time the actor was killed and its body tumbled down a slope (havok or collision problem?). I also seemed to be getting random CTD's at the time, but later realized it was caused by other actors killing my buggy actor and triggering the crash. I could not figure out what the problem with the mesh was (dodgy nifskope setting perhaps?) so my solution was to make the actor invincible and fake its death using scripts. This cured the crashes.

 

- Bugs in creation kit. Using "find and replace" to replace some objects in one of my mods introduced errors that caused CTD's in the location where these objects were placed. The fix was to ignore/delete those edits and then re-do them manually and re-save the mod. That cured the CTD's.

 

- uGridstoLoad set to 7 or higher, as noted in my last post.

 

- Bad scripts. Maybe. I say "maybe" because I'm yet to see a script that can cause an instant and repeatable CTD, so I'm sitting on the fence with this one.

Edited July 29, 2012 by steve40

[mike2977]

I reckon one of the biggest causes of random CTD's (one which players quickly forget was their fault all along :whistling: ) is changing "uGridsToLoad=5" in their Skyrim.ini to 7 or higher :tongue:

 

I do not seem to have that entry in my Skyrim.ini. Should I add it with the value of 5, or is that the default value if it's not in there?

 

If I do add it, what section is it under?

[blitzen]

It defaults to 5. I wouldn't add it. That will just tempt you to mess with it.

[tetradite]

Glad to find this thread. Has backed up my theory over why some people have trouble with my own mod.

 

You can add my "Fleetford" town mod onto this list too, have been getting some users with CTD issues that I cannot replicate - they are almost always heavy mod users, but have been unable to see any likely direct conflicts.

 

I thought it was the complicated nature of the town itself, but I've had it tested by some people with REALLY bad rigs and they have no CTD issue.

[Killerbuddy]

@steve40

Yes, there are many reasons that the game CTDs, but this thread discusses this particular issue. I state in my first post that there are other reasons for CTDs, but I label the particular symptoms for the CTDs I describe in this thread. Maybe I will change this thread into an overall CTD possibilities and how to check for them.

 

@tetradite

Awesome, I will defiantly add it to the list. As a matter of fact, I have a list of mods I need to add to the thread. At a later time when I am more coherent hahaha.

[mike2977]

Glad to find this thread. Has backed up my theory over why some people have trouble with my own mod.

 

You can add my "Fleetford" town mod onto this list too, have been getting some users with CTD issues that I cannot replicate - they are almost always heavy mod users, but have been unable to see any likely direct conflicts.

 

I thought it was the complicated nature of the town itself, but I've had it tested by some people with REALLY bad rigs and they have no CTD issue.

I like Fleetford; Picked up the Blacksmith's helper as a follower early on.

 

I've uninstalled all mods and then picked up a saved game that wasn't crashing and started adding them back in one at a time. I haven't gotten to Fleetford again, but will try it shortly and see what happens.

 

Good to see a mod author participating in the discussion.

 

Do you mind sharing what mods you are running in addition to your own?

[tetradite]

Glad to find this thread. Has backed up my theory over why some people have trouble with my own mod.

 

You can add my "Fleetford" town mod onto this list too, have been getting some users with CTD issues that I cannot replicate - they are almost always heavy mod users, but have been unable to see any likely direct conflicts.

 

I thought it was the complicated nature of the town itself, but I've had it tested by some people with REALLY bad rigs and they have no CTD issue.

I like Fleetford; Picked up the Blacksmith's helper as a follower early on.

 

I've uninstalled all mods and then picked up a saved game that wasn't crashing and started adding them back in one at a time. I haven't gotten to Fleetford again, but will try it shortly and see what happens.

 

Good to see a mod author participating in the discussion.

 

Do you mind sharing what mods you are running in addition to your own?

 

Awesome! Nice to see a user :thumbsup:

 

If you've not re-installed it yet I'd wait a few days and I'll have the newer, expanded, customisable and greatly improved version finished.

 

I'm a light mod user, apart from Fleetford, I currently run (and am essentially 100% stable), in no particular order:

 

Quality World Map With Roads

Complete Crafting Overhaul

Smithing Perks Overhaul

Weapons & Armor Fixes

Deadly Dragons

Elec0s Portable Bedroll

Follower Hunting Bow Fix

HD Textures DLC Fix

Imps More Complex Needs

Private Singular Quivers

Spouses Can Live Everywhere

The Dance of Death

[Killerbuddy]

Well Dawnguard is out! If anyone here is getting it right away that have a lot of the mods we discuss in this thread, I would appreciate it if you experience any issues that relate to Skyrim being overworked. I know that the 1.7 patch made some good improvemets with this issue, but I am kind of wary on getting it right away.

[mike2977]

Well Dawnguard is out! If anyone here is getting it right away that have a lot of the mods we discuss in this thread, I would appreciate it if you experience any issues that relate to Skyrim being overworked. I know that the 1.7 patch made some good improvemets with this issue, but I am kind of wary on getting it right away.

I enjoy my mods and have no intent of updating Skyrim until the majority of the mod authors for the mods I use indicate that they have updated their mods to function under 1.7 and with Dawn Guard.

 

With all the trouble I had when 1.6 came out and I was too much of a newbie to realize I could turn off automatic updates from Steam, I learned my lesson the hard way.

 

Over on the Steam forum, posts are already indicating the DLC is buggy and CTD'ing. No way I'm going to pay good money to beat myself up!

[tetradite]

Well Dawnguard is out! If anyone here is getting it right away that have a lot of the mods we discuss in this thread, I would appreciate it if you experience any issues that relate to Skyrim being overworked. I know that the 1.7 patch made some good improvemets with this issue, but I am kind of wary on getting it right away.

I enjoy my mods and have no intent of updating Skyrim until the majority of the mod authors for the mods I use indicate that they have updated their mods to function under 1.7 and with Dawn Guard.

 

With all the trouble I had when 1.6 came out and I was too much of a newbie to realize I could turn off automatic updates from Steam, I learned my lesson the hard way.

 

Over on the Steam forum, posts are already indicating the DLC is buggy and CTD'ing. No way I'm going to pay good money to beat myself up!

 

The 1.7 update itself seems ok, even actively beneficial, for mods so far.

 

It does sound like Dawnguard is buggy as hell and/or causing a lot of mod problems already though.

 

I'll state right now that I will NOT be making updates (should they be needed) to include or make compatible with Dawnguard for the forseeable future. There is no way on Earth I'm paying that much money for a DLC.