A perfect Skyrim instantly goes to hell!

[bchick1]

Well, fellow Ner..er Nords, I am stumped. I had a perfect Skyrim install with all my mods, beautiful RCRN installed, and was really enjoying it all for quite sometime when suddenly it started freezing.

 

It freezes for anywhere from one to three seconds ... for no reason, action or no action, inside or out. Then, all I have to do is wait and it will just unfreeze and continue on as if nothing has happened and it will repeat this maybe 20 to 30 seconds later. This is just too much fun in the middle of a sword fight or arrow pull.

 

I am not a novice at such things so I began to check the processes running, etc. Accompanying this is flickering of the game portion of the screen when i hit the tab key to see inventory or the like. but I have changed nothing with my AMD Catalyst 12.6 drivers and video cards (crossfire)

 

So , I completely uninstalled Skyrim and re-installed from Steam and removed all mods via NMM. I DID restore my character saves. But the same issue comes back.

 

I had changed nothing on my rig. BTW, all this started when I installed the 'sounds of skyrim' mod and it really crapped up my game, so I immediately removed it.

 

Is it possible that this issue is in some way a part of my game save and I need to go into the wayback machine on save restores?

 

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance

[stabbykitteh]

Well, fellow Ner..er Nords, I am stumped. I had a perfect Skyrim install with all my mods, beautiful RCRN installed, and was really enjoying it all for quite sometime when suddenly it started freezing.

 

It freezes for anywhere from one to three seconds ... for no reason, action or no action, inside or out. Then, all I have to do is wait and it will just unfreeze and continue on as if nothing has happened and it will repeat this maybe 20 to 30 seconds later. This is just too much fun in the middle of a sword fight or arrow pull.

 

I am not a novice at such things so I began to check the processes running, etc. Accompanying this is flickering of the game portion of the screen when i hit the tab key to see inventory or the like. but I have changed nothing with my AMD Catalyst 12.6 drivers and video cards (crossfire)

 

So , I completely uninstalled Skyrim and re-installed from Steam and removed all mods via NMM. I DID restore my character saves. But the same issue comes back.

 

I had changed nothing on my rig. BTW, all this started when I installed the 'sounds of skyrim' mod and it really crapped up my game, so I immediately removed it.

 

Is it possible that this issue is in some way a part of my game save and I need to go into the wayback machine on save restores?

 

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance

 

Check the size of your save games. Freezing can be caused by save game bloat (which apparently is currently a problem with Sounds of Skyrim). Can you go back to a save before you installed SoS, see if that makes a difference? Unlike past TES games, scripts are sometimes unfortunately integrated into your saves even when you uninstall properly,, so SoS could still be causing you problems even after uninstall... Also, have you checked to see if the problem persists when you start a new game? Could be another mod or corrupted saves. Not a huge help, I know, but that's all I've got. Good luck and hope it all gets sorted for you.

[dexila]

Hi m8. First I tried to read some info about that mod - "sounds of skyrim" to see if they had mentioned any conflicts that may cause that, but it says either file was hidden or "That item does not exist. It may have been removed by the author." etc.

It is possible that mod corrupted your saved games. Did u try loading any saves u made before installing mod? Some ppl fixed freezing by disabling anti aliasing etc. Thats a problem that many ppl had. Or have u maybe tried to backup your saves and start new game? I see that you have AMD card. I had one too. For example few days ago I did fresh system installation and replaced AMD Catalyst 12.6 with AMD Catalyst ™ 12.7 Beta Driver which is running very stable atm. Why? Because I have read that in 12.7.. let me copy-paste most important things:

 

Performance highlights of AMD Catalyst 12.7 Beta:

Up to 25% Skyrim

 

Resolved Issues for the Windows® 7, Windows Vista® and Windows XP Operating System:

Elder Scrolls: Skyrim- screen flickering when in AMD CrossFire™ mode

Note: This issue was first observed with version 1.6 of Skyrim.

 

etc.

 

Let me just mention that I use non-steam version of Skyrim so before I started to play it I installed latest game update which is "The.Elder.Scrolls.V.Skyrim.<snip>", what u also probably did.

 

I am just average user that only tried to help, sorry for my bad english. I hope that any of this tips will help you to solve your problem. :)

 

Probably not because, unlike you, the OP is using a legit copy of Skyrim ('reinstalled from Steam').

The OP may have a problem with a game, but now you have a problem too. We do not support pirates,

and we do not tolerate the discussion of pirated versions and patches.

This post cost you your account.

-LM

[Reaper0021]

I had this same issue using the mod(s) "Sounds of Skyrim: Civilizations and Sounds of Skyrim: Dungeons." The mod is listed...or rather was listed as not compatible with some mods, but I cannot remember which. I know I had the SAME EXACT stuttering and whatnot. This post is like a horrendous flashback for me. I did a clean wipe of Skyrim. Reinstalled mods, then had the issue progress. Reason: When I wiped back then I didn't remove all the folders left from my previous installation. It also didn't clear up my old saved games. I had to, literally, start from fresh. I use AMD/ATI as well. It wasn't something specific to Catalyst Drivers. It was just scripts left over from the mod.

 

 

*NOTE: This was just my own cause and scenario. This is just something for you to look at not a diagnosis of your particular problem. Just some information for you to go on.*

Edited July 21, 2012 by Reaper0021

[bchick1]

I had this same issue using the mod(s) "Sounds of Skyrim: Civilizations and Sounds of Skyrim: Dungeons." The mod is listed...or rather was listed as not compatible with some mods, but I cannot remember which. I know I had the SAME EXACT stuttering and whatnot. This post is like a horrendous flashback for me. I did a clean wipe of Skyrim. Reinstalled mods, then had the issue progress. Reason: When I wiped back then I didn't remove all the folders left from my previous installation. It also didn't clear up my old saved games. I had to, literally, start from fresh. I use AMD/ATI as well. It wasn't something specific to Catalyst Drivers. It was just scripts left over from the mod.

 

 

*NOTE: This was just my own cause and scenario. This is just something for you to look at not a diagnosis of your particular problem. Just some information for you to go on.*

[bchick1]

Thanks to all !

I did fix the flashing (strobing) screen when game was paused. Using the Steam loader I configured the game to use no AA or any other processing. I then set my Radeon Catalyst driver to force the videio engine settings and that stopped the strobing.

 

I do believe that the freezing is in some way related to the save ... I still am not sure I am dragging 'sounds of skyrim' around with the saves, but I started a new game and it works perfectly. So, I had to give up a level 33 character though. I guess I will have to go back to before loading 'Sounds of Skyrim' , as suggested, to see if that works.

 

I think whoever is modding the 'Sounds of Skyrim' needs a bit more QC on that mod. I think it is a great idea but I have heard elsewhere that it causes problems.

 

Thanx!

[M48A5]

The mod "Sounds of Skyrim" has been pulled by the mod author. There is a problem with the mod and he is working on a solution. He states in the meantime, the mod should be disabled in the launcher and uninstalled.

[jroin]

I'm not using the "Sounds of Skyrim" mod but I am have in similar "Freezes" as you're describing, it started with me when I Installed the AMD Catalyst 12.6 as prompted by Steam.

 

Q: Why did I install the Catalyst??

 

A: Strobe flashing.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Simple solution: "Alt+Tab" to windows and back.

 

Game killer solution: Install the AMD Catalyst.

 

other possible solution: turn off the AA (anti aliasing).

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Q: How to get rid of that :devil: Catalyst?

 

A: ??????????

[bben46]

Freezing - and then either continuing or crashing can also be caused by an external program running in the background. The background program will suddenly decide it absolutely must run right now and steals processor time to do it. If it completes what it was doing quickly - such as checking for new emails - it will resume the game. If it checks for emails, and your email downloads the emails, then it may take too long and the game gets out of sync and crashes - especially if you are doing something intensive such as combat that takes a lot of CPU and GPU working together.

 

Besides an email grabber I have seen this happen with VOIP type programs (Skype) when a call comes in, With a program that periodically calls home to check for updates, With a 3rd party defrag program that automatically starts when the disk reaches a certain percent of fragmentation, with the older Windows indexing in WinXP suddenly deciding that since you aren't doing anything important it would be a good time to index the hard drive. :rolleyes:

 

Turn off anything and everything that is running in background, disable unneeded services. There are several programs that can help with this. One that I have used is Game Booster. Some people swear by it, while others swear at it - so make up your own mind whether it is useful or not.

Available here: http://majorgeeks.com/Game_Booster_d6148.html

[bchick1]

Thanks to everyone who has responded. As it turns out, all of you were correct.

 

I found that the size of the save files jumped from approximately 8KB to 97KB ... and even hit 105KB at one point.

The saves coincide with the installation of the 'Sounds of Skyrim', most particulary the last one published.

 

so, to use my old character, I have to go back to the 8KB save.

 

BTW, one of the signs of this 'savefile bloat' is the distinct lag in doing quick saves [F5] or the loading of previous saves. I noticed it was taking a long time to save and load.

 

In regards to background processes, I am fortunate enough to have a gaming rig that does nothing but play games and other media. So I have the O/S pretty well stripped down.

 

in response to BBEN46 ... I do seem to have just as much fun playing with the technical side of the game as much as playing the game. Less Interesting though than when I played OBLIVION, since now we have Nexus Mod Manager which takes a lot of 'fun' out of getting mods to work.

 

Again, thanks to all for the help on this, you advice was sound.