Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires.

[missjennabee]

NOTE: This was written with regard to Skyrim’s LE version. A lot of the issue it had are no longer issues with SSE, though I’m sure some of them are, so who knows. Perhaps this will also be helpful to SSE friends. In any event…

WELCOME! To my lovely little post on various things that can contribute to the perfect storm of stuff that might KILL your game. (Kill it dead.) (Splat.) aka "Most Commonly Addressed Issues for ETaC" aka "Stuff Jenna Says Entirely Too Often For Her Sanity."

Ok, so. I love you guys, I really do. BUT! Ever since I made the mistake of mentioning "load order" on yonder comments thread I have been inundated with people's mod lists... and I don't even mean people who are USING this mod - I'm getting emails from random strangers who think this mod TOTALLY SUCKS, but HEY! Maybe I can help them out a bit?! ...I can't! Really, I have no idea what I'm doing. I am NOT an expert on the subject. I might SEEM capable, but seriously. No. However! I KNOW people who are, and who do! Know stuff that is. SO! In light of the recent hostile take-over, I have decided to pool this information into one neat and tidy little spot, because I am just incredibly good to you like that.

Here we go...

One un-mod related thing to try before setting off on this great endeavor is... Killing background processes.

What I would suggest, once you've opened your task manager, is to sort by user. Do NOT touch anything not being run by you (sometimes you are called "admin" or "default" if you are boring and unnamed). Meaning leave things being run under "System" alone. ALSO! Do NOT kill "Windows Explorer" (not to be confused with Internet Explorer) or .dll files. Particularly if you don't know what they do. Actually, don't disable ANYTHING that you don't know what it does. Some of these files your OS needs and cutting them will cause it to poop itself. Not good.

Now, anything running in the background can cause a crash. Especially a program that likes to call home. (i.e. an antivirus or instant messaging program, etc.) Start by disabling everything that accesses the internet when you play. (Except, obviously, Steam.)

Next, try to take out programs using an auto update feature (Printers, Java, iTunes, Adobe, etc.) Some of these will even try to connect when the internet is disabled, and keep trying every ten minutes or so.

Then look at the rest of the programs that run in the background, they are stealing time from the game and if they don't give control back quick enough - crash. HP has a bunch of these "media center", "DVD launcher", "On-Screen Display", "Messenger Service" - The HP Media Launcher is actually VERY taxing, and tends to get stuck in load sucking up your resources. So let's take those out too!

After you have cut down the crashes caused by external stuff, we can move onto...

MEMORY ISSUES / INFINITE LOADING SCREEN / CRASH TO DESKTOP
Let's start with some things you should know with regard to memory issues (Infinite Loading Screens - ILS; and/or Crash to Desktop - CTD) and how Skyrim handles them.

Beginning with - Skyrim's "Memory Cap" a/k/a the Large Address Aware Patch. I give you bben46...

No matter how much ram you have, Skyrim is still a 32 bit program and can only use a maximum of 4GB of that ram. This is not something that you can fix. Running a 64 bit system just allows the Windows and other background stuff to load outside of the 4GB maximum used by the game. Even with a 64 bit Windows, if you have 4GB of ram or less, you will not be able to use all of it for the game. If you have a 32 bit system then the system itself is limited to 4GB max, and part of that will be used by windows and background programs. - Again, nothing you can fix. Even if you have a million dollar supercomputer with 256 Gigs of ram - Skyrim is still limited to 4GB ram max. And when those 4GBs are used up - you will crash.

 

Essentially, when the RAM is used up, there is nowhere to put the new data. This is most often seen when you load a new area, go through a door, or autosave. As these actions temporarily take a lot more memory than you were using just before the crash. And yes, this memory ceiling can even be hit due to the textures you are using... (See "Textures" Section below.)

BUT worry not! There is help for you. (Per Arthmoor)...

 

In March of 2013, Bethesda released their final patch for Skyrim. Version 1.9.32.0.8. It has since been found [that this patch] changed something about the way Skyrim allocates its initial pools of memory, likely due to trying to get the DLC to work on the PS3 and then not bothering to make sure the PC had, you know, PC specific code for that.

The end result is ILS/CTD issues. Fortunately, the community has devised a solution to this problem in the form of a pre-load memory patch. There are several options for these now, but the one I most strongly recommend is shipping as part of SKSE now beginning with SKSE 1.7. In order to configure SKSE 1.7 to resolve this problem, you simply need to make sure your skse.ini file in Data/SKSE contains at least the following lines:

[Memory]
DefaultHeapInitialAllocMB=768
ScrapHeapSizeMB=256

This should resolve the problem on all but the heaviest of load orders. If you still have issues, then you can try either raising the 768 value to 1024, or install ENBoost which will help further reconfigure how RAM is used by the game. There are limits to this, so be careful. [As said above] Skyrim can [still] only have a maximum of 4GB even on a 64 bit system with boatloads of RAM. Allocate too much to either of the two SKSE settings and you'll be right back where you started with the ILS/CTD problem.

 

Also, per siuan, in re; crashes from Helgen to Riverwood (And Please Note --- This information is not limited to crashes in that specific area, and will help you if you are experiencing crashes in ANY area. Riverwood was just the area that was being discussed at the time)...

 

The problem ... may have been finally figured out on the enbdev forums. Basically, as you go from Helgen to Riverwood, you are actually stepping on the borders of 3-4 cells in several places, which means that if Skyrim is not allocating memory properly (which it turns out not to be, in this instance), as you go from cell to cell so rapidly, you'll CTD. The reason you are seeing what you're seeing is that ETaC is fairly memory intensive (both VRAM and RAM), so naturally it might persist even when everything else is gone. To read more about it, you can look here.

HERE ARE YOUR LINKS
#1: SKSE by the SKSE Team;
#2: CTD and Memory Patch ENBoost by Boris Vorontsov; and,
#3:uGridsToLoad by Altimor. *

* Per the folks at S.T.E.P. Stable uGridsToLoad is no longer being recommend after the release of 2.2.9.2 due to concerns regarding a potential memory corruption issue that was never fixed.

STEP does not recommend changing the uGrids setting. With Dynamic Distant Objects LOD, there should be no need.

Lastly, an update from siuan with regard to SKSE/SSME:

SKSE has included Sheson's Memory Fix in a non-alpha version (though the alpha was perfectly stable) for a long time now, and people should be using the latest SKSE always. Many mods require it, as they added a lot of new scripting functionality. (I keep up with that thread most of the time.) If I think of anything else, I'll let you know, but as far as game stability goes, I think those are the new developments that took place in your absence. And I can say they work, since I am a screenshotter and never run anything in less than 2160p with a ludicrous amount of textures and mods.

 

Moving on...

As mentioned above, HD textures, ENBs, or even your default graphics settings can also soak up your memory, and quick-like. I, personally, don't recommend using any textures above 1-2k (if you're on a lower end system, stick to 1k.) Especially when you're using A LOT of them. If you have 2039482084 things now loading 4k high-res textures it's going to make Skyrim's game engine weep, and crash and set fire to your living room. AND! As a general rule, (not just in relation to this mod), try to be careful about how many textures and of what kind you install. (Meaning beyond just armor, items and a few landscapes here or there.) Try not to grab up an insane and unreasonable amount of high res LOD, grasses, rocks, mountains etc. and so on - aka things that would start to pile up in an exterior cell.

What I'm trying to say is... If you come to me and say you're game is crashing, and I ask what kind of textures you've got installed and it's a million different 4k texture packs... I'm going to hurt you. With my teeth. And refuse to help you. Because you're beyond saving. Nobody needs 4k textures. You'll never ever even be able to tell the difference in game you crazy crazy lunatic, you.

Also. Grass. If someone is experiencing a big FPS drop in exterior cells, one of the first things I always recommend is to drop the "Grass Loading Distance" from far to medium. Grass isn't just "stuff" it's "moving stuff" and there is A LOT OF IT. All over Skyrim. This is especially problematic if you are using high-res grass textures. I shall now direct you to a quote from siuan...

 

Grass can be a huge culprit for low FPS. There are some ways to avoid the FPS drop and still have good grass. [in some cases] if you uncheck the .esp for certain texture mods, it just becomes a texture replacer. [This is true of both SFO and Lush Grass and Tress] -- I just use the meshes. My grass mod of choice is Dat Grass, WHICH SHOULD NOT BE YOURS IF YOU HAVE LOW FPS!

 

Also, with regard to Grass on Steriods and SFO (Skyrim Flora Overhaul) I first give you Nazenn...

 

...I use a mod called Grass on Steriods which can help boost your FPS massively, and is one of the things which helps me avoid too much of an FPS drop in Falkreath while using ETaC and SFO. %5BIt%5D even helped avoid running out of memory in such areas. Asa did a good comparison showing the boost, and I got an even bigger boost then asa did. (Please see: Asa's Ultimate Grass And Tree Overhaul Comparison And Performance FPS Test by Asa.)

 

BUT. I shall now also give you keithinhanoi, because...

 

It's important to note that the GoS (Grass on Steriods) plugins for SFO were updated a number of SFO versions ago, and due to changes that have happened with SFO, will not work fully and properly with anything more recent that SFO 1.79e.

 

And with that I end my 23042340824 paragraph dissection of Skyrim related grass stuff. Now on to ENBs...

ENBs also put added strain on processing, so my suggestion there is just to try and tweak the settings a bit, or Skyrim's default settings if you're not using one. (i.e. set load distances to medium vs. far; set ENB graphics to medium vs. high - in a lot of cases the difference in quality is barely noticeable while the difference in performance is huge.)

Let's take a moment to talk about scripts. Beginning with script spamming, and for this I direct you to a quote from siuan...

 

a lot of scripts can pile up, and this can be bad, but not all scripted mods are bad, either. Footprints is constant and I don't believe it's a huge problem by itself, but that on top of everything else can be a mess. I know for a fact that Enhanced Blood Textures has caused problems.

However, a CTD after approximately the same amount of time can very well be a script spamming over and over, and, believe it or not, it can be a vanilla one, that is probably led astray by who knows what. (There is a notorious bard who is part of the DB questline who can cause CTDs if you don't "get rid" of him.)

AND DO NOT DO ANYTHING WITH PAPYRUS EXCEPT LOGGING BECAUSE YOUR COMPUTER WILL EXPLODE, YOUR HOUSE WILL BURN DOWN, AND THEN THE EARTH WILL COLLAPSE INTO A SINGULARITY, CAUSING A GIANT VORTEX THAT SUCKS IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.

With script spamming - This is one case in which logging can help. If you end up with an enormous log file where one script goes over and over, that could be your culprit. (Which doesn't make it easy to solve, unfortunately.) You might also want to open your mod packages to see if there are scripts in there you don't know about, and bye-bye birdie, for sure.

 

It should also be noted that the SKSE.ini tweak (ClearInvalidRegistrations=1) is good, but it only clears up a certain kind of script. See Arthmoor's responses HERE.

SCRIPT “OVER-LOAD”
Let's now take a minute to talk about script-overload, beginning with scripts and NPCs...

One thing you should note - When you use a mod that affixes scripts to NPCs, (i.e. Footprints, Enhance Blood, Run For Your Lives, etc.) it affixes them to ALL NPCs, even new ones added by things like ETaC. So when you walk into a large town, like let's say Dawnstar, you get an influx of tons of scripts running on tons of NPCs and sometimes HELLO! You're magically planted back at the desktop. (Additionally, if you then add on something like Interesting NPCs, or the Immersive NPCs packs, (even MORE people, even more scripts, so on.)

Now I'm not saying you can't use all those mods together, you can, I'm just saying sometimes this makes things crashy. For more (and specific) information on this, we have Edeldios:

So a number of you folks are talking about stuttering and fps loss while using ETaC. After seeing many, many load orders, I keep seeing the same issue: SCRIPT OVERLOAD!

Now most of you are doing the right thing and your mods are compatible, and your load orders are good. The sad thing is that Bethesda has set some limits on how much Skyrim can handle. People have modded Elder scrolls games in the past, but let's face it neither Morrowind or Oblivion have had quite the level and scale of the mods for Skyrim. When Bethesda created and programmed Skyrim they didn't anticipate the creative talents of the modding community to the scale it exists today. So as a result there is only so much the game can handle without performance issues. That's even with SKSE Memory patches, ini tweeks, and ENBoost.

Sure you want to make the balloon bigger, but it's just going to burst if you keep pumping too much air into it! So here is some info about scripted mods, what they do and how you can keep your balloon from bursting.

Since we are here on the ETaC page, let's start with how scripts are going to have an effect ETaC. ETaC adds additional NPCs, and NPCs are one of the most intensive parts of Skyrim. Each time a script is added to an NPC it increases the amount of scripts your CPU and the skyrim engine needs to process. Now multiply that by the number of npc that are found in town and city locations. Push this even further by adding even more NPCs from mods, and you get the idea...

When it comes to scripted mods, for this advice there are 3 types; heavy, medium and light.

Heavy: These would be mods like SkyRe, PerMa and Requiem. These mods add scripts to each and every character as well as your character. These mods are more or less intended to be a complete combat overhaul for the vanilla game. If you use these mods, you are going to have to make a choice, either add a mod or two that is light on scripts or one that adds NPCs but not both types.

Medium: These would be mods like Sands of Time, ASIS, Frostfall and Wet & Cold. These mods add scripts to all the NPCs in the game but not nearly as many as the heavy category. You can use 2 or 3 of these together and with a light scripted mod or two and a mod or two that adds npcs, just don't go overboard.

Light: These would be mods like Dragon Combat Overhaul, Run For Your Lives and When Vampires attack. These either add a couple scripts to all NPCs or a few scripts to various sections of the game. Go nuts, they should work just fine with using several mods that add NPCs and increase spawns, but just remember the rules above.

On a side note: if you use a uGridstoload setting above the default, this will increase the area around your character that scripts are firing. Sure, it makes the game nicer to look at, but it also causes scripts to fire at a greater distance as well. This could cause game breaking issues since many times it will cause quest scripts to fire before you are in range of the characters involved.

In sum, just try and be selective about what you're installing and what it does. If you've got 10 different mods all adding NPCs to towns, and then 10 different mods all adding scripts to those NPCs, this could definitely become problematic for you.

UNINSTALLING A MOD
Loading a mod is not as simple as you might think. Mods often overwrite and make changes to all kinds of files. When you uninstall or "un-check" a mod from the active load, although the mod itself does not execute, the changes its made still do. Even a single, poorly written mod can be devastating to Skyrim's already unstable environment. The more and more mods you load, particularly mods that were not carefully scrutinized prior to release may be bringing you closer and closer to the brink. Orphan code or redundant code can really start to nudge your game into a crashing or become a more unstable environment. This can cause random crashes, game corruption or bloated save game files. Many mods break vanilla quests by overwriting various aspects of them, or by removing the ability for quest to be activated, triggered, or to be completed at certain stages.

My point is that there is a good chance all that there is a whole bunch of junk still lurking about in your save. Particularly if you've ever run a mod with any new or edited scripts. You can de-active the mod, you can delete the scripts, but if not properly executed, the scripts will keep on keeping on. Waiting to attack, when you least expect it. (There is a way to investigate this also, and I will again direct you to my friend "Google" as the process involves making changes to your .ini file - ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP). Essentially, YOU might forget about the mod the second it's deleted, but your SAVE remembers.

A reliable mod of yesterday is not always reliable today. This is even true for this mod, I'm certainly not trying to set myself apart. It's been a long and bumpy road to get here, nonoodles can tell you I have broken many a persons' game, many a time. With all the game updates and availability more massive and immersive mods, getting everything to run smoothly has really become more of an art than a science.

If I could bestow anything upon you, it would be the importance of making a clean, mod-free save. Things (especially scripts) have a way of cementing into your save games. When you start un-installing mods, you leave little seeds of despair that grow up to be full blown pains in the backside.

A fresh load, with saves along the way, will be a far cleaner environment to set a good mod foundation on.

And should your save be a hot-mess of scripty grossness...

SAVE-GAME SCRIPT CLEANER
For this, I again give you siuan...

 

[save Game Script Cleaner] is an actual save cleaner, go figure. Basically it will remove all orphaned scripts from a save, from when you uninstall a scripted mod and then save the game, and it's very easy to use. It will also get rid of renegade vanilla scripts, which is a good thing, since the Miraak boss battle script occasionally crashes my game. (Thank you, Dragonborn, for bugging out on me.) It has a lot of other features, but a lot of those are best left to people who Know More Stuff.

 

Here is your link: Save Game Script Cleaner by Hadoram.

CLEAN INSTALL
Nobody wants to have to do this. I don't blame them. I wouldn't want to have to do this either. But sometimes, there's just really nothing left to do but THE DREADED CLEAN INSTALL. I'm not really going to explain to you HOW to do a clean install - my assumption is that you are already aware, or if not, are most definitely in possession of Google (hint: I can tell, because you are reading this).

All I can really tell you, if you've found yourself in this particular boat is, after your clean install: BACK UP YOUR .INI FILE. Seriously. Do that.

Once you've got your game cleanly reinstalled, try reintroducing your mods selectively. This should help narrow down any problems that you might have with what you're running.

Conflicts can be tricky. Very big, very bad, conflicts will be pretty much immediately obvious. But there are a lot of other kinds of conflicts that can be sneakier, and far harder to pick up on right away.

The first thing I would suggest is to re-check your mod list for anything that jumps out at you. Make sure that you aren't running any mods together that are essentially doing the same thing.

The second type of conflict is a little harder to spot, and also resolve. These are the "unintended conflicts" (aka "dirty edits"). This type of conflict can exist between two mods that seemingly have nothing in common. They can result in anything as massively infuriating as CTDs, or as minor-ly annoying as objects appearing out of place. A *wee* bit of copy+paste-ing can go a long way towards all kinds of weirdness, particularly if the mod creator isn't careful. Now, I'm not trying to come down on other modders - I know It's tough to catch. It's easy to "bump" an object in the CK (making the CK mark this object as "changed") without realizing it. But copy+paste is dirty process that can wreak all kinds of havoc. If the CK thinks the object is "changed" it will cause the containing mod to overwrite with changes that were not necessarily meant to be made.

"Player House" mods are a particularly notorious source of this, mostly due to that they're a common endeavor for newbie modders - They're quick, they're easy, and they allow you to get a feel for the CK in a small controlled environment. Newbie modders, however, are rarely mindful of copy+paste conflicts, and tend to do A LOT of accidental bumping of random objects. It's not their fault really. It tends to be a lesson you have to learn the hard way because most of the time you don't even know that you've done it, and if you aren't aware that it could cause a problem, you wouldn't think to check for it.

(Dear People: This is NOT to say that ALL player house mods will have this problem. I myself have used several player house mods all of which were 100% fine. It's just something to keep in mind.)

You can't always tell what mods might be messing with what. I realize this is a nightmare for you, so my suggestion, provided you know at least sort of what you are doing, is to clean your mods with TES5Edit or check them for conflicts with your existing mods, before installing them. (I will not explain how to do this here, as others have already written up extensive tutorials on the subject -- consult the Google Oracle.) If you do not entirely know what you are doing, I recommend going to the mod's creator and asking THEM to clean their mods. Try to do so in a way that doesn't sound like a vicious accusation (ala "you suck, your mod sucks, you smell like tire that mated with wet dog and spread pestilence and evil wherever you go, I hope your whole family dies in a fire." -- So in a way not at all like that), and I'm sure they'll more than happy to oblige.

Otherwise, the alternative would be to try to eliminate problem mods ala going through your mod list in halfsies until you track the rogue file down.

What the hell is it? WELL. Load order is, as the name implies, the order that your mods are loading in (lol) it essentially organizes all of your conflicts by giving them a hierarchy. Any overlapping changes in a mod, will be overwritten by the mod going after it. So let’s say you have...

} Mod A
} Mod B

Loaded, in that order. Let’s say they’re both trying to a move a barrel in Riverwood. Mod B’s changes would be the one you’d see in-game since Mod B is being loaded after (therefore overwriting) Mod A.

Make sense? Fantastic.

Back to it then - Things like BOSS or Loot are good (are either of these still a thing? I honestly don’t even know lol) - Great even. Particularly for people who are not well versed in the intricacies of "load order.” BUT! Sadly, sometimes human intervention is still necessary. If you've made the decision to run a thousand mods (like the rest of us) then YOU are the one responsible for policing it. AND YES! This is a giant pain in your ass. It's a giant pain my ass too. It's a giant pain in all asses everywhere... but it's important.

In sum, treat BOSS/Loot more as a guide - run it once to get all your mods into a loose order, and then go through and re-arrange.

What I personally do, along with, I’m sure, some others, and have been (somewhat) successful with so far (fingers crossed) is using a kindergarten approach to load order and trying and "group" my mods. Meaning that similar mods are all going together. (More on this shortly, but first...)

#01: Your ESM Files;
#02: Bug-Fix type Mods;
#03: Game Structure and/or UI Mods:
#04: Character Appearance Mods (For NPCs and Self);
#05: Mods that Add and/or Change Items;
#06: Mods that Add and/or Change NPCs;
#07: Mods that Add and/or Change Locations;
#08: Mods that Add and/or Change Navmesh;
#09: Texture Mods;
#10: Environmental Mods (things like Climates of Tamriel, Sounds of Skyrim, etc.);
#12: Mods with Gameplay Changes; Then,
#13: Reproccers, AV, and Bashed Patches.

ADDITIONAL NOTES
Generally speaking, all of your "fix" type mods (like HD texture pack fixes, or Unofficial patches) you want at the very tippy-top. Most other mods tend to fix things as they see them (this mod included), so you want these overwritten where necessary. In the case of ETaC... well it adds a lot of "stuff" but it really doesn't make any script, quest, companion, environmental, etc. changes. So usually you'll want to load things making those sorts of changes AFTER, but things making other environment changes BEFORE. Since things going down the list are technically, sort of, overwriting the things above it.

Some follower mods do add new locations. For example, the Arissa mod adds a new cave as part of her quest line. In cases like this, Arissa, and any follower mod that adds a new location, would be placed in your load order along with anything that adds or changes a location, and NOT with mods that add NPCs.

In a lot of cases, mods the add or change locations will also change navmesh. It's important that mods with major navmesh changes are loaded a bit lower on your list. So a mod that changes the porch outside an inn should be going before something like ETaC. It's better to have a single barrel not properly nav'd (and much easier to patch) than it would be to have all of the pathing in a town broken. (Your NPCs need it to move about in the world.)

If using it, very few mods should ever be loaded after your Bashed Patch. There are SOME exceptions, but those mods will likely tell you that upfront.

In closing... Even after following these guidelines you still need to make sure that you properly follow plugin placement rules as outlined by the mod author. So when in doubt – ASK THE MOD AUTHOR. They should know better than anybody else where their mod needs to be placed in relation to other mods to be able to function properly and with minimal conflicts.

ODD MESH BEHAVIOR
If you are experiencing any "odd" mesh behavior specifically things either appearing, or not appearing, or showing up in a giant pile blocking doors or roads or entire buildings... Fear not! It's at least probably fixable.

The first thing I'd suggest trying is to load your save, get yourself to an interior cell (any interior cell will do, like Sleeping Giant Inn or the like.) Open the console and type "pcb". This purges cell buffers, which, as an added bonus frees up used memory occasionally resulting in increased fps, and more importantly in this case, purges cached cells. So any cells you visited in the recent past will reload completely when re-entered.

If that doesn't solve your problem, try doing a "clean mod install", the process for which will differ slightly depending on which installer you're using, and is outlined below.

IF YOU ARE -NOT- USING MOD ORGANIZER
#1: Start by getting somewhere completely unedited (like Whiterun), save and exit;
#2: Uninstall ETaC COMPLETELY. Double check your data folder to make sure that everything is gone.
All patches, main files, meshes/textures/sounds/etc., the .bsa, the .esm. So on and so forth.
#3: Load your save, go to [whatever town this is happening in], and confirm everything is gone,
back to normal, right with the world.
#4: Get yourself back to somewhere un-edited and create a NEW save.
#5: Then uninstall any of the following: SMIM, WATER, Better Dynamic Snow, and/or ELFX.
#6: Re-install ETaC (please be sure you are using the most recent version.)
#7: Then re-install the following: SMIM, WATER, Better Dynamic Snow, and/or ELFX.
#8: Then then then... Re-install any of the ETaC Patches you were using.
#9: Load, go to [whatever town this was happening in]. Report back to me.

IF YOU ARE USING MOD ORGANIZER
I give you Edeldios:

#1: Get to somewhere unedited (like Whiterun); save and exit.
#2: Uncheck the boxes for ETaC & ETaC patches in your mod list - NOT THE PLUGIN LIST.
(This will disable all .esm, .bsa, .esp, meshes and textures from being accessed while in Skyrim.)
#3: Load your save, go to where the problem was happening and confirm things are back to normal.
#4: Get back to some unedited place, save, exit.
#5: Check the Boxes for ETaC and ETaC Patches and make sure that ETaC is above SMIM,
WATER, Better Dynamic Snow & ELFX in your mod list and the ETaC Patches are below.
(AGAIN THIS IS NOT THE PLUGIN LIST) It should be in this order:

} ETaC
} SMIM
} WATER
} Better Dynamic Snow
} ELFX
} ETaC Patches

It should also be noted that if you use No Snow Under the Roof, it needs to go above the ETaC Patches as well.

#6: Load save, go to where the problem was happening. Report Back to Jenna!

 

And, further from Eledios:

 

Mod Organizer is extremely user-friendly, but you also need to pay attention to any warnings it gives you. Most times it will tell you exactly which order mods need to be in order to function properly. If you see the warning triangle in the upper right corner go red it means you need to do some re-ordering.

Although, it is not fool proof, sometimes there will be a mod you may run into that will scramble your proper load order a bit - So, if you add a mod that gives you a warning to move other mods above or below each other that were in the opposite order before you installed the mod, then it's for the best to simply not use that mod. Trust me, I know from personal experience! It will make your game explode unless you are an expert and know exactly what you are doing.

UPDATE: One of the new features added [to MO] is a virtual install order auto-fix. If anything shows up as a virtual install order issue in the warning tab, there will be a fix button that will correct the order for you. It's all automated now - That being said it is still important to DOUBLE CHECK proper order as listed in the mesh section above just in case!

 

If it's STILL not working after - Let me know. And by "let me know" I mean PM me your load order along with a couple screenshots and any other relevant information. Happy to help if I can.

LIGHT FLICKERING EFFECT / LIGHTS TOGGLING ON AND OFF / GENERAL LIGHT WEIRDNESS

If you are experiencing the "light flickering effect" while using ETaC (either with or without the ELFX) --- The issue actually stems from the way Skyrim handles light sources, and by "handles" I mean "limits" in that you can only have a set number (4) lights hiting a single surface at a time. If you have more than this set number they'll toggle on and off so as to make sure that only that set number are on at a given time.

Obviously the problem is worsened when you're adding multiple mods that are adding lights, so if you've got ETaC with ELFX with LOS with Claralux with etc. etc. etc. You're going to get a lot of light flickering.

NOTE: Your torch, and any NPC torches also count as light sources, so if you've got too many lights in a place, and you walk by them or an NPC walks by them with their torch - light flickering.

With regard to exterior cells, there is also this...

For those of you having this issue in exterior cells, you can attempt a fix by adding (or adjusting) the following line in your Skyrim.ini file:

 

Helps prevent lighting “pop-in” by pushing back the distance at which the lights begin to toggle. { Source }

[General]

fFlickeringLightDistance=8192As the quote explains, this will tell Skyrim to push back the distance at which it beings with all the light flickering.

Beyond that there's really not a whole lot you can do about it except try and be selective about the number of lighting mods you're running simultaneously, make sure you're using any provided patches for those mods where necessary, or contact the author(s) of said lighting mods to let them know where the problems might be to see if they can reduce the number of lights in whatever given area.

SHADOW STRIPING
(The entirety of this has been hijacked from STEP. You can find the original here.)
One of the great things about ENBSeries is that it usually fixes shadow striping. Some users, however, will still experience this issue if they've edited their Skyrim INIs. In the screenshots below it's hard to tell from their reduced size in the gallery, but notice the fuzziness along the edges of the shadows and the lines across some of the textures like the post and rock; this is shadow striping.

Example #1
Example #2

If this is preset, adjust the iBlurDeferredShadowMask parameter in the SkyrimPrefs.ini file (MO users will have to adjust it in the INI Editor in MO). It will be set to its default from when the INI files where created by the game launcher, unless users have manually adjusted it. Turning this parameter down to a lower usually results in sharper shadow detail; however, turning it down too low can result in striping. Users can adjust this setting from 0-7. If striping occurs while ENBSeries is enabled, increase this parameter's value by one, save the change, and test the new setting in-game. Continue to repeat this process until the shadow striping is gone. Usually between 3 and 5 are the best values.

If the above is not helping or making the shadows too blurry, adjusting the fShadowDistance parameter may also help. This is the distance at which shadows are drawn from the object. Decreasing this will make these shadows less elongated and help to eliminate striping at lower iBlurDeferredShadowMask values; however, adjusting this value too long can also result in unnatural looking shadows.

STRANGE PHANTOM BANGING NOISES / HALP! I HAVE A POLTERGEIST SITUATION
If you are experiencing strange phantom banging sounds in most of your interior cells, this is not actually an issue with this mod, and is instead an issue with Skyrim's fragile-little-flower physics engine. It generally occurs when you've disabled your vsync or if you've got unnecessarily high FPS...

 

The number one "fix" on this forum for Skyrim is to disable vSync through the "iPresentInterval = 0" tweak in the INI file. However over the last week or so it's come to many people's attention that disabling vSync this way causes all manner of bugs and glitches...

CRAZY PHYSICS

 

Allowing your FPS to go over 60fps causes the physics engine to go a bit out of control. The slightest touch, even opening a door, can send pots and pans 10 foot away flying all over the place. Whilst this may seem funny, it can have disastrous consequences if a really important item flies so fast it gltches out of the playable area.

This can however be solved by limiting your FPS to 60 or lower.The sounds are just a result of "the physics engine going a bit out of control" - You can read more about this here.

[Germ1]

Have a opinion on this? http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/781822-yet-another-freezing-topic/page__p__6259593#entry6259593

[Georgiegril]

The OP is a thing of beauty, Any way to make it a sticky?

The only area I notice it doesn't cover is ruling out hardware issues, like graphics or sound drivers. Maybe I missed that part.

Thank you to everyone who put this together, it is amazing and could solve so many problems. If people could see it, like if it were a sticky....:whistling:

[missjennabee]

@ Germ1: I will check it out :) What have you tried so far to fix it? To avoid redundancy.

 

@ Georgiegril: Thanks! I checked out the link you mentioned, and for me it appears to be working... I'll try re-uploading the URL to be safe.

 

I, personally, do not possess the ability to make this a sticky lol. I would if I could. It's my belief that things have to garner enough attention to warrant it, and the problem in this case is that I'm always directing people AWAY from the forums to the original post... which is maybe not the best way to go, but I'm far less good about remembering to check the forums than I am the article. I pretty much live over there lately.

[Reavon]

Thanks for this, I'm some what technical (I do IT for a living) but new to the mods scene. this gave me a better understanding of load order and how the game processes mods. Until this point I've been letting BOSS have total control over load order and ran into a lot of issues. I had to abandon 2 characters and over 300+ hours of play, but after thoroughly reading this I have a lot better grasp so again thank you for putting this together. :)

[Jebbalon]

Great info, if there are moderators that can make this sticky please do so! This info will help a lot of Skyrim players enjoy the game more.

-Jebbalon

[Staind716]

Wow, fantastic job! I have been writing a guide for ENB so I know how much work is involved in this. Much respect to you for this awesome piece of work and kudos coming your way now. I vote sticky for this also. Definitely deserves it! :thumbsup:

[stabbykitteh]

Stolen for sig. Excellent reference, thank you :)

[bben46]

:thumbsup: Pinned topic.

[missjennabee]

@ Reavon: Thanks, I'm so glad to hear you found it helpful :thumbsup:

 

@ Staind716: Lol, ENBs - you have the patience of a saint. I opened the manual once to try and tweak what was, at the time, one of my favoritest EBNs. It was 45 pages long. Needless to say this venture was very short lived. Turned out! I like the standard settings just fine. Go figure!

 

@ flummox: HA, well thanks - I believe this is the first time I have been signaturized. BUT! I am afraid you are giving me sole and undue credit. This was definitely a brain-trust.

 

"Load Order, CDT and other Troubleshooting courtesy of missjennabee, nonoodles, Brandy_123, Killerbuddy, dj2005, SonnyWiFiHr, Zekail, and st4n13y415c (special guest appearances by bben46): Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires"

 

... Too much? lol.

 

@ bben46: Thank you. It is, of course, entirely your fault that I caved and posted it to the forums in the first place :biggrin: