Save bloating, unavoidable?

[Shagreth]

Greetings,

 

I recently started playing Skyrim and decided to install a bunch of mods, now.. I have only played for like 10 hours and the save file has gone from 4mb to 5.1mb. Is this normal? I know this problem has been plaguing TeS games since like forever, so I did a little research on what mods can cause it. I guess mods that come with many scripts (could be wrong) are fine as long as you don't remove the mod, you need to use console commands to stop the scripts manually before deleting. Also heard that ENB configurations can bloat a save game like mad, that one really bugged me - I feel I am missing out by not using ENB. Also, Mart(http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/8216)created a 'de-bloatifier', but it is no longer needed, it was integrated in the USKP or something like that.

 

• 00 Skyrim.esm

• 01 Update.esm

• 02 Dawnguard.esm

• 03 ApachiiHair.esm

• 04 Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp [Version 1.1]

• 05 Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp [Version 1.0]

• 06 Realistic Lighting.esp

• 07 Realistic Lighting Patcher.esp

• 08 StaticMeshImprovementMod.esp

• 09 dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp

• 0A 1nivWICCloaks.esp [Version 2.1b]

• 0B Forsworn Boots Replacer.esp

• 0C DeadlyDragons.esp

• 0D Better Dynamic Snow.esp

• 0E SkyTEST-RealisticAnimals&Predators.esp

• 0F SkyTEST-HarderCreatures.esp

• 10 UnreadBooksGlow.esp [Version 1.5]

• 11 Better Vampires.esp

• 12 Predator Vision.esp

• 13 The Dance of Death.esp

• 14 SkyRe_Main.esp

• 15 SkyRe_Combat.esp

• 16 SkyRe_EncounterZones.esp

• 17 SkyRe_EnemyAI.esp

• 18 SkyRe_EnemyScaling.esp

• 19 SkyRe_StandingStones.esp

• 1A Presets 2-3.esp

• 1B SkyRe_Races.esp

• 1C WATER.esp

• 1D dD-Dawnguard-EBT Patch.esp

• 1E VampiresHoodFix.esp

 

Anyway, these are my mods, I am also using SKSE for SkyUI, many mods that increase texture size for various stuff like objects/armor/land etc. If anyone knows more on the matter, or perhaps knows that one of the above mods can cause bloating, please, do share your findings.

[Georgiegril]

Your savegame doesn't seem that big to me. Are you experiencing slow loads or other problems that you are concerned about?

[Shagreth]

Your savegame doesn't seem that big to me. Are you experiencing slow loads or other problems that you are concerned about?

Not really, other than a CTD here and there, but I am more concerned about the future - if my file increased by roughly 1mb in under 10 hours, what's gonna happen later on? So if there is something that can be done to prevent this from happening, I would gladly do it. As for the CTDs, I guess I should be concerned, but I always had loads of CTDs with every single Bethesda game.. you could say that I am not bothered anymore. Got a decent rig, so I am not running out of ram/vram, so *shrug*, who knows.

[Georgiegril]

Well, the vanilla is smaller, especially at the beginning when you have basically nothing. Your mods will definitely add to that. I agree a 25% increase/ten hors play time would be unsustainable, but I suspect that will not happen. CTDs in game are not likely caused by the size of your savegame, but rather celll/script conflicts or your RAM/VRAM buffers getting overloaded. (or hardware problems like GPU overheating, stuff like that). Bloated savegame files are more likely to cause errors at loading. Personally I've had games up to 14MB, when I was running a lot of creature-spawning mods, and playing at 7gridstoload. Now I have around 8, in a different game with fewer spawning mods but still 7 grids.

[Shagreth]

Well, the vanilla is smaller, especially at the beginning when you have basically nothing. Your mods will definitely add to that. I agree a 25% increase/ten hors play time would be unsustainable, but I suspect that will not happen. CTDs in game are not likely caused by the size of your savegame, but rather celll/script conflicts or your RAM/VRAM buffers getting overloaded. (or hardware problems like GPU overheating, stuff like that). Bloated savegame files are more likely to cause errors at loading. Personally I've had games up to 14MB, when I was running a lot of creature-spawning mods, and playing at 7gridstoload. Now I have around 8, in a different game with fewer spawning mods but still 7 grids.

Cheers for the reply, really appreciate it. ;)

 

I also want to believe that it's gonna stabilize itself at some point and increase with less frequency. Yeah, I am aware that a save file bloating won't cause CTDs, just choppy gameplay and long save/load times. As for CTDs, I will go with cell/script conflicts and whatever other error the Creation Engine might be hiding, got more than enough ram and perfectly stable O/C, plus I always monitor my temperatures/ram&vram usage/fans et cetera. with the help of an external panel. Never had any problems there. In short, whatever it is that happens and I CTD is like..90% on the games side. Then again, who knows. :D Meanwhile, I found out that if you wait in say.. qasmoke(console: coc qasmoke) for 31 days (setpcsleephours 750)helps clear out some trash from the cells. I will keep digging on the matter.

[NoobusExtremus]

The more mods you install, the bigger the save file - it has to record what add-ons are installed. I also think it grows, probably a lot slower though, as you play and explore/discover things and start aquiring loot.

[gsmanners]

Save files can obviously go down too, depending on how frequently cells can reset in your game. The only thing it has to record in that instance is all the quest-related, persistent, and fog of war changes you made. (Why do we still have fog of war? Lame.)

[Blu02]

My current level 46 save is on 10.6mb, with no problems.

 

I have read it's okay up to 20-25mb for high-level characters, but past that you should take a serious look at your mod-list if you dont want it ruined. As you say it is most often because of scripts, bad scripts that doesn't clean up useless data after themselves or somehow end up flooding your save-file. I always recommend people to keep these type of mods to a minimum and deactivate any that your current character isn't really using.

 

The file-size will grow a lot faster in the beginning as you discover and interact with a lot of places and NPC's. But it will obviously slow down after some time when you've finished the major quest-lines and discovered most of Skyrim on your map.

All mods wont affect it though, but only those that constantly need to store data as you progress ingame, like mods that involves more spawns, quests, stored items, or heavily scripted ones that deals with skills, basic needs, weather, and so on.

[Shagreth]

Played 5 more hours and the size is now 5.5mb. I guess it's only natural for the file to keep getting bigger as you play. I will just keep on going and see how it plays when it reaches.. say.. 25mb.

 

As for ENB, injectors and that whole thing, do they still bloat saves like mad? I can't find a solid answer on the net.

[JupiterTheGod]

As for ENB, injectors and that whole thing, do they still bloat saves like mad? I can't find a solid answer on the net.

 

ENB should not interfere with savegames. They can lower your FPS, CTD you but only when installed.

If properly removed, they won't. The answer to this is the fact that ENBs are just .DLLs, .INIs and other files. When you remove the main directx.dll of

the ENB, the game uses the one on your machine.

Most ENB, though, have a lot of patches which I recommend you to install. Also, don't play without a stable release. That's when bugs occur.