My Skyrim has randomly started to CTD on main menu

[BasementCat13]

I don't get it. It has did this several times before and I had to have a complete reinstall of it. Has Skyrim updated and made skse mess up? As far as I'm concerned that's the only logical reason for this...

 

The last mod I added worked fine, no crashes, no nothing, but I uninstalled it in favour for a lighter version (It was crowded cities or something that does the same), then it started to crash. So I uninstalled that as well, but it STILL crashes?! Why does this happen? Has that mod left an unpleasant stain upon my game?

 

I've even went back and uninstalled the last few mods I added, with no luck, they worked fine anyway though. Can someone please help me? I really don't want to reinstall again, it's really killing my love for this game. :(

[Jodi79]

some times even uninstalled a mod continue having effect on the game, in rare (well.. not so rare) case even in new games.

 

if you have a game without mod you can try to backup your last save and do a fresh installation, but the save itself could bring the problem.. or reput the mod and see what happen

 

Anyway the problem could be different: how large is your save?.. save game in skyrim tend to bloat

Edited January 31, 2013 by Jodi79

[BasementCat13]

some times even uninstalled a mod continue having effect on the game, in rare (well.. not so rare) case even in new games.

 

if you have a game without mod you can try to backup your last save and do a fresh installation, but the save itself could bring the problem.. or reput the mod and see what happen

 

Anyway the problem could be different: how large is your save?.. save game in skyrim tend to bloat

 

Ahhh, so the saves themselves could be the problem? Deleting them could solve it? I have no issue deleting saves, but reinstalling everything would be a last resort, I'm going to try delete my saves right now... thank you for replying! :)

[BasementCat13]

Hmmm, no luck, still crashes to the desktop! ):

 

Since I feel like I'm going to have to reinstall everything soon.. don't suppose you know of a way to reinstall skyrim, but keep the mods there without having to reinstall them too? It takes the absolute piss to install each of them, one by one, and I have around 80! I use the Nexus' mod manager if there's something I could do with that..

[gamefever]

Missing Master File.

 

Also but not ussually the case,

-Files are out of order

-Multiple files that alter load behavior ie Main Menu are loaded.

[BasementCat13]

I don't think that's the case; everything is still there. And I use BOSS pretty much after every change I make to my mod list...

[ripple]

Can you post your BOSS log (enclose in a spoiler tag) with the messages? Include the list of mods not recognized by BOSS if you have one.

[BasementCat13]

 

These plugins are recognised by BOSS and have been sorted according to its masterlist. Please read any attached messages and act on any that require action.

 

Skyrim.esm Active

Update.esm Active

Contains dirty edits: 52 ITM, 1 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (http://www.creationkit.com/TES5Edit_Cleaning_Guide_-_TES5Edit)

ApachiiHair.esm Active

ClimatesOfTamriel.esm Active

Contains dirty edits: 4 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (http://www.creationkit.com/TES5Edit_Cleaning_Guide_-_TES5Edit)

SkyMoMod.esm Active

SPIKE.esm Active

WinterholdDestruction.esm Active

HighResTexturePack01.esp

HighResTexturePack02.esp

Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp Active

Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}

Chesko_Frostfall.esp Active

better dynamic snow.esp Active

Contains dirty edits: 6 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (http://www.creationkit.com/TES5Edit_Cleaning_Guide_-_TES5Edit)

Rainbows.esp Active

Remove Interior Fog V2 - Skyrim.esp Active

ClimatesOfTamriel-VanillaNights-Lvl-1.esp Active

ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons-Hazardous.esp Active

ClimatesOfTamriel-Interiors-Warm.esp Active

StaticMeshImprovementMod.esp Active

Armored Skeleton.esp Active

Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Relev}}

BellyachesNewDragonSpecies.esp Active

hdplants+herbs.esp Active

ShootingStars.esp Active

sign.esp Active

SkyMoMod Lore-Friendly Standard.esp Active

Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev}}

Note: Use only one SkyMoMod Lore esp.

Requires: SkyMoMod v10

Convenient Horses.esp Active

DYNAVISION Dynamic Depth of Field.esp Active

Note: Make sure you have not switched DoF off in your ini file. If you don't see any effect, open you Skyrimprefs.ini and look for 'bDoDepthOfField'. Make sure it is set to 1.

Footprints.esp Active

WetandCold.esp Active

SkyUI.esp Active

1nivWICCloaksCRAFT.esp Active

dbarmor.esp Active

dragonboneweaponscomplete.esp

hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp Active

Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}

dr_bandolier.esp Active

dragonsdiversified.esp Active

DawnstarMarket.esp Active

Moria.esp Active

Radiance.esp Active

Taverns.esp Active

Wyrmstooth.esp Active

AchieveThat.esp Active

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Ammo.esp Active

Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Food (Light Weight).esp Active

Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Ingredients.esp Active

Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Miscellaneous.esp Active

Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Potions (Light Weight).esp Active

Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Soul Gems (PseudoVanilla).esp Active

Warning: Contains unexpected (or out of order) records. A compatibility patch fixed and cleaned with TES5Edit can be obtained here. (Compatibility Patch)

faster vanilla horses.esp Active

FSS-Slight pause between lines.esp Active

Headtracking.esp Active

immediatedragons.esp Active

Immersive Weapons.esp Active

Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev}}

NonEssentialChilds.esp Active

OpenFaceGuardHelmets.esp Active

RidingDirty.esp Active

TheChoiceIsYours.esp Active

ExpandedWinterholdRuins.esp Active

Diseased.esp Active

Apocalypse - The Spell Package.esp Active

Heal Other Mod.esp Active

kdansky_freewards.esp Active

Magelight Multi Cast.esp Active

Artifact Disenchanting.esp Active

EnchantMagicPower.esp Active

Enchanting Freedom.esp Active

Contains dirty edits: 2 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (http://www.creationkit.com/TES5Edit_Cleaning_Guide_-_TES5Edit)

Dual Wield Parrying_SKSE.esp Active

Note: Use only one Dual Wield Parrying*.esp

Crimson Tide - Blood.esp Active

Uncapped Perks - Combat + Stealth.esp Active

Uncapped Perks - Magic.esp Active

Beards.esp Active

reduced distance npc greetings.esp Active

moveit.esp Active

AmazingFollowerTweaks.esp Active

Contains dirty edits: 6 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (http://www.creationkit.com/TES5Edit_Cleaning_Guide_-_TES5Edit)

Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp Active

ClassicClasses.esp Active

WATER.esp Active

RaceMenu.esp Active

RaceMenuPlugin.esp Active

Note: RaceMenuPlugin is optional and provides support to alter Height, Breast, Glute and Biceps. If you experience issues with it, disable RaceMenuPlugin.esp and inform the author.

ASIS-Dependency.esp Active

ASIS.esp Active

 

 

 

Plugin Type Count

Recognised (or sorted by user rules) 80

Unrecognised 2

Inactive 3

All 82

 

Plugin Message Type Count

Warning 6

Error 0

All

 

 

The 6 warnings belong to the better sorting mod, which I have used since the early months of Skyrim. I am completely 100% certain they cause no issues. All these mods have worked perfectly together so far, it's just when I added the Liter version of this mod http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/13837 that it began CTDing.

 

Oh and the unrecognised mods are

 

venomtelekinesis.esp Active

BoundGear.esp Active

 

The first is just a telekinesis mod spell from the workshop

Edited February 1, 2013 by BasementCat13

[ripple]

1) You'll need to download TES5Edit from that link, follow the instructions on the page, and clean the esp's and esm's flagged by BOSS as containing 'dirty edits.'

 

2) If you have the updated fix patch for the Headbomb sorting mods, you should be ok. Those plugins contain error records, likely because they were made using a pre-CK tool like TESVSnip. It may have worked fine with earlier versions of Skyrim but is outdated and can potentially cause CTDs. I'd still recommend replacing them with another sorting mod that is updated for the latest version of Skyrim and which requires no update patches. There are at least half a dozen sorting mods on the Nexus alone, and they are really easy to make yourself using TES5Edit. Because they edit item entries in order to rename the items, they will often conflict with mods that modify base game items, so making one yourself (which can be time consuming) is the most reliable way to ensure compatibility. Otherwise, make sure you at least have the updated fix patch.

 

3) You'll also need TES5Edit to check the records of the esp's not recognized by BOSS, compare them with the other esp's in the load order to ensure there is no conflict (and if there is conflict, decide which mod you would like to 'win'). You can then use something like the 'BOSS Userlist Manager' to set custom rules for where they should be loaded, and so their load order position does not get reset every time you run BOSS. Absolutely do not allow them to simply load at the bottom of the load order after your compatibility patches. It may seem like a mod isn't (supposed to) editing too many records, but the only way to know for sure is to check it out yourself (in TES5Edit). It's definitely not worth risking the stability of your load order by skimping on this, and given that you only have two plugins not recognized by BOSS, it wouldn't take too much time to check them out.

 

4) This is not relevant to your CTDs, but you'll need to download Wrye Bash and use it to generate a Bashed Patch to merge the conflicting leveled list edits from the 'add more items to NPC' mods you are using (winter is coming, immersive armour, immersive weapons, bandoliers--although you don't look to be using the NPC plugin for that--etc.). Given the number of those types of mods you are using, this isn't really optional anymore, so don't think about it, just do it. Generating a Bashed Patch is basically a simple three-step process and it will probably take more time to install Wrye Bash. Make sure to rebuild the Bashed Patch every time you add/remove mods to your load order.

 

5) You are using many mods that will stress the limits of the engine, regardless of how powerful your rig might be. For example, mods with continually updating scripts (e.g. player headtracking, wet and cold, footprints, etc.). One or two will have negligible impact on performance (unless you have a really old CPU), but too many and the game will will become unstable. This will be most noticeable in populated areas where the engine needs to render a lot of AIs--I assume you switched to the 'lite' version of random NPC townfolk because you were CTDing in cities and/or had problems loading cities, and suspected this may be a culprit? this is why.

 

Other mods like ASIS and SkyMo, which adds more spawns and/or spawn points to the worldspace, will make outdoor travel inherently more unstable (how much more unstable depends on what they add and how much of it they add). It's not the fault of the mods, but a limitation of the game engine. It's not a coincidence or an oversight that the base game world has the population of a post-nuclear wasteland. You can potentially play for days, maybe even weeks without issues then start to inexplicably experience CTDs. If most of your CTDs are in the worldspace (outdoors) rather than in interior cells, than you might consider trimming those mods from your load order.

 

Trimming should be done as a last resort to stabilize your game, because mot mods will leave orphan junk in your savegame, and some (like papyrus scripts) cannot be cleaned via a cell reset. But it is the best method to ensure the game's long-term stability. So if the CTDs becomes too much of an aggravation, you should consider significantly trimming the load order and starting a new game.

Edited February 1, 2013 by ripple