Dragonborn CTDs

[AdmiralEcho]

I installed Dragonborn, believing that installation would be as smooth as it was for Dawnguard and Hearthfire. But, after I loaded I noticed that there were frequent freezes and the game would resume. I got the quest to see the Captain on his ship and on the way there...CTD #1. I have had very few CTDs while playing Skyrim. Usually ones caused by me not seeing incompatible mods. So I fired Skyrim back up, talked to the Captain, aaaaand ...CTD#2. So I uninstalled my lighting mods and other graphics mods (RLO, SMIM, SFO, SkyrimHD, etc) and started Skyrim w/o SKSE and I managed to talk to the Captain and hit the loading screen. When it finished loading all I had was sound and a black screen. I coudn't move but I could open the console. Then it crashed again. I began to to uninstall more and more mods. Same problem black screen, even when I used coc to load straight into solstheim. Finally, I uninstalled everything (apart from other DLC) and tp'ed straight to Solstheim and YAY! It works! Then I crashed again... Has anyone else been have this many problems? Any suggestions?

[KingUggi]

Yep, but for me it is working until I want to get out of Raven Rock. I am there and want to get out to go and as soon as I reach a special location it immediately crashes. Also I am experiencing freezes all over. I thought of possible conflicts with mods and disabled all that could influence the DLC somehow but nothing changed. Still freezes and crashes. I guess we will have to wait for bug fixes.

[Ellwood]

Random CTDs with Dragonborn here.

Sometimes when leaving a building sometimes walking around out in the open.

No freezes.

 

Looks like they are going to need memory optimizations for the Dragonborn on PC.

[MatrixCoder]

Ellwood.. same with me.

 

Sometimes a simple game restart fixes it.

 

But as you said... they need a patch for the DLC.

[Saratje]

My first guess would be that this problem happens for the exact same reason as all the problems with the other DLC's. The recurring problem of obsolete scripts.

 

Skyrim often stores scripts in the data folder, which are then read and used instead of the scripts inside the .BSA data files. In short, scripts in the data folder always have priority, so the scripts in the .BSA file with the same name are ignored. The big problem is that those scripts in the data folder are often left-overs from old patches, so they are outdated and obsolete.

 

Whenever a DLC is installed, there is a big .BSA file which holds a large number of scripts which are needed to play the DLC. Some of these scripts in the .BSA file are newer versions of Skyrim's own scripts, which the DLC needs. But because there are still old scripts in the data folder (which get priority like all scripts in the data folder) Skyrim tries to make the DLC run with scripts which are outdated and unsuited. As a result, funny things happen such as not being able to take certain actions, NPC's not reacting as they should, quests not finishing or plain simple crash-to-desktop issues.

 

The best solution is to see which scripts are in the Dragonborn.BSA file, and to remove all scripts in the data folder ( ../Skyrim/data/scripts/ ) which have the same name. Since this is a time consuming process, some people just opt for the quick solution which is deleting the entire ..Skyrim/data/scripts folder. If you have advanced far in the game, this may alter minor game details, but it often solves more problems than it creates. If you use mods or your own adaptions however, these mods may cease to work. Be sure to back-up your scripts!

 

So what causes these problems? Skyrim sometimes just likes to store scripts in the data folder. A more common reason is that when you install the Creation Kit, many scripts are dumped in the data folder for Creation Kit to use. Those scripts are then not updated and have become obsolete. It doesn't even take a mod to cause these issues! (Although mods can cause similar issues). A similar issue is that some people in Dawnguard could not bite and drink blood when standing, which was caused by an obsolete vampire script in the data folder that only knew how to drink blood when someone is asleep. Hearthfire had similar issues with marriage and moving, where it used obsolete marriage and spouse scripts, sometimes even crashing on load.

[JAGGEDCAN9NE]

After looking threw my papyrus log, I noticed that the "sweet spot" that some are ctd'ing when they reach might have to do with the radiant story and the random cultist spawns. Don't quote me, I'm still trying to figure it out myself, but I get this at the end of my papyrus log:

 

[DLC2MQ05PlayerScript <alias Player on quest DLC2MQ05 (040179DE)>]OnLocationChange: oldLoc=[Location < (04016E2A)>], newLoc=[Location < (040142BB)>]

[02/09/2013 - 07:49:27AM] [DLC2WECultistAmbushPlayerScript <alias Player on quest DLC2CultistAmbush (0403546D)>]OnLocationChange()[Location < (040142BB)>]

[02/09/2013 - 07:49:27AM] DLC2TT1: player alias changed location, old Loc = [Location < (04016E2A)>]

 

 

Every time I leave Raven Rock it always happens in almost the exact same location. I say almost because I've narrowed it down to a small radius when leaving either through the tunnel to where you first encounter the ash men, or if you leave via the small hill to the right of the Raven Rock mine entrance. Its not quite as soon as I walk out, but there area is more so down the shore line as well as a little on the hill.