Need Help. CTD no matter how I install Mods. Going Insane.

[LambofJosh]

Hey there. This is my first post (as angry as it may be) so please be nice.

 

I think i'm going to destroy my house. I have been modding Skyrim for 5 days now, and to no avail. I haven't actually gotten around to playing it once since I got it on PC. This is due to the fact that no matter how I install the mods, in whatever order, whether they're NMM mods or manually installed, I get CTD's as soon as I load game, or simply in the middle of a session. It crashes about 50% of the time, and each time I start a new game and sit throught all the crap for half an hour, it happens again.
I've got about a dozen mods in NMM and about a dozen manual ones too. I also have Project ENB running with Climates of Tamriel and Realistic Lighting Overhaul.

None of the mods alter gameplay, just visuals. My computer's specs are more than capable to run all of this on Ultra High, between 45-60 fps without dropping further, so it's nothing to do with my GPU.

I know how to install each mod properly and the correct orders for most of them. When the game is running, all the mods are running perfectly, but these goddamn CTD's are driving me nuts. I removed SKSE and SkyUI to see if it would fix it, but no. I've done 3 complete reinstalls of skyrim and all the mods; same issue. I'm aware of the importance of load orders and make sure to alter the plug in file under C:/users/USER/Appdata/Local/Skyrim, rather than in the Skyrim Data Files in the Launcher.

NOTHING WORKS. I've looked online extensive for answers, but others issues keep popping up. Now my skyrim folder is back at Vanilla and everything's waiting to be installed again, but I can't be bothered anymore. I don't even now if it's going to work. I've read about BOSS but I downloaded it and it made less than zero sense to me. Everytime I feel like I have it figured out, it dies again.

So can anyone PLEASE give me some advice on the best way to install mods for the wretched game? I see people on here with 100-200 mods, having a blast. I cant do 25.

Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[korun]

Boss is easy to handle, install it anywhere and run it, it will check for Beth's game, then your good to go, on my system, it's directly in skyrim master folder, where is Tesv.exe, every time you install a mod with a master file .esp ou .esm run Boss.

are you running Dlc's?

Skyui and SKSE are the last mod which can make the game unstable if well installed

follow this video

and no more problem

 

Climate of Tamriel works perfectly with Réalistic lighting ONLY if you don't use the intérior's .esp from COT, use only COT.esm and [night].esp, they are both huge overhaul and will conflict ,

then with no more info on your mods i can't help further, it can be anything, one mod can make Skyrim CTD.

 

be sure, when you're making a fresh install, you've cleaned up, all the old skyrim files, you registry files.

 

keep up

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[LambofJosh]

Hey korun,

 

Thanks for the reply. I already knew about how to install CoT with RLO the way you described. In fact I even used Vanilla sky for it too. The only thing I installed from it was cot.esm.

I also know all about editing the SkyrimPrefs file in MyDocs, as well as the enbseries.ini file in relation the ENB.

Here is a quick list of my mods:

 

Manual Install

- Climates of Tamriel

- Project ENB Realistic Version including CoT files

- Apachii Hair

- Better Beast Faces

- Enhanced Night

- Realistic Smoke and Embers

- WATER

- Weapon Renderer Project

- The XCE mod collection (the one with 'No more Blocky Faces' and 'Better Bodies' etc.)

- SKSE

 

NMM mods

- Realistic Lighting Overhaul

- Better Dynamic Snow

- Better Torches

- Enhanced Blood Textures

- Ruins Clutter Improved

- Skyrim Flora Overhaul

- Skyrim HD 2k Complete Lite

- Static Mesh Improvement

- The Eyes of Beauty (I use this instead of the one in XCE)

- SkyUI

 

Not running any DLC's yet. I cleaned up the skyrim files, but I don't really know how to clean a registry. I'm fairly good at computers, but i'm only just beginning to delve into the more involved stuff haha.

I know I could probably find this answer else, but I might be able to get some answers more specific to my situation. I'm still not 100% sure how BOSS works. Do I install the mods through that and not use NMM anymore? Or will BOSS detect the manual and NMM mods that I install? I'm still a bit confused, sorry.

[korun]

Boss is only a organizer for load order, as it name says it was for oblivion, but handle most of Beth's games, it will organize the LO using the master list of the plugins installed and the data it get related to the mod. then you can define yourself rules to optimize even more your LO.

install with NMM, check if all the plugins in skyrim launcher are ticked, run boss, then play.

take care of the unreconized plugins given by the log, they are sometimes causing the games instable, if you know how they works, you can place them by yourself manually.

if 2 mods have the same purpose remember that it's always the last mod which rules between the other.

 

the only mod which i've never used is this one XCE and :

 

Compatible with anything that does not replace the following:

 

- Skin textures

- Scars

- Warpaint

- Eyes

 

cleaning the registry with CCleaner it's really easy, 2 buttons, 1 for searching error, 1 for cleaning, the registry is backup every time and can be restored.

 

after every new install, verify your integrity game cache in steam too, do it first if you have any problems, it's sometimes simple as that

 

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Edited March 5, 2013 by korun

[LambofJosh]

Hey,

 

Thanks again for your reply. I haven't been at my PC for a few days so I haven't had the chance to give this a shot yet. Besides, I've had a break and am now mentally prepared to give all this another shot.

One quick thing; what did you mean by this? Sorry, I'm having a little trouble making sense of it:

 

"the only mod which i've never used is this one XCE and :

Compatible with anything that does not replace the following:

- Skin textures
- Scars
- Warpaint
- Eyes"

 

Again, thanks for all your advice. I hate feeling like a noob haha.

[korun]

first, english isn't my native language, so i'm sorry if sometimes i probably speak english like a retarded and i'm not clear :P

i just say or want to, i've used almost 90 % of the mods on nexus since Skyrim released, of course i've had problems, glitch ctds etc...and XCE is in the last 10 % :D

 

you're using customs eyes, but XCE get it's own and is not compatible in this case with yours, it's the only conflict i can see.

you don't have so much mods, really not, and none of them will conflict with the other except XCE, then as

in 99.9 % crash are always a load order problem

 

tips, with Project Enb use the HD fire spell, it change all the fire texture, not only the spells if you're not Mage and it's really a improvement.

 

keep up

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[LambofJosh]

Ah okay then haha. Don't worry, you're pretty much fluent in English anyway :)

Well, I installed all of XCE apart from the eyes (I even re-downloaded the 'realistic eyes' part on its own so I knew what to leave out), and just used Eyes of Beauty in NMM. I've got BOSS up and running and i've installed all the mods I want. I'm in the middle of the SKSE tutorial at the moment, and then i'm pretty ready to see if it all works. BOSS is amazing. I can't believe how easy it makes things.

 

Another question; how do I go about adding and removing Mods, once I have a save game? Can I add mods easily without the save becoming useless? I saw briefly somewhere that you can do something to your save game that makes it immune ot mod changes. Is that true?

[korun]

Another question; how do I go about adding and removing Mods, once I have a save game? Can I add mods easily without the save becoming useless? I saw briefly somewhere that you can do something to your save game that makes it immune ot mod changes. Is that true?

No, but you can minimize the risk

 

if it's a scripted mod, authors (good one :P) provide a uninstall process , like for conveniant Horse for ex [stopQuestCH] which stop the script running and how to make clean save, to keep your save from bloating which cause ctd glitch endless loading screen etc..

for texture and any kind of, it's pretty easy, you can remove them from NMM, but then if you don't want to use it anymore, go to your data folder and check that every thing had been removed. textures/meshes etc

take really care when you use mod like Sky Re, this kind of overhaul are every where and really not easy, if not possible to uninstall , the best is to start a new game :biggrin:

 

but there is another great tool which is Wrye bash, you can check your save with it, it will tell you if your load order is correct, if a master is missing etc.. there is many command for many purpose, if boss suggest a tag for a mod like [Delev/Relev] Wrye bash will handle it , creating a bashed patch which must be the lower in your load order, if you have many tag, clic right on the patch and go to merged, you'll see all mods tagged, go at the bottom, rebuild patch and you're done, you'll have a recap with your new Leveled list of items it's really easy to handle.

 

last tip, Skyrim is really versatil, even it's a old 3d engine, let say, it's a complicated machine, if you install any mod, you must keep it from day 1 to the last, even you are not using it any more, after 1 save it became part of the game, so choose wisely if you can , there is so much good & impressive mods :smile:

 

edit: and thanks :)

Don't worry, you're pretty much fluent in English anyway :smile:

Edited March 9, 2013 by korun

[LambofJosh]

Wow, you have been an incredible help mate :biggrin:.
I got all my mods installed in logical orders (after researching A LOT) and it's all running fine. BOSS is happy and I only had one CTD in the tutorial, when I shot the bear with an arrow. Apparently it's common for a CTD to occur there anyway. No other problems apart from that.

I even got SKSE going with SkyUI working a charm. Only one mod left that I want to install is Dance of Death, which i'm gonna try now.
Sorry to be a bother, but I had one more question;

In NMM where it says that there's an update for a mod, what will happen if I update say, a texture pack that is lower in the install/load order than another one? Will it cause issues? Or can I just update all of them and it will sort out which parts need to be updated, based on the install order?

[korun]

Sorry to be a bother

no, no problem

 

when you have a update for anything, it's like you DL a new mod and doesn't matter where they are, BUT always un-activate the old one before install, don't overwrite, ex SFO update almost every week :P, so it will be placed at the end of the LO, just run boss and it'll replace it, it's the same for every mod.

 

enjoy your game :)

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