Skyrim Crashes Upon Loading Saved Games

[adamb0mber]

Yesterday, I tried downloading a new blood texture mod for Skyrim, and when I went to load one of my saved games the game began to load (sent me to the screen with the moving mist) but after a few seconds, it crashed to desktop. It has done this with every saved game I have, but there are two interesting things happening: 1) It doesn't cause the initial saved game to crash (the one Skyrim creates as you're about to create your character) and it will let me start new games, and 2) the last save file I created will go to the loading screen with the mist, but no object or lore ever pop up. No other file does that. I'm not sure if it's relevant, but I figured I would mention that little detail, just in case.

I've tried turning off my mods--no effect.
I've tried unsubscribing all my mods, except Dawnguard and the official Texture Pack--no effect

I've tried verifying the game cache--no effect

I've tried making sure there aren't 2 skyrim.esm files in my Plugins.txt file. There are none, in fact.
I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling.
I've tried deleting SkyrimPrefs.

I've tried just about everything I can think of, save for scrapping my current saves and uninstalling again...which is, of course, undesirable.

Can anyone help?

[adamb0mber]

Also tried the speaker sound fix. No luck.

[legend8804]

The save files that cause the crashing, how large are they in size compared to the ones that work? Sounds to me like it could be a save file corruption - I had some similar issues once due to some mods I was running, which caused the save file to bloat unimaginably large thanks to some rogue scripts. Went back, removed the conflicting mod, and suddenly I'm a hundred hours further on a character that was previously unplayable.

 

Hopefully this might be your issue as well. Also knowing what mods you are running would be helpful as well - ones that run scripts in the background could conceivably be your issue.

[adamb0mber]

The save files that cause the crashing, how large are they in size compared to the ones that work?

To give you an idea, the save file that's automatically created when you start as a prisoner is (Save 1) is 3,149 KB, the other ones are in the range of 5,500 KB and 6500 KB. I have no idea what is considered "normal" for the size of a save file, so you might have something there, but I've already turned off and unsubscribed from all of my mods, and I didn't have a mod manager or anything to keep track of them, so I can't really give you a comprehensive list of all the mods I had.

 

I had around 25, if that's any help.

 

Also, I'm still trying to figure out how to get all the relevant specs on my computer (this is my first gaming PC, so in the past my machine's specs have been irrelevant), but it is equipped with an AMD FX 4100-Quad Core Processor, 8gb of RAM, and a 500gb hard drive. I'm not sure of my sound or video card at this time.

 

I've also tried defragging my hard drive, and reinstalling Skyrim after deleting all relevant files except the Saves folder. Neither were effective.

 

I'd really prefer not to have to start from scratch with new saves, so if anyone can help with this, I'd appreciate it.

[legend8804]

 

 

The save files that cause the crashing, I have no idea what is considered "normal" for the size of a save file, so you might have something there, but I've already turned off and unsubscribed from all of my mods, and I didn't have a mod manager or anything to keep track of them, so I can't really give you a comprehensive list of all the mods I had.

 

I had around 25, if that's any help.

 

 

Oh dear. I had some very similar issues when I realized just how *bad* the Workshop is for modding and wanted to migrate to the NMM or get rid of my Workshop mods altogether. Without a comprehensive list of all the mods you had installed, it is downright impossible to fully troubleshoot.

 

The two most likely candidates for what has caused this issue are either rogue scripts or save corruption. Often times if you just stop using a mod, it can make things worse (this was the case with some of the workshop mods I had, which was a pain to fix - took me the better part of a week to find the correct version of the mod I had installed before it would work again, and if it wasn't the Steam version, it wouldn't allow me to fix it - quite a pain).

 

With that said: When you removed the mods, did you make sure to read all the directions and ensure it was as simple as just turning them off? Item mods aren't so bad, but when you get into things that alter your character or whatnot, that's where things get interesting.

 

Additionally: It doesn't sound as though save bloat is your issue, which is good - that is a real pain to fix (previous issue I mentioned saw my files in excess of 100mb... truly ridiculous). So at least you don't have that problem.

 

Thankfully, there's still some hope for you. You can still go back to Steam and see which mods you have downloaded/installed recently, which means you can also go back and look in the descriptions to make sure you've uninstalled them correctly. If it is a matter of a mod incorrectly uninstalled, then that is a (comparitively) easy fix. Otherwise, it sounds a lot more like you may be facing corrupted saves, which I have also experienced... and there is absolutely nothing you can do in that case other than revert to a previous save and reload.

 

With all that said, I really miss some of the tools the old NVMM I used had - used to let me manage my characters, and also let me know what mods happened to be installed on a particular save (and the order they were installed in!). Invaluable for times like this when you get rid of all your mods and go "whoops, now what?"

 

Anyways, best of luck, sounds to me like you have some homework to do.

[adamb0mber]

Skyrim is the first and only game I've modded, so I'm still learning the ins and outs of mods. I'll go check my steam and see if there are any special instructions regarding turning off the mods I had installed.

 

Also, you said the workshop is bad for mods. Do you recommend the Nexus (or anything else) over the steam workshop? I'm not really familiar with anything outside of Steam for mods.

And is there a mod manager program or anything similar you'd recommend so I can avoid a problem like this in the future?

 

[starfire42]

I've encountered this issue a time or two myself, usually when installing/uninstalling several mods. (I use mostly simple mods and am careful to follow uninstall directions for anything I consider risky (anything with uninstall directions more complex than "delete" or "uninstall with nmm"))

 

What's the general troubleshooting procedure for crashes that only occur when you try to load a save? I know the standard procedure for ctd's on launch, and have seen guides for exterior-only, interior-only and random ctd's, but nothing for crash on load.

[legend8804]

 

And is there a mod manager program or anything similar you'd recommend so I can avoid a problem like this in the future?

 

Use the Nexus Mod Manager. It now has a feature that checks any mods you have installed to see whether there has been an update, and will alert you if a mod has a new version available for you. As well as a ton of other nifty features (such as managing mod downloads, installation/uninstallation, loading with script extenders and such).

 

The reasons the Steam workshop is bad: Mods that are updated don't always allow their authors to simply re-upload their mod, so sometimes it gets re-listed and you don't find out unless you are paying close attention. Plus, it has no idea what a 'load order' is, which is another incredibly annoying bit.

 

I'll also highly recommend you look into using BOSS (the Better Oblvion Sorting Software) which you can find on the nexus here:

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/6

 

 

The great thing about BOSS is that it can tell you what order to place your mods for maximum enjoyment, and if any mods are going to conflict, it will at least warn you (fixing them is something you have to do on your own, and it is not something I am very good at, so if you are feeling brave, go look up some things for Wyre Bash and familiarize yourself with Bash Patching - it's kind of complex and a little time consuming).

 

At the minimum, I really recommend using the NMM and BOSS. It just makes your life soooo much easier.

 

 

Starfire42

 

What's the general troubleshooting procedure for crashes that only occur when you try to load a save? I know the standard procedure for ctd's on launch, and have seen guides for exterior-only, interior-only and random ctd's, but nothing for crash on load.

 

As far as I know, it's a difficult thing to track down. I've had to do it several times, for several different reasons, and it all just really depends on what all you've happened to change. Usually it's either mod-related or something you've changed in the .ini which can be really hard to track down. Although I've recently read that enabling Papyrus logging can help you determine the root cause pretty quickly, though I have not had to do that myself as I have just gotten the game running (relatively) smoothly again to the point where I can play for hours on end without any crashing.

 

The problem with Crash on Load is that it can be really arbitrary. I usually recommend attempting to load another save to see if that works, and then validating your files to see if that fixes things. Then I start looking at recently installed mods as the culprit, since it is usually something graphics or memory-related.

[Dipology]

Hi Adam,

I'm glad if you already have your answer. Otherwise you can try what I did.

 

I used to have random shutdown during fast travel, loading saves or on the race menu. This is what eliminated my problems.

 

First I reinstalled the game and reset my setting to high from ultra.

I skipped using more than one similar mods, say only one facegen, one for hair, one for body. I picked only one of CBBE/UNP/others. Similar goes for companions built from CBBE (if I’m using CBBE)/ UNP (if UNP).

Try not to save during prisoner scenario. Lastly keep track of compatibility of different mods.

I’m new, so apologies if I’m wrong somewhere. Anyway I have more than 60 mods running on Skyrim without any disturbance. Thank you.

~Anvi.

[Xheross]

test to make a new game press r then enter and then load your latest save