Random CTDs in exterior.

[oblivious12123]

Sometimes when I enter an exterior cell I CTD with no error message whatsoever, just flashes black then the game closes. For example, when I am exploring the wilderness and enter a new cell or I exit a dungeon the game closes. I am running close to one hundred mods, however even with them all disabled the game still CTDs, so it isn't the mods causing the problem. I am not sure what the cause of these crashes is, do I need to reinstall the whole game? I haven't experienced these crashes in the past but only, I think, when a recent patch was applied a few days ago. Is anybody else experiencing these crashes? I have searched for days for a solution to no avail, none of them appear to work.

EDIT: Just want to mention that I have read the Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires thread, but it didn't help as I haven't removed any mods recently so it doesn't appear to be that causing the CTDs.

Edited March 23, 2013 by oblivious12123

[Georgiegril]

Skyrim generally does not produce an error code for crashes, so your absence of one is typical.

You are making a mistake to think that if a crash continues even with mods disabled, mods aren't involved-- disabling does not remove all traces of a mod from the game. You would have a clean reinstall unmodded to absolutely dismiss mod involvement.

 

If the crashes started after the patch, then it is quite possible the problem is related to the patch, either in a conflict with your mods or in making changes to your games settings or .ini files.

 

The first thing would do is go over your games settings and your .ini files to make sure they are exactly as you want them (steam will rewrite your .ini files, in some cases removing lines you added or changing values--it is quite easy to miss a change of this sort.)

 

After that, if the problem persists, I would look at mods. Run BOSS and look at the log it generates--it may point out an issue that is the culprit.

Then I would revisit all of the pages for the mods you have, re-read everything and look especially for known issues that have arisen from the patch--you may need an updated version, or you may need to wait until one is available.)

If that process does not solve your problem, then you may need to resort to basic mod troubleshooting (completely removing mods in small batches, until you get to a stable game, then reinstalling mods slowly until the problem recurs)

 

Alternately, you could return to a clean reinstall game and add mods or ini changes slowly one or two at a time after Helgen, run BOSS and test before adding more.

[Tushaar]

I'm having the same problem, running a quite a share of mods also. Would really lke some help :)

Random ctd in exterior, near markarth, near whiterun plateau, you name it. No error message also.

[oblivious12123]

Skyrim generally does not produce an error code for crashes, so your absence of one is typical.

You are making a mistake to think that if a crash continues even with mods disabled, mods aren't involved-- disabling does not remove all traces of a mod from the game. You would have a clean reinstall unmodded to absolutely dismiss mod involvement.

 

If the crashes started after the patch, then it is quite possible the problem is related to the patch, either in a conflict with your mods or in making changes to your games settings or .ini files.

 

The first thing would do is go over your games settings and your .ini files to make sure they are exactly as you want them (steam will rewrite your .ini files, in some cases removing lines you added or changing values--it is quite easy to miss a change of this sort.)

 

After that, if the problem persists, I would look at mods. Run BOSS and look at the log it generates--it may point out an issue that is the culprit.

Then I would revisit all of the pages for the mods you have, re-read everything and look especially for known issues that have arisen from the patch--you may need an updated version, or you may need to wait until one is available.)

If that process does not solve your problem, then you may need to resort to basic mod troubleshooting (completely removing mods in small batches, until you get to a stable game, then reinstalling mods slowly until the problem recurs)

 

Alternately, you could return to a clean reinstall game and add mods or ini changes slowly one or two at a time after Helgen, run BOSS and test before adding more.

Thanks for the fast response. I ran BOSS and it showed several dirty mods, and even reverting back to a clean save with the dirty mods deactivated didn't help. I think these crashes might be coming from my memory as I'm crashing when getting close to cities (I have Open Cities installed), which eats up a lot of memory; entering combat with multiple enemies with multiple followers involved, which means a lot of AI going on at once; or just multiple cells loading simultaneously. I can't be sure, obviously, but I'm reluctant in doing a clean reinstall because of the time it will take; I'm going to save it as a last resort.

[Georgiegril]

Yeah, I know how you feel!

It sounds like your theory about memory may be a good one, definitely worth investigating. You might try (for the sake of research, not necessarily a permanent solution):

Set your visual settings to the lowest possible (all sliders to the left, low or none option on everything)

Dismiss all of your followers

Unload all of your stuff (so you are carrying the bare minimum)

Go to one of the places you tend to crash and see if you still do--if not, then you are probably on the right track with your theory.

Also, if you are trying to use more than the default ugridstoload, I think I remember the opencities mod author stating that you will definitely suffer crashes.

You might also use benchmarking software ( a bunch out there) to track your memory use in game, of course.

[oblivious12123]

So as it turns out, it appears not to be a memory issue. I have tried using Gamebooster, which shuts down background processes yet Skyrim still crashed with only about 800mb of memory usage, ruling out my theory completely. This occurred with me running aimlessly through a forest, attempting to provoke a CTD and it crashed quite quickly. I tried this 2-3 times and each time it crashed. I see the only other thing to do now is a clean reinstall, unless you can suggest another alternative method.

[Georgiegril]

Gamebooster affects your CPU RAM, not your VRAM. the 800mb--is that RAM or VRAM?

What are your graphics specs?

 

Running through a forest-- if it was the forest near riften--that has a heavy VRAM load, so it may still be your VRAM. When you did this, had you turned all of your graphics settings to the lowest possible setting?

Also, have you checked the temperature of your GPU while in game?

 

Reinstalling may not really help if it is VRAM, unless you start at the lowest settings, no mods, and slowly increase these until you loose stability.

[oblivious12123]

I've come to a conclusion that it's dirty uninstallations of mods that have made my game crash. I made another character (with all my mods activated and at the settings I usually play with) and went to all of the locations I've experienced crashing at, but it didn't crash. This has led me to believe that it's the few mods I have uninstalled in the past that are causing some kinds of conflicts. I have used Wrye Bash to check the plugins used in previous saves made that I've uninstalled prior to the crashing and am going to reinstall them and see if that fixes the game.