When is a save considered bloated?

[repzaj1234]

So I started a new game, I'm at level 22 with maybe about 30 hours or less of playing time? My save is currently at 8mb. And is rising slightly each time I save. I'm worried cause I haven't even started the main quests like the Greybeards, the Empire and Stormcloaks, any faction related content, Dawnguard, Dragonborn. I'm certain I will be playing for hours and hours.

 

So for those who are playing for so long, how big are your save games? At some point do you start CTDing? I myself haven't experienced a single CTD since I started a new character. I have about 60 mods installed. I'm wary on what mods to install, I usually ask first if that mod causes bloating.

[Teria23]

Let me check my files... Save 2177, level 63 char, played for 654 hours (with different chars), 77 active mods, 17 MB. So I don't think you have to worry, they don't get much larger than that.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Teria23

[repzaj1234]

Whew, if I go past 17 MB I will panic lol Any ideas what causes saves to increase in size? Taken quests, discovered places, conversations with people. Those are all stored in the save right? And will continue to increase the more you get more quests, places and conversations

[Ygfbv]

Whew, if I go past 17 MB I will panic lol Any ideas what causes saves to increase in size? Taken quests, discovered places, conversations with people. Those are all stored in the save right? And will continue to increase the more you get more quests, places and conversations

 

Everything you do in the game is stored in your savefile. Move 2 metres to the right, change a companions equipment, drop an item? Everything is stored in your save.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about save bloat unless you had a massive size increase over a short period of time, honestly.

[repzaj1234]

I'm asking this cause I've had a 1-2MB increase in a day or two but I've been playing a long time during that span so...

Thanks! I'll come back if something bad happens (Hopefully not)

[MightionNY]

My save is just around 20000k, and I have more than a few mods - no problems so far. Lately I've been taking any items I find on the road, laying around in dungeons... like "discarded" weapons and armor from mobs, and stuff them into containers so that when it resets, they go poof.

 

I had my own personal "Clean Up Skyrim" project, where I ran everywhere picking up weapons, armors, shields, etc that I'd find on the ground.

[MightyZ0G]

there are 2 things you can easily do to decrease save

 

first get SKSE, in the Data\SKSE folder, create a txt file called skse.ini and paste the following into it

 

[General]
ClearInvalidRegistrations=1

 

that will slowly remove bloats from scripts and also slow down how fast the save increases

 

second get Skyrim Save C;leaner and follow the instructions

[repzaj1234]

I already have SKSE installed, and will try ClearInvalidRegistrations=1

Will that in any way have an effect on how scripts are run?

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try those methods if my save suddenly increases it's size drastically. Appreciate the help.