Skyrim freezing without major reason.

[rilax]

Hey everyone. Could you guys please help me out with an issue i have been having with Skyrim lately?

Many of you probably know the great battles of skyrim vids etc. I always try to recreate them because my PC should have the ability to handle them just as fluidly as in the videos.(or so i think)

My problem is that the game freezes not even with the AI on. I always use the console commands tai and tcai before i spawn my characters so they don't go on and attack each other. But for a fair amount of time now i can't even spawn 40 enemies (in sets so each time 4 or 5) with 20 defending without the game just freezing in my face. Now if i wouldn't have had a few random battles with 100+ NPC's you wouldn't hear me asking this question but because i know the PC should be able to handle it i am so confused as to why it is such a big issue for Skyrim.

I am of course not going to leave you without my specs.

 

CPU: Intel I7 2600 non-k

GPU: Nvidia Gtx 590

RAM:8 GB

PSU: Ms tech 920 watt

That's all running on a Windows 7 ultimate 64-bit, should be enough right?

I also have some mods running but these probably aren't related to the issue because the game runs perfect when not spawning NPC's.But if somebody needs my mod list i will be happy to post it. I also used like every performance utility for Skyrim there is on the internet. I use Razor Game Booster, fps background booster, and ATTK power loader. Alas to no avail...

If you read trough this whole post i am most gratefull and i will be even more if someone might know the solution for the what seems never ending Skyrim problem. Sorry for my bad English by the way it's not my native language and thanks in advance.

Edited May 9, 2013 by rilax

[rilax]

Bump

[gsmanners]

Moar fog?

 

I don't know. I think great battle scenes are great because they have great characters that you can recognize at a glance, and they do a good job of making the scenes atmospheric and thunderous, etc. You can frame the shots the way Peter Jackson does and not have to employ too many actors (though you will have some trouble with the odd establishing shots, I guess). It's all a question of how much time you want to spend on it.

[rilax]

I didn't actually mean the big battles as in a machinima of some sort but i meant them to be just for fun. A gameplay addition that takes away that stupid feeling when you charge for Whiterun and find out you and your "army" of seven march up against the might of the Imperial legion which contains some imperials and a handfull of Whiterun guards.

[bben46]

Your PC may be able to handle the big battles, but the Game engine cannot. The Gambryo engine is showing it's age. It was never intended to be used for large battles or mod scenes. It has problems handling more than just a dozen or so NPC AIs at the same time. Even the small army you have in the Whiterun battle is limited in that parts are scripted just to get a few more troops to look like they are actually doing something.

[gsmanners]

Oh... Well, I always skip the cut scenes even in Dragon Age Origins. It seems kind of silly to think that those scenes have anything to do with realistic warfare. A real battle would be something far more bleak and boring:

 

Imagine a line of warriors. They lock together their shields and lash out at the enemy for several hours, attempting in vain to break through the enemy's identical line. This, in spite of several volleys of arrows and forays by the occasional cavalry. Then, suddenly, the heat of the day gets to be too much and the generals sound the retreat. They'll try again tomorrow. And again. And again. Rinse, repeat for about 10 to 50 years.

[rilax]

I noticed real life battle tactics never make it into games. In Skyrim you and your followers just try to hit your opponent as much as possible with melee, ranged or magic. No real thought really, i would think you would create for example a shield wall when trying to kill a group of archers. But it seems blindly charging is the better strategy.

 

But back to my original question. Even if mods work fine with no script errors and such they still have their impact on the game am i correct? Some time ago i did a clean reinstall because something went wrong and i couldn't fix it anymore and suddenly i managed to spawn 200+ npc's with no fps drop at all? Only when i started pushing the limits with 300+ NPC's the game crashed but that's understandable .

[gsmanners]

I think the monsters they make in modern video cards could quite easily handle thousands of complicated person models with hires textures (sigh), but the real problem then becomes the limitations of Havok and the even worse limitations of Papyrus and Story Manager and AI, etc.