Skyrim help: CTDs, Freezes, etc

[prod80]

Yep, I saw you mentioned it, but it should be re-enforced! :)... doing all the 'Better Quality' tweaks + uGrids + all the nice and shiny mods is bound to have you CTD... Engine/System limit is a very hard limit :p I choose the 'All the nice and shiny stuff without altering uGrids' way... as most of the game plays inside or in & around cities... hardly in the (large & open area) wilds... but yea... I do miss standing out of Whiterun viewing to the mountains far far away and having a great view from time to time :p

[GoldenDragon66]

Resetting uGrids seems to have helped, I have a question though, would upgrading my RAM improve performance enough that I could have uGrids set to 7 and have all those fancy shiny things installed while not having to worry about random CTDs and freezes as much? Say... from 6 gb to 12 gb?

Edited May 15, 2013 by GoldenDragon_99

[Georgiegril]

Sorry, it really wont. Skyrim is a 32-bit game, the most it can use is 4 gb, and the folks at STEP have found it really only uses 3.1 Gb before crashing.
Your 6 gb RAM is than enough to run Skyrim and basic computer functions, unless you are trying to run a bunch of other programs at the same time you are playing.
Your GPU has 3 gb VRAM, yes? That is also more than you really need.

Performing basic computer maintenance like defragging, cleaning up files, making sure to close other programs like browsers, IM, etc., disable background processes like auto-scans, auto-updates, etc (through game booster or manually through task manager) may help some, especially if you haven't done this already. Also using your AV/firewall in game mode, if it has one. Freezes like you describe could happen if another program/process/service was using up your RAM.

Beyond that, you are probably just bumping into the game engine's limitations. It is just not possible to have all those fancy shiny things, and extended grids, extended view distance etc.
I do encourage you to look at the STEP Guide, though, they have a lot of people working together to figure out how to push the game far as it can go. Also they give nice explanations for their suggestions. (I don't follow the guide exactly but I have definitely benefited from reading it!)