CTD at 3.1GB

[viking]

Some key posts on this and related threads (experts feel free to note any errors or insights):

• Post #11
• Post #27
• Post #40 (this is where the 500/430 ratio seems to have originated.)
• Post #66
• Post#278
• Post #313
• Post #1 (adjacent thread: Caution about memory optimisers)
• Post #64 (adjacent thread: Caution about memory optimisers)
• Post #68 (adjacent thread: Caution about memory optimisers)
• Post #70 (adjacent thread: Caution about memory optimisers)

Wiki article (draft)

 

Thanks,

STEP

 

OP follows

---

First of all I wanted to thank you all for the great work you have done with STEP. Skyrim is the first game I installed on this computer and you guys have made it an AMAZING game. That being said, I have an issue that I hope you can help me solve.

 

My setup:

Vanilla Skyrim

gtx670 w/ 4GB @1080p w/ latest driver

16GB Memory

3770K at about 4GHz

Windows 8 64bit

ENB 149

Ultra settings

Highest available texture/quality

Mod Organizer

Step 2.2.1 + Skyrim Revisited + others

 

I have noticed a post here and there saying that Skyrim can't really address more than about 3.1GB of memory without issues. This seems to jive with my experience, meaning I CTD every time my memory hits that mark, but I couldn't really find anything definitive on the topic. The issue with googling the topic is the pre 1.3 skyrim that couldn't address more than 2gb of memory.

 

My mod list is mostly based on STEP which is why I came here for help, with about ten mods added onto the end (Interesting NPCs, Detailed Cities, Economics, COT, and a couple others). The reason I haven't included my mod list is that it doesn't seem to matter. As long as I keep the memory usage below 3GB I can have pretty much any combination of mods.

 

What I have tried so far (in no particular order):

• resetting ini files
• removing enb
• not using attklt
• only using a new game
• removing all mods and adding one by one until issue crops up
• running as admin
• watching the papyrus log - it seems relatively clean, no obvious errors right before CTD

Yes, I can run STEP just fine without any issues, but I also never get near 3GB of memory. I have tracked VRAM usage as well and have seen a max of 2.7GB/4GB.

 

As an example of where I might run into issues: I start a new character with Alternate Start. I start with Breezehome. Run out of Whiterun, past the Brewry, up the hill to the bandits. Enter the cave (watching memory usage with Elys MemInfo), and it dies right after I see 3GB. I have this same issue not using AS, sitting through the intro, and then running over to whiterun.

 

I'm sorry if this post is all over the place. I have spent more than a week trying to solve this issue, and the only solution I have found is to reduce memory usage. I have got to the point where I can exchange two texture packs and get into the cave without a CTD, but with both I get a CTD. I didn't even think texture packs should even affect CTDs, but I'm relatively new to Skyrim on the PC, so I could be wrong. I also found I could get a bit further with ENB turned off, but would still crash once I got above 3GB of memory. Finally, if I reload a game after a CTD, I can play just fine...until I reach 3GB of memory.

 

I really hope you guys can help. I more than willing to try anything at this point, besides just disabling all of the mods.

[JVorn]

I am talking about something like spawning 100 werewolves in the middle of Riverwood or something like that. Creating that save game with a bit of instruction on houses to enter and exit in Riverwood to achieve the cap and induce the crash.

 

EDIT: Well, maybe something more benign that werewolves :P

Didn't someone have a script to spawn a crapton of cheese wheels and made a funny vid of it way back when?  Could do something like that but just don't stop spawning until a crash.

[Flytrap]

I just tried this outside Windhelm. I did player.placeatme 64b33 100 (Goat Cheese Wheel) in batches of 2-400, and while it did begin to stutter when they spawned, once they were bouncing down the hill, it smoothed back out. I tried 500 twice, and the first time it slowed way down for a second, and the second time it froze, but that was after about 5000 wheels were already on screen.

 

Results:

1) It was fun.

 

2) As I kind of suspected, RAM usage did not increase during the test. At no point did any resource start to max out, even when I finally locked up. Actually, GPU % and temp actually started to decrease, perhaps because I was opening the console repeatedly, easing its workload. Skyrim PerfMon graph below; test begins around the 650-700 mark, I believe, once I had climbed up the hill.

 

Screenies

Say cheese!:

 

Performance:

 

I believe a successful test might come from a batch file spawning many DIFFERENT items, though. As I eluded to in my last post, I think that a single item is probably only cached in RAM once, which is why I have to enter many different buildings to build up RAM- it is adding only the items I have not yet encountered into RAM at each cell change. Again, this is just a logical opinion based on my own experiences inside and out of Skyrim, not any actual knowledge of Beth coding, but it seems to fit the evidence.

 

-Flytrap

 

 

EDIT: A little more brainstorming about how to set this up. Might be good to make multiple batch files of 50-100 unique items, File1, File2, File3, etc., and fire each one off after the previous items have dumped instead of one giant file with thousands of items because of the lockup I received when spawning too many cheese wheels at once. Just an idea.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

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[DoYouEvenModBro]

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[Flytrap]

Yes, I was only looking for a texture resize. I have not really experimented with the other features. If I did, I would probably go with DDSOpt, as everyone says that does a more reliable job.

 

Actually, if I think about it, just as a fun "let's see what happens," I did do one pass where I enabled everything, and, while performance was definitely improved, there were weird artifacts around road signs and other things that became more apparent with ENB applied. I immediately restored my backup and did not experiment further. It was really just an experiment for curiosity's sake. I had achieved most of what I was looking for through just resizing to the 2K max. I am sure there is further optimization one could do with beneficial results.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

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[DoYouEvenModBro]

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[z929669]

I just tried this outside Windhelm. I did player.placeatme 64b33 100 (Goat Cheese Wheel) in batches of 2-400, and while it did begin to stutter when they spawned, once they were bouncing down the hill, it smoothed back out. I tried 500 twice, and the first time it slowed way down for a second, and the second time it froze, but that was after about 5000 wheels were already on screen.

 

Results:

1) It was fun.

 

2) As I kind of suspected, RAM usage did not increase during the test. At no point did any resource start to max out, even when I finally locked up. Actually, GPU % and temp actually started to decrease, perhaps because I was opening the console repeatedly, easing its workload. Skyrim PerfMon graph below; test begins around the 650-700 mark, I believe, once I had climbed up the hill.

 

Screenies

Say cheese!:

 

Performance:

 

I believe a successful test might come from a batch file spawning many DIFFERENT items, though. As I eluded to in my last post, I think that a single item is probably only cached in RAM once, which is why I have to enter many different buildings to build up RAM- it is adding only the items I have not yet encountered into RAM at each cell change. Again, this is just a logical opinion based on my own experiences inside and out of Skyrim, not any actual knowledge of Beth coding, but it seems to fit the evidence.

 

-Flytrap

 

 

EDIT: A little more brainstorming about how to set this up. Might be good to make multiple batch files of 50-100 unique items, File1, File2, File3, etc., and fire each one off after the previous items have dumped instead of one giant file with thousands of items because of the lockup I received when spawning too many cheese wheels at once. Just an idea.

Great effort

 

I think it would be totally worth while to spawn a bunch of different items using only vanilla at max shadows and res. If we can figure out how to hit 3+ GB and get a crash, that will be pretty definitive evidence.

[torminater]

What about fast travelling? Does it reduce RAM-load or not? If it doesn't we could try to spawn loads of items, fast travelling to another location spawn loads of items there and fast travel back and forth until the engine gives up...

 

Also, if anybody wanted to do some testing in which areas RAM-load is the highest (vanilla Skyrim/all DLC/HiResPack active) we could use those points for the 3GB-overload-test.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

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[WilliamImm]

Is there a link to the bethesda tech support post yet?

No. Only when I get a reply from Bethsoft about this.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

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[Gyro]

 

Is there a link to the bethesda tech support post yet?

No. Only when I get a reply from Bethsoft about this.

Gotchya. Hopefully they'll respond. Gotta make it sound like a vanilla issue that effects users with high-end systems. 

Er, but it's not.  And that would be quite obvious from their perspective.  Misrepresenting the problem is not productive to getting it fixed, I think.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

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[Gyro]

 

 

 

Is there a link to the bethesda tech support post yet?

No. Only when I get a reply from Bethsoft about this.

Gotchya. Hopefully they'll respond. Gotta make it sound like a vanilla issue that effects users with high-end systems. 

Er, but it's not.  And that would be quite obvious from their perspective.  Misrepresenting the problem is not productive to getting it fixed, I think.

Yea, true. Well hopefully we'll be able to reproduce the problem vanilla-wise. 

Given that Skyrim has a memory-leak, I suppose it's possible that you could reproduce it with the hi-res textures packs in a semi-reasonable amount of time.  That would likely still put you in the "non-mainstream user" category as it is likely you would have to be playing continuously for a long, long time...