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

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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.

[exploiteddna]

ummmm. spam much?

[Ellis]

So, I can't be bothered to read through 45 pages. Can someone quickly answer this for me:

 

I have installed most mods from STEP, using super high resolution textures where available. My game CTDs when system RAM usage gets to around 3.1GB as reported by Windows. It seems that there is no fix to let Skyrim use more memory, so instead I want to reduce how much it uses. Should I look at DDSopt or optimising textures in general, or should I just go back and download lower resolution versions of texture mods (say, stick to STEP Baseline)?

 

Thanks

 

System specs btw:

 

i5-2500K @ 4.5GHz

8GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz, 9-9-9-24

64GB Crucial M4 (Windows, Steam, and Skyrim installed on this)

ASUS 7970 Matrix Platinum (3GB, 1100MHz core, 6.6GHz memory)

[deathneko11]

if you have a lot of 2k and 4k textures reduce them to 1k versions or lower, that would be the first thing to do in my book (though others may slightly disagree)

 

you can use a texture optimizer such as DDSopt and it will help reduce memory usage of your current textures.

 

Also look into using ENBoost if you are not already.

[EssArrBee]

If you do not have a ton of gameplay mods added on top STEP then try ENBoost. Our ENB guide should help you get that set up, it is basically ENB with only the memory reducing features. Start with the section that says Using only ENBoost, then the next tab, Installation, has link to a small utility for the [MEMORY] section in enblocal.ini.

[Ellis]

if you have a lot of 2k and 4k textures reduce them to 1k versions or lower, that would be the first thing to do in my book (though others may slightly disagree)

 

you can use a texture optimizer such as DDSopt and it will help reduce memory usage of your current textures.

 

Also look into using ENBoost if you are not already.

 

Thanks. I do have mostly 2k/4k textures because, when downloading them, I thought VRAM would be my main limitation and that I would be fine with 3 gigs (which I am). I hadn't heard about this issue of course :(

If you do not have a ton of gameplay mods added on top STEP then try ENBoost. Our ENB guide should help you get that set up, it is basically ENB with only the memory reducing features. Start with the section that says Using only ENBoost, then the next tab, Installation, has link to a small utility for the [MEMORY] section in enblocal.ini.

 

Thanks, I think I'll look into ENBoost first then. If I can continue using the textures I have and solve some/most/all(!) of my CTDs then that'd be best, of course. Save a lot of time and mean Skyrim continues to look top notch.

[EssArrBee]

ENBoost will help and then what you can do is start reducing the size of a couple mods at a time until the game becomes a bit more stable, and then repeat the process until it is playable.

[phazer11]

You should use ENB. It'll probably drop your FPS a bit but it'll help by keeping your textures and such from loading into your System RAM and keeping it loaded in your VRAM.

As for optimizing you can't go wrong. I'd recommend trying to optimize the versions you have (which should reduce resource usage a bit) and as I said earlier ENB is your friend. You can even use a stripped down ENB version such s ENBoost if you don't want the post processing image corrections.

 

Edit: I was ninja'd by the page not refreshing LMAO >V<

[Ellis]

Sorry not to have updated you, I haven't really been playing Skyrim recently :/

 

I tried ENBoost and so far I haven't had any crashes with it (though I've not played for very long with it). However, it seems to cause the game to generally stutter which is quite annoying in itself. Obviously I need to do some more tweaking but I haven't got around to it yet.

[Agnusthemagi]

I've been using ENBoost with great success, however my game still keeps freezing (not CTD) when approaching open world towns (Riverwood, Falskreath, Morthal, Dawnstar).

Using the Safety Load mod also helps, and even keeps me from freezing near towns, however I get the inventory CTD and menu weirdness so I'm forced to set it to only work on load screens.

I will give a shot at reducing cell buffer from 36 to 24 and see how it goes. Never occurred to me before to try to reduce the buffer.

 

Edit: Reducing the cell buffer to 25 didnt do much. Apparently my save was really doomed. Starting a new game had not one crash in the otherwise critical area (Riverwood-Guardian Stones-Falkreath). Also reduced npc spawning mods (SkyTEST, Immersive Settlements) in favor of Northern Encounters. Only script heavy mod being Wet and Cold.

 

Even running default uGridsToLoad the Stable uGridsToLoad mod seens to help (wasnt running it before).

[Qiane]

 

I'm having a similar issue than what's being discussed here... and I don't have any idea where to go from here. I use NMM, BOSS for load-order (+ checking mod descriptions), and RealVision ENB, apparently with ENB Boost. (+ most mods from here https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/30936/?)

 

My RAM usage seems to stay under 1GB, and crashes occur sometimes even before 900MB. VRAM is around 2GB.

 

I've somehow started to observe, that crashes occur more frequently if I rush too much and game needs to load new areas faster, but just now I was able to ride a horse up to the mountain and Solitude / Whiterun. 

 

Now I added a racemenu precache killer that was supposed to prevent crashes at character creation, but now I seem to crash before I can even approach the Riverwood from start.

 

I'm gonna try to disable that now and see if it helps a bit, but does anyone have any better ideas, as for what could cause this?

 

UPDATE: Disabling the precache killer seemed to cause character creation crash again, but If I complete that quickly enough (it gives you a moment before it crashes) I'm able to walk through Riverwood and roam around the Whiterun...

 

 

UPDATE 2: I just removed all of my ENB files and re-installed my ShowRaceMenu precache killer. Now my RAM usage seems to have gone up significantly (floating around 2GB), but there's no more immediate CTD. Without ENB, I tried to put anisotropic filtering and multisampling on, but with those I seemed to get the CTD immediatelly again.. 

 

UPDATE 3: I re-installed ENB Boost and enbseries v236 file, and those don't seem to cause too much problems just by themselves. Now I'm just hoping I can find some functional preset for it.. that doesn't CTD my game constantly.

 

UPDATE 4: I've now actually got 2 ENBs working properly. Zoners High Performance ENB and Project ENB. I'm starting to believe, my CTD issue might be related to an incompatibility / driver issue with my AMD R9 290 and some specific ENB version / preset files, or maybe the 'recommended' skyrim.ini and skyrimprefs.ini tweaks I downloaded from RealVision nexus site link. I'll experiment with this a bit more...

 

UPDATE 5: Ok, I got the ENB RealVision working now as well. It seems that my issue was just caused and resolved by ini file tweaking.

[phazer11]

We'd need more details. One have or are you using a new game file (if not do so it'll quite possibly fix your problem). Second if the new game doesn't fix it we'd need you to grab the following. (From what I read in your first post you are making new saves so...) and post it as an attachment (preferably in a new thread in this sub-forum)

1. BOSSlog.txt (from wherever you installed BOSS)

2. What Mod Manager are you using Mod Organizer or Wyre Bash?

3. What graphics card do you have and how much VRAM is on it?

 

Edit: Noticed you said you use NMM please ditch it no one here on STEP uses it for the mere fact it can't handle the complexities of larger mod lists such as STEP. My recommendation is to switch to Mod Organizer and install Wyre Bash as an executable. You won't likely get much help around here for NMM since it's stated clearly in the guide to use either Mod Organizer or Wyre Bash.

[overdoSE]

I can not read the whole thread, because I'm at work, but those things read, the cause of the CTD is the RAM that exceeds 3.1 GB?

If so maybe that is the cause of my CTD, I have a Win 7 32-Bit, with a 4 GB RAM (3.44 GB usable only).

But there is a solution for these CTD 3.1 GB of RAM?

[Aiyen]

Get a 64bit system, more RAM, and use ENBoost which allows you some extra playing room in terms of texture memory allowed.

 

For a 32bit system you are sadly extremely limited in what you can do about it!

[overdoSE]

Get a 64bit system, more RAM, and use ENBoost which allows you some extra playing room in terms of texture memory allowed.

 

For a 32bit system you are sadly extremely limited in what you can do about it!

Thanks for the reply, but I can also use this ENBoost with a 32-bit system?

[Aiyen]

I would not recommend it. It is mainly for 64bit systems. Even more so when you only have 4Gb of RAM.