Game not launching when adding new mod

[Flo1887]

I finally managed to set up Steps Guide. The game starts when launched through SKSE launcher and everything seems to be working. However upon enabling any additional mod (I tried several one by one I.e. immersive creatures, Winterhold Restored, interesting NPCs), the game simply does not start. 
 

I sorted with Loot and resolved any yellow mistakes with xEdit. Can anybody tell me what to do in order to safely add mods? 
 

thanks a lot! 

[z929669]

  On 9/10/2023 at 10:12 PM, Flo1887 said:

I finally managed to set up Steps Guide. The game starts when launched through SKSE launcher and everything seems to be working. However upon enabling any additional mod (I tried several one by one I.e. immersive creatures, Winterhold Restored, interesting NPCs), the game simply does not start. 
 

I sorted with Loot and resolved any yellow mistakes with xEdit. Can anybody tell me what to do in order to safely add mods? 
 

thanks a lot! 

Expand  

I don't have any direct experience with any of those mods, but the most likely reason is one or more plugin conflicts. You would need to research each mod to understand what it changes and load any of these mods against the functional Step install. Then you would first note any warnings found by MO. Given there are none, you would need to sort with LOOT and load up xEdit to look at each of the conflicts to resolve them. Most likely, you would need to create a patch(es).

Others around here likely have experience with one of these mods and how it might cause this problem with our build.

[Greg]

I'm not familiar with the first two, but I used Interesting NPCs years ago and I can't think of anything that would cause the game to not start unless you have some of the patches installed without the required masters or something is wrong with your Step profile. The first step is look through the list of plugins in the right pane to see if any plugins have a triangular "caution" icon with an exclamation mark. If yes, hover over the icon to see the list of missing masters.

Just off the top of my head, you should install Interesting NPCs 3DNPC, Interesting NPCs - 4.5 to 4.54 Update, Interesting NPCs SE - Alternative Locations - Flagged (resolves conflicts with Alternate Start - Live Another Life), Interesting NPCs SE - Cutting Room Floor SSE Patch, and Interesting NPCs SE - TK Children Patch SE Patch - Flagged ESL (meshes and textures only). Also download 3DPNC Patches - FOMOD from Interesting NPCs (3DNPC) - Patch Collection for the AI Overhaul patch.

I seem to recall there is a creation club patch for Interesting NPCs available on Nexus, but this is needed only if you are using survival mode.

[Mousetick]

I don't know what "game does not start" means exactly.

I use Interesting NPCs. All patches mentioned by Greg above are good, except the correct patch for children faces is not TK Children but Simple Children. The patch for 3DNPCs is in Simple Children's FOMOD (patch plugin, meshes and textures are needed).

Perhaps the failure are caused by your changes in xEdit. Try the mod and patches "as is" first, without fiddling with anything in xEdit.

Also disable DynDOLOD while adding and testing new mods. Then re-enable, or re-generate.

Clean any plugin or patch added to your load order with xEdit.

[Flo1887]

Game not starts means I try to use the SKSE launcher, it loads for a few seconds and then just stops. So Skyrim doesn’t open nor do I get an error message or anything else 

[Mousetick]

How does it stop loading? Does it quit, and control is returned to MO2? Or does it hang indefinitely?

In the former case, check whether a crash log is generated.

Could be caused by missing masters, errors in plugins, uncleaned plugins, or using LE plugins with SE.

 

[z929669]

Crash logs should be in ..\Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\

Crash logs will be in the SKSE folder, but other logs may be in other folders too.

[Flo1887]

This seems to be the latest crash log. Is this the error: Unhandled exception "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION" at 0x7FF78B21B12F SkyrimSE.exe+0C7B12F    mov r15d, [r14+0x3FC]? And if so what does it mean?

 

As for the question how it stops loading: game window doesnt even open, a black frame is just appearing for about half a second on approx. 50% of the screen. Then it quits the "Mod organiser is locked" screen and returns control to me 

crash-2023-09-13-06-35-47.logFetching info... crash-2023-09-13-06-35-47.logFetching info...

Edited September 13, 2023 by Flo1887

[Mousetick]

Apparently it crashes when opening or reading the file 3DNPC.bsa.

Mine looks like this:

and its CRC32 checksum is 1132B384.

Yours should have exactly the same size in bytes (i.e. 2,117,416,854), modified date (i.e. 2022-08-18 4:04:58) and CRC32 (1132B384).

To get the CRC32 checksum of a file, open 7-Zip File Manager, navigate to the folder containing that file, right-click on the file, select CRC > CRC-32:

[Flo1887]

That was actually really helpful thank you. I was able to start the game without hiccups. 

I added some survival mods and Loot says there is a cycle error. I am unsure how to remove it, Screenshots attached 

[Flo1887]

Update: Solved it 

[z929669]

  On 9/13/2023 at 9:24 PM, Flo1887 said:

Update: Solved it 

Expand  

Can you tell us about how you solved each issue?

[Mousetick]

  On 9/13/2023 at 8:57 PM, Flo1887 said:

That was actually really helpful thank you. I was able to start the game without hiccups. 

Expand  

How? What did you do to resolve the issue and start the game without hiccups?

  On 9/13/2023 at 8:57 PM, Flo1887 said:

I added some survival mods and Loot says there is a cycle error.

Expand  

Your first LOOT screenshot shows you have 1 dirty plugin. This indicates you're apparently ignoring suggestions and advice we've given you, such as cleaning all newly added plugins with xEdit.

Your second LOOT screenshot shows you've used the 'Sort' button in MO2. Don't do that. Never do that. Only sort with the external LOOT tool, via MO2's 'Run' button.

Use the STEP Guide as a "best practice" reference and as a template for installing new mods. If you keep doing things "your way" and disregarding the guide methodology, then you have learned nothing from the guide and you'll keep making mistakes, running into issues.

Only after you have accumulated enough experience and are comfortable troubleshooting issues on your own, then you can start doing things "your way".

[Flo1887]

I had to reinstall the mods and patches that were causing the cycle error. 

As to the dirty plugin, I have enabled and disabled a few mods by than to see where the error is. Other than that I have always ensured to clean every plugin via xEdit. It currently shows 0 dirty plugins

[Mousetick]

Ok, thanks for following up.

Would you mind describing what was the actual problem with Interesting NPCs and how you resolved it so that the game would start "without hiccups"?

Greg, Z and I have made some efforts to help you with your issue. I spent some time reading and analyzing your crash log, which pointed to 3NPC.bsa.

Please be considerate and respond. Not just for us, but for the benefit of others, who may run into the same issue. Interesting NPCs is a pretty good (IMHO) and popular mod.