Persistent CTDs in northern Falkreath and Kynesgrove... 3DNPC to Blame??

[gath88]

So, I was upgraded by Steam to the latest version of AE about a month ago. It was *very much* against my will. Since then, I have managed to salvage my saved game and get it into a more or less stable state, as well as even transfer my MO2 instance to a new, beefier, PC.

I thought I was good to actually start playing again... When, while playtesting, I noticed that my game kept crashing while trying to walk from Lakeview Mannor to Markarth, always near the mill on Lake Illinata. It also crashes when trying to either fast travel to Kynesgrove, or when trying to walk there on foot from Windhelm.

I checked the crash logs, and they both seem to indicate NPCs from 3DNPCs as being the problem. 

Crash logs say the following.

Falkreath:

Quote

File: "3DNPC.esp"
        Flags: 0x00030409 kDestructible | kInitialized
        FormID: 0x0F27404C
        FormType: ActorCharacter (62)
    RSI 0x28FC37FF100      (TESNPC*)
        Flags: 0x00000008 
        Name: "Thalmor Justiciar"
        FormID: 0xFF0021D2
        FormType: NPC (43)
        Flags: 0x00000008 kInitialized
        Name: "Thalmor Justiciar"
        FormID: 0xFF0021D2
        FormType: NPC (43)
        GetFullName: "Thalmor Justiciar"

Kynesgrove:

Quote

File: "3DNPC.esp"
        Flags: 0x00030409 
        Name: "Knight of the Eight"
        FormID: 0x0F184AA1
        FormType: ActorCharacter (62)
        Object Reference: 
        Flags: 0x00000008 kInitialized
        Name: "Knight of the Eight"
        FormID: 0xFF002FEF
        FormType: NPC (43)
        ParentCell: ---

For the life of me, I can't figure out what's causing it. It doesn't seem to matter where I move the 3DNPC plug-in in my load order. It still crashes in these two spots. I've tried turning off the files it mentions as being secondary problems - i.e. "LeftHandRingsPatch" was mentioned in the Thalmor Crash - still no dice. It just crashes and the log names something else as the problem. I also don't seem to be missing any 3DNPC Patches that I'm aware of, nor does Loot find any problems.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to just remove 3DNPC from my playthrough, because then my save just CTDs on the load screen.

I've tried looking in SSEedit, but I can't seem to find ANY of the FormIDs listed above in the 3DNPC file structure (though, granted, I'm freaking TERRIBLE with SSEedit, and the program's seemingly useless search function doesn't help). 

It's also weird, because I know for a fact *I already finished* the "Knights of the Eight" quest in Kynesgrove. I'm pretty sure I also already rescued some 3DNPC related character from a bunch of Thalmor in the area of Falkreath that keeps crashing several hours ago.

Are the NPCs causing the crashes corpses that haven't de-spawned, for some reason??? Do I need to be looking for problem NPCs to purge in Resaver instead of SSEedit?

If anyone could give me an idea of what I need to fix here, it'd be much appreciated. 

Load Order 1 - Pastebin.com

crash-2024-08-29-23-45-48.logcrash-2024-08-29-23-30-25.log

Edited August 30 by gath88

[gath88]

20 hours ago, z929669 said:

Try the procedure with the mod containing the missing script errors at the beginning of the log. See about disabling the scripts via the console before making the saves. I don't know offhand what the commands are, but that's where I'd start if I really wanted to rescue a savegame.

Then remove the mod > test. It may take many iterations, or you may need to kill many scripts, so I assume it could be a PITA.

I'm guessing one or two scripts is responsible for invoking a cascade of additional scripts, so I would start with force-stopping the first ones with errors.

Alright, well... I was able to find one potential work around. I can just go back to a save before I finished the quests that seem to be causing the crash. I have tested this, and it seems to work with both CTDs. I even redid one of the quests, and the CTD did not reoccur after completion and fast traveling away and back. That'll cost me a good 20 or so hours of gameplay, but most of that was just OCD player home arranging/ingredient collecting anyway, and it's better than starting over completely.

I have one more, last ditch, thing I can try to save my most current save file. Save Cleaner - CTD Fix and Cell Reset at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)

If that doesn't work, I'll just switch to the older one, and hope I don't run into any *other* places where 3DNPC broke things in the game version change that I haven't encountered yet. 

[z929669]

Try reading about removing problematic mods (particularly mods with scripting queues/events) and creating a clean save.

https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/Guide:Troubleshooting#Mods_and_Savegames

Crash logs don't help me with anything but identifying the mods that are the likely culprits, which you seem to have done already. You need to remove it/them and continue playing.

[gath88]

Got it. I'll go ahead and give that a shot.

[gath88]

On 8/29/2024 at 9:27 PM, z929669 said:

Try reading about removing problematic mods (particularly mods with scripting queues/events) and creating a clean save.

https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/Guide:Troubleshooting#Mods_and_Savegames

Crash logs don't help me with anything but identifying the mods that are the likely culprits, which you seem to have done already. You need to remove it/them and continue playing.

 

No dice, unfortunately. The game just straight up *WILL NOT* let me remove 3DNPC and still load my save. I just get an infinite loading screen when I try to load into my playthrough.

I did do the 31 day waiting procedure in the testing room, and that did seem to resolve a BUNCH of OTHER minor, but annoying, issues, however, which is nice. Still crashing on those two spots though. 

None of the exterior CTD fixes the page suggested seem to apply to me either. I don't even seem to see a line about "VM Freezing" in any of my logs.  Papyrus.0.log

[z929669]

16 minutes ago, gath88 said:

 

No dice, unfortunately. The game just straight up *WILL NOT* let me remove 3DNPC and still load my save. I just get an infinite loading screen when I try to load into my playthrough.

I did do the 31 day waiting procedure in the testing room, and that did seem to resolve a BUNCH of OTHER minor, but annoying, issues, however, which is nice. Still crashing on those two spots though. 

None of the exterior CTD fixes the page suggested seem to apply to me either. I don't even seem to see a line about "VM Freezing" in any of my logs.  Papyrus.0.log

Try the procedure with the mod containing the missing script errors at the beginning of the log. See about disabling the scripts via the console before making the saves. I don't know offhand what the commands are, but that's where I'd start if I really wanted to rescue a savegame.

Then remove the mod > test. It may take many iterations, or you may need to kill many scripts, so I assume it could be a PITA.

I'm guessing one or two scripts is responsible for invoking a cascade of additional scripts, so I would start with force-stopping the first ones with errors.

[gath88]

Yeah... Nope! It's still ****ed. Old save it is!