Reproducible freeze from Riverwood to Bleak Falls

[Braddertt]

Hi guys. I was hoping you'd be able to assist me with a problem I've been having regarding a reproducible CTD occuring anywhere from Riverwood to the Bleak Falls Barrow Entrance.

 

At first I would CTD (Note: CTD. Not freeze) because (I'm pretty sure) of the 3.1GB RAM limit. Reinstalled Skyrim, downgraded all textures to 1024. Solved. Easy.

 

Now though, I freeze. It's fairly bizarre. I know the freeze is about to happen when NPC's don't spawn or LOD textures don't get replaced. The next time I quicksave/autosave/manually save/change cells the game will 100% freeze when I notice these symptoms.

 

I had a very amusing one where Ralof did his scene with Hod and Gerdur while Gerdur wasn't there. He just continued his prompts like she was there.

 

90% of the time though it's on the way to Bleak Falls and there are the three bandits in the tower. Either one of them doesn't spawn/one of them spawns/two of them spawn and I freeze shortly there after trying to save.

 

I've tried removing non-core mods. I have also tried removing the installs that are not STEP related piecemeal and testing each time, but I could never pinpoint down a mod and if I did it would be different every time.

 

Another part of this freeze is that if I reload a save right before the game freezed, I can go and beat Bleak Falls, head back to Riverwood, and have a merry old jolly time. BUT once I head to Windhelm and see the Companions fighting the giant. Boom. Another one of these crashes. If I persist on after that, it will crash in 45 minutes to an hour, normally in combat.

 

In the end though, the thing that got me scratching my head the most is when I installed Alternate Start - Live Another Life I don't get that CTD at Bleak Falls when I get there. If it means anything, when I start using that mod I go from wherever I start straight to Helgen, down to Riverwood and to Bleak Falls. I had a timer going to test this and my playthrough lasted 3 and a half hours before this kind of freeze occured.

 

So suffice it to say I'm baffled. I've struggled with this for a number of weeks now and I'm at my wits end.

 

 

My System Specs

OS: Windows 7 Professional

GPU: EVGA Nvidia GTX 570 /w 2.5GB VRAM

CPU: Intel quad core i7-3770k @ 3.5GHz

Motherboard: Asrock Extreme6 Z77

RAM: 12GB Dual Channel DDR3 RAM @ 674MHz

Skyrim install: SSD

STEP Install: 1024 /w some non-core mods removed (Want to add them back later if this is not a texture related bug)

 

 

Package List (The non-STEP mods are at the very bottom of the list)

 

 

000 - ==2D - Fixes==

++ 001 - Ancient Nord Armor Fix.rar (E600D33A) (Installed)

++ 002 - Appropriately Attired Jarls.7z (1913D0BB) (Installed)

++ 003 - Argonian Decapitation Fix.rar (19B30E6C) (Installed)

++ 004 - Bowlegged Jump Fix.7z (94FAF991) (Installed)

++ 005 - Consistent Older People.7z (3D2ADA97) (Installed)

++ 006 - Dead Body Collision.rar (90EA6685) (Installed)

++ 007 - Dual Sheath Redux.7z (B0F2CBA5) (Installed)

++ 008 - Dual Sheath Redux - Book of Silence.7z (BBD9D857) (Installed)

++ 009 - Dual Sheath Redux - Skyrim Weapon De-LARP.7z (CDE810B0) (Installed)

++ 010 - Dual Sheath Redux - Skyrim Redone.7z (7BE28FF9) (Installed)

++ 011 - Elys AltF4.rar (DE7242F8) (Installed)

++ 013 - Fuz Ro D'oh.zip (E5C7ACC9) (Installed)

++ 014 - Nitpick.zip (9E668EC5) (Installed)

++ 015 - Tail Twist Fix.7z (6F9C513F) (Installed)

++ 016 - Unofficial Skyrim Patch.7z (A193EFF9) (Installed)

++ 017 - Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.7z (46729B82) (Installed)

++ 018 - Unofficial Hearthfire Patch.7z (792975B3) (Installed)

++ 019 - Unofficial Dragonborn Patch.7z (46964661) (Installed)

++ 020 - Unofficial High Resolution Patch.7z (E4D466EE) (Installed)

++ 021 - Acquisitive Soul Gems.zip (1FDE57D2) (Installed)

++ 022 - Distant Decal Fix.7z (FF2133A7) (Installed)

++ 023 - Even Better Quest Objectives.7z (AB599BD5) (Installed)

++ 024 - Even Better Quest Objectives - Dawnguard.7z (B4C0A06A) (Installed)

++ 025 - Even Better Quest Objectives - Hearthfire.7z (407EE9D3) (Installed)

++ 026 - Even Better Quest Objectives - Paarthurnax.7z (596C0600) (Installed)

++ 027 - Even Better Quest Objectives - Non-Essential Children.7z (F0489D51) (Installed)

++ 028 - Even Better Quest Objectives - Skyrim Redone.7z (7BE28FF9) (Installed)

++ 029 - Realistic Ragdolls & Force.rar (6520968D) (Installed)

++ 030 - Maximum Skeleton.7z (A593A9D7) (Installed)

++ 031 - Maximum Skeleton - Magic Shield Arm Patch.7z (58C343A3) (Installed)

032 - ==2E - Interface==

++ 033 - Altar Descriptions.7z (ED4BB953) (Installed)

++ 034 - Better Dialogue Controls.zip (25A02B05) (Installed)

++ 035 - Better MessageBox Controls.zip (A52D4AF0) (Installed)

++ 036 - Categorized Favorites Menu.zip (5032772B) (Installed)

++ 037 - CFM-Oni Edition.rar (19142818) (Installed)

++ 038 - Disease Descriptions.7z (6029E08D) (Installed)

++ 039 - Immersive HUD.rar (8DD3D589) (Installed)

++ 040 - Lockpicking Interface.rar (95212C76) (Installed)

++ 041 - Lore-Based Loading Screens.zip (C44A9B47) (Installed)

++ 042 - Main Font Replacement.rar (F1D6059A) (Installed)

++ 043 - No Boring Wait Menu.7z (BA803B0F) (Installed)

++ 044 - Race Menu.7z (3DCA9484) (Installed)

++ 045 - Simple Crosshair.rar (8FB3F6E0) (Installed)

++ 046 - Skill Interface.7z (6A7622FC) (Installed)

++ 047 - Skill Interface - Dawnguard.7z (00CED153) (Installed)

++ 048 - SkyUI.7z (F68B8DB2) (Installed)

++ 049 - Smaller Cursor.rar (38D536E5) (Installed)

++ 050 - Unique Region Names.zip (75ADB3B0) (Installed)

++ 051 - Unique Region Names - Dragonborn.zip (0E71DBFD) (Installed)

052 - ==2F - Conflicting Graphics==

++ 053 - HRDLC Optimized.7z (643AADBF) (Installed)

++ 054 - HRDLC Optimized - Unofficial Patch Compatibility.7z (4CEB4E15) (Installed)

++ 055 - Better Dynamic Snow.7z (6D74F16A) (Installed)

++ 056 - No Stretching.7z (5A790FEA) (Installed)

++ 057 - Ruins Clutter Improved.7z (5A086E20) (Installed)

++ 058 - Better Rocks and Mountains.rar (362FF353) (Installed)

++ 059 - Static Mesh Improvement Mod.7z (1EF96885) (Installed)

++ 060 - Skyrim HD - Dungeons.7z (B5CE185E) (Installed)

++ 061 - Skyrim HD - Landscape.7z (AFEB618D) (Installed)

++ 062 - Skyrim HD - Misc.7z (E74ABA44) (Installed)

++ 063 - Skyrim HD - Towns.7z (33EC8BC6) (Installed)

++ 064 - Serious HD.rar (B3D651EE) (Installed)

++ 065 - Serious HD - Riften.rar (6B757BA0) (Installed)

++ 066 - Tobe's Hi-Res Textures.rar (EFADD0A9) (Installed)

++ 067 - Tobe's Hi-Res Textures - SMIM Patch.rar (F1587EE5) (Installed)

068 - ==2G - Landscape & Environment==

++ 069 - Snow and Rocks HD.zip (1507BFC3) (Installed)

++ 070 - AOF Detailed Mountains.rar (D329B4DF) (Installed)

++ 071 - AOF Farmhouses.rar (90C50638) (Installed)

++ 072 - Skyrim Flora Overhaul.7z (5638BF8D) (Installed)

++ 073 - Distant Detail.zip (7AE9614F) (Installed)

++ 074 - Footprints.7z (ACCFCDAB) (Installed)

++ 075 - Footprints - Ash Supplemental.7z (D5E8FB9F) (Installed)

++ 076 - HD Enhanced Terrain.rar (86CB58B1) (Installed)

++ 077 - Hybrid's Plants & Herbs.zip (B728883A) (Installed)

++ 078 - Moss Rocks.7z (44FEF2E2) (Installed)

++ 079 - Point The Way.7z (1A3349EE) (Installed)

++ 080 - Real Ice.7z (926CCF20) (Installed)

++ 081 - Re-Defined Dungeons.zip (F379A342) (Installed)

++ 082 - Trees HD.7z (49D6AC80) (Installed)

++ 083 - WATER.7z (B45BA714) (Installed)

++ 084 - WATER - Dragonborn.7z (36FE943B) (Installed)

085 - ==2H - Characters & Creatures==

++ 086 - Bellyache's Creature Pack.zip (7CD4A585) (Installed)

++ 087 - Realistic Hair.rar (8E0DBE20) (Installed)

++ 088 - AOF Believable Hair.rar (AAB9AF67) (Installed)

++ 089 - Beards.rar (821C33E6) (Installed)

++ 090 - Better Beast Races.7z (B42C5C71) (Installed)

++ 091 - Brows.rar (4B76EA03) (Installed)

++ 092 - Cover Khajiits.7z (0B859526) (Installed)

++ 093 - Improved Foot Wraps.rar (0FC5E3F2) (Installed)

094 - ==2I - Clothing & Equipment==

++ 095 - Accingite Vos.rar (550A334F) (Installed)

++ 096 - Book of Silence - Weapons.7z (FC5D1506) (Installed)

++ 097 - Book of Silence - Armors.zip (A0F36911) (Installed)

++ 098 - Book of Silence - Unique Items.zip (93370ADA) (Installed)

++ 099 - Closer Quivers & Longer Arrows.7z (FDF40CAC) (Installed)

++ 100 - Weapon De-LARP Project.7z (505670B5) (Installed)

++ 101 - Weapon De-LARP Project - Dawnguard.7z (C160E062) (Installed)

++ 102 - Weapon De-LARP Project - Dragonborn.7z (3ED3CBE2) (Installed)

++ 103 - Greatsword Sheaths & Scabbards.rar (27BA45B6) (Installed)

++ 104 - Greatsword Sheaths & Scabbards - Dawnguard.rar (ECC23338) (Installed)

++ 105 - Greatsword Sheaths & Scabbards - Dragonborn.rar (33D031FB) (Installed)

++ 106 - Jewels of the Nord.rar (DD48596B) (Installed)

++ 107 - Ultimate HD Torch.rar (149C2A48) (Installed)

++ 108 - Ultimate HD Torch - Less Glowing Cloth.rar (0F573003) (Installed)

109 - ==2J - Animations & Effects==

++ 110 - Burn Freeze & Shock Effects.rar (5DB813AE) (Installed)

++ 111 - Burn Freeze & Shock Effects - Dragonborn & Dawngaurd.rar (A9D5572C) (Installed)

++ 112 - Deadly Spell Impacts.7z (6AA6300D) (Installed)

++ 113 - Enhanced Blood.rar (465B8248) (Installed)

++ 114 - Enhanced Blood - 1024 Textures.rar (2A562316) (Installed)

++ 115 - Enhanced Blood - Blurry Screen Blood.rar (A7B40258) (Installed)

++ 116 - Enhanced Blood - DLC Patch.rar (3ACA792D) (Installed)

++ 117 - Enhanced Projectile Soul Trap.rar (C5F82F49) (Installed)

++ 118 - No Spinning Death Animation.rar (376CC873) (Installed)

++ 119 - No Twitching Dragon Death Animation.rar (28851275) (Installed)

++ 120 - Realistic Smoke & Embers.7z (8D884F22) (Installed)

++ 121 - Skyrim Performance Plus - Pine Needles.zip (8C9F14DE) (Installed)

++ 122 - Skyrim Performance Plus - Rainfall.zip (2CA6E58F) (Installed)

++ 123 - Skyrim Performance Plus - Snowfall.zip (393C6BAB) (Installed)

++ 124 - Skyrim Performance Plus - Rift Super Performance.zip (3FAEE6C4) (Installed)

++ 125 - Ultimate HD Fire Effects.rar (3FF72ADC) (Installed)

++ 126 - Ultimate HD Fire Effects - SMIM Compatible Meshes.rar (C85956B8) (Installed)

127 - ==2K - Clutter & Miscellaneous==

++ 128 - Designs of The Nords.zip (865B3FA9) (Installed)

++ 129 - Detailed Rugs.7z (815D8B12) (Installed)

++ 130 - Intricate Spider Webs.7z (8EE789D1) (Installed)

++ 131 - New Thinner Torch.rar (AD037FD8) (Installed)

++ 132 - Realistic Paper.rar (D2C05120) (Installed)

++ 133 - Silly Level of Detail - Poisons.rar (F12CC516) (Installed)

++ 134 - Silly Level of Detail - Potions.rar (E92A3C49) (Installed)

++ 135 - Silly Level of Detail - Wine Cellar.rar (00D5DD67) (Installed)

++ 136 - Silly Level of Detail - Less Saturated Labels.rar (ACAC3F32) (Installed)

137 - ==2L - Sound==

++ 138 - Activate Fail Noise Removal.zip (53477ED3) (Installed)

++ 139 - Ambient Seagulls.rar (8E61374F) (Installed)

++ 140 - Better Animal Footsteps.rar (6BA48A93) (Installed)

++ 141 - Better Bards.rar (7AD5498C) (Installed)

++ 142 - Better Horse Pain Sounds.zip (99C40C72) (Installed)

++ 143 - Better Weapon Swings.zip (E0A91400) (Installed)

++ 144 - Clanking Armor.rar (2426784E) (Installed)

++ 145 - Heart of the Beast.rar (1D6D354A) (Installed)

++ 146 - Improved Combat Sounds.zip (DF7E84EB) (Installed)

++ 147 - Improved Horse Steps.zip (5A3316AA) (Installed)

++ 148 - Realistic Bow Sounds.rar (230DD09B) (Installed)

++ 149 - Realistic Crossbow Sounds.rar (24A5031A) (Installed)

++ 150 - Realistic Wolf Howls.rar (21908E43) (Installed)

++ 151 - Roosters At Dawn.7z (AA779E39) (Installed)

++ 152 - Silent Skyrim.rar (32F462AD) (Installed)

++ 153 - Smooth Blade Draw & Sheathe.zip (4F7FC362) (Installed)

154 - ==2M - Gameplay==

++ 155 - Auto Unequip Ammo.zip (233AEAAE) (Installed)

++ 156 - Bring Out Your Dead.7z (E5C4A6B2) (Installed)

++ 157 - Convenient Horses.zip (9050033B) (Installed)

++ 158 - Dark Brotherhood to Misc.rar (AF23B74F) (Installed)

++ 159 - Disable Thieves Guild Autostart.zip (C7A7C704) (Installed)

++ 160 - Dynamic Fires.zip (9E40EA93) (Installed)

++ 161 - Gildergreen Regrown.7z (1DC60326) (Installed)

++ 162 - Guard Dialogue Overhaul.7z (9312F5D1) (Installed)

++ 163 - Guard Dialogue Overhaul - Skyrim Redone Patch.7z (C82BA72F) (Installed)

++ 164 - Lock Overhaul.rar (9B6CD56B) (Installed)

++ 165 - Move It Dammit.zip (AD5E1AC0) (Installed)

++ 166 - No NPC Greetings.7z (8786340C) (Installed)

++ 167 - Non-Essential Children.zip (0BFF7341) (Installed)

++ 168 - Paarthurnax Dilemma.7z (0141AAF1) (Installed)

++ 169 - Realistic Crime Radius.zip (58E179F8) (Installed)

++ 170 - Run For Your Lives.7z (FF30C4FD) (Installed)

++ 171 - Skyrim Uncapper.rar (BA0F562D) (Installed)

++ 172 - Traps Make Noise.zip (B1FD74BB) (Installed)

++ 173 - Wearable Lanterns.zip (019F9008) (Installed)

++ 174 - Lanterns for Caravans.zip (1ABE24BB) (Installed)

++ 175 - Lanterns for Guards.zip (656D347C) (Installed)

++ 176 - When Vampires Attack.7z (20192931) (Installed)

++ 177 - Wet and Cold.7z (E5654E92) (Installed)

++ 178 - Wet and Cold - Ashes.7z (DF451CA6) (Installed)

179 - ==2N - Dies Ist Miene Mods==

-- 180 - Alternate Start - Live Another Life.7z (1DF91350) (Not Installed)

++ 181 - 360 Walk Run Plus.7z (DA302B5A) (Installed)

++ 182 - Skyrim Monster Mod.rar (26DE94EE) (Installed)

++ 183 - Skyrim Monster Mod - DLC Patches.rar (03041E82) (Installed)

++ 184 - Deadly Dragons.7z (3A68836F) (Installed)

++ 185 - Skyrim Redone.7z (11C04D1C) (Installed)

++ 186 - Skill Interface - Skyrim Redone.rar (C9917BF4) (Installed)

++ 187 - ReProccer.7z (5F5864DB) (Installed)

++ 188 - Balbor and Steelsouls ReProccer Patch.rar (8D9A9701) (Installed)

++ 189 - Player Headtracking.zip (67C55897) (Installed)

++ 190 - No Kill Moves.7z (E5E9733D) (Installed)

++ 191 - Climates of Tamriel.zip (8ABDD1D6) (Installed)

++ 192 - Climates Of Tamriel - Dawnguard Patch.zip (9D7312A5) (Installed)

++ 193 - Climates Of Tamriel - Dragonborn Patch.zip (9FFF2A85) (Installed)

++ 194 - Climates Of Tamriel - Sounds.zip (DD71228E) (Installed)

++ 195 - Real Shelter.7z (24EAF9C0) (Installed)

++ 196 - SkyRealism - Time and Travel.7z (4B994C60) (Installed)

++ 197 - SkyRealism - Simple Save System.7z (C270C763) (Installed)

++ 198 - Think To Yourself Messages.rar (A6E8602F) (Installed)

199 - ==Last==

 

 

 

Plugin order (BOSS used, TES5Edit cleaned all plugins that BOSS notified me about. Bashed patch used to merge Leveled lists only)

 

 

00  Skyrim.esm

01  Update.esm

02  Dawnguard.esm

03  HearthFires.esm

04  Dragonborn.esm

05  ClimatesOfTamriel.esm

06  SkyMoMod.esm

07  SPIKE.esm

08  HighResTexturePack01.esp

09  HighResTexturePack02.esp

0A  HighResTexturePack03.esp

0B  Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp  [Version 1.3.1a]

0C  Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp  [Version 1.2.1]

0D  Unofficial Hearthfire Patch.esp  [Version 1.1.0]

0E  Unofficial Dragonborn Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.3]

0F  Unofficial High Resolution Patch.esp  [Version 1.1.1]

10  Better Dynamic Snow.esp

11  BWS.esp

12  Clanking Armor.esp

13  ClimatesOfTamriel-Sound.esp

14  IHSS.esp

15  Improved Combat Sounds v2.2.esp

16  Rooster At Dawn v1.0.esp

17  BLESSINGS - Altar Descriptions.esp

18  Bring Out Your Dead.esp  [Version 1.1.6]

19  Chesko_WearableLantern.esp

1A  Chesko_WearableLantern_Guards.esp

1B  Chesko_WearableLantern_Caravaner.esp

1C  dbmisc.esp

1D  Dead Body Collision.esp

1E  Disease Descriptions.esp

1F  DD_Dawnguard Additions.esp

20  DD_Dragonborn Additions.esp

21  Dual Sheath Redux.esp

22  Moss Rocks.esp

23  Point The Way.esp  [Version 1.0.1a]

24  RealShelter.esp

25  LF-Skymo-Dawn.esp

26  Skyrim Flora Overhaul.esp

27  Traps Make Noise.esp

28  Convenient Horses.esp

29  Auto Unequip Ammo.esp

2A  Chesko_LoreBasedLoadingScreens.esp

2B  Footprints.esp

2C  Footprints - Ash.esp

2D  RaceMenu.esp

2E  SkyRealism - Simple Save System - 2 min.esp  [Version 1.0]

2F  WetandCold.esp

30  WetandCold - Ashes.esp

31  SkyUI.esp

32  iHUD.esp

33  aMidianborn_Skyforge_Weapons.esp

34  DragonbornArmorFix.esp

35  Lock Overhaul.esp

36  DeadlyDragons.esp

37  SkyRe_Main.esp

38  SkyRe_Combat.esp

39  SkyRe_CraftingFix.esp

3A  SkyRe_EnemyAI.esp

3B  SkyRe_EnemyScaling.esp

3C  SkyRe_StandingStones.esp

3D  Gildergreen Regrown.esp  [Version 1.2.5]

3E  Run For Your Lives.esp  [Version 1.2.1]

3F  When Vampires Attack.esp  [Version 1.0.1]

40  The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp  [Version 1.2.3]

41  Appropriately Attired Jarls Redux.esp

42  BetterQuestObjectives.esp

43  BetterQuestObjectives-Dawnguard.esp

44  BetterQuestObjectives-Hearthfire.esp

45  BetterQuestObjectives-PaarDilemmaPatch.esp

46  BetterQuestObjectives-SkyRePatch.esp

47  Distant DetailHF.esp

48  dynamic fires.esp

49  Guard Dialogue Overhaul.esp

4A  Headtracking.esp

4B  dD-No Twitching Dragon Death Animation.esp

4C  NonEssentialChildren.esp

4D  BetterQuestObjectives-NECPatch.esp

4E  SFO - Expanded Diversity.esp

4F  dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp

50  dD-Dragonborn-Dawnguard-EBT Patch.esp

51  Thieves Guild Requirements.esp

52  Unique Region Names.esp

53  Unique Region Names - Dragonborn.esp

54  ClimatesOfTamriel-Dawnguard-Patch.esp

55  ClimatesOfTamriel-Dragonborn-Patch.esp

56  ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons-Hardcore.esp

57  ClimatesOfTamriel-Interiors-Warm.esp

58  ClimatesOfTamriel-Nights-Level-6.esp

59  dD - Realistic Ragdoll Force - Realistic.esp

5A  SkyRealism - Time and Travel.esp  [Version 1.2.]

5B  BFSEffects.esp

5C  DeadlySpellImpacts.esp

5D  Realistic crime report radius.esp

5E  No Kill Moves.esp

5F  GDO_Plugin_SkyRe.esp

60  Acquisitive Soul Gems.esp

61  Enhanced Soul Trap.esp

62  dD-No Spinning Death Animation.esp

63  Beards.esp

64  Brows.esp

65  Slightly Reduced Distance NPC Greetings.esp

66  SPTConsistentOlderPeople.esp  [Version 1.4]

67  TTYM - Think to Yourself Messages.esp

68  moveitLWT.esp

69  SkyRe_Races.esp

6A  WATER.esp

6B  WATER Plants.esp

6C  WATER DB Waves.esp

6D  Bashed Patch, 0.esp

6E  Dual Sheath Redux Patch.esp

6F  ReProccer.esp

70  ReProccerNONPLAYERfix.esp

71  ReProccerDragonborn.esp

 

 

 

EDIT: Sorry forgot to mention I didn't add a Papyrus log because I tried that and it's different every time. I can add one if requested.

 

Thanks for reading all the way down here!

[haelfix]

That spot and the giant spot, are loading zones where the game has to hold two different cells in memory.  If you follow your memory and VRAM usage, you'll find that it spikes dramatically in those spots.  Even if you are well under the 3.1 threshold, there can be instances where say a 2.3-2.4 gb load can spike up to that high.  That's why the 3.1 threshold is so annoying.  It means you can't go over the 2gb memory threshold much at all (i'd try to stay at 2.3 gb avg max).

 

I strongly believe there are bugs there as well, as it seems that scripts that are operating when the memory use goes high, miss calls and start looping (further compounding the problem and stuttering).

[Braddertt]

Interesting. So scripts can be an issue with the game as well? Is that why when I tried removing my non-STEP mods the issue would resolve? I could remove any combination of those mods and my game would not crash there.

 

I was thinking it was an engine issue, and I was so confused when people were running full STEP 1024 installs with no problems whatsoever.

 

I'll try to get rid of some extraneous mods to make it stable. It seems I might have to make some sacrifices if I want Skyrim Monster Mod, Skyrim Redone, Deadly Dragons and Climates of Tamriel to work together.

[haelfix]

Its really memory that is often (but not necessarily) the culprit.  The scripts are usually just the straw that breaks the camels back.  

 

One thing you can try is to remove all the big texture packs (eg texture combiner, SRO, SHO) and run through the same spot.  If it's seemless then you know its a memory problem.

 

At that point, there are DDSOPT options and so forth that you can try.

[Braddertt]

Alright thanks for the help. I'm going to take a stab at this tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

[rootsrat]

With all the texture mods downgraded to 1K memory should not be a problem though, should it? I use mixture of 1K and 2K packs (full STEP set up + many more mods, over 360 mods in total - ran on 4GB RAM and 2GB VRAM rig) and I don't come across any CTDs or freezes (I experience random performance drops during intetrior->exterior transitions, but that's another story).

 

Which mod manager do you use? When you downgraded all the graphic mods, did you do clean install, or just reinstalled the mods?

[Braddertt]

I did a clean install. I use wrye bash.

Could it be script lag? Or an incompatibility of some sort? I am pretty ambitious with the overhaul mods I'm using, I think.

 

UPDATE: Uninstalled Skyrim HD and SRO and did the test run again and it crashed. It must be something stupid I've done. Jeez. Thanks for the help guys. I guess what is so hard to track down with this crash is that it's so inconsistent. Man.

 

UPDATE 2: I just installed the package list above (Causes crash) and didn't get a crash. I don't get it.

[Aiyen]

This is also why running the main quest straight up to the first dragon is such a powerful bench-marking route.

 

There are so many things loading and scripts running etc. that it really puts your setup to the test.

 

If you are able to run (IE no fast travel at all) the entire route up to the first dragon kill with no CTD, but perhaps a freeze or two then you got a really stable setup. (The freezes are due to scripts failing and nothing can really be done about it.. it can happen at all times when you play with many mods. Though some mods are more notorious then others.)

If you get 1 CTD then yes you got a slight memory issue, but this could be solved if you just save and quit to menu on a regular basis when you travel. This cleans up all unrequired textures etc.

If you get 2-3 CTD then you most likely have memory and also script issues...

 

If you CTD more, then you got a massive memory problem.

[MontyMM]

I would just add that 3.1GB is not the key figure for the possible memory related crashes. I think that was just the rough figure identified in the original post on the subject. It's a fuzzy limit around 3GB. I did a fair bit of testing, and I could reproduce crashes as low as 2.8GB

[Braddertt]

Just did two final tests, reinstalled all of my non-step mods and didn't get a crash on both occasions. I believe, with my unfortunate luck, managed to somehow install those mods wrongly on two separate occasions, causing a script or three to go haywire whenever playing, resulting in a spectacular memory leak. (Or something along those lines)

 

Installing them wrongly on two separate occasions caused me to go through a massive goose chase through the STEP guide, uninstalling and downgrading mods left and right, to no avail. Because SURELY I installed them right the second time, right? That was my reasoning.

 

Anyway, thanks again for all the help guys. You do great work here.