Stuck on Solstheim!!!

[courtofappeal]

I got stuck on Solstheim. I get infinite loading screen when I try to leave Solstheim by whatever means - boat, fast travel or COC command.

 

I posted this on a few places already (https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1088312-cant-leave-solstheim/) and I see that there have been a few postings on this issue on STEP forums as well as elsewhere:

 

https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=3215&highlight=solstheim

https://www.loverslab.com/topic/14804-stuck-in-solstheim/

https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615804-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/65913169

https://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/846944689786087185/

https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/943384-dragonborn-dlc-cant-leave-solstheim/

https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/958571-cant-leave-solstheim-infinite-loading-screen-error/

 

(and more...)

 

And a modder has put out a workaround that apparently works for him and a few other people but not for me - I can go to Candlehearth Hall, but then when I try to leave Candlehearth Hall into Windhelm, guess what, infinite load loop:

 

https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/32245/?

 

 

It doesn't seem like a hugely widespread issue, but certainly common enough to be easily googled up and (should be) a known issue. Apparently it can happen in vanilla Skyrim, and it happens in console versions too.

 

 

I tried everything - removing/adding various ini tweaks that are suggested by posters above, removing/adding other ini tweaks, resetting ini by deleting them and running the skryim launcher, removing the ini altogether, taking the boat, fast travel, console COC command, the mod referred to above, wait for 31 days in game and try again, running the game in borderless window mode, disabling autosave, not being encumbered, latest patch, running the game with no patch, the latest ENB with memory fix, CPU tweaks, memory cleaning software, degragging my HDD, install the latest beta of my video card driver, cleaning the plugins, loading dragonborn.esm at the end of other esms, merged patch, bashed patch, disabling mods with tree LODs (e.g. Skyrimg Flora Overhaul), high-res textures -  I mean everything. I have 8gb ram, radoen hd 9750 with 3gb vram etc etc.

 

 

Now, I should qualify what I just said. I removed all mods and tested this as I was adding a few mods back at a time. With no mods, I can leave Solstheim. Even at ~70 mods, I can still leave Solstheim. The thing is, there are certain mods that cause infinite loading screen when enabled, that are not the usual suspects.

I am still in the process of testing, but so far, enabling any one of the the following mods seems to cause the problem:

 

Immersive patrols

Interesting NPCs

Armonizer

Immersive armors

 

Immersive patrols and Interesting NPCs, maybe (I certainly had some problem with these two mods in the past in certain areas), but I wouldn't have expected Immersive armors and armonizer to cause this sort of problem.

 

Maybe it's not even these mods per se. Maybe it's some kind of weird interaction that these mods have with other mods or with some other part of the game/system.

 

 

I do have quite a few mods installed, and maybe merely going over a certain number of plugins is causing the instability.

 

 

In my time playing Skyrim, I've been able to more or less fix all the issues that came up, even if it took some time. This one doesn't seem like it's gonna go away, and I am tearing up with frustration now. I am actually on the verge of just giving up playing Skyrim altogether now, which I really don't want to. I wanna keep playing, but the frustration is eating me out. I've already put some play time into this and don't want to disable the mods (the ones listed above and other ones that may also cause the problem that I haven't tested yet). Maybe I can just disable the mods, leave Solstheim and re-enable the mods. But I don't want to start corrupting my save by doing this.

I can load a save before going to Solstheim and just ignore Solstheim but I wanna play Dragonborn DLC.

Maybe I can do everything else and come to Solstheim at the very end, and my character can "retire" and settle there for the rest of her life.

 

Whatever, but the problem is problem and I want a fix if at all possible.

 

 

I want to hear other people's experience with this. How often does this happen? How may mods do people have and still have no problem? I especially want to know if people with the four mods listed above have or don't have the problem. What can possibly be the issue? Why is it that I can load cells in between Skyrim locations more or less with no problem but can't load any of the Skyrim cells once I have been to Solstheim? Can someone who knows the inner workings of this game tell me? What could be the root cause? Is a fix for that problem possible? Is Bethesda going to fix it (hah, who are we kidding), can someone else?

 

If there is something I haven't looked at yet and should try. that would be highly appreciated too.

[Aiyen]

If you have isolated the issue to a few mods, then the logical idea would be.... to play without them!

Since I have not seen your mod list then its hard to come with recommendations, but most ILS are due to the game simply being unable to load all assets. Most of the time it helps to reduce memory load...hence stuff that requires loading.

 

The best suggestion other then simply removing a few mods, is to try to mess in detail with the ENB values. It adds another memory allocation code to the game which have helped others. However it is vital to remember that it will not fix silly long mod lists! And you need to find the right settings for your setup, there are no universal "best" settings.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

If you have isolated the issue to a few mods, then the logical idea would be.... to play without them!

Since I have not seen your mod list then its hard to come with recommendations, but most ILS are due to the game simply being unable to load all assets. Most of the time it helps to reduce memory load...hence stuff that requires loading.

 

The best suggestion other then simply removing a few mods, is to try to mess in detail with the ENB values. It adds another memory allocation code to the game which have helped others. However it is vital to remember that it will not fix silly long mod lists! And you need to find the right settings for your setup, there are no universal "best" settings.

Doesn't the ENB Boost aim to fix this? CourtofAppeal. Have you tried that?

[courtofappeal]

Thanks for your replies, and now I just noticed a post like this is on the sticky, so my apologies. When you look far and wide, sometimes something close to you escapes your attention.

 

ENBoost didn't seem to help. Perhaps I need to tinker with the settings a bit, so I think that's what I should do next.

 

Yeah, I suppose in the end, it's either I disable the mods or come back to Solstheim at the very end. I am aware of that but it just seems like a long way to go to identify the mods that are problematic. Besides, I was wondering why mere armor mods would cause this kind of problem. I am not wearing anything from those mods and the NPCs around Soltheim and Windhelm are not wearing them either, as far as I can tell.

 

I am also curious about what might possibly be the cause. Is it just general memory problem? Is there something in the game's code that goes off once you go on Solstheim that can affect this issue? Sure, we all know Skyrim is such a erratic creature, but I just don't get why the loading of the same cell works find when initiated from one place and not when initiated from another. Well, I don't know anything about how codes works so I can't really say, but I would've hoped something gamebreaking like this (as I said, apparently happening in console versions too) should've been fixed. I am surprised that it hasn't been by Bethesda.

[Aiyen]

Hard to say without a complete mod list.

As soon as you get past 200 .esps the game gets rather unstable regardless of what type of mod you put in.

Also even if you are not using a armor, then they are most likely still added to the leveled lists and put into loot etc.

Hence they are in the game.

 

Also about the fixing it.... the problem is not in the console version since that is just vanilla skyrim, and the problem does not happen there. Hence it is not a problem for the unmodded skyrim, which is all Bethesda are obligated to care about.

[bitdman]

I'm beginning to wonder if people aren't confusing ILS with game no longer working or perhaps system lockup????

[DoYouEvenModBro]

I'm pretty convinced ILS from Solstheim to Skyrim is just a vanilla issue. Almost everyone has had it happen at least once.

[courtofappeal]

I'm beginning to wonder if people aren't confusing ILS with game no longer working or perhaps system lockup????

Not sure what you mean by game no longer working, but if you mean game process completely stopping, I see the fogs moving on the load screen. Certainly not a system lockup, although not completely sure what you mean by that either. I can bring up Windows task manager and end Skyrim there. God forbid if anyone had to hard reboot the computer every time something went wrong with Skyrim.

 

Hard to say without a complete mod list.

As soon as you get past 200 .esps the game gets rather unstable regardless of what type of mod you put in.

Also even if you are not using a armor, then they are most likely still added to the leveled lists and put into loot etc.

Hence they are in the game.

 

Also about the fixing it.... the problem is not in the console version since that is just vanilla skyrim, and the problem does not happen there. Hence it is not a problem for the unmodded skyrim, which is all Bethesda are obligated to care about.

As DoYouEvenModBro says, I heard it happen to vanilla skyrim and console versions. Yeah, I suppose it doesn't happen to my game at vanilla state so maybe I can't complain to Bethesda.

 

I currently have around 70 plugins (I started off with around 100, and 70 is where I am during the process of rebuilding things a few by few). Is this the number of mods around which people start having this problem?

 

This is my mod list in case anyone is interested in commenting:

 

# This file was automatically generated by Mod Organizer.

 

Skyrim.esm

Update.esm

Dawnguard.esm

HearthFires.esm

Dragonborn.esm

Falskaar.esm

RaceCompatibility.esm

Skyrim Project Optimization - No Homes - Full Version.esm

ClimatesOfTamriel.esm

Ket_ARMONIZER_v2.esm

Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm

moonpath.esm

SkyMoMod.esm

SPIKE.esm

hdtHighHeel.esm

HighResTexturePackCombined.esp

Brawl Bugs CE.esp

Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp

USKP Patcher for RaceCompatibility.esp

Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp

Unofficial Hearthfire Patch.esp

Unofficial Dragonborn Patch.esp

Unofficial High Resolution Patch.esp

Weapons & Armor Fixes_Remade.esp

Chesko_Frostfall.esp

Better Dynamic Snow.esp

Morning Fogs.esp

Rainbows.esp

RevampedExteriorFog.esp

SplashofRain.esp

IceBreaker's Improved Reverb-v0.02-Cleaned.esp

Improved Combat Sounds v2.2.esp

StaticMeshImprovementMod.esp

StaticMeshImprovementMod-DragonbornTernFix.esp

TradeBarter.esp

83Willows_101BUGS_V4_HighRes.esp

BirdsHFclean.esp

Birdsofskyrim.esp

Chesko_WearableLantern.esp

Chesko_WearableLantern_Guards.esp

Chesko_WearableLantern_Candle_DG.esp

Chesko_WearableLantern_Caravaner.esp

Dead Body Collision.esp

degradation.esp

fFastTravelSpeedMult_4.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Climates of Tamriel - lvl-4.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Climates of Tamriel - lvl-2.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Climates of Tamriel - default.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Climates of Tamriel - lvl-3.esp

Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Climates of Tamriel - lvl-1.esp

manny Lantern Caretakers.esp

PilgrimsDelight.esp

Radiant and Unique Potions Poisons and Booze.esp

Real Wildlife Skyrim 0.1.esp

skyBirds - Airborne Perching Birds.esp

Skyrim Immersive Creatures.esp

Skyrim Immersive Creatures - DLC2.esp

Skyrim Flora Overhaul.esp

Traps Make Noise.esp

Convenient Horses.esp

Auto Unequip Ammo.esp

NoxUE2.00.esp

RaceMenu.esp

RaceMenuPlugin.esp

SkyUI.esp

iHUD.esp

Cloaks.esp

hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp

DeadlyDragons.esp

DeadlyMonsters.esp

moonpath_questdata.esp

When Vampires Attack.esp

Wyrmstooth.esp

Babette.esp

Civil War Overhaul.esp

FalskaarDawnguard.esp

Ket_ARMONIZER_LListsNPC.esp

kuerteeTekuromotosLessPredictableRespawn.esp

kuerteeTekuromotosLessPredictableRespawn MCM.esp

dD-No Twitching Dragon Death Animation.esp

Proper Aiming.esp

SFO - Expanded Diversity.esp

SkyTEST-RealisticAnimals&Predators.esp

UnreadBooksGlow.esp

Helgen Reborn.esp

AIMP - Antz in my Pantz.esp

ClimatesOfTamriel-Dawnguard-Patch.esp

ClimatesOfTamriel-Dragonborn-Patch.esp

HitStop.esp

DeadlyCombat.esp

DragonCombatOverhaulDragonborn.esp

Locational Damage.esp

The Dance of Death - Ultimate Edition.esp

dD-No Spinning Death Animation.esp

TheEyesOfBeauty.esp

AmazingFollowerTweaks.esp

Height Adjusted Races with True Giants - Smaller Giant Edition.esp

CharacterMakingExtender.esp

EnhancedCharacterEdit.esp

WATER.esp

WATER Plants.esp

WATER DB.esp

WATER DB Waves.esp

SKSE Hotkeys.esp

WetandCold.esp

WetandCold - Ashes.esp

Bashed Patch, 0.esp

ASIS.esp

TouringCarriages.esp

MergedPatch.esp

Auto Unequip Shield.esp

BodyChange.esp

Travel By Boat.esp

Windfull Skyrim.esp

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your inputs.

[7hr08ik]

Why are you using all 5 lanterns of skyrim patches? Your only supposed to use 1.....static mesh esp is not needed with the uskp....... As far as know birds of skyrim isn't compatible with skyTEST........ Try taking out little mods, like all 3 bird mods, wet and cold can be a git for script lag, real wildlife, And skyTEST.. Can you do that?, try taking out the fast travel fix, it screwed up my game,

 

Long story short, check for compatibility issues,...... Less mods.... More stability.

 

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Aiyen]

As it has been said... why have 5 of the same when the mod page clearly states you should only use one!

(I assume you have linked the plugins.text which only shows which are active on your load order)

Also lantern care takers... yes its a nice little feature, but are you ever actually at the spots where it works.... when it works? In general why install any mod that is "one event at one time of the day"... its just another script that waits in the background.

 

Also you add many monster altering mods, most of which add new spawns, which is the single most sure way to make your game unstable!

Try to only work with Immersive creatures first, then add in the rest if needed.

My general opinion about SkyTEST is.... do you actually notice it working at all while playing?

I am not talking about the spawns, but the scripts running to alter the animal behavior ?

The spawns alone you can remove by using only the AI version of said mod.

But again... have you ever actually noticed it, or did you just read the description and thought "this sounds cool"?

 

Deadly monsters... as I recall there are some issues with immmersive creatures there. but I might be wrong about that. But even as a stand alone I am sure it was providing issues.

 

In general... your mod list is full of mods that conflict, or needs to be optimized manually to function properly together.

 

First thing to do is get rid of anything that alters the spawns, then add them in when you are sure the rest is working.

 

Edit: Also added spoiler tags to your list! :)

[courtofappeal]

I am not using all of them. They just install together, but I activate only one. I know enough not to activate all of them at the same time (not that that even matters either, besides the potential instability from merely having more plugins - I know that the last one on the load order will simply prevail if you activated all of the Lanterns of Skyrim presets)

plugins.txt of Mod Organizer actually shows all plugins there, active or not.

 

I kinda feel stupid now because I diverted your attention unnecessarily to irrelevant stuff. You will see from the original posting that I consciously and deliberately took pains to tell you that I have ruled out nearly everything by painstakingly listing the postings around the web on this issue and everything I've done (when else have you seen somebody asking a question give such a detailed log of what they did - all too often I see someone asking a question and somebody answering with the most basic things to check - like "did you run BOSS" "did you clean the plugins" "make sure all the master plugins are there" etc... Well, them maybe, but not me.) And where else have you seen the candor of admitting that there's something that the asker has not done yet. That's just in me, and to think that I had people tell me I had unnecessary plugins activated... sigh... I've done enough research, did quite a bit of testing, and I was deliberately trying to limit the scope of my question by telling you what I've already tried and didn't work, what I have yet to do - so as to induce you to tell me what else I should look into.

 

And don't get me wrong, I'm not getting annoyed at anyone or trying to be rude. I feel stupid myself for letting my guard down and not cleaning up that plugin list before pasting it here so as to give someone an opening to deliver an elementary advice such as "why do you have all 5 LOS presets". I still appreciate all your comments and certainly Aiyen and 7hr08ik's comments about monster mods, SkyTest, Lantern Caretakers, Real Wildlife, Wet and Cold are something I will consider.

 

I do notice a bit of change with SkyTest, but I know it's somewhat unstable and maybe not worth the cost. True, never saw the lantern caretakers in game. Was hoping to spot them sometimes, but 5 npcs on the job for the entire Skyrim is not easy to run into I suppose. Monster mods, yes, I think I should consider the stability impact of those. Besides, I am using the non-lore friendly version. I know wet and cold has constantly running script. Same with player headtracking and footprints (which I haven't installed yet precisely because of that).

Convenient horses seems to lag quite a bit for me too, but maybe it's the impact from these other mods. In any case I am not giving that one up even at the cost of some script lag.

 

Anyway, besides these, the mods have generally been optimized myself, to the extent of what my limited knowledge of TES5Edit can do anyway.

Will try removing some mods here, but remember, this load order is the one that works (if you take away Armonizer and Immersive Armors) - I can travel back to Skyrim with this setup (to your horror, yes, I do have more mods that I've been playing with that I haven't installed back as of now pending my testing with this Solstheim issue). So at least as far as the immediate problem is concerned, this mod list is not critically problematic.

[Aiyen]

Sorry if you feel that it is a bit annoying with the "general issues approach"

But most of the time that is in fact what is wrong! :)

Hazard of spending too much time in the troubleshooting forum!

 

Also the plugins.txt file in your profile only shows the .esp´s and .esm´s you have active on that profile currently. Also it shows your sorting. At least that is the intention of it, and it is what it does for me, and also for everyone else I have seen it from!

The modlist.txt show everything. and the same with the loadorder.txt

It is mainly to avoid the "5 lanterns .esps" you might have for testing purposes etc! I know... I have almost all the CoT night levels on my list, but not in my plugins.txt.

 

If you make any other advances, then I hope you want to share! I know many other people would want to play with those mods, and the info might be good if a STEP pack is made based around those mods one day!

 

Any other specific issues you want to discuss then just let us know!

[GrandBulwark]

I'll post this here too. In case it's helpful, these are my test results on the issue.

 

I have your results, although not as conclusive as I should like.

 

First lets talk about what was consistent in each test run.

 

Tests were conducted on the exact same clean save

Test character was created without the mods "Wet and Cold" and it's ashes plugin AND without Solstheim climate overhaul

Each test was conducted by first talking the ship to solstheim, helping captain valeth with the ash spawns(Not completing the quest just getting the journal entry) and then running back to the ship

 

 

Test one, none of the above listed mods:

Able to travel back and forth from solstheim in the default way and via console. No ILSs to report

 

Test Two, All of the above listed mods:

ILSs the first attempt to travel back, didn't attempt via console

 

Test 3, Wet and cold and it's Plugin:

ILSs The first attempt to travel back, didn't attempt via console

 

Test 4, Solstheim Climate overhaul:

Able to travel back and forth from solstheim in the default way and via console. No ILSs to report.

 

I was tempted to say Wet and Cold from the start; however my bias against the mod caused me to hold my tongue. However, the test results conclusively link Wet and Cold, or at least it's ashes Plugin to the ILSs. That said, I'm going to run one final test with JUST wet and cold. I was afraid of that, that means that in order to fix the issue, you'll need to remove the mod. Resulting in a fresh start most likely... Sorry man, wish I had better news. Post the results with just wet and cold in 10 minutes.

Reference thread: https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=1967&pid=51550#pid51550

 

UPDATE:The issue Persists with Just wet and cold without the ashes plugin.

 

UPDATE2: Anyone having the aforementioned ILS issue and doesn't mind sharing their load order (preferably under 100 mods, not required though) please PM me. The issue is NOT from wet and cold specifically, so I would like to find the incompatible mod(s) by cross referencing a load order with a similar issue! Thanks.

[DougalS]

For me it was AOF HD Tree LODs mod. I can reliably travel back with it uninstalled, and get ILS everytime when it is active. Originally I thought it may be WATER or COT, but I can still return with both those installed.

With mods in attached plugins.txt I can reliably return from Solsthiem.

Cheers

plugins.txt