Help a n00b with TES5Edit

[p4ck3tl055]

I've been using STEP since almost the day I started playing Skyrim in 2012. One thing that has scared me to death is TES5Edit. I'm always afraid I'll royally screw things up with it.  So, I've avoided it - like the plaque.  Now, I'm sick of CTD.  I know there is no cure for them, but I would love to be able to minimize them.  So, with that in mind, I'm here asking for someone to help the n00b.

 

I've watched Gopher's video on TES5Edit - where he cleans the official master files (here).  I found STEP's TES5Edit guide (here). It all looks pretty simple.  Is this really all there is to it?  Run BOSS, identify the mods that need cleaned, run the cleaning as described above?

 

A question concerning the use of TES5Edit and ModOrganizer:  I use MO to run multiple playthroughs simultaneously.  (i.e. two or three characters)  I do have one profile that I call "testing" where I try new mods out before I apply them to the other profiles.  If I "clean" mods with the "testing" profile, should I then just need to activate them in the other profiles?

[p4ck3tl055]

Something else to confuse the issue a bit more.  I found a mod called "Memory Block Log" (link) that tracks the use of the two blocks of memory the "memory patch" is supposed to fix.  With SKSE 1.7 Alpha, no matter where I put the SKSE.INI file Skyrim always started with 512MB/256MB for the blocks.  So I reverted back to SKSE 1.6.16 and added SSME, set the INI file to use 768/256 and started a game.  When I looked at the log again, this time it reported the proper memory sizes for the blocks.  I've not had a chance to test it extensivley since it's late.  But I continue that test tomorrow morning.

 

BTW, I installed and have BUM working, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to use the frakkin' thing - for two reasons.  One I can't figure out how to tell BUM, that I want MOD-X to be the absolute bottom of the load order and I have no frakking clue as to how to order things the proper way (hence my reliance on BOSS).  For now, I'm going to skip BUM until I learn more about it.

[DanimalTwo]

Something else to confuse the issue a bit more.  I found a mod called "Memory Block Log" (link) that tracks the use of the two blocks of memory the "memory patch" is supposed to fix.  With SKSE 1.7 Alpha, no matter where I put the SKSE.INI file Skyrim always started with 512MB/256MB for the blocks.  So I reverted back to SKSE 1.6.16 and added SSME, set the INI file to use 768/256 and started a game.  When I looked at the log again, this time it reported the proper memory sizes for the blocks.  I've not had a chance to test it extensivley since it's late.  But I continue that test tomorrow morning.

When you use SKSE 1.7 alpha the "DefaultHeapInitialAllocMB=768" is the total amount of memory you want to use for Block 1 AND Block 2. The "ScrapHeapSizeMB=256" is the amount of memory you are requesting for Block 2. Thus if you use those values Skyrim will start with 512MB/256MB which are the default values. If you set SKSE to 512/256 you will be using 256/256 which is like not using the Memory Patch at all as those are Skyrim's defaults. I haven't used SSME, but I believe that uses settings where you actually set what you want for Block 1 and Block 2.

[p4ck3tl055]

When you use SKSE 1.7 alpha the "DefaultHeapInitialAllocMB=768" is the total amount of memory you want to use for Block 1 AND Block 2. The "ScrapHeapSizeMB=256" is the amount of memory you are requesting for Block 2. Thus if you use those values Skyrim will start with 512MB/256MB which are the default values. If you set SKSE to 512/256 you will be using 256/256 which is like not using the Memory Patch at all as those are Skyrim's defaults. I haven't used SSME, but I believe that uses settings where you actually set what you want for Block 1 and Block 2.

Well, I can tell you another thing.  I ran that Memory Block Log through two CTDs yesterday using SKSE 1.7.  Both times when the crash occurred, the first block was running around 256 MB (I think it actually hit 259MB one of the two times).  I would have thought that if the memory patch was working properly that the value for block 1 would have been well above 256MB.

 

Both of these crashes were with a new playthrough.  I copied my current profile to a new profile in MO, deleted the save-games and started a new game.  To me, this fact points to either the load order or the memory issue (or some other issue that we haven't though of).  I have yet to play long enough with SSME to see if, in fact, it prevents the crash or pushes it off to a point beyond the 256MB point in the log, but it is my intent to do that as soon as I finish writing this post.

[DanimalTwo]

If you installed SKSE 1.7 alpha correctly, the beginning of you Memory Block Log file should look like this:

 

logging of blocks enabledlogging max values onlyTimer disabledBlock1 Block2512MB  256MB

If your log says that then you install SKSE correctly. Here is what my SKSE.ini looks like:

 

[General]ClearInvalidRegistrations=1[Memory]DefaultHeapInitialAllocMB=768ScrapHeapSizeMB=256[Display]iTintTextureResolution=2048

That produced what you see from my log file using SKSE 1.7alpha. If you log file and SKSE.ini are similar (settings are different for Memory Patches other then SKSE) then your CTDs are likely caused by somethings else.

[p4ck3tl055]

I did a few more tests throughout the day. I have now had CTDs with both SSME and SKSE 1.7alpha on several occasions each.  I am convinced that Skyrim's memory problem is not MY problem.  (I will be using SKSE 1.7 moving forward - mainly because I think it's a cleaner solution and I have it installed. :)  )

 

I thought it might be MSI Afterburner (based on some Google searches I did).  I switched back to FRAPS.  CTD, though the game play is smoother (I'm assuming because of the lack of/moderate amount of compression by FRAPS.)

 

I think I've eliminated a corrupt saved game because every test I ran today started with a new game (with Live Another Life - what a great mod).

 

So I think we're back to load order or the collection of mods that I've put together as the culprit. Or maybe something hardware related.  I am overclocked after all - i5 3570k @4.4GHz.  Been like that for over a year though, I can't imagine it being a problem now.

 

At this point I'm willing to try anything, I've exhausted what little knowledge I have troubleshooting this.