Falling/flipping cart and lockups during opening ride to helgen. HELP!

[FalloutPrime]

Anybody have any idea what mods, or actions(like a TES5Edit Cleaning..) could cause this so I can begin to troubleshoot it?Basically, when I start a new game, the wagon I'm on is either falling through the sky infinitely, and then gets reset in the sky to fall again, OR the cart is fine and everything is working but the game locks up.Ask me questions about my setup.

 

I don't want to post my long as load order / mod list unless you want to see it. I'll say I'm using all the mods on the STEP 2.2.9 guide, plus some mods of my own choosing(not many). I am not using any STEP patches because I don't know how to edit the load order thing in the STEP patches with TES5Edit to make them work with the extra mods I'm using.I just spent two days re-installing everything from the ground up, following all instructions in the STEP guide to the letter. Save using the STEP patches for the above reason, and bloody hells, after all that work, I want this damnable thing to work! Please help if you can!

[Halde]

Well it's a very common issue that a lot of people have. I myself didn't fix it(well if I did, it fixed itself). I circumvented it by installing the Alternate Start mod which lets you choose how to start the game. The cart scene is graphic heavy, and especially very script heavy. I don't think there is a set fix for this. 

[redirishlord]

Alternate Start Live Another Life is a great option as stated above. If you select "I got caught crossing the border illegally" you take the cart ride, but after character creation and your various scripts initializing, which may be enough to sort your problem. Otherwise the "camping in the wilderness" option places you on the other side of the Helgen tutorial, just enter the cave and select a new best friend to continue the vanilla run to Riverwood. There are also several other options worth exploring (start as a Companion in Jorrvaskr, etc.).

[FalloutPrime]

Awesome ideas all. Thanks guys. I may try the alternate start mod just for the novelty of it. I was just able to get all the way through the cart scene, and got a clean save after getting out of the cart, right at character creation so I think I should be ok now. But now race menu is locking up when altering facial features.... *sigh* ... it never ends..

Edited July 17, 2014 by FalloutPrime

[redirishlord]

If you're running a STEP Extended + a few favorites, you shouldn't be too overloaded. Is your SKSE installed proper? Did you download 1.7.1 and click the STEP 2.2.9 link for "detailed instrucitons" and set up your SKSE.ini file correctly?

[FalloutPrime]

I did indeed get the latest version of SKSE and the skse.ini file set up properly, just double checked.I was obsessive about following the "detailed instructions" (*cough* could use some more detail in a few of them.) in the guide.

I got the loot rules set up. FNIS and DSR patchers running, bashed patch installed and in theory working correctly.

 

These are my system specs too to erase any doubt of my system being able to handle this.

Built and configured this system myself.

 

Windows 7 pro 64bit.

ASUS m4a89td pro usb 3/sata 6 mobo. (thats the AMD 890fx chipset)

AMD Phenom II 1055t 6core. oc'd to 3.9ghz.

AMD Radeon HD 7970 3gb. oc'd to 1ghz core, and 1440 memory speed.

8 gigs ddr3 1600 ripjaw x series ram.

All HDDs and SSDs are in AHCI mode.

Skyrim is installed on a WD Caviar Black 1tb drive. I wish my SSD was big enough to accommodate skyrim and the mods... sadly it is not, and just holds the OS and supporting software.

 

I have a nice arctic cooling aftermarket heatsink and fan installed on the CPU and 5 large hydro dynamic bearing case fans gulping air conditioned air into and out of the case. Temps are good to go.

 

This is def not a hardware issue. I'm quite sure of this. I am a college educated, professional PC technician with a bunch of experience.

 

I did just switch from Comodo's internet security suite to bit defender... wondering if that may be interfering somehow.

 

Thanks for taking the time to try and help people. I really appreciate it.

Edited July 18, 2014 by FalloutPrime

[Halde]

1.4GB VRAM? That doesn't sound like a whole lot?

[FalloutPrime]

No no, thats how fast the memory is clocked at. Not the amount. this is a 3gb card as far as how much is there.

[FalloutPrime]

On that topic though, I am getting random freezes/lockups. Looking into this a bit, I have read this is a pretty clear indication that I'm hitting my vram limit? Can I change that in enblocal.ini to more than the actual vram number?

[Halde]

Oh. Ok, well that's a fair bit:)

How does it show itself? You can try enable papyrus logging and see if it tells you anything. 

[redirishlord]

Sounds like you have a solid setup. Hard to say just what caused the cart frakas. If you want to investigate further you might try installing Convenient Horses and activating its script latency checker through the MCM, that would let you know if too many scripted mods are causing the issue. If one of the non-STEP mosd you added was Helgen Reborn, that's sure to cause problems if installed before any initial Helgen business is concluded (pro tip: wait until after completing the quest "A Daedra's Best Friend" before activating Helgen Reborn due to pathing issues). If you installed Touring Carriages that might be a factor ... maybe even Better Fast Travel, you might check those individual pages for more details.

 

Regarding enblocal, you can adjust that to more than your 3gb. I have 2gb vram & 16gb ram, so I use a max value of 10240 in enblocal (min value 512).

Edited July 17, 2014 by redirishlord

[Halde]

Well I believe that in the enblocal.ini, you should just have the VRAM inidicator sat on "Automatically". 

[FalloutPrime]

That's what the step 2.2.9 guide says to do, but apparently, there is a formula that allows for more, with a decent increase in performance.

 

This is the post i am reading that is leading me to believe that I should try and up this and turn off auto detection.

 

https://forum.step-project.com/topic/4781-correct-enblocal-settings/just trying to dial in just what my formula should be here before i go changing it.

Oh. Ok, well that's a fair bit:)

How does it show itself? You can try enable papyrus logging and see if it tells you anything. 

Papyrus logging? Do tell, or link a resource on how if you would be so kind good sir. I could look it up but I'm neck deep in this vram formula business atm.

[Halde]

I believe that formula is only when you actually use ENB's.

[Nozzer66]

The other possibility is to set a FPS limit. That situation with carts going bananas etc is often due to a frame rate > 100. If you set Vsync up or use ENB to limit FPS to 60 or so that may help.

[Halde]

https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/703954-are-you-having-constant-exterior-ctds-ive-finally-found-your-solution/

 

Some guy/girl in another thread had a problem with consistent short freezes occouring about 2 minutes apart. He/she said that the answer was revealed by the Papyrus logs.

Though I have absolutely no experience with it, as I've never used it.