Random crashes & freezes

[iGomoosrsly]

I've been having some issues lately with random crashes and freezes happening. It's not due to the usual reasons (such as 4 grids loading at the same time, riverwood etc), it just happens at completely random, more or less only IN COMBAT.

 

It happened the last time I used this guide about 3 months ago. I was playing a spell caster and it would sometimes crash (either ctd or just lock up completely) whenever I entered combat and started casting spells in their faces. (1st person, as far as I remember, was when it was most prone to happen).

 

Now I'm playing a sword & shield character after installing everything in the guide (except a few lower resolutions, and performance Vividian ENB instead of high). I didn't install ASIS, however, which shouldn't make it crash more, so doesn't matter. Completely random as I enter combat (and usually have fought for a little while) it just crashes on me. It happens in both 1st and 3rd person, and it's completely random whether it happens or not. Secluded areas, inside bandit strongholds, inside falmer caves, draugr ruins; anywhere. It only happens in combat, and seems more prone to happen in 1st person when I'm up close with an enemy, but also happens when that is not the case.

 

I have tried disabling certain texture mods to maybe reduce the strain on my system (as I don't hit the 60 fps mark with SSMA, even with the performance version of the ENB, but hovering close right now), but to no avail. Doesn't seem to help.

[Neovalen]

Are you sure your skse.INI is being read correctly for the mem patch? Try memory blocks log and see. Do you use additional mods/is everything up to date? I personally have not seen a ctd or freeze in months except when debugging and purposefully trying to get one.

[iGomoosrsly]

 

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

This is what my SKSE.ini file contains. I followed your guide pretty much perfectly, no exceptions, except no ASIS and some lower resolution textures. I installed all the mods on the same day (two days ago), so everything was for sure updated when it happened the first couple times.

 

What is memory blocks log, and how does that work? It might be that I'm allocating too much / too little in the SKSE.ini file. Could it possibly be caused by my GPU? I'm getting artifacts in the game from time to time (also in every other game, pretty much), and I guess there might be a problem with my GPU itself, unless it's something as simple as the .ini file; which would be a blessing.

[supra93]

This is what my SKSE.ini file contains. I followed your guide pretty much perfectly, no exceptions, except no ASIS and some lower resolution textures. I installed all the mods on the same day (two days ago), so everything was for sure updated when it happened the first couple times.What is memory blocks log, and how does that work? It might be that I'm allocating too much / too little in the SKSE.ini file. Could it possibly be caused by my GPU? I'm getting artifacts in the game from time to time (also in every other game, pretty much), and I guess there might be a problem with my GPU itself, unless it's something as simple as the .ini file; which would be a blessing.

If you're getting artifacts in every game like you mentioned, I would say that there is a potential hardware problem with your GPU.

[Neovalen]

Agreed... Sounds like new GPU time.

[iGomoosrsly]

I guess it is. Would be nice if someone knowledgable enough could tell me whether the GPU actually is the cause of the crashes, though, but until proven otherwise I'll assume it is and aim for a new GPU as soon as possible.

 

As a follow-up, can someone tell me how to make Memory Blocks Log work with Mod Organizer? I made sure it was enabled (and the readme recommended changing the output location of the log file (I couldn't figure out how, so I just tried both false and true to see if it would work out of the box)), but it didn't give me a log file anywhere after the CTD. Tried twice, once with false and once with true, to no avail. Should I just put it directly in the Skyrim directory, perhaps? Instead of installing it through MO, I mean.

Edited August 22, 2014 by iGomoosrsly

[supra93]

I guess it is. Would be nice if someone knowledgable enough could tell me whether the GPU actually is the cause of the crashes, though, but until proven otherwise I'll assume it is and aim for a new GPU as soon as possible.As a follow-up, can someone tell me how to make Memory Blocks Log work with Mod Organizer? I made sure it was enabled (and the readme recommended changing the output location of the log file (I couldn't figure out how, so I just tried both false and true to see if it would work out of the box)), but it didn't give me a log file anywhere after the CTD. Tried twice, once with false and once with true, to no avail. Should I just put it directly in the Skyrim directory, perhaps? Instead of installing it through MO, I mean.

I'm no hardware expert, but as you mentioned that you see artifacts this indicates that your GPU is potentially dying. This won't only have an effect on your gaming, but on your overall PC experience (cause your system to crash, etc). As for your second question, sorry but I'm of no use. Good luck.

[phazer11]

I good way to test if your GPU is actually dying is Valley Benchmark or Firestrike Benchmark if they crash or freeze your system up then more than likely it is GPU related.

[ArgelTal]

Hey guys,

 

Sorry to hijack the post - if anyone has any issues, I will set up a new thread.

 

I have also been having a lot of CTD's - seemingly completely at random - both inside and outside, in towns and the countryside, in combat and out, and 1st and 3rd person. There is no constant, sometimes the game runs for a couple of minutes, sometimes up to an hour, but then randomly it crashes.

 

A bit of background info on my pc

 

i7-4700HQ @ 2.40GHz

8GB RAM

NVidia GTX 750m 

 

I know its a laptop, but its new and so far has handled brand new games on highest graphics with no problem. Is there a problem somewhere with the set up or do you think mine is also a problem with the workload i am asking the laptop to carry out?

 

Thanks

 

AT

[phazer11]

Get us the model number of your computer and how much VRAM it has (on the video card) I imagine it's 2GB. You are running the SKSE.ini edits and the ENBoost (at least if not an ENB) as per the guide I assume?

[supra93]

Hey guys,

 

Sorry to hijack the post - if anyone has any issues, I will set up a new thread.

 

I have also been having a lot of CTD's - seemingly completely at random - both inside and outside, in towns and the countryside, in combat and out, and 1st and 3rd person. There is no constant, sometimes the game runs for a couple of minutes, sometimes up to an hour, but then randomly it crashes.

 

A bit of background info on my pc

 

i7-4700HQ @ 2.40GHz

8GB RAM

NVidia GTX 750m 

 

I know its a laptop, but its new and so far has handled brand new games on highest graphics with no problem. Is there a problem somewhere with the set up or do you think mine is also a problem with the workload i am asking the laptop to carry out?

 

Thanks

 

AT

You could try the suggestions in this post to check the MemoryBlockLog to ensure your game is allocating more than 256MB. I had similar issues like this, and when I would intentionally try to make the game reach 256MB, it would crash as soon as it reached it (according to the data shown in the log).

 

Once I ensured that my game was allocating more, it stopped crashing.

 

All this would only work if of course your game is not applying the configurations specified in the skse.ini file.

[ArgelTal]

Thanks for that 

 

I followed the advice in the thread -that linked to another one - to install SSME as I didnt have the plugin folder that the log is placed in.

 

Playing through again, i had the same crash (whilst walking towards helgen) and this is the resulting log from SSME. I hope it can help shed some light on proceedings...

 

SSME v. 01080000

parsing INI file

address 004BD832 patched from 6086290F to 6086110F

address 00687E89 unexpectedly 00000300, aborting

parsing finished

[supra93]

Thanks for that I followed the advice in the thread -that linked to another one - to install SSME as I didnt have the plugin folder that the log is placed in.Playing through again, i had the same crash (whilst walking towards helgen) and this is the resulting log from SSME. I hope it can help shed some light on proceedings...SSME v. 01080000parsing INI fileaddress 004BD832 patched from 6086290F to 6086110Faddress 00687E89 unexpectedly 00000300, abortingparsing finished

I don't have any experience with SSME, however I used the safety load plugin and the memory block plugin to track the memory block allocation. Initially nothing would work until I added the argument to SKSE in MO to force the steam loader. Hope that helps.

[ArgelTal]

Right so i downloaded the two plugins from Nexus and just created the plugin folder in my SKSE folder in MO. played the game and avoided the road between Helgen and Riverwood to see if i had CTDs anywhere else.

 

After fast travelling to Helgen I got all through the town and dungeon and to a prospecter's camp on the other side of town before I CTD'd but there was nothing new in the Log in the plugins folder so Im thinking that that didnt work.

 

Any ideas?

[supra93]

Right so i downloaded the two plugins from Nexus and just created the plugin folder in my SKSE folder in MO. played the game and avoided the road between Helgen and Riverwood to see if i had CTDs anywhere else.

 

After fast travelling to Helgen I got all through the town and dungeon and to a prospecter's camp on the other side of town before I CTD'd but there was nothing new in the Log in the plugins folder so Im thinking that that didnt work.

 

Any ideas?

This is my SKSE file tree in MO.

 

Both MemoryBlocksLog.log and SafetyLoad.log were originally made in the overwrite folder of MO after I ran the game.

 

What I do to test if the allocation is working as intended is to run the game, and at the main menu open the console and type coc riverwood or coc whiterun. This will place you in riverwood or whiterun respectively.

 

I use a program called BareTail and open MemoryBlocksLog.log and leave it running in the background. Go back to the game and from there I run around to different cells and spawn NPCs while monitoring the amount of memory allocated.

 

The main thing to note is the header of the file which looks like this.

 

What you're looking for is the 1st field which indicates 512MB has been allocated to the memory block.

 

You will have to run the game once after adding the plugin in order to create the MemoryBlocksLog.log file.

 

If both fields in the file show 256MB, then the memory patch isn't working as intended.

 

I hope this helps clarify things.

Edited August 25, 2014 by supra93

[ArgelTal]

That's cleared things up a bit. my Logs were in the overwrite folder too. The mem log did read 512 so it appears to be configured correctly.

 

Does this mean that my PC cannot handle all the mods or is there a problem with my install.

 

As i say, i have narrowed down the route between Helgen and Riverwood as a definite CTD - the area near the Warrior, Mage and Thief stones - and also the prospectors camp on the other side of Helgen, although there are undoubtabley more.  The fact that there isnt really much going on on screen makes me feel like this is more likely an install or patch error right? if it was a stress issue, it would show up in highly populated areas or in combat etc?