CTD while exploring Bilegulch Mine

[whitewolf87]

Hey there. Thanks in advance, because I got a feeling this is one of those really weird ones.

I used STEP to the letter (omitting a few of the fluffy mods that made me go "meh"), have played my character (Menji) a lot, had a few random CTD's, one or two freezes, but nothing my limited computer skills couldn't really dismiss and move on with my life with.

Menji is level 40, he's just joined the DB, having completed the main quest, and just completed the first series of contracts given him by Nazir. He was one foot (love that Wayfarer), trying to get to Markarth for the contract "Mourning Never Comes". I passed an old watchtower (can't remember the name), cleaned out Glenmoril Coven, then I decided to stop by bilegulch mine. Kill the bandits (no problem), advances into the mine, activated a candlelight spell and also shouted for Dragon Aspect to defeat the bandit leader (not too hard), then proceeded to mine all the ore and leave to be on my way.

As I open the door, the autosave triggers CTD. I shrug it off, open the old Autosave from when I entered the mine (the new one didn't have time to be created before the CTD), and then I attempt to quicksave, and the quicksave CTD's. In fact, if I don't immediately save within about 25 seconds after loading, anything prompting a save of any kind (including any kind of manual saving), causes a CTD. It's extremely frustrating, and I don't know what prompted it. An earlier save file from when the first set of Nazir contracts were still open (but after I killed Narfi the beggar) works fines, saves perfectly well with all methods, though. I can go back to that one with no great loss, but I'm worried about exactly what prompted this specifically, because I don't want it to happen to me when I'm doing something important as opposed to dungeon-diving, because it's fairly game breaking, frustrating, and could force me into another annoying setback.

Things I've tried.

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Any conceivable combination of saving before the ore is mined, after the ore is mined, holding the bandit leaders armor (it was worth a lot) in inventory, dropping his armor, dropping the loot items I found in the chest, dispelling candlelight and dragon aspect (by waiting immediately after a load which I can still do, but remember...if I try to save again right after that...CTD).
2. Running to the door once the game loads, getting through it and saving there (to test an exterior environment) (same problem)
3. Loading the save created in that 20 second window through getting to the exterior of the mine, fast traveling to another location, and saving there (in case this is totally a Bilegulch problem)
4. The "giving Sheson your firstborn" dll fix that was posted on nexus around this time last year (no joy at all). https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1340369-skyrim-memory-patch-fixing-ils-ugrids-ctd-freezes-for-real/
5. The "kill yourself in another save then open the glitchy save, then kill yourself" method.
6. Screaming.
7. Having a cup of tea.
8. Reloading a backup save. (either nonexistent or similarly glitched)
9. Deactivating Unknown Enchants (thought that might be the culprit because of the whole "recovering" thing.
10. Ran LOOT, recreated Bashed, all no joy.

 

God knows what I've managed to do in the three months or so that I've been playing this STEPified, between applying small fixes to minor problems myself. I honestly can't remember if I've done any INI tweaks that don't have anything to do with STEP (aside from Sheson up there), and I know I've downloaded a couple of other mods that I found awesome (like the Breezehome one), but I'll tell you anything I can.

Any help would be appreciated. Any at all. I'm no expert, barely even know what I'm doing half the time, but I'll do my absolute best.

Load Order...
 

  Reveal hidden contents

Skyrim.esm
Update.esm
Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp
Dawnguard.esm
Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp
HearthFires.esm
Unofficial Hearthfire Patch.esp
Dragonborn.esm
Unofficial Dragonborn Patch.esp
Falskaar.esm
Wyrmstooth.esp
ClimatesOfTamriel.esm
moonpath.esm
HighResTexturePack01.esp
HighResTexturePack02.esp
HighResTexturePack03.esp
Unofficial High Resolution Patch.esp
Cutting Room Floor.esp
Auto Unequip Ammo.esp
Appropriately Attired Jarls Redux.esp
Beards.esp
Chesko_LoreBasedLoadingScreens.esp
BetterQuestObjectives-Hearthfire.esp
ShootingStars.esp
ClimatesOfTamriel-Nights-Level-5.esp
Dual Wield Parrying_SKSE.esp
DeadlyDragons.esp
DeadlyMonsters.esp
Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp
mintylightningmod.esp
Footprints.esp
GQJ_DG_vampireamuletfix.esp
Guard Dialogue Overhaul.esp
BWS.esp
Convenient Horses.esp
Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Major City Interiors.esp
ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons-Hardcore.esp
Lock Overhaul.esp
83Willows_101BUGS_V4_LowRes.esp
RaceMenuPlugin.esp
Weapons & Armor Fixes_Remade.esp
ADS.esp
RaceMenu.esp
Rainbows.esp
SMDropLitTorch.esp
SMIM-FarmhouseFlickeringFix.esp
Elemental Staves.esp
Footprints - Ash.esp
SkyRe_Main.esp
AOS.esp
IHSS.esp
DeadlySpellImpacts.esp
Animated Weapon Enchants.esp
Weapons & Armor_TrueOrcish&DaedricWeapons.esp
Clothing & Clutter Fixes.esp
Complete Crafting Overhaul_Remade.esp
SkyrimCoinReplacerRedux.esp
Breezehome_Fully_Upgradable.esp
Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Major City Exteriors.esp
RLO - Major City Exteriors - No Guard Torches.esp
ExplosiveBoltsVisualized.esp
SkyFalls + SkyMills.esp
Bring Out Your Dead.esp
BetterQuestObjectives.esp
Thieves Guild Requirements.esp
aMidianBorn_ContentAddon.esp
BetterQuestObjectives-Dawnguard.esp
Book Covers Skyrim.esp
Dead Body Collision.esp
Immersive Weapons.esp
SDO Full-LOD - The Morthal Swamp Light.esp
Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp
BirdsHFclean.esp
Point The Way.esp
HearthfireChimneys.esp
RealisticWaterTwo.esp
RealisticNeedsandDiseases.esp
RealisticWaterTwo - Legendary.esp
RND_Dawnguard-Patch.esp
RND_Dragonborn-Patch.esp
SkyRe_EnemyScaling.esp
SkyRe_Survivalism.esp
SkyUI.esp
TradeBarter.esp
dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp
Soul Gems Differ.esp
TheChoiceIsYours.esp
SDO Full-LOD - Waterfall Effects.esp
Run For Your Lives.esp
Traps Make Noise.esp
fFastTravelSpeedMult_4.esp
WetandCold.esp
WetandCold - Ashes.esp
moonpath_questdata.esp
SkyrimImprovedPuddles-DG-HF-DB.esp
SDO Full-LOD - Whiterun Trundra Creeks.esp
SMIM-ShackRoofFixes.esp
SkyRe_StandingStones.esp
Chesko_Frostfall.esp
RND_HearthFires-Patch.esp
RND_AnimalLoot.esp
SkyRe_Races.esp
SkyRe_EnemyAI.esp
Skyrim Flora Overhaul.esp
PilgrimsDelight.esp
The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp
STEP Extended Patch.esp
Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Dungeons.esp
ClimatesOfTamriel-Interiors-Cold.esp
Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Brighter Dungeons.esp
Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Dawnguard Interiors.esp
Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Weathers.esp
Realistic Lighting Overhaul - Weathers - Brighter Nights.esp
RLO - Adaptive Interiors Vanilla Weathers Patch.esp
BlockSparkles.esp
dD-Dragonborn-Dawnguard-EBT Patch.esp
SMIM-FurnitureChestSnowFix.esp
Radiant and Unique Potions and Poisons v2.0 non glow.esp
Gildergreen Regrown.esp
Improved Combat Sounds v2.2.esp
NonEssentialChildren.esp
Paralysis.esp
SMIM-DungeonsCliffsIceSkirts.esp
SMIM-ShackRoofFixesDragonborn.esp
SMIM-DragonbornTernFix.esp
SDO Full-LOD - Giant Campfires.esp
SkyRe_Combat.esp
TheChoiceIsYours_Dawnguard.esp
Chesko_Step418_SN.esp
aMidianborn_Skyforge_Weapons.esp
When Vampires Attack.esp
iHUD.esp
imp_helm_legend.esp
Improved Closefaced Helmets_Legendary.esp
ReProccer.esp
Bashed Patch, 0.esp
NoxUE2.00.esp

System Specs

  Reveal hidden contents

OS: Windows 8.1 64 bit
RAM: 16 GB DDR4
CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K @ 3.30 GHz
SOUND: Realtek High Definition Audio
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
RES: 1920 x 1080 32 bit
HD: SSHD 2 TB (768.9 GB or so free)
MB: ASUS x99-S

I have no idea why my spoiler tags aren't working. I'm sorry.

Edited January 3, 2015 by phazer11

[phazer11]

After all of the deactivations you have been redoing your bashed patch and such right? Also as a desperation option try backing up your save and running something like save game script scalpel.

[phazer11]

Run Memory Blocks log and tell us what values it gives. For more info on how to do that read here.

https://forum.step-project.com/topic/6726-common-ctds-freezes-ils-and-memory-issues/

I'm going to assume you're running ENB or ENBoost. Also was this a completely fresh save (i.e. those mods were in the save from the time you clicked new game)?

[whitewolf87]

  On 1/3/2015 at 6:21 PM, phazer11 said:

Run Memory Blocks log and tell us what values it gives. For more info on how to do that read here.

https://forum.step-project.com/topic/6726-common-ctds-freezes-ils-and-memory-issues/

I'm going to assume you're running ENB or ENBoost. Also was this a completely fresh save (i.e. those mods were in the save from the time you clicked new game)?

Running the latest version of ENB with the SkyRealism "Vibrant" profile.

 

Most of the mods were in the original save. Some of them (like the Breezehome mod) were downloaded seperately. I can't honestly remember when exactly they were, but I do remember clean-saving to try and ensure that they didn't get screwed around with too bad. The ones I know I downloaded after I started a new game were...

 

1. Breezehome FullyUpgradeable

2. Wyrmstooth

3. Moonpath to Elsweyr

In fact, looking at my list again, I'm pretty sure those were the only ones I downloaded after I finished STEP, and both of those were pretty close to the beggining of this character's journey. Even moonpath may have been a forethought as Menji is a Khajit, and I wanted him to have something home-related quest-wise to do.

 

Memory Blocks....

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

logging of blocks enabled

logging max values only

Timer disabled

Block1 Block2

512MB    256MB

85    8

85    8

85    9

85    10

85    11

85    12

85    13

85    14

85    15

85    16

85    17

85    18

85    19

85    20

85    21

85    22

85    23

85    24

85    25

85    26

85    27

85    28

85    29

85    30

85    31

85    32

85    33

85    34

85    35

85    36

85    37

85    38

85    39

85    40

85    41

85    42

85    43

85    44

85    45

85    46

85    47

85    48

85    49

85    50

85    51

85    52

85    53

85    54

85    55

85    56

85    57

85    58

85    59

85    60

85    61

85    62

85    63

85    64

85    65

85    66

85    67

85    68

85    69

85    70

85    71

85    72

85    73

85    74

85    75

85    76

85    77

85    78

85    79

85    80

85    81

85    82

85    83

85    84

85    85

85    86

85    87

85    88

85    89

85    90

85    91

85    92

85    93

85    94

85    95

85    96

85    97

85    98

85    99

85    100

85    101

85    102

85    103

88    103

88    104

89    104

90    104

91    104

92    104

93    104

94    104

95    104

95    105

96    105

97    105

98    105

99    105

100    105

101    105

102    105

103    105

104    105

105    105

106    105

107    105

108    105

109    105

110    105

111    105

112    105

113    105

114    105

115    105

116    105

117    105

118    105

119    105

120    105

121    105

122    105

122    106

123    106

124    106

125    106

126    106

127    106

128    106

129    106

130    106

131    106

132    106

133    106

134    106

135    106

135    107

137    107

137    108

140    108

145    108

148    108

152    108

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2015 by whitewolf87

[whitewolf87]

So, I had an idea. I went back to the save file where Nazir's contracts were still active, just to ensure that it was allowing me to save correctly. I deleted all but one save from Bilegulch mine (one of the manual saves I made during the 20-second window), so we could have one of the glitched saves in order to work with later if need be.

It seems to be. I did have one random CTD while I was running to one of my targets (nowhere near Bilegulch Mine, obviously), and I'm not sure why that happened, but it wouldn't be the first time, and it's something I feel I can safely ignore. I made sure to save inside the inn in Whiterun when my contracts were complete. A manual save, not a quicksave or autosave. For what I'm about to propose, to make sure I'm not being confusing, I'll call this "safesave". It allows me to save as normal before I ran into the problem at Bilegulch in another save.

 

Here's what I propose, either...

(A) Loading from safesave, I go back to the DB sanctuary, get the new contract, get my payments for the contracts from Nazir, and then follow on foot roughly the same path, going to that abaondoned tower, then going to Glenmoril Coven, then back to Bilegulch, killing the bandits, mining, and seeing if the problem resurfaces.

(B) Loading from safesave, I use the full cleansave procedure as identified in https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Troubleshooting, and then follow option (A)

Which do you guys think I should do?

[whitewolf87]

OK, this is interesting. I decided that I probably wouldn't hurt anything by keeping "safesave" as it's own file in the modding list and trying some self-sufficency. I proceeded with option (A), and went to the DB sanctuary. I got my contracts payed for, got the big contract ("Mourning Never Comes") from Astrid, and talked to the other members about Cicero (yes, I do it everytime, I'm a lore fanatic).

At that point, I ate, drank, and slept. In this case, I slept for 24 hours (just trying to isolate variables) in the bed alloted my character in the DB sanctuary. Once I rose, I ate and drank again, then tried to do a manual save (a brand new one, seperate from safesave). I didn't mention this before, but I slept in this exact same bed before initiating the adventure before that ultimately led me to Bilegulch.

I don't know if it's the bed, or sleeping itself, but it's definitely relevant, I feel.

CTD. It doesn't do it if I only sleep in the bed for an hour or two (several tests), but it does do it if I do a 24-hour sleep. Quicksaving produces the same result. If I load the save from before I slept...everything seems fine.

 

EDIT: I tested this with safesave back in Whiterun, and it allowed me to sleep a full 24 hours with no problem. Full saving functionality. However, I also reloaded the manual save from the DB Sanctuary that I made (we'll call it "safesave b") and did a couple of other tests with it. One, I slept for eight hours. No problem apparent at first there.

Two, I waited (not slept) for 24 hours in the DB sanctuary...and that also produced a CTD.

 

Any thoughts?

Edited January 4, 2015 by whitewolf87

[whitewolf87]

Anything at all? Any tips?

At this point, I've also been doing a slow crawl. Deactivating all mods, then activating them again in chunks and trying to isolate problem mods. So far, I've identified "Convenient Horses" as one that keeps screwing it. It's not the only one though, because I then tried running my test save (safesave2) with everything turned on except "Convenient Horses" and it still triggered a CTD upon saving after a 24-hour sleep.

Edited January 4, 2015 by whitewolf87

[whitewolf87]

Ok, after fully doing a sweep to find any other mods that produced the effect, I realized through trial and error that it was a guessing game and that once my mod load got beyond about 40 mods (even though that's never been a problem before), the glitch started happening. I can't pin it to any one mod (seriously scrat what I said about "Convenient Horses". I have no clue why this is happening. I can't figure this out on my own.

Eventually I continued from safesave2 trying to follow my exact route to when the problem first started surfacing. I got beyond bilegulch mine (laded with treasure and all the ore inside to be precise, and adopting the way I played the game to the advice of another user on reddit.

1. Turn off all autosaving.

2. Minimize or eliminate quicksaving.

3. Manual-save only in interior cells.

 

I did all that. I also experimented with sleeping for various periods, then saving...all seemed to be going fine. I thought maybe that I had just overloaded my saving functionality with whacking the quicksave key too many times, and that maybe if I did it this way I could lessen the burden on the game and that it would perform for me. However, soon after I got the contract from Muiri in Markarth to kill Alain DuFont, I took a carriage to Whiterun...and test saved in interiors a couple of times...one of which was a dreaded CTD. Moving on, not quicksaving the whole way to Raldbrthar, I killed the bandits outside...entered the ruin, saved through the skyrim menu...

And CTD.

I have invested so many hours into this character. I was looking so much to being able to complete a journey with him, but I'm starting to think that's just not going to be a thing that'll happen for me here. I've done my absolutely damndest with this, because I didn't want to feel like I wasted another 40 hours or so of gametime. But that's what this is, unplayable. I can't finish his journey.

I'm sorry. I'm not asking you to sympathize, it just sucks. I don't think this is recoverable.

[hishutup]

its may be skyre, DeadlyMonsters.esp because those are the only unusual ones in that list

 

There are some redundant mods, take a look at the plugins and mods that are included in the STEP Extended patch

 

I think these conflict in some way but I could be wrong:

ClimatesOfTamriel-Nights-Level-5.esp
ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons-Hardcore.esp
RLO - Adaptive Interiors Vanilla Weathers Patch.esp

[phazer11]

Oh god I didn't notice those. It's a wonder you can see at all in interiors.

[whitewolf87]

  On 1/5/2015 at 1:59 AM, hishutup said:

 

its may be skyre, DeadlyMonsters.esp because those are the only unusual ones in that list

 

There are some redundant mods, take a look at the plugins and mods that are included in the STEP Extended patch

 

I think these conflict in some way but I could be wrong:

ClimatesOfTamriel-Nights-Level-5.esp
ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons-Hardcore.esp
RLO - Adaptive Interiors Vanilla Weathers Patch.esp

I deactivated all of those esp's and tested safesave2 in the DB Sanctuary with the "Sleep 24 hours then save" test. Also, I unticked "Convenient Horses", as my slow crawl test identified it as a problem spot.

 

I double checked, found some of the STEP redundant mods, deactivated them. Repeated the same test.

 

Realized that I hadn't put in the proper LOOT priority on the STEP Extended Patch, so I fixed that, saved changes, repeated the test.

 

CTD on all three counts. Instantly after trying to save (of any kind) after waking up from a 24 hour sleep.

 

  Quote

 

Oh god I didn't notice those. It's a wonder you can see at all in interiors.

I like that dark medieval look, yo. Also torches and candleight spells go a long way.

Edited January 5, 2015 by whitewolf87

[whitewolf87]

OK, so the only thing I haven't tried yet (been scared of further corrupting everything), is to verify game cache integrity with steam.

Should I give that a go?

[Nozzer66]

Just keep in mind if you do that it will also replace the previously cleaned ESM's with fresh, uncleaned ones.

[whitewolf87]

When I do that, will I have to reapply the INI tweaks in the first section of the STEP guide, or will they be preserved?

I'm not too worried about uncleaned ESM's as cleaning them seems to have had no effect on the problem as it is.

Edited January 6, 2015 by whitewolf87

[Nozzer66]

if you're using MO your inis are bound to your profile, so if/when Steam does replace the vanilla inis it's no biggie in any case.

[whitewolf87]

Verified Integrity. Loaded safesave2, did the sleep 24 hours then save test...

CTD.

 

I am officially out of ideas, guys, but I'm open to *any* suggestions at all at this point. I'll let this stay open, give you any new logs/files/whatever you guys need.

 

Menji's been having a great journey, but if he has to stop because the very fabric of the universe he lives in has - figuratively speaking - become unstable, well...then so be it.

Edited January 6, 2015 by whitewolf87