The Skyrim Mod-Crashing Epidemic - A CTD Tale

[BioWare]

I'm sorry for the overly dramatic title to this thread, it's just that the problems I'm having with my copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Legendary Edition are driving me mad... My version of Skyrim is 1.9.32, and I have all the DLC (came with the Legendary Edition) as well as the Official High-Resolution Texture Packs that I downloaded for free on the Steam Store to go along with the Legendary Edition. I have Mod Organizer version 1.2.18 which is what I use to mod Skyrim, as well as Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) version 1.7.2. I also have the latest version of SSME which was available on the Skyrim area of the Nexus Mods website. I will list all my mods below, but this isn't the load order since this is the only way I could figure out how to get the mod list with Mod Organizer. However, I do use LOOT which is included with Mod Organizer to sort my mods so hopefully the load order isn't the issue. I'm posting the list of mods here to see if my problem is due to incompatible mods, missing required mods, too many script-heavy mods, and so on. Before I download a mod I always check to see if it requires anything or is incompatible with anything, but maybe there's something I missed. Anyway, without further delay here's the list.

 

+Optional - CBBE slim body
+More Apocalypse
+Eryniel Elf Reborn CBBE More Curve NSFW
+Eryniel Reborn CBBE Patch - Slim Nevernude - Underwear textures by Rip88
+Eryniel Reborn
+Apocalypse
+BecomeKingOfSkyrimv5e
+Falskaar
+Wyrmstooth
+Dragonplate Brazen Armor - CBBE with Bodyslide 2 Files
+Rosa Follower - Bouncy Version
+Killer Keos Skimpy CBBE V2-V3 Armor Replacer -Work In Progress- by Killer Keo
+SkyMirai StandaloneFollower0 4b
+Mrissi
+Migals Housecarl Beauties Full Pack 1
+Loraine the Bandit-CBBE-BSA
+LC Immersive Looting
+JaySuS Swords V13C to V13D Update
+JaySuS Swords V13C
+A Quality World Map
+HQ3DMap - Meshes Hi-Res
+High Quality Eyes
+Aurora and Twilight - CBBE BBP - SeveNBase Bombshell BBP
+DibellaStatueEdhildilSmGold Alt
+Sevenbase Dibella statue
+Sexy Mara statue
+Edhildils Meridia statue
+Edhildils Nocturnal statue
+Edhildils Sexy Azura Statue
+Edhildils Winterhold Mage statue
+ESFAela
+GirlsOfIvarsteadExpansion
+BecomeJarlOfIvarstead
+UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul Compatibility Version
+Marriage Mod - To Have And To Hold
+Civil War Overhaul
+When Vampires Attack
+Bathing Beauties Luxury Suite 5
+BecomeKingOfRiverhelm2
+Cerwiden Companion - Essential Version - BSA
+DB1 and 2 Fixes applied
+Dawnguard Meshes for Vampire NPCs
+Hearthfire
+UPDATE v309 - requires v308 installed
+3DNPC
+ViljaInSolstheimAddOn Ver2
+1 ViljaVer4 01Full
+Underground
+Underground Bathhouse and Paradise Valley
+Sofia
+UFO - Dragonborn AddOn
+The Paarthurnax Dilemma
+Arissa - The Wandering Rogue
+UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul
+AMatterOfTime
+Anna NPCs 2 0 6b
+Anna NPCs
+Apachii Hair for Suite Residents 5
+Cloaks of Skyrim 1-2 Dawnguard
+Cloaks of Skyrim 1-2
+Calientes Beautiful Bodies Edition -CBBE-
+Color Mismatch Fix for Humans and Bretons
+Color Mismatch Fix for Elven races
+ApachiiHairStylesOnNPCs
+ApachiiSkyHairMale
+ApachiiSkyHairFemale
+ApachiiSkyHair v 1 6 Full
+Guard Dialogue Overhaul
+Perk Point Book
+Run For Your Lives
+SkyUI
+Enhanced Blood Textures
+No Spinning Death Animation v1 3 MERGED
+HDT Physics Extensions
+【Skeleton】XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended
+Realistic Force
+Unofficial High Resolution Patch
+Unofficial Dragonborn Patch
+Unofficial Hearthfire Patch
+Unofficial Dawnguard Patch
+Unofficial Skyrim Patch

 

What usually ends up happening is that I do the opening game ordeal (I always follow Hadvar -Empire Soldier- into the Helgen Keep in the quest Unbound just incase that fact has to do with anything) and end up going through the whole ordeal just fine. Then I exit the Helgen Keep dungeon with Hadvar and breath a sigh of relief (because I've literally done the quest Unbound over ten times in the past week trying to play this game with mods, so the quest irks me to no end.) Anyway, I start to follow Hadvar towards Riverwood and get about halfway to the Guardian Stones (The Warrior Stone, The Mage Stone, and The Thief Stone) and I CTD. I keep CTDing in or near the exact same spot, halfway between the exit to the Helgen Keep Dungeon and the Guardian Stones. I can load my save game just fine, but as soon as I reach that halfway point between the dungeon exit and the stones I CTD. I would really like to be able to play this game with at least a few good mods, and hopefully at least finish the main storyline (with all the side-quests, guilds to join, mods, and so on I still haven't beaten the main questline once) before The Elder Scrolls VI comes out. Within that list there's a good number of mods I can obviously live without, such as Civil War Overhaul, Become High King of Skyrim, ect if those mods are the ones causing the CTD problems I'm experiencing.

 

Again, this list is *NOT* my load order. This list is merely the only way I could find to copy/paste my mod list from Mod Organizer, which is the tool I use for modding in Skyrim. I use LOOT, which is conveniently located within Mod Organizer to organize my load order, so hopefully the load order isn't the issue. Any help, advice, list of mods that seriously need to go, advice on the proper way to install SKSE and SSME, list of other programs that help stabilize Skyrim and how to properly install them, ect would be deeply appreciated. Thank you very much to anyone who responds to this thread, especially those who offer any sort of advice. I'm sorry for writing a book here, I just wanted to be thorough.

[Content Consumer]

It must be your load order.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

Seriously though, I dunno what the problem is... sounds like it might be crashing on changing a cell. If so, it might be that the game is trying to reference something that doesn't exist... perhaps a file was copied incorrectly in some mesh or texture replacer, or maybe a mod you've got that edits the tamriel worldspace is conflicting with another one, or something like that.

Have you edited anything in the "ugridstoload" line in your .ini files? Any other .ini edits?

 

And... erm, sorry, but it might actually be your load order. Just because you are using MO and LOOT doesn't mean that it's perfect... they do make mistakes every now and then.

 

For example, I see that they seem to be putting the unofficial patches at the bottom of the load order. They should actually be pretty close to the top... for example, the Dawnguard unofficial patch should come directly after Dawnguard.esm. Unless the list was reversed somehow?

[Gᴀʟᴠᴀɴɪᴢᴇ]

Okay, so I had so many issues with CTDs as well, mainly with the scripting side of things. 

One thing I recommend for you is to grab ENB boost, you dont need an ENB, just grab the utility ENB boost itself because it may fix your issues. 

Basically, Skyrim only allows 2GBs of memory to be used at one time, ENB Boost aims to fix this as it splits Skyrim in half with the memory it uses, and allows way more then 2GBs to be used, so if you are currently crashing because of the 2GB limit (which is a possibility) it will completely remedy this. 

 

One things you might want to consider to save yourself the headache while modding, grab the alternate start mod, and start the game in a different area away from Riverwood, and see how long you can play before a CTD, this might help narrow down the mods that may be causing an issue, plus, it will save you the hassle of forcefully doing that dreaded start quest millions of times. 

 

Other than that, I really think your issue comes down to the RAM stuff I talked about before, because your load order seems more script intensive than VRAM or Graphic intensive. Anyways, try grabbing ENB boost and tell me if your luck switches. 

[BioWare]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I got the ENB boost and installed it, and even read that apparently the newest Nvidia Graphics Drivers are messing around with Skyrim's memory, so I followed the instructions on how to fix that. I'm going to get that Alternate Start mod that Galvanize mentioned, and do a new clean save to see if the problem is now fixed.

 

I'm not sure if this information is helpful, but I have a GeForce 680 Graphics Card with 4 GB of VRAM as well as 16 GB of RAM, so with the ENB boost enabled I should have more than enough resources to run the game and mods.

 

One more thing... I read somewhere on the Nexus Mods forums that apparently the LITE versions of the Skyrim HD - 2K Textures mods (SHD LITE - Dungeons, SHD LITE - Landscape, SHD LITE - Misc, SHD LITE - Riften, and SHD LITE - Towns) are a lot easier on your memory usage the the Official High-Resolution Texture Packs are. Is this true? If so, should I keep using the Official High-Resolution Texture Packs or should I remove them from Steam and use the LITE versions of the Skyrim HD - 2K Textures mods?

 

One more thing... (Again, sorry) Is it better to use Mod Organizer for Skyrim, or would Wyre Bash be a better option? Thanks again for everyone's help so far.

[Content Consumer]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I got the ENB boost and installed it, and even read that apparently the newest Nvidia Graphics Drivers are messing around with Skyrim's memory, so I followed the instructions on how to fix that. I'm going to get that Alternate Start mod that Galvanize mentioned, and do a new clean save to see if the problem is now fixed.

 

I'm not sure if this information is helpful, but I have a GeForce 680 Graphics Card with 4 GB of VRAM as well as 16 GB of RAM, so with the ENB boost enabled I should have more than enough resources to run the game and mods.

 

One more thing... I read somewhere on the Nexus Mods forums that apparently the LITE versions of the Skyrim HD - 2K Textures mods (SHD LITE - Dungeons, SHD LITE - Landscape, SHD LITE - Misc, SHD LITE - Riften, and SHD LITE - Towns) are a lot easier on your memory usage the the Official High-Resolution Texture Packs are. Is this true? If so, should I keep using the Official High-Resolution Texture Packs or should I remove them from Steam and use the LITE versions of the Skyrim HD - 2K Textures mods?

 

One more thing... (Again, sorry) Is it better to use Mod Organizer for Skyrim, or would Wyre Bash be a better option? Thanks again for everyone's help so far.

If your video card has 4gb of VRAM, I tend to think that you would notice no performance difference between the full and LITE versions. I have a 590 with 2gb and I'm using the HD versions (with a few even-higher-res replacers to boot).

 

There have been a few threads here on LL dedicated to this very subject. I can't speak to MO's utility, because I don't use it. There are problems with it, but mostly they are solvable. Personally I use Wrye Bash and it works just fine for me. There are problems with that too, but again, they are solvable.