Please help! MO "file containing indices is broken" message and now DLCs are not registering

[bytorredoubt]

I received an error today on booting MO that "the file containing locked indices is broken". Now, when installing a mod (any mod) it results in a missing masters warning for all 3 DLCs. If I try to load a save, it tells me that the save relies on content that is no longer install (despite not uninstalling or disabling anything), and if I disable a mod which was installed and working before the error that requires the DLCs and then re-enable it, it then generates the same missing masters *though it doesn't generate that error until after its disabled).

 

Please help! I don't want to have to go through all the hoops of trying to do a fresh install... it's taken me forever to get a stable skyrim with everything working the way I want and half the stuff I did years ago and will never remember how I fixed it. ?

[bytorredoubt]

I just check and both Loot and TES5Edit can see the DLC. They show up in modmanager as "unmanaged" with I think is the same as normal.

 

I did manage to get a savegame to load and it is SUPER broken. All the lighting is hosed up and people look like checkerboards. All characters have vanilla heads, none of the zap furniture exists, though removed furniture from my breezehome mod is as it should be. there is no MCM menu anymore. some followers are there some aren't.

 

Everything was working fine the last time I ran skyrim. I made no changes between then and getting the locked indices file error. Supposedly this error points to the "lockedorder.txt file and it might be worth noting that my file is empty except for the line " # This file was automatically generated by Mod Organizer. "

 

[lisander68]

10 hours ago, bytorredoubt said:

I just check and both Loot and TES5Edit can see the DLC. They show up in modmanager as "unmanaged" with I think is the same as normal.

 

I did manage to get a savegame to load and it is SUPER broken. All the lighting is hosed up and people look like checkerboards. All characters have vanilla heads, none of the zap furniture exists, though removed furniture from my breezehome mod is as it should be. there is no MCM menu anymore. some followers are there some aren't.

 

Everything was working fine the last time I ran skyrim. I made no changes between then and getting the locked indices file error. Supposedly this error points to the "lockedorder.txt file and it might be worth noting that my file is empty except for the line " # This file was automatically generated by Mod Organizer. "

 

if you start a new game, do you have the same problems?

[bytorredoubt]

yes, and it gives me the vanilla start instead of the "live another life" alternate start.

[bytorredoubt]

I've also checked and followed the all the advice given here (link below) and tried everything OP did with the exception of checking the skyrim launcher... because I have steam set to update on run only and I don't want it to update if I use the regular launcher.
 

I'm also not getting a missing files error that looks like that.

 

 

[bytorredoubt]

so i just disabled all on the plugins, started a new save, quit, enabled all, then started a new save. This seems to have worked. Why, I'm not sure maybe the file was hose up some how? anyways, I'll leave this here as breadcrumbs for future people to find.

[lisander68]

13 hours ago, bytorredoubt said:

so i just disabled all on the plugins, started a new save, quit, enabled all, then started a new save. This seems to have worked. Why, I'm not sure maybe the file was hose up some how? anyways, I'll leave this here as breadcrumbs for future people to find.

In my opinion, it is a corrupted mod(s), in the sense that it needs to be updated. I find it illogical that if everything was working properly before, you suddenly have the opposite effect. The DLCs should run without any problems, for me it's a mod problem. You can try doing this: reinstall the game and its DLCs (Mods Excluded), launch Loot, you should see the DLCs in yellow, which means they should be cleaned with TES5EditQuickAutoClean. After these steps, launch the game, if there are any errors, notifications will not fail

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25859/

 

[bytorredoubt]

So, I just had this happen again. Apparently, it's something that can get f'ed up randomly if you lose power or your computer crashes with mod organizer running (not necessarily skyrim itself). I found other references to this happening online, and a power outage while I had mod manager up in the background is the only thing that happened since I last played. Its most definitely NOT a mod problem, but rather a mod organizer/loot problem. The file thats broken is one that gets generated by Loot. I also for some reason now seem to be further capped on number of mods I can install as ESP-FE mods now seem to be counting against my 255 mod cap. additionally, I have a discrepancy between number of active mods listed as active on the right hand side of mod manager under "plugins" and the list of mods active on the left... with the right hand side having about 10 more plugins active, 2 of which stay active even if I "disable all" (and none show checked). If I lower the active count to 255 on the right, then everything runs fine. If I increase over that limit (even with an ESP-FE) weird things happen and I get random ctd. I had a large number of mods more than 255 previously working well for months without any issues, thanks to the use of ESP-FE files for followers.

Edited February 13, 2023 by bytorredoubt

[Just Don't]

2 hours ago, bytorredoubt said:

So, I just had this happen again. Apparently, it's something that can get f'ed up randomly if you lose power or your computer crashes with mod organizer running (not necessarily skyrim itself). I found other references to this happening online, and a power outage while I had mod manager up in the background is the only thing that happened since I last played. Its most definitely NOT a mod problem, but rather a mod organizer/loot problem. The file thats broken is one that gets generated by Loot.

Weird issue, but that can happen when something closes a program abruptly or your computer shuts down. If you can try to clean any cache/temp files, if you know it's a certain file from LOOT or another program try restarting the program without said file and see if it generates a new one.

 

2 hours ago, bytorredoubt said:

I also for some reason now seem to be further capped on number of mods I can install as ESP-FE mods now seem to be counting against my 255 mod cap.

It shouldn't happen. MO even has a specific counter for ESM+ESP files, that's the number that really counts towards the plugin limit. You can see it by placing your mouse over the Active: nnn counter, you should clearly see a difference between All plugins, ESM+ESP and ESL.

 

2 hours ago, bytorredoubt said:

additionally, I have a discrepancy between number of active mods listed as active on the right hand side of mod manager under "plugins" and the list of mods active on the left... with the right hand side having about 10 more plugins active, 2 of which stay active even if I "disable all" (and none show checked).

One lists the mods you install as separate folders (left side), the other lists your loadorder (right side). If a mod comes with 3 plugin files it'll show as a single entry in the left side, whereas in your loadorder you'll have 3 new entries. This is quite common and completely normal. Would help if you mention which mods are these 2 that stay active even after you disable everything. By default only base game files will stay active (you can't for example disable Skyrim.esm or Dragonborn.esm and so on).

 

2 hours ago, bytorredoubt said:

If I lower the active count to 255 on the right, then everything runs fine. If I increase over that limit (even with an ESP-FE) weird things happen and I get random ctd. I had a large number of mods more than 255 previously working well for months without any issues, thanks to the use of ESP-FE files for followers

You'll need to check the actual counter for your ESM+ESP files. Even ESL files need one slot (all your ESL files fit into one) so if you're really above the limit even ESL will give you problems.

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Just Don't