Followers crash my game, how to install many followers?

[Random987654]

Hi there,

I want to have a lot of followers in my homes because I use them to stash and display different armors and weapons I like. I basically just use them for this, I nearly never take them somewhere else.

 

Issue:

• I summon them with player.placeatme
• At some point my game crashes, at the moment between adding 2-4 more custom followers while I have 2x5 more at 2 more places
• Current mods: multiple of author LamaKreis and Harem Volume IV (adds 20) by Toki7
• Location doesn't seem to matter, only the NPCs around, i.e. game crashes earlier when there is more followers around
• Mostly standalone followers
• I changed their body meshes and textures manually because I didn't like the original
• Before the crash followers' bodies turn black or alternate between black and their real texture
• My CPU and RAM are highly loaded, RAM between 10 and 15 GB of 16 GB max., CPU most cores 80-90% load, some up to 98% (I need to upgrade soon anyways, so could do that now if that's an issue)

 

Assumption: The loading of meshes and textures of standalone followers overloads my system and crashes the game.

 

Question:

• Would you agree?
• How can I set up multiple follower mods properly without bloating my setup?
• Is there an easy way to just use their faces and hair while referring to my normal meshes and textures to make them leaner? Also get rid of the armors and AI or whatever they come with?

 

My system:

Spoiler

AMD Ryzen 5 1600, 6x 3.20GHz, boxed (YD1600BBAEBOX)
be Quiet! Straight Power 11 PC Netzteil ATX 650W BN282
12GB PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 XT Fighter DDR6 Retail
SSD: 
Crucial MX500 1TB CT1000MX500SSD1(Z)-bis zu 560 MB/s (3D NAND, SATA, 2,5 Zoll
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB, SATA
RAM: 16GB (2x 8192MB) G.Skill RipJaws V schwarz DDR4-3200 DIMM CL16-18-18-38 Dual Kit (F4-3200C16D-16GVKB)
Mainboard: MSI B350 Gaming Pro Carbon (7B00-001R)
OS: Win 10 64 bit

 

Plugins

Spoiler

# This file was automatically generated by Mod Organizer.
Skyrim.esm
Update.esm
Dawnguard.esm
HearthFires.esm
Dragonborn.esm
hdtHighHeel.esm
ApachiiHairFemales.esm
ApachiiHair.esm
YurianaWench.esp
Immersive Wenches.esp
Apachii_DivineEleganceStore.esm
Apachii_DivineEleganceStore_Patch.esp
HighResTexturePack01.esp
HighResTexturePack02.esp
HighResTexturePack03.esp
Unofficial High Resolution Patch.esp
Feminine Females.esp
RaceMenuMorphsCBBE.esp
VOBS.esp
IcePenguinWorldMap.esp
UIExtensions.esp
AddItemMenuLE.esp
Auto Unequip Ammo.esp
TheAmazingWorldOfBikiniArmor.esp
DraugrBikini.esp
StalhrimBikini.esp
DragonscaleBikini.esp
Remodeled Armor - Dawnguard.esp
Remodeled Armor - Dragonborn.esp
Remodeled Armor - Underwear.esp
Remodeled Armor.esp
Tembtra Thief Armor.esp
Emfy Cleric Robes.esp
Aves SkyPircing.esp
DovahBlingJewelryStandalone.esp
KS Jewelry.esp
HDT Piercingsets.esp
CL NettlebaneOrg.esp
nwsFollowerFramework.esp
XPMSE.esp
FNIS.esp
FNISSexyMove.esp
BarenziahQuestMarkers.esp
SkyUI.esp
Vampire_NoSunDamage_Hoods&Helmets.esp
Lynn.esp
Armana.esp
Anya.Follower.esp
Wenya.esp
AZ_LydiaReplacer.esp
CS_Anaka.esp
Samira_Follower_Healer.esp
Nissa.esp
Seductress Serana.esp
Seductress Elizabeth.esp
Harem Volume IV.esp
RaceMenu.esp
RaceMenuPlugin.esp
Predator Vision.esp
Loadout.esp
New Hagravens.esp
Brows.esp
aelafacelift.esp
Deadly Wenches.esp
Immersive Wenches -Apachii hairs- Patch.esp
Immersive Wenches -Enslaved Wenches patch-.esp
nwsFF_NoTeamMagicDamage.esp
NPR Lingerie Sets.esp
[COCO] Lingerie.esp
LingerieSetCBBE3_2ByNausicaa.esp
XN_MicroBikini.esp
[COCO]Bikini_collection.esp
[COCO]LaceBody.esp
COCO3BBB.esp
RaceMenuMorphsCOCO.esp

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Random987654

[IBAGadget]

from what you describe, your computer can't handle the load - you've maxed out your gpu and ram trying to run it.

 

What are your system specs?

 

What multi-follower mod are you using to recruit the followers? Some followers also have requirements for recruiting them, and if you are just using console commands to get them, you are probably breaking their ai. Some followers also have custom ai packages that don't play nice with multi-follower mods, and you will break them if you import them into that framework.

 

I run Nether's Follower Framework, and I typically run with 6 followers with me at all times. I'm not familiar with the followers you are using, as I use Vindic8tors Goddess Series, Coldsuns Pantheon, as well as a couple Milfactory followers.

 

for my own setup, I'm running an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, with 32GB of Ram and a GTI 1660 Super with 6GB of onboard RAM. I typically don't have a Ram load of more than about 60%

 

All my followers use my own BHUNP bodyslide preset (setup in the install process) and body textures from their own asset pack.

 

What version of Skyrim are you running as well?

Do you have a lot of texture altering mods?

[Random987654]

Thanks for the reply. I put the system specs into the original post.

 

I'm using NFF, too.

 

Good point regarding console, maybe I should delete and re-install all follower mods and then recruit the followers properly?

 

Thanks for sharing your followers.

Actually I don't care about them very much, they are just weapon and armor racks, so I need follower mods that are as lean as possible. Do you think yours could work for me? I will definitely check them out.

 

Is it somehow possible or are there good follower packs that refer to the standard textures to keep them more light-weight?

 

Btw, is CBBE kinda outdated? I see more and more ppl use BHUNP.

 

Skyrim LE 1.3.22.0 (according to launcher.exe --> details)

 

I think so, what is that exactly? Plugin list now in original post, I was browsing and testing mods recently, so I don't really need all of them, if there is trash that destabilizes my setup I could remove a lot of them.

I have stuff like high res patch, Skyrim HD, CBBE, armor addons and replacers, followers and some npc replacers.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Random987654

[Grey Cloud]

A lot of custom followers come with 4k skins, clothes and weapons. This will eat resources especially if you have multiple followers in one location.

 

Are you using the stability tools such as ENBoost and Crash Fixes?

 

What you want to do can be done but it will require a bit of work.

 

 

 

[Random987654]

 

Ye, I would prefer them to come without skin text, clothes weapons etc. because I use my own stuff anyways. Are they still consuming resources even if I remove these weapons, armor and copy in my normal CBBE textures?

 

No, should I?

 

How can I do it?

Are there leight-weight follower mods that don't come with all of this stuff? I've been browsing Nexus a bit but didn't really find something good yet.

[Arizona_Steve]

Hmm... from someone who has around 800 followers in his game, the biggest differences are the RAM (16GB vs 64GB) and the graphics card (6700xt vs 4090). It does sound like a resource issue, as a bad mesh on one or more followers is usually an insta-CTD.

[Grey Cloud]

1 hour ago, Random987654 said:

No, should I?

Most definitely yes and not just because of followers.

 

For LE
https://www.loverslab.com/blogs/entry/7521-conglomerate-01-installing-skyrim-stability-fixes-tools/

 

https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/SkyrimLE:3.0.0

 

 

1 hour ago, Random987654 said:

Ye, I would prefer them to come without skin text, clothes weapons etc. because I use my own stuff anyways. Are they still consuming resources even if I remove these weapons, armor and copy in my normal CBBE textures?

 

1 hour ago, Random987654 said:

Are there leight-weight follower mods that don't come with all of this stuff? I've been browsing Nexus a bit but didn't really find something good yet.

 

There are follower mods which are just the facegen files (basically the head) and use your meshes and textures. The mod will usually tell you in the description whether it is standalone or will use your meshes and textures.

 

You can delete things like weapons and armour from the archive and edit the esp to suit. This might be a lot of work for what you want.

[Arizona_Steve]

Yeah, thinking about this a little more, most of my followers have had the custom bodies and textures stripped out which might contribute to being able to run so many on my system. That's a lot of work so I automated a lot of the stripping out of extraneous stuff with Java code.

[Random987654]

Thanks, I'll check those out. Maybe I'll go for the SSE versions of the guide, because I wanted to move to SSE anyways at some point and if I now go into this topic I might as well take the chance to switch to SSE.

I guess as of now nearly everyone is using the SAE version of the game, right?

 

I'm not sure if I can do the esp editing, I have never worked on a esp file before.

 

So my options are:

- Get better hardware

- Find followers without custom textures (except face and hair) --> but I haven't found many of these yet.

- Learn how to change esp files --> won't have the time for this probably in the next months

- Don't summon followers via script command just to be sure

 

Would it help to remove other mods, like armor mods, overall texture improvements, weapon texture improvements etc.?

 

And one more thing: Does it make sense that my game is running smoothly and loading times are about 30 sec. and then it crashes because my HW is overloaded? I would have expected FPS drops or so first?

 

 

 

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Random987654

[Grey Cloud]

You are using LE now so you need to optimise LE not worry about what to do vis-a-vis SE and AE at some point in the future.

 

I'd never edited an esp until the first time I edited an esp.

 

You do not need better hardware - you need an optimised Skyrim LE for starters.

 

Modding Skyrim generally requires a lot of work.

 

 

[Random987654]

So specifically this means: the guides you mentioned, including, ENBoost and Crash Fixes + ESP editing?

 

I'm on my save game for a long time now, I guess I should clean it up, too, as I will have to re-install some mods? Or do I even have to start a new play through?

 

Edit: I will still upgrade my hardware, it was a parallel topic I was working on and it just happened to coincide with my Skyrim topic.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Random987654

[Random987654]

So, I worked through the guides (I'm not set up perfectly yet but I think it's okay until I have the time to move Skyrim, MO etc. to a better location), installed Crash Fix and ENBoost. The game overall seems faster, my mouse moves much smoother than before and so far I have been able to load into cells to crashed me before. The downside seems to be that the fps seem to drop sometimes, so the view is less smooth when moving. But overall really nice tools, thank you very much for hinting them out.

 

Also I'll get a new CPU and RAM soon, so I guess that will help, too.

 

I also looked into the ESP editing and got an first impression, but I think my questions regarding that belong into a separate thread.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

 

[IBAGadget]

I ran a quick comparison between your cpu and gpu vs mine, and while you have the much better gpu, I think your cpu is what is bottlenecking your game. It just simply doesn't have the power.

 

If you move to AE, Coldsun's and Vindic8tr's followers all have options in the install to use your own body rather than the custom body. this alone will save cpu processing power. Clothing and gear that they come with will have no effect, as you can change those out with NFF.

 

Also, if you've been changing out mods without starting a new game, your game is likely to be horribly corrupt and full of errors.

[Random987654]

Thanks man, ye, will get new CPU soon, probably Ryzen 7 5800X3D.

 

I will definitely move to AE at some point, at latest when I start a new play through. So long I will work on the stability of my LE. And your advice regarding those followers is great, I'll definitely go for them once on AE

 

Ye, probably it is corrupt, at the same time it is surprisingly stable, but maybe I have a lot of performance losses due to errors and so. Do you think I can repair it? I used a loose script cleaner some days ago, but nothing else so far.

[IBAGadget]

One of the biggest problems isn't necessarily loose scripts, it's mod indexes that no longer match with items that are already spawned in the game.

[Random987654]

Hm, aynthing I can do about this aside from starting new?

[Grey Cloud]

17 hours ago, IBAGadget said:

It just simply doesn't have the power.

The power to do what?

 

17 hours ago, IBAGadget said:

options in the install to use your own body rather than the custom body. this alone will save cpu processing power.

How?

 

17 hours ago, IBAGadget said:

Clothing and gear that they come with will have no effect, as you can change those out with NFF.

That clothing and gear will still load to memory even if it doesn't make it into the game.

 

17 hours ago, IBAGadget said:

Also, if you've been changing out mods without starting a new game, your game is likely to be horribly corrupt and full of errors.

Possible but not probable. A save cleaner can remove a lot of this type of problem.

 

42 minutes ago, Random987654 said:

Hm, aynthing I can do about this aside from starting new?

Fallrim Tools - Resaver

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/5031/

 

17 hours ago, Random987654 said:

I also looked into the ESP editing and got an first impression

Knowledge of XEdit is very useful rather than mandatory. It depends on how much time and effort you want to put into customising/personalising your Skyrim.

[Random987654]

Thanks for these two new tools, they sound promising, really appreciate it, especially as your other recommendations significantly improved my game. I'll look into them later.

 

Yesterday, I was taking some minutes to browse into a random follower esp file via creation kit. Under "objects" --> "all" I found the follower. It has multiple entries, something like body textures, body meshes, follower master entry etc. In the follower master entry I found multiple tabs for weapons, AI etc. So far, this hasn't been difficult.

 

Now, can I simply go ahead and remove these body texture files, unwanted armor, weapon, AI package etc. or is there more to it?