Losing my mind over these tedious CTDs. Sharing two crash logs.

[JohnKasarinlan]

Hello good day I am having these really tedious CTDs whenever I am fighting. Sometimes I can get a hit or three but it would CTD as soon as the sound glitch.

See the attached crash logs and for my load order/mods.

Would appreciate any of your help



 

crash-2023-08-18-12-39-29.log crash-2023-08-18-13-16-30.log loadorder.txt

[DarkBlade13]

Want to bet it is one of your mods?

Edited August 18, 2023 by DarkBlade13

[Just Don't]

More like Windows service issue.

1st crash logs mentions XAudio2_7.dll in the very unhandled exception line. 2nd log has BSXAudio2GameSound in the stacks. Searching for XAudio2_7.dll and Skyrim crashes returns several reddit and Steam posts with potential solutions, involving stopping certain Windows services. These posts also mention that crashes occurred exactly 15 minutes into playing the game, is this the case for these crash logs too? If so I'd be more inclined to test the potential fixes. I'll leave some of the posts I found linked below, just keep in mind any changes you make to your system (I'd try one change at a time, with a good and old restart between tries) and if changing something doesn't fix the issue undo said change before trying anything else.

 

https://steamcommunity.com/app/311560/discussions/0/528398719804196382/

https://old.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/59ubec/crashing_every_15_minutes_on_windows_10_xaudio2/

https://old.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/59sm2x/if_you_are_crashing_every_fifteen_minutes_or_so/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/312265327168452290/?l=japanese

https://old.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/5as991/xaudio2_7dll_crashing_every_20_minutes_or_so/

[JohnKasarinlan]

10 hours ago, Just Don't said:

More like Windows service issue.

1st crash logs mentions XAudio2_7.dll in the very unhandled exception line. 2nd log has BSXAudio2GameSound in the stacks. Searching for XAudio2_7.dll and Skyrim crashes returns several reddit and Steam posts with potential solutions, involving stopping certain Windows services. These posts also mention that crashes occurred exactly 15 minutes into playing the game, is this the case for these crash logs too? If so I'd be more inclined to test the potential fixes. I'll leave some of the posts I found linked below, just keep in mind any changes you make to your system (I'd try one change at a time, with a good and old restart between tries) and if changing something doesn't fix the issue undo said change before trying anything else.

 

https://steamcommunity.com/app/311560/discussions/0/528398719804196382/

https://old.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/59ubec/crashing_every_15_minutes_on_windows_10_xaudio2/

https://old.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/59sm2x/if_you_are_crashing_every_fifteen_minutes_or_so/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/312265327168452290/?l=japanese

https://old.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/5as991/xaudio2_7dll_crashing_every_20_minutes_or_so/

Man, I tried disabling that touchpad thing and it still persists.  It especially happens everytime I do unarmed combat.

Edited August 19, 2023 by JohnKasarinlan

[traison]

Looking at the xaudio crash because technically the other one is completely different; the callstack translates to the following:

 

XAudio2_7.dll+0025181 XAUDIO2::CLeapBufferPool::GetBuffer <- crash occured in here
XAudio2_7.dll+0029EEB XAUDIO2::CX2Voice::CreateInputBuffer
XAudio2_7.dll+002841B XAUDIO2::CX2Voice::Initialize
XAudio2_7.dll+002A4B8 XAUDIO2::CX2SourceVoice::Initialize
XAudio2_7.dll+00268F3 XAUDIO2::CX2Engine::CreateSourceVoice

 

In the audio world, a voice is a source of a sound if I'm not mistaken - ie. a sword or guitar is as much a voice as a human is when it they're used to create sounds.

 

So, considering GetBuffer seems to be the issue I could think of a few possible problems:

1. The audio source is in the wrong format, i.e. stereo when it should be mono.
2. The audio file is not available. (unlikely)
3. The audio file is malformed, i.e. reports length as 4 seconds despite being only 2.
4. The audio driver is acting up.
5. Windows is acting up. (unlikely)

Edited August 19, 2023 by traison

[JohnKasarinlan]

22 minutes ago, traison said:

Looking at the xaudio crash because technically the other one is completely different; the callstack translates to the following:

 

XAudio2_7.dll+0025181 XAUDIO2::CLeapBufferPool::GetBuffer <- crash occured in here
XAudio2_7.dll+0029EEB XAUDIO2::CX2Voice::CreateInputBuffer
XAudio2_7.dll+002841B XAUDIO2::CX2Voice::Initialize
XAudio2_7.dll+002A4B8 XAUDIO2::CX2SourceVoice::Initialize
XAudio2_7.dll+00268F3 XAUDIO2::CX2Engine::CreateSourceVoice

 

In the audio world, a voice is a source of a sound if I'm not mistaken - ie. a sword or guitar is as much a voice as a human is when it they're used to create sounds.

 

So, considering GetBuffer seems to be the issue I could think of a few possible problems:

1. The audio source is in the wrong format, i.e. stereo when it should be mono.
2. The audio file is not available. (unlikely)
3. The audio file is malformed, i.e. reports length as 4 seconds despite being only 2.
4. The audio driver is acting up.
5. Windows is acting up. (unlikely)

I wonder why this suddenly happened because it only occurred 3 days ago. I installed a mod called Curse of the Vampire when it has a different vampire drain sound. Now while it also causes a crash, it also happens to crash more often when fighting unarmed.

Here is my latest crash on the attached files. The sound would delay then suddenly it would crash no matter what weapon.

crash-2023-08-19-08-47-52.log

Edited August 19, 2023 by JohnKasarinlan

[traison]

Don't discard Windows updates. It wouldn't be the first time they stealth-update system drivers. They particularly like removing display drivers and replacing them with their own. Granted, that hasn't happend on my system yet, but its only a few months old, and before that I had Windows 7.

 

This screenshot says everything about Microsoft's driver update logic. Persistently trying to replace a driver that is better than what they got. Might be a fake, but it honestly wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't.

Spoiler

 

[traison]

Here's a silly thing to test:

1. Find a different version of XAudio*.dll in %SYSTEMROOT%\System32
2. Copy it to the Skyrim directory (next to SkyrimSE.exe).
3. Rename it to "XAudio2_7.dll".
4. Test.

[JohnKasarinlan]

5 hours ago, traison said:

Here's a silly thing to test:

1. Find a different version of XAudio*.dll in %SYSTEMROOT%\System32
2. Copy it to the Skyrim directory (next to SkyrimSE.exe).
3. Rename it to "XAudio2_7.dll".
4. Test.

Okay I did this and it still crashes. On the screen shots below, the ones I renamed are _8 and _9.

 

Just wanna say that the crash only happens if someone hit me. If my followers were hit nothing happens.

Edited August 19, 2023 by JohnKasarinlan

[JohnKasarinlan]

Oh shit I found out something.

When I go to godmode, its not crashing when enemies are hitting me. Once I disable it, as soon as they hit me it will then crash.

[JohnKasarinlan]

Holy motherfucking shit. Finally found the problem. It seems when I am using my headphones/usb sound device the crash happens. Using my speakers(realtek HD) its not happening anymore!!

 

[traison]

So it is a driver issue then. That's unfortunate.

 

Edit: Remember to undo that XAudio hack, don't want to forget about it and have it bite you in the ass a year down the line.

Edited August 20, 2023 by traison

[JohnKasarinlan]

OMG Traison I think I finally find the final culprit. It was still crashing despite connecting to Realtek HD Audio manager instead of my usb pnp devices.  It was not my drivers or anything but a goddamn mod
 

1, The audio source is in the wrong format, i.e. stereo when it should be mono.

This is the main culprit. Basically I have a mod called PC headtracking and there is a voice choices on the main menu. See the screen screenshots.

I disabled it then VOILA. 5 hrs of playing and no crash.