Repeatable crash in and around Markarth

[kraoro]

Like the title says, I'm consistently and repeatably crashing whenever I try to enter either Markarth proper via fast travel, or entering the surrounding cells from the nearby Orc settlement. The crashlogs always point to this one NPC. Even though I have the RefID for that NPC, if I try to PRID the actor to either disable or recycle them, I get told that it's not a valid objectref. I've looked in xEdit, and that ID, 0003611D, is the ACHR record that places that actor there. The other thing about that NPC that's weird is that the crashlog calls it "Stormcloak Soldier," even though I haven't done the Civil War yet, so it should still be "Markarth Guard." I was able to enter Markarth just fine before now, so I don't know what's happening.

 

The crashlog also mentions SPID, which I've never had an issue with before this single NPC, and Skaal Boots, which Markarth Guards don't even wear. I placed a copy of the boots at my feet, just to make sure it wasn't a corrupted boot mesh, but that wasn't it.

crash-2025-08-03-06-23-30.log crash-2025-08-03-06-29-58.log crash-2025-08-03-06-39-13.log

[traison]

The reason why prid 3611d isn't working is because that's the form id, not a refrence id. References are usually in the ff address space (see below for example). I think only unique (or placed) NPCs and such use a different system: you can prid Lydia (a2c8e) with a2c94. Typically bandits and such are spawned from a monster marker based on a leveled list.

 

As for the crash logs, these are 3 different problems.

 

VCRUNTIME140.dll+00121EA

It's having issues deserializing something related to form id 0x0003611D reference id 0xFF0035F2 "Stormcloak Soldier". BGSOverridePackCollection seems like it might refer to the AI package override system.

 

SkyrimVR.exe+0C4215F

It's having issues with deserializing dismemberment info related to formd id 0x0003611D reference id 0xFF003650 "Stormcloak Soldier".

 

SkyrimVR.exe+013B20A

It's having issues with deserializing AI package data related to form id 0x0003611D reference id 0xFF003667 "Stormcloak Soldier".

 

 

So, clearly there's an issue with form id 0x0003611D. Start by disabling DismemberingFramework.dll, then inspect this NPC in xEdit. Pay attention to mods altering this record, especially those related to AI packages. The override package issue for instance doesn't look like a null reference, so it most likely has a value but it's invalid - like a reference that no longer exists.

 

AI packages can be altered during runtime obviously and those get a bit more complicated, especially when you can't approach the NPC without crashing. For that I'd install More Informative Console and prid the NPC from a cell where the NPC is not loaded:

 

prid 0xFF0035F2

prid 0xFF003667

 

The sledgehammer approach that you already hinted at could be to just disable these, but doing that obviously doesn't fix the issue and it's only a matter of time before it happens again:

 

disable

markfordelete

[kraoro]

Ah, ok. That makes sense about the form/ref ID. I know with unique actors you can get their RefID the long way by looking for their ACHR record in xEdit, but I guess it doesn't work that way for generic NPCs like guards and bandits.

 

0x0003611D is a Temporary Reference that places a Stormcloak Markarth Guard in the area, and nothing is editing that record. That Temporary Reference is pulling from an NPC list of Stormcloak Markarth Guards, and the only thing editing that entry is USSEP.

 

Could the game be crashing because it's trying to put a Stormcloak Guard in Markarth despite the fact that every other guard is still Imperial because I haven't done the Civil War and there shouldn't be Stormcloak guards yet? Everything I can see digging through xEdit records and clicking on references and linked records and such tells me that that NPC isn't supposed to show up until after the Civil War, which I haven't even started yet. And none of those records that are placing that Stormcloak soldier base are being mentioned in the crashlog, it's literally the one, 0003611D, and none of them, including the one causing the crash, are being edited or overridden by anything.

 

Also, looks like the sledgehammer approach won't work. The ref is different every time, so I can't just prid and disable the troublesome NPC.

 

I opened up the CK, and it looks like that NPC is supposed to be inside Markarth Keep, so even if the game was failing to load the NPC, I don't know why I'm crashing when I'm nearing the outskirts of Markarth.

Edited August 3, 2025 by kraoro

[traison]

Looking further down in the stack on all 3 logs suggests this issue is coming from NPC pathing.

 

Taking 0xFF003650 as an example. This NPC is set to spawn in 20EEA "MarkarthKeep" like you said, but it was in form id 0x00018A59 "Markarth" (last modified by Lux Via.esp) at the time of the crash. Pathing is running even while you're not in the same cell as the NPC, which would explain why its crashing on the approach.

 

Unfortunately pathing crashes are quite difficult to debug. I would start with the usual sanity checks:

1. What is modifying the navmesh in Markarth? Consider things like Silverblood Inn, Arnleif n Sons, the keep and whatever else you can think of as well since we don't know where this solder is heading. Most likely its to the keep, but that's just an assumption.
2. Do you have something that's deleting navmesh entries in this area?
3. Something that's perhaps creating navmesh islands? Not sure what the game thinks of these.

[kraoro]

So good news and bad news. The bad news is, I couldn't find anything wrong with markers, AI packages, or navmeshes. Especially since the starting Imperial Markarth guards share all of those things with the Stormcloak guards that potentially replace them as part of the Civil War.

 

The good news is, as I kept digging around, I remembered I had basically the same issue a few years ago on a previous playthrough. Because the actors are spawned via script, I can't PRID them, but what I was able to do is go in with Resaver and delete the actor and script via the ACHR record mentioned. Sure enough, I'm able to go in and around Markarth again and all is seemingly normal again.

[traison]

47 minutes ago, kraoro said:

I was able to do is go in with Resaver and delete the actor and script via the ACHR record mentioned.

 

I wasn't aware ReSaver could delete actor references.