How Do I Keep My Save File From Getting Corrupt?

[jihadoftomorrow]

I have a million mods installed and I was just wondering how I can avoid getting the "crash after loading".

 

All I'm doing now is use BOSS but is there anything else I can do?

 

Is it true that quicksaving and autosaving can cause corrupt save files?

[Guest]

'A million mods' - there's your answer.

 

Broad advice - be much more circumspect about what you're installing, how and when. Become more familiar with what mods are actually doing behind the scenes. Using a mod manager is good for convenience, but not if you're just dropping stuff into your game like the easter bunny and then removing them when you don't like them anymore. That sort of thing will always end with a corrupt save.

 

It would take up far too much time going into it all here, there's no magic wand and no avoiding doing your own legwork if you really want to get a handle on things. Some examples to give you some ideas:

 

Safety Load - helps with infinite loading

 

ENBoost - helps with assigning additional memory

 

Memory Patch  - similar objective as Safety Load, enables the configuration of larger memory heaps for the game to address at need

 

Mod Organizer - uses a virtual Data folder for mods and a profile for running only the mods you want for a particular play through. Great for testing.

 

[gvman3670]

Stay away from so many mods and NEVER remove scripted mods mistream. Know the mods you'll use on that playthrough, install them at the start and leave them there until the end.

 

I have about 200 mods loaded into Mod Organizer. But I have 3 profiles running and each profile is only using 70 or 80 of them. And I won't be removing any of them during those profiles' playthroughs (at least none of the scripted mods anyway since removing textures and meshes is fine).

 

Another thing that can help clean up saves is going to Skyrim/data/SKSE/ and make a folder called "SKSE.ini" (if you don't already have one) and add these lines...

 

[General]

ClearInvalidRegistrations=1

 

...then save the file after pasting them in. This is an orphaned/rogue script killer and will clean up your papyrus logs over a period of time.

[jihadoftomorrow]

How many mods is too many?

[gvman3670]

How many mods is too many?

 

The game engine can only take 255 .esm or .esp files. Once you go past that your game will remove another one and this can lead to crashes if it removes one that another mod relies on.

 

Too many scripted mods is another thing altogether. For example, if you run Wet and Cold, footprints, Immersive Patrols (or any "Immersive" mods that add scripted NPCs), Civil War and then toss in several SL mods (and even SoS) then you'll have a script lagging crashfest. Remove one of those scripted suckers and your game is literally broken and a fresh reinstall is the only fix.

 

Of course, using Mod Organizer (instead of NMM or manual installs) will eliminate the need for reinstalls altogether. You can just start a new profile/character with the mods you want to use and go to town again.

 

[Guest]

How many mods is too many?

How long's a piece of string?

 

Depends on your PC setup, how well you maintain your game, the combination of mods, all sorts of variables. A game with a dozen script heavy mods and not much else may run like a dog compared to another game with 250. 

[Sarathis]

How many mods is too many?

That's an impossible question to answer. It depends entirely on your system specs, the mods in question and how many scripts they run, the alignment of the stars, the humidity in your room, and how much static your current outfit is generating. Only you can really determine for yourself what's too much.

 

When you're making a build / profile, whatever, don't just load it with 50 mods then try to run the game. You've got to go at it slow, one or two mods with scripts at a time, to see if they play nicely together or they're a bitch. Read up on the mods before you install them, as well. If you're grabbing things from the Nexus check out what people are saying about it in the comments. When I first started modding not too long ago I just downloaded anything that sounded cool in the Description and added it to my game and wound up regretting it. Long story short, I ended up rebuilding from the ground up twice and count myself lucky it was that few. If I'd done more research I could have avoided a lot of headaches and keyboard smashing. 

 

You can put as many texture and mesh changing mods on as you like so long as they match the body type you're using and the worst you'll get is some weirdness and black faces. It's mods that utilize scripts that change behaviors in the game that'll wreck things for you. Once you add a script to your game save it's there forever. Take it out of your game and you get all sorts of errors because the game's still trying to run scripts that don't exist. The fewer of those types of mods you have, the smoother your game will run.

[...0...]

Sheson's memory patch you don't have long load screens anymore and limited by alot CTD.

 

Safetyload you only solve long loading screens you still crash alot to desktop.

 

Memory patch you don't need safetyload anymore.

 

[Rayblue]

I have a million mods installed and I was just wondering how I can avoid getting the "crash after loading".

 

All I'm doing now is use BOSS but is there anything else I can do?

 

Is it true that quicksaving and autosaving can cause corrupt save files?

 

1. Have you provided a loadlist?

2. When modding, you have to observe limits to what the Skyrim game engine can handle.

3. Do not use autosaves or quicksaves -- use full saves. A full save will load better than you would with a quicksave.

4. If you CTD, use this: at the main menu, open the console (~) and type coc qasmoke; this'll take you to QAsmoke cell and should load some of your mods into memory... then you ESC and open your regular playthrough gamesave.

5. Best to make a gamesave inside any interior, so as not to CTD when opening it the next time.

[dobmc]

OP asks 

Is it true that quicksaving and autosaving can cause corrupt save files?

 

…

 

No one answers.

 

 

 

 

If this was a school, you guys would be getting something like a D. 

 

So to answer this, yes. If you want to know more, just google it. Please. I'll just say that quicksaving works differently than saving normally. Hence the "quick".

 

And since this wasn't mentioned too *circle eyes* Use Tes5Edit to check compatibilities and yady, yady, yada.

[Guest Spikes]

Quicksaving in skyrim works differently than in Oblivion aka,when u quick save in skyrim,it deletes the old one and makes a new save on top.

 

Autosaving: can't help you there,should be okey,but who knows.

 

The worse is,when u die and the last save instantly loads. Or u load your last save.Then what happens is, you have the save stuff instantly appear while the stuff before you died haven't disappeared completely yet. So if you save ,lets say after 10 mins for example, you will have a new save that has a lot of weird stuff. Avoid that.

 

Best practise: Always manually save a new save,with a new name,number. Not on top of an existing one. In theory, it's okey,but we talking Bethesda here. disable autosave and when you die log off and restart Skyrim.-->load save you want.

 

I am even more cautious, i make periodic save files of my saves,so if i dc, i replace my last save (which i delete first) by the saved save . I do that,in case the dc corrupted something in my old save. It shouldn't but yes,it has happened and quite frequently.

 

 

P.S : If you want to help your saves from corruptions, use the Unofficial Patches by Arthmoor,all of them and only them. Any other "unofficial " ones, avoid them. Specially if they say the fix stuff in Arthmoor's patches.

[GrimReaper]

1. Don't install mods in the middle of a playthrough.

 

2. Don't uninstall mods in the middle of a playthrough.

 

The rule of thumb is, don't touch your mods if you are in the middle of a playthrough. Everything gets baked into your save, so you will have orphaned scripts and references in your save if you remove anything in the middle of your game. You don't add new mods during your playthrough because your load order will get changed and most importantly, you don't know if the new mod will be nice to your other mods (or vice versa). If you absolutely have to install a new mod, back up your save, i.e. make a save before you install the new mod and don't overwrite it. Keep it in case anything goes wrong so you can revert the state of your game to before you installed the mod.

 

3. Don't quicksave.

 

4. Turn off autosave or at least don't load autosaves.

 

The reason for that is you should only save a game in a quiet moment, not when hundreds of scripts are running or an entire area is loading. You can use quicksaves, a quicksave itself isn't dangerous. But you are tempted to press F5 when you shouldn't, like in the middle of a fight or something. Autosaves are created right before and after loading a new cell which can be a bad thing. Think about saving a game in the loading process, doesn't sound like a good idea, does it? It isn't so bad in vanilla Skyrim when at most nothing really needs to be processed other than loading the geometry and a few NPCs, but in a heavily modded game there is a lot more happening than just that. The autosave function was designed with the vanilla game in mind.

 

 

Other than that, there is not much you can do. Some versions of the Unofficial Patches, which are basically considered essential caused save file corruption. Some mods will do that, some won't. Making a backup save every few hours won't save you either, if you have a mod installed when you start the game that can cause corruption, it eventually will do so. It's just a matter of when or where, not if. It doesn't even need to be a fancy and script heavy mod, even a simple house mod can wreck your game sooner or later.

 

 

If you experience crash on load, make a save where you PC is in a small cell and alone. The best place for that would be the prison cell from the alternate start mod. Load a save where you are in that cell and then load the game which you want to load. Crash on load doesn't mean that your save is damaged, a corrupted save means that you will experience CTDs every few minutes until you are completely unable to save your game anymore.

[Taskmaster]

Autosaves are one thing, but Quicksaves is something else entirely. You're not freezing the game going into menu(pausing scripts and such), when you quick or autosave, but we have control over the moment we quicksave as opposed to auto saving(which could happen while something key is firing).

 

I've been using quick saves again, because always opening the menu breaks me diving into the world. I regular save at key points I don't mind returning to if my quicksaves never existed, but I quicksave when travelling outdoors incase my game decides to give out. 

 

I also always load up a prison cell(Alternative Start) save before loading my regular save, whenever I start game. I usually would always use regular saves, but this time I decided to put Quicksaves into the mix to see the result, and after 50 hours of gameplay there have been no problems. That goes without saying that if I do encounter a problem it might be too late, but who knows.

 

I honestly don't think Quicksaves are like burning CDs, where repeat overwrites will corrupt. Is it not simply replacing the file instead of writing on it?

[Guest]

I'm with the Grimster on quicksave, it's a cunt (pardon my french). If I'm ever going to get a ctd on a fresh load, it's almost guaranteed to be a quicksave. As grim says, by it's very nature you're stabbing at it during a hectic moment, and it's those cells with loads going on that are the most likely to give you grief, natch. It's a really good mindset to get into, making a nice calm 'hard' save before the scene gets hectic, before the cell gets hit with a bunch of scripts all firing at once. 

[GrimReaper]

Autosaves are one thing, but Quicksaves is something else entirely. You're not freezing the game going into menu(pausing scripts and such), when you quick or autosave, but we have control over the moment we quicksave as opposed to auto saving(which could happen while something key is firing).

 

I've been using quick saves again, because always opening the menu breaks me diving into the world. I regular save at key points I don't mind returning to if my quicksaves never existed, but I quicksave when travelling outdoors incase my game decides to give out. 

 

I also always load up a prison cell(Alternative Start) save before loading my regular save, whenever I start game. I usually would always use regular saves, but this time I decided to put Quicksaves into the mix to see the result, and after 50 hours of gameplay there have been no problems. That goes without saying that if I do encounter a problem it might be too late, but who knows.

 

I honestly don't think Quicksaves are like burning CDs, where repeat overwrites will corrupt. Is it not simply replacing the file instead of writing on it?

 

The file gets replaced each time, yes. Like I said, a quicksave itself isn't bad, it's just that you are more likely to do a quicksave when you really shouldn't, given that it's just the press of a button and doesn't require you to go into the menu. A quicksave is the same as a regular save, technically.

[Guest]

Just don't update mods mid-playthrough and you should be fine...

[Brunock]

Along with just about everything else everyone has been saying, there is also this new tool for cleaning your saves with. This probably won't 100% fix your game depending on how badly your save file is bloated, but it does look for orphaned scripts and deletes them. I read people in the comments section mentioning that previously completely dead saves they couldn't get into anymore have been brought back to life after cleaning with this. I use this too as well and it seems to work pretty well.

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52363/?

 

Better still is to take a proactive approach in being cautious about installing and uninstalling mods mid playthrough rather than reactive doing things like this and cleaning after the fact. Though admittedly it is hard to keep playthrough files completely clean even if you don't since I've downloaded mod updates, and in the new update they decide they're not going to use some old scripts and throw in other new ones instead. I've used this to clean those old orphaned scripts for that case. Recent example involves I think it was both of Arthmoor's mods Run For You Lives and also his Live Another Life.

[AshenWolf]

sorry for asking, but what is it like to have corrupted save? i tried looking up but all it give me is how to save/fix it. no info on what corrupted save is or what it's like.

 

 

i might have few ways to work around this but i cannot list them till i know what's this corrupted save is.

[Emberheart]

Also back-up your most recent Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini. Changes to how the cells are loaded and such will prevent savegames from loading if you reinstall the game with its old .ini settings.

[D_ManXX2]

Is there any adverse effects when there are sexacts around to save the game. Some mods will have this mainly sexlab defeat, but sometimes you cannot see if there is even any sexacts around while saving.

[Guest]

Is there any adverse effects when there are sexacts around to save the game. Some mods will have this mainly sexlab defeat, but sometimes you cannot see if there is even any sexacts around while saving.

I think you just have to be a lot more strict and cautious about how you do things with any heavy scripted setup because extra complexity is always going to add to the engine's burden and lets face it, it's already a bit of a wheezy old codger. I don't know for certain but I'd guess that sexlab mods are every bit as complex as any mod can get really.

 

I have a Sexlab profile in MO.  I don't think I'd ever run them in a general gaming play through because with the best will in the world things can just go wrong, and bitter experience has taught most of us to look at papyrus, see what amounts to a chimp's tea party in there  and cry salty tears of woe.

[love this game 1993]

'A million mods' - there's your answer.

 

Broad advice - be much more circumspect about what you're installing, how and when. Become more familiar with what mods are actually doing behind the scenes. Using a mod manager is good for convenience, but not if you're just dropping stuff into your game like the easter bunny and then removing them when you don't like them anymore. That sort of thing will always end with a corrupt save.

 

It would take up far too much time going into it all here, there's no magic wand and no avoiding doing your own legwork if you really want to get a handle on things. Some examples to give you some ideas:

 

Safety Load - helps with infinite loading

 

ENBoost - helps with assigning additional memory

 

Memory Patch  - similar objective as Safety Load, enables the configuration of larger memory heaps for the game to address at need

 

Mod Organizer - uses a virtual Data folder for mods and a profile for running only the mods you want for a particular play through. Great for testing.

btw how do get ENBoost installed when that site don't have the code to download

[Guest]

 

'A million mods' - there's your answer.

 

Broad advice - be much more circumspect about what you're installing, how and when. Become more familiar with what mods are actually doing behind the scenes. Using a mod manager is good for convenience, but not if you're just dropping stuff into your game like the easter bunny and then removing them when you don't like them anymore. That sort of thing will always end with a corrupt save.

 

It would take up far too much time going into it all here, there's no magic wand and no avoiding doing your own legwork if you really want to get a handle on things. Some examples to give you some ideas:

 

Safety Load - helps with infinite loading

 

ENBoost - helps with assigning additional memory

 

Memory Patch  - similar objective as Safety Load, enables the configuration of larger memory heaps for the game to address at need

 

Mod Organizer - uses a virtual Data folder for mods and a profile for running only the mods you want for a particular play through. Great for testing.

btw how do get ENBoost installed when that site don't have the code to download

 

Not sure I follow you - you just click download and choose a server, it's a manual install if that's what you mean?  And you have to be logged in to get it obviously. 

[love this game 1993]

 

 

'A million mods' - there's your answer.

 

Broad advice - be much more circumspect about what you're installing, how and when. Become more familiar with what mods are actually doing behind the scenes. Using a mod manager is good for convenience, but not if you're just dropping stuff into your game like the easter bunny and then removing them when you don't like them anymore. That sort of thing will always end with a corrupt save.

 

It would take up far too much time going into it all here, there's no magic wand and no avoiding doing your own legwork if you really want to get a handle on things. Some examples to give you some ideas:

 

Safety Load - helps with infinite loading

 

ENBoost - helps with assigning additional memory

 

Memory Patch  - similar objective as Safety Load, enables the configuration of larger memory heaps for the game to address at need

 

Mod Organizer - uses a virtual Data folder for mods and a profile for running only the mods you want for a particular play through. Great for testing.

btw how do get ENBoost installed when that site don't have the code to download

 

Not sure I follow you - you just click download and choose a server, it's a manual install if that's what you mean?  And you have to be logged in to get it obviously. 

 

i was referring to ENBoost website

[Guest]

The binary files are here, place it and the appropriate enblocal file for your pc's ram  in the Skyrim directory and you're good to go.