Fixing the memory swapfile (Shenson method)

[Nicolas]

First off,

I made this post for the people that are posting questions in my modlist, see link below:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=285722523

There i posted some links and information how to stabilize the memory swapfile in Skyrim. I still get alot of questions abouty the subject. So i decided to make a thread about it. It wil be the same information but expanded in some places. I didn't want to enclude more information about the subject in the post, because it would get a bit much.
I searched of there where posts about the subject but i couldn't find it.

Also read the comments below, there are more ways than one to a achieve a stable memory swap file. This one just happened to worked for me.
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What does the modification do:

Skyrim uses a swapfile for loading cells, cells are objects like trees houses rocks etc. In the past the swap file had a limited amount of mb's. This was probably due to the fact that the game was also released on the consoles. On the computer, the swapfile was stable at Ugrid 5 (defauld mode). But if you wanted to enhance your field of view to ugrid 7 it caused CTD's (Crash to Desktop). If you have a lot of mod's and ugrid 7, then CTD's would accure more and more.

What happened is the memory swap file would trip over it self , the first memory block rapidly filled up and had a hard time to jump to the second memory block, this causes the CTD's.

A guy with the internet alias ''Shenson'' found a way to make Skyrim stable with mod's on ugrid 7. He posted his solution on the internet. But the information is scattered over differend site's. And it took me some time and troubleshooting before i got the desired result. So i decided to make it in to one post.
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GIVE YOUR FIRST BORN TO SHENSON

So to make you're memory swapfile stable do the following steps,

It is important you do them in the order below:

1.Instal Skyrim SKSE (if your using a different program (not Steam) to start up Skyrim then you wil get problems)

http://skse.silverlock.org

''The Skyrim Script Extender, or SKSE for short, is a modder's resource that expands the scripting capabilities of Skyrim. It does so without modifying the executable files on disk, so there are no permanent side effects.'' Some mod's need this program to run stable.
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2.Download skse_steam_loader.dll and put it in your main Skyrim folder.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-4CRKPUDlR0VjdlNnBlVWJ2WlE/edit?pli=1

Windows will ask you to overwrite, click ''yes''.
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3.In the main Skyrim folder is a folder called ''DATA''. In the ''DATA'' folder you create a folder called ''SKSE''. In the ''SKSE'' folder you do the following step:

Open Wordpad, copy the text below and put it in the wordpad file,

[NotPlacebo]
GiveFirstBornToSheson=1
MemBlock1=512
MemBlock2=256

Then go to ''save as'', save the file as SKSE.ini and put it in the ''SKSE'' folder you made under ''DATA''. The file should appear now as a ini file. It's the file that appears with a blue/grey ''cog'' symbol.

4.Start up your game with the SKSE application located in your main SKyrim folder. Walk around for a bit.

5.Then go to: My document/My games/Skyrim/SKSE (windows 7 64bit)

There you wil find the txt file ''skse_steam_loader.log''. In the file the line ''Sheson took your first born in exchange for more memory'' should appear. If so then you successfully stabilized Skyrim.

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Optional step:
In the SKSE.ini file you can alter the MemBlock's. You dont have to alter the second block, that block only exist to empty the first Memblock. Raise the Memblock with 128 mb's at the time. I didn't alter my memblock because Skyrim got to little memory to load textures. It resulted in purple NPC and trees.

[SimbaTao]

SKSE 1.7 has this built in now, all you need to do is set up the memblock lines

[Peahatche]

Messaggio originale di SimbaTao:

SKSE 1.7 has this built in now, all you need to do is set up the memblock lines

- what he said

[Ilja]

Messaggio originale di SimbaTao:

SKSE 1.7 has this built in now, all you need to do is set up the memblock lines

Yep. You only need to create skse.ini file, with proper information, under ...Data/SKSE.

[Nicolas]

Allright i did'nt know that SKSE 1.7 had it build in. I got it to work this way, like i said i found different things on the internet and combined it with a positive result. So that makes step 2 obsolete then? if so i will alter the text.

[SimbaTao]

Great link for setting up SKSE: http://wiki.step-project.com/Skyrim_Script_Extender#Recommendations

[Ilja]

SKSE comes with text files, like skse_readme and skse_whatsnew. Information about Sheson's fix being included was there. :)

I - as many others - recommend using values desrciped in this short turorial. I might have to rewrite it, because it does not clearly explain what is going on. I will get to it.

SKSE, memory and skse.ini
http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/540740500921363665/

[Zefram Cochrane]

Messaggio originale di Nicolas:

. So that makes step 2 obsolete then? if so i will alter the text.

Not really, not everyone uses or wants to use SKSE. Yes I know many mods require it or need it for full functionality, but still.

[Nicolas]

Messaggio originale di Ilja (Ref):

SKSE comes with text files, like skse_readme and skse_whatsnew. Information about Sheson's fix being included was there. :)

I - as many others - recommend using values desrciped in this short turorial. I might have to rewrite it, because it does not clearly explain what is going on. I will get to it.

SKSE, memory and skse.ini
http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/540740500921363665/

I added a line to read the comments so people can inform themselves. The method above worked for me so no harm done.

Thanks for the feedback! :-)

[Ilja]

Yep. All credit for Sheson for the original work. :)

[warmed_over]

Messaggio originale di Ilja (Ref):

SKSE, memory and skse.ini
http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/540740500921363665/

First, thank you all for sharing. I appreciate it.
Second, could you all clarify this discussion for me, please? Is the information there overriding what I see here or is this information supplemental?

My SKSE.ini contains the defaultheap & scrapheap size options and I was wondering if adding the above would somehow be beneficial.
EDIT:
What I really wanted to ask, I suppose, is if MemBlock1 & DefaultHeap are the same thing?
How would this memory management effect ENBboost and its machinations? Should a person use only one of the methods?
Just curious, as I am having occaisional crashes and I suspect a wonky loading apparatus. I only crash when loading a new area, even when all autosave features are disabled.

Lastly, thank you again for your time.

[Ilja]

Messaggio originale di kittehoverlord:

How would this memory management effect ENBboost and its machinations? Should a person use only one of the methods?

ENBoost and this fix can exist together. I am using both. They do not interfere, becaue they are both affecting to a different bug in game. ENBoost does not use skse.ini, so it is blind to changes made to them. If your memory runs dry, then whatever takes the priority will use it.

Shesons fix gives fixes the bug with crashing and long loading screens, by allocating more memory to initializing processes of the game.

ENBoost fixes other memory bug trough ENB binaries, allowing better and more balanced memory usage. This is especially good thing with graphical solutions and in situations that might otherwise crash your game to desktop.

[warmed_over]

Messaggio originale di Ilja (Ref):

Messaggio originale di kittehoverlord:

How would this memory management effect ENBboost and its machinations? Should a person use only one of the methods?

ENBoost and this fix can exist together. I am using both. They do not interfere, becaue they are both affecting to a different bug in game. ENBoost does not use skse.ini, so it is blind to changes made to them. If your memory runs dry, then whatever takes the priority will use it.

Shesons fix gives fixes the bug with crashing and long loading screens, by allocating more memory to initializing processes of the game.

ENBoost fixes other memory bug, allowing more balanced memory usage in situations that might otherwise crash your game to desktop.

Excellent. Thank you for that, since it was exactly what I was thinking about in regards to ENBboost. :3

[Assyr]

I'm not seeing 'Sheson took your first born in exchange for more memory'' in the skse_steam_loader.log after adding the memblock settings
Am I doing something wrong?

[Noremak Naganalf]

My game now wont even start up to let me walk around it crashes on the loading of saved game

[smiler.cheshire]

Hi; step 2 send you to a download for skse_steam_loader.dll and not skse_1_9_32.dll. Am I missing something?