Skyrim CTD's. Why is that?

[Just Mythic]

Skyrim appears to CTD if I don't save manually every couple hours of playtime. Is it because I'm playing on a laptop? Is there some sort of conflict somewhere? Or could it be something else?
(I'm sort of ruling out temperature since I've played far longer than a couple hours in Skyrim and it never CTDed)

I'm getting flashbacks of CTDs in Morrowind for a similar problem (where the game would check how long it's been since you last saved or something).

[Wolven One]

Mehrunes Dagon HAS SPOKEN
Don't you dare try to refute his words!

[Biff]

You say that you've played "far Longer".Was this on your laptop or pc? I'm asking because, if so, then system specs are probably different. Was Skyrim a new install on your laptop? Any programs that are running in the background should be turned off. Skyrim doesn't need to run while connected to the internet. Do you have any mods installed? If so, any one of tehm could be the conflict. Verify your Skyrim files. As you can see there's a lot to narrow down. Check all of the above before uninstalling and reinstall. I might have forgotten something, others might be able assist. Hope this helps.

[Alembrik]

In the last 3 weeks (ever since the Dawnguard download stuff), I've noticed much more frequent CTDs. I suspect Steam, but since I have no idea how to figure out what's causing it, I can't say for sure. (Laptop here, and my only mods are the 5 Unofficial Patches, all of which worked well before then.)

[Just Mythic]

I noticed that Skyrim tends to CTD out of the blue when I don't save in a while.

I'm gonna try a fresh reinstall, but I don't wanna lose my saves. Do I reinstall everything and make a new, fresh manual save?

[Alembrik]

It seems to CTD for me whether I save or not. So I've recently saved a lot more frequently than I used to.

I would not suggest a reinstall unless you are having serious problems. If you are using a lot of mods, sort those problems out first. I suspect this is a Steam problem, so if that is correct, doing a fresh reinstall would not solve the CTD problem.

[Hamsterbytes , bits and nibbles]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Alembrik:

In the last 3 weeks (ever since the Dawnguard download stuff), I've noticed much more frequent CTDs. I suspect Steam, but since I have no idea how to figure out what's causing it, I can't say for sure. (Laptop here, and my only mods are the 5 Unofficial Patches, all of which worked well before then.)

Are you talking about the 700 MB update? Check for trojans, those bastards like to sneak in and wreck havoc. Dawngaurd is not 700 MB, so what else might be include with that hunk of data? Just a though. There may be nothing to worry about, but you were the one who said it started after dawngaurd. So I am assuming you meant the 700 Mb update.

[Alembrik]

I have the Legendary Edition, so to the best of my knowledge, I didn't get the Dawnguard download. (I apologise for not mentioning that in my original post.) Norton Anti-Virus and M$ Anti-Malware haven't detected anything. I also had to verify the cache files several times after crashes, so I would think that would be a check to be sure there weren't any trojans or other problems as well. I can't imagine Steam deliberately downloading malware. That would be the end of Steam, and likely of Valve, once the malware was discovered.

I believe Steam did something to its updates and cache verifications after that and made Skyrim (or maybe only those of us with Dawnguard) CTD frequently, since the frequent CTDs occurred only after the error that resulted in the massive Dawnguard download. Perhaps Steam wants to make it difficult or impossible for those without a licensed Dawnguard installation to play the DLC? (I wouldn't have known about the download if I hadn't read about it in the various forums.)

[Hamsterbytes , bits and nibbles]

I never said Steam would send a trojan. I just mentioned it was bigger than normal and it seemed to be an unintentional update. My Malware said it had a trojan though. Clened it and still works. yes I kept the file s on my pc even though I am not playing it at this moment.

[BONES]

The game keeps CTDing for me whenever I load my game, or using the Altertante Start mod, whenever I click the bed, BOOM! CTD. Oh wonderful.

[Alembrik]

Hamsterbytes — I was referring to my installation. There certainly could have been a trojan in the Dawnguard download, but since I have the L.E., I do not believe I have gotten it. It's certainly possible that the download overwrote my previous (DVD) Dawnguard installation, but thus far I haven't found any viruses or trojans, so I likely didn't get the download.

[Alembrik]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Suffering.:

The game keeps CTDing for me whenever I load my game, or using the Altertante Start mod, whenever I click the bed, BOOM! CTD. Oh wonderful.

Following up on the post by Hamsterbytes, did you get the free Dawnguard download about 3 weeks ago? Did you check for malware/viruses/trojans since then? Did the CTDs start recently, particularly in the last 3 weeks?

[Biff]

I'd like to help as much as I can with my above suggestions. The thing is, I'm not crashing to desktop. Ever. I've been playing Skyrim since 11/11/11. No issues. I don't have a lot of mods, and as far as I know there are in proper load order, again no issues. So based on that, I can't say its steam or skyrim. I could go further and ask how old is your system? Are your drivers up to date? Laptop may have heat issues. Some games graphics will make your card work harder, generating more heat than when you first got it. All the updates; windows, steam, virus scanners, etc., add more content. It might be a little at a time, but over time it adds up. There is a small program called Speccy that's free. Its a system monitor, that provides info about your system and temps of key components. DL it and run it. Find out if you have a temp issue. Check any mods you are running. Check their descriptions. They may have been updated since you installed them and may have conflicts with other mods they didn't before. Start by removing them one by one. A real pain, but necessary. It might be your hard rive is failing. Unfortunately, there a lot of causes for CTD's. While one of these suggestions might help one, it might not help another. Keep trying. Hope this helps.

[Alembrik]

riffahlc175 — At least it helps narrow down the possibilities. My system is a relatively new (and reasonably unburdened) laptop with a 1TB HD, intended for scientific computing with gaming a late afterthought. I only noticed the CTDs recently, after at least three months of decent game play. Only mods are the 5 Unofficial Patches. Everything is as up-to-date as it can be.

I got a CTD just before this (the reason I'm posting this now) after about a half hour of gameplay. This is simply too frequent for me to enjoy the game.

[Hamsterbytes , bits and nibbles]

When was the last time the patches were updated? Try getting the latest from Nexus.

[BONES]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Alembrik:

Ursprungligen skrivet av Suffering.:

The game keeps CTDing for me whenever I load my game, or using the Altertante Start mod, whenever I click the bed, BOOM! CTD. Oh wonderful.

Following up on the post by Hamsterbytes, did you get the free Dawnguard download about 3 weeks ago? Did you check for malware/viruses/trojans since then? Did the CTDs start recently, particularly in the last 3 weeks?

No it started today, I just recently got settled with my mods, I could play for a bit CTD, play for a bit, CTD then it started CTDing whenever it seems to finish loading, or by using the bed from Alternate Start mod.