My guide for recovering corrupt saves.

[rageofthemage]

**UPDATED** 5.27.2014

Someone posted that they lost a character and I figured that someone else might be able to benefit from the little guide I wrote for him. So I'm reposting it as a new discussion. You can tell from my post count that I don't get on here much so forgive me if I'm violating a rule or something. I'm really just trying to help out. I lost a character myself *sNiFF* and well... BOOSH! I FINALLY RECOVERED THAT CHARACTER AND I'M GONNA TELL YOU HOW!


If you have saved games that just simply go corrupt you must do everything I type here accepting that I have no idea what the hell I'm talking about and that listening to my advice will probably make your computer explode. I'm also a jerk. But my steps outlined here allowed me to keep some of my older saves (not the one I was trying to recover ironically*) and I now have a cleaner smoother running Skyrim for my new character with more mods than I was running before, which isn't all that bad really.

*As of 5.26.2014 I recovered even that savegame.

So here's how I fixed ALL of it.

You're gonna need a few things.

BOSS is now outdated, so we're going to have to use LOOT
http://loot.github.io/

TES5Edit
https://code.google.com/p/skyrim-plugin-decoding-project/downloads/list

Nexus Mod Manager
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/modmanager

SKSE
http://skse.silverlock.org/

Stop playing the damn game. No seriously, don't even start a new game. Things are wrong and all hell has broken loose. It's time for some serious fixing.

(Now, you could take your chances and skip ahead to step 5 but I would STRONGLY suggest you don't. Your saves will be intact, but the errors from dirty edits can stack and create corruptions that last between saves.)

1. You will need to take a deep breath, and uninstall Skyrim. Then go to the program folder and delete EVERYTHING. Again, this shouldn't even touch your savegames so relax. (Defrag if you need to.) As someone has pointed out you could just delete selective files in the program folder, but I find that it's more of a sure thing when you just start with a clean slate.

2. Reinstall the game and all the vanilla DLC.

3. Make sure you are subbed on workshop to all the mods you want, or download whatever mods from Nexus that you intend to run.

4. When your subscriptions are in order/all your mods are downloaded run the Skyrim launcher. Let it select your video settings and synchronize mods, but don't run the game yet.

5. Install Nexus Mod Manager, SKSE, and extract LOOT and TES5Edit to an easy to find location. LOOT and TES5Edit can be run from anywhere so just make sure it's somewhere easy for you to remember. You'll be using these a lot for now.

6. Run Nexus Mod Manager. Double check to make sure that the mods you want to run are enabled. Skyrim's launcher has a sneaky habit of not enabling certain mods when I want them to be. NMM is a safeguard against that. When your mods are enabled go ahead and close out the NMM. (MAKE TRIPLE SURE YOU HAVE DLC FILES ENABLED)

7. Run LOOT. You will see three options, Edit Metadata, Sort Plugins, View Last Report. Click on Sort Plugins. When it is done there will be two tabs at the top. One is Summary, and the other tab is Details. Click on Details. Just like BOSS, LOOT sorts your load order and detects any errors or conflicts. If your load order is anything like mine was, you'll notice that a bunch of your mods have a little message that indicates that the mod needs cleaning with TES5Edit. So how the hell do we do that?

Make a list of all the mods that LOOT flagged as needing cleaning and get ready for some serious hardcore clicking on stuff.

8. Run TES5Edit and get ready to cry. You'll notice that when you loaded the program it may have already selected a bunch of mods. It is being silly. Right click and click "select none". Now you remember that list you made? Select only the mods from that list. When you're done doing that, click OK and let it go to work.

You may notice that TES5Edit doesn't like BSA files. So any mods that have BSA files in them, TES5Edit will just pitch a fit. Fortunately for me that was like literally one mod. When it's done loading you'll have a list of ESM and ESP files in front of you starting with Skyrim.esm

9. You will now have to go down the list one by one and repeat the following steps to clean your mods and make them all shiny and smell nice.

(If you have the DLC then clean only from the last DLC you have installed. You may optionally clean previous entries in the list ie: Update.esm but do not clean any entry previous to Update.esm like Skyrim.esm or Skyrim.exe I would REALLY recommend that you clean from Update.esm down.)

Right click the file, and click "apply filter for cleaning"
You might have to grab a snack.
Right click again and click "Remove "Identical to Master" records"
A big warning message might pop up. Click yes.
Right click again and click "Undelete and Disable References"

Do this for every mod in that list. When you are done try to close the program. It might ask you to save some stuff. Let it, and close it out. Now, return to LOOT and sort your plugins again. Check to see if there are any error messages remaining. If there are (and there very well could be...) go back into TES5Edit and clean down the list again. Do this until no errors remain.

10. Run Skyrim from SKSE and attempt to load your corrupted save. If TES5Edit was succesful in cleaning all the junk out of your save game then it will load up. It might be missing some content, but it's better than losing all those hours right? If this worked, then boosh! You're done! Go kill some Draugrs and make things from wolf skins.

If however you go to load the save game and you get a crash to desktop then it's time for some drastic measures. Proceed to step 11 and brace for the worst.

11. If you're here, then things are really bad. Errors and bad edits have conspired to create lasting corruptions in your save and there is only one option left, and it's probably gonna be a 50-50. First of all load LOOT again. Check and double check that there aren't any errors. There really shouldn't be, but if there are... this means that you didn't load one of that mods dependencies. Rather than sort through and try to explain the difference between explicit and implicit dependencies or even worse try and tell you how to figure out which dependencies belong to which mod let's just do something much simpler. Longer? Maaaaybe, but simpler. I promise.

You need to load TES5Edit, and load every single thing on that list excluding mods that contain BSAs.

Skip to step 9, and clean every single entry from Update.esm down. This will take a very long time and you will likely want to kill someone before it is finished, but it must be done. This will ensure that any dependencies were loaded and cleaned. I managed to do this while watching some Netflix in an afternoon. Just a suggestion.

12. Go back to step 10. It should have worked by now. If it didn't... commit that character to the character boneyard and go drown your sorrows in some Tamika Vintage 399. Come back drunk as all hell and start a new character. Unless you're underage in which case, why do you have booze?

In my case doing all this restored all my saves! DON'T DOWNLOAD BETTER HORSES. IT IS EVIL AND DESTROYS SAVEGAMES AND LIVES AND FAMILIES.

[Unarmed Bandit]

Originally posted by Steve RAOS:

delete EVERYTHING

Alternatively, delete everything that isn't in the following list (or this guide[wiki.step-project.com]) and verify the integrity of the remainder:

 Directory of \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim

12/11/2011  14:14           165,304 atimgpud.dll
12/11/2011  14:14           214,016 binkw32.dll
12/11/2011  14:16             1,159 high.ini
??/??/????  ??:??             1,257 installscript.vdf
12/11/2011  14:16             1,132 low.ini
12/11/2011  14:16             1,150 medium.ini
28/02/2012  22:53             3,877 readme.txt
28/02/2012  22:53         1,907,024 SkyrimLauncher.exe
12/11/2011  14:16             1,056 Skyrim_default.ini
02/02/2012  13:31           120,616 steam_api.dll
01/11/2012  19:12        18,009,968 TESV.exe
12/11/2011  14:16             1,181 VeryHigh.ini

 Directory of \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data

03/08/2012  12:50     1,187,540,597 Dawnguard.bsa
02/08/2012  23:33        25,056,932 Dawnguard.esm
??/??/????  ??:??     ?,???,???,??? Dragonborn.bsa
??/??/????  ??:??        ??,???,??? Dragonborn.esm
??/??/????  ??:??       ???,???,??? HearthFires.bsa
??/??/????  ??:??         ?,???,??? HearthFires.esm
07/02/2013  15:11     1,640,626,582 HighResTexturePack01.bsa
07/02/2012  20:23                66 HighResTexturePack01.esp
07/02/2013  15:16     1,875,868,906 HighResTexturePack02.bsa
07/02/2012  20:23                66 HighResTexturePack02.esp
07/02/2013  15:18     1,201,576,510 HighResTexturePack03.bsa
07/02/2013  15:18                66 HighResTexturePack03.esp
12/11/2011  14:07        42,365,780 Skyrim - Animations.bsa
28/02/2012  22:57        34,708,888 Skyrim - Interface.bsa
12/11/2011  14:10     1,520,899,887 Skyrim - Meshes.bsa
01/11/2012  19:17       177,477,199 Skyrim - Misc.bsa
20/03/2012  17:55        25,690,987 Skyrim - Shaders.bsa
12/11/2011  14:11       953,785,521 Skyrim - Sounds.bsa
12/11/2011  14:13     1,388,866,502 Skyrim - Textures.bsa
12/11/2011  14:16     1,458,554,685 Skyrim - Voices.bsa
12/11/2011  14:16        13,016,190 Skyrim - VoicesExtra.bsa
12/11/2011  14:14       249,371,467 Skyrim.esm
01/11/2012  19:12        17,251,163 Update.bsa
01/11/2012  19:10         1,269,667 Update.esm

 Directory of \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data\Interface

01/11/2012  19:10            20,314 Translate_ENGLISH.txt

 Directory of \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data\Strings

12/11/2011  14:14         2,442,981 Skyrim_English.DLSTRINGS
12/11/2011  14:14         2,711,842 Skyrim_English.ILSTRINGS
12/11/2011  14:14           833,753 Skyrim_English.STRINGS
11/06/2012  19:30            33,856 Update_English.DLSTRINGS
20/03/2012  17:52            12,222 Update_English.ILSTRINGS
01/11/2012  19:10            12,500 Update_English.STRINGS

 Directory of \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data\Video

12/11/2011  14:07         1,809,540 BGS_Logo.bik

 Directory of \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\DirectX10

12/11/2011  14:14         1,347,354 Apr2005_d3dx9_25_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,078,962 Apr2005_d3dx9_25_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,397,830 Apr2006_d3dx9_30_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,115,221 Apr2006_d3dx9_30_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           916,430 Apr2006_MDX1_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         4,162,630 Apr2006_MDX1_x86_Archive.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           179,133 Apr2006_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           133,103 Apr2006_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            87,101 Apr2006_xinput_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            46,010 Apr2006_xinput_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           698,612 APR2007_d3dx10_33_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           695,865 APR2007_d3dx10_33_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,607,358 APR2007_d3dx9_33_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,606,039 APR2007_d3dx9_33_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           195,766 APR2007_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           151,225 APR2007_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            96,817 APR2007_xinput_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            53,302 APR2007_xinput_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,350,542 Aug2005_d3dx9_27_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,077,644 Aug2005_d3dx9_27_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           182,903 AUG2006_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           137,235 AUG2006_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            87,142 AUG2006_xinput_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            46,058 AUG2006_xinput_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           852,286 AUG2007_d3dx10_35_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           796,867 AUG2007_d3dx10_35_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,800,160 AUG2007_d3dx9_35_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,708,152 AUG2007_d3dx9_35_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           198,096 AUG2007_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           153,012 AUG2007_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           867,612 Aug2008_d3dx10_39_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           849,167 Aug2008_d3dx10_39_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,794,084 Aug2008_d3dx9_39_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,464,672 Aug2008_d3dx9_39_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           121,772 Aug2008_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            92,996 Aug2008_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           271,412 Aug2008_XAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           271,038 Aug2008_XAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           919,044 Aug2009_D3DCompiler_42_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           900,598 Aug2009_D3DCompiler_42_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         3,112,111 Aug2009_d3dcsx_42_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         3,319,740 Aug2009_d3dcsx_42_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           232,635 Aug2009_d3dx10_42_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           192,131 Aug2009_d3dx10_42_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           136,301 Aug2009_d3dx11_42_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           105,044 Aug2009_d3dx11_42_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           930,116 Aug2009_d3dx9_42_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           728,456 Aug2009_d3dx9_42_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           122,408 Aug2009_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            93,106 Aug2009_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           273,264 Aug2009_XAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           272,642 Aug2009_XAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,155,491 BDANT.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           975,148 BDAXP.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,357,976 Dec2005_d3dx9_28_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,079,456 Dec2005_d3dx9_28_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           212,807 DEC2006_d3dx10_00_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           191,720 DEC2006_d3dx10_00_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,571,154 DEC2006_d3dx9_32_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,574,376 DEC2006_d3dx9_32_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           192,475 DEC2006_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           145,599 DEC2006_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            94,040 DSETUP.dll
12/11/2011  14:14         1,691,480 dsetup32.dll
12/11/2011  14:14            44,448 dxdllreg_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14        13,264,168 dxnt.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           525,656 DXSETUP.exe
12/11/2011  14:14            95,820 dxupdate.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,247,499 Feb2005_d3dx9_24_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,013,225 Feb2005_d3dx9_24_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,362,796 Feb2006_d3dx9_29_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,084,720 Feb2006_d3dx9_29_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           178,359 Feb2006_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           132,409 Feb2006_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           194,675 FEB2007_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           147,983 FEB2007_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            54,678 Feb2010_X3DAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            20,713 Feb2010_X3DAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           122,446 Feb2010_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            93,180 Feb2010_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           276,960 Feb2010_XAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           277,191 Feb2010_XAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,336,002 Jun2005_d3dx9_26_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,064,925 Jun2005_d3dx9_26_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           180,785 JUN2006_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           133,671 JUN2006_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           699,044 JUN2007_d3dx10_34_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           698,472 JUN2007_d3dx10_34_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,607,774 JUN2007_d3dx9_34_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,607,286 JUN2007_d3dx9_34_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           197,122 JUN2007_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           152,909 JUN2007_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           867,828 JUN2008_d3dx10_38_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           849,919 JUN2008_d3dx10_38_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,792,608 JUN2008_d3dx9_38_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,463,878 JUN2008_d3dx9_38_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            55,154 JUN2008_X3DAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            21,905 JUN2008_X3DAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           121,054 JUN2008_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            93,128 JUN2008_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           269,628 JUN2008_XAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           269,024 JUN2008_XAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           844,884 Mar2008_d3dx10_37_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           818,260 Mar2008_d3dx10_37_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,769,862 Mar2008_d3dx9_37_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,443,282 Mar2008_d3dx9_37_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            55,058 Mar2008_X3DAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            21,867 Mar2008_X3DAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           122,336 Mar2008_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            93,734 Mar2008_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           251,194 Mar2008_XAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           226,250 Mar2008_XAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,067,160 Mar2009_d3dx10_41_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,040,745 Mar2009_d3dx10_41_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,973,702 Mar2009_d3dx9_41_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,612,446 Mar2009_d3dx9_41_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            54,600 Mar2009_X3DAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            21,298 Mar2009_X3DAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           121,506 Mar2009_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            92,740 Mar2009_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           275,044 Mar2009_XAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           273,018 Mar2009_XAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           864,600 Nov2007_d3dx10_36_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           803,884 Nov2007_d3dx10_36_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,802,058 Nov2007_d3dx9_36_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,709,360 Nov2007_d3dx9_36_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            46,144 NOV2007_X3DAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            18,496 NOV2007_X3DAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           196,762 NOV2007_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           148,264 NOV2007_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           994,154 Nov2008_d3dx10_40_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           965,421 Nov2008_d3dx10_40_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,906,878 Nov2008_d3dx9_40_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,550,796 Nov2008_d3dx9_40_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            54,522 Nov2008_X3DAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            21,851 Nov2008_X3DAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           121,794 Nov2008_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            92,684 Nov2008_XACT_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           273,960 Nov2008_XAudio_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           272,611 Nov2008_XAudio_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            86,037 Oct2005_xinput_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14            45,359 Oct2005_xinput_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,412,902 OCT2006_d3dx9_31_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14         1,127,217 OCT2006_d3dx9_31_x86.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           182,361 OCT2006_XACT_x64.cab
12/11/2011  14:14           138,017 OCT2006_XACT_x86.cab

 Directory of \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\DotNetFX

12/11/2011  14:16         2,959,376 dotnetfx35setup.exe

 Directory of \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\reslists

12/11/2011  14:16               656 precache.lst
12/11/2011  14:16               656 preload.lst

 Directory of \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Skyrim

12/11/2011  14:16             2,940 SkyrimPrefs.ini

 Directory of \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\VCRedist

12/11/2011  14:14         4,995,416 vcredist_x86.exe

Note: you can ignore the timestamps for the most part as they're indicative of when you downloaded them rather than when they were created.

[rageofthemage]

Right. I found for me it was easier to clean slate it. But you could do the selective vanilla delete and then verify. Verifying doesn't seem to like me personally and has led to some weird stuff for some of my other games like New Vegas and Borderlands 2, so I tend to steer clear of it.

Skeptimistic I guess but eh... I'm a weirdo.

[Unarmed Bandit]

Some people have download caps. ;)

[rageofthemage]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Damn that blows. I can't imagine my life with bandwidth caps. I can barely deal with my life with baseball caps *rimshot*

I'll be here all night folks.

[Gropax]

you forgot wyre bash and if you know how to use it it will tell you what mods you have in a save game and then you make a merged patch so mods now play nice with each other.

[rageofthemage]

I didn't forget, I just don't agree with how Wyre Bash handles that. Again, this is what works for me, and maybe someone else or maybe not. But like I said at the beginning I have no idea what the hell I'm talking about and I'm a jerk. Not me being sarcastic, just quoting myself.

Someone may find another better way of handling all this, and to them I say: Post a guide up son!

[Sai'Raks]

Bro... Skyrim corrupted saves are like Russia.
You cannot un-corrupt them. No-no. Never. Ever...















...ever.

[黍]

Originally posted by Cyrax:

Bro... Skyrim corrupted saves are like Russia.
You cannot un-corrupt them. No-no. Never. Ever...















...ever.

Ever ever? Or, maybe-but-not-during-my-lifetiime ever?

[rageofthemage]

Ok. You can SOMETIMES uncorrupt them despite the naysaying. But the severity of these corruptions is what determines how irreverisble/reversible something is or isn't. Basically think of it as an incubation period of sorts. So like the longer you let a game with dirty edits run, the more you run the risk of irreversible corruptions. If you're able to catch some of these before they write information into your save game or when they've written a small enough amount of information that it can be changed by something like WyreBash's merged patching (which I personally don't care for.) or you can use TES5Edit to try and clean the edits, thereby restoring the data to a state that isn't completely clusterfragged.

Unfortunately for me, I was trying to do this in conjunction with running all the new DLCs and all the unofficial patches alongside a new cleaned mod list with my oldest character. That alongside some really nasty things that the Sounds of Skyrim mods did to my saves made that particular save file an instant CTD, and every save file with that character previous to it. There's a lot to this game, and a lot more involved with getting all these variables to work. If anything I would suggest people read this before they start a new game. Download all your mods you intend to use, and follow the guide step by step before even starting a new game. You'll breathe a lot easier and the game will run smooth as silk.

[O'bannon]

Went through it all very carefully, but alas, it did not work :\

[Praxius]

yeah that sounds like too much hassle.

The only kind of corruption to saves I ever encountered was when I removed a mod my save was using. Every time I loaded the save it would crash.

Simply starting a new game, waiting for it to finish loading, then load my original save again right afterwards solved the problem easy.

If I ever have a save being unable to load, I'd just load one of my previous auto saves or start a new game. I don't care that much to jump through all those hoops & wasted bandwidth to save a.... Er..... Save.

[Solomon Hawk]

You realize what "corruption" implies to your files? You also realize what that can do to your system if you muck around with it?
You have any idea of what you're really trying to fix? Just the game, because it's corrupted????
Why in blazes is it corrupted IN THE FIRST PLACE???????
Really bad karma.

[Jasem]

Thank you so much, great help!

[Kriba]

I did have problems with freezing or game just crash.

How I solve problem was this:
I take game save what was enough stable, (latest one was not stable) but still it freeze about every minute for a sec or two. I throw away about _everything_. I have a lot of weapons and armors and other stuff, just in case, if I might needed :) I did have two flats full of junk. Everything out of street.
When I start game save was 42Mb, when I was done my clean up, save was 16Mb. Freezing was almost gone. I think, this is good enough, I can play this. After cleaning, I have played about 3 hours, game save size is now only 8Mb and freezing is totally gone, and I'm happy.

I also did use save cleaner mod and TES5Edit and before all this reinstall whole game from scratch just in case. Cant say did those help or not, but now everything works as it should be.

[AR15freedom1]

My number one rule is that if you save a game with a mod, you use that mod in the save forever. Bad things can happen when you save a mod to a character and then start playing it without the mod. Backup saves are good. Fully test out the mod and be smart about those you use before permanently saving it into a character. Also look for mods that have been cleaned with TES5Edit. A good mod will have the clean recorded in the description. Like this one for example.