Thieves Guild Questline Constantly Crashing

[CloudDistrict]

I've had Skyrim SE on PC for about 7 or 8 months now, (I did play it on Xbox, but got it on PC so I could have more mods) and I've played through 2 characters.

I first began to experience consistent crashes on my 3rd character during the Civil War questline, (I chose the Stormcloaks for this particular character) during the quest: 'A False Front', where I tried to enter both the Frostfruit Inn (Rorikstead) and the Four Shields Tavern (Dragon Bridge) to intercept the courier, but the game crashed to desktop upon entering both of them. I didn't really hunt for solutions on that character, but anyway, that's when it started.

I began my 4th character as a Bosmer and started the Thieves Guild questline. It was going fine up until the quest: 'Hard Answers'. I got as far as the point where you duplicate the writing on Calcelmo's stone in Markarth. I received the objective to return to Enthir, but then I noticed that the marker on the map was pointing to the College, instead of the Frozen Hearth (where Enthir usually is during the quest, as you meet him back in the basement of the inn so he can translate Gallus' Journal). I thought nothing of it, as I just assumed the marker would be at the inn after I fast travelled back to Winterhold, but it wasn't. And so I walked up to the College, attempted to enter the Hall of the Elements, (where the marker was pointing to) and then it crashed to desktop upon loading.

So far I've attempted:
1. Tweaking my Skyrim_Default.ini file so I would receive a Papyrus file or whatever you call them upon my next crash so that I could see what mod was causing the crashing.
2. Updating all of my mods to their latest forms.
3. Downloading the patches for any incompatibilities between any mods.
4. Using console commands to advance me to the next quest: 'The Pursuit'. I've tried to enter the Ragged Flagon, and the game crashed to desktop again.

None of these have resolved the problem. I am currently running 104 plugins, 2 of which are inactive. Here's my load order:

Skyrim.esm
Update.esm
Dawnguard.esm
HearthFires.esm
Dragonborn.esm
Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp
BSAssets.esm
BSHeartland.esm
BS_DLC_patch.esp
Campfire.esm
RSkyrimChildren.esm
SMIM-SE-Merged-All.esp
WICO - Immersive People.esp
RSChildren Patch - BS Bruma.esp
Real Roads.esp
SMIM-Bruma-Patch.esp
DiverseDragonsCollectionSE.esp
RUSTIC SOULGEMS - Sorted.esp
lm_astronach.esp
dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp
EnhancedLightsandFX.esp
S3DTrees NextGenerationForests.esp
Verdant - A Skyrim Grass Plugin SSE Version.esp
AMB Glass Variants Lore.esp
Differently Ebony.esp
OpenFaceGuardHelmetsSSE.esp
Book Covers Skyrim.esp
Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods.esp
MajesticMountains.esp
SoundsofSkyrimComplete.esp
Dolomite Weathers.esp
TrueStormsSE.esp
Eli_Breezehome.esp
Man Those Borders!.esp
SoS_ELFX_Patch.esp
SkyTEST-RealisticAnimals&Predators.esp
Point The Way.esp
MajesticMountains_Moss.esp
Kato's Falkreath.esp
JK's Riverwood.esp
Blowing in the Wind SSE.esp
Immersive Patrols II.esp
EmbersHD.esp
Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp
WetandCold.esp
Missives.esp
PrvtIRoyalArmory.esp
Blowing in the Wind - JK's Riverwood Patch SSE.esp
SPTDiverseGuardsSkyrimSE.esp
SkySE_Dolo_DoF.esp
Circlets and Masks with all Robes and Hoods.esp
HearthFire Display Case Fix.esp
PC Head Tracking - MCM.esp
PC Head Tracking - Patch.esp
Footprints.esp
BarenziahQuestMarkers.esp
BecomeABard.esp
WICO - Immersive Character.esp
WICO - Immersive Dawnguard.esp
WICO - Wild Hunt Gears.esp
FOSFollowers.esp
RichMerchantsSkyrim_x10.esp
Chesko_LoreBasedLoadingScreens.esp
ScopedBows.esp
Unique Uniques.esp
ScopedBows_EagleEyeTweak.esp
ScopedBows_ArrowTweaks.esp
VioLens SE.esp
Elemen restri wegmacher.esp
Whistle.esp
CC'sEnhancedOreVeinsSSE-HearthfirePatch.esp
50 more perk points.esp
Blowing in the Wind - JK's Whiterun Patch SSE.esp (inactive)
Map Markers Complete.esp
Blowing in the Wind - SMIM Merged All Patch SSE.esp
Whispers of Words.esp
SkyHUD.esp
SkyUI_SE.esp
Skyrim Unlimited Rings And Amulets SSE.esp
InfiniteShouts.esp
Bijin NPCs.esp
RSChildren.esp
Killable Children.esp
Killable Children - RS.esp
SoS_TrueStorms_Patch.esp
SoS_DolomiteWeathers_Patch.esp
TorchesCastShadows.esp
IcePenguinWorldMap.esp
Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul.esp
Relationship Dialogue Overhaul.esp
more idle markers.esp
CFTO.esp
RDO - CRF + USSEP Patch.esp (inactive)
RDO - USSEP Patch.esp
Open Cities Skyrim.esp
immersive citizens - ocs patch.esp
Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp
Blowing in the Wind - Open Cities Skyrim Patch SSE.esp
Eli_Breezehome-Open_Cities-Patch.esp
RealisticWaterTwo.esp
RealisticWaterTwo+-+Verdant+Patch.esp
RealisticWaterTwo - Open Cities.esp
RealisticWaterTwo - Watercolor.esp

It may be a result of me foolishly uninstalling a random mod that contained scripts during my 3rd playthrough, but I don't understand how that would interfere with my 4th.
Hopefully someone can help me. Thanks in advance if anyone bothers trying.

[DrNewcenstein]

Unless you started from the cart, and preferably shut Skyrim down completely and then restarted it, the game held that mod data in the cache buffer.
If you did not remove all of the mod's scripts, or if it replaced a vanilla script that was not restored, then that can cause it.

The one thing all of those locations has in common is a fire pit, so you may want to look at the Embers mod, or any mod that affects interior cells, like More Idle Markers if it gives NPCs more markers in interior cells as the name suggests.
It may not be a mod conflict so much as it is the game having trouble processing something in an interior cell related to such a mod - shadow lights, adding NPCs, searching for dialog files for them, atmospheric effects, etc.

Also see if your timescale is too low.

[DragonMaster]

Did you sort your mods with LOOT and clean the master files

[Rider]

Please ignore the good doctor. I'm sure he means well, but he has no clue. There are many reasons why your game might not be working and you should read the posted help thread for tips on modding and optimizing your game. You did not crash because Enthir was in the college, you crashed because you have a lot of stuff added and the memory couldn't take it. Same with the Civil War issue. Both crashes occurred while going through a load door.

Disable auto saves.

Use LOOT to sort your load order if you are not already. Cut down on heavily scripted mods. Clean your master files. Verify your game cache using this checklist by Ilja:

One or more of your master files (Skyrim.esm, Update.esm ect.) is damaged, or otherwise messed up. It needs to be fixed.
Exit Steam.
Go to Steam folder and remove folder named appcache
Close your computer and let it cool off a little, to clean your registry cache. Take a peek outside the window to see how the weather is.
Start your computer.
Start Steam. Let it load for a while, when it is inspecting your game files for new appcache folder.
From Steam client Library view, right click the game with your mouse.
Select Properties > Local Files > Verify Integrity of Game Cache...
* 1 file will always fail to validate. It is related to how Steam detects your graphic card configurations and has no effect to your game.

* If you had cleaned your master files with TES5Edit, you will have to repeat the process. Steam will consider them modified and replace them.

There are problems with Immersive Patrols. I'd lose it. Also, while it's said that you can use Immersive Citizens and RDO together, I would not recommend it. The load order is tricky. Pick one or the other.

Immersive Armor adds a great deal of stuff to the game. Pick a couple of good armor mods and be happy. You don't need to add all that stuff to the NPC's.

The JK mods are really hard on the game as well.

Do NOT remove mods mid-game. If you're going to remove some, start over.

EDIT: I would also be concerned about Open Cities. Almost every mod I look at has an Open Cities patch. When a mod needs that many patches, I don't use it.

[Vercalos]

@Rider

I can't speak for the rest of the instructions you offered, but Open Cities requires patches for other mods to work because of how it works, not because the mod author left a lot of things to be fixed. It doesn't just move the cells for the cities into the overworld. It recreates the city inside the overworld and disables access to the city's interior cell.

If you play with Open Cities and use a mod that adds a location inside one of the cities, a patch is necessary so it alters the correct cell, and exit out into the proper city. If you don't have a patch, you end up in a mostly abandoned city with no doors actually working to take you into other cells.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by CloudDistrict:

4. Using console commands to advance me to the next quest: 'The Pursuit'. I've tried to enter the Ragged Flagon, and the game crashed to desktop again.

Using commands to advance quests can cause issues, which in turn can lead to crashes. Hopefully this is not the case here, but in future I wouldn't use those commands for quests that chain to other quests.

[tulle040657]

You didn't use LOOT or RSkyrimChildren.esm would be before Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp

[Valendrion]

Loot puts USSEP after RS. This is wrong USEEP should be after the Cleaned masters always.

[Jouchebag]

I don't understand the hype around cleaning your masters. There was a time when the modding community basically said "never ever do that!" And now everyone says do it like it's normal and common while most people who actually author the mods say it's a completely pointless piece of theater.

Just want to point out that I've ran numerous stable modded BethSoft games (TES3-5, FO3-NV) and I've never cleaned my masters and stopped needing to clean anything past Morrowind's mods since I only use well-updated, tested and endorsed mods. Read descriptions carefully and learn to predict incompatibility purely based on what a mod DOES. And always have the unofficial patch which exists for all the mentioned games.

There's much better advice to give than the 5 people here parroting "clean your masters."

Topic:

The Doc is right that if he removed the mod but didn't close the game or started a "new game" from a save (like right outside of Helgen) then Game #4 would probably still have problems.

What he did not mention is that "updating mods to their newest forms" is another way to accidentally screw up a current save. Most descriptions will tell you a detailed process needed for updating the mod mid-playthrough and recommend a new save instead.

TL;DR

Pretty much everything you've done to "fix" this has resulted in needing a brand new clean save. Start there and get back to us.

[alexander_dougherty]

Apart from specific cases where dirty masters are causing crashes, very rare btw, you still should never clean them. It causes far more problems than it solves. It's a case of people doing stupid things en masse, and it becoming common practice.