Help with crazy cart ride

[Charlemagne]

I'm trying to start a new game but I just can't get the cart ride to work straight, I get the crazy cart ride bug, I've tried restarting lots of times and I get it every time. Any suggestions? Maybe a console command or something. (Don't tell me to use Alternate Start).

[SmooshieBanana]

I'm not sure what the Crazy Cart bug is, but ensure you have your V-sync on and are limiting your FPS to 60. Having over this amount can cause crazy glitches, often seen in the intro cart ride.

[Docsprock]

Originally posted by SmooshieBanana:

I'm not sure what the Crazy Cart bug is, but ensure you have your V-sync on and are limiting your FPS to 60. Having over this amount can cause crazy glitches, often seen in the intro cart ride.

This is correct.

[Belanos]

Do you mean things flying around? If so, that means that your frames per second is going higher than 60, which breaks the Havok physics engine. You need to limit the frame rate.

[velvetsanity]

The physics engine will go haywire under a couple of different circumstances.

1. FPS higher than 60 (solution: turn vsync on. Half-rate if your monitor is one of the 144hz refresh rate ones)

2. Using a lot of scripted mods. This one primarily applies to the cart ride when not running an alternate start mod. All those scripts initializing all at once can eat enough CPU cycles to lower the FPS limit of the physics engine temporarily, and is the main reason why people's initial response on 'cart ride going crazy' threads is to use an alternate start. If you are running a lot of mods, there is one alternate start mod that does provide the vanilla start (including the cart ride) as an option, in which case it's essentially being used as a way to let mods and their scripts initialize and settle down so that they don't break the cart ride. If this is your situation, and you want to experience the cart ride properly, the mod I mention is Alternate Start - Live Another Life.

[Charlemagne]

You mean, ASLAL's vanilla start through Helgen is fixed so the cart ride bug won't happen? In that case, I might get it, just to start in Helgen (I have had ASLAL on and off, but I'm coming back to Skyrim after a while and just wanted to go through the normal questline).
I do have a number of scripted mods.

[SmooshieBanana]

Just make sure you are sorting your mods with the LOOT tool. It can help some crazy bugs, but like I said, I think your problem might be FPS. In game, press the * button on your numpad and see if it is over 60

[velvetsanity]

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

You mean, ASLAL's vanilla start through Helgen is fixed so the cart ride bug won't happen? In that case, I might get it, just to start in Helgen (I have had ASLAL on and off, but I'm coming back to Skyrim after a while and just wanted to go through the normal questline).
I do have a number of scripted mods.

No, it's not so much that the cart ride is fixed, it's that you can sit in the cell for a few minutes while the mods and scripts initialize, then activate the statue of Mara once everything's settled down. The CPU load from everything initializing all at once doesn't leave time for havok to do its physics calculations quickly enough to keep up with the FPS, which is why the cart goes crazy when you have a lot of scripted mods.

[Siddha]

I got that a few times due to having too many mods activated
They start loading during the scripted cart ride and screw it up
So I started with just a few essentials and then activated the rest when I got out of the tutorial
That worked for me every time

[SmooshieBanana]

Originally posted by Siddha:

I got that a few times due to having too many mods activated
They start loading during the scripted cart ride and screw it up
So I started with just a few essentials and then activated the rest when I got out of the tutorial
That worked for me every time

I would say it's generally not advised to active, move, or deactivate mods after playing a game. I would always suggest just starting a new game and going the route velvetsanity suggested. Siddha's method can cause many errors dependent on the mods you use.

[velvetsanity]

Originally posted by Siddha:

I got that a few times due to having too many mods activated
They start loading during the scripted cart ride and screw it up
So I started with just a few essentials and then activated the rest when I got out of the tutorial
That worked for me every time

That is one sometimes workable solution, but some mods require they be loaded and running when you click new game on the main menu. Not to mention if your mod list requires a merged patch or bashed patch or reproccer patches.

Edit: ninja'd :D

[Charlemagne]

I found this fix (although I now think that having ASLAL is much simpler).
1. As soon as loadscreen is done, hit ~ and write tscr
2. Wait for the scene to start to fade in (i.e. stop being black)
3. Hit ~ and wait a couple of seconds
4. Hit ~ and write tscr
5. Wait at least 30 seconds
6. Hit ~ and that's it.