Skyrim CTD when trying to open the door to the ratway

[chris036nl]

HELP! I am taking Esbern out of the Ratway but as soon as I open the door out I get an immediate CTD. I have been working on this for days now and really nothing works, So.. I am pretty desperate and hoping for an Angel to help me......

[smr1957]

First question - are you using mods? I/f so, please post your load order. To post your load order, just click on the 3 vertical dots in the upper right corner of the LOOT screen, click on copy load order from the drop-down menu, and then paste in the reply box. Sometimes we can see which mods are potential problems by looking at that.

Nest, and the best way if you have mods installed, is to troubleshoot your load order by testing. First, to test, turning off mods is not the way to go - any bad info may have been baked into the save. The way to test is to start off with a vanilla save (or a save that only has the mods you absolutely know are safe) - one made where the CTDs occur so it is easy to test - and then add in groups of mods till you find the one causing the crash - making a manual save each time so you can roll back when the CTD occurs and zero in on the specific mod. And although that may be time consuming, often it is far better and quicker using that systematic approach than trying to guess willy-nilly which mod it is (unless one of us happens to spot a mod we know is a problem when you post a load order).

Second, once you do find which mod is causing the crash, and have removed it, you cannot continue using the same save, again due to how Skyrim bakes data into the save (and this data CANNOT be removed - despite what some may say) . You must either go back to a save made prior to having installed the removed/disabled mod, or start a new game. There is no other option - unless the mod is one of the exceptions mentioned in the below linked discussion. For complete info on this, see:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/1495615865205745360/

[chris036nl]

Hey and thanks for your speedy answer. As you can see I play Skyrim on the somewhat kinky side but so far that has been of no trouble at all/ In fact I have played the game for weeks now without any errors till I came to the blasted door. I use FNIS every time when needed and LOOT ofcourse.

0 0 Skyrim.esm
1 1 Update.esm
2 2 Dawnguard.esm
3 3 HearthFires.esm
4 4 Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm
5 5 Dragonborn.esm
6 6 Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch.esp
7 7 Schlongs of Skyrim - Core.esm
8 8 ApachiiHair.esm
9 9 SexLab.esm
10 a Devious Devices - Assets.esm
11 b SexLabAroused.esm
12 c Devious Devices - Integration.esm
13 d Devious Devices - Expansion.esm
14 e Devious Devices - Contraptions.esm
15 f ZaZAnimationPack.esm
16 10 ITortureFramework.esm
17 11 Skyrim - Utility Mod.esm
18 12 HighResTexturePack01.esp
19 13 HighResTexturePack02.esp
20 14 HighResTexturePack03.esp
21 15 Unofficial High Resolution Patch.esp
22 16 RaceMenu.esp
23 17 RaceMenuPlugin.esp
24 18 SexLabMatchMaker.esp
25 19 WoodElfTeenagerRace.esp
26 1a RedguardTeenagerRace.esp
27 1b OrcTeenagerRace.esp
28 1c NordTeenagerRace.esp
29 1d KhajiitTeenagerRace.esp
30 1e ImperialTeenagerRace.esp
31 1f HighElfTeenagerRace.esp
32 20 DarkElfTeenagerRace.esp
33 21 BretonTeenagerRace.esp
34 22 ArgonianTeenagerRace.esp
35 23 SOS - VectorPlexus Regular Addon.esp
36 24 SOS - Male Vanila Armor Cloths Conversion Custom.esp
37 25 SOS - Revealing Armors.esp
38 26 M2M_Animations.esp
39 27 SexLabDirtyTalk.esp
40 28 ZazResources.esp
41 29 KS Hairdo's.esp
42 2a GladiatorArmor.esp
43 2b HoamaiiChaurusMashup.esp
44 2c SD Cages.esp
45 2d Map Markers.esp
46 2e Cocksmen Village.esp
47 2f sanguinesDebauchery.esp
48 30 NakedComments.esp
49 31 UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul.esp
50 32 Bondage Furniture World.esp
51 33 NosPiercedEarsAll.esp
52 34 Schlongs of Skyrim.esp
53 35 SLSO.esp
54 36 UIExtensions.esp
55 37 Devious Devices For Him.esp
56 38 Devious Devices - Males Addon.esp
57 39 FNIS_PCEA2.esp
58 3a SOS - Skimpy Courch Underwear.esp
59 3b PaintingsTest.esp
60 3c Debauchery.esp
61 3d Arcanum.esp
62 3e SkyUI.esp
63 3f Hunterborn.esp
64 40 SexLab_Dialogues.esp
65 41 Men's Clubs Merged.esp
66 42 Solitude Men's Club.esp
67 43 Windhelm Men's Club.esp
68 44 NiruinsBusinessPlan.esp
69 45 SOS - Shop.esp
70 46 FNISspells.esp
71 47 Riften Men's Club.esp
72 48 The Manipulator.esp
73 49 SD Patches.esp
74 4a SD Addons.esp
75 4b Devious Devices - Equip.esp
76 4c 120DaysofSodom.esp
77 4d Sexlab - Auto Vanilla Voices.esp
78 4e PuppetMaster.esp
79 4f SexTalk.esp
80 50 Persist Damn It.esp
81 51 MasculinizedLevelLists.esp
82 52 MasculinizedLevelListsDB.esp
83 53 MasculinizedLevelListsDG.esp
84 54 RM Dwemer Gladiator.esp
85 55 SexLab_Hormones.esp
86 56 Lanterns Of Skyrim - AIO - Dawnguard.esp
87 57 SOS - Leito Addon.esp
88 58 Spanking.esp
89 59 CobaltAnimations.esp
90 5a SLAnimLoader.esp
91 5b UFO - Dawnguard AddOn.esp
92 5c UFO - Heartfire AddOn.esp
93 5d FNIS.esp
94 5e Males of Skyrim.esp
95 5f SOS - Hormones UNP Addon.esp
96 60 Spells and Perks Overhaul.esp
97 61 ForgottenMagic_Redone.esp
98 62 SlaveTatsEventsBridge.esp
99 63 SexLabDefeat.esp
100 64 XPMSE.esp
101 65 SOSRaceMenu.esp
102 66 Skyrim Particle Patch for ENB - Flame Atronach Fix.esp

[John]

I don't have lanterns of Skyrim installed, however is it supposed to be that high up in the list?

Other than that i don't really see anything wrong, could be an incompatibility issue between mods. Your best bet is to make a list of mods and categorize them.
Make a new game and just go to riften as fast as you can and see if the issue occurs again on a fresh save.
If it still crashes (probably will), make another new game and this time without any mods installed. Again go to riften as fast as possible, stand in front of the door and make a hard save. Then install mods, one category at a time. See when the problem starts to occur.
It takes some time but you will figure out the reason, you can even determine if it is some kind of compatibility issue by installing only that mod and then go down the list again and see when the problem occurs. Check the mod(s) in question, forums, details, whatever, maybe you missed something to install. Maybe there is an .ini file you need to adjust.

[chris036nl]

Thanks a mill John! I will get to work then...

[smr1957]

Your initial load order is wrong - it should be:
Skyrim.esm
Update.esm
Dawnguard.esm
Hearthfires.esm
Dragonborn.esm
Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch.esp

And are you sure you are applying the results when you sort your load order with LOOT, because there is no way LOOT would EVER put a mod in amongst the DLCs. And see my first post.

[chris036nl]

Hey. It was indeed LOOT itself that put the Lantern mod there, Its does that every time I use it although I move the mod to a right place myself. Anyway, I found out that when I enter Ratway through that door without having met Esbern I can get out again without any problem but as soon as I have met Esbern it is a CTD when trying to open that door. And thanks again for your concern....

[John]

Originally posted by chris036nl:

Hey. It was indeed LOOT itself that put the Lantern mod there, Its does that every time I use it although I move the mod to a right place myself. Anyway, I found out that when I enter Ratway through that door without having met Esbern I can get out again without any problem but as soon as I have met Esbern it is a CTD when trying to open that door. And thanks again for your concern....

That's a very specific and weird problem, does this also happen without any mods installed?

[smr1957]

That is an example of where LOOT can get things wrong. Unfortunately, since some major changes were introduced to LOOT a little over a year ago, it has been increasingly prone to errors. It should still be used, but one needs to check it - and, if not sure, then ask for advice.

The initial load order is as presented in my post.

[chris036nl]

SOLVED!!!! I found out that after entering the quarters of Esbern you need all his books to start a new quest. After that the door was no problem anymore and the game continued. Strange but true. Thanks to all who were wiling to help!