Any tips on how to stablize a heavily modded game? : V

» Mon Jul 28, 2014 11:56 am

My game has quite a few plugins some of the mods being quite big and others being script heavy and this has resulted in long load times and random crashes, I've seen people run skyrim with way more mods then i have but they are always stable and play smoothly. I try my best to achieve this by staying away from too many script intensive mods and texture overhauls by this play through is having some issue. Any advise as to helping maintain skyrim when modding it heavily and stuff to stay away from would be great.

Load Order

Spoiler

Skyrim.esm
Update.esm
Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp
Dawnguard.esm
Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp
HearthFires.esm
Unofficial Hearthfire Patch.esp
Dragonborn.esm
Unofficial Dragonborn Patch.esp
AzarHair.esm
Skyrim Project Optimization - Full Version.esm
JSwords.esm
Ket_ARMONIZER_v2.esm
Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm
RSkyrimChildren.esm
HighResTexturePack01.esp
HighResTexturePack02.esp
HighResTexturePack03.esp
Unofficial High Resolution Patch.esp
Weapons & Armor Fixes_Remade.esp
Clothing & Clutter Fixes.esp
Chesko_Frostfall.esp
Morning Fogs.esp
AOS.esp
AOS_DGDB Patch.esp
AMatterOfTime.esp
Chesko_WearableLantern.esp
FishingInSkyrim.esp
Hunterborn.esp
Hunterborn_Dawnguard-Patch.esp
Hunterborn_Frostfall-Patch.esp
SaltSacks.esp
Skyrim Immersive Creatures.esp
Skyrim Immersive Creatures - DLC2.esp
WetandCold.esp
WetandCold - Ashes.esp
JSwords_Load_Screens.esp
RaceMenu.esp
RaceMenuPlugin.esp
RaceMenuOverlays.esp
towConversation.esp
SkyUI.esp
iHUD.esp
Cloaks.esp
Cloaks - Dawnguard.esp
1nivWICCloaks.esp
1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp
DragonbornArmorFix.esp
Glass Variants.esp
Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp
Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp
Immersive Weapons.esp
JSwordsDistributionBalancePlugin.esp
LadyKdCirclets.esp
UniqueBows.esp
WestWindAssault.esp
zzlovelyfeather.esp
Dr_Bandolier.esp
Equipping Overhaul.esp
Lock Overhaul.esp
SkyRe_Main.esp
SkyRe_Combat.esp
SkyRe_CraftingFix.esp
SkyRe_EncounterZones.esp
SkyRe_EnemyAI.esp
SkyRe_EnemyScaling.esp
SkyRe_StandingStones.esp
SkyRe_Survivalism.esp
Unique Uniques.esp
Unique Unique's_Skyre Patch.esp
Inns and Taverns.esp
Radiance.esp
RiverwoodHuntingCabin.esp
Thornrock.esp
The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp
AchieveThat.esp
Babette.esp
Book Covers Skyrim.esp
Civil War Overhaul.esp
Differently Ebony.esp
FireAndIceOverhaul.esp
FSS-No pause between lines.esp
Guard Dialogue Overhaul.esp
Ket_ARMONIZER_LListsNPC.esp
Proper Aiming.esp
Convenient Horses.esp
Convenient Horses - Faster Sprint.esp
dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp
dD-Dragonborn-Dawnguard-EBT Patch.esp
TimingIsEverything.esp
Tougher Traps.esp
aMidianborn_Skyforge_Weapons.esp
RealisticRoomRental.esp
EnhancedLightsandFX.esp
ELFX - Exteriors.esp
ELFX - Dawnguard.esp
ELFX - Dragonborn.esp
ELFXEnhancer.esp
CombatDramaOverhaul.esp
DragonCombatOverhaulDragonborn.esp
Beards.esp
Brows.esp
TheEyesOfBeauty.esp
BS-TheHag_Overlays.esp
BS-TheHag_WarPaints.esp
The Coenaculi.esp
3DNPC.esp
RealisticNeedsandDiseases.esp
RND_Dawnguard-Patch.esp
RND_HearthFires-Patch.esp
RND_Dragonborn-Patch.esp
Hunterborn_RND-Patch.esp
RND_USKP-Patch.esp
Inigo.esp
garm_sr_no_armor.esp
AmazingFollowerTweaks.esp
AFT_NoFriendlySpellDamage.esp
Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp
dD - Realistic Ragdoll Force - Reduced.esp
SkyRe_Races.esp
TTYM - Frostfall Module.esp
RealShelter.esp
Purewaters.esp
RND_PureWaters-Patch.esp
RRR_ELFX-Patch.esp
TradeRoutes.esp
TradeRoutes-RNaD-Patch.esp
TradeRoutes-SkyRe-Patch.esp
WetandCold - Holidays.esp
RealWarMaiden.esp
RSChildren - Complete.esp
RSChildren_PatchUSKP.esp
Prometheus_No_snow_Under_the_roof.esp
Epic Music Overhaul.esp
KonnektorDragonborn.esp
Travel Attire.esp
FCO - Follower Commentary Overhaul.esp
chfshPlayerVoicesets.esp
Rough Leather Armor.esp
SkyFalls + SkyMills.esp
UniqueBorderGates-All.esp
zzArmormashups.esp
ArrowRecoverySystemOverhaul.esp
SofiaFollower.esp
RRR_3DNPC-Patch.esp
AOS2_EBT Patch.esp
AOS2_FIO Patch.esp
AOS2_GDO Patch.esp
AOS2_SkyRe Patch.esp
AOS2_WAF Patch.esp
AOS2_WetandCold Patch.esp
Pureweather_AOS2 Patch.esp
AOS2_DCOd Patch.esp
AHZmoreHUD.esp
BosmericDrunkenHuntsmanReborn.esp
Arcadias Shop.esp
ElementalArrows.esp
Pureweather.esp
ReProccer.esp
ReProccerNONPLAYERfix.esp
ReProccerDragonborn.esp
Warburg's 3D Paper World Map - Texture 1.esp
warburg's 3d paper world map - dawnguard.esp
Warburg's 3D Paper World Map - Dragonborn.esp
Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - for Pure Weather.esp

Also using ENBoost as well as a few other performance mods that dont show up on the load order.

» Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:38 pm

My general advice would be:

1. Build up your mod list slowly. That way you get to learn how each mod functions and its performance. It has taken me many months, in fact more than a year, to arrive at my current mod list, starting out with the vanilla game and slowly building upon it. I did the same with Morrowind and Oblivion. This way you won't suddenly have an unstable gaming not knowing which of many mods it might be that causes it. Basically, the primary goal is to have a stable game, as it doesn't matter how many great mods you have if it's unstable.

2. Be fastidious about managing the mods, checking for patches, updates, cleaning them, managing the load order, updating reproccer patches with correct block lists etc.

3. You seem to already do this, but also: use the memory patcher that comes with SKSE (or the standalone if not using SKSE) as well as ENBoost. Make sure you have the ideal settings for them for your rig.

4. Keep your computer as clean as possible, i.e. don't run unnecessary programs in the background etc. For Oblivion I found out that it helped a lot running the game on a "clean boot". I'm not doing that for Skyrim, but I've learned to take control over which programs that autostarts etc.

I think 1. is the most important as it gives you control over the game, i.e. if it suddenly behaves oddly or gets unstable etc., you know that it must be something you did very recently and you can deal with it and revert to the stable setup you were having.