I'm probably going to have to restart the darned game anyways(really don't want to have to keep restarting but this is annoying)/...

I'm having issues with a STEP install. Besides the VSync issues mentioned in my last thread.

This one is quest script updates just taking forever, sheathe/unsheate updates taking forever to perform, mounting/dismounting horses taking forever.

I'm assuming it's script lag but I'm not sure what is causing it. First thought as to script heavy mods installed are CRF, which is why I'd have to restart.

Any other ideas?

don't know what "step" is, but about lag from script errors anyway, do you have your game write a log file?

if it's really script errors that lag your game, they'll be in there.

(S)he's following the mod install guide from here:

http://wiki.step-project.com/STEP:2.2.9.2

It claims to be the definitive way to install Skyrim + mods. Whether you agree with that is up to you I guess.

oh, i see, thx.

can't really tell if i agree, since from briefly browsing the page, i utterly fail to understand the purpose of the thing (except being an overly complicated mod manager that owns your installation in every imaginable way (?)), or what benefits it's supposed to bring

might be just because i'm easily satisfied though, my idea of "the definitive way to install mods" is check them in 'data' and maybe find them a nice place in my load order, if it's a sunday

Well, for one, it's a pretty good graphics overhaul. New high detail textures, LOD maps and lighting for just about everything. Looks bloody gorgeous.


But when I go to use the smelter with a weapon out and I don't sheathe it and use the smelter, but instead stand there stupidly, or have Erandur in combat pose idling instead of moving forward, or Farkas not reacting to being hit in combat, or Aela not moving into Gallows Rock to advance that quest...

What's your current frame rate? Some people so excited about the gorgeous views they forget that the rest of the game needs resources too.

Script lag is closely tied to frame rate. If you want the full experience you have to make sure you get 60 FPS most of the time with no more than very occasional dips to 50-55 FPS. If you want just one or two mods with more than minimal scripts you can probably make do with 40-50 FPS. If you can get a consistent 30 FPS you'll have a fine game experience as long as you don't add mods with anything more than minimal scripts. Anything below 30 FPS with very occasional dips to 20-25 FPS is a very pretty slide show, not a usable game.

And if you've added any tweaks to the Papyrus section of your INI files remove them. The only setting you should think about changing would be fPostLoadUpdateTimeMS=2000 (which gives Papyrus an extra 2 seconds at each load screen) but that's really only needed if you're seeing mannequins walking around your house, weapons jumping from the floor into position on their racks, and similar oddities when you enter new locations.

If CRF is Cutting Room Floor then you should know it's in my class of minimally scripted mods.

A good clue as to what's using scripts is the stuff that's lagging. You mentioned it taking forever to mount or dismount a horse - well, horse mods (if you're using one) run scripts.

Not all scripts cause problems equally. Some mods run scripts on every actor in the game (like Wet and Cold), some have scripts running constantly, and some fire scripts only for specific things. Having a lot of quest mods can bog down your game, but they tend to be of the latter variety. It's the ones that run all the time that you have to watch out for.

This might be one of those times you should list your load order and people can tell you which mods are script heavy. Good mod descriptions mention it too.

The problems tend to be intermittent for one.

As for my framerate, well I have to hop back into game to check that. VSync was *not* off somehow, but I think I figured it out. Haven't tested. ENB was reporting 55-60 in some areas with upwards over 200 in whiterun coming up to Jorrvaskr... o.O

Load order as per LOOT:

don't mean to bore by repetition, but: enable script logging, check script log

isn't a catch all for everything.

It'd be great if maybe scripts were causing CTD. they're not. Just being slow and annoying.

Went and finished Gallows Rock and Aela is still acting weird. Never had her just hang back and refuse to enter combat before.

that's not the point, ctd or anything

(and not every broken script causes a ctd anyway, not even a major part)

basically (somebody correct me pls if i get any of the details wrong) the scripting engine can only handle so and so many scripts at a time (or whatever other exact circumstances the count depends on)

it builds up stacks of scripts to process, and when it needs to put another script on a stack, but that's full and still busy processing the first script in it, hence has no "slot" available, it'll dump the whole stack, causing every single script in it to bug out badly.

and when this happens, it usually happens to more than one stack at a time, and means the engine's really overworked.

and all this will well be in your log.

and that's not only caused by too many or too heavy scripted mods at a time, but the _main_ reason for this to happen is mods you "uninstalled" - because you _can't_. scripts that were in memory when you "uninstalled" will be baked in your save game for all eternity, keep running, but not find any of the stuff they refer to (because that's "uninstalled"), and hence will bug out badly, and then repeat the whole process from start, thereby flooding every script stack with bs and collapsing your game.

...and all this will be in your script log, if it's this.

http://forum.step-project.com/topic/10145-papyrus-logging-what-it-is-and-isnt/#entry159237


I haven't uninstalled anything containing scripts though I'm heavily debating disabling a bunch of Immersive NPCs. Can do that in MCM.


I installed Convenient Horses solely to use the script latency test, and have to load RivaTuner to show fps(ENB isn't giving me correct values... 600-1k fps my butt) and everything looks mostly okay but I haven't played much since I did.


Going to keep monitoring it.

There's a few ways to remove orphaned scripts but they're not reliable. Nor recommended in many cases.


CDCooley, yes, cutting room floor.


Reason I suspected it was because it's one of the mods I've never used. I don't generally run quest mods either.


I refuse to use immersion/survival mods of the type like wet and cold, or real needs and diseases, because it's more of a hassle than anything. I very rarely rest in game, mostly wait. Because lazy.


Immersive NPCs is driving me nuts because I can't find vendors and the like, and belethor likes to leave his shop for hours and he's my primary vendor.

If things get overloaded things simply get delayed. Papyrus does not arbitrarily discard things (as that would cause random unexpected bugs), you just get lag (things taking a long time to process).

ok, thx for clearing that up -

but what's the log trying to tell me then when it gives me long spans of entries along the lines of

"...can't run on " or "assigning none to variable temp5" (hope i hit the tone, got none to look it up in my current logs ,

usually ended by stg like "...dumped stack..." (or a ctd) and surrounded by "engine freezing / thawing"?

and during which really _every_ script appears to bug out and none of them seems to get a chance to properly run

(...where one of the most reliable ways to produce these is to remove scripted mods, which basically is from what i figured out what i had posted above)

edit: ...or is this just telling me it can't run them NOW, but will retry later, and i just misinterpreted the "dumped" part?

You need some form of VSync. If you getting higher than 60 FPS is going to cause all sorts of problems. The STEP guide talks about turning off VSync in some places but always ends up turning it on somewhere. (They are just trying to avoid having it turned on in multiple places.)

You might want to turn on Papyrus logging just to see if there's some script generating lots of errors or to catch one of those stack dump messages. If you get a stack dump you can see just how many and which scripts are waiting. You might find there's one script that's got hundreds of instances all waiting and if so that would be the primary culprit.