[SOLVED] Long pauses in SkyrimSE

[Karadjgne]

Ok, so I'm still using SE 2.0.2, skse 1.5.97 and around 180 mods including hdt-smp, cbbe 3bA, better vamps, all the really important and necessaries like patches etc. Everything tuned and organized using Vortex and worked perfectly.

1 nvme drive, everything C. Steam acct. No enb

Stopped playing for a month, was into other stuff. Started playing again, didn't touch a thing, no new mods, no changes, just continued from where I left off. And now getting 15-20 second pauses every time I wait, before the clock even moves, 15-20 second pauses going through any map door, 15-20 second pauses before quicksave, quickload, save, load even starts. Basically I'm getting that pause every time storage is accessed instead of from cache.

I've tried updating every mod that was older, reset better vamps, fixed xpmse right column and cloak, deleted src files from data, only 10 saved games, basically if it's a common fix on Google, I believe I've tried it. Except for the renaming or deleting skse save files fix.

Does anyone have any more suggestions?

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

had similar issue with Fallout: New Vegas freezing shortly each time i entered a new area, entered/exited menus, or saved/loaded.

backed up entire install path,
reinstalled base game through Steam,
and started adding my mods back in one at a time to test which may have been causing the issue.

ended up getting all of them reinstalled and the game continued to run fine so i never actually figured out what had been causing it.
took a very long time to get all mods back in place and setup again.
ended up just deleting my backed up install and continuing with the new one.

 

[boju]

I don't know anything about that game so excuse me for my ignorance haha, seen this and just thought to mention it because symptoms kinda relate somewhat. Perhaps it's a coincidence.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/60582

Assuming other games run fine on the same ssd, I'd guess if above mod has nothing to do with it maybe there's some security measure in Windows causing iop issues. If skryim is in programs folder that uac setting might be doing something.

 

[Karadjgne]

Well Vortex is a little different in the way it works. The base game doesn't change, it's vanilla. You load any and all mods in an overlay, so the data folder is added after the fact. If you add a mod, all the write overs happen outside the game. It eliminates one mod permanently over-writing the meshes and textures of other mods, all writes are temporary. Kinda how Ryzen master doesn't actually change bios settings, just an overlay settings change that gets reverted when RM is turned off.

Vortex also has LOOT built in, so load order is set by a Master list built by ppl who test for conflicts. Every mod works, no conflicts, no artifacts or invisible meshes or black bugs. Just the pause.

Maybe just need to reinstall the base. Won't need to reset any mods, Vortex is external.

If skryim is in programs folder that uac setting might be doing something.

That might be worth looking into, main files are in pfx86/steam/common.. But save game data is in windows/documents/appdata...

Might be a conflict somewhere in there.

 

[boju]

That might be worth looking into, main files are in pfx86/steam/common.. But save game data is in windows/documents/appdata...

Been reading uac issues people have been having if pf folder is used and fix for that particular issue is moving game elsewhere to avoid turning off uac or running as administrator. If it is causing issues for you then disabling uac first instead of moving game would soon tell.

 

[alceryes]

Are you absolutely sure your Special Edition didn't update any of its components?
When AE came out SE was updated (even for those who didn't buy anything new) to a new version that broke A LOT of mods.

 

[Karadjgne]

Yeah, AE messed with SKSE, but that only applies to AE, SE wasn't touched. The only thing added was some CC content which broke mods that already used those addresses. Most of AE is nothing more than some mods being added as native and 50ish more mods added to CC for Xbox users.

But even with all that, I was gaming happily mid December, the update was mid November, and all mods with updates are updated. Plus, I have skyrim set to not auto update, it only updates when I demand, which I haven't done, so I don't have any AE content atm.

Part of the reason I have not just reinstalled the base game, as it'll undoubtedly already have the update included.

I spent hours in the smoke box checking, every mod is working perfectly, all animations, all weapons/armors, all hdt-smp, body upgrades, inventory etc, all works as should at any time, no conflicts. It's only when the game has to access storage for a new map or load/save that there's an issue. Which is perplexing

 

[alceryes]

Threre have been two more updates after the initial SE/AE update. Have you checked the file version numbers to verify?

 

[Karadjgne]

I'm still running the 1.5.97 SE from 2019, Not any of the 4 updates to 1.6.xxx. Game is set to Not update unless I start it through Steam, that doesn't affect vortex or wrye bashe or MO which use a different launcher. So anyone who sets the Steam Update that way is effectively safe from AE contamination unless they do something stupid like start the game Through Steam, instead of from outside Steam.

That's what's got me stumped as to cause, it played perfectly, stopped for a month, picked it back up and it's pausing at any save, auto save, quick save. No updates, no steam updates, no windows updates other than a security update, basically nothing was touched. Game runs perfectly fine otherwise, all mods work as they should. It's just when storage is written to. Read is fine, it's the write that boogers. And it only affects skyrim, not other games.

Used script ReCleaner, wiped all but 3 saved games, all profiles, disabled OneDrive, no mod conflicts, load order is good, animations reset and good, no conflicts in fnis or dual sheath redux. Only thing not done is reinstall the base game as that will include the 1.6xx AE updates, can't choose the 1.5.97 SE last good copy.

 

[alceryes]

If you back up your current files there are safe ways to install the latest version and then downgrade to 1.5.
There's an unofficial Nexus mod that seems to work well.

Also, check out perfmon and event viewer to see if the system is doing anything in the background during the pause.

 

[Karadjgne]

Fixed it. And it was convoluted to say the least. First, if you do anything in Steam, even verifying the game files, that counts as permission to upgrade. Stupid me thought Steam would just verify the version files. So I ended up getting updated after all. So grabbed the latest version of the downgrader from Nexus, which is a full file version, the older versions would http:client timeout after 100 seconds. Ran into an error with meshes0, even after verifying and updating again. Same meshes0 error crashing the downgrade.

Deleted meshes0 and then meshes1, let Steam repair the missing files, downgrader worked like a charm. Back to Square 1.

Load order was good. No conflicts. Used SSEedit (TS5edit) and started reading through the mod files. Inside 1 mod I found that the Master files were being loaded out of order for that mod. Supposed to read as load order, update-skyrim-dawnguard.esm etc, but this one mod for some reason had had them flipped backwards inside the mod, so instead of Dragonborn.esm overwriting Update.esm, Update was overwriting Dragonborn. Just for that mod. Didn't show anywhere as a conflict. Royal pita. Flipped the Masters load order on its head, saved, and problem solved.

Strange thing is that now the saves or enter/exit maps are easily twice as fast as they were before, maybe 3 seconds going through a door, if that.

Not sure if it was the upgrade/downgrade fixing that, or if it was any of the various attempts at fixing the issue that failed but cleaned up another bug I didn't realize i had.