Guide:Troubleshooting

From Step Mods | Change The Game

Corrected bbcode


Troubleshooting FAQs and other info related to STEP & Skyrim modding --by The STEP Team

GUIDE FORUM THREAD


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NOTE

This guide is disjointed and incomplete ... needs lots of work still.


Frequently Asked Questions (WiP)[edit | edit source]

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NOTE:
This section is a work-in-progress but could use your help with suggestions. Either make an edit to the page directly (requires an account on the STEP Community forums), or post it to this thread.

What is STEP?[edit | edit source]

What are STEP Packs?[edit | edit source]

How often is STEP updated?[edit | edit source]

STEP is on a biweekly release schedule. Minor version updates will occur every other weekend (usually on Saturday afternoon, United States time). Minor revisions will usually include bug fixes and mod note changes, but can also offer a few new mods and mod order changes.

Because of our increased release frequency, we can't advocate an advanced mod manager such as Wrye Bash or Mod Organizer enough; they make these updates incredibly quick and simple to perform. The ability to easily re-order, add, and remove mods will be essential to keeping STEP up to date and getting the best results.

So where do I actually download STEP?[edit | edit source]

STEP is not one mod and it cannot be downloaded all at once. The full guide to installing STEP can be found here.

What about a bundled STEP package?[edit | edit source]

Not any time soon. First off, it would require that we constantly keep all of the files up to date, which means that we'd have to upload a new version several times a day. On top of that, many mod authors prefer to have control over their files and do not allow anyone else to host their files. Even if (and that's a huge "if") every mod author agreed to let us host their mod, sites like the Nexus restrict making compilation mods in the first place. That said, we have been working on a program/framework to download all the STEP mods and organize them automatically, but that is no where near completion.

Why are mod X or Y not in STEP?[edit | edit source]

STEP is all about graphic and bugs fixing mods so a lot of mods will be excluded except those that we think add more realism to the game.

How can I help improve STEP?[edit | edit source]

Where can I send beer to y'all?[edit | edit source]

We gratefully accept small contributions to pay for hosting (currently $/yr). A "Donate" button can be found on the Main Page and the STEP Guide.

How do I restore vanilla Skyrim?[edit | edit source]

Reverting Skyrim to a Pristine (Vanilla) Installation:

  1. Deactivate all mods using your choice of mod manager and/or the Skyrim launcher.
  2. In Steam, navigate to the Workshop and unsubscribe from every mod.
  3. Now browse to your Skyrim directory and delete all files and subdirectories except for Data and DirectX10. Browse into data and select all (CTRL + A), now hold CTRL and deselect:
    • HighResTexturePack01.bsa
    • HighResTexturePack02.bsa
    • HighResTexturePack03.bsa
    • Skyrim - Animations.bsa
    • Skyrim - Interface.bsa
    • Skyrim - Meshes.bsa
    • Skyrim - Misc.bsa
    • Skyrim - Shaders.bsa
    • Skyrim - Sounds.bsa
    • Skyrim - Textures.bsa
    • Skyrim - Voices.bsa
    • Skyrim - VoicesExtra.bsa
    • Skyrim.esm
  4. Now hit DELETE and watch the mess vanish.
  5. Navigate to My Documents/My Games/Skyrim and delete all files and subdirectories (after making backups of course), this will ensure a completely vanilla install.
  6. In Steam, click [Verify integrity of game cache...] under the Local Files tab in Skyrim's Properties window. This will do a CRC check on every single file in the Skyrim directory and download any files that are corrupted, missing, or didn't pass the CRC check. It may take a while depending on your Internet speed.
  7. Disable Automatic updates in Steam -> Skyrim Properties -> Updates tab by setting it to [Only update this game when I launch it].
  8. Launch Skyrim from Steam, thereby creating new INI files. Set your preferred settings in the game launcher or run BethINI.
  9. Make a full 7zip backup of your pristine Skyrim directory for future use.
  10. If you have a savegame you wish to try and make compatible with your new pristine Skyrim, follow the clean save procedure as outlined in this guide under "Mods and Savegames" to hopefully clean out most of the deleted mod data.

Using the Console[edit | edit source]

To open (and close) the game console press the tilde key ~ (located under escape on most keyboards).

INI Issues[edit | edit source]

Rename your skyrim.ini and skyrimprefs.ini located in .../My Documents/My Games/Skyrim and then start the launcher, hit options and accept the default settings. This rebuilds your ini's. Now run skyrim and see if your issues have been resolved. If yes, your renamed files have either bad settings or your hardware is unable to handle them.

In general pay attention to the parameters you are changing, quite a few are either binary (0,1) or powers of 2 (2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048,4096,8192,16384,etc). If you change them to something not expected you will encounter issues.

Skyrim Registry[edit | edit source]

If a program you install is having trouble finding Skyrim, you need to start Steam. Click Play Skyrim from Steam, and in the launcher that starts click Play. Doing this creates the necessary registry entries.

Texture Optimizers[edit | edit source]

There are a number of tools now available that attempt to make the optimization of textures a quick and automatic process. However, this is a complex topic, and these tools can introduce serious problems in some cases. In particular:

  • At the highest settings, textures may be resized and recompressed in a lossy process. This results in a loss of quality, possibly rendering them inferior to the vanilla textures.
  • Some textures, such as water, require special consideration. You should not attempt to optimize them using these tools.
  • Some of these tools also attempt to optimize NIFs. These modified meshes are capable of crashing the game, and this is not recommended.

Flashing water artifacts[edit | edit source]

This is a known issue possibly caused by using VDIDIA cards in SLI. The current workaround is as follows:

In the NVIDIA Control Panel:

  • Check to "Enable stereoscopic 3D"
  • Check to "Hide stereoscopic 3D effects when game starts" (this prevents Skyrim from actually running in 3D mode)

When activating the 3D setting, the NVIDIA Control Panel may force you to go through a wizard to set up 3D glasses. If you do not have such hardware, you will have to guess at which of the images are the correct ones in order to proceed. There are only a couple to choose from, and this is easily done.

This should be considered a workaround, rather than a fix, since there may be unknown implications of ‘unnecessarily’ enabling 3D mode.

ATI Driver Reinstall[edit | edit source]

Don't use Driver Sweeper or AMD Catalyst TwL Cleaner. These are very outdated and no longer maintained. Use the following process instead. (If I recall correctly, you have an AMD motherboard? If so, you should do the following and be prepared to do a clean reinstall of your chipset drivers, as DS likely already blasted & that could be one of your problems):

  1. Uninstall AMD Catalyst Suite from Control Panel. Don't Express Unintall if you have an AMD chipset motherboard.
  2. Reboot in safe mode.
  3. Open Device Manager (Control Panel> System and Security> System> Device Manager). Uninstall all devices in "Display adapters" class. Tick "Delete the Driver Software for this Device" also if available. DON'T right-click "Scan for hardware changes" afterward (do it later because we want the Display adapters class to be empty for now). Minimize Device Manager window.
  4. Reboot normally, open device manager, and you should see "Standard Display Adapter" as the display. If not, update the driver to that manually & reboot.

ATI display drivers are better about uninstalling completely these days, but this will ensure that nothing lingers.

Missing or Corrupted STRING Files[edit | edit source]

On some rare occasions, Skyrim's STRING files will either go missing or become corrupt. The STRING files contain text for the game, and is generally what you see when looking at item names, quest descriptions, subtitles, etc. There are two options to fix the missing or corrupted STRING files.

  1. Verify the game cache. This can be done in Steam by right-clicking on Skyrim in the Library list, clicking on properties, and then navigating to the Local Files tab. Once there, click on the Verify Integrity of the Game Cache button. Remember that if you are using Skyrim Unplugged, this will fail to work.
  2. In the case that you either have Skyrim Unplugged, and/or would like updated and corrected English STRING files, you can download English Strings for Skyrim at Skyrim Nexus. This is the preferred option as this is a mod that modifies the STRING files to fix many grammatical errors, as well as make lore accurate tweaks, in the vanilla STRING files.

Purple or Black Textures[edit | edit source]

If you are seeing purple or black textures while playing Skyrim, you have either corrupted or missing textures. There are several solutions to this problem. It also requires some common sense to determine where the texture is coming from. For example, if a wooden chopping block is purple, it does not come from a mod such as SRO, since that mod does not contain the texture file for the chopping block. However, Bethesda's Hi-Res DLC does contain the texture file for the chopping block. Hence, the DLC is a good start for troubleshooting using the steps below.

  1. Verify the game cache. This can be done in steam by right-clicking on Skyrim in the Library list, clicking on Properties, and then navigating to the Local Files tab. Once there, click on the Verify Integrity of the Game Cache button. Remember that if you are using Skyrim Unplugged, this will fail to work.
  2. Uninstall and reinstall any texture DLCs or mods that you have.
  3. If the problem still persists, it may be that the mod or DLC was corrupted during downloading. Simply re-download and reinstall the mod or DLC that you suspect of containing the corrupted texture file.
  4. If the problem is yet again still present, it may be that you failed to properly uninstall a mod that affects the texture. In this case, it is easiest to perform a complete clean reinstall of Skyrim. See the "Reverting Skyrim to a Pristine (Vanilla) Installation" steps on the top of this page on how to best achieve that.

Exterior Crash to Desktop (CTD)[edit | edit source]

There are several causes for this. Usually its due to mods. Several solutions are listed here.

  1. Visit the "Are you having constant exterior CTDs? Ive finally found your solution" thread by Yafi on the Skyrim Nexus forum. All credits go to Yafi.

Papyrus Script Errors[edit | edit source]

Constant error reporting can sometimes be found when performing Papyrus script logging. While these errors can be benign, it can cause stuttering, freezes or CTDs in certain cases. The cause is usually a mod with scripts that are either buggy or poorly written. However, it is also possible for vanilla Skyrim to produce errors. The fixes listed below will be named as to how the script appears in the log.

  1. fxDustDropRandomSCRIPT - Visit the "fxDustDropRandomSCRIPT errors *FIXED*" thread by steve40 on the Skyrim Nexus forum. All credits go to steve40.
  2. dunBluePalaceArenaSCRIPT - Visit the "dunBluePalaceArenaSCRIPT errors *FIXED*" thread by steve40 on the Skyrim Nexus forum. All credits go to steve40.
  3. HelgenRandomSoundScript - Same solution as listed under Exterior Crash to Desktop. Visit the "Are you having constant exterior CTDs? Ive finally found your solution" thread by Yafi on the Skyrim Nexus forum. All credits go to Yafi.
  4. lvlpredatorscript or LvlPredatorScript - Same solution as listed under Exterior Crash to Desktop. Visit the "Are you having constant exterior CTDs? Ive finally found your solution" thread by Yafi on the Skyrim Nexus forum. All credits go to Yafi.

Mods and Savegames[edit | edit source]

Installing, Uninstalling, & Upgrading[edit | edit source]

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NOTE

This procedure should be used whenever uninstalling, upgrading, or installing a mod.
For those who are experiencing any CTD's, savegame bloat, or other issues that they have been unable to resolve, I recommend following Reverting Skyrim to a Pristine (Vanilla) Installation and then following this guide. This ensures the cleanest possible save.

This should remove the problem of savegame corruption from previously installed mods still affecting your gameplay (and testing). You can then re-install mods a few at a time and test for the issues to see if they recur (and check the log files for issues you would not necessarily see in game). This helps to isolate the mod causing the problem or verify that it is indeed savegame corruption if no recurrence is noted after all mods are re-installed.

One crucial fact to understand about Skyrim is that information from the mods you use can be written into your save games, and may continue to affect your game even after the mods are removed or updated.

From the Bethesda document, Skyrim Mod Troubleshooting: Best Practices "When you play Skyrim with a mod, in most cases, the new data for the mod will be written into any new saved games you create. For example, if you play Skyrim with Mod X and create a save, the next time you load that save, the game will expect Mod X to also be loaded. If you no longer want to play Skyrim with Mod X, it is best to unload Mod X (by unchecking the plugin under Data Files in your Skyrim launcher) and loading a save that does not require Mod X, usually an older save or a backed up save."

The short version is, “Never continue with a save once a mod it relies upon has been removed.”

However, although this is good advice, there may be occasions when it is inconvenient to heed it. Below is one possible procedure for attempting to ‘clean’ the effects of a removed mod from a save. Remember, you do this at your own risk, and it is not guaranteed to succeed; you may be left with insidious problems later in your game. There are many mods that modify the game in a way that does not immediately change when the mod is uninstalled, a more thorough cleaning must be attempted. These modifications can cause CTDs and freezes (and other issues) if they remain in the world space after the mod has been uninstalled. These advanced cleaning steps will force exterior and interior cells to reset, despawning and respawning almost all actors in the game, among other things. For a more complete description of what a cell reset does, visit this UESP wiki page.

To make sure almost all cells reset, it is necessary to wait for 31 days. Some cells never reset because they are flagged "Never Resets" by Bethesda. These mostly include player homes and other important locations. See here for the complete list.

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WARNING:
Forcing cell resets clears almost all containers and respawns random or the original objects contained therein, while deleting anything else, such as player added items. Therefore, do not store any objects that you may wish to keep in these containers. Instead, place these objects within a container in a cell that is flagged "Never Resets". A good place is a chest or sack in a player-owned home.

These steps can also be applied when installing mods that modify many cells and actors. In most cases, these mods install correctly and modify all relevant actors. However, in some cases, not all actors are properly modified when installing the mod. These steps force these actors to respawn with the correct modifications.

When uninstalling a mod that uses scripts, sometimes the scripts continue to be present in your save-game. Basically any script that attaches to an object in-game via a mod remain attached to that object, even once the mod has been removed. See here and here on the Creation Kit WIKI for a more complete description of how scripts can affect save-games. You can also find a discussion by modders here about this issue on the Bethesda Skyrim forums. These steps may also purge these redundant scripts from your game. However, this has not been verified, and still requires testing.

The following procedure is almost always going to be overkill, but it is much simpler to present (and follow) a comprehensive procedure than to explain all the variety of different mods and different uninstall requirements for each of them. This is a uniform catch-all procedure.

Clean Savegame Procedure[edit | edit source]

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NOTE

To travel to the Testing Hall, type "coc qasmoke" (without quotes) in the game console. Note that if you pick up or open or use anything in here it creates savegame corruption and possibly CTD. Also, when you wish to exit from this testing hall, you need to travel out using the console command "coc <cellname>" (without quotes). The <cellname> must be replaced with the name of the cell you would wish to travel to. Before traveling to the Testing Hall, it is a good idea to know the cell name where you would wish to return. To discover the cell name of this place, be present at that location and type "help <location> 0" (without quotes) in the game console. The <location> must be replaced with name of the location; i.e. "help breezehome 0" (without quotes) tells you that the correct code is WhiterunBreezehome or that Sovngarde can be reached with Sovngarde01.
  1. Open (or create) SkyrimCustom.ini file in .../My Documents/My Games/Skyrim. Add the following lines to that file. This creates a log so you can see just how much crap is in your savegame currently and how much is removed by the procedure. Alternatively you can just add these lines to Skyrim.ini or change the =0 to =1 if they already exist.
    [Papyrus]
    bEnableLogging=1
    bEnableTrace=1
    bLoadDebugInformation=1
  2. With these settings on, the game creates a new folder at “.../My Documents/My Games/Skyrim/Logs/Script”. Your logs appear inside that folder, named Papyrus.#.log with the # number going from 0 to 3. The 0 log is always the newest with older logs cycling through the increasing numbers.
  3. Download and install the No Boring Sleep-Wait Menu mod from Skyrim Nexus. This mod allows you to wait for 31 days without having to wait 24 hours 31 times due to the limitations of the default vanilla wait menu. This mod was created with mod cleaning in mind.
  4. Deactivate or uninstall any mods that require you to eat, sleep, drink, stay warm, etc, to survive, such as Total Realism - Basic Needs. If you do not disable these, your character will die instantly after following these steps due to starvation, dehydration, etc.
  5. Start Skyrim and load the savegame you wish to clean.
  6. If you are uninstalling mod(s), you need to strip naked and store your gear in a player home. (If you don't have one yet, use anywhere that is listed in the safe places link above and make a backup save just in case).
  7. Check to make sure your active effects are clear; if not, click on yourself and type this in the game console: "dispelallspells" (without quotes) and recheck active effects. This cures vampirism and lycanthropy so if you have one of those, you must add it back with console after finishing the procedure.
  8. Make a new save by typing "save <name>" (without quotes) in the game console. If the name contains spaces, it must be enclosed in double-quotes, i.e. save "My Skyrim Save". Make sure this is a unique name.
  9. Exit Skyrim by typing "qqq" (without quotes) into the game console.
  10. Uninstall the mod(s) you no longer wish or are upgrading. Or (NOT and), install the mod(s) you want to have in Skyrim. If doing both, first uninstall and complete the entire procedure, then install new mods and complete the entire procedure again.
  11. Load your savegame. A dialog stating that the save file relies on missing content is to be expected. Choose "Yes".
  12. Travel to another world space that IS NOT classed as the Skyrim world space. The best options are the Skyrim Testing Hall or an empty unmodded player home. See the Testing Hall note above.
  13. Once in the Testing Hall or home DO NOT pick up or open or use anything! Open the game console and type "pcb" (without quotes).
  14. Next, in the game console, type "tfc" (without quotes). This enables free camera mode, and helps reduce the waiting time required for 31 days to pass.
  15. Exit the game console, and press "T" on your keyboard to enable the waiting menu. The change in appearance is due to the No Boring Sleep-Wait Menu mod you installed.
  16. Move the slider all the way to the right until 31 days appears.
  17. Press "Enter" on your keyboard. You need to wait for 2-3 minutes if you toggled free camera mode with the "tfc" command, or 12 minutes if you did not.
  18. Next, in the game console, type "tfc" (without quotes). This disables the free camera mode that was enabled before.
  19. Make a new save by typing "save <name>" (without quotes) into the game console. If the name contains spaces, it must be enclosed in double-quotes, i.e. save "My Skyrim Save". Make sure this is a unique name.
  20. Exit Skyrim by typing "qqq" (without quotes) into the game console.
  21. Rename skyrimcustom.ini (so it doesn't load and you won't have to recreate it later if you need it again) or change Skyrim.ini settings added above =0. Now check the logs to see what changed and to make sure you don't have crazy errors.
  22. Reactivate your realism mods, start Skyrim and load your save.
  23. Open the game console and type "pcb" again (without quotes).
  24. Travel to your preferred destination using the game console "coc <cellname>" (without quotes).
  25. Play! (Thanks to apoJake, MontyMM, Madwizard25, and Frihyland for contributions).

Saving and Reloading Games[edit | edit source]

As a best practice I disable all autosaving. Don't use quicksave, only save indoors, always use the console to save creating a unique human readable name, and I use bash to keep track of my saves and particularly what mods each save is dependent on.

When reloading a savegame, exit the game completely first to clear out any trash in memory and allow the savegame to initialize properly.

It is best not to rely on autosaves or quicksaves because overwriting a save can result in corruption or more commonly loss of a useful save. In game settings disable all save on options (rest, wait, travel, menu). This also speeds up transition times between areas and prevents many CTDs. It also requires you to manually save at appropriate times. Use the console command save <savename> to name your saves as you like. If the name contains spaces it must be enclosed in double-quotes; i.e., save "My Skyrim Save". Make sure this is a unique name because you will not be prompted to overwrite.

Realistic Water Textures & Terrain[edit | edit source]

This mod is no longer developed and has been replaced by a new mod named WATER. However, after the removal of this mod it is very likely that any saved games that relied on it suffers from missing water textures and other bugs. Please refer to the “Mods and Saves” section above for advice.

Z-Fighting[edit | edit source]

z-Fighting Tips & Tweaks

Interesting Links[edit | edit source]

  1. https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1369136-thrashing-thread-1/
  2. https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1369136-thrashing-thread-1/page__p__20678547#entry20678547
  3. https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1369136-thrashing-thread-1/page__st__30__p__20688670#entry20688670
  4. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
  5. https://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/07/21/3092070.aspx
  6. https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1407295-whats-your-vram-usage-with-mods/page__st__30__p__21529998#entry21529998
  7. https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/articles/132/

Updates[edit | edit source]

  • Missing textures/black textures after playing Skyrim for a while
  • ATI Radeon texture clipping issue because of AA
  • Artifacting
  • Various shadow tweaks and tweaking
  • Infinite Loading screens, CTD
  • RAM overload
  • Game doesn't Launch

a) Mods with Script Dragon/SKSE/master file dependencies b) ini error

  • Missing textures/Crash with optimized Skyrim-Textures.bsa
  • (forgotten to copy over non-processed textures) OR wrong setting (Skyrim) for BSA/DDSopt
  • VSync disabled Bugs (fast tree and grass movement, tearing, timescale)
  • SLI Bugs
  • ini error: Missing textures
  • Video Driver Update Issue
  • AF/AA Performance
  • Memory leak caused by Steam issue
  • Repair Hard disk and revalidate Steam!
  • Graphical errors (transparency, pixelation)
  • Disable injectors
  • Skyrim shutdown on main menu using other dll: Run program as administrator!
  • Skyrim with ENB doesn't start because of d3d software: disable overlay function or use injector or quit other software.
  • Purple textures caused by false installation
  • FPS limiter: 32+ FPS - otherwise enormous load times!
  • ATI FPS limiter (Proper way to limit FPS in Skyrim)
  • fNearDistance and FOV clipping
  • Windows and Skyrim mouse cursor at the same time
  • Update 1.6 issue, restart game to fix
  • Very low sound issue
  • DOF in ENB in character creation irritating
  • Disable ENB/DOF effect (MCM)
  • VRAM used by windows: (BTW if you're running out of VRAM try this.

Right click TESV.exe in the Skyrim folder, select properties, then go to "Compatibility" tab and tick these boxes: Disable visual themes Disable desktop composition )

  • AF/AA issues in general (aliasing, texture shimmering)
  • Steam backup issue: ("Just a heads up to everyone, the Steam backup/restore feature does not work to save previous patches of the game. As soon as you use it to re-install your previous patch version of the game automatically updates you to the most recent patch.

I had this problem with my 1.4 patch restore when I tried to get rid of my 1.5 patch. I asked steam customer service and the program is apparently designed/needs to function this way. All backups made with steam "backup restore" will always need to be updated after being installed (even if you set things to "don't automatically update my game".) Furthermore you can't be in offline mode to use the backup/restore feature, so stopping Internet access won't solve this problem. Cutting off Internet before the game updates simply results in the game not running/working." - hodge182)

  • Using Steam mods with non-Steam-mods/STEP
  • VSync issues: mouse lag
  • Safe uninstall procedure (example of Sounds of Skyrim):

1. Load a game with the SoS mods installed. 2. Disable all the sounds by using the console commands: Startquest SosConfigCivilization Startquest SosConfigThewilds Startquest SosConfigThedungeons 3. Then stopguest the mods by using the console commands: Stopquest SosConfigCivilization Stopquest SosConfigThewilds Stopquest SosConfigThedungeons 4. Save the game and quit to desktop 5. Deactivate the mods. 6. Remove the mods and the scripts (as mentioned in the first post of this thread).

  • No game launch: disable optional Better Turn Animation Only One Pose optional file
  • Mannequins alive (no known fix/fixed by USKP?)
  • Hard Coded RAM limitation (magic >3 GB)
  • Weapons sheathe automatically when equipped (no known fix/savegame corruption)
  • Repeating freezes after short time periods for short time periods: corrupted save/save too big
  • If deactivating a mod with an ESP, all files except the ones from a mod-owned BSA are still used and active, especially scripts (unless they are completely non-vanilla-related scripts that are only called upon by the mod's esp)!
  • Flashing decals (e.g. moss) with ATI card: adaptive multisampling AA is the culprit. use SSAA or MSAA!
  • Any instability/performance/gameplay issues with ugrids higher than 5? Start a new game with uGrids 5 and replicate the error; otherwise, it's tied to the higher grids value
  • Be sure to use the DLC versions of mods if using those DLCs!!!
  • Increasing performance on a very very old computer: use a USB stick with Ready Boost
  • If new issues arise directly after a new Skyrim patch comes out officially, try to isolate the broken mods, contact the mod authors and wait for a fix. Nothing STEP can do about that.
  • If using an ENB and you are getting graphical errors, be sure to go through our ENB Guide before posting the issue in the forum
  • If water is blinking while using an enb, try to lower the water resolution in skyrimprefs.ini back to 512 instead of higher values.
  • Minor shadow striping using ENB: Raise iBlurDeferredShadowMask in SkyrimPrefs.ini to 5 or higher
  • Brawls turning into deadly fights: Install Brawl Patch Plugin
  • Short distance branches pop in: set fTreesMidLODSwitchDist to 5000 <- CONFIRMATION NEEDED!
  • Texture popping in general: Vanilla issue/use Distant Decal Fix
  • Lanterns emit red light: Lanterns of Skyrim: use an ESP preset together with the ESM
  • NPC from scripted events are missing, talking to thin air, etc.: mod related, normally only immersion breaking, not game breaking.
  • If reporting a STEP bug, please be sure you are only using the recommended versions of the recommended mods and your system can handle that perfectly. If non-STEP mods are the culprit, please name the mod in your support topic and try to contact the mod author.
  • If reporting stuttering/microloags/huge and sudden FPS drops be sure your VRAM isn't maxing out before reporting this on the forum. Use smaller texture sizes or resize textures to at least 2048² if not 1024²!
  • Black hitboxy outlines around light sources with NVIDIA GFX: AA Skyrim-driver issue. If annoyed by this, disable all AA or use SMAA instead of ingame normal AA
  • Disable the "cinematic" letterbox style if you don't like it: Add a double slash in front of it (this comments the line out and disables the black cinematic bars):

// *define ENABLE_VIGNETTE

  • Infinite Loading Screens/Freezes: Undo/lower the z-fighting tweak for skyrimprefs.ini and the largecellreffade tweak for skyrim.ini. Uninstall all mods that increase distant detail.
  • Invisible, purple and black textures when playing for a while after changing cells or loading saves: Save, quit Skyrim completely, restart Skyrim, load Save. !?RAM limitation issue?! Undo the largecellreffade tweak from skyrim.ini
  • Ugly Shadows (No Bug/Glitch): There are a few things you could try to improve the look of the shadows, like lowering the Shadow Distance to 4000 or so, using a lower iBlurDefferedShadowMask value to sharpen them, increasing the internal resolution of shadows rendered to 4096 or even 8192, using transparency anti-aliasing, turning on shadows draw on trees and land, etc. Detailed Shadows in ENB help a lot too. SSAO makes the overall render much more pleasing to the eyes. Heck, just follow this guide to see if it helps. Worse comes to worse, you can always revert to the original INI files. https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/7638
  • Clipping: lower fNearDistance and FOV
  • SLI glitches and 3D-"fix"/workaround <- Might be outdated.
  • Be sure to only use AF, Transparency AA and AA from ONE source at a time. Recommended: AF through NVIDIA Inspector, AA through injector, SMAA for better performance (don't use transparency AA with SMAA) / Skyrim Launcher AA for better quality, Transparency AA through Inspector.
  • For best Ambient Occlusion use ENB !! CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG !!
  • "Paper trees": Be sure to have the diversity plugin of Skyrim Flora Overhaul active, too!
  • No visibility/Green water below water surface using ENB only: Use Green Water Fix (on nexus)
  • QASmoke has issues when using Dragonborn since the latter deletes one of it's navmeshes and also other issues might arise
  • Texture Corruption: Textures looking "weird", but NOT PURPLE!: Replace problematic textures with unoptimized ones, or redownload mod and reinstall it.
  • Tutorial - Removing unwanted magic effects from the player
  • Aliasing when using AA through inspector: AA doesn't get applied through NVIDIA Inspector. Use Skyrim Launcher to configure or an injector.
  • CTD after optimizing meshes: Revert to unoptimized meshes
  • Missing textures with vanilla Skyrim: Verify integrity of game cache/ Hardware related
  • Reduce shadow resolution if VRAM is overflowing
  • Remove creatures effects (like glowing eyes) from players character
  • Freezes in midst of gaming (no loading screen): Check papyrus protocol, hardware. Might be engine issue. Also try to use a lower res version of Deadly Spell Impacts
  • CTD in Lost Knife Hideout: If using SkyRe this is a known issue, no fix known.
  • CTD and Papyrus log spams with DLC2 references: Dragonborn related, no known fix.
  • Glass shattering when leaving a house and bounty raising: issue with destructible bottles. <- FIXED?!
  • CTD with Deadly Dragons: Removing Deadly Dragons fixed the non-hostile, non-disappearing fire. The CTD would happen when standing in one of those patches for too long. It would just all of sudden crash with no warning. The "non-disappearing" fire on the ground is intentional of Deadly Dragons, but I wonder if the non-hostile part is intentional or not.

To be done[edit | edit source]

  1. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=94
  2. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=91
  3. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=105
  4. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=115
  5. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=135
  6. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=277
  7. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=314
  8. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=312
  9. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=395
  10. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=402
  11. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=280
  12. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=621
  13. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=640
  14. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=629
  15. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=358
  16. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=834
  17. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=1263
  18. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=1474
  19. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=1771
  20. https://stepmodifications.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=1841