In process of messing around with my mods, I noticed that some mods cause the following problem:

- Removing them from the Data folder after unchecking them causes the game to CTD while loading the main menu.

It is, now, quite obviously not restricted to 1 mod or 1 author, mods that cause this come from multiple different sources.

I heard that loose SKSE scripts and loose regular scripts may cause this, I did my diligence and there are no loose scripts. I even tried clearing out the SKSE and Scripts folder,

You can't just uncheck a mod, you have to Uninstall it.

Use Wrye Bash for this. Of course, this may only work correctly if you used Wrye Bash to install it in the first place.

CCNA, thanks for the reply. However:

- The two mods that caused this consisted of 2 files each, the ESP and the BSA archive. No loose files to clean up (100% certain).
- I do not use Wrye Bash or any other similar tool (never have, always install my plugins by hand).
- If by "uninstalling" a mod you mean "cleaning the save", this isn't it. I don't even get to load a save, the game bails as soon as the main menu begins to load (Continue/New/Load...). I see the black screen with the dragon logo briefly flash by and then back to ol' desktop.

Furthermore:

- Removing the BSA from the Data folder does not cause the CTD
- Removing the ESP however does

I checked "Plugins.txt", "DLCList.txt" and "LoadOrder.txt" and the rogue mods are NOT listed in any of these files if they are unchecked.

Is there a dependency in one of your other mods that requires content from those ESP?

No, I don't think there is any dependency, especially since the two mods in question are ESPs and not ESMs.

Doesn't one of the Sounds of Skyrim mods exhibit similar behavior?

I fixed it. It was Automatic Variants. After I recompiled the AV ESP (or disabled it) this behavior stopped.

So, a possible solution to this issue (immediate CTD on game load after removing an ESP) is to recompile Automatic Variants patch, if you are using Automatic Variants.

This is in no way, shape or form a knock against AV, but hopefully it will help someone who is facing the same issue.