So it appears I've been bitten by a bug. One I've yet to see reported anywhere here. I threw a quick quest edit into a test ESP file to check something and when I hit the icon to save, the CK hung. Ok, fine. Be that way then. So I restarted it. Tried again, same thing. Rebooted the PC. Tried again. Same thing. Came back again today after the PC had been off for the night. Same thing. Torched the ini file and grabbed a copy from backups. SAME THING.

This was working before obviously because I've got several mods now to show for my efforts, all begun as new files.

I can load and work on existing files just fine. If I use Wrye Bash to clone a new ESP file, I can work on that just fine too. All edits to the file save as expected.

Steam is installed to C:\Steam\ so this isn't a UAC issue in Windows 7. The error is 100% reproducable at this point. So... uh... WTF?

Last night was first time I had used CK since the last 1.6 patches

Same thing happened to me on starting a new test mod ... Save Dialog just hung ... had to Force CK to close

Restarted CK and problem went away ... No idea what happened, but was same as you Arth ... but mine "fixed" itself with no help from me ...

... Seems something is up, somewhere ...

I've only tinkered with the CK, but I've got Skyrim installed to the default directory in Program Files (x86), where people supposedly have UAC issues - yet I never have. Win7 asks me if I want to allow NMM to alter files every time I load it up, and every time it downloads a mod, but all I have to do is grant permission and it's all good.

Strange that the CK is giving such a problem. Have you tried uninstalling and re-installing the CK fresh?

Yep, just got done trying that even. It didn't help. The issue remains.

Well that ain't good.

I've had the 'save plugin' button freeze the CK on me, but there isn't any apparent pattern other than when saving a brand new plugin... and even then it doesn't happen every time. I thought it may have been because I had a dialog box open (ref editor, etc); but that wasn't it. Seems session related though - at least for me.. but I still can't replicate it reliably so it may be a driver or memory issue.

I wound up saving the new plugin before making ANY changes (a blank plugin). Does it still crash/freeze if you try that? I've heard of several people who have crashing and freezing problems since v1.6 - but only a couple were solved (corrupt DirectX; reinstalling it solved the issue). Here's a couple threads, though the first has no solution.
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1393019-creation-kit-crashes-when-trying-to-save/
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1386424-ctd-nawreboot-yay/
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1387424-ckskyrim-crashing-my-comp/

[EDIT: here's another one that's kinda related to MY problem... I haven't messed with the stuff that User has problems with; but it sounds like it may have to do with file-selection in our case ('save plugin' pops up the file-select/browser). http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1393696-constant-crashing-at-select-file/ It could be that some Users are participating in silent beta updates that may have made changes... but that's not the case with me.]

I reported this in the bugs thread last week. Haven't done any modding since. It became intolerable.

As reported then, sometimes I was very lucky and the Select file box initialised properly, but 99% of the time I have to try 4, 5, 6, or more times before the box appears as it should.
I can still use a backup of a 1.4 installation without problem, so the probem is specific to 1.6 and not my PC.

[Edit] I'm going to try the DirectX reinstall and I'll report back.

I've had the same problem attempting to save new mods, but not existing mods. If I start a new mod and edit something and then try to save, the save dialog fails to load properly and the CK hangs, forcing me to quit and reload. That happens about half the time. It seems less likely to happen if I save before I start working on the mod (only crashes about 15% of the time) but that might just be luck. This didn't start happening until after the latest update and the behavior persisted after a complete uninstall/reinstall. I'm going to just create an empty plugin and then copy/rename it in Windows and then load that into the editor from now on to circumvent the CK first save.

I don't think DirectX was causing the file-select box freezing (which I experience occasionally)... it was causing CTD during certain viewing in the renderWindow. I guess it's possible that it could cause other stuff, but file-selection doesn't sound like a driver/DirectX issue... but then again, I didn't think DirectX could force an involuntary warm-reboot of the entire system either - but it did.

Saving the blank ESP works for me; and any potential issues I may have with an existing file I try to minimize by saving frequently (as in number of edits, not time open); and NOT have timed auto-save on (it auto-saves a backup each manual save by default).

If this slipped by the beta testing, maybe it IS something 'external' (like DirectX).. I find it hard to believe so many beta testers never had this problem unless something else in the final update was causing it (or a last minute change that wasn't vetted before release).

You're right, I just updated DirextX runtimes and it still locks up on the select file box.

If by beta testers you mean our group from back in January, this issue didn't exist until just recently. We haven't been invited for any other CK betas since the first one closed. My guess is something went wrong with 1.6.89 and Bethesda wouldn't have encountered it since they always edit existing files and are using version control.

I posted in the bug report, but I'll post here as well.

I'm pretty sure Bethesda have noticed it by now. It's not a problem with the esp that are getting created, it's a problem with the CK when it tries to open any file selection box, whether that be a save file or select file. It happens with older esp files as well. Version control is not exempt. They'll get the same problem when trying to select the esm to merge their esp to, when using version control.

I didn't know they weren't having beta testing... why would they NOT? I assumed they did before every update.. but that would make too much sense I suppose. This is especially poignant for the CK, as the version they use in-house is unhacked and full-blown, whereas our stripped down version NEEDS beta testing to identify issues created during the hacking-to-public process. Presumably that's why it was missed, because their version probably doesn't have this issue.

So I guess we can expect yet another update-patch soon (not unlike the 1.5.24 to 26 fiasco). If modders can't select files or save things reliably.. why bother letting us mod at all?

I can confirm this issue as well. I can work in my existing ESP no problem, and I can even save when converting to an ESM. However if I make a new esp, I click save and it opens the window to name the esp, and then the CK crashes.

Hmm... I'm not able to reproduce this one. Making new plugins of various types (masterless/with & without Update.ESM dependency) is still working on my end. Odd.

Win7(x64)

So then anybody who's never tinkered with the CK yet is screwed - unless they load an .ESP from somebody else's mod, rename it, wipe out everything from that mod in the renamed copy and then go from there?

That will probably be complicated for anybody just starting out modding.

Can someone having the issue try making a new masterless plugin? If that works, does not including Update.ESM as a master have any impact on the issue?

Doesn't matter. Masterless, with just Skyrim.esm, or with including Update.esm. It simply refuses to save. It doesn't crash either. It just hangs eternally. Almost as though it thinks the dialogue is open and waiting for you.

So then the solution is to keep a blank .esp file around, and just make copies and rename them for new mods as needed?

Yep, it's a bit klunky, but works.

I've done a little bit of testing and it only seems to be affecting the 64bit version of Windows7. When I booted into Win7 x86, I had no problem whatsoever. Created 6 new esp files and duplicated about a dozen textures. I then changed the colour maps and normal maps on each duplicate and the dialog box opened without a hitch everytime. I then merged to a test esm and again, no problem.

I don't know if it's the same for Vista and XP, but with Windows7 x64, there are definate problems at my end.

Hmm. I see. Yeah the Select File/Save File dialog crashing is really getting on my last nerve. It's so random, and sudden. It can happen 10 times in a row or not happen for the whole day. It has nothing to do with how long the CK has been open, as it can sometimes persist between reinstalls of the CK.

I've had it happen to me on trying to save a new plugin but I don't do that very often so my normal method of hanging the CK is the TextureSet editing.

Edit:

You should honestly make sure it's just not something about your Windows install. It may not necessarily be 64-bit related. Just something wrong with your current OS. Well, not wrong with the OS per se, but something has gone wrong with a file or a system setting and it's just causing the CK to be unstable. I would see if a different install of 64-bit Windows 7 develops the same issue. Maybe all OSes end up developing the issue over time because the CK corrupts itself or a system file.

I'm not inclined to go the route of a Windows refresh over this. Nothing else in the OS is doing stupid stuff at all. Just the CK, and for me, just when trying to save a new file.

I certainly don't have the money to throw at a totally different version of Windows just to check something on a whim like that.

If the CK is corrupting system files then Microsoft will eventually get on Bethesda to deal with that.

Sorry, I was talking to Tamb0, as he was pointing out it seems to be limited to 64-bit only. I was saying it may just happen to any OS installed as it's something that develops over time.

I appreciate what you're saying, but as Art says, it's not affecting any other applications. I would think that any corrupt system files would cause this problem with other applications, but for me anyway, it's not.

I find it strange that there are not a lot people experiencing this problem and that's the reason I booted into Win7 x86. If the majority of user are working with the 32bit version, then they won't see a need to report a problem. Sure enough, I had no problems with the 32bit version.

It could of course, just be a coincidence and as time goes on, the problem could occur. I don't know. Anyway, I've gave up using the CK for the time being. I'll give it a try again after the next update.