I've been getting more-and-more frequent CTDs over the past few days (I played 70+ hours without a single one then all of a sudden started getting them). At this point I can't go ANYWHERE - if I Fast travel I CTD during the loading screen. If I do make it out to an exterior cell, I CTD within 30 seconds of running to any destination. ARGH!!!!

Has anyone had this experience on a Win7 64-bit PC? If so, did you have any luck with reloading the app from the original installation CD? I assume if I do so, Steam will just try to patch the game to the most-current version (the one that seems to have hosed me), but perhaps the main TESV.exe file was corrupted and the reload/re-patch will apply correctly this time? Reloading and re-applying my MODs (most of which worked for 40, 50, 60, or more hours without a hitch prior to the patch) would be a pain but I'll do it if it will fix the issue.

Thanks --Matt

You might want to start over and keep the game vanilla, in order to rule out mods exasperating the problem.

All my MODs with 2 exceptions are basic texture relacements - I can see them displaying weird, not CTDing. The two MOD files are changes to Stamina use during Sprint and a MOD that changes horse gallop speed (both of which are disabled in the load list). I've seen plenty of buggy MOD files in my many years of playing Bethesda games, but deactivating them in the load list typically halts bad artifacts. the timing of the crashes (days and days of solid performance then cascading CTDs following an upgrade) suggests something with the patch, possibly a corruption issue. I have all the vanilla texture files archived and will try that, but...

Try downgrading to a lower generic graphics setting at the options screen. It may not be it, but it'll be one thing you can check off the list to try.

Yeah I thought about that. Will check my vid card drivers as well - I updated them prior to installation on release day, but newer ones may be available. Ah... PCs.

Still no joy...

Lowered resolution - no effect.

Restored old, pre-MOD "Data" folder (zero graphics modifications, zero additional files) - no effect.

Still crashing when I transition between cells (any time I get a black load screen, including entering/exiting shops, dungeons, towns, or fast-travelling). I DID update my video and sound card drivers, just on the off-chance they'd been tweaked (I fully upgraded on release day but there are newer versions) - this HELPED but did not fix - now I crash every 5-15 minutes instead of 100% every time I change cells. Guess that's an IMPROVEMENT, but it still svcks.

Did you make any tweaks to your INI files; ex: uGridsToLoad, memory settings by any chance? If so, see if you can revert these back to the orginal values. uGridsToLoad is a bit trickier though to revert back.

Another possible work around for transistion related problems is to turn off the autosave options in the INI file.

I generally go from high to medium on texture settings to solve CTD problems. It definitely seems to work