Hi everyone,

I need advice. My game just became totally unplayable, basically overnight. It now locks up the 360 when I do just about anything. Here are the details, I'll try to be as thorough as possible.

I'm at 93 hours. Most quests completed, including main line. Now, when I encounter nearly anything out in Skyrim (most often bears, but sometimes a guard, etc), the console simply locks up. This also happens when I discover new areas. It "feels" like it's having trouble populating the area with NPCs or enemies, and freezes in the process. I say this because I often see some weird character placement/movement issues right before the freeze. Could be totally unrelated of course.

Bottom line is I can't go more than five minutes without a hard lock of the console. It's become fully unplayable and I'm trying not to get too annoyed. It was fine up until two nights ago (maybe five crashes total before that, in the first 90 hours - I'm aware it's a glitchy game and I'm ok with that initial frequency).

The last things I recall doing without issue were that horse-stealing quest, a step in the thieves' guild line and the 30 crimson nirnroots. I was doing "the only cure" when it all went bad. Right after getting high with the 4 ingredients, I started walking to kill Orchendor, encountered a ruin and it seemed to freeze as it populated the area. Haven't been able to play more than 5-10 minutes without a freeze since that moment. If i approach that area again, it freezes. Same with an imperial camp near the lover's stone ("reach" I think).

I haven't bought Dawnguard yet, and still have plenty of exploring and leveling left to do (level 49). I really don't want this to put an end to the game.

I've saved every 10th save, but going back to before this problem began does not help. I've reset game cache during loading, but have not deleted and reinstalled the game itself. Does that actually make a difference? What in-game steps should I take? Any other advice? I really don't think I can stomach backtracking too much.

If it helps, here are my existing notable quest bugs (not counting the common or minor stuff):
- picked up Amulet of Talos off Roggvir immediately after his execution, cannot drop item or start quest.
- picked up a radiant quest book (for Urag) before he assigned it, now he doesn't acknowledge I already have it, can't complete objective. Book is Chimarv...something, found in Treva's... something (which is where the objective now points to an empty chest).
- Urag assigned a 2nd Shalidor's Insights quest, but the location (Bruca's Leap Redoubt) does not load after discovering. Console freezes when I attempt to enter the cave, I over and over again. I gave up on this one a while ago, just wrote it off as a lost quest.
- looted runed lexicon off Septimus (?) after he dies in that Daedric quest, still considered a quest item and cannot drop.

Apologies for any mistakes. Writing on my phone from memory.