So this issue has been discussed alot on the Skyrim Nexus Forums, I cannot post links directly but it is under the Skyrim Technical Support section.

So the problem is with those of us who have high level characters and have been using/updating/removing mods for awhile, that our save file will exponentially grow to ridiculous sizes due to the papyrus log errors. Many of us have tried to uninstall all mods and make a clean save, rest 30+ days and still the large file size will remain and continue to grow. This has become quite a problem especially since the 1.5.26 update.

I have been forced to create a new character because my game started lagging like crazy due to the file size increase (Currently 41mb, was around 10mb before the 1.5.26 update). Lag during combat, saving, resting, talking, frankly anything can cause it to lag upwards of a minute then resume. This has never happened to me before.

My pc specs are:

i5 2500k @ 4.8ghz
8 gigs of ddr3 ram @ 1600mhz
2 overclocked 560 Ti's in SLI

From my research this problem has been around since Morrowind and plagues quite a few games not only the Elder Scroll series. Bethesda, are you aware of this issue and if yes, what are you planning to do to fix this problem and when?

I've posted/started two separate threads on this issues, expressing essentially the exact same thoughts.
My intention for posting was hopes that someone had had success in essentially De-bloating the already bloated files. I too am currently forced to start a new game while keeping my original playthrough (almost 500hrs level 63) in backup until a solution is presented....hopefully.
It certainly is frustrating to basically HAVE to stop playing a character in which so much time was invested, but it seems a fix, if one is ever to come, will have to be by way of a mod author with the know-how.
I've tried the two current mods available (Mart's debloatifier & possessive corpses ) to address this issue, but they do not seem to work retroactively, but as an active method to avoid the undesirable bloat.

I've also come across this problem and I tried de-bloatifier mods, spawn timer limits, and dead body remover/limiters. Still I'm experiencing the same trend on my save files. The problem occurs when you uninstall, reinstall, or update mods. Previous mods, leaves unwanted strings and traces causing the save games to "bloat".

And with this kind of limitation or constraint, I'm discouraged on playing the game further, since bigger save files amounts to the game stuttering, lag, and overall broken feel of play.

I thought Bethesda has always supported and encouraged the modding community to have fun and be creative with their titles. With this fault in their programming, I will be forced to playing the game with little to no mods at all. I happen to enjoy modding and customizing my games so please Bethesda fix this issue.

I've been using debloatifier since the start of a new game and I see that by using it since the beginning will help keep the saved games down a lot. On the other side, having it enabled on an old file where most of the world was already explored didn't help that much in terms of file size and stability.

Since starting a new game (since I can't continue my original) I've too have been. using debloatifier. I'm not certain if it affecting my files as they should but I assume it is. With the first playthrough, I believe the file size progression was as expected until I hit about the 15MB mark, at which the file quickly and seemingly exponentially began bloating over the next two weeks up to 61MB. At which point the game became unplayable due to the freezes.
With this new playthrough, I started with all the mods i added throughout the first time from the beginning, and so far the file is around 4-5MB. I guess only time will tell whether the debloatifier is as effective as promoted.

The changeover from the first playthrough when the file began the accelerated bloat almost seemed to indicate a reaction to a specific mod being added or updated. Based on that assumption, I had started a thread to see if other users were able to verify a similar sudden incremental increase in file size, in hopes of drawing some similarities of mod use in order to potentially identify a specific mod having or triggering the bloat.

If anyone reading this thread agrees with my train of thought and is interested attempting to further investigate this idea/theory, ease say so. I'd be game in bumping that thread to current date so you can add your case, and maybe we can get somewhere with this issue.

Hi,
Same issue here, but my saves size is extreme 300 MB now :/, for my 42 lvl char...

Hope Beths gonna deal with it,
MK

Pandorax, hit me up on AIM (aol instant messenger): Stilllogicz

We'll go over our mod lists and try to find a culprit, anyone else who's interested feel free to hit me up on AIM.

I have to ask...how are you all getting such staggeringly huge save files? Is it just from remnant mod data?

I've put 150+ hours into one character (level 26; tromped all over kingdom come) and my save files are hovering around the 7-8MB mark. A few early ones peaked around 14MB, but that was before the earlier Beth patches that cut down on the bloat. I also use Possessive Corpses and that's it. (And you're right, Possessive Corpses doesn't work retroactively...it will remove existing nuclear nirnroot shaders when you load a cell IIRC, but it won't retroactively apply to dropped enemy weapons, etc.)

Then again, while I've installed ~10 .esp mods I haven't uninstalled any. (Mostly due to old Morrowind habits, where removing a mod from a save without Wrye Mash was like putting on a suit made from TNT and going to dance a jig in a mine field.) Has Wrye Bash for Skyrim gotten to the point now where you can use it to remove dead mod data from a save? Might be worth investigating if what you've got clogging up your saves is indeed mod related.

Yea it's all from old mod data. And as far as I know, Wrye Bash for skyrim doesn't have a clean up save feature.

@ StilllogicZ. Ok, ill drop a line after work today once I'm at my computer

I agree it must be the old mod data.
In my case the bloat didn't start until I was around level 60ish after 450+hrs in game, and I don't have quite as many mods, probably in the vicinity of 50-60. And the bloating was quite sudden when reviewing my save files, which is why I suspect a correlation with a specific mod or type of mod.
I did notice my scripts folder was very large as well, and from my understanding, that might be also be a contributing factor.

I currently use alot of mods and have added/removed them as time goes by but the largest save file I have is just over 11 MB

what save number are you on? Do u know how many hours you're at?

For me saves are around 9 mb after 250 hours

wow thats big >.<

im 198hrs in L59 and my file is just under 14mb SaveNo. 1189 O.o

not sure if mines so big because i have loads of potions, special armour/weapons, food, ingredients? lol

I am playing for about 170 hrs, lvl 42, save number ~1446. Before 1.5 patch I had steady 11 MB save size, with small differences.

Any idea how to remove references to uninstalled mods in saves? To make a save 'clean one'? As far as I understand the matter, the blaoting occures due to the broken references to mods, right? Does it can cause also few seconds lags that happen from time to time while playing? I noticed also that saving time is extremally longer then usual (after installing patch 1.5).

MK

I believe I might have figured out what caused this bloating with mine. I used set timescale to x back in my 30's and something between that and the 1.5 patch caused my save game to bloat out of control. I reinstalled the game and mods, started a new character and waited 32 days, only had 150kb increase in file size, totaling 3.7mb.

I used set timescale to 100,000 and left it for a minute and my save file became 6mb.

Just some food for thought.

Well what you're doing is pushing the time forward, what about if your time scale was set to be slower? I remember the bloated save file I had was set to 8 on the timescale. Regardless I'll test this one out and see if its a one of the causes.

As posted on the Nexus forums here's my test results:


I'm curious to what mods some of you (people with bloated saves) are running? I'm doing save tests with just graphic and texture enhancement mods. And my files so far are behaving normally.

I think the problem occurs when you mess with mods that are script heavy.

I have my first character where timescale has been set to 5 since I started him. Been swapping/updating/adding/removing mods constantly and have over 250+ hours played. The file has been hovering around 14 mb ever since I used Mart's Debloatifier mod or USKP which is about 100 of those play hours.

When I tweaked my timescale, I used 30,000 to 100,000 to pass a month+ very quickly.

@ stilllogicZ
haven't had chance to get on my PC and hit u up aim, but I just bumped my earlier thread about mods=bloat since this threads gained more attention and more people are questioning the potential correlation with mods and bloating. That's interesting fact about the timescale. But also disappointing because that's a setting I never touched, so my situation doesn't match up. At least in that aspect.

@ Scepth. I agree with your question regarding mods as a potential relation to bloating so if u wana review and/or contribute ur mods to the other thread "freeze/lags -- bloated save file" -I'm hoping we may gain some further insight to the relationship of the two.

Makes sense. My Timescale is set to 5, I think. And my corrupted-freeze-[censored]in-horribad-save file is about 100Mb in size. Unplayable, freezings from 3 to 3 minutes, for 10 seconds.

I posted on your thread pandorax.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1363032-freezeslag-spikes-bloated-save-files/page__view__findpost__p__20590018

I don't like pointing fingers at mods and assuming they might have caused the problem. >.< Please pardon me modders if you feel like I'm accusing your mods. Its solely my fault and stupidity for possibly combining them with incompatibles and improperly using them.

Hi,
Same probleme since the 1.5.24 update, my save game started to increase, from 10mb came to 50mb and game freeze every minutes for 5 seconds, without mods or with mods it is the same. My character is lv 60 for now and I make Playthrough on youtube since December with this charac. How it will be for now ? I must stop game ? If it is, so I will tell to all my members to stop the game because of this unsuccess job from Bethesda... That strange, more time pass, more update there is, more useless they are... They work to the opposite of a good result.. Only good point : 1.5.26 correct the green bug in water... great !! Last update add bug, next one correct it. Great job, a company work for adding bug and next 2 month after work to correct it, but adding a new one. In June we will have the fix for save and another bug for the next update to correct ? Until what ?
Ho, I forget that these big save don't only freeze the gameplay, it freeze quest ! Must wait 30mins until a quest start to be accept...

Wow, there actually was a thread about this. Wonderful. Bumping this up there.
As this issue seem to be the root of a lot of problems, it really needs to be discussed further, and brought to the attention of as many people as possible. Think of it as something like BLOATING 2012.
Anyhow, I did some looking around, mainly on the Nexus where 10+ threads have been created on this, just in the last month or so. From these threads I gathered the following info:

Issues caused by save-game bloating,or something related to it:

• Extreme stuttering, hitches and lag, especially when traveling, as if the player's rig can't handle the game; sound & music continues. Renders the game almost unplayable
  
• Greatly increased save loading times
  
• Greatly increased loading times on indoor / outdoor transition
  
• Sound lag ( sound plays a couple of seconds after it is supposed to)
  
• Menu lag

Parallells have been drawn to the unplayability of the PS3-version before the relevant patch was released for it, and suggestions have been made that it is the same issue.

I noticed today that it seems the RAM-usage of Skyrim increases along with the size of the loaded save file. Can somebody confirm this? Skyrim pushing the RAM to it's limits would explain the stuttering.

It is suggested many times that the reason for the bloating is an increase in the papyrus-section of the savegame (Such is the case for myself aswell). More specifically, left-over scripts from uninstalled mods. I'm not knowledgeable enough about this to delve into it further, but I would think that being able to clean up these, and the error messages they must be creating in the papyrus log, would be a good start to solving this problem.