Hello.

First off, I purchased TES: Skyrim for this christmas, and I looked forward to an awesome experience. I even bought a new computer to assure that the game would run flawlessly and that I would have no problems running it whatsoever.

This is my setup:

Windows 7 Ultimate Edition
Intel? Core? i7 CPU 960 @ 3.2 GHz
6 gb's of RAM memory
XFX Radeon HD 6950 2GB
1 TB of disk space

When I first started playing (clean install, no mods at all) I noticed a very notable FPS-problem, I hovered around 20 fps on any settings. I did not mind this, so I finished the main quest and some other side-quests and now after a while of Skyrim-rest I wanted to go back into the game. This time, I wanted some mods.

So when I tried to start Skyrim earlier today, I was surprised when the game would just go to the Bethesda logo and then force quit. Everyone on the internet said that this was caused by some "Error with the sound" so I tried EVERY single option on the speaker properties, and no cigar.

I found out that if I tried to start it enough times it would start, so I started playing (Again, only with the HD-texturepack released by Bethesda) and everything was flawless. I played on max settings and didn't have a single lag. My framerate was a stable ~120 on Ultra, with AA and AF on 8x and 16x respectively. The only problem I had was the purple logs, which I do not mind. It's a fixable .bsa error that I can't be arsed fixing. ^^

This is where everything goes to hell.

I go to a major modding site for Skyrim and, after getting some mods recommended (mostly graphic enhancing mods, since I had such a high framerate I figured my system could handle it) I install them via the Nexus Mod Manager.

After installing all of the mods, I restart Skyrim. It crashes. Mkay, I figure, and I restart the game until I actually get in to playing it.

I load the game on my lvl 54 character and begin playing. I notice no difference, except the game is back at around 20 fps, which after experiencing completely lag-free skyrim becomes unplayable. So I unload all the mods, and restart the game. Same thing happens, it's still around 20 fps. (This is on all graphic settings.)

Screw this I figured, and since I thought the mods had broken the game I uninstall Skyrim to reinstall it and activate the mods one by one to see which one causes the problem. Still at 20 fps. Nothing works. The game keeps crashing on startup, over and over again.

So I delete EVERYTHING (I mean EVERYTHING) Skyrim-related on my disk, except my latest save file. All the mods, the game and the .ini files. I reinstall it again, to see if I get the flawless performance I had earlier today. After reinstalling a second time, it crashes even more, and even when I get to where the Bethesda logo should have been there's nothing, I hear music but the textures aren't there. I can't get into the menu to load my latest save file.

I'm in desperate need of some official assistance here. I've searched google for the last four hours but noone seems to have the same extent of problems that I do.

TL;DR
Game crashing on startup (Not the sound issue)
Game running on extremely low fps
Game starting without any menus showing on a clean install

I hope someone will be able to help me with this, as I do not want this game ruined for me. I had barely started

Bumping this, makes the game unplayable :<

Given the severity of your symptoms, the fact that you can't even get to the menu screen at times, and the additional fact that your hardware configuration is not that uncommon, I would have to opine that it is something in your environment. I would start with reinstalling your video drivers since that's relatively easy to do (I run an ATI 4870x2 card on the 12.2 preview drivers with no problem) . You might also want to run memory diagnostics (one that really stresses your memory, not just the BIOS one). You can post your dxdiag listing as well (put the listing between Spoiler tags- The word "Spoiler" enclosed in square brackets at the start and "/spoiler" enclosed in square brackets at the end) so your post won't take up too much room). Maybe someone will be able to see something unusual in that.

I will post the DxDiag later today, so anyone can see if they can find anything unusual in it. I just think it's weird that it first ran flawlessly without mods, and then after I reinstalled it after removing all the mods it went back to the 20 fps chopfest.
I guess that I'm the only one having these troubles.. ^^

i started getting ctd's on the game loading screens just after the gamesas splash,i worked it out it was a mod done through the ck on steam workshop

all i can say is did you do a restart to clear the ram?

you got any steam workshop or ck mods that came off nexus and installed via Nmm in that savefile?

Same issue here with the same setup (except im using a 2500k and 8gb ram)

Folks do a "clean boot" procedure, and restest the game. If it doesnt crash you have a background task causing the problem. Also take note that some video codecs will cause Bethesda games to crash after a minute of play every single time. Removing non-standard codec packs and reverting to windows default codecs usually helps in this regard.

Did not fix it.. Anyone else with anything? Had my dad (computer guy) check my DxDiag. Said it's fine... :<

Did you try re-installing the HD-texture pack from Bethesda? (and nothing else, no other mods, etc.) It sounds to me from your post that your last stable, optimal state was after an unmodded (patched ver?) install with the Bethesda HD texture pack.

I would try to get back to the exact state your game was in when it was running best, then proceed from there if everything looks good for awhile. Also, did you recently update any Drivers (video, soundcard) or Windows files like direct X, etc. that might have changed something?

Once you get these problems cleared up, a good rule of thumb of mods is don't go overboard right away. This takes patience, but apply 1 mod at a time, test in your game a little, make a *new* save, then next time, you can try adding another mod, etc. and so on. Concentrate on getting it running without mods first, of course.

Good luck and hope everything works out for you.

Yeah, the game ran smoothest with just the HD-texture pack installed so as soon as my french exchange students leave I'll sit down and try to make it work. I'll do a full reinstall of just everything and see if that works.

If anyone else has encountered this problem then I'd be happy to hear from them and how they resolved it!

French exchange students? Female? Ooh la la!

*cough* Oh sorry. Memories of college flooded back...

Let us know if you get your problem fixed (or not).

The texture error has been restored, so I can now see the bethesda logo but I cannot seem to start it (still the CTD-error.) is this the sound error that I can't fix with normal means or is it something else?

Bump. Still in need of help. :<

So, when I reboot and start skyrim IMMEDIATELY after starting my computer it works and starts completely fine.

I guess it's some RAM-issues then? Maybe I should do like, a mem-dump before starting the game ^^

I realized now that the skyrim crashing isn't a memory issue that I know of. After booting Skyrim (clean install, no mods) just after restarting my computer, it works for like five minutes before crashing, and then it goes back to not being able to start..

I dunno what I've done wrong this time..

Bethesda games always FUS RO DAHs systems with memory leaks and mods funnies

Anyone with a solution to this memory-bleed thing? :<