# Skyrim crashing



## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

I'm at a loss. I feel like I have tried everything there is to try, without any luck. Like others on here and other forums, my game keeps crashing, regardless of configuration. It only happens to Skyrim.

The crash is a five second freeze of the game, followed by a two second black screen and then a white screen, but the sound is still playing in the background. I've only had it crash to desktop once.

Specs of computer (everything is up to date):

Crosshair V Formula
AMD Phenom II X4 945 (OC 955 3.6 Ghz)
G.SKILL 8 GB
XFX Radeon 6950 2 GB
600W OCZ modular PSU
Lots of aircooling, keeping both CPU and GPU way below danger levels

Things I have tried:

Using AA and AF configuration in game, without GPU override or enhance
Using AA and AF configuration of GPU, with game settings for AA and AF off
Using neither AA or AF configuration of game or GPU
Sound settings to 16bit 44100 Mhz (G35 headset, no speakers connected)
Playing at high settings in stead of ultra
Playing at low settings, postponing the crash by just a little it seems, but still crashing
Verifying game content through steam
TESV in processes set to high priority

Can someone please help me?


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

I know how you feel. I have the exact same problem. What I found helps is setting the resolution to 1152x720. I get the largest amount of time with out a crash at that resolution. Also do you have any mods like graphics ones. I found when you have HD graphics mods in the Game crashes like crazy. I went though ever thing you did. But try it at the resolution I suggested it seems to be the only one that works for me.

P.S I don't thing a 600W is good enough for your video card. I would recommend this one it might fix your problems. A good 750W would be sufficient for you and give you some head room.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

Lowering the resolution doesn't seem to change anything. I did notice that my GPU's fanspeed briefly went down when I alt-ctrl-deleted out of the game, though. Not sure what that means if anything.

Running as administrator seems to greatly postpone the crash. I was able to play on ultra with ingame AA turned off and GPU AA turned max for over an hour. Does anyone have an idea what this means or what's causing my problem?


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## RockmasteR (Aug 10, 2007)

when playing SKyrim do not change anything in the ATI Control Panel, especially the AA, it will make the game crashes a lot, set all value to defaults in the CCC


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

I tried that, no luck though. Tried playing with default settings, everything on low. Ingame and CCC. Nothing works.


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## RockmasteR (Aug 10, 2007)

are you using the latest AMD Drivers? they released a new one couple of days ago


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

11.11a, yep


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

Try to uninstall the the game then re install it. Just make sure you back up your Save files. I uninstalled it and the distance between crashes increased by 5x. But it was only temporary. It will buy you a day of fewer crashes. Well for me. Heck with me I can't play it any more because it crashes every 2 minutes. I have tried every thing but I am out of ideas. 

We will most likely need to wait for AMD to launch the CCC 11.12 driver.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

skyrim does have issues especially with xp and anything under dx 10. These issues will be resolved in a patch which is coming out after thanks giving.

There is a work around which resolves this. Which involves downloading the patch for resident evil 5 and putting it in the exe folder of skyrim. I do know that it works but I have not implemented it as I just get the odd random freeze which I can put up with untill the patch comes out.


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

I have Resident Evil 5 and Win 7. What file do I use from Resident Evil 5. Because I am tired of the game crashing every 2 minutes. I just want to play. Heck I don't remember Fallout or Oblivion messing up this bad at all. I wonder why this one is messing up like crazy.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Timer5 said:


> I have Resident Evil 5 and Win 7. What file do I use from Resident Evil 5. Because I am tired of the game crashing every 2 minutes. I just want to play. Heck I don't remember Fallout or Oblivion messing up this bad at all. I wonder why this one is messing up like crazy.


see this thread Patch #1 Unofficial bugfix - Bethesda Softworks Forums


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

Sadly it didn't' help. I got like half the FPS. And then after about 5min it crashed. Do you have any other ideas I am open for any ideas you may have.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

I dont. The only issues I get is the freezing every so often when I am outside. The rest of the time it works great for me.

If you look at my specs I think they are older than yours, it auto detected my specs for high with 8x AA etc which I switched off but then I discovered its something to do with xp. MOst people from what I have heard have used the fix that is on the bethesda forum and its worked but I am not doing anything with it until I get the real patch which will hopefully sort it.


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

Yeah I guess We will just have to wait for the patch. Besides thanksgiving is tomorrow so I think it is the day after or some thing is when the patch is supposed to come out.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

good The only thing that annoys me is the freezing thing. Apart from that it is game of the year with out doubt imo.

I am only 58 hours into it and have unlocked 19 out of 50 achievments and there's still a lot to do.

I think the main story will be be similar to oblivion with it being 20 or 30 hours but there is so much more in the way of outside quests. I intend to play it as every character.

At the moment I am a dark elf with a bow and a big ***** axe


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

Wow I am 75hrs in. The game didn't crash so much when it was new but after the first week it god bad. I have full Ebony armor and my partner has full Dragon. (I thought the dragon armor looked bad and the ebony is an awesome shiny black so it looks too cool to give up to me.) I am addicted to the game I loved fallout 3, Oblivion and Morrowind. I recommend Morrowind my self. You should buy it for PC. If you do you have to go to this link it makes the game Amazing. It is fully legal because to you it you have to have both Morrowind and Oblivion to use it so there is no copyright infringements going on with it.

http://morroblivion.com/

With morroblivion they are looking to do Morobibionsky I so hope that they do it. Think of it Oblivion with Skyrim's graphics and game play set up. It would be AMAZING.


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

What did you do to stop the crashing and get 75 hours in? None of the later suggested solutions work for me so I guess I have to wait for a patch?


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

Well with me it worked great with in the first week. (I went to the midnight release so I got it on 11/11/11 at 12:00am). I found a patch today that worked great. But after testing it it was gone. I was going to post a link to it for you but for some reason the Nexus removed it. I have no idea why the nexus removed it but it is gone. Here is the old link in case it comes back.

Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim Mods and community


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

Still not there. I have been able to postpone the crashing by probably 30-60 mins every time I run the game. There are a few things that I have done to achieve this:

Turn off ingame AA and use my graphics card's AA, maxed out
Run the game in compatibility mode Windows 7 (not sure if it has any effect)
Run the game as administrator
Download ASC5 and run my PC in turbo mode

It still keeps crashing and it's still annoying, but at least I can play on ultra for 30-60 mins before crash.

I recommend this to anyone finding this thread about Skyrim crashes until they come out with a patch.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Please post the full list of temperatures and voltages during fullscreen gameplay. Also, what's your PSU's +12V in BIOS?

Is your GPU fan speed set to Automatic or Manual in CCC?

What model is your 600W OCZ PSU? Is it the ModXStream with two 25A +12V rails?


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

I am not at home until tomorrow late, but I know that the temperatures are always steady between 28-33C (idle) and not over 42C while ingame on full settings. I have my GPU fan speed set to manual at 60% and I think the temperatures never pass 70C (it is slightly OC'ed, also a power increase of 20%). I also think you are right about the PSU being a ModXStream. I have however ordered a Corsair 800W Enthusiast (80+ Gold) and I'll be running the game on that very soon. The ModXStream has been in my computer for a year with reboots almost daily.

I doubt it's a power supply problem? I mean, I know that so many people say you need this much power but in practice a system rarely uses that much. (the 800W coming in is intended for another XFX Radeon 6950 2GB that I want to run crossfire).

I'll look up the +12 V thing tomorrow but if I remember correctly it shouldn't be more than 0.5 off the 12. (+ or -, not sure)


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Radbout said:


> I have my GPU fan speed set to manual at 60% and I think the temperatures never pass 70C (it is slightly OC'ed, also a power increase of 20%).


Remove the overclock on the graphics card while playing Skyrim. I would also set the fan speed to automatic, but if you're happy with 70C then you can leave it at 60%.

I overclock my card by a small amount (about 10-15%) and have no problems with it in any game except for Skyrim where it crashes to desktop after about 20-30 minutes. With the clock speeds back to default, Skyrim can run on high settings with no lag or crashes for hours at a time.


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

Well, I did first start overclocking my GPU a day before I started playing Skyrim. I'll try that, then.

Thanks.


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

I just got the patch. The game is running better now so Radbout make sure you let steam get the update.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Timer5 said:


> I just got the patch. The game is running better now so Radbout make sure you let steam get the update.


I still get the freezing every so often when I am outside. I think it must be to do with the loading from the hard drive or something.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Have you tried these performance mods?

4GB Skyrim at Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim Mods and community
Performance and bugfix ENBSeries 093 Patch 6 at Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim Mods and community


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

koala said:


> Have you tried these performance mods?
> 
> 4GB Skyrim at Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim Mods and community
> Performance and bugfix ENBSeries 093 Patch 6 at Skyrim Nexus - Skyrim Mods and community


i havent tried them yet I was rather hoping patch 1.2 would fix it.


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

Thanks for your response. The new patch didn't solve anything. The 4GB fix didn't help either. Neither did the other mod. I can even safely say that any of the solutions online didn't change anything to the crash timing or type.

Sending an e-mail to Bethesda doesn't help as they will just tell me to wait for next week's patch as it will solve my problem. Right.

I doubt they will and I think I just wasted a lot of money on this crap.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Post#20:


koala said:


> Please post the full list of temperatures and voltages during fullscreen gameplay. Also, what's your PSU's +12V in BIOS?





Radbout said:


> I'll look up the +12 V thing tomorrow but if I remember correctly it shouldn't be more than 0.5 off the 12. (+ or -, not sure)


Also, have you removed the overclock on the GPU?

Look in Event Viewer next time the game crashes to see if it gives any more details.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Radbout said:


> Thanks for your response. The new patch didn't solve anything. The 4GB fix didn't help either. Neither did the other mod. I can even safely say that any of the solutions online didn't change anything to the crash timing or type.
> 
> Sending an e-mail to Bethesda doesn't help as they will just tell me to wait for next week's patch as it will solve my problem. Right.
> 
> I doubt they will and I think I just wasted a lot of money on this crap.


please answer the questions and use the suggestion about overclocking from koala.

my game runs fine apart from the freeze when in the opn world


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

Hey there is a new patch for the game. I don't crash as much. Also try to re download the catalyst control 11.11 there has been an update just for skyrim. I got it and the mixture of the patch and new drivers removed almost all the crashes.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

patch 1.3 has stopped all freezing for me and I never got any crashes so I consider it fixed


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

The patch also helped out with performance. I just hope the next one really helps with performance. Because I should be getting way more FPS.


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

That's awesome news. I kind of gave up on playing Skyrim (if I can't decently play then where's the fun?) but if that patch fixed the crashes then it's definitely worth a try! Thanks for coming on here to let me know.


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

Tell us if the patch worked as well for you as it did for us.


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

It didn't. Performance was greatly improved and it took a lot longer for the program to crash. An hour I'd say. But it still crashed. Thinking this might be a hardware issue, I tried setting everything to default (so no OC). Helped a little but not much. If no one is crashing anymore it has to be my hardware? I perceive the crash as a graphics error. Freeze for 5 seconds, flash to black screen, flash to white screen with the sound either hanging or still on. Something else that I noticed was that with my OC, all of a sudden I had the exact same crash with Battlefield 3. Seems to only happen to graphically demanding games. My hardware is brand new, though, and beyond minimum or recommended settings!


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

monitor your temps whilst playing.

are you still using the OCz power supply? I would be using atleast a 650w good make of psu whilst running your setup 700w if I was overclocking it


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## Timer5 (Dec 13, 2009)

Yes I do agree with Greenbrucelee. Your PSU should be more powerful. I would recommend this one. It is a strong 750W able to power your Video Card and support over clocking with no problems. 

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750M 750W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular High Performance Power Supply


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## Radbout (Nov 23, 2011)

I have purchased an 800W CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gold awhile back. I will install it this week but my system shouldn't use that much power.

My temperatures are fine, CPU is always around 30C and the graphics card will never go over 70C.

I'll let you know how the PSU will affect the game. Thanks


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

its not about power its about quality and OCz and coolermaster are not top quality

some power supplies and systems dont like overclocking, if you are going to overclock everything has to be top notch quality.


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