PC Lag spike every minute

[Chris Nihilus]

I played Skyrim for like 3 weeks, and i have no problems.
But yesterday the problems starts.

First of all, in a quest (the one for the jarl of solitude, the horn to talos stuff) when i first fast travel, the game crash. I tried again a few time, no luck. So i tried to go near the location and go foot, but when i come close it crashes again.
I solve simply waiting 12 hours in game, and i finally done it, but i don't know why. But that was only the start.

Another quest, the next i've done, the one for the Imperial to deliver the axe to Ulfric, when i've done it i coudn't speak to the Imperial General at Dragonreach to end the quest.
So i read that another one had my problem, and he solve it simply doing another quest from the main storyline.
So i start it, but then this problem arrive.

I have a huge lag spike every, precisely, 1 minute. I'd chrono it. 60 seconds.
The strange thing it is that the dialog and sounds didn't stop, but everything else it's freeze for about 4 seconds. Then, everything is fine again, i see lyps moving for recuperate the dialog lost, and everything is fine... for 60 seconds.

I don't understand why now there is all these stuff. I put them together in this thread, because maybe these problems have nothing to do with each others, but it is strange that they start about the same time.
Any suggestion?

 

[Stone]

What are your system specs, and have you downloaded or installed anything in the past three weeks including drivers or games?

 

[Chris Nihilus]

I have a Laptop, Toshiba Satellite a500-1EK.

Processore Intel® Core™ i5-430M​

​

4,096 (2,048 + 2,048) MB ​

NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M​

Windows 7, 64 bit.

I've done nothing other than play Skyrim, Facebook, Youtube and watch e-sport with this computer.

My Skyrim is a genuine, fisical, copy.
I have mods, but even when i turn them off, nothing change.

Bad news. I was trying again, defeat Alduin for the first time... and it crashed.

 

[Chris Nihilus]

News.

So, i read something about xbox player that have similar problems when the savegames become too big.
It maybe worth a shot, i think. So, i go to the savefile and i see there are a lot of them. So i delete almost all of them (i made a copy), but i notice that the last few saves are a lot bigger than the others.
45 mb, before that around 33, and the first one being 3 mb.
12 mb only from the last to the semi-last.

So i tryed to load an old savefile, and surprise! No problems.
In the oldest files there is no lag of any sort.

What can cause a lag every 60 seconds in game? There is a solution?

 

[Stone]

Aha. Yes, large savefiles have been an issue for every console. I had to same issue with my PS3 on patch 1.3/1.4. When files get over 11MB, then they normally start acting strange.

I believe there's no fix to it for PC, so you'll have to wait until Bethesda release a patch for it. In the meantime, you could always start a new character build and see what you can do. Some ideas for you can be a Necromancer or Deathknight.

I currently can't play Skyrim on PC due to a massive bug where when I look at a torch my whole screen flashes yellow. There's loads of torches on all the walls of caves and buildings so my screen is yellow most of the time. If you happen to hear of a fix, please let me know. :-)

 

[Chris Nihilus]

Thanks.
I can't really restart the game, i'm a very... hardcore player.
In game I sleep every night, eat two time a day, made moral decision and i follow my character with roleplay in mind and not building class.
I even drop my daedric artifact in the nord sea or other strange places so nobody can find them, because is what i will do in real life, and play with imperial armor because i'm an imperial in the imperial legion, even if i'm at lvl 40. ^^

It will not have the same... flavor, to start a new character.

I'll wait for a patch, or maybe, when i have some time and energy, i'll go back to old loads and try to do it again, maybe ending all the minor quest or trying something else till i figure it out.

 

[Stone]

Ah, I see. Fair enough, have fun!

 

[Dagmar]

If there were ever any file size bloat issues for saved games for the PC they were addressed half a year ago. Current bloat issues have to do with mod conflicts and poorly scripted mods. 33 and 45 mb is much too large for a saved game and is likely the source of your problems. Deactivating mods does nothing to fix this. You have to do a complete uninstall of the mods that are causing conflicts. That means removing any unique files that were added and restoring any files that were replaced by the mod.

After that you have to run time ingame for several weeks and then do a test save. If the new saved game is smaller in size you should continue to run ingame time until it stops appreciably decreasing in size. This is not guaranteed to work every time but it seems to work for some players.

 

[ScheissSchiesser]

If there were ever any file size bloat issues for saved games for the PC they were addressed half a year ago. Current bloat issues have to do with mod conflicts and poorly scripted mods. 33 and 45 mb is much too large for a saved game and is likely the source of your problems. Deactivating mods does nothing to fix this. You have to do a complete uninstall of the mods that are causing conflicts. That means removing any unique files that were added and restoring any files that were replaced by the mod.

After that you have to run time ingame for several weeks and then do a test save. If the new saved game is smaller in size you should continue to run ingame time until it stops appreciably decreasing in size. This is not guaranteed to work every time but it seems to work for some players.

I am currently having a problem with large save files, and the momentary freezing the OP is talking about. Your reply seemed like the most relevant and knowledgeable piece of information I've come across in the past few weeks regarding this issue.

However, I am unsure of how to follow your advice exactly. I am using Nexus Mod Manager to install/uninstall the mods which I think are causing this, but it isn't resolving the issue. I reverted to previous (smaller) saves, and after deactivating mods, the save file size jumps by 5 MB after a few minutes of gameplay. Judging by your comment, this might be because I haven't truly mitigated the problem the mod is causing because I haven't removed all of the files. How would I go about doing this? Do I have to reinstall Skyrim fresh?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Dagmar]

NMM doesn't always remove all scripts. TBH I'm not sure how the mechanics work for its uninstall function but it seems clear based on instructions from some mod creators on how to uninstall their mod completely that NMM sometimes wont do the job on its own. You can see in if the mod notes have more detailed uninstall instructions but a fallback is a complete uninstall and reinstall of the game.

 

[ScheissSchiesser]

NMM doesn't always remove all scripts. TBH I'm not sure how the mechanics work for its uninstall function but it seems clear based on instructions from some mod creators on how to uninstall their mod completely that NMM sometimes wont do the job on its own. You can see in if the mod notes have more detailed uninstall instructions but a fallback is a complete uninstall and reinstall of the game.

Thanks for the help. Is there any way to tell which mod is causing the large save files (other than trial and error)?