Xbox 360 Restarting with the DLC

[Vidarr]

Hey guys,

so, I finally got all 3 DLCs on Xbox (I have gotten them gradually, waiting to find them on sale).

The thing is that I have downloaded these DLCs all gradually over the course of my main character (ie, I started the character w/out any DLC, and added them during my playthrough).

And it is just now that I have started experiencing some rather serious freezing issues among other bizarre glitches that I had never encountered in my countless hours spent with the game since 11-11-11.

Now, it's possible that the rampant freezing/crashing (and I mean RAMPANT) could be due to something else that is beyond me, but it nevertheless occurred to me that things could have potentially gone awry by adding the DLC (as well as multiple patches) during the progression of one character.
This is all aside from the fact that I spent a long time with this character (unknowingly) using autosaves, and it never having occurred to me that there was an issue with weapon cleanup and save file bloat.

So, my main question is:
In a situation like this - with all of the DLC and patches out there -: would it just be best to start a completely fresh character with everything installed?
I wonder if introducing all of this different content in my one character's game has brought about some issues (wouldn't surprise me with a game like Skyrim - and I mean absolutely no disrespect )

Anyways, I know it relies on a lot of factors, but I would really appreciate any input that any of you might have.

Cheers!

 

[tx12001]

Hey guys,

so, I finally got all 3 DLCs on Xbox (I have gotten them gradually, waiting to find them on sale).

The thing is that I have downloaded these DLCs all gradually over the course of my main character (ie, I started the character w/out any DLC, and added them during my playthrough).

And it is just now that I have started experiencing some rather serious freezing issues among other bizarre glitches that I had never encountered in my countless hours spent with the game since 11-11-11.

Now, it's possible that the rampant freezing/crashing (and I mean RAMPANT) could be due to something else that is beyond me, but it nevertheless occurred to me that things could have potentially gone awry by adding the DLC (as well as multiple patches) during the progression of one character.
This is all aside from the fact that I spent a long time with this character (unknowingly) using autosaves, and it never having occurred to me that there was an issue with weapon cleanup and save file bloat.

So, my main question is:
In a situation like this - with all of the DLC and patches out there -: would it just be best to start a completely fresh character with everything installed?
I wonder if introducing all of this different content in my one character's game has brought about some issues (wouldn't surprise me with a game like Skyrim - and I mean absolutely no disrespect )

Anyways, I know it relies on a lot of factors, but I would really appreciate any input that any of you might have.

Cheers!

I heard it is Dawnguard that tends to cause these problems, what kind of glithes are you expierincig

 

[Vidarr]

Hey man,

Most of the issues I have been facing are technically not anything that can necessarily be directly blamed on the DLC. It's (I suppose) entirely possible that it is coincidence.

But I have suddenly started experiencing freezing like never before - where upon loading, I can only walk for 8 seconds before the game crashes (often in the same locations - such as passing a specific signpost)

This also all started happening after I did a 30-day rest/reset in Whiterun to try and fix a 'random dragon corpse' issue I had been having in the Rift.

To this point, I have yet to find out if the 30-day reset has worked, because I haven't been able to make it to The Rift on foot without the game crashing at multiple points along the way.

Anyways, even if these issues aren't necessarily caused by the DLC being added, I still wonder if it would just be best to start fresh with brand new save files and all of the patches/DLC installed from the get-go.

Understand that this is not a decision I take lightly, as I have over a hundred hours on this particular character.

 

[shadowkitty]

As much as it hurts, I think the best thing for you to do is to start a new game. I am on xbox and got all my DLC's at once when I bought the legendary edition of Skyrim. I decided I wanted to start a new character with the DLC's anyway.
I have not experienced the rampant freezing glitches you seem to be experiencing. Maybe once or twice it has happened. I'm no expert though so I have no idea why you are having as many freezes as you are.
btw, are you playing Skyrim from a CD or did you save it on to your Xbox? It's less glitchy running it from a CD. But I tend to save it to my Xbox anyway as it takes less time to load and doesn't heat your Xbox up as much. Damned if you do and damned if you don't..lol

 

[Vidarr]

Thanks for the reply,

Yes, I do have it installed to the hard drive (have for quite some time now).

Before this, I did experience the odd freeze, bu they were few and far between - so few that I never really got frustrated when it happened. I'd just think "of all games, Skyrim has earned the right to freeze every now and then" .

But THIS is just flippin' ridiculous. If I can't even get 10 seconds out of a save, then THAT is inexcusable.
I'm gonna see if I can go back a few saves and salvage a freeze-less character, but you may be right about me needing to start fresh.

Has anyone had any direct experiences with the DLC causing issues when downloaded during an existing character?

 

[shadowkitty]

I downloaded the DLCs with an existing character on my other xbox and haven't really experienced any freezes. So far it is running fine and the character is level 68. So there is a heck of a lot of saved files with her.

 

[Remington721]

Thanks for the reply,

Yes, I do have it installed to the hard drive (have for quite some time now).

Before this, I did experience the odd freeze, bu they were few and far between - so few that I never really got frustrated when it happened. I'd just think "of all games, Skyrim has earned the right to freeze every now and then" .

But THIS is just flippin' ridiculous. If I can't even get 10 seconds out of a save, then THAT is inexcusable.
I'm gonna see if I can go back a few saves and salvage a freeze-less character, but you may be right about me needing to start fresh.

Has anyone had any direct experiences with the DLC causing issues when downloaded during an existing character?

I just 2 days ago loaded the X- Box DLC over my vanilla game , and it's running o.k. Please let us know when you get it fixed , I would be interested to find out what is causing your problem . I have been running for 6 mo off the last vanilla install content , with no problems . Wipe clean and re-install might be only option , always works for me , but I know how many hrs it takes to work up an in game toon . Sorry for your problems .

 

[Vidarr]

^Hey, no worries .

After a LOT of persistence, it seems like I may have gotten past the freezing - but I'm still holding my breath.

I started to realize that one of the primary causes of the sudden freezes might be the fact that I had just rested for 30 days straight (ie, resetting the world) as well as cleaned the System & Game Caches.
What I figure, is that as I'm walking around the game world, with a relatively experienced character, the game is trying to rebuild all of the 'Cache'-stored data that it would usually do GRADUALLY upon a new character exploring the world.

That, I think, is why around almost every corner - assuming the game doesn't freeze - it atleast hitches and lags while the distant environment re-renders.

Anyways, as I said, I have now been playing for about 20 minutes without a freeze (*fingers crossed!*), so I'm gonna see if this blissful state of un-crashiness continues. With any luck, I won't have to start over any time soon.
And I will make sure to keep you guys posted.

I'm hoping that it has nothing to do with the DLCs, but I don't want to rule anything out yet.

 

[LotusEater]

I doubt it's the DLC's. My very first playthrough I started the vanilla game and then downloaded Hearthfire about 10 levels in. Then I downloaded Dragonborn about 10 levels later and finally Dawnguard about 10 levels after that and never experienced unusual crashes.

 

[Vidarr]

Yeah, I'm hoping it has nothing to do with the DLCs.

I know I appeared rather optimistic in my previous post, but things have changed a little now.
It turns out that that Random Dragon Corpse issue I was having (and the reason behind me doing the 30-day reset thing) has not been fixed.

I don't know what I did wrong (maybe nothing) but the floppy dragon corpses are back and are following me around The Rift like a damn plague.

Have any of you experienced this glitch before? and if so - how did you deal with it?
Seriously this alone is making me consider starting a new character. I personally can't handle glitches like this.
I don't think that this glitch would be related to the DLC, but either way - if I am restarting, I want to ensure that I have as smooth and relatively glitch-free a Skyrim experience as I can.

 

[LotusEater]

Yeah, I'm hoping it has nothing to do with the DLCs.

I know I appeared rather optimistic in my previous post, but things have changed a little now.
It turns out that that Random Dragon Corpse issue I was having (and the reason behind me doing the 30-day reset thing) has not been fixed.

I don't know what I did wrong (maybe nothing) but the floppy dragon corpses are back and are following me around The Rift like a damn plague.

Have any of you experienced this glitch before? and if so - how did you deal with it?
Seriously this alone is making me consider starting a new character. I personally can't handle glitches like this.
I don't think that this glitch would be related to the DLC, but either way - if I am restarting, I want to ensure that I have as smooth and relatively glitch-free a Skyrim experience as I can.

Personally I would suggest starting a new character. I have the same issue with dragon corpses. There is one in Markarth that just won't go away. Sometimes it's by the front gate. Other times it slides down onto the roof of the blacksmith. I killed it game-months ago and it won't go away and I can't take it's soul. I lured it in during a dragon attack on Markarth so I could get two dragons going at once in there. And it worked and it was awesome. But now I'm stuck with this corpse laying around. I must have glitched it out by luring it in from beyond city walls. Idk.

Personally I would suggest building a new character as the game plays much better when you start off with all DLC's installed imo. What I mean to say is that it flows a lot better. You can deal with the new threats at a reasonable level if you want. Plus rerolling is awesome. I'm due for a new reroll myself.

 

[Vidarr]

Personally I would suggest starting a new character. I have the same issue with dragon corpses. There is one in Markarth that just won't go away. Sometimes it's by the front gate. Other times it slides down onto the roof of the blacksmith. I killed it game-months ago and it won't go away and I can't take it's soul. I lured it in during a dragon attack on Markarth so I could get two dragons going at once in there. And it worked and it was awesome. But now I'm stuck with this corpse laying around. I must have glitched it out by luring it in from beyond city walls. Idk.

Personally I would suggest building a new character as the game plays much better when you start off with all DLC's installed imo. What I mean to say is that it flows a lot better. You can deal with the new threats at a reasonable level if you want. Plus rerolling is awesome. I'm due for a new reroll myself.

You know what? Thanks man.

I'm glad to hear of someone with essentially the exact same problem as me (first time the dragon appeared, I absorbed it's soul and everything. Now each time it is simply a floppy corpse with the same loot but no soul - and it actually appears throughout the Rift)

And I am also very much glad to hear that your experience with installing the DLCs prior to starting has been beneficial.
My main feeling as far as flow is concerned, is that I planned for the order to be: Main Quest - Civil War - Dawnguard/Hearthfire - and finally Dragonborn.
My initial problem was that I wasn't quite a fan of the idea of having the cultists show up and get things started when I still have SO much to do before going to Solstheim.
My general RP idea was to have the whole Miraak thing pop up after my character has dealt with everything and is in a state of early retirement (it just seemed awesome story-wise to me).

If you have any tips on 'flow' or anything, that would be great.
Overall your words are definitely tipping me in favor of starting fresh - the idea of a less-bugged Skyrim makes me happy. And I thank you for that

Another question: when going for the fresh restart (which would involve me removing my previous saves as well - probably just to an external device/cloud due to my paranoia/sentimentality), would it be worthwhile to delete and reinstall the patches and/or the DLC? Is it possible that this could help clean up any potentially corrupt files? (maybe I don't know what I'm talking about)

 

[LotusEater]

I would think that as long as you have all the current patches and DLC's downloaded, a restart should be perfectly safe. I'm no guru on corrupt files and such so maybe one will pop by and correct me if I'm wrong, but I see no reason to believe that a restart wouldn't be perfectly safe and smooth.

As far as flow goes, not taking into consideration any RP guidelines you impose on yourself, I would suggest doing Dawnguard early for a few reasons.

1- Vampire attacks are 100X more annoying than cultist attacks.
2- Dawnguard (if you choose that route) is a really good faction with good resources, cool followers, merchants with good stuff, solid trainers, etc
3- Werewolf perk tree

 

[shadowkitty]

I have had Paarthurnax's skeleton follow me around for ages, and that was without ANY of the DLC's downloaded at all. So it's not a DLC problem.
At first it was amusing and at times would scare the heck out of me the way it would just "POP!" be there, but then I got annoyed. I killed Parthy by accident due to another glitch were he froze after I hit both him and Alduin with Dragonrend on the Throat of the World. "I'm sorry I keeeled you OK!"

It got so annoying in the end that I retired the character and started the new one with the DLC's.

 

[Phantom]

Another thing to try is to clear your cache on your 360.

 

[Remington721]

Yeah, I'm hoping it has nothing to do with the DLCs.

I know I appeared rather optimistic in my previous post, but things have changed a little now.
It turns out that that Random Dragon Corpse issue I was having (and the reason behind me doing the 30-day reset thing) has not been fixed.

I don't know what I did wrong (maybe nothing) but the floppy dragon corpses are back and are following me around The Rift like a damn plague.

Have any of you experienced this glitch before? and if so - how did you deal with it?
Seriously this alone is making me consider starting a new character. I personally can't handle glitches like this.
I don't think that this glitch would be related to the DLC, but either way - if I am restarting, I want to ensure that I have as smooth and relatively glitch-free a Skyrim experience as I can.

Very common glitch for me ,those things infest L.V.M. Thats why I build in the pale . I hate those dang things , pilled up all over my doorstep . Sometimes a dragon corpse will fall right out of the sky in Wildhelm , and the thing is full of loot so I high jack it. But the ones at L.V. M never go away ,and they carry no bones and $$$

 

[LotusEater]

I have had Paarthurnax's skeleton follow me around for ages, and that was without ANY of the DLC's downloaded at all. So it's not a DLC problem.
At first it was amusing and at times would scare the heck out of me the way it would just "POP!" be there, but then I got annoyed. I killed Parthy by accident due to another glitch were he froze after I hit both him and Alduin with Dragonrend on the Throat of the World. "I'm sorry I keeeled you OK!"

It got so annoying in the end that I retired the character and started the new one with the DLC's.

I was coming out of Hag's Cure in Markarth and a dead Ancient fell right on my head. Scared the hell out of me. I thought I warped into a giant rib cage for a second.

 

[Fedpol2]

Hey guys,

so, I finally got all 3 DLCs on Xbox (I have gotten them gradually, waiting to find them on sale).

The thing is that I have downloaded these DLCs all gradually over the course of my main character (ie, I started the character w/out any DLC, and added them during my playthrough).

And it is just now that I have started experiencing some rather serious freezing issues among other bizarre glitches that I had never encountered in my countless hours spent with the game since 11-11-11.

Now, it's possible that the rampant freezing/crashing (and I mean RAMPANT) could be due to something else that is beyond me, but it nevertheless occurred to me that things could have potentially gone awry by adding the DLC (as well as multiple patches) during the progression of one character.
This is all aside from the fact that I spent a long time with this character (unknowingly) using autosaves, and it never having occurred to me that there was an issue with weapon cleanup and save file bloat.

So, my main question is:
In a situation like this - with all of the DLC and patches out there -: would it just be best to start a completely fresh character with everything installed?
I wonder if introducing all of this different content in my one character's game has brought about some issues (wouldn't surprise me with a game like Skyrim - and I mean absolutely no disrespect )

Anyways, I know it relies on a lot of factors, but I would really appreciate any input that any of you might have.

Cheers!

Had the same things happening to me and ultimately emailed Bethesda. Here is their reply;

Hi,
Thomas,

First, we're very glad to hear that you're enjoying the game and we completely understand the need to keep your save healthy. It's odd that you're having this issue on the Xbox, as generally the memory issues happened on what we call "Epic Saves" (100+ hours) on the PS3. However, there are a few things that can help with your save's health:

1. If you're not connected to the internet, connect your console to the web via WiFi or an Ethernet Cable and start up Skyrim. This will install patches for the game which massively improve the stability. We've released 9 patches for the game to date to fix memory issues, quest bugs, and various other things that needed to be addressed. It is highly advised that you install these updates.

2. When you launch your save, use the "Wait" function (select) and set it to 24 hours. Do this 30 times to pass 30 in-game days. It's time consuming, but basically 30 in-game days runs every clean-up script in the game. It will unclear dungeons, pick up dead bodies, clean loose objects, and overall improve the stability of the world.

3. When you save, be sure you create a NEW save each time you save. Overwriting saves can cause major issues later down the line. We understand that players like yourself will have a laundry list of something like, 800 saves, which isn't really convenient. If you find that your saves are taking up more space than desired, head to System Settings\Storage\Hard Drive\Games and Apps\Skyrim, and simply delete some of the older saves. It's a bit of a pain, but ultimately best for the health of an Epic Save.

If these measures do not help, we suggest making sure that all of the patches are installed and starting a new game. A fresh save on patch 1.9 will not run into the same memory issues that a release save would. We know this is inconvenient and we never take pleasure in telling this to our players, but we also want you to have the best experience possible.

I hope you find this information helpful, and if there is anything else I can assist with please feel free to reply to this email!

If you need further assistance, you can also reach us online at http://support.bethsoft.com or our technical support staff at (410)-568-3685. Please include all previous replies when/if responding to this message.

Best Regards,
Greg A. at Bethesda Technical Support
support04@bethsoft.com

 

[shadowkitty]

I have had Paarthurnax's skeleton follow me around for ages, and that was without ANY of the DLC's downloaded at all. So it's not a DLC problem.
At first it was amusing and at times would scare the heck out of me the way it would just "POP!" be there, but then I got annoyed. I killed Parthy by accident due to another glitch were he froze after I hit both him and Alduin with Dragonrend on the Throat of the World. "I'm sorry I keeeled you OK!"

It got so annoying in the end that I retired the character and started the new one with the DLC's.

I was coming out of Hag's Cure in Markarth and a dead Ancient fell right on my head. Scared the hell out of me. I thought I warped into a giant rib cage for a second.

That's funny. Every where I went his skeleton would appear and flop around, or drape itself over buildings. In the middle of Riften, out in the wild...it did not matter. It got to the point, every time I fast travelled I was like "And cue Parthy...."

 

[shadowkitty]

Had the same things happening to me and ultimately emailed Bethesda. Here is their reply;

Hi,
Thomas,

First, we're very glad to hear that you're enjoying the game and we completely understand the need to keep your save healthy. It's odd that you're having this issue on the Xbox, as generally the memory issues happened on what we call "Epic Saves" (100+ hours) on the PS3. However, there are a few things that can help with your save's health:

1. If you're not connected to the internet, connect your console to the web via WiFi or an Ethernet Cable and start up Skyrim. This will install patches for the game which massively improve the stability. We've released 9 patches for the game to date to fix memory issues, quest bugs, and various other things that needed to be addressed. It is highly advised that you install these updates.

2. When you launch your save, use the "Wait" function (select) and set it to 24 hours. Do this 30 times to pass 30 in-game days. It's time consuming, but basically 30 in-game days runs every clean-up script in the game. It will unclear dungeons, pick up dead bodies, clean loose objects, and overall improve the stability of the world.

3. When you save, be sure you create a NEW save each time you save. Overwriting saves can cause major issues later down the line. We understand that players like yourself will have a laundry list of something like, 800 saves, which isn't really convenient. If you find that your saves are taking up more space than desired, head to System Settings\Storage\Hard Drive\Games and Apps\Skyrim, and simply delete some of the older saves. It's a bit of a pain, but ultimately best for the health of an Epic Save.

If these measures do not help, we suggest making sure that all of the patches are installed and starting a new game. A fresh save on patch 1.9 will not run into the same memory issues that a release save would. We know this is inconvenient and we never take pleasure in telling this to our players, but we also want you to have the best experience possible.

I hope you find this information helpful, and if there is anything else I can assist with please feel free to reply to this email!

If you need further assistance, you can also reach us online at http://support.bethsoft.com or our technical support staff at (410)-568-3685. Please include all previous replies when/if responding to this message.

Best Regards,
Greg A. at Bethesda Technical Support
support04@bethsoft.com[/quote]

This is great. Thanks so much for sharing