Still crashing... oblivion.ini settings?

I finally gave up, did a fresh complete install of Morroblivion 0.60 from scratch (even reinstalling Morrowind/Oblivion), and started a new game. This time, I thought I'd be "safe" and limit my oblivion.ini edits to only those listed here: http://tescosi.com/wiki/Oblivion.ini. However, after a lot of testing and isolating variables, it seems the only thing that will prevent 0xc0000005 exception code crashes for me is increasing the three supposedly "unsafe" oblivion.ini variables "uinterior Cell Buffer", "uexterior Cell Buffer", and "iPreloadSizeLimit". In my last game, along with using the 4GB LAA patch, OSR, Streamline (for Streamsave/Streampurge only), etc., I was stable for many hours using these three .ini tweaks until I started getting the 0xc00000fd exception code crashes in certain wilderness cells.

So, I just can't win: not tweaking the .ini as above will constantly crash my game with 0xc0000005 exceptions, while tweaking it may eventually cause 0xc00000fd exceptions in certain areas. That said, for the playthrough where I started getting those 0xc00000fd crashes after 30 hours of gameplay, I had initially not been using OSR, Streamline, etc., and had also regularly been saving games over existing saves and loading games from within Oblivion, which I later found out were apparently things I shouldn't be doing. Also, eloth had suggested way back two years ago that similar supposedly "unsafe" .ini tweaks were OK, and some were even recommended when running his visual overhaul mod:  http://morroblivion.com/forums/morroblivion/mods/1449.

So in case it's not obvious, I'm really, really confused about what I need to do to actually play this game and not constantly be worried about the next crash - or even worse, permanent corruption of all my save files after dozens of hours of playing. Thanks as always for your patience and help!

Good idea Ilde! But my luck continues - now I can't reproduce the CTDs I was getting earlier (with exception 0xc00000fd) near Balmora/Arkngthand; I double-checked, and no weocps log is being created. As for the problem I still have when trying to enter Sterdecan's house (the loading screen just freezes, forcing me to quit), it's not technically a crash, but a freeze, so again, no weocps log or Windows event log is created.

So it looks like my save may not be totally corrupted (yet, anyway), and the only issue I'm able to consistently reproduce so far is the Sterdecan's house issue (which isn't important on its own, but is important as an indicator of other potential problems with the save). That said, is there any way I can use the console or otherwise look into that Sterdecan house interior cell in my save to see whether there might be a unique mesh/texture issue? Thanks!

Hey Brainslasher - I'm just using a few non-Morroblivion mods/plugins, and those are often ones recommended by devs/experts elsewhere on the forum; all were cleanly installed with the latest versions. Specifically:

--OCS (I've done a lot of messing around with heap etc. settings based on forum recommendations, and think I've got it as stable as it's going to get)
--Streamline (for Streamsave/Streampurge only)
--FastExit
--Darnified UI
--HUD Status Bars
--MenuQue
--Protocolled Dialogs
--Toggleable Quantity Prompts
--Dynamic Map
--MiniMap
--Morroblivion New Map
--Oblivion Character Overhaul

I've been over the mod installation and load order many times already, and really don't think the crash/freeze issues have anything to do with these, but please let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks!

OK, even without any mods (except morrowind_ob.esm/esp and the required base Oblivion loadout), including without Streamline, it's still the same situation at this point: I can't reproduce the Balmora area crashes, but I still consistently get the Sterdecan's farmhouse freeze on attempting to enter - the latter doesn't happen with a new save, though. It's really bugging me - I know from a bad experience with modded Oblivion a year back that one little problem usually becomes many later on, but it doesn't seem like there's any way to debug that Sterdecan freeze (or figure out more on the earlier Balmora area crashes).

No, the Sterdecan's farmhouse freeze actually doesn't happen with a new game, but I'd like to keep my now 40-hour playthrough on my old game if I can (and I'm thinking this farmhouse issue might just be the start of something more serious with that save file). And I would like to try using the "coc" code to teleport to the interior house cell, but I don't know what the location code is under Morroblivion ("coc Sterdecan's Farmhouse" doesn't work).

Thanks for the tips, Brainslasher, but unfortunately I still freeze even when trying to enter the cell using "coc". I hadn't thought of entering with "tcl" and/or "tgm" enabled, but those don't work either.

And roxon, in my case this started when I was still playing version 0.59, so it's not a version 0.60 issue - I've actually not found more problems with my game after about 4 hours playing under version 0.60 compared to 0.59; I just have the same problems as before.

Anyway, my guess with the farmhouse thing is there's some missing/corrupt mesh or texture inside there that's somehow attached to my save file, but it looks like there's no way of targeting which mesh/texture. I guess I'll just hope things don't get worse, because if they do, I don't know if I'll want to start a whole new game with no guarantee the same kind of thing won't just happen again. Eh well, I really do appreciate the ideas all the same!

Roxon - did you have to start a new game? Or did you just need to reinstall Oblivion/mods, and then were able to use your old save game again?

Hey Ilde - yes, it's definitely a problem unique to my save, but since I can't reproduce the freeze on a new save (either with or without mods loaded), I don't think I'll be able to use your idea. But maybe I'm misunderstanding you?

Brainslasher, that'd be really helpful - I've attached the save files; thanks! (And yes, it really is save number 987... what can I say, I'm a compulsive saver.) I'll also download the CS and see what I can find with that cell; good idea.

OK, in the CS, I'm in the "Cell View" for "SterdecanAsSFarmhouse," and can see all cell objects listed. But it looks like if I delete those objects, it will permanently affect the Morroblivion files used for all save games. So, how exactly can I delete these objects only within my current save file?

Wow, thanks folks!! So let's "pretend" I'm an idiot and make sure I have this right before I screw something up in the CS. What I think I need to do is:

1) Load only morrowind_ob.esm and Brainslasher's farmf.esp in the CS, and make farmf.esp the active file.
2) Delete all objects in the SterdecanAsSFarmhouse cell except for the building itself. I'm just not sure which of the objects represent the building itself - the two doors and the "north marker"? Also, since farmf.esp is active, this does mean that deleting these objects won't carry over to other saves and the rest of the mod, correct?
3) Save changes to farmf.esp in the CS, start Oblivion with the CS-modified farmf.esp activated, and load the save.
4) Enter the farmhouse, massacre the cliff racers, leave the farmhouse, save, and quit Oblivion.
5) Deactivate farmf.esp in Wrye Bash etc. I should now be able to continue with my save game as normal, with all deleted objects within the farmhouse restored (now that farmf.esp is no longer being used).

Please let me know whether I have this right, or if I'm missing something. Again, I really appreciate your patience and help - you folks rock!

P.S. Ilde - I only noticed the problem after 30 real-time hours (not in-game hours) of playing, so if the above fix works, it's much preferred to starting a new game and waiting 30 real hours.

Brainslasher, you're my hero! I got in there using your .esp, sliced up those two crazy racers, and can now enter the farmhouse as intended. So now the question is - in light of roxon's comment that the racers' refIDs started with "FF," which I believe from another thread means they're only "attached" to my save file? - what can I do to prevent this type of thing happening again? I never entered the farmhouse cell before, so I'm not sure how the racers got in there in the first place - i.e. if they had been following me, I'd think they'd still be in the exterior Ascadian Isles area and not inside the house itself.

Like I said, starting a whole new game isn't something I'd like to do if I can avoid it; i.e. if this racer problem isn't actually an indicator that my save file already has or will develop irreversible corruption in other areas.

OK, I don't think the below issues are related to the farmhouse/racer problem, but now roxon has me thinking - I have seen a couple of weird OBSE in-game popup messages over the past 10 or so real hours of playing. Maybe these are indicators of something else in my system or load order that's causing these problems? (I've posted my load order in spoiler tags below - note that I also use Darnified UI, as well as the plugins MenuQue, Fast Exit, and Oblivion Stutter Remover.)

1) When talking with Faras Thirano in Ghostgate, I get a popup in-game error message directing me to check the OBSE log in the Oblivion folder. When I do, I see:
Script Error: Script 12000800 in file "ProtocolledDialogs.esp"
Too few args for format specifier

2) Twice now, I've randomly received the popup in-game message "[Player] tried to pickpocket [NPC], but [NPC] didn't care." I'm nowhere near the NPC at the time. Once the NPC was a Hlaalu Guard, and the other time it was Culumaire.

Brainslasher, now you've got me feeling guilty about breaking up those racers' special friendship, but not too guilty - I really hate those things. ;) But you've put my mind at ease. Just wish there were a "no cliffracers" option in Morroblivion... I think there were Morrowind mods for that back in the day.

So at this point the only weird stuff going on in my game are those popup error messages I just posted about. Ilde, I saw you ran into that first error several months ago; did you ever figure it out?

Hmm, I guess that one's nothing to worry about, then - thanks. I'm still not sure about those random pickpocketing messages, though.

OK, thanks Ilde - I guess one or both of those mods might be conflicting with something else in my load order, but I'm not sure what. But this narrows it down quite a bit.

OK, thanks roxon - I didn't think that message was attached to those other mods.

So back to the crazy cliff racer thing - although this hasn't (yet) caused any crashes/freezes, I've encountered many monsters (rats, kwama foragers, etc.) spawning and/or getting stuck within rocks and other landscape objects. At first I thought this wouldn't be a major problem, since I assumed all monsters "reset" and re-spawn (with the previous monsters disabled/deleted) every few in-game days or so. But now that those cliff racers stayed inside the farmhouse for at least 20 or so real-time hours (I noticed the farmhouse freeze issue around hour 10, and solved it around hour 35), it has me wondering - is it possible for other incorrectly spawning creatures to get permanently stuck elsewhere, and eventually overload the engine? Sorry for all the questions; I'm just trying to figure out how things work. Much obliged!

 

Huh, I don't have and never used Advanced Magecraft. And as I understand, a refID starting with "FF" just means the creature was spawned at some point while playing; I don't think it's anything special otherwise. I guess I'm just wondering about the general Morroblivion spawning mechanic: do creatures, once spawned, automatically get disabled/deleted the next time there's a spawn in the cell? (I would think so; otherwise, the island would be overrun with beasties after a few months of in-game time!) Also, how often do these spawns occur, or do different cells have different spawn frequencies?

OK, I stand corrected - thanks folks. So is it correct to say that "normal" spawned monsters will in fact be "deleted"/reset whenever a regular scheduled respawn occurs for each cell? While what may be happening with my game - e.g. with those cliff racers in Sterdecan's house - is that some other faulty script is spawning permanent monsters in weird locations?

But since the "placeatme" command only spawns objects in front of the player, and I had never entered Sterdecan's farmhouse prior to the cliff racers appearing inside, I doubt this is the problem - or am I missing something?

Also, could anyone please confirm my take on "regular" monster respawns - i.e. how often they occur, and whether they override prior monsters in each cell such that the prior monsters (even if they had gotten "stuck" in landscape objects) are deleted/removed?

Thanks, Brainslasher. So I'll have to do some more playing to figure out whether the Sterdecan's house thing was just a fluke, or if some script is causing monsters to spawn in wacky locations. (I'm not sure which mod would be doing that, since I only have the standard Morroblivion mods/required OBSE plugins and a few map and UI/character mods - nothing that should have anything to do with spawning scripts - but time will tell.) Again, I really appreciate everyone's help!

Yet another favor to ask of you fine folks. I'm running into another consistent CTD with the same exception code 0xc00000fd and fault offset 0x004a0a92 as above, this time while outdoors in Molag Amur. I've attached the save file; when I take a few steps forward from the current save position (which I assume takes me across a cell border), I CTD. weOCPS neither prevents nor logs the crash, so there's no debugging help there.

Is there any way someone could test this save and help me narrow down what's really causing this recurring issue? My load order and game settings haven't changed at all over the past few days (I posted my load order above on 9/15). Many thanks all!