Ascended Sleeper graphical glitches

I was going to include this in a longer bug report, but it's occurred so frequently and caused numerous gameplay issues that I decided to report it separately. Ascended Sleepers cause several graphical problems when killed, due to their death animation. Most noticeably, all dynamic lighting gets deactivated. Torches and Light spells stop working, and spell effects no longer illuminate the area. The interior map (F4, leftmost tab) also stops working, and just shows a blank page. The only workaround I've found is to save the game, quit to the main menu, then reload.

The death animation itself also has some strange things going on with it. The sleeper's body portion will stretch outward to infinity and then fade from sight, but it seems the game engine is still treating it like it's there, since this will cause slowdowns in performance if it happens outdoors. The slowdown is so bad that every normal attack I attempt turns into a power attack due to the processing delay. About half the time, the sleeper's skull will sink through the ground and become inaccessible, similar to the glitch in daedric ruins where enemies fall through the floor when killed.

I tried searching for possible fixes, or if this has come up before. I saw that this was posted in 2011, but the file no longer exists.

Wow. It sounds like your

Wow. It sounds like your Morroblivion set up is possessed. For me, when an Ascended Sleeper dies, he just stops moving for several milliseconds, a cheesy "smoke" animation plays, his body fades away and his skull falls to the floor ground and stays on the ground (no sinking). The fact that your dynamic lighting is so seriously affected, makes me think that the graphics pipeline gets broken. The interior map no longer working could also be a graphics (shader) problem. The stretching of the body sounds like the NIF animation rigging is broken (maybe file corruption). That may also explain the slowdown. All this together could be explained by a buggy graphics driver or incompatible hardware. Starting with the very basics:

1) Please tell us your computer hardware specs: Brand (if any), CPU model and speed (+overclocked or not), RAM amount, Graphics card brand, model and speed, graphics device driver version... harddrive is probably not too important here as long as you have at least SATA level technology and at least 5-10 gigabyte of free space.

2) Please list your mod load order as well as any ESP-less graphics replacers you are using.

3) Are you using an ENB? If so, what preset? Are you using custom settings?

4) Are you using Oblivion Reloaded? What shaders? settings?

Also: upload the "RendererInfo.txt" file in your "My Documents\My Games\Oblivion" directory.

1) OS Name Microsoft Windows

1) OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

Version 10.0.15063 Build 15063

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)

Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB

Total Physical Memory 7.94 GB

Available Physical Memory 5.00 GB

Total Virtual Memory 9.19 GB Available Virtual Memory 5.73 GB

GPU is an older NVIDIA GTX 550 ti but it runs Oblivion and Skyrim (not SE) just fine.

2) GameMode=Oblivion Oblivion.esm=1 Morrowind_ob.esm=1 Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp=1 UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp=1 Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp=1 DLCShiveringIsles.esp=1 Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp=1 DLCBattlehornCastle.esp=1 DLCBattlehornCastle - Unofficial Patch.esp=1 DLCThievesDen.esp=1 DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch.esp=1 DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch - SSSB.esp=1 DLCMehrunesRazor.esp=1 DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp=1 DLCVileLair.esp=1 DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp=1 DLCHorseArmor.esp=1 DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp=1 DLCOrrery.esp=1 DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp=1 DLCSpellTomes.esp=1 DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp=0 DLCFrostcrag.esp=1 DLCFrostcrag - Unofficial Patch.esp=1 Knights.esp=1 Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp=1 Morrowind_ob - MorroblivionTreeReplacer.esp=1 Morrowind_ob - UCWUS.esp=1 morroblivion-fixes.esp=1 CurseOfHircine.esp=1 QZ Easy Menus.esp=1 Retroactive Health.esp=1 Morrowind_ob - Conversation.esp=1 morroblivion-fixes-fasttravel.esp=1 Morroblivion - Buyable Houses.esp=1 Enchantment Enhanced.esp=1 Toggleable Quantity Prompt.esp=1 DZ_Auto_Harvest.esp=1 morrob_il_end.esp=1 Morrowind_ob - Chargen and Transport Mod.esp=1 Morrowind_ob.esp=1 MorroblivionNewMap.esp=1 Morrowind_ob - Morroblivion Maps.esp=1 Improved Hotkeys.esp=1 Harvest [Flora].esp=1 Harvest [Flora] - DLCFrostcrag.esp=1 Harvest [Flora] - DLCVileLair.esp=0 Harvest [Flora] - Shivering Isles.esp=0 werewolffix.esp=1 Bashed Patch, 0.esp=1

3) Not using an ENB.

4) Not using Oblivion Reloaded. The contents of rendererinfo.txt are short so I'll C&P them: Renderer Device Information: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti nvldumd.dll RenderPath : BSSM_SV_2_A PSversion : 300 VSversion : 300 VStarget : vs_2_0 PStarget : ps_2_a PS2xtarget : ps_2_a maxPS20inst : 512 3.0 Shaders : yes Image space effects : yes Nonpowerof2textures : yes FP16ARGB blending : yes FP16ARGB filtering : yes High dynamic range : yes Bloom lighting : no Refraction : yes 2.0 hair : yes SLI mode : no Water shader : yes Water reflections : yes Water displacement : yes Water high res : yes Multisample Type : 0 Shader Package : 13

I suppose I should also mention that I get a similar stretched model glitch when selling apparel to the Mudcrab Merchant. He attempts to equip them (for some reason) which causes no small amount of graphical glitches where I'll see the meshes of the equipped items stretched out all over the ocean.

Load Order for you to Try.

Attachment	Size
frozenwolf_loadorder.txt	736 bytes

roxon_55 wrote:

roxon_55
Load Order for you to Try.

Thanks, changing the load order seems to have fixed the problem. I also deactivated Morrowind_ob - Morroblivion Maps.esp as it was overriding the MorroblivionNewMap.esp, and I installed the latter because I wanted that map instead of the default.

Now when I kill Ascended Sleepers, their mesh only twists around for a moment in the death animation before disappearing in a puff of smoke. My light spell and torch still worked, as did the interior automap.

The Toggleable Quantity Prompt and Improved Hotkeys mods didn't affect this glitch either way, so I put them back in.

TES4edit showed no conflicts between Enchantment Enhanced and UCWUS, so I left that alone.

The stretched models may be

The stretched models may be an issue with vertex shaders. There are several posts about Nvidia cards having incompatibilities with certain shader packages, like this here. You didn't mention anything about applying an Nvidia Black-Screen Fix, so I'm assuming you are still using the default shader package. You can try using the shader package fix to force use of shader package 19, to see if that improves performance and fixes glitches. It may not make any difference but at least worth a try. The instructions can be confusing, so let me know if you are unsure about what to do.

At least your light and automap are working again. [External image]

Hotkeys and Toggle were for

Hotkeys and Toggle were for the Keyboard Probs you have been having.

Remove the Hircine file you might be able to Change to a werewolf..

ponyrider0 wrote:

ponyrider0
The stretched models may be an issue with vertex shaders. There are several posts about Nvidia cards having incompatibilities with certain shader packages, like this here. You didn't mention anything about applying an Nvidia Black-Screen Fix, so I'm assuming you are still using the default shader package. You can try using the shader package fix to force use of shader package 19, to see if that improves performance and fixes glitches. It may not make any difference but at least worth a try. The instructions can be confusing, so let me know if you are unsure about what to do.

At least your light and automap are working again. [External image]

You might be right. My card did an automatic driver update today, and the problem came right back. I'm not sure what was reset. I'll look into that fix you mentioned.

ETA: According to rendererinfo.txt, it's already using Shader 13. I'm not sure I should change it in that case.

Frozenwolf150 wrote:

Frozenwolf150
ETA: According to rendererinfo.txt, it's already using Shader 13. I'm not sure I should change it in that case.

Sorry, I'm not always clear: What I meant to say was that I see that you are using Shaderpackage 13. There are some reports that shaderpackage 19 is superior to shaderpackage 13 in terms of stability and performance. Also, most sites report that shaderpackage 19 is the only one that takes advantage of Shader Model 3.0.

Since you have experienced glitches with shaderpackage 13, then testing 19 is worth a try -- but you may not be able to see a difference. If you are satisfied with any remaining glitches or performance issues, then just keep 13. If you later find that they are still too much, then try out 19 (obviously, be sure to backup 13 so you can switch back if needed).

I wonder if there ever was a

I wonder if there ever was a real fix to this issue. I experience problems with the Ascended Sleeper death animation regularly. When the animation is working properly, the Ascended Sleeper stops, emits some smoke, its body vanishes and a large skull falls slowly to the ground. This skull can be looted. If the animation works for one of them in a dungeon, it works for all others too.

This is what I observed when it isn't working properly:

When killed, the Ascended Sleeper stops, emits the smoke and then the body vanishes, no skull is falling to the floor. If this happens inside a dungeon, dynamic lights shut off, local map stops working and the frame rate drops to the bottom of the ocean.

If I just reload the previous save and go to the same Ascended Sleeper, his body is invisible and in its place there is the large skull moving around with the creature. If I kill the Ascended Sleeper, I get the same effect as described above.

The only way to fix the issue was to restart the game and reload the last save.

The issue only seems to happen after the game has run for some time.

It seems that this specific death animation is partly broken or the Oblivion engine can't handle it properly. I experienced the issue with older Morroblivion versions as well as current 0.65. I'm still using an old nVidia Geforce 770 GTX with 4GB VRAM, shader package 19 in case that matters.

sounds like the Ascended

sounds like the Ascended Sleeper has a bugged animation attached to it, The correct fix would be to re-export it's animation.. I wouldn't be surprised if it's missing key frames too..

I found the perfect testing

I found the perfect testing spot where the graphics always bug out in my game, even when restarting the game. In Kogoruhn - Hall of Phisto turn right as I enter the building and then just follow the path until I encounter the first Ascended Sleeper. When I kill him, the graphics bug appears. So I just tested a few things.

- the skeleton.nif doesn't match the "death.kf" file. It is missing NiTransformControllers for some NiNodes that are used by "death.kf". Adding these controllers fixes the errors in Construction Kit but doesn't fix the bug.
- "death.kf" itself is broken. I don't have the tools or skill to fix it, but as soon as I replaced it with a similar animation from Ancestral/Dwemer Ghost, the Ascended Sleeper doesn't cause the graphics bug anymore when he dies. The replaced animation fits quite well, only problem is that he is floating mid air during the animation and the skull also comes to rest mid air.

For now I have replaced "death.kf" with the one from the Ash Vampire. The animation itself looks a bit strange floating mid air, but at least it doesn't bug out and he comes to rest with his face flat on the ground.

Bullfrog wrote:

Bullfrog
I found the perfect testing spot where the graphics always bug out in my game, even when restarting the game. In Kogoruhn - Hall of Phisto turn right as I enter the building and then just follow the path until I encounter the first Ascended Sleeper. When I kill him, the graphics bug appears. So I just tested a few things.

- the skeleton.nif doesn't match the "death.kf" file. It is missing NiTransformControllers for some NiNodes that are used by "death.kf". Adding these controllers fixes the errors in Construction Kit but doesn't fix the bug.
- "death.kf" itself is broken. I don't have the tools or skill to fix it, but as soon as I replaced it with a similar animation from Ancestral/Dwemer Ghost, the Ascended Sleeper doesn't cause the graphics bug anymore when he dies. The replaced animation fits quite well, only problem is that he is floating mid air during the animation and the skull also comes to rest mid air.

For now I have replaced "death.kf" with the one from the Ash Vampire. The animation itself looks a bit strange floating mid air, but at least it doesn't bug out and he comes to rest with his face flat on the ground.

Great Job! finding the issue, I have to re-export the entire skeleton, body and animations.. The Skeleton it uses now is the Wraith.. Your fix should be the Hotfix for now^^