After working for a while, game suddenly losing textures and meshes. Help?

[ShadowSora94]

Hello. I'm having a very odd problem with NV, one I haven't had in years of playing it and years of using bashed patches.

 

Seemingly at random, my game begins to malfunction and stops loading meshes and textures. At roughly 30 hours into this run, this began happening after Honest Hearts- I've never had an issue like this. At first I thought it was FCO messing up. But It doesnt' seem to be that, as after several fresh installations it's still acting up.

 

There's no pattern to this, it doesn't make sense. The game just... works fine, then it stops working right. Reinstalling FCO does nothing. This game was working perfectly until I finished Honest Hearts, then the bugs started. I thought it was related to the bashed patch, but even using a backup of my bashed patch from a game a few months ago (backed up on an external hardrive) did not fix this, so I do not believe it is a problem with the patch; but once in Skyrim my bashed patch malfunctioned as a result of a mod it tried to integrate, so I'm not sure. I've turned Archive Invalidation off and then back on, nothing. I've never had a problem like this before: it would be easy if it was consistent, but its not. It works for a little while, then it craps out on me. I can never play for more than 30 minutes before it begins to malfunction, usually upon loading a new map.

 

If anyone can give any advice, I'd be immensely grateful. If it has any baring on the situation at all, i'm using Desert ENB. I'm going to try to download NMCs textures and see if maybe having a different texture for the world itself may make the textures for the environment makes that more consistent... but that doesn't do anything for pink faces and missing textures on bodies. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

 

Here is an imgur link. In particular, the top two are the same save game, upon loading into Westside. The second was me making a new save, turning the game off, then going back on. Nothing at all changed whatsoever, it just started working temporarily. Furthermore, I did a fresh re-installation of the game (backed up my mods in the 'mods' folder made by Mod Organizer) in the hopes it would fix it, nothing. And here's my load list:

 

0 0 FalloutNV.esm

1 1 DeadMoney.esm

2 2 HonestHearts.esm

3 3 OldWorldBlues.esm

4 4 LonesomeRoad.esm

5 5 GunRunnersArsenal.esm

6 6 ClassicPack.esm

7 7 MercenaryPack.esm

8 8 TribalPack.esm

9 9 CaravanPack.esm

10 a YUP - Base Game + All DLC.esm

11 b Craft Master.esm

12 c Craft Pack.esm

13 d FreesideOpen.esm

14 e IWR.esm

15 f Run the Lucky 38.esm

16 10 ELECTRO-CITY - CompletedWorkorders.esm

17 11 Project Nevada - Core.esm

18 12 FCOMaster.esm

19 13 Project Nevada - Equipment.esm

20 14 ELECTRO-CITY - Highways and Byways.esm

21 15 MikotoBeauty.esm

22 16 NewCalifornia.esm

23 17 SaxxonsQuestPack.esm

24 18 NVStripOpen.esm

25 19 The New Bison Steve Hotel.esm

26 1a More Traits.esm

27 1b More Perks.esm

28 1c SomeguySeries.esm

29 1d Project Nevada - Rebalance.esp

30 1e Project Nevada - Cyberware.esp

31 1f More Perks for Honest Hearts.esm

32 20 More Perks for Dead Money.esm

33 21 More Perks for Old World Blues.esm

34 22 More Perks for Companions.esm

35 23 NevadaSkies.esm

36 24 Th3OverseerCore.esm

YUP - NPC Fixes (Base Game + All DLC).esp

Feral Ghouls no negative karma.esp

Reinforced Follower's lab coat.esp

37 25 RaidersFA.esp

38 26 The Lucky 38 Empire.esp

39 27 FCO - NPC Changes.esp

40 28 DismissToL38.esp

41 29 outsidebets.esp

42 2a Hardcore Drugs.esp

43 2b FCO - Hair overhaul.esp

44 2c Playable raider + Trait.esp

45 2d MikotoBeauty.esp

46 2e AsharasHairConversionNV.esp

47 2f Economy Overhaul.esp

Better Casinos.esp

48 30 FreesideOpenPatch.esp

49 31 More Perks Update.esp

50 32 populatedcasino.esp

51 33 Campfire_Cookin'.esp

52 34 Casino UnBanner.esp

53 35 Craft Pack-Cooking.esp

Faction Armor Redone.esp

54 36 Grunt Perk Expanded.esp

55 37 ImprovedTerrifyingPresence.esp

LegionExplorerArmour.esp

56 38 OldWorldBlues - Light Stealth Suit MKII.esp

57 39 LRPerks_Under30.esp

58 3a LonesomeRoadScorchedSierraPowerHelmet.esp

59 3b NVDLC04 Allegiance w Duster.esp

60 3c LonesomeRoad armor in safehouse.esp

61 3d More Perks for Companions Update.esp

62 3e More Perks for Dead Money Update.esp

63 3f More Perks for Old World Blues Update.esp

64 40 Nouk's Hairs.esp

65 41 NukaChemistPlus.esp

66 42 Oven Cooking.esp

67 43 PreorderWeaponFixesComplete.esp

Reign Monocyte Implant Improvement.esp

68 44 Starke's Seperate Chinese Stealth Armor Helmet NV (OA Version).esp

Starke's Seperate Chinese Stealth Armor Helmet NV.esp

69 45 SignatureArmor.esp

70 46 SignatureWeapons.esp

71 47 NewCalifornia Courier Stash Control.esp

72 48 StealthArmorFix.esp

73 49 NewCalifornia DLC Control.esp

74 4a LFox Stealth Suit Bug Fixes.esp

75 4b TeenRaces.esp

76 4c The Gourmand Revived.esp

77 4d Readius_NV.esp

VeronicaFix.esp

78 4e Water Consumed Stat Fix.esp

Binocular Better Zoom.esp

Binocular Better Zoom Night Vision.esp

FCO - Personal Fixes.esp

79 4f The Mod Configuration Menu.esp

PipBoyLightx1.5.esp

80 50 Project Nevada Soda Not Food.esp

81 51 UltimateUnarmedMeleePerkTweaks.esp

82 52 calyps-wastelandprophet.esp

83 53 Survival Healing Pack.esp

84 54 High Roller Suite.esp

85 55 WeaponModsExpanded.esp

Weapons More HP Mod.esp

86 56 TheInheritance.esp

87 57 Legion Quests Expanded.esp

88 58 StripOpenMain.esp

89 59 NewVegasBountiesIII.esp

90 5a NoGloveOrBackpackShishkebabGehenna.esp

stronger merchants.esp

91 5b Better Weapon Binding Ritual.esp

92 5c FCO - GlowingOne.esp

93 5d Harvestable Cave Fungus.esp

94 5e Russell.esp

95 5f GRA - The Right to Bear Arms -Vendors Untouched.esp

96 60 IWR - Rebuilt.esp

97 61 LightUpAndSmokeThoseCigarettes_edisleado.esp

98 62 DLHuntersandHeroes.esp

99 63 Cave Fungus weighs less.esp

100 64 FCO - Russell.esp

101 65 FCO - Saxons Quest Collection.esp

102 66 NaturalWaters.esp

103 67 CourierCacheWSE.esp

104 68 ArizonaArmy.esp

MeleeReachFixed.esp

105 69 Fiendish Bosses.esp

106 6a Headhunting.esp

107 6b rotfacetoriches.esp

108 6c MM Headhunter.esp

109 6d NewVegasBounties.esp

110 6e NewVegasBountiesII.esp

111 6f ELECTRO-CITYFSOPatch .esp

112 70 NewVegasKiller.esp

113 71 PDAmOverhaul 0.7.esp

114 72 TheBetterAngels.esp

115 73 athornysituation.esp

116 74 awilderwasteland.esp

117 75 Brotherhood and House Alliance.esp

118 76 Tailor Maid - NV.esp

119 77 Zanba.esp

120 78 Playablebetterhood.esp

121 79 Nocturne.esp

122 7a Dreadnought.esp

123 7b MercWanderer.esp

124 7c More Traits Update.esp

125 7d More Perks for Honest Hearts Update.esp

126 7e NewVegasBountiesFSOPatch.esp

127 7f NewVegasBountiesIIFSOPatch.esp

128 80 HZNovacCampfire.esp

129 81 Virtuoso.esp

updatedWearGlassesandMasks.esp

FCO + YUP.esp

TeenRaces_NPCs.esp

130 82 Vikki_and_Vance_hats.esp

131 83 FCO - OHSB NPC Edits.esp

132 84 Slayer Melee or Unarmed.esp

133 85 Piercing Strike Fix.esp

134 86 Cowboy Expanded PN.esp

135 87 kochandbohr.esp

136 88 avangraffscorned.esp

137 89 Pacersgambit.esp

138 8a NevadaSkies - Ultimate DLC Edition.esp

139 8b Bashed Patch, 0.esp

Thanks again for any help you can give, I really need it.

Edited December 25, 2018 by ShadowSora94

[dubiousintent]

There's no pattern to this, it doesn't make sense.

 

Uh-oh. That sounds like either failing RAM chips or overheating problems.

 

First, clean out any dust (by blowing it out; not using a vacuum which can loosen soldered connections). Unplug the power cord and be sure to block any fans from turning when you do blow out the dust, as letting them spin can cause voltage surges (from the power supply capacitor) that damage components. This is best done away from where you usually have the box placed so it doesn't just get re-circulated back into the box.

 

Ensure you have at least one inch of free circulation air space all around the box (except for the floor of course). Use a fan if necessary, but leave the cover on the computer box. (It's designed to direct airflow over the components most needing the circulation to remove heat buildup.)

 

Then run "Memtest86" or any comparable memory testing tool overnight so it exercises all of your system RAM at least twice.

 

Consider the age of your computer. If more than 3-5 years old, consider this a warning that you are going to need to replace it sooner or later. Plan ahead.

 

-Dubious-

[M48A5]

With the number of active mods you have, you are pushing the limits of the game engine. Add in the inactive mods, you have exceeded the limits.

 

All files in the data folder are accessed during startup and count towards the total number of files that the game can run.

 

The first thing you need to do is clean out the inactive files.

 

You don't mention using the any mod allowing the game to use more than 2GB of RAM even though you are using some enhanced textures.

[ShadowSora94]

Oh, sorry. I'm using the 4gb patch and I'm using Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 ram sticks with a Radeon RX 580 graphics card (I've heard some ENBs mess up with it, but I've had no problem with Desert ENB so far). This isa brand new gaming PC I just got this month, so I doubt that's the case.

 

I think it's more likely M48A5's suggestion. I uninstalled just a few mods to see if something was messing up my bash patch in general, with just 7 gone (mostly NV Restoration mods, like A Van Graff Scorned, because I forgot they were already integrated into Freeside Open) and it seems to be... working better now? With Christmas Eve and all that I wasn't able to really test it out yet, but in half an hour of playing it didn't happen again: that's far more than I've been playing it so far without the game crapping out. Since this computer is playing Guild Wars 2 world events on ultra with like no lag, I highly doubt its a failure.

 

I thought the mod limit for New Vegas was 256 like Skyrim, and I run 200+ mods on that game: looking around, apparently 140 is when NV starts crapping up? And man, I really thought inactive files didn't count towards that load, I'll remember that. If that's the case though, is there any reason even bothering keeping them inactive? Every now and then my bash patch tries to deactivate a mod that malfunctions without the .esp active, so does it hurt if I just keep everything enabled?

 

I think I have most of the mods I really want for NV at this point, so I'll get rid of some smaller mods and just install a few new ones I really want, and then I guess my NV modding will finally be over after 8+ years. For cleaning out inactive mods, should I just like, move their .esp files to another folder or something in case I want to work on them again? What exactly is cleaning up inactive .esp files? Some of them are just minor edits like making things weigh less and the like, so I might just merge a few of them into one simple mod for my personal use.

 

Thanky ou both for your advice though! God, this one was really making me pull on my hair.

Edited December 25, 2018 by ShadowSora94

[madmongo]

There is some sort of bug in FNV that shows up if you have more than 128 mods. I'm guessing it's a signed vs. unsigned 8 bit number bug. The weird thing is that it doesn't always show up right at 128, but usually shows up more around 135 or so mods, and sometimes even later than that. I managed to get around 160 mods on one configuration before running into issues.

 

Keep your total number of mods under 128 and your game will run a lot better.

 

I personally haven't had a problem with inactive mods, but others say they have, so the advice is to always removed them from your data directory.

 

Freeside Open and The Strip Open really tax the game's memory management. FNV's texture caching system in particular seems to be a bit buggy and leaks memory, so it's fairly common if you are running things like FCO and texture mods to have the game go squirrely in Freeside. Populated Casinos is another mod that pushes your memory usage. When I was using Freeside Open, FCO, and Populated Casinos, if I had been playing for any length of time, I was almost guaranteed to get a crash any time I went into the Atomic Wrangler unless I set the graphics detail way down.

 

It doesn't matter if you have 16 GB of RAM. The game can only use 4 GB (and only 2 GB if you don't have the 4 GB patch). It's a 32 bit game. That's the limits of its addressing capabilities.

[ShadowSora94]

Yeah, getting rid of some mods seemed to really do the trick. I have one 146 total plugins right now (including inactive mods) and the game has become stable again, other than a problem I have with House Resort in Camp Golf with the walls not properly loading for some reason. I have exactly 129 plugins active at the moment and the game is (more or less) stable. I'd keep more mods disabled with the Bashed Patch, but some like the Shishkebab No backpack Or Gloves mod and Grunt Perks Expanded seems to kinda? Not actually work, so I had to activate them again. I already have more or less every gameplay altering mod and overhaul I could want and most armors, its just the occasional quest mod (usually bounty hunting mods, if you couldn't tell) I care for at this point. Merging together the More Perks mods alone I think would probably free up a little room. Anything related to basic Item HP, damage, and weight (Cave Fungus going from 1 pound to .02 pounds) I'll just make my own little mod to compile together to decrease the stress.

So yeah, all-in-all, I think this thread is probably resolved? My only question is this; for mod merging, what should I keep in mind? Like, I get to only merge similar mods and the like that all do the same thing. Like, all the More Perks mods together account for 12 .esms and .esps altogether. Could I merge the 6 .esm files and the 6 .esp files to bring the mod count down from 12 to 2? Or should I leave .esm files alone? I don't really want to give up the mods I have, so this seems like a good place to start, I think.

Thank you all for explaining this problem to me: I don't think I would've figured it out otherwise, since I was running like 200+ mods on Skyrim (32 bit standard edition) with no problem; kinda forgot this game is even older and probably couldn't take as much punishment, so I overestimated what New Vegas could handle. So yeah, if anyone can explain the dos and don'ts of merging mods, I think I'm pretty much set, thanks!

[dubiousintent]

Please see the wiki "Merged Plugin Guidelines for Personal Use" article.

If you missed (or forgot) the mod cap, I recommend you read the entire "FNV General Mod Use Advice" article to understand the differences between this game and others you may have experience with; especially if this is your first attempt to mod FNV or it's been more than a year since you last did so.

-Dubious-