Dead Money crashing all over the place

[th3overseer]

I have no idea. I've played this DLC before, with no issue, but this time around, it's trying it's level best to be unplayable. Problems first became apparent when I went into the Service Tunnel in the yellow-tint section of the villa. I couldn't leave, no matter which door I used, they all crashed. I used console commands to go to the central fountain and walked back to the gate to the yellow-tinted area, went through, aaaaand crash. It didn't crash in the first place when I entered the area first, but any subsequent attempt, and crash. Judicious use of console commands later, I got all the companions in position, and I had to go into the purple-tinted sector and fire up the gala from the bell-tower. I get up there, pull the switch, and guess what happens- game crash. Triggering the gala caused it to crash every time. I tried using the console commands to complete the quest that way, didn't matter, game crashed.

 

So then I used the console to unlock the gate into the casino, thankfully that automatically finished the Gala quest, and all was right with the world. I go in the casino, gamble, go back-and-forth through the lobby to unlock the kitchen where Dog was, talked him down, go through the lobby again to get into Dean's area, talk with him, head back into the lobby aaaaaand crash. Try to console-teleport into the lobby, same thing. So the lobby was all fine and not-crash prone... until it suddenly it was another crash hot-spot, apropos of absolutely nothing. Hopefully I can keep console-commanding my way through this s#*!, but like I said, borderline unplayable.

 

The best part is that I have 4gb, NVAC, stutter remover, and everything tweaked following a stability guide that actually seemed to have worked really well. My game was super stable and not crashing at all, until I got about halfway through this DLC. I've checked in FNVedit, and I don't have any mods that are touching the DLC quests/doors/cells. I seriously doubt it's an issue of memory, considering I can play modded-to-gills TTW without much trouble with this setup.

 

So, any possible insight in what in god's name is suddenly wrong with this DLC, and how I could possibly fix it, would be much appreciated. At this point, I'm just praying that these random-ass crashes don't follow me into the Mojave proper.

[dubiousintent]

Anytime the game "Crashes to the Desktop" (CTD) it's typically going to generate an error message in the Windows Eventlog. Please see the "Windows Error Messages" section of the wiki "How to read most Bethesda game error logs" article.

Since the advent of the Meltdown/Spectre exploits, MS has been releasing a series of updates to mitigate the vulnerability. As most older programs are not patched to deal with the changes this brings to the OS, unexpected issues may result. Not saying your particular problem is related; just that it is possible as an explanation for why you are seeing problems this time around and not previously especially if you have an older CPU. Please see the 'Issue: NVSE - fails to load after update KB4058043 to Win10 FCU (v1709)' entry in the wiki "Fallout NV Mod Conflict Troubleshooting" guide.

 

Another possible explanation is if you added mods designed to alter your "Dead Money" experience.

 

-Dubious-

[th3overseer]

I checked in FNVedit and none of the doors/cells/quests that caused the crashes were being touched by any mods.

[dubiousintent]

What is the Windows error message in the System Eventlog (most likely under "Applications", but check under "System" as well).

 

-Dubious-

[th3overseer]

I'm not especially tech-savvy, so this may not be the right information, but:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

- <System>

<Provider Name="Application Error" />

<EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>

<Level>2</Level>

<Task>100</Task>

<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

<TimeCreated SystemTime="2019-05-25T22:12:37.287395600Z" />

<EventRecordID>57786</EventRecordID>

<Channel>Application</Channel>

<Computer>DESKTOP-RQFI5K3</Computer>

<Security />

</System>

- <EventData>

<Data>FalloutNV.exe</Data>

<Data>1.4.0.525</Data>

<Data>4e0d50ed</Data>

<Data>ntdll.dll</Data>

<Data>10.0.17134.556</Data>

<Data>319e0a75</Data>

<Data>c0000005</Data>

<Data>00045e10</Data>

<Data>2220</Data>

<Data>01d51346ce52f15e</Data>

<Data>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout New Vegas\FalloutNV.exe</Data>

<Data>C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll</Data>

<Data>471e75a2-0f44-4970-b47b-c0ba57cafa9b</Data>

<Data />

<Data />

</EventData>

</Event>

[dubiousintent]

You are getting a "0xC0000005" error in "ntdll.dll". This is what I suspected.

 

"Windows Exception code: 0xc0000005". The "Faulting Application" is often the victim of another program rather than the actual culprit, making it virtually impossible for the user to trace the source. Any recent update since the last time it was working correctly is suspect, as are viruses even if you have anti-virus (AV) running. Run AV from multiple sources when checking for infections. There are a number of free online scanners on the internet (though they are all going to try to sell you their services after the first time).

You may need to exclude FNV from "Data Execution Protection (DEP)" and configure " Windows Defender Exploit Guard (WDEG)". Please see "Issue - NVSE - fails to load after update KB4058043 to Win10 FCU v1709" under the 'Solutions to Starting the game problems' section of the wiki "Fallout NV Mod Conflict Troubleshooting" article.

Try turning off any unnecessary background processes, such as "anti-virus" or "anti-malware" programs (unneeded if you are running your game in "offline" mode once you have scanned since the last connection), multiplayer "overlays" like "OverWolf" (this is single-player after all), the Steam overlay, etc., at least on a temporary basis to see if they are interfering. There are also tools (often called "Game Boosters") to help you determine "unnecessary when offline" Windows services you can temporarily shut down.

It is also possible that any recent change to your mods (such as updates) or your existing "load order" (such as additions or removals) have causes a corruption of the current save game file. Try going back to a save game from before the problem started. Often starting a "new game" with a vanilla test character can help confirm if the problem lies in the current load order.

I also note you have the game installed to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout New Vegas". Please see the wiki "Installing Games on Windows Vista+" article for why the original default Steam behavior of installing games to the "C:\Program Files" or "C:\Program Files(x86)" folder tree was bad (they learned better, and don't do that any more); and why "disabling UAC and running as Administrator" is NOT sufficient, with instructions how to move it. This is the single most important thing you can do to fix and protect yourself against problems in the future. As much of a PITA as that is, it's never going to be any easier than now. System updates often cause issues with games installed to these folder trees. Please see the 'Restoring to "Vanilla"' section of the wiki "FNV General Mod Use Advice" article as well.

-Dubious-

[th3overseer]

Alright, it seems like the crashes are related to a corrupted save, or something to that effect. I don't imagine that's something that could be fixed, so it looks like I'll just be starting back up from the save I made before entering the DLC. Annoying to lose seven hours, but at least I know I can salvage the playthrough. I've moved FNV out of the program files and exempted it from my antivirus anyways. Is there anything I should be doing to avoid getting saves files corrupted in the first place?

[dubiousintent]

* Please see the paragraph about "auto-saves" under the 'Essentials for Getting Started' section of the wiki "FNV General Mod Use Advice" article.

 

* Related to the NVSR problem, for problems AFTER a save game is loaded see also 'Issue: Incomplete save game load' in the "Troubleshooting" guide.

I recommend anyone read the entire "FNV General Mod Use Advice" article, but especially the 'Common Game Problems' section.

-Dubious-