Sarcophski

First off, same issue with CTD upon approaching Searchlight. By troubleshooting it for hours, I found that my last stable save was right before I reached a certain point in my approach to Searchlight. After that, any further saves wouldn't load at all. I'm quite sure now that it was some bad issues with a mod conflict or some such causing a bad reference within the newly loaded cell. Once written to a save game file (including by leaving the cell and attempting to return), it would crash. Okay, here's how I fixed it... Non-stop total annihilation. Seriously. I brought my whole coterie and killed all the ghouls, Radscorpions, robots, and everything. There were some turrets that I could hack. I killed those too. After I looted everything lootable, I deleted every last creature reference in Searchlight from the game. This requires NVSE, I think, but what I did was this: find a corpse, open the console, click on the dead thing, and type "zap" to delete the reference. Wash, rinse, and repeat till Searchlight is a ghost town. Now I can load new saves in Searchlight with no problem and I don't get crashes when I enter the cell. It killed the immersion for me, but it was worth it to not have skip that part of the game. A few caveats: 1. If this is an issue for you, this fix will only work the FIRST time you load the cell. That is, all the references are in memory for the first time. They aren't written to a save until you either save at some point. Even I you leave Searchlight and save the game, the cell is written to the file and you'll crash the second you reach it. Your best bet is to load before your first foray into Searchlight and go on a killing spree. I don't know that you HAVE to delete all corpse references, but I thought it better safe than sorry. 2. DON'T go into an interior cell while purging the town. It's not necessary and you just inadvertently saved the bad cell by doing so. Try to go back outside and CTD. At least that was my experience. 3. Once you've finished doing all this park yourself in the center of town, make a regular save, then exit to the desktop. If you can load the save straight from a fresh start, you've probably fixed the problem. 4. Finally, just in case it's a bad reference that respawns, I would make your stay in Searchlight a short one--less than 3 days if possible. Do the quests and get out. It's not that hospitable a town anyway. I hope this helps someone!

@powermonkey23: As a friendly word of advice, I wouldn't continue pursuing any talk of console modding here on the Nexus. Bethesda specifically prohibits console modding; therefore, so do the Nexus sites. It's specifically mentioned in the forum rules, and I've seen lots of folks get banned for it. Just a little FYI if you want to stay a part of the Nexus community. :)

To Whomever can point me in the right direction... I've been downloading mods from the Nexus for a couple of years now and have been having an amazing time playing Fallout 3 and FNV. During this time, I've been honing my modding skills to the point where I've managed to create a mod that enhances my own gameplay enough to where I would like to share it with the community on the Nexus (i.e. upload my first mod). However, also during this time, I've seen lots of modders break all sorts of rules that get them banned and their mods removed--usually rules involving getting the right permissions from the right people. I certainly don't want to break any rules or get banned. The mere thought, as a gamer, of not being able to use the Nexus to keep up with all the brilliant mods that come out... that would seriously suck. Anyway, after searching the forums for a while, I found a lot of comments, many from the admins, about uploading rules. And yet, I still can't manage to find some sort of FAQ or sticky topic that spells things out clearly enough for me to sleep at night without wondering if I'm (accidentally and completely without any knowledge or malice) breaking some rule that's going to get me in trouble. So, is there some thread with all this information for new modders somewhere on the Nexus? Perhaps my search skills just suck. If that's the case, please point me in the right direction and I'll load up on some knowledge. If not, then maybe one of you can answer a few questions for me: 1. Let's say that an existing modder gives open permission on the main page of his mod for others to "redistribute this mod freely" as long as he gets credit. In my case, I only want to use a few of the meshes and textures for the mod. I have tried contacting him (to be on the safe side), but haven't heard back in over a week. I want to use the textures and I want to give him credit, but I don't want to "redistribute" his mod, as mine goes in a different direction entirely. I only want to use a couple of the graphics. So what's the general guideline on this sort of situation. 2. What about patches? Do I need to get permission from a mod author to upload a patch plugin that makes my mod compatible with his mod? Obviously, I would try to contact the mod author in all cases and would fully intend to credit and provide links on my mod page. I'm a pretty thorough and polite guy. But since lot's of these nice folks are playing Skyrim now, I'm sure that I'm going to get no replies occasionally. 3. What about scripts? The vast majority of my scripting knowledge has come from reading hundreds of mod scripts written by much smarter and more talented modders than myself. Any script I ever produce will certainly emulate one or more scripts already in existence in some way. Can I get in trouble for my script "too closely resembling" someone else's? 4. Finally, regarding proprietary graphical assets (meshes, textures, icons, etc.), what is the required level of due diligence to ensure that I'm not using someone else's work without permission? Suppose a mod author gives complete permission for me to use any of his graphical assets. How far back do I need to search to make sure that he is indeed the creator of the asset or has permission to use it from the original creator? Anyway, those are my questions. Sorry for the long post. I just figured that it would be prudent to see if anyone could shed some light on this stuff. Thanks, in advance, to anyone who can provide me some answers to these questions or a link where I can find them out for myself. Thanks! Sarcophski

Crap. I didn't know that about FNVPlugin. Fortunately, I've been doing most of my merging with FNVEdit (partially because they have excellent documentation and partially because I've never really trusted it). Unfortunately, I just merged a crapload of equipment files with FNVPlugin Utility. Damn. Here's hoping, I guess. Good thing I keep a mod-journal to track every step of my merging process. I'm going to give mod-fusion a shot tomorrow. If it works for me, you may proudly add "fool-proof" to your list of adjectives to describe it. :) Thanks again for all your hard work!

Hello All, Not as much a fan of CalibrX as I thought I would be, and so I find myself checking out CASE and CRAFT. I found this link in the CRAFT forums and dropped in to say... WOW. Being able to reduce my load order is really important. If this program can do what it looks like it can, this will change my gaming life. FYI, I probably fall somewhere between a noob and power user. I use NMM to manage installation/uninstallation and load order, BOSS to make suggestions (which I take about 75% of the time), and FNVEdit and FNV Plugin Utility to edit/merge/tinker with mods. I always download whatever mods I want and create custom FOMODs that have the setups that I want (thought I do like scripted installers sometimes). But I haven't really messed with WyreFlash yet since I don't want to have to start from scratch with my modding process, and the documentation seems pretty esoteric for someone who can't mod, script, or program worth a damn. Like I said--not quite a power user. In fact, I rely on gopher's mod clinic videos more than I would care to admit. It's nice to learn something useful without being talked down to like a fourth-grader, which I've experienced on some forums (not on the nexus though). Anyway, I'm currently trying to drop my load order from 160+ plugins down to something around 90 max. When I first downloaded CASE, CRAFT, and HTRP and took a look at the sheer number of plugins, I nearly chucked them in Recycle Bin. While I can usually figure out how to merge mods, given enough time and effort and rigorous error testing, I really want to actually PLAY New Vegas. A program that could actually create custom masters and plugins is something I would enthusiastically support--and I mean financially. From my perspective as a "more than a noob, less than a power user," here is what would make it most useful for me: 1. Ease of Uninstallation: I agree 100% with pippinstrano's last post. The reason I religously use a mod manager (even to the point of creating a fomod when I could just drag a single esp to the DATA folder) is because I like the ability to revert my mod setup to its previous configuration rather than back to vanilla or worse. I was not quite as disciplined with my Fallout 3 install and broke my game constantly. A mod uninstaller that can put the DATA folder back to the state it was in before the mod was installed is a must for guys like me. 2. Small Number of Plugins: It seems your program already does this. I actually don't know since I'm still getting up the courage to run it. I'll probably make a backup copy of my data folder first just in case (see above point). But, yeah, the fact that this mod reduces the number of required plugins is a great big freakin deal! 3. Good Documentation: As a non-modder/scripter/programmer, none of this is intuitive for me. I live and die by documentation. One of my greatest frustrations is with the FNV Plugin Utility--amazing program... HORRIBLE documentation. It's like reading Stephen Hawking. I can recognize the brilliance of what ScripterRon has done, but I still want to blow my brains out after five minutes. If I may, I would like to humbly offer the following suggestions: Either... 1. Have Modfusion create custom .esm/.esp files, but leave the other files separate (textures, meshes, etc.) to be installed with a mod manager that has clean uninstallation capability. That would be awesome and would REALLY help instill the confidence that I'm not going to have to spend HOURS fishing through my DATA subfolders should I want to update/uninstall/modify the original installation. Or... 2. Have Modfusion create CUSTOM FOMOD's, based on the current mods etc. Pretty much the same thing it currently does, but rather than installing the files it would create a zip/rar/7z/fomod that can be installed by a mod manager with ease. In my opinion, this would allow maximum flexibility for the end user, while not scarring anyone away who doesn't like running an .exe file that "puts stuff" in your data folder. That's going to send some folks running for the hills. Those of us who aren't geniuses spend a LOT of time trying to figure out how to build our perfect game and aren't about to do anything we can't easily undo. I actually don't know if option 2 is even possible; but then again, I didn't know that even what you have already done was possible before I saw it. Seriously, the talent and skill of the modding community here is absolutely amazing, and it's a pleasure watching what you guys come up with. P.S. Thanks, Odyseus77, for posting your load order on the CRAFT forum, BTW. Nice. You have renewed my hope that I, too, may one day get all those Project Nevada and DLC patches merged. You guys all rock! Thanks for doing what you do. The rest of us appreciate you more than you know.