Trying to figure out the cause of CTD

[SingularityiOS]

I dont know the best place to start with this, so link me to anyhting I should be checking out first.

 

Got a big list of mods installed, currently the game is CTD randomly, mostly when walking for some distance.

 

Ocasionally freezes and I have to close with task manager while saving.

 

Also CTDs sometimes when I turn my camera in areas like sancutary.

 

Interior locations seem to be pretty safe.

 

Sometimse I can be lucky and play for 3 hours before a CTD. Othertimes 10 minutes. So I find it hard to pinpoint.

 

Also if I'm getting CTDs in a certain area consistently, I can leave the area and return later and its magically fine again.

 

Any help appreciated. I've attached what I hope is helpful. Can anyone see any glaring conflicts? I haven't been able to figure this out myself because the CTDs are just so inconsistant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[StormWolf01]

Hi Singularity.

Ugh, this is one of those really annoying problems with the game. Sitting in front of the machine, worrying "How far will I get, before this crashes??"

 

The first thing that you want to do, is determine whether it's your load order, a particular mod, or if your save games are bad.

 

Several of your symptoms are making me think it's the latter :( Particularly with it freezing during a save.

 

But you're going to need to do some testing. The first thing I'd suggest, is to remove all of your current savegames from out of the fallout 4 documents folder. Just Cut and Paste them into a new folder somewhere on your computer.

 

Now, you're going to want to start up a few new characters. Tho you don't have to start them all up at the same time.

 

1) Test the game as virgin as possible. Play a new character with only the bare minimum of mods that you can't play the game without. This will test to see if it's one of the 3 problems I listed above.

A) If it starts crashing with a bare minimum of mods, its one of the mods. Or a problem with your installation of the game.

B) If the character runs fine without crashing, it's very possible your other saves went bad.

 

2) Start up another new character. Activate about 1/4 of your mods, and test for a while.

 

3) Start up a new char, activate your entire LO, and test for a while.

 

1, 2, and 3 - DO NOT add new mods to your game while you are testing.

 

Repeat.

DO.

NOT.

 

If Step 2 or 3 starts up the problems again, then we can try to slueth what mods are causing you these nasty problems.

[SingularityiOS]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I am going to try this and get back to you.

[StormWolf01]

No problem at all Singularity! I've had this problem too, and I know what a pain in the tail that it is!

Hopefully we can get you up and running again, without problems!

(Errr... wait, this IS a Bethesda game we're talking about....!) Ok, joking aside, yeah. Let's see what we can do to get your game stabilized! :)

[SingularityiOS]

Thanks!

 

So far I have tried with essentially nothing enabled, then again with the attached enabled.

 

Played about 2 hours, speedrunning the first part of the main quest, got up to breaking into kellogs house and it seemed fine.

 

Time to enable some more mods. I also trimmed back some that I realised I haven't been using ingame and some that haven't been updated since like 2016 that I think I can live without.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stormie]

Try Buffout 4 - it has some requirements for it, but it creates crash logs with pointers to possible causes (and fixes a few issues as well).

 

Buffout 4 at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com)

For some extra help with the crash logs there's also Buffout 4 - Crash Log Scanner GUI at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com)

 

Edit: If you don't absolutely need Armorsmith (which has a few issues, performance and otherwise), ECO is a great alternative: Equipment and Crafting Overhaul (ECO) at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com)

[StormWolf01]

Singularity, that is great news! I am glad to hear that it's running smoothly so far! That at least tells us that it's not a problem with your actual game, or possibly some of the software on your computer :D

 

Before you start re-activating the mods I really do want to offer this advice tho.

 

Think ahead.

Have some idea of how you want your load order (LO) to be, before you start activating. What I myself would do, is put together your list in advance and only activate from the top, downward on the list.

 

The reason for this, and the reason I suspect your saves went bad, is because of the way that this game saves game info, relating to mods.

 

What happens is that this game assigns number values to information provided by .esm/.esp/.esl files. Say that you have the main file, and all 6 DLC. Those are going to automatically be assigned numbers from 001 to 007. And anything after that, will progress by where they are on the list, working from top to bottom.

 

Why this matters. Say that 012 in my list is a gun mod. Every gun made by that mod, and every attachment for that gun, is going to start with 012 in my save file info. If I put a couple of other gun mods in my LO, ahead of that gun, now that gun's info no longer starts with 012, it's now 014. Which doesn't match what is in my save info.

So when the game loads up, and it scans my chosen save file, it's going to have a bug. One that is going to get written into my next save.

 

So what I'm saying is for prevention. To try to help you keep this from happening again.

Have a plan when it comes to your load order.

Don't install new mods on a current playthrough. Test them out on test characters first. Ones that you can delete if it causes problems.

Try to install new mods at the lower end of your LO when possible. Not always possible tho. :(

And don't install a lot of new mods that use .esm/.esp/.esl all at once.

 

Good luck! I hope to hear good news about how it goes!

[SingularityiOS]

Thanks for the explaination above, I didnt realise it worked that way. I may have possibly found the issue, still testing. Flyable Personal Vertibird had a patch I missed (seperate from the main file, which is kinda of anoying) as well as a patch for Classic Holstered Weapons. WIll continue enabling chunks of mods to see how it goes.

[3DRenderBoy]

1) Test the game as virgin as possible. Play a new character with only the bare minimum of mods that you can't play the game without.

This is what I am doing. I made a new "virgin" character:

 

1) Game fresh installed

2) NO files installed into Fallout4.exe main or DATA folder

3) Mod Organizer 2 NOT started

4) Game started via Launcher

5) Made a new character

6) Done Vault 111 quest

7) Done FULL save in front of the elevator BEFORE I was ready to go 'outside'

8) (Outside) Done a FULL save

 

So, if something goes wrong, like crashes, not working or incompatible mods, I use always this save but with ALL mods activated (including Fallout 4 Script Extender that is installed manually in game's main folder).

 

To my surprise I have no crashes. Not even one! Except sometimes slowdowns/freezing for a very short time of 2-3 seconds when meeting new areas (but not in all areas), because these areas are first 'blank' then get re-built (landscape, tress, grass, buildings etc.).

 

I made a new thread "AAF Related ModList HELP". Maybe my load order can be 'inspiration':

https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/12412888-aaf-related-modlist-help/

.

 

[RaidersClamoring]

Is the walking/crashing happening in the Glowing Sea? Sim Settlements 2 and SOTS do not get along and will cause crashes at the edges of TGS. Just a wild guess!