When I activate any mod, I get a crash to desktop

[TGBlank]

pieceoshu, you're suffering the dreaded 1.5 bugs, you need fo3edit to fix them, read the instructions of it and etc and learn to use the masterupdate feature, then, of course, use it.

[pieceoshu]

Thanks TGBlank for the info, but I am really quite confused. I downloaded FO3Edit and selected my masterfiles and mods on the prompt. It processed, showed me a list of messages, then...nothing. There are no instructions with the download or on the download page. Any advice here, cause I have no idea what FO3Edit is actually supposed to do or how to use it?

[TGBlank]

quoting from the file description page:

 

FO3Edit is an advanced graphical module viewer/editor and conflict detector.

 

When started it will automatically find your Fallout 3 Data directory. You then get a dialog to select which modules you want to load with the current selection from your plugins.txt as default value. Once you have confirmed that dialog the selected modules will start loading in the background. Depending on your system it should take 30 seconds to a few minutes (!) for all modules to load. You can follow the progress in the message window. (Don't panic if it seems to freeze, it just takes time).

 

The tree view on the left side now shows all active modules in their correct load order. By navigating that tree view you can look at every single record in any of your modules.

 

Once a record has been selected the detailed contents of that record is shown on the right side. The detail view shows all versions of the selected record from all modules which contain it. The left most column is the master. The right most column is the module that "wins". This is the version of the record that Fallout 3 sees.

 

Both the detail view and the record list use the same color coding to signal the conflict state of individual fields (in the detail view) and the record overall (in the record list).

 

Background color:

White - Single Record

Green - Multiple but no conflict

Yellow - Override without conflict

Red - Conflict

 

Text color:

Black - Single Record

Gray - Hidden by Mod Group

Purple - Master

Gray - Identical to Master

Orange - Identical to Master but conflict Winner

Green - Override without conflict

Orange - Conflict winner

Red - Conflict loser

 

Conflict detection is not simply based on the existence of multiple records for the same FormID in different modules but instead performs a comparison of the parsed subrecord data.

 

The record tree view on the left side has a context menu where you can activate filtering. Filtering is based on the same conflict categorization as the background and text color.

 

Yes, filtering will take a while. It has to decode and compare the contents of every single record which turns up more then once.

 

Be warned, this program uses a lot of memory. Performance on a system with less then 2GB of RAM will most likely be sub-optimal. Activating the filtering uses even more memory.

 

 

and

 

MasterUpdate mode is the solution to the bugs introduced in Patch 1.5 in regards to plugins.

 

When running in MasterUpdate mode, the following operations are performed without further user interaction:

 

all modules in the Data folder are assigned into 2 groups, masters and plugins, based on their file extension (.esm or .esp)

the modules in each group are sorted by file modification date/time

all module files are redated, first all masters, then all plugins, in 1 minute intervals

all active modules are then loaded, the ESM flag set in the file header if not yet present, the ONAM subrecords build if required

any temporary overriding worldspace record that have at least one previous version that is persistent are marked as persistent

all modified modules are saved.

 

This makes it possible to take an existing setup using patch 1.4 or older which contains mods that are broken by the bugs in patch 1.5 to be updated to patch 1.5, and used with existing savegames without being messed up by the bugs in Patch 1.5.

 

As this function is still considered EXPERIMENTAL, please make sure you have a full backup of your Data folder and your save games before using it.

 

I'll not take any responsibility if your computer explodes, gains sentience and start chasing you around the room or anything else that might happen.

 

You can run it in MasterUpdate mode by passing the parameter "-masterupdate" when running FO3Edit.exe or you can simply rename the exe to FO3MasterUpdate.exe

 

There is also a MasterRestore mode which removes the ESM flag again from all .esp files. You can run in MasterRestore mode by passing "-masterrestore" as parameter or renaming the exe to FO3MasterRestore.exe

 

 

See? there ARE instructions on the download page.

[pieceoshu]

Should I feel dumb? Not sure how I missed some of that. Thank you so much, it was the part about renaming to master update that saved me. It works without a problem now, I can hardly believe it.