Some differences between the GOG copy of the game and the steam copy. (SOLVED)

[363rdChemicalCompany]

They are suppsoed to be the same yes?

Alas they are not. I just downloaded a week ago a copy of the GOG game onto my new gaming laptop. Its the only game that laptop has ever seen. (MSI Raider GE78HX 14VIG-600US )

This is what I noticed.

 

- The T51 Power Armor in its base unmodified form when you find it as T51a, is also rusty. In the steam copy it is the only armor that appears painedt in its base form but in the GOG game it appears like the others unpainted with a rusty texture. I suppose that makes sense and this may well be an intentional update from someone (??).

- several of my mods do not "hook" into the game and seem to do nothing, and act as placebo files, Impervious Armor, DLC timing and a couple of others.

- The naming of the .ini files is ever so slightly different. I dont have screenshots next to me but I noticed  adifference right away

- The GOG copy is less stable even though  expected the opposite.

On my desktop with the Steam copy I am almost CTD free and every mod works, from a ~340 mod loadout.

On my laptop with GOG file, I get CTDs every 5-40 minutes, even though my laptop specs are higher than my desktops (desktop: i9 10900 KF, 64Gb DDR4 RAM, 1T SSD for my C drive, RTX 4070; My laptop: i9 14900HX, 64GB DDR5 RAM, late spec 2T SSD  as my C drive, RTX 4090 , yes its laptop  4090 so its desktop equivalent is barely a 4080 but still not less than my desktop) and this is also with my mod list culled to only ~ 220 mods.

(My laptop is with a cooling mat, these are not over heat issues asfar as I can tell.

At idle the CPU runs between 45-50C, When gaming from 70-85C most of the time. During intense action it spikes up to 95C without the cooling mat and up to 90C with the cooling mat. I now play exclusivley with cooling mat fans on all the time. My desktop of course runs much cooler, with its 360mm liquid cooler and a dedicated GPU extra fan cooling pack)

I wonder if my CTDs are maybe due to the fact that my utilities like UFO4P or Buffout4 may not fully act on the game files,  if any of the folders are in any way dfferent?

Summary.

I really believe in the DRM free GOG concept and want to support GOG.

I deeply resent Steam for forcing all this bloat on us for accpeting their games (GOG has a similar game management wizard GOG galaxy, but allows you to opt out the GOG galaxy wizard and install the pure file "by hand", which I did).

Tommorrow I hope to be at fast internet and then I will likely uninstall my GOG game (keeping a backup , I expanded my new lapop with an extra 4T SSD, from Samsung 990) and install the Steam bloatware and Fallout 4 via steam. Sigh...

[LarannKiar]

If you have F4SE plugins then I think most are tested on the Steam version so one of them could be a source of the CTD. Or do you have another computer to test the game on? That may help if you suspect it's some kind of driver issue.

Buffout 4 with PDB support may produce more readable log files if that supports the GOG version, I don't know. You can also try the Crash Log Scanner.

[363rdChemicalCompany]

44 minutes ago, LarannKiar said:

If you have F4SE plugins then I think most are tested on the Steam version so one of them could be a source of the CTD. Or do you have another computer to test the game on? That may help if you suspect it's some kind of driver issue.

Buffout 4 with PDB support may produce more readable log files if that supports the GOG version, I don't know. You can also try the Crash Log Scanner.

I have the latest F4SE from silverlock, on both my desktop and my laptop. My desktop has the Steam game and my laptop the GOG game.

Both computers are with me right now, but I am in a hotel and the internet is too slow to download the GOG copy onto my desktop as well or Steam onto my laptop.

Soon my houshold goods will be packed up and I will be on extended travel overseas as a contractor so I wanted to have my laptop with FO4 running 100% with mods before I leave. I have not tried the laptop with a pure vanilla run.

The desktop will join me in 2-3 months down the road and since my laptop is actually a bit quicker in-game I was hoping to make that my main computer.

I do have crash log files from Buffout 4 most of the crash smple seem to list fallout4.esm.

Occasionally they will list other causes. I found myself removing all the "risky" mods from my laptop even though they ran fine on my desktop such as scrap everything, PRP repair, location mods that messed with precombines, etc as eventually I always seem to get a lot of landscape and building flicker, now that I culled my mod list that seems gone at least. Had about 15-20 new starts in the past week trying to narrow down the culprits and right now at 220 mods its playable. Except some mods dont seem to "hook" into the game, none of them are critical but still that I was certain of it that was the final straw.)

Diamond City expansion with Red seat actually seems stable right now, thats the only "dicey" mod I kept, and I want the expansion because I added  a mod that nearly doubles the DC Guards so the city seems more balanced with the boost in interior population that the expansion pack offers. 

 

PS: I dont know what PDB support or the crash logger scanner are. All I have is Buffout 4 

[sattyre]

13 hours ago, 363rdChemicalCompany said:

PS: I dont know what PDB support or the crash logger scanner are. All I have is Buffout 4 

it's an upgraded Buffout 4.  If I'm not mistaken, F4SE files won't work unless they are actually placed into the game in the GOG edition.  If you have the F4SE mods in your vortex/MO2 folders, then I could see that being an issue and could be the cause of the ctds if they're not working.  Some of your other observations sound like bug fixes which is definitely something GOG would do.  Put your F4SE mods directly into the game data folder and see if that makes a difference.

If you aren't getting a buffout crash log then buffout isn't working.

[363rdChemicalCompany]

4 hours ago, sattyre said:

it's an upgraded Buffout 4.  If I'm not mistaken, F4SE files won't work unless they are actually placed into the game in the GOG edition.  If you have the F4SE mods in your vortex/MO2 folders, then I could see that being an issue and could be the cause of the ctds if they're not working.  Some of your other observations sound like bug fixes which is definitely something GOG would do.  Put your F4SE mods directly into the game data folder and see if that makes a difference.

If you aren't getting a buffout crash log then buffout isn't working.

1)

Amazing Follower Tweaks

Impervious Power Armor

Various extra paintings

Quick Start settlement Gizmo

THe "stop rad storms outside of hazard regions"  toggle in NAC-x

DLC timing

are just  some examples I  noticed.

2) I downloaded Buffout 4 with PDB based on your recommendation. Shpuld I disable the "old" buffout 4 before I activate this?

3) Can you tell me  a bit more detail how to "place into the game" the problematic mods? I usually do manual donwloads so I sitll ahve the files. should I unrar/unzip them and place into the folder marked Falllout 4 GOTY or, Data folder ?Please excuse my ignorance. I been learning a lot in past 18 months with making FO4 work for me with lots of mods so I am not a noob anymore but  apower user I am not yet

4) I noticed in an older thread someone on the GOG forums said something about editing the Fallout.ini file to help the GOG file work,, but now i seems i have 3 of them in the GOG version.

[sattyre]

1 hour ago, 363rdChemicalCompany said:

3) Can you tell me  a bit more detail how to "place into the game" the problematic mods? I usually do manual donwloads so I sitll ahve the files. should I unrar/unzip them and place into the folder marked Falllout 4 GOTY or, Data folder ?Please excuse my ignorance. I been learning a lot in past 18 with making FO4 work for me with lots of mods so I am not a noob anymore but  apower user I am not yet

In the game folder, place any F4SE mods into Data\F4SE\plugins.  If a mod has an esp or textures/meshes/materials folders etc as well as an F4SE component, I would say you could install the mod normally and then move the F4SE component to the base game folder.   Keep in mind, these are things i have read, I have no direct experience at this point.  I've been using the GOG FO4 to check out vortex and see what the differences are to MO2.  I actually haven't played the game using GOG at this point.  I did however, read up on how to use GOG when F4SE wasn't made with gog in mind.

Buffout 4 with PDB is simply another Buffout 4 and will completely overwrite the buffout 4 above it.  So I don't believe it matters.  Putting it in the Base game should mean you delete the one in your modlist.

1 hour ago, 363rdChemicalCompany said:

I noticed in an older thread someone on the GOG forums said something about editing the Fallout.ini file to help the GOG file work,, but now i seems i have 3 of them in the GOG version.

I would say if you are start modding a completely new FO4 instance then it should have ini tweaks designed for A: that particular load order and B: That particular computer.  Simply shuffling .ini files from one computer to another is problematic unless both computers are completely identical.  Also, shuffling .ini  files between different builds can also be problematic.  Different computers have different hardware and software.  Ini files need to be set up to work with that particular set of components.  Same with mod loadouts.

[363rdChemicalCompany]

21 hours ago, sattyre said:

In the game folder, place any F4SE mods into Data\F4SE\plugins.  If a mod has an esp or textures/meshes/materials folders etc as well as an F4SE component, I would say you could install the mod normally and then move the F4SE component to the base game folder.   Keep in mind, these are things i have read, I have no direct experience at this point.  I've been using the GOG FO4 to check out vortex and see what the differences are to MO2.  I actually haven't played the game using GOG at this point.  I did however, read up on how to use GOG when F4SE wasn't made with gog in mind.

Buffout 4 with PDB is simply another Buffout 4 and will completely overwrite the buffout 4 above it.  So I don't believe it matters.  Putting it in the Base game should mean you delete the one in your modlist.

I would say if you are start modding a completely new FO4 instance then it should have ini tweaks designed for A: that particular load order and B: That particular computer.  Simply shuffling .ini files from one computer to another is problematic unless both computers are completely identical.  Also, shuffling .ini  files between different builds can also be problematic.  Different computers have different hardware and software.  Ini files need to be set up to work with that particular set of components.  Same with mod loadouts.

 

Excuse my ignorance but how do I identify a mod that uses F4SE?

Also how do I "place them" into that folder? Just copy/paste?

and how do I "Identify the F4se component"?

Sorry dont mean to be desperate, but I only have a few hours left where I still have the option of uninstall and reinstall via steam.

Tomorrow morning I will fly overseas and be for months in Hotels with likely too slow internet to re download FO4 from Steam in a reasonable time. So I have a decision point tonight:

Am I confident I can fix my GOG install, and/or if not,. then go back to Steam .

Right now the install despite some not functioning mods seems playable (I made it to Diamond City).

But if I don't know how many mods may cause crashes eventually and which ones the game may become unplayable . if I could ID which mods cause these issues I could in a pinch disable them if I am unable to fix.

Attached are my current plug ins and load order (this seems to show even those that are disabled)

 

 

[fraquar]

Am I reading that right?    Is Vortex actually loading UFO4P as the 126th mod in your load order?

Even if you were adding/disabling mods - UFO4P should literally never move - it should get loaded right after the base game .ESM's.

 

 

 

 

[363rdChemicalCompany]

1 hour ago, fraquar said:

Am I reading that right?    Is Vortex actually loading UFO4P as the 126th mod in your load order?

Even if you were adding/disabling mods - UFO4P should literally never move - it should get loaded right after the base game .ESM's.

 

 

 

 

 

When you mentioneds this, I figure this might be part reason for my crashes?

Now I am trying to move it up but have not been able to I click the function to associate one loads after the other because there are too many mods and its  afew screensviews up. so I cannot cold the link and drop it.. If it was close same screen I could use the Vortex fucntion to set one as load after another.

The last of the fundamental game .esms is Nuka world.

And if i set (which  in any event I cant seem to do)  as Load after Nuka world or "no mechanical menace patch" , it already loads after them so it may not even move as its already after them. In any event I cant move it  so far.

 

Also I just packed my desktop into a shipping container so I do not jave it here now to compare my other load (fully functional) order.

But based on what I learned in this thread simply pruging and reinstalling my mods into a "perfect" order will not solve

Perhaps later tonight I just need to uninstall all of the GOG files and reinstall steam given that the window of fast internet is closing rapidply on me.

 

 

[sattyre]

2 hours ago, 363rdChemicalCompany said:

Excuse my ignorance but how do I identify a mod that uses F4SE?

Also how do I "place them" into that folder? Just copy/paste?

and how do I "Identify the F4se comptonen"?

You identify mods that are or have a F4SE component by several factors. 

1:  Typically the download page tells you it is a F4SE mod. 

2:  if you open the mod folder it will always have a folder titled "F4SE" and the folder structure is always  "Data\"F4SE\plugins.  (I put quotations around the "Data\" because often this folder is not there and is assumed and modern mod managers typically don't need to see an actual Data folder to know how to place a mod.)

3:  F4SE mods typically are packaged as above and make use of a .dll file.  However there can also be other types of files, including F4EE and json files.

You place them into the game folder by first creating the appropriate game folders to start with.  Within the root directory, where you find the Fallout4.exe is the "Data" folder.  This folder contains the Fallout .esms and .ba2 files.  Inside the data folder, Create a folder titled F4SE and open it.  Then create a folder named Plugins.  This is where you paste the F4SE .dll or .ini or any other file that are found within the F4SE\plugins\ folder structure.  Any components outside of this structure should stay in the mod manager, such as esp/esl/esm or Textures or meshes or other folders.

You can identify the F4SE component because it is typically found within the F4SE\plugins\ folder structure.  Sometimes mods are not packaged correctly, so you have to deduce that by reading the mod description and paying attention to what you're installing. 

If a mod deviates slightly from the F4SE\plugins structure by having another folder component such as "F4SE\plugins\component\*files*", then that structure should also be adhered too.

It should be noted that you can also simply drag and drop the file and folder structure into the game folder.