Mods broke my game... completely

[SplatterPanda]

i'm new to adding mods to Fallout 3, but i can read and understand the tutorials, so i figured i'd give it a try. big mistake, apparently.

 

i found FOIP and figured it was a good place to start, especially as it had an example load order and pretty detailed instructions. i downloaded FWE, EVE, MMM, and WMK as they were all covered on the FOIP page, as well as FOMM, FOSE, and FO3Edit.

 

however, following the example load order just crashes the game instantly. so, one by one, i tried removing mods with no luck. now, i'm down to the base install, with no custom content in the Data folder... and the game is still crashing almost instantly, every time. crash-happy as this game already was, i could at least play; now it's just broken.

 

i desperately want to get this mod content working to add some life to this game.

 

downloaded .esp and .esm files all show up in FOMM, and i used FO3Edit to created a merged patch, then attempted to load the game through FOSE, all with no luck. i also made sure to toggle the archive invalidation thing in FOMM.

[ninjafish]

Did you use ArchivInvalidation?

If you install mods without running that can basically f--- up your game.

I'd give that a try.

 

Also, when deciding if mods are the issue, click on the mod in the load order and check if the master files exist.

Some need DLC, some need other mods etc.

[SplatterPanda]

as i said, yes, i used the archive invalidation available in FOMM.

 

i have the Game of the Year edition that includes all DLC packs.

 

and, i understand that a missing master file will cause crashes. however, as i've now tried each mod individually and not a single one works, i find it hard to believe that i somehow visited each mod's webpage but managed to not download the necessary files every single time. as i said, my load order is EXACTLY THE SAME as the example load order as shown on the FOIP page. i literally went down the list, one .esp/.esm at a time, matching my load order to the example.

 

either way, a missing master file hardly explains how, even after removing all the mod content from the Data folder, the vanilla base game is now crashing in exactly the same manner.

[ninjafish]

as i said, yes, i used the archive invalidation available in FOMM.

 

i have the Game of the Year edition that includes all DLC packs.

 

and, i understand that a missing master file will cause crashes. however, as i've now tried each mod individually and not a single one works, i find it hard to believe that i somehow visited each mod's webpage but managed to not download the necessary files every single time. as i said, my load order is EXACTLY THE SAME as the example load order as shown on the FOIP page. i literally went down the list, one .esp/.esm at a time, matching my load order to the example.

 

either way, a missing master file hardly explains how, even after removing all the mod content from the Data folder, the vanilla base game is now crashing in exactly the same manner.

 

Well I personally find the AchiveInvalidation in FoMM to be garbage but ok.

Well your either missing a master file, which disabling mods might not fix, since for all you know adding a mod may of deleted, moved or changed a file.

If it's got absolutely nothing with your mods and you must be perfect compared to everyone else to completely dismiss that, than it's something to do with hardware.

 

Your best bet is to do a re-install of the game.

[MerlinCross]

Aye, I've had to reinstall at least once due to mods. Sometimes I find it easier to uninstall, kill all the remaining mod data, reinstall, and then put the mods that I know work together back in.

 

Only other thing I can think of is to check the Disk itself, see if it's damaged. Good luck with it.

[DigitalVixen]

Download FO3Edit. While it may be confusing to use at first, it will prompt you directly if you are missing something.

 

So run FOMM to setup your load order, then close FOMM and start FO3Edit, it will go through and load all the modules and stop directly if something is missing, and also specifically mention the missing master (if this is the case).

[LadyMilla]

Also, if you used DarnUI but removed it, the leftover entries in fallout.ini may also cause a CTD as soon as the game starts.

 

I had a strange bug that caused the water to disappear from the Potomac river. I also tried disabling my mods one by one, even tried the vanilla game, to no avail.

 

Once I deleted Fallout.ini and FalloutPrefs.ini, and let the game recreate them, the water was back in the riverbed.

 

If you decide to give this solution a try but you changed the uGridsToLoad value in Fallout.ini, make sure you use the same value in the recreated fallout.ini, otherwise you will be unable to load any savegames, and your game will crash.