Problem with ctd on startup

[BlinkRiddle]

So I had a lot of mod related problems and decided to just uninstall the game and all the mods and start all over again. I have reinstalled the game and any mods I chose to keep and now the game crashes to desktop before the start menu comes up, I hear a second or two of the main menu music and then CRASH. The game worked fine up until some mods got in and I lost track of what was messing up what, so I know it's not my system or OP. Please help me out, I'm sure I just missed something but I can't figure out what.

[proconsu1]

We need more info, and you may need one tool in particular in order to provide that info painlessly. Download and install FOMM (I know that link goes to FOMM for Fallout:New Vegas, but that version of FOMM covers both FO:NV and FO3). Then load up FOMM, click "Load Order", choose "Export" from that drop down menu, give it a name for the text file it is about to create and then click "Save". Then open that text file you just created and copy and paste its contents into your next reply in this thread. That will let us see exactly what you have installed so far and how it is trying to load in. Edited March 11, 2011 by proconsu1

[BlinkRiddle]

I already have FOMM, the new one at that. And the computer that has FO3 on it doesn't have internet so I cant copy and paste the load order to a reply but when I get time later today I'll write it down and type it up here.Thanks for the help by the way, greatly appreciated.

[BlinkRiddle]

Okay, so my load order is as follows:

[X] Fallout3.esm

[X] CALIBR.esm

[X] xCALIBR.esm

[X] Anchorage.esm

[X] ThePitt.esm

[X] BrokenSteel.esm

[X] PointLookout.esm

[X] Zeta.esm

[X] Sharing and Caring Companions.esm

[X] EnhancedChildren.esm

[X] Companion Core.esm

[X] Companion Share & Recruit.esm

[X] AliciasCuteShop.esm

[X] SShop.esm

[X] Fellout-Full.esp

[X] xCALIBRammo_override.esp

[X] xCALIBRammo_FWE.esp

[X] Fellout-BrokenSteel.esp

[X] Fellout-PointLookout.esp

[X] Fellout-Zeta.esp

[X] Fellout-pipboylight.esp

[X] CALIBRxMerchant.esp

[X] FEV_Subjects.esp

[X] 7_ISA -e 20th Century Weapons v3.1.esp

[X] 7_ISA -e Chinese Assault Rifle.esp

[X] S.T.A.L.K.E.R. ARSENAL MOD.esp

[X] 7_ISA -ec 10 mm Submachine Gun.esp

[X] 7_ISA -ec 44 magnum.esp

[X] 7_ISA -ec Alien Blaster.esp

[X] 7_ISA -ec G3A3.esp

[X] 7_ISA -ec Mauser.esp

[X] 7_ISA -ec Sawed Off Shotgun.esp

[X] AliciasCuteShopDoorOverride.esp

[X] De-Essential.esp

[X] 45-70Ammo.esp

[X] Companion Core DLC Addon.esp

[X] BetterHeadshots.esp

[X] BetterHitSquads.esp

[X] DIM TYPE3clothesRETAIL.esp

[X] rothfix.esp

[X] New Slower Degradation.esp

[X] Shojo Companions.esp

[X] Childhood Beginning.esp

[X] SShopItems.esp

[X] RHINO45-70.esp

[X] Armored Duster.esp

[X] TESTstealthcollar.esp

 

btw I have tried deactivating all mods and running the game with the same crash so I'm not sure if that is the problem...

Edited March 11, 2011 by BlinkRiddle

[proconsu1]

OK, there are some problems there, sure enough. Being unable to connect to the internet complicates things, though, since the best way to deal with that messed up load order would be to install BOSS, have it update its masterlist, and then use it to sort that load order. What I advise is that you download and install BOSS on your internet connected 'puter, download the masterlist there, then copy both the downloaded BOSS file and the downloaded masterlist to some piece of removable media like a flash drive, mp3 player, sd card, cell phone - whatever ya got that both 'puters can connect to. Then you can use that to move those two things, BOSS and its masterlist, to the FO3 'puter.

 

If for whatever reason you cannot get at the very least a new masterlist onto your FO3 box, then there is some guidance I can give you on load order, but it will be far from perfect.

 

1. Your official content is definitely loading in the wrong order. The first things in your load order should be, in this order: Fallout3.esm, Anchorage.esm, ThePitt.esm, BrokenSteel.esm, PointLookout.esm and Zeta.esm. In your case this can be accomplished by simply shoving those two CALIBR esms down the load order to right after Zeta.esm.

 

2. All your Fellout components should be loading at or near the very bottom of your load order, and the pipboylight component should be loading before the others. Their order relative to each other should be Fellout-pipboylight.esp, Fellout-Full.esp, Fellout-BrokenSteel.esp, Fellout-PointLookout.esp and Fellout-Zeta.esp - and those should prolly be the last five things in your load order, not counting your merged patch (which I will get to momentarily).

 

3. As for the rest of those mods, I cannot begin to tell you how to order those, except that in general the xCALIBR esps tend to run higher in the list than most other mod files. But don't count on that holding true in this batch, cuz I am used to seeing more overhauls and fewer limited impact mods in people's load orders. Again, an up to date BOSS masterlist is really needed here. Even if you cannot get BOSS itself, FOMM can use a BOSS masterlist to do the load sorting itself if you can get such a file to this 'puter.

 

You really need a merged patch. For your situation FO3edit is really the only viable option, if you have it on your FO3 rig or can get it there. I presume you can, since you were able to get all those mods onto that box. If you need help using FO3edit to make a merged patch, just say the word and I'll be glad to give you a detailed step by step run-through on that.

 

Good luck!

 

Edit: forgot to mention: make sure you have Archive Invalidation enabled in FOMM. And if sorting your load order and making a merged patch do not restore your ability to load the game, then the next thing to do is use FOMM and starting deactivating mods, one by one, until the problem goes away. Or you could take the more drastic and more efficient approach of deactivating ALL your mods, making sure you can load up in that config, and then reactivating mods one by one until the problem comes back.

Edited March 11, 2011 by proconsu1

[BlinkRiddle]

Yeah, I've tried deactivating all of my mods and then running the game but it still didn't work. But I'm gonna try the solutions you gave me, will update if anything works/doesnt work, thank you.

[proconsu1]

Yeah, I've tried deactivating all of my mods and then running the game but it still didn't work. But I'm gonna try the solutions you gave me, will update if anything works/doesnt work, thank you.

 

Whoa there. If you cannot run the game when all mods are deactivated, then it is very unlikely that any of the things I told you will fix that issue. They all still need doing, but they are secondary concerns at this point. When your core vanilla stuff won't run, then here are the things you should try first (all of this with ALL mods deactivated):

 

1. Try to launch Fallout from its own launcher instead of launching FOSE. If it suddenly works, then FOSE is the trouble.

 

2. Move the file "fallout.ini" from its current location in \\My Documents\My Games\Fallout 3\ to your desktop. Then copy the file default_fallout.ini from your main Fallout installation folder (where you installed FOSE and where your Data folder is) and paste it into the documents folder from which you just moved fallout.ini. Rename this copy to fallout.ini so that you have, in effect, replaced the original ini file with a copy of the default version. Now launch the game. If suddenly it runs, then the problem was that some entry in your ini file was bogus.

 

If neither of those things work, then you are most likely looking at one of three things:

 

a. a corrupt installation of Fallout, requiring that you uninstall, run a registry cleaner to remove leftover registry keys, then reinstall to a different folder (that is NOT in your \Program Files\ directory tree)

 

b. a bad device driver

 

c. a bad setting or condition in Windows itself, possibly oriented around virtual memory, corrupted swap file, the UAC or some such. This type of thing can be really hard to pin down, so pray that this isn't it.

[BlinkRiddle]

Well I uninstalled the game and reinstalled and everything works fine, dont know what went wrong with the first 3 times of reinstalling but its fixed now, thanks for the help.