Game Problems

[WhoIsAtlas]

Hi everyone, wondering if any of you might be able to help me out.

I'm new to Fallout modding so this is completely alien territory for me. I've got quite a lot of mods (104 active ones with 139 plugins through NMM). I don't have any errors based on what LOOT is telling me but every time I try to step outside of Doc Mitchell's home in Goodsprings the game starts acting wonky. Usually I can manage to open the mailbox right in front of Mitchell's and then talk to Victor strolling by. After that point I can try to open containers or talk to NPCs with 'E' and the game won't let me. Usually nothing will happen or if I go up to something that plays an animation, like the dumpsters, it will quickly lift and then shut and there will be no menu. At that point the game usually still runs but if I try to take out my Pipboy it crashes me back to my desktop.

Does anyone know what, specifically, the problem might be based on this alone? Sharing the mod list I have isn't an issue but I just wanted to know if anyone has encountered an error like this before.

Edited October 5, 2015 by WhoIsAtlas

[ryanjp89]

I haven't encountered it, but have you tried making a merge patch with FNVedit? It might resolve the issue, or it might be a single mod causing the problem. It would be hard to say since I do not know what mods you're using.

Someone else may know the solution, or know what could be causing this. if you haven't yet, try to make a merge patch.

[Thenryb]

Here is a post by Matoreternal, a very knowledgeable player, made by him in thread pertaining to his script for merging plugins. This relates to Skyrim but applies to Fallout games as well. You are going to have nothing but grief if you expect NMM and LOOT to do everything for you. You must understand the mods you install and how they relate to each other. Not knowing what mods you are using or anything about your rig, it is still pretty clear you are pushing the envelope insofar as the number of plug-ins you have. Here is his very insightful post:

 

I've gone over this before. LOOT doesn't created load order, it creates load disorder. The approach of LOOT is highly flawed and results in load orders that are extremely specific and illogical, all for no reason. It doesn't actually read plugin content, it just makes arbitrary assumptions based on the file header and a single integer value.

I've never used LOOT, or BOSS (which came before LOOT), because they're both totally unnecessary. The number of valid, error-free load orders with a given set of plugins is absolutely massive, and if you follow a few very basic tenets you can easily create a valid, error-free load order without using LOOT or any other tool. You sort your mods by category, putting certain categories that change things on a larger scale first. You make sure plugins that serve as masters for other plugins load before the plugins they are masters for, and create a highly intuitive, easy to merge, and error-free load order. It's extremely simple.

Now, the usage of certain plugins (i.e. heavily scripted poorly implemented mods like Frostfall) will make managing your load order harder because of the nature of those plugins, but you can also just choose not to use such mods, or just figure things out. I think you'll find it is A LOT easier than you think it is. There's an absurd amount of exaggeration and fear around load orders which (as far as my experience has shown) is completely false. From the day I started modding Skyrim (which was the first bethesda game I ever modded), I have managed my load order manually and have only ever run into extremely minor temporary problems such as loading plugins before their masters on a few rare ocassions, all of which happened more than several years ago.

Anywho, thank you for your support. I hope you will consider manual load order management because it will make your experience merging plugins (and modding Skyrim) much better as a whole. It's what most experienced modders do, and is (in my opinion) the only way to manage your load order currently. Maybe at some point in time we'll get a tool which can actually sort load orders in a way that is less illogical and arbitrary. :smile:

[ryanjp89]

From what Thenryb has said, I think it is best to learn how to organize your own load order. It is what I do, and though sometimes it requires trial and error, I believe it is the most effective method, using FNVedit.

It is actually not that hard, once you are familiar with FNVedit it is quite easy to make your own load order.

[bben46]

Loot actually works for most people. About 95% of the comments are favorable. It is not perfect, but instead of blaming, how about helping. The Loot creators have provided a way to tell them about bugs and make suggestions. As for setting load order manually - most newer members have no clue how to go about it. I have been playing since long before Oblivion and well remember setting up manual load orders. I use LOOT now and it has worked fine for Oblivion, Fallout3, Fallout NV and Skyrim. I did have some mods in FO3 that I had to change from what BOSS recommended, but guess what, they even have a function to remember where you want to put those mods that are not covered by either BOSS or LOOT.

 

FYI, LOOT was made by the same team as BOSS, they changed the name because they completely rewrote the program using a completely different way of sorting mods.