Another Dead Money crash (SPOILER WARNING)

[HalcyonAnd0n]

Same issue many others have had but so far no success with any of the suggested remedies. Bear with me, I will try to be as thorough as possible. First though, I am running the last version of FNV that worked with the 3GB enabler released by psychophat and haven't had any issues except some random CTDs but nothing consistent to be worried about. I was using Arwen's Tweaks V1.8 a while back when I went for my second run at Dead Money and got this exact problem but after a few hours I found that mod was causing the issue and was able to move forward with no problem. Since then I've made two more runs at Dead Money, no crashes (as a quick note, I ALWAYS disband from followers and send them home before doing any DLC content, here and in FO3). This time is a play through with energy weapons and unarmed only for my character, at level 20 (the runs I made before were both lower and greater than level 20 if I remember right). So here's what I've tried thus far on this most current issue...

 

1 ) After first CTD, deactivated FOMOD package of Arwen's mod V2.0, all associated patches and reactivated Unified HUD, same CTD

2 ) Export load order in FOMM, deactivated all FOMOD packages, unchecked all mods in the load order except FalloutNV.esm and Dead Money.esm, same CTD

3 ) Updated to the latest patch and loaded NVSE beta 7, restore factory default INI files, same CTD

4 ) Loaded NV without NVSE, same CTD

5 ) System restore to return FNV and NVSE to their previous states, reactivated all FOMOD packages, import old load order, same CTD

6 ) Disable the 3GB Enabler, same CTD

7 ) Revert back to 3GB Enabler version of FalloutNV.exe, attempted one fix to use console commands to give XP until I am above level 20, same CTD

8 ) Exit bunker, reset initial quest for Dead Money, wait for it to initialize, try again, same CTD

9 ) Exit the bunker, unique save via console, disable Dead Money, start and make a clean save, restart with Dead Money enabled, same CTD

10 ) Consoled the weapon I was ultimately after into my inventory and left the bunker with two fingers held high........

 

Adding to the steps above, at each one I used a save before opening the door that gives the STAY OR GO option, left the bunker, fast traveled around a few times, walked around a bit and killed some enemies, no problems at all. And given that all of the PC's items are removed before the intro cutscene starts I highly doubt any quest items, vanilla or mod-based, would cause a problem after the convo at the fountain (as I had the issue in a couple places with FO3, esp Vault 112 and OA, for obvious reasons)...

 

As I am typing this I just realized that I don't think I'd finished Veronica's quest in any of my previous runs... I will revert back and give that a shot to see if it makes any difference. In the meantime if anyone has any insight it will be much appreciated (except suggesting a full reinstall, the fact that the rest of the game works is enough for me so unless the next DLC has the same problem I won't cry over this small issue since I've been through it enough to know the endings).

 

EDIT: Fascinating... So I loaded a save before Veronica's quest even began, dismissed companions, loaded all map markers, went into the bunker, listened to the convo at the fountain and NO CRASH!!! Then I loaded a save in the middle of Veronica's quest (in the middle of searching for a particular item, one of three possible), same as above except it crashed again at the same trouble spot... Same thing a little further into her quest but not at completion. I honestly can't tell if that's a sign of just a random corrupt save that somehow only affects Dead Money or something in that questline (of note I am 100% positive I did not install or update any mods in the time between the save that worked and the one that did not)... If I get up the drive to test with completing her quest from the spot that it DID work, which will take quite a while, I'll report back but I really don't have the time nor patience to right now. If anyone can provide more insight that's great :thumbsup:

 

EDIT2: Surprisingly enough, I found a save close to V initiating dialogue for her quest and I went up to the point of finding Elijah's console, starting the hunt for the item I chose (same as the other save that crashed). Then I saved, went to the bunker and hit the trap. No crash....... Does anyone else find it very, very odd that a corrupt save would ONLY affect Dead Money, in particular the quest that activates after the initial convo with the "old man"???? This problem feels way too narrow to be a corrupt save issue, but again, any input may help me or others in the future.

Edited April 20, 2011 by PharCry

[sora3]

I too have the same problem as you PharCry. I had a crash always after the initial conversation. It was only until went back further to the point where I didn't recruit any companions did Dead Money load without any problems. Looks like having done or indeed doing Veronica's quest seems to be the catalyst for my crashes too.

[HalcyonAnd0n]

I haven't been able to do much more testing but, a bump, and a note that even after the fountain speech immediately going to the console and doing a "player.kill" (method I forgot about that sometimes works, although not often, after letting the game auto load the last save) the game crashes in the middle of the death animation... I also tried doing a "movetoqt" right after the speech and I wound up right in front of Dog, but it crashed just a few seconds later. So it almost has to be tied into a script firing off and conflicting with... something o_O, at least that's my very uneducated guess. Another possibly noteworthy occurrence is the Autosave that happens regardless of your game settings with that on or off, like Vault 22 on the first level at the elevator and Vault 11 when going into the lower chamber below the Overseer's office...

 

I've already consoled in what I was primarily after but this is like an itch I can't scratch :wallbash: I've been playing well beyond 10 hours real time past that point and zero crashes in the regular game, doing stuff from A World of Pain and NV Bounties 2 as well as other vanilla quests. Anyone at all have any insight? I may try and do some more testing tonight...

 

EDIT: One more thing I've noticed is that every time the game CTDs after that speech, I never hear even the first word from the Vera broadcast... The game I'm testing that is working fine has that radio broadcast playing several seconds after the speech (just guessing but it seems like the same amount of time before it crashes on the problem game)... I'm just tossing out ideas for now. Furthermore, I noticed as soon as the working game begins playing the Vera message, Radio New Vegas and Mojave Music Radio are removed from the available stations (but Black Mountain is still only blacked out). If I go into the pipboy before the CTD in the bad game I can see those two still in the list... Will test more and report back, but I somehow doubt its the radio stations being removed but something else in the script that removes them... And I got those two gone from the pipboy at the last possible moment I could access the radio list, so I'm leaning toward something in the same script now.

Edited April 23, 2011 by PharCry

[sora3]

@ PharCry, looks like more testing from me has had some results. It seems on my part that whenever I finish the talking with Elijah, I can hear some words before it crashes on me. So something in Vera's loop (whether it is script or the audio itself) is causing the issue. I have mods for RNV and as well as personal mp3 player. Removing those didn't help either so something is happening behind the scenes.

 

Also, having my mate in coding here with me, he seems to believe that something is preventing the loading of the scrip for the new quest. So possibly something has gone wrong there. But will test more on the vanilla game before I start modding all the other mods on. I did confirm that Veronica's quest does do some oddities with the DLC. Mods that do cause problems are Arwen's tweaks (seems that something in that isn't optimised for Dead Money) and as well as the Pipboy Readius but both were tested not to cause the crash so something else is doing it....

[HalcyonAnd0n]

I found that disabling hardcore mode increases the amount of time before a crash by at least 3-5 seconds, and Arwen's mod being removed also has no effect for me (unlike it did the last time this happened)... Also, what were you able to confirm regarding Veronica's quest?

 

I still can't even fathom how V's quest would make any difference at all in this initial loading of DM :wallbash: Unless it was stupid coding on the programmer end of things... Cuz, ya know, that never happens :whistling: (to be fair, I've done my share of coding in C++, Java, etc, so yes I'm stabbing myself on this comment too :P )

Edited April 24, 2011 by PharCry

[HalcyonAnd0n]

Just one last bump, and a note that I've started a new game, I plan to check this out a bit more at different points throughout (with all of my regular mods enabled). If I come across anything worth mentioning, I'll update. And thanks sora3 for the feedback, much obliged :thumbsup:

[sora3]

I found that disabling hardcore mode increases the amount of time before a crash by at least 3-5 seconds, and Arwen's mod being removed also has no effect for me (unlike it did the last time this happened)... Also, what were you able to confirm regarding Veronica's quest?

 

I still can't even fathom how V's quest would make any difference at all in this initial loading of DM :wallbash: Unless it was stupid coding on the programmer end of things... Cuz, ya know, that never happens :whistling: (to be fair, I've done my share of coding in C++, Java, etc, so yes I'm stabbing myself on this comment too :P )

 

Well, when I opened it up in the GECK (before the update), my friend commented that there are some incorrect/silly references in there that are causing issues with Dead Money such as the references to Elijah and the like in the conversation scripts. From what he says, it seems that it was just some honest coding error.

 

In terms of mods causing Dead Money crashes, Readius is a definite mod to stay away from as it is a definite CTD with that. Arwen's seems to be not the cause at all. Having the Dead Money community fix does have some merit but it seems to delay the bug rather than kill it.

 

With the new update, I'm hoping they've fixed those issues.

[HalcyonAnd0n]

In terms of mods causing Dead Money crashes, Readius is a definite mod to stay away from as it is a definite CTD with that. Arwen's seems to be not the cause at all. Having the Dead Money community fix does have some merit but it seems to delay the bug rather than kill it.

 

Odd, that's never been the case for me. In fact, I haven't used the old pipboy since Readius was released. I suppose we'll see if any fixes arise, but if I end up finding out anything else I'll be sure to post back here. Thanks for lending a hand :thumbsup:

[sora3]

In terms of mods causing Dead Money crashes, Readius is a definite mod to stay away from as it is a definite CTD with that. Arwen's seems to be not the cause at all. Having the Dead Money community fix does have some merit but it seems to delay the bug rather than kill it.

 

Odd, that's never been the case for me. In fact, I haven't used the old pipboy since Readius was released. I suppose we'll see if any fixes arise, but if I end up finding out anything else I'll be sure to post back here. Thanks for lending a hand :thumbsup:

 

It's a bit random as others says yes for their game, others say no for their game. On my game it does happen. But I might reload Readius again and see if there is a difference...