Blatant Random Crashes

[Chadwick1504]

Hello all, this is my first time seeking advice from modders and those I know to have more knowledge on the subject than I, so please forgive me if seem ignorant, but I learn very quickly.

 

Recently I've been modding and tweaking my Gamebryo based games, and have had nothing short of great success with Oblivion and New Vegas. No freezes whatsoever, even with heavy tweaks to their ini configuration values. Fallout 3 however is giving me issues that I cannot pinpoint. It seems to give me the most random crashes and I can't nail them down to any specific cause. I'm using a very simple combination of FWE 6.03, WMK, EVE, MMM, Fellout/Street Lights, and NMC's latest combined texture pack. All are their appropriate versions in line to run with FOIP patches, and all tweaks to "Fallout.ini" are relatively minor and have been tested running vanilla Fallout 3 for an just over an hour ensure stability. I've tried installing these mods in different orders, using default ini files, various streamlining addons (such as Fallout Stutter Remover), and I've even taken the time to master using Wrye Flash from scratch because I thought the merge patch with FO3Edit wasn't cutting it. The mods all seem to work together for some period of time, but I cannot play the game crash free for any longer than about 4 minutes. These crashes happen so randomly. They don't repeat themselves in similar conditions either, but may reappear at a later time. They can range from freezing upon entering/exiting buildings (rare, but existing nonetheless), randomly pulling up the Pip-Boy, randomly while wandering with no enemies or script-dependent actions occurring, and a few times while just standing still and doing nothing in a completely empty, action-devoid cell.

 

I can progress through the game if I "baby-step" save/load, but this is getting rather frustrating. I've eliminated all problems with other games, they run flawlessly and crash-free even though ridiculously and heavily modded, but not Fallout 3. I'm at my wits end. I can upload any ini files or ss's of load orders if necessary to review.

 

Is this a regular and accepted occurrence? Basically something I just have to deal with in this game when using mods?

[UtopianOne]

If you use FOMM, you can just use the copy to clipboard feature from the load order menu and then post it. I'll be sure to give it a look once you post it :)

 

EVE compatibility patches are not up to date so that may be the issue it uses .96 not .97

 

also, I've found that for some reason, when I use wrye flash for a bashed patch my game won't load but if I make a merged patch with fo3edit instead it will load, perhaps worth a try?

Edited August 12, 2011 by UtopianOne

[Chadwick1504]

Just did a clean install of Fallout 3 and all other mods, omitting NMC's texture pack in the process because I decided to omit certain mods to see what was causing the issue. Also sticking with FO3Edit patch (thanks UtopianOne for the advice! =)

 

So far, after an hour of game play outside the vault, there have been zero crashes, particularly in areas that were prone to crashes (near Super-Duper Mart, Rivet City). FPS increase as well, possibly the game's cache was just constantly getting overloaded. I also think it might have been because I still had an ArchiveInvalidation.txt file in my install directory while using ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated! (I usually install game utilities BEFORE mods/texture packs). This would explain why the simple omission of NMC's packs (and the accompanying ArchiveInvalidation.txt file) solved the issue.

 

Going to install NMC's texture pack again but delete the ArchiveInvalidation.txt file afterwards to see if that was the issue, or if just using the texture pack alongside these mods in general makes the game crash. I'll let you know shortly.

[UtopianOne]

Glad I could help :thumbsup:

[Chadwick1504]

As it turns out, if you don't use the special tools to allow Fallout 3 to run in 64-bit mode (using CFF explorer) and use more than 2GB of RAM, then NMC's texture pack will in fact crash the game on a regular basis due to memory caps. After enabling Fallout3.exe to use more than 2GB or ram with CFF explorer, using Fallout Stutter Remover, and modifying the following Fallout3.ini values to these;

 

ugridstoload=5 (<- lowered from 7 to maintain 60FPS at all times w/ 8XAA and 16X AF)

uInterior Cell Buffer=24

uExterior Cell Buffer=144

iPreloadSizeLimit=262144000 (<- max anyone should use even if they have more than 4GB or ram)

 

I have zero crashes and out of nowhere Fallout 3 actually exits without crashes from the game even with FOSE and all the mods running. If I don't use NMC's texture pack, I can ratchet up the ugridstoload value to 9 before seeing any noticable drop in FPS. FYI, I'm using 6GB of ram, OC'd i7 proc, and a GTX580.

 

Hope this helps others with the same issue. Once agagin, these crashes were due to the game running out of memory. Using CFF explorer and increasing buffer based values in Fallout.ini not only solved the issue, but provided a major boost in FPS and stabilized all aspects of the game. Even save corruption is no longer a problem, I have been quickloading/quicksaving every 3 seconds and nothing has corrupted/crashed yet after nearly 4 hours of gameplay even in script heavy scenes.

[bct18181]

Very useful post! I changed the ini settings as you did and I feel like the game is performing better. I did notice one thing. After a while the game began to have some serious loot lag. I purged the cell buffers with PCB in the console and it was back to fine.