Tracking Down **the Cause** of CTDs [FO3]

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

I've been using mods and tools such as FOMM, NMM, and FO3edit for years.

I'm I think I'm decent at making my own merged patches and sorting mods by the order of what I want to "win" the load order 'battle.'

 

That being said, sometimes while walking outdoors in FO3, after the slight pause that occurs when a new cell loads, sometimes there will be a CTD.

After starting the game again, if I go to that same area the CTD occurs every time. If I don't go to that cell for x # of days and then go back (after the cell "resets" I think), everything's fine.

 

 

I think the cause is a conflict between MMM (the creatures mod) and CB Deluxe (alternate start mod that also adds new creatures, some of which are same as MMM).

 

Looking in FO3edit, using a conflict Filter, in the Creatures tree and NPC tree, I've got the "ones I want to win" (MMM, which is HIGHER UP in load order) in the merged patch, overwriting the CB Deluxe NPCs and Creatures.

 

Is there some FormList or some outdoor cell modifiers I need to be checking?

 

If anyone out there has suggestions to point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it

 

I *think* the cause is a conflict between MMM (the creatures mod) and CB Deluxe (alternate start mod that also adds new creatures, some of which are same as MMM).

[Pippokennedy]

It happened to me too, the game crashed in the same spot everytime. I tried everything: uninstalling all the active mods one by one, reinstalling it, moving the load order, unistalling the game....nothing worked.

So i started to search in the forum and found out infinite complaints about ctds, glitches, bugs. Turned out that everyone complaining had MMM active, so i decided to get rid of it, even though it was one of my favourite mods on the nexus. It works.

[Deleted21304489User]

It has been my experience that whevever I have tried to merge, and/or patch mods to work with MMM's leveled lists... things start to go all wonky with MMM. It doesn't like anything injected into it's files. Even if everything looks good to go. I've even found that cleaning the master files will make MMM do strange things. Probably because it is reliant on the original un-cleaned masters.

 

You may want to try using a bashed patch. it may do a better job of sorting your leveled lists and/or form id lists. In the end, if you can't get the two working together... drop one of them. If you have ctd in the same area, that means there is a conflict. It could also be a world space edit conflict as well. One of your mods may have a dirty edit... pointing to something that doesn't exist. A lot of mod authors make sloppy edits that can crash your game.

 

The only way to sort your load order is to run a conflict report using FO3Edit. Anything else is just guessing. I mean, if everything looks good... try resting in your megaton house for about 8 days and see if a cell reset fixes the issue. Mart's can spawn creatures in weird spots sometimes.

Edited December 30, 2017 by ejroberts49

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

It happened to me too, the game crashed in the same spot everytime. I tried everything: uninstalling all the active mods one by one, reinstalling it, moving the load order, unistalling the game....nothing worked.

So i started to search in the forum and found out infinite complaints about ctds, glitches, bugs. Turned out that everyone complaining had MMM active, so i decided to get rid of it, even though it was one of my favourite mods on the nexus. It works.

 

 

It has been my experience that whevever I have tried to merge, and/or patch mods to work with MMM's leveled lists... things start to go all wonky with MMM. It doesn't like anything injected into it's files. Even if everything looks good to go. I've even found that cleaning the master files will make MMM do strange things. Probably because it is reliant on the original un-cleaned masters.

 

You may want to try using a bashed patch. it may do a better job of sorting your leveled lists and/or form id lists. In the end, if you can't get the two working together... drop one of them. If you have ctd in the same area, that means there is a conflict. It could also be a world space edit conflict as well. One of your mods may have a dirty edit... pointing to something that doesn't exist. A lot of mod authors make sloppy edits that can crash your game.

 

The only way to sort your load order is to run a conflict report using FO3Edit. Anything else is just guessing. I mean, if everything looks good... try resting in your megaton house for about 8 days and see if a cell reset fixes the issue. Mart's can spawn creatures in weird spots sometimes.

Thanks for the replies--genuinely appreciated!

I ended up following the readme file for Marts Mutant Mod to uninstall it...now I can access all cells outdoors.

 

Game does randomly freeze every now and then. I think starting a new game might be in order

Edited January 23, 2018 by DavidYokosukaJapan

[kschang77]

I'm not playing with MMM at this time. Too complicated and those monsters don't always add much, though I like the way they moved some of the monsters around to be more of a menagerie, but really, iguanas all over the place? Argh.

 

(Remember, Blackened patches are available, patch MMM to RC62, etc. etc. )

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

I'm not playing with MMM at this time. Too complicated and those monsters don't always add much, though I like the way they moved some of the monsters around to be more of a menagerie, but really, iguanas all over the place? Argh.

 

(Remember, Blackened patches are available, patch MMM to RC62, etc. etc. )

I like the variety MMM adds to the 'default' creatures, night ghouls, hunting & looting, and the "skeleton decay" but I can definitely live without ALL of that for a stable game.

Other than the Stalker creatures I had all of the new monsters turned off. 5 years or so back when I had iguanas turned on some bug occurred that spawned maybe 300 (or more) iguanas around the outside of Megaton. Though I thought it was kinda hilarious it really affected FPS in a bad way :tongue:

 

Isn't EVE a bit broken too? That mod always caused instability for me, regardless of the various stability patches (Blackened for example) that I had in load order.

 

One reason I can't use Blackened (and a lot of other mods) is because I play without Mothership Zeta DLC checked ("Blackened files all require the original versions of their respective mods, and *all* of their DLC addons. No exception"). I just hate the MZ DLC that much.

 

edit: I have to admit one thing I REALLY miss about not using MMM: items removed from ash & goo piles. That's realistic.

Edited January 26, 2018 by DavidYokosukaJapan

[Deleted21304489User]

I got rid of EVE a long time ago. I like the special effects, but the added weapons, and the cartoon looking bo bombs annoyed me. Instead I use EXE by the same author. It makes the vanilla in game SFX so much better looking.

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

I got rid of EVE a long time ago. I like the special effects, but the added weapons, and the cartoon looking bo bombs annoyed me. Instead I use EXE by the same author. It makes the vanilla in game SFX so much better looking.

Thanks very much for the tip EJ, just found it -- "Effects teXtures Enhanced"

Much appreciated!

 

Now it's time to search for a mod that removes all loot from disintegrated people & animals

[Deleted21304489User]

EXE is great. Just load it last and let it overwrite everything. Glad I could help.

 

You could try using vanishing ash piles mod. As soon as you leave a cell, the ash piles disappear. It will conflict with MMM, but if you're not using that mod... it's a great alternative.

 

If I remember correctly, the only thing that MMM does with ash piles, is making rampage gouls not spawn items in ash piles. *shrugs

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

EXE is great. Just load it last and let it overwrite everything. Glad I could help.

 

You could try using vanishing ash piles mod. As soon as you leave a cell, the ash piles disappear. It will conflict with MMM, but if you're not using that mod... it's a great alternative.

 

If I remember correctly, the only thing that MMM does with ash piles, is making rampage gouls not spawn items in ash piles. *shrugs

Apology for the tardy reply--haven't logged on it some time. Been playing a LOT of Fallout 3 though :)

 

I used to use MMM but noticed a LOT of CTDs occuring with it so uninstalled it. Kind of a pity cause it's the only mod I know of that deletes loot from ash & goo piles which is realistic so I liked that.

But game stability is far more important.