Broken Steel crashes my game!

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

My issue is that I have a crash error (screen freezes & have to use Task Manager to shut down the process) that occurs when changing cells while running outside between certain cells.

For example when running from the cell that contains Hallowed Moors Cemetery to the one that contains Big Town, it crashes when Big Town loads. Every time.
If I Fast Travel to Big Town it loads there fine right in front of a dead Albino Radscorpion. If I try FTing away it crashes the game


Things I've tried:

- Large Address Aware Enabler

- using CASM, disabled all autosaves

- Load order is sorted using BOSS. However I changed some ESPs near the middle to a lower position so they'd be "load order winners" at game execute time.
(e.g. Dread Dogmeat lower than Better Followers)

- Multhreading tweak in INI file (bUseThreadedAI=1, iNumHWThreads=2)

- Using the Updated UFO3P v1.6.1 (don't use later versions cause don't like many 'game enhancements' in later versions that "fix" things that are not actually broken e.g. respawning mezzed NPCs)

- Making a Merged Patch in FO3edit.

- FO3Edit MasterUpdate.

- Steam Validating file cache.


Final step was disabling all mods and running the game -- it still crashes.

Disabled all DLCs and it stops crashing... and narrowed it down to Broken Steel.esm.
Running the game without Broken Steel stops the crashing.

Deleted that ESM and used Steam file validation to redownload a 'fresh' version of that file. Still, using Broken Steel crashes the game.

Advice please!

Edited January 22, 2018 by DavidYokosukaJapan

[M48A5]

Please see "How to ask for help" http://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/How_to_ask_for_help and provide all the information noted.

 

Also, do not master update anything with FO3Edit. Doing so has been shown to cause more problems than it ever corrected.

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

Please see "How to ask for help" http://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/How_to_ask_for_help  and provide all the information noted.

Â

Also, do not master update anything with FO3Edit. Â Doing so has been shown to cause more problems than it ever corrected.

Thanks very much for the reply M48A5, appreciated! One thing I've noticed about master updating is that my game would crash whenever saving if Master Updating was not done. The only way I can save when not master updated is by killing my character once and then could save. If you still recommend NOT master updating I will stop and just kill my character once before playing every time I start FO3.

 

Necessary info follows.

• CPU, AMD Phenom II x6 555 Black Edition Callisto Dual-Core 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 80W HDZ555WFGMBOX Desktop Processor - C3 Revision
• Graphics card:Â Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB GDDR5 DUAL DVI-D/HDMI/DP PCI-Express
• Native screen resolution of the display monitor: 1920x1080
• Amount of System RAM: 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
• Hard drive free space: 91 GB
• Desktop PC (home built) GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1 (always updated automatically with Windows Update).
• Game Folder Path is C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Fallout 3 goty
• The Windows User account is an "Administrator" account.
• Steam version of Fallout 3 GOTY edition, 1.7.0.3
• Using all DLCs that came with FO3 GOTY edition: Broken Steel, OA, The Pitt, Point Lookout, MZ
• Using FOMM v 0.10
• Not using a game "construction kit" like TESCS, SKSE, or GECK.
• Other helper programs:
  • BOSS Version 2.1.1 with Masterlist Revision: 7313 (2013-07-05)
  • Fallout Script Extender v1.2 beta 2
  • FO3Edit v 2.5.1 (2009-06-11)
  • BOSS Version 2.1.1 with Masterlist Revision: 7313 (2013-07-05)
• Yes, applied "LAA/4GB Patch" to enable your 32-bit game to use more than 2GB of system memory.
• Game worked at one point. Had some sporadic crashes but not bad. Used MMMs instructions for uninstalling that mod and after that the crash-at-some-cell-changes started. Also uninstalled "Project Beauty" when uninstalling MMM.
• Yes, Have used Steam "verify local files" and it redownloaded one file (8.4 MB in size IIRC)
• Did not rename the game INI files under the "Users" folder tree but the game still reinitialized and set graphics to Ultra. Had to remap all keyboard controls.
• "Hide known file extensions" is NOT enabled in Folder Options.

Load Order follows:

 

 

Fallout3.esm

Anchorage.esm

ThePitt.esm

StreetLights.esm

BrokenSteel.esm

PointLookout.esm

Zeta.esm

Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch.esm

Inventory Access.esm

IMCN.esm

Impervious Power Armour.esm

CRAFT.esm

CALIBR.esm

Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Operation Anchorage.esp

Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - The Pitt.esp

Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Broken Steel.esp

Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Point Lookout.esp

CustomBeginning.esp

CustomBeginningGOTY.esp

CleanerSettlements.esp

DarkNights-Default.esp

MegatonLightingPlusNeonSignGlow.esp

Rock It Launcher Extended Ammo.esp

krzymar-MoonSize_040%.esp

Retarded Leveling 15x Slower.esp

royphilipsevil.esp

KarmaThresholdExtreme1010.esp

Regulating Karma Talon Style V1.5.esp

Less suspicious NPCs.esp

Purposeful Walking.esp

CASM.esp

Delay ThePitt + Anchorage.esp

EMPVision.esp

Grave Digger No Karma Gain.esp

GNR Enhanced.esp

midlifecrisis.esp

Rude Awakening.esp

Stealth Kills Enabled.esp

Stealth Kills Enabled - Pitt Compatibility.esp

yaDisguisesMod-Merged.esp

fessentialdeathtime900.esp

Powered Power Armor.esp

PPA - Operation Anchorage.esp

PPA - Broken Steel.esp

PPA - The Pitt.esp

PPA - Mothership Zeta.esp

ZetaNoReturn.esp

Gunfire Sound Range Increased.esp

FO3 Better Followers.esp

FO3 Better Followers - Ignore Traps.esp

Dread Dogmeat.esp

FollowersHireContinued-CharismaCheck-NoKarmaCheck.esp

Bornagain Outcast T-45d Texture Patch.esp

RailwayCrutchStock.esp

Triage.esp

Imp's More Complex Needs.esp

GlowingQuantum.esp

Destructibles.esp

Mentats Re-Textures.esp

IMCN - Mentats Stimpak Retex.esp

IMCN - 5 DLC Merged.esp

IMCN - Destructibles .esp

IMCN all other mods patch.esp

PPA - IMCN.esp

BM13ImprovedMZSpacesuit.esp

OasisSafeWater.esp

Fo3HirezdMinigun.esp

Fo3HirezdFlamer.esp

majormodder's Junk Food to Barbeque Crisps.esp

CB load order overrides.esp

All RETEX Overrides.esp (a patch I made for all retex mods for foods that usually would get overwritten by a merged patch but with this they don't)

merged patch.esp

Total active plugins: 72

Total plugins: 95

Edited January 22, 2018 by DavidYokosukaJapan

[M48A5]

Since you state that you cannot run the base game with BrokenSteel installed, you have another problem.

 

With the millions of copies of the game being used, it would appear something is wrong with either your equipment or the game installation.

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

Since you state that you cannot run the base game with BrokenSteel installed, you have another problem.

 

With the millions of copies of the game being used, it would appear something is wrong with either your equipment or the game installation.

I guess this is the point where I reinstall the game and start over?

[Shabdez]

I also had crashes at this location on a frequent basis. From all possible location related CTDs this was the most "reliable". I quit using MMM a long time ago as it caused only trouble with my setup, but that did not stop the north of the cemetary crash. Actually I was never able to track down the real cause. But that is not the end of the story:

Since I am using OneTweak and NVAC however, I have not seen a single CTD in several hundreds of hours of gameplay. Maybe you should try those two mods.

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

I also had crashes at this location on a frequent basis. From all possible location related CTDs this was the most "reliable". I quit using MMM a long time ago as it caused only trouble with my setup, but that did not stop the north of the cemetary crash. Actually I was never able to track down the real cause. But that is not the end of the story:

Since I am using OneTweak and NVAC however, I have not seen a single CTD in several hundreds of hours of gameplay. Maybe you should try those two mods.

Thanks for the tips :)

I've bookmarked both of those for install. I don't currently have any issues with Alt-tabbing (which I generally do so I can set CPU priority for FO3 to "high." NVSE is getting a serious look into as it seems to resolve 'general' crashes.

 

 

I'm not completely certain why Broken Steel would cause a CTD. One thing I noticed was that there was an dead Albino Radscorpion in the middle of Big Town when I'd Fast Travel there (the only way I could access Big Town without an immediate crash)... MMM adds items to the Albino RadScorpion death FormList so maybe that's why?

 

 

Anyhow I can live without MMM -- I actually had all features turned off except for Stalker creatures, hunting & looting, and skeleton decay. All neat but I think I can live without them or maybe find smaller replacement mods for at least two of those.

 

After uninstalling all my mods except for one "core" mod I was still getting CTDs that went away when ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated was *not* checked in FOMM, but that was probably from uninstalling UIO...I guess it's buggy now that it's no longer supported and causes crashes even after uninstall.

Actually I think anything that modifies the UI/HUD causes some pretty bad instability so just resolved to using the default HUD.

 

I "resolved" all my issue by nuking my FO3 install and doing a full reinstall to a new location. I installed all my 'core' gameplay mods (which does not include MMM or EVE) and have had a stable run so far, albeit just 2~3 hours, but that's with zero CTDs so I'm happy.

Completely copied this stable FO3GOTY folder and will start installing all the HD retex mods next (I use em all).

Thanks again for the anti-crash tips!