Started Crashing on Trying to Load the In-Game Mod Menu

[Greslin]

I can't help with the ENB, I'm afraid. I've never had much luck in getting that to work for me.

 

Regarding the errors, xEdit is in my experience a bit more complex than a video guide can really get into. I'd recommend starting here, with the FNVEdit Training Manual:

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/38413?tab=files

 

It's the same program as FO4Edit, all the same procedures. Learning your way around xEdit is probably the single most important thing you can do to be successful at modding a Bethesda game. Read the manual, read it again, and then read it a third time, until it all becomes reflex.

 

To track down those reference ID errors, you want to start by looking for missing masters. If you have any, xEdit will actually stop on its initial background loader process and say, "Hey, dude. Missing something important, and HERE IT IS". If you get as far as the "Background loader: finished" message, you don't have any missing masters.

 

That's when you go looking for those actual broken ref IDs. They're the values that look like this: "[ALCH:000330EE]". That specific one is the form ID for a can of Cram, as defined in the Fallout4.esm master file.

 

An unresolved ref ID will kick out the eight-digit hexcode ("000330EE") and attach the word "error" to it with a "could not be resolved" message. The key to figuring out the problem is the first two digits of that hex string, which refer to the load order slot where the original formID definition should be.

 

In my example, the slot is "00", which is universally the Fallout4.esm master. Any other plugin that references that formID is going to look for form "0330EE" in mod slot "00". Luckily, the form ID is there. If it wasn't, xEdit would kick out a "could not be resolved" error about that ID reference.

 

The expected load slot can give you a clue. Even if it doesn't, find the actual mod that has the broken record. Expand that mod listing in the left pane and click "File Header". The expected masters will be listed there. (Again, if FO4Edit didn't error out on initial load, you're not missing any masters.. however, the error mod thinks that ref ID is defined in one of those. That's the next step for detective work.)

 

Form IDs are relative, too, and identified also by name. This allows the load order to be changed without having to recode all those formIDs. So if you had "MyMod.esp" as a master to "YourMod.esp", MyMod.esp could be at load order 10 or at A5, it wouldn't matter as long as the form names lined up. The game engine would still find it. However, if the reference is simply pointing at something that doesn't EXIST, you're going to get that "unresolved" error. And again, those errors are little CTD generators.

 

That's essentially what xEdit does: lets you look at all that processing, the way the game does. It shows you what records and references are matching up and which ones aren't. Without it, you're limited to trial and error, and lots of it.

 

If you're getting lots of unresolved ref IDs, then you have broken dependencies. If xEdit is getting to "finished" on the background loader startup process, then it's not a missing master, but it still could be an outdated one. If "YourMod.esp" needs a record that used to be in "MyMod.esp" 1.0, and "MyMod.esp" 2.0 eliminated the record, and "YourMod.esp" hasn't been updated, then it's not going to find the record it needs. You'll get unresolved ref IDs. If "MyMod.esp" hasn't changed its filename since 1.0, it won't show up as a missing master.

 

I hope any of that makes sense. Seriously, after working xEdit for a while, you don't even think about it anymore. Like I said, it's like reflex. And it doesn't take long to learn. Download and read the Training Manual, it'll take you most of the way there.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Greslin

[MalevolentSpoon]

A manual is a fantastic answer to my query. Excellent.