The "Crashing when saving" problem

[darkfox85]

I was really REALLY hoping I wouldn’t be coming back for help again and looking like a buffoon, but I’m really at my wits end here. Y’know; that fiery feeling of blind impotent confusion? It’s embarrassing, but my hand is forced.

 

It’s a classic one: the game crashes when I try to save [auto/manual/menu.]

 

Several game hours ago this started happening but I used the old “blow yourself up” thing to keep myself going. But now, that’s stopped working. Does that happen to a lot of people I wonder? I know it’s a common problem but from excessive googling there’s still no definitive solution.

 

But the major issue is that I’m play testing my mod, and I’ve got a creepy feeling it’s my mod which is causing the problem. I’ve no other mods apart from the official DLC loaded.

 

I can’t disable my mod then save and keep going otherwise all mod data will be lost to the save file and I need to keep working on it (quests and items and perks). The last time I did this I had a scrap a 35-odd hour play through because my mod progress was lost (that was over a very different bug – the vintage “crash on perk selection” caused by have clothing items contain new scripts.) This time, I’m nearly 50 hours in.

 

Besides, if I can’t nip this in the bud now then my mod is sunk anyway. And that would be a galactic disaster. It’s getting big at 2,703 kb – and if I ever finish a damn play test it’ll get bigger.

 

Luckily I was able to squeeze a fresh menu save without it crashing, but despite removing the quick and auto save files, I still can’t quick save without a CTD or do another menu save. These saves are less than 8MB big (if that helps.)

 

I’ve heard of “merged patches” and “master updates” but the concepts seem a bit beyond me for the time being. Could they hold the answers?

 

I'm so sorry if I'm taking more than I'm giving, but the situation is desperate.

[darkfox85]

Update: weirdly, if I blow myself and reload I’m allowed one free fast travel before the game will CTD again. What a bloody joke!

 

Still no solution I'm afraid. But I refuse to give up.

 

Dammit! Why do I love this wretched game so much?! All the s*** it puts me through and I keep coming back like an abused spouse.

[Valahul]

Yep the answer is with the MasterUpdate

 

Go here and see. It solved all my crash problems! and trust me it really works.

[darkfox85]

Yep the answer is with the MasterUpdate

 

Go here and see. It solved all my crash problems! and trust me it really works.

 

Ah-ha.

But each time I try this I slam into a brick wall so hard my morale goes down the drain. The “create merged patch” option doesn’t show up for me.

 

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/lk/l/u/33dc2b36763e831c7630e79bf389560f/4456889.jpg

 

Sometime I think I'm just losing my mind. Or I'm incredibly thick. Also it never says "Background Loader: finished" but "Background Loader: terminated." Does that matter?

 

Why doesn't the option to merge come up for me?

Was it something I said?

[M48A5]

You do not have a proper load order. I have to ask, what is Fallout 3 Hardcoded.esp? I have never seen that before. The FO3Edit is giving error messages. Until the errors are corrected the program will terminate before it finishes. Anyway, all .esm must load before .esp.

[darkfox85]

You do not have a proper load order. I have to ask, what is Fallout 3 Hardcoded.esp? I have never seen that before. The FO3Edit is giving error messages. Until the errors are corrected the program will terminate before it finishes. Anyway, all .esm must load before .esp.

 

Fallout 3 Hardcoded.esp is a file that came with the Fo3Edit compressed file. It’s doubly weird because it’s not in my data directory, and doesn’t show up in FOMM. But if it might be causing problems I’ll move it/delete it for now.

 

As for those error messages, there sure are a lot and I have no idea how to address these issues. I’m worried I’m in over my head but I’ve come so far and I’m in too deep now to give up. But the information is still totally alien to me:

 

“Error: record TES4 contains unexpected (or out of order) subrecord ONAM 4D414E4F”

 

To name but one. The last one says:

 

“[01:37] Background Loader: Errors were found in: testPortableCoverExplosion "Portable Cover Explosion" [EXPL:05003327]

[01:37] Background Loader: Contained subrecords: EDID OBND FULL MODL MNAM DATA INAM”

 

Good lord. Where do I go from there?

 

But once this is done, I can make that damn merge patch and say goodbye to crash-on-save, right?

[M48A5]

You have a bad install of FO3Edit. The file "Fallout3.Hardcoded.keep.this.with.the.exe.and.otherwise.ignore.it.I.really.mean.it.dat" should not be an .esp. Somehow you have converted it from a .dat to an .esp. Please download the FO3Edit Training Manual http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/8629 and read it. You should do a complete uninstall of FO3Edit and read manual, then do a reinstall.

[darkfox85]

You have a bad install of FO3Edit. The file "Fallout3.Hardcoded.keep.this.with.the.exe.and.otherwise.ignore.it.I.really.mean.it.dat" should not be an .esp. Somehow you have converted it from a .dat to an .esp.

 

I’ve no idea how that happened. I wouldn’t even know how to do it anyway. I feel a little sick that I spent so long trying to figure out those errors or why when I right click I never got the create merged patch option. It’s not even the first time I’ve downloaded this program.

 

Anyway; an uninstall, reinstall, and quick cry later and now things are going fine. The right plain says finished, the left plain lets me make my merged patch. Major hurdle passed and I owe you my thanks.

 

But now a new pain comes across and I find myself less embarrassed about asking for help and more just depressed generally.

 

After copying and renaming the F03Edit file to “FO3MasterUpdate” I try to run the master update. The program loads up and disappears very quickly. There’s no -=All Done=- indicator because the new screen appears and disappears so quickly. Just *poof.*

 

So my files stay as ESP and after a little test I still CTD when trying to save.

 

I don’t know if I’m naïve to pray this will be the last step, but holy goddamn I feel like I’m loosing my mind.

 

Please download the FO3Edit Training Manual http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/8629 and read it. You should do a complete uninstall of FO3Edit and read manual, then do a reinstall.

 

This is good. I’ve spent a few hours reading through and so far I’ve not found anything relating to my problem above. I’m sure the other stuff will come in handy someday, but as I go deeper I’m not sure I’ll get the answer I need.

[Valahul]

well the last line that I get when I use Master Update is...

 

[00:04] It is still possible for the renaming to fail if any of your original module files is still open by another process.

 

So.. do you have anything opened.. like geck or fo3edit?

[darkfox85]

well the last line that I get when I use Master Update is...

 

[00:04] It is still possible for the renaming to fail if any of your original module files is still open by another process.

 

So.. do you have anything opened.. like geck or fo3edit?

 

No sir. Nada. I just tried again. Tried to open FO3MasterUpdate and once again all that happened was what looked like a notepad file flash before closing again. What the nelly?! I try to get a screenshot but it flashes so quickly I can never snap it.

 

Ahrk! I hate asking for help! :(