Save Game Debloat

[AKcelsior]

First let me appologize for what I'm about to ask as I have searched google and read many topics on this.

 

It's no secret that crashes seem to grow exponentially with save file size. I've searched this site for days trying to find a mod that I'm not sure exists. Is there any such mod that is known to help keep save filesize down? For Skyrim there are a few mods that are said to de-bloat your save.

 

I'm looking for a mod similar to Skyrim's possessive corpses. Some genius modders found out that deleting ash piles and corpses from cells help keep filesize down. Is there anything like this for Fallout 3? I'm at my whit's end. This is already a bug ridden game full of hiccups and headaches but I find once I start really getting somewhere in the game my saves approach the 15mb mark and the game begins falling apart.

 

I do not use autosave and I do not overwrite any save. I know increasing filesize is just a fact we must live with, but is there anyway to make less of an impact on size? I would like to finish this game for once instead of re-rolling after 100 hours. Also if anyone knows of any mods that are "troublemakers" please let me know. I'm running with all the essential mods like FWE, MMM, EVE, etc. and a few lesser mods. I would give a listing but I'm not at home.

 

I have not had a serious bloat ie: a 50mb jump between saves, but after hundreds of saves the problem becomes very apparent. Other than that it would seem after all the tweaks from google sources have worked nicely to cut back on freezes/ctds. Sorry this was a little long, any insight would be appreciated.

[Valahul]

Hmm I never gave the save file sizes any thought.. are you currently experiencing crashes?

 

And I personally never heard of such a mod.. but i'm new here :D

[AKcelsior]

Right now I'm not experiencing a single crash but that's because I restarted a character last night. After just a few hours of playing my filesize went from 1.7mb to nearly 4mb. I'll get to play another 100 hours or so before my game starts crashing. I can only assume FO3 has the same save problem that Skyrim has. Apparently if you overwrite saves, use autosave, and by some accounts even quicksave may cause save corruption in which the best way to fix would be to revert back to an older save. I try to be super cautious about this sort of thing. I usually only save in interior cells and always save manually. But even after all this the save file increases little by little until finally around 15-20mb mark my game wont let me do anything. It gets to the point where even idling at the main menu will cause a crash. In Skyrim there's a mod that removes a lot of garbage that takes up space and have been trying to find something similar for FO3 with no luck so far.

 

In Skyrim, that mod i mentioned removes the permanant ash piles, corpses, and even goes as far as to keep the weapon attached to the enemy when they die. I guess even the weapons in that game last forever because after you loot the corpse if you don't take his/her weapon it will remain in that cell forever. If the weapon is attached to the enemy then it will disappear along with the corpse after cell reset. If there isn't a mod like this for FO3 then someone should really make one.

[AKcelsior]

At long last I have found a mod along the lines I mentioned. This mod http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/1289 removes ash and goo piles that result from energy weapons. At least that's what the description says. At least 1 user claimed the mod doesn't work. The file is from dec 2008, so I'm hoping it is still compatible. Will test and report back results.

[M48A5]

I am currently using Vanishing Ash Piles http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/7347 which removes ash and goo piles, and Clean Deluxe http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/17115 which removes excess trash from the game. My current save file (#104) is 22.3MB and I don't have a problem with crashing.

[AKcelsior]

I am currently using Vanishing Ash Piles http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/7347 which removes ash and goo piles, and Clean Deluxe http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/17115 which removes excess trash from the game. My current save file (#104) is 22.3MB and I don't have a problem with crashing.

 

Thank you! These are what I was looking for. The mod I mentioned isn't as good, as it doesn't allow for ash piles at all (leaving EVE and Flamer kills lackluster). The 2nd mod you showed is above and beyond what I was looking for which is a good thing. I'm going to go play with these and see what happens. I would have never found these mods normally.

Edited November 28, 2012 by akkalat85

[Ranx31]

Another mod you could try is called 'Zap Away'. It's also found on the Nexus. I don't have a link for it but it shouldn't be hard to find. It adds a modified 10mm pistol that you can fire at bodies to get rid of them. It uses the same animation as the Firelance pistol and looks pretty cool when it does its thing! Any detached body parts are also deleted so it works pretty slick.

 

I found this mod when I also became concerned awhile ago about save file size and surmised that all the dead bodies littering the Wasteland and interiors that were not being cleaned up were probably not helping the situation. The downside is that you have to do it yourself but at least you're not running another script in the background all the time. Another thing is that it does NOT work on ash or goo piles so it doesn't cover all the bases but it DOES help.

 

What I also learned is that it's possible to do cleanups with no mods needed! There are several console commands that can be used together to safely get rid of any and all remnants left lying about. When I come across a body that I think may have been there longer than it should, the first thing I do is open the console with the tilde key (~), click on the body then enter 'gettimedead'. The console will report the number of game hours the body has been lying there. Anything over 72 hours I know the game's cleanup routine has failed to kick in and remove it. I say 72 hours since I've heard that the game's cleaning is supposed to work on bodies greater than this number. It can actually be any number, and if I'm in the mood for it, I'll get rid of it anyway! Just beware that if it reports 0.00 hours that the body is either freshly killed (unlikely as you'd know yourself if it was) or was never alive in the first place. You'll see never-alive bodies placed in areas by the game or other mods when they want to add atmosphere to the area. Eg. a dead merc that ghouls are feasting on.

 

So anyway, once I decide it's a normal dead body then I simply enter the 'zap' command. The body instantly disappears and I'm done. This command works on both bodies and ash and goo piles. It's also handy for piles in unusual locations like underwater or whatnot. Zap can also be used on any item or weapon lying around that you want gone and don't want to pick up or move. Just be very careful when you use it, you don't want to zap away anything important or quest-related. I haven't experienced any negative consequences from using 'zap' and, in fact, it seems to sometimes help respawn those enemies to kill again!

 

Sometimes I also use another console command, as a test anyway. The command is 'markfordelete' and should allow flagging for deletion by the game's cleanup routine. It seems to work but I can't be certain because I'm usually doing stuff in the game and don't remember individual bodies flagged where and when. I just assume that it can't hurt and may be re-adding it to the game's cleanup list if it missed it already.

 

So there you go, there's some alternatives for you! Happy cleaning! :)

[AKcelsior]

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses. I don't mess with the console too much so I was unaware of those commands! I really appreciate you guys taking the time to help out.

[michel92]

The best thing I can point you to is this

 

I'm afraid that ash piles are the least of our problems. Scripts. Those can cause problems...

 

It seems that Skyrim Papyrus Script Engine cause a lot more trouble than Fallout 3/NV. In any case, I don't think that those games handle script remains in saves much differently. My advice: if you have to run scripted mods, keep them to a minimum (always trying to be certain that the modder knows what he is doing), and try NOT to uninstall, not even update, this kind of mods during your playthrought. You are already doing the other good practice, i.e., not overwriting your saves and not auto or quick save.

 

It's important to remember that saves do get bigger, the more you play and the more things you discover in game. You'll notice save bloat when the size hugely increases, and you start to notice longer load times, eventually CTDs, strange game behavior and then, finally, save corruption.

Edited December 18, 2012 by michel92

[SirRomin]

I don't really understand why anybody would NEED a hundred or more game saves in the first place.

Are you seriously contemplating going back 70 or 80 saves and replaying everything from there? :rolleyes:

 

Game saves are humongous in FO3 compared to some other games I've played, and they increase exponentially the more time you have invested.

I don't personally know of any mods that would change this, but for whatever it's worth (maybe nothing), I myself usually only maintain a grand total of about 20 saves at a time, overwriting the oldest one but keeping the one right before exiting vault 101 for future replays. The only reason I would have to go back farther than 2 or 3 saves in the first palce would be to check out something in my mod, or in case of game-save corruption.

 

I'm on level 30 in my third play-through, and have been for months (game time), run a lot of scripts, use quicksave very frequently (each quicksave or autosave overwrites the last one anyway), and yet the total size of my game save folder is consistently only about 150 mb. My FO3 game does crash and/or freeze occasionally (not frequently), but then so do most of the other games I play. I guess it's just a peecee thing.