the Sim Settlements forums!

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Question about Plot types and Debugging Problems

1ae0bfb8

Well-Known Member
Banned
Messages
1,018
If I'm trying to troubleshoot something, or, if someone asks for help, there's a series of very general steps that get asked;

1. what is your load order
2. have you removed mods from your play through
3. what are your pc specs - in particular memory and gpu vram size

You get the picture.

Anyway, in light of the 4.0.8 issues with the interior plot, I was wondering if it's an idea to also ask how many and what type of simsettlements plot are in place in an area that is giving a CTD?

Would asking that, and hopefully being able to generate a list of plots be something that could be used in trying to find the root cause of an issue? Reason I'm thinking about this, is that we had several posts with commonality - CTD's but the settlements were varied, and in some cases, like my Red Rocket, seemingly unrelated. However, the root cause was identified as an internal plot.

If this is useful information, I'd like to request - if it's possible - a facility whereby a player affected by an issue, could dump out a list of simsettlements plots that they could provide on request, just to see if there's a common link that could be applied?

Any thoughts on how useful that idea is, and how practical it would be to implement?
 
@1ae0bfb8 - unless its the script limit bug or another system wide issue or resource limitation In my experience the only way to troubleshoot CTD's is to do the 8x disable method to identify which add-on or mod is the cause of the CTD instability. Once you have identified the culprit you can leave it disabled or use a tool like @pra 's ASAM maintenance software to try and nail down which plot is the cause and then file a bug report with the add-on author through the forums or Nexus.

I think an easy way to export a list of plots would be handy but I suggest that it would not allow us to easily identify a troublesome plot as most users would have most add-ons installed so there would be allot of similarity and cross over.
 
that's true - but the aim was to offer a stable starting point - a common set of mods that if used are proven to be stable across a spectrum of hardware. call it a building block.

i've lost count of the number of times people have come up with "xxx mod broke my game" and its based on....thin air. UFO4P gets this all the time.

So, if you have a set of mods proven to be stable, you can eliminate them from any troubleshooting and save yourself a ton of work.

But, sadly, there was zero interest in the idea, so it's a non-starter.
 
I hear what you are saying. As a player I yearned for a list of "stable mods" that I could build my huge load order off the back off. As a mod/add-on pack author though being on or off a list becomes a real problem.
Lets say that I release my mod and all goes well. Then I do an update which has a bug/error in it that causes some people a CTD under certain situations. Due to this error my mod gets taken off a stable list or put on a buggy list then I am at the mercy of the list maintainer as to whether people use my mod or not and may stay on/off the list for a long period of time even if I detect the problem early and quickly.
Because all of this is volunteer/community driven then it can become a real issue.
Official Nexus ModLists/ModPacks when they come will create an environment whereby people can build and test Modlists/Modpacks and publish them and a single supported entity which will provide some of what we are wanting in this space.
 
i think if you released a mod and didn't maintain it - so bugs went unresolved - then its a candidate to be removed off a stable list. if you release an update, it has a bug and you fix the bug - then surely that's a sign that the mod is being actively supported and maintained, thus a candidate for a list of stable mods?
 
i think if you released a mod and didn't maintain it - so bugs went unresolved - then its a candidate to be removed off a stable list. if you release an update, it has a bug and you fix the bug - then surely that's a sign that the mod is being actively supported and maintained, thus a candidate for a list of stable mods?
I agree wholeheartedly. In a perfect world that would work. But the problem is that you are replying on the list maintainer (who is usually a hobbyist) to keep it up to date and be accurate. :)
I was talking with the Nexus community manager a while back about metrics for mod viability. I thought that a good way to measure a mods viability is to look at the download to endorsement ratio. A good mod would have a high ratio. It would also show the mods that appear to be popular and have an initial high amount of downloads but after people use them and have problems only has a low amount of endorsements. Also Endorsements over time would be another good measure as well as community posts over time. As you pointed out if the author is regularly replying to Nexus posts then its a good sign the mod is actively supported.
 
an example here would be UFO4P. that is constantly updated, and maintained. they have released versions that contained bugs, and once reported and verified they work it and publish a fix. that, to me, is a prime candidate for a stable list. simsettlements, is also a candidate for a stable list.
we know this, because we are using it daily.
you could, suggest that version x.yy is stable, while x.yy + 1 is the new release, and people may report bugs in the new release soon after it is available. your stable release would be x.yy and people could (and really should) stay on that if they don't want to risk instability.
some mods, once written, don't need to be maintained, small mods that do a thing, perhaps do it and that's it - that too, would be stable simply because it doesn't need to be updated.
mods that go a long time without bug fixes (note, not user error, actual bugs), would over time become considered 'unstable'. there are enough mods out there, for a starting point for a curated list of mods that give you stability.

for example, i would suggest to anyone starting f04 and simsettlements for the first time ever the following list;

game + all DLC
UFO4P
Simsettlements 3-in-1
Conqueror
Workshop+
Workshop Framework

If you just landed on the planet and wanted to play the game - start there. Those mods in concert are not going to give you hassle - unless you go hog and try to build massive city plans everywhere. even then, they probably would work, it would just run as slow as molasses.....

but that is where i was headed with this idea.

now if you have issues with your game, you can remove those from your triage - and you should be left with brokenmodx or longsinceabandonedmody or wrecksprecombinesz and one of those guys are your prime suspect.
 
1ae0bfb8 and SirLach's Recommended SS Playthrough Modlist! :)

I have had to develop a modlist for testing City Plans. That would be a good place to start.
 
My original list for city plan / testing games:

Base Game
F4SE
MCM
HUD Framework
Better Console

The mods themselves:

SMM
Sim Settlements RotC
Project Blueprint
(various SS packs & Megapack Year One)
Workshop Framework
Workshop Plus
Uncapped Settlement Surplus (for turning off attacks)
Place Everywhere
Transfer Settlements

I'd now add into that RMS, both for lazy scrapping & resources.

Also extra perk points (to get the perk requirements to build some vanilla items in workshop mode) and console in the picket fences magazines.

YMMV
 
Top