I have a bit of a complex issue. I played F4 a lot about 16 months ago, and wanted to return to my save file. (I was in the middle of the game, almost 300 hours and about halfway through the main quest. Built up almost all settlements using Sim Settlements to some extent.) The only problem is that it had been so long that I had forgotten how Nexus Mod Manager worked, it needed an update, and also Fallout 4 needed an update through Steam.
I have no idea what happened with NMM. I was having a lot of issues getting it working, had to uninstall and reinstall every mod, and made several mistakes (so much weird shit happened I can't take time to describe it all) It all resulted in me losing track of my original load order. Testing out my old saves, all of them CTD either when opening the workshop, or immediately when loading a save in a settlement. All except for my latest one in Nuka World, which was in an interior cell. After a few days of work, I finally was able to get it stable. (At that point, I had also updated SS and installed the new Mega Packs 2 and 3. I never had Conqueror at any point.)
In this save that I thought was stable, I went from South Boston and traveled through Hangman's Alley->Starlight->Red Rocket->Sanctuary. Everything was fine. Was able to open the workshop in every one. I was very happy and decided to play a bit through Nuka World. I added a couple more mods (Companion Dialogue Overhaul, Player Comments and Head Tracking, a radio mod and some new clothes). Unfortunately, I then had issues with companions not being able to be dismissed. After fixing that, I decided to travel back to the Commonwealth. Went to Sunshine Co-op and I get CTD.
Then I went back to the old save that I thought was stable and tried to re-create it, and get CTD in Hangman's Alley. This time I didn't have to open the workshop. It just crashed after a minute or two of trying to load plots and actors.
I tried using the same load order I used before, without the new mods. Still CTD in exactly the same way.
Tried the technique where you look at the ground with your back turned while stuff loads. Didn't work.
Tried going to Graygarden instead of the Co-op, because it had much fewer SS plots. Same result.
Tried disabling War of the Commonwealth and Scrap Everything. Same result.
I have no idea what happened. Admittedly, my playthough 16 months ago was not the most stable anyway. I was moving mods around and doing all sorts of things, and did a lot of debugging then. But this experience trying to get my old save file running has been the most confusing and inconsistent debugging process I've had.
I'm okay with starting over, but I just wanted advice on whether I should simply start a new save or if I need to do something more drastic and reinstall F4, delete NMM and all the mods, and re download everything fresh. Mostly because I'm worried something weird happened when I updated everything at the beginning and moved files around.
I have no idea what happened with NMM. I was having a lot of issues getting it working, had to uninstall and reinstall every mod, and made several mistakes (so much weird shit happened I can't take time to describe it all) It all resulted in me losing track of my original load order. Testing out my old saves, all of them CTD either when opening the workshop, or immediately when loading a save in a settlement. All except for my latest one in Nuka World, which was in an interior cell. After a few days of work, I finally was able to get it stable. (At that point, I had also updated SS and installed the new Mega Packs 2 and 3. I never had Conqueror at any point.)
In this save that I thought was stable, I went from South Boston and traveled through Hangman's Alley->Starlight->Red Rocket->Sanctuary. Everything was fine. Was able to open the workshop in every one. I was very happy and decided to play a bit through Nuka World. I added a couple more mods (Companion Dialogue Overhaul, Player Comments and Head Tracking, a radio mod and some new clothes). Unfortunately, I then had issues with companions not being able to be dismissed. After fixing that, I decided to travel back to the Commonwealth. Went to Sunshine Co-op and I get CTD.
Then I went back to the old save that I thought was stable and tried to re-create it, and get CTD in Hangman's Alley. This time I didn't have to open the workshop. It just crashed after a minute or two of trying to load plots and actors.
I tried using the same load order I used before, without the new mods. Still CTD in exactly the same way.
Tried the technique where you look at the ground with your back turned while stuff loads. Didn't work.
Tried going to Graygarden instead of the Co-op, because it had much fewer SS plots. Same result.
Tried disabling War of the Commonwealth and Scrap Everything. Same result.
I have no idea what happened. Admittedly, my playthough 16 months ago was not the most stable anyway. I was moving mods around and doing all sorts of things, and did a lot of debugging then. But this experience trying to get my old save file running has been the most confusing and inconsistent debugging process I've had.
I'm okay with starting over, but I just wanted advice on whether I should simply start a new save or if I need to do something more drastic and reinstall F4, delete NMM and all the mods, and re download everything fresh. Mostly because I'm worried something weird happened when I updated everything at the beginning and moved files around.