Question CTD on approach to settlement sites at start of new game

[frazzlesnap]

I'm not used to having problems with WSFW, and have been using it for a few years without incident. I recently purged my old Fallout 4 installation to start a completely fresh playthrough. On exiting Vault 111, I get a constant CTD on approach to Sanctuary or Abernathy Farm (the only two I've approached). Buffout and careful reading of the crash log files shows from 2 to 6 potential culprits, and WSFW is the only one that is always consistent. I tried uninstalling all the other listed mods, but it didn't help. Uninstalling WSFW fixed the CTDs. Going through the crash log line by line, it keeps referencing buildable areas, build limits, and other attributes directly tied to the workshop. I really need WSFW, because I am addicted to Sim Settlements 2, and I know that I must be having a problem that is not WSFW itself, since it has always been so stable. I've got a small, but highly interconnected mod list of 472 plugins, and many of the associated mods have cross-dependencies. I've tried testing with as few enabled as possible and just WSFW enabled, then re-enabling as few as possible to get functionality in each load instance, but it's taking ages. I think it's down to the previsbines, but uninstalling PRP and all associated patches still leaves the CTDs with WSFW. I would really appreciate any help, but understand that I haven't exactly approached this from the best angle. Thank you in advance.

 

[Mystical Panda]

In WSFW try to turn off the auto-scan, repair and destroy power grid options, if they're on and see if you can get into your settlements.

 

[frazzlesnap]

Thank you for the quick response! I tried as you suggested, and I was able to walk about 10 feet into Abernathy Farm before getting the same CTD. I'd never, in probably 30 tries, made it that far. (About 30 feet farther than before.) I was able to greet Richard Nixon!

 

[Mystical Panda]

I was able to greet Richard Nixon!

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Since you able to get in there a few feet, as soon as your in the settlement boundary go into console mode by pressing "~", then try entering "cpg 1"- this will only work when your in the settlement. It'll find, fix and report on any power grid problems the settlement might have. If all else fails, save your game then try to remotely destroy boty Sanctuary and Abernathy from the SS2 holotape which is an incredible long shot since quite a few of your errors were VirtualMachine(papyrus de-sync).

I've had this(papyrus de-sync) happen when dynanically updating mod scripts during a playthrough and now with my current playthrough it's happening right off the bat. It seems to happen mostly when I'm just now starting to play and load up a game save for the first time in Sanctuary but once it ctds I can try and again successfully. This tells me it might be a race condition somewhere, or maybe some mods are 'out of order'...

When using Transfer Settlements and objects are importing, certain areas of the settlement will flip back and forth between lod and hi-res textures. Even the tree clusters removed with Raze will momentarily re-appear then disappear again while importing or adding objects manually. So there's two mods in there that are bouncing back and forth off each other(guessing) until they catch at the right time... then ctd.

Now... I just need to figure out which one...

 

[frazzlesnap]

Wow. I haven't been able to actually do anything with either location - I'm literally happening upon them for the first time and getting these CTDs. Neither settlement belongs to me, and Sanctuary doesn't have anything in it to make it a viable settlement. I'll try the console cpg 1. Thank you so much for helping me on this, and taking the time to explain some of the problems!
It seems quite probable to me that mods might be out of order, since I let LOOT in Vortex order them. (I got really lazy.) I had to completely, manually order my 1350+ plugin list for Skyrim SE because LOOT kept breaking my game. Now, when I open Vortex to download and install a mod for Skyrim SE or Fallout 4, it automatically reorders a few of them, even with LOOT disabled and not clicking on the Plugins tab. It took months to get a stable load-order for Skyrim SE, and I was hoping it would be simpler with Fallout 4 this time.
I hope you have luck in your quest!

 

[frazzlesnap]

Well, I can't get close, once again. The settings that helped yesterday seem to have no effect now. As soon as I hit the buildable area barrier for Abernathy, it CTDs. I can almost get to a fence and whack a chicken, but... no good. 9 virtual machine script errors this time. Why are modding and troubleshooting Bethesda games pretty much a full-time occupation? Now I've got truncated saves in Skyrim SE if I save outdoors... bugger all.

 

[Skywise001]

If you have steam verify your installation is ok. Or you might update the game by removing and reinstalling an expansion.

 

[sombran22]

Thats how modding is, sometimes it just breaks.

I dont think its prp, because im using it and my game is working.

I would say try removing all mods and try with the basic setup, wsfw, ss2, and see if its working. Then start adding mods in little groups or one by one.

 

[Mystical Panda]

9 virtual machine script errors this time

I'm getting a few of those when loading my game in Sanctuary- though only 3 with over 48 hours of gameplay. From what I can tell from the Buffout log it might somehow be related to an scripted object. Still tinkering around with this...

Why are modding and troubleshooting Bethesda games pretty much a full-time occupation?

I def feel ya' here. If I was to venture a guess... it's it's a lock of 'let's just roll up the sleeves and nail this thing down' kindof problem. They come up with ideas, but for some reason can't get the coding department to integrate and fully test(from all possibilities) the 'behavior' they're creating in the game. For example... they'll use a round-about-way with existing systems to simulate a completely different system without fully checking all the possibilities... then a modder comes along and says... hey it LOOKS like they're doing this... with this... so let's add to that. And it completely breaks the game because Bethesda doesn't spend time creating a fully ionized system... just one that seems to 'smoke' with mirrors. Unfortunately.

It's almost like they're afraid to say... Todd we need to do this... even though, right now, the spirit of the company isn't gaming... it's investors... which includes most of the staff... so let's just not even mention it.

 

[Skywise001]

I'm getting a few of those when loading my game in Sanctuary- though only 3 with over 48 hours of gameplay. From what I can tell from the Buffout log it might somehow be related to an scripted object. Still tinkering around with this...

I def feel ya' here. If I was to venture a guess... it's it's a lock of 'let's just roll up the sleeves and nail this thing down' kindof problem. They come up with ideas, but for some reason can't get the coding department to integrate and fully test(from all possibilities) the 'behavior' they're creating in the game. For example... they'll use a round-about-way with existing systems to simulate a completely different system without fully checking all the possibilities... then a modder comes along and says... hey it LOOKS like they're doing this... with this... so let's add to that. And it completely breaks the game because Bethesda doesn't spend time creating a fully ionized system... just one that seems to 'smoke' with mirrors. Unfortunately.

It's almost like they're afraid to say... Todd we need to do this... even though, right now, the spirit of the company isn't gaming... it's investors... which includes most of the staff... so let's just not even mention it.

Remember they believed the modders would make the game better and Bethsidia magic would fix the rest.

I wish Todd would go and spend some time in jail for being an ass.

 

[frazzlesnap]

I have nothing but respect and admiration for all the hard work that modders have put into trying to fix and improve these games. I used to make mods for Morrowind and Oblivion (for myself and a friend), and it was a lot of work to come up with something that was worthwhile and wouldn't make the already unstable games topple like a house of cards on a shaky table. Actually, Morrowind was relatively stable, when compared to the more recent offerings.
Todd sucks. He likes racing games and sports games, and should keep his sweaty money-grubbing hands off of rpgs.
Anyway, I've been trying to narrow things down further. Uninstalling Beantown Interiors gets me another 8 seconds and 60 feet of Abernathy Farm. I tried to run a new game with just the bare minimum (for my purposes) load order, and it was still crashing. I've got to pare it back even further.
Thanks for the assistance!

 

[frazzlesnap]

Hmm. It appears that it was Amazing Follower Tweaks. I'm going to try to re-enable some of the mods I uninstalled, one at a time, to see if I have another culprit. I've run AFT in the past with no problems, so I think this is a load-order issue...
Loading AFT last, like it suggests, has no effect. I guess I'll try loading it earlier. I don't think I can get it before SS2 and Workshop Framework.

 

[SailorM24]

Uninstalling Beantown Interiors gets me another 8 seconds and 60 feet of Abernathy Farm.

How many other mods are you using that break precombines? Scrap mods, settlement mods, etc. I saw the next post about AFT and when I tested it, it broke Pre's in a few of cells. Might just be the straw that broke the back mod. The more cells broken the worse things get. Strangely the problem covers the whole map even if the pre's are intact in that cell. I am on Xbox so this might be a power(of device) issue but breaking pre's when using a mod that adds primary layers is very bad. The game never knows where to place things. I doubt that is the issue before you add to the new primary layer but who knows? This is just the clearest example of things going wrong, I have a big list.
Appears to be missing animations but the engine placed them in the base ground even though you placed the plant in the added primary layer?
In general I find Chucks mod's sensitive to LO again going back to added layers and pre's, we have a scrap mod which does not break pre's but adds a new layer and all Chuck's mods need to be before it, it might even be that any mod that breaks pres must be before it, but that does not work always. Of coarse that LO manipulation can't be done with WSFW.

 

[frazzlesnap]

I don't think that I'm using any other mods that break precombines, and I've got patches for all the ones I know about. I used to run Scrap Everything, but I'm not trying it this time. I've been trying to minimize the load order, but so far, the only culprit I have is AFT. I know that can't be it, because it has run just fine in previous installations. Too many of my mods are interconnected, so I either have very few enabled, or a fair handful.

 

[frazzlesnap]

I disabled WSFW and SS2, and went to Sanctuary, then saved, enabled those mods (and their attendants) and loaded the game. It loaded successfully and ran for about 20 seconds before CTD. The cause listed under Buffout was 9 virtual machine calls or what-have-you. I can now, sometimes, get within a few feet of a settlement workbench before the crash. I can't get close enough to activate it. I tried to go back to an earlier save that was started without WSFW and SS2 and activate the workbench, but I get an immediate activation CTD. Now I'm getting the same behavior, of getting reasonably close, then crashing, even without WSFW and SS2. I guess I've got to trash this install and start again from scratch, as was said earlier, enabling as little as possible between each attempt.

 

[Mystical Panda]

I disabled WSFW and SS2, and went to Sanctuary, then saved, enabled those mods (and their attendants) and loaded the game. It loaded successfully and ran for about 20 seconds before CTD. The cause listed under Buffout was 9 virtual machine calls or what-have-you. I can now, sometimes, get within a few feet of a settlement workbench before the crash. I can't get close enough to activate it. I tried to go back to an earlier save that was started without WSFW and SS2 and activate the workbench, but I get an immediate activation CTD. Now I'm getting the same behavior, of getting reasonably close, then crashing, even without WSFW and SS2. I guess I've got to trash this install and start again from scratch, as was said earlier, enabling as little as possible between each attempt.

If you see TESObject also in the Buffout 4 log, it might be related to Pre-Vis and Pre-Combines- which is what I'm playing around with now. I had different versions of PRP as compared to the available patches. There were places it really didn't like that. It'll take me a bit more to get a large enough test sampling though.

 

[frazzlesnap]

If you see TESObject also in the Buffout 4 log, it might be related to Pre-Vis and Pre-Combines- which is what I'm playing around with now. I had different versions of PRP as compared to the available patches. There were places it really didn't like that. It'll take me a bit more to get a large enough test sampling though.

I'm not even getting a crashlog now. I get close to a settlement workbench and I CTD without any log. I've disabled all UI, clothing, armor, animation, weapon, crafting, pre-vis and pre-combine repair mods, and workbench-related mods now, and I still get the same CTD. I'm going to try an unmodded game and see if it works. There must be a loose file or something left over that is causing this. I was getting a bunch of TESObject errors in the log with WSFW enabled, back when I even got crashlogs. Thanks for sticking with me!

 

[Mystical Panda]

Your welcome- I'm glad to be able to help!

I don't beleve that Buffout will generate a crash log if a windows exception code is encountered first. If you don't have a quick tool for that, you can check the Windows Event Viewer for Fallout4.exe and see what is showing(look under the Application section). I've noticed here that if a windows api is called and 'crashes' an un-handled function call(or sub call), windows will generate an un-handled exception error- such as "memory access violation- which is usually a bad reference or memory object pointer either by itself or as an embedded structure within another structure.

I can sometimes get both types of errors and report them differently- though they are both visible in load order history. Most of the time it is the "memory access violation", while others it's some type of recursion filling up the stack space causing a crash.

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Here's a quick video that might help with some of that- you'll need to wait for it to finishing uploading and finish the 2160p processing.

Good luck and keep us updated on how it's going.

 

[LeapinL]

I'm not even getting a crashlog now. I get close to a settlement workbench and I CTD without any log. I've disabled all UI, clothing, armor, animation, weapon, crafting, pre-vis and pre-combine repair mods, and workbench-related mods now, and I still get the same CTD. I'm going to try an unmodded game and see if it works. There must be a loose file or something left over that is causing this. I was getting a bunch of TESObject errors in the log with WSFW enabled, back when I even got crashlogs. Thanks for sticking with me!

If you are going to start a new game, and your game is through steam, you may want to verify your game files. Or reinstall the game. I have had several times that I broke my game with mods. And that really helped to get it off to a good start. That and I use a start method now that someone shared with me. I will see if I can find it. It rolls the mods into your game gradually, and not all at once. Makes it easier to see if there is a conflict with some.

 

[Mystical Panda]

That and I use a start method now that someone shared with me. I will see if I can find it.

Is it this one? I remember the post, just don't recall the name of the mod.