Playthrough Test(2022-10-12)...

[Mystical Panda]

This is a new playthrough test for the latest SS2 release(the last game became unstable after lvl 50+). The load order is the same as last time, with this instance not having any plugins or scripts updated during a current game which I think caused most of the problem(but this is still the test and debug stage).

In this playthrough I'm using the default City Plans that come with SS2 as no other plans are in the load order, and I have Sanctuary, Red Rocket, Abernathy Farm, Starlight DriveIn and Sunshine Tidings Co-op working on their respective level 1. I'll be adding additional beds and push settlers to settlements as they are encountered 'in the wild'.

To start, I'm attaching a text file from the current papyrus log, filtering for 'ss2'. There a few entries at the beginning where a script is missing? or a few properties don't match. Not sure if this will be of use, but your welcome to it.

 

[Mystical Panda]

Are you running an nVidia card? If so check your driver. I had an issue last year where Windows decided to update my driver and I crashed every time Concord tried to load. Its a long shit, but worth looking into. Some authors have stated that the latest nVidia driver causes issues with the render window in the CK.

I'm using an MSI Radeon 6900XT. The driver was updated, now that I think about it, last week(I'd have to check the installation logs for the exact date) and Windows should be updated also. So it could be something in that. Is there a remote way to 'wipe' Abernathy and rebuilt it- basically refreshing it? Without actually travelling there? With Concord, I might need the same, but don't think something like that exists.

 

[Mystical Panda]

Here's what I have so far... So I can either try and start again? or tinker with what I have and see if anything is salvageable. Not for the game save or current test, but if I can get it running better, other than co-incidence, might help point to the potential problem.

Edit: I didn't add a note to that showing where I completely updated to 2.2.4a.

 

[Mystical Panda]

I'm going to try and do a remote power 're-do' for Abernathy and see if I can get into that settlement again, if no, I'm going to try a 'reset' and see what happens. When looking for the options in WSFW I can across a 'null'(or empty string) settlement name. Not sure if this is normal... which I wouldn't think it is. I also attached an adjusted session log with a 'note' added for when a full SS2 upgrade was done(matched the install date to the session date) for verification.

After updating I tried to fast travel directly to Abernathy- crash. Traveled to Sanctuary- ok. Ran to Red Rocket- ok. Went into concord- crash. I also noted that the spotlight in Red Rocket was now animated, where as before it was set in a fixed direction.

 

[Mystical Panda]

Here's the first video where I attempted to recover Abernathy- and as you can see if was unsuccessful. I tried to remotely repair the power grid, which resulted in a message saying the power grid is better off destroyed- tried that. Going into Abernathy resulted in a crash, and you can see the 'loose filestream' from the filtered buffout log showing 2 entries.

You can also see an 'empty' entry in the list of settlements- I have no idea what that's supposed to be, and is going to need a bit more research.

 

[Mystical Panda]

Here's the next video showing an attempt to reset the location(Abernathy), and after the function completes and going towards Abernathy- crash with 'loose filestream'. Note though, that now there's only a single instance. Where as from the previous 'test', there were two. Now, with this, I'm not sure if everything was 'reset', or something was bypassed? Is there something in the settlement, like a dead body, where not all the data was 'cleared' back to an active memory pool and this error is from attempt to free memory as opposed to rendering an object. Since I was there during the last settlement attack and all the robots were dealt with, with no crash happening during or after combat, nor after revisiting this settlement at a later time.

The next thing to try is to rollback to 2.2.3x and see what happens. Give a few and I'll give that a try...

 

[Mystical Panda]

Ok, no video this time as this was a longer 'hit or miss' attempts... I first rolled back WSFW to 2.0.3c, then destroyed the power grid for Abernathy, then reset Abernathy from the remote recovery options in WSFW. The next thing to do was fast travel to Abernathy directly and was able to load the settlement. The settlers are rebuilding, so I'll post back when that's done and I can try running to the settlement from Red Rocket and see if it crashes(as the last two posts WSFW was left at it's latest version). Though, this continues to show for the municipal power pylon. This happens if I scrap and rebuild, refresh the layout(happening now- already refreshed and settlers are playing catchup after they're assigned their respective plots).

 

[Mystical Panda]

Here's a video showing my attempt to rollback WSFW to 2.0.3c and running back into Abernathy- which was unsuccessful. However, after traveling to Sanctuary, Red Rocket(sleeping for a day), fast traveling to Concord and the Museum of Freedom(without a crash) I was able to fast travel to Abernathy successfully. From there, I reset the settlement layout and the settlers are working on getting re-assigned and building their plots back up.

 

[Mystical Panda]

Here's a quick 'snapshot' after rolling back to 2.2.3x(SS2, Chapter 2, WSFW) showing that everything has finally settled down. Now I'm going to try to 'Death Race' round the track(running from Abernathy to Concord and back to see what happens). Soundscape manager was common for 2.2.3x and is back here- which is expected but that's all the papyrus is showing, so a good thing. Hopefully.

 

[Mystical Panda]

Here's some metrics from the 2.2.4x version to the 2.2.3x version(once rolled back). This represents coming from Abernathy after they've re-built their plots(after a layout refresh)- still had to connect the one plot mentioned in a prior post since no wire was run to it(the one to the left of the main building) to Red Rocket and through Concord. I'm going to continue to the quarry, then back again and see if it'll successfully make the transitions.

 

[Mystical Panda]

Ok, this repeats well over 30+ times- I turned on to suppress messages during certain 'events' and these started appearing in the papyrus log. There were maybe 5-6 messages about Abernathy still upgrading plots(and one from Boston Airport) while I'm here at the quarry.

 

[Mystical Panda]

So... running from Abernathy -> Red Rocket -> Concord -> Quarry = ok. Running back from Quarry - > Concord = crash! Once in Concord running from Concord -> Red Rocket -> Abernathy = crash!. Fast traveling from Red Rocket to Abernathy = ok. To me, this looks like cells are partially loading for a settlement while running and somehow something isn't connected(or thinks it's connected but isn't) while the engine or SS2 scripts are processing and when it tries to go to an object or plot that isn't fully loaded, crash. Maybe. As fast traveling directly into Abernathy works just fine.

This is a 2.2.3x rollback, as 2.2.4x would crash when fast traveling to Abernathy.

 

[msalaba]

When looking for the options in WSFW I can across a 'null'(or empty string) settlement name. Not sure if this is normal...

There is an unnamed settlement used for the Nuka World Raider settlements. It should be excluded from the menu.

Do you have any mods that add / modify settlement locations?

 

[Mystical Panda]

There is an unnamed settlement used for the Nuka World Raider settlements. It should be excluded from the menu.

Do you have any mods that add / modify settlement locations?

There are a few that add workshops, if I'm not mistaken, like "The Armory"(which might be from Interesting NPCS- I've been there). And some new world spaces that have a workshops of their own like Sombre Mountain- but none of those I've visited yet, so they shouldn't be on the list, nor have I been to Nuka World(though I have the radio broadcast to go there). If you know the xEdit record type, or form id, I can look it up to see what might be over-riding it?

 

[SarahAda]

There are a few that add workshops, if I'm not mistaken, like "The Armory"(which might be from Interesting NPCS- I've been there). And some new world spaces that have a workshops of their own like Sombre Mountain- but none of those I've visited yet, so they shouldn't be on the list, nor have I been to Nuka World(though I have the radio broadcast to go there). If you know the xEdit record type, or form id, I can look it up to see what might be over-riding it?

adding a settlement requires adjusting the cell (worldspace in xEdit) to create static objects for the workshop workbench and special workshop container and creating a pair of quest that call WorkshopInitializeLocationScript and WorkshopAddLocationsScript to update the workshop parent script's list of active settlements. other things that might need to happen is the creation of a Location (basically a map marker) if there isn't one already and adjusting the encouter zone (if there IS one there already) to be persistent. Settlemods Collection Standalone Settlements has several small settlements and optional modular ESPs to let you include settlements to your taste, which is where this was reverse engineered from.

in theory, if neither of those quests have fired, nothing is changed in your save game. SKK workshop ownership tools has several diagnostic tools to determine if a settlement is created correctly and working as intended, because those bethesda scripts are remarkably fragile and finicky.

 

[Mystical Panda]

adding a settlement requires adjusting the cell (worldspace in xEdit) to create static objects for the workshop workbench and special workshop container and creating a pair of quest that call WorkshopInitializeLocationScript and WorkshopAddLocationsScript to update the workshop parent script's list of active settlements. other things that might need to happen is the creation of a Location (basically a map marker) if there isn't one already and adjusting the encouter zone (if there IS one there already) to be persistent. Settlemods Collection Standalone Settlements has several small settlements and optional modular ESPs to let you include settlements to your taste, which is where this was reverse engineered from.

in theory, if neither of those quests have fired, nothing is changed in your save game. SKK workshop ownership tools has several diagnostic tools to determine if a settlement is created correctly and working as intended, because those bethesda scripts are remarkably fragile and finicky.

Thanks for the very good info! I really need to visit the plugin records for conflict reporting in this project, I just haven't had enough time yet and haven't decided to what extent I want to apply the code(this is biggest one to help prevent un-necessary refactoring, over and over...). But, it's something I really need to push to the front of the list. If for nothing else, to get at least a 'framework' in place. It might help with things like this.

I still need to go back to the binary file 'parser' and change the parsing to allow for embedded structures and better recursion on repeating structures(including sub, sub structures)- it's something I've been avoiding.

 

[Mystical Panda]

Here's quick video showing the current conflicts for "workshop"(anything with that in the file name), and the same as an attached list. I'm not sure about some of the scripts listed but you can see where SS2 has the last 'say'(I tried to highlight those as I went along).

 

[SarahAda]

Here's quick video showing the current conflicts for "workshop"(anything with that in the file name), and the same as an attached list. I'm not sure about some of the scripts listed but you can see where SS2 has the last 'say'(I tried to highlight those as I went along).

it looks from that video that there aren't any mods replacing the workshop scripts other then WSFW and UFO4P, exactly as intended, but even with the stock scripts, the workshop parent is super finicky at runtime. Null might mean a workshop was either been added incorrectly (these scripts are fragile, remember) or something referencing that workshop got deleted (i.e. removed a mod, scrapped a workbench, markfordelete from the console, etc).

that SKK mod has tools to check the workshop parent instance running in your papyrus VM (basically how the save keeps track of which settlements are active) for problems. an out of order or missing entry in that list might appear as null? the workshop parent script having a problem with it's list can result in missing or duplicated entries in the move settler and caravan menus, problems with settlement links, inability to enter the workshop or use contents of the workbench, etc.

the one time i tried to remove and re-add a settlement mod during a playthrough i ended up with double settlements in some locations, neither of which worked, and broken workbenches in others. i was trying to get Fairline hills estates from that setllemods collection working, there appears to be some subtle conflict between (i think) 3dNPCs and settlemods which breaks a few of the settlemods settlements in interesting and unique ways, even though those two mods don't really overlap much at all. i could build stuff, but couldn't assign or recruit settlers there.

 

[Mystical Panda]

SKK mod has tools to check the workshop parent instance running in your papyrus VM

Thanks! Checking that out now...

 

[Mystical Panda]

@SarahAda ... here's the workshop parent report- everything looks to be ok. I'll start checking the keywords for each settlement and report back here in just a bit...

 

[Mystical Panda]

Here's the settlement I'm currently at. Here's the resource and keyword check. I couldn't locate the debug file for the keywords... though I'll need to work on the 'log' tab(log file metrics) here in a bit to fix a few bugs that I can see, and improve fix the 'recent' log's data reporting..