Scrap Crash Explanation
After many months of research, we finally found the cause!
Throughout this post, I'm going to talk about "items involved with power", I want to define what that means so you know how to identify them.
Power Involved Items: Anything that can be wired or that transmits power through snapping.
So this includes things like power connectors, generators, construction lights, Vault Tec Workshop wall and floor pieces, and many more. The hardest ones to identify are mod-added items that have added the ability for pieces to transmit power through them via snapping like the Vault Tec Workshop pieces do.
If you want the technical means of testing a piece to see if transmits power via snapping, select it in the console and run:
getvalue 354
If this returns something other than 0, then this piece transmits power via snapping. Otherwise, it's only pieces that allow you to connect a wire to them that you have to be concerned with.
The scrap crash is caused under 3 conditions:
1. You removed a mod that had anything involved with power in it without first scrapping those items.
2. You disabled/marked for delete an item involved with power.
3. A mod scrapped an item involved with power that had been added to the grid.
(This last one is why the bug is so common with people using City Plans. )
Is there a fix?
For F4SE users - yes! https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/17777?tab=description
Install the Power Grid Tools plugin, then run the console command cpg 1 while standing in a settlement with the scrap crash, and it will fix your settlement!
Afterwards, you may need to rewire a few things, to generate new power grids.
For everyone else, there is not. You simply have to avoid scrapping things or messing with power on those saves.
How can I prevent it?
1. Before starting a City Plan or using the Town Meeting Gavel to scrap your settlement, first scrap anything involved with power.
2. Never connect wires to anything created by a City Plan.
3. If you decide to uninstall a settlement mod, be sure to scrap EVERYTHING from that mod first. (by scrap, I mean manually scrapping - using a tool to scrap things for you risks triggering the scrap crash again. Though mods that use the Workshop Framework scrap method that will be updated in 1.0.6 to do so safely, will be fine - so encourage your local mod author to use Workshop Framework to handle their scrapping!)
There's got to be an easier way!
There is - here's what needs to happen:
1. I'm going to make a major change to Sim Settlements and Workshop Framework code so that any time those mods scrap things involved with power, they leave them hidden, rather than destroying them. This will ensure your power grids don't become corrupt from those mods.
The prevention method will be included in patch 3.4.6 of Sim Settlements, and in patch 1.0.6 of Workshop Framework, both will be released by this weekend.
2. If you are not using F4SE*, anything that is not from one of my mods, that dynamically spawns a power related object, you should NEVER connect to it without confirming with the mod author that they are aware of the scrap crash and how to prevent it. After the 3.4.6 patch of SS, everyone will be able to safety wire things from City Plans and plots and will be able to use the Town Meeting Gavel/Start City Plans without first scrapping their settlements manually!
*F4SE users, you can be bold and do whatever you want because you're going to have a fix!
3. These preventative measures, including the new patches, will only help if you start a new save. If the issue already occurred in your save, and you are not an F4SE user, there is no way to repair it. Bethesda would need to patch Fallout 4 to fix it (I have sent them a detailed report about what causes this and what they would need to change to fix this for everyone).
What makes this point 3 worse, is that the issue is kind of a time bomb, there's a chance it will manifest itself down the road. So if you're on PC, and you've been reluctant to use F4SE, it might be worth using even just temporarily once the new Power Grid tools come out so you can go to each of your settlements and clean the grids.
After many months of research, we finally found the cause!
Throughout this post, I'm going to talk about "items involved with power", I want to define what that means so you know how to identify them.
Power Involved Items: Anything that can be wired or that transmits power through snapping.
So this includes things like power connectors, generators, construction lights, Vault Tec Workshop wall and floor pieces, and many more. The hardest ones to identify are mod-added items that have added the ability for pieces to transmit power through them via snapping like the Vault Tec Workshop pieces do.
If you want the technical means of testing a piece to see if transmits power via snapping, select it in the console and run:
getvalue 354
If this returns something other than 0, then this piece transmits power via snapping. Otherwise, it's only pieces that allow you to connect a wire to them that you have to be concerned with.
The scrap crash is caused under 3 conditions:
1. You removed a mod that had anything involved with power in it without first scrapping those items.
2. You disabled/marked for delete an item involved with power.
3. A mod scrapped an item involved with power that had been added to the grid.
(This last one is why the bug is so common with people using City Plans. )
Is there a fix?
For F4SE users - yes! https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/17777?tab=description
Install the Power Grid Tools plugin, then run the console command cpg 1 while standing in a settlement with the scrap crash, and it will fix your settlement!
Afterwards, you may need to rewire a few things, to generate new power grids.
For everyone else, there is not. You simply have to avoid scrapping things or messing with power on those saves.
How can I prevent it?
1. Before starting a City Plan or using the Town Meeting Gavel to scrap your settlement, first scrap anything involved with power.
2. Never connect wires to anything created by a City Plan.
3. If you decide to uninstall a settlement mod, be sure to scrap EVERYTHING from that mod first. (by scrap, I mean manually scrapping - using a tool to scrap things for you risks triggering the scrap crash again. Though mods that use the Workshop Framework scrap method that will be updated in 1.0.6 to do so safely, will be fine - so encourage your local mod author to use Workshop Framework to handle their scrapping!)
There's got to be an easier way!
There is - here's what needs to happen:
1. I'm going to make a major change to Sim Settlements and Workshop Framework code so that any time those mods scrap things involved with power, they leave them hidden, rather than destroying them. This will ensure your power grids don't become corrupt from those mods.
The prevention method will be included in patch 3.4.6 of Sim Settlements, and in patch 1.0.6 of Workshop Framework, both will be released by this weekend.
2. If you are not using F4SE*, anything that is not from one of my mods, that dynamically spawns a power related object, you should NEVER connect to it without confirming with the mod author that they are aware of the scrap crash and how to prevent it. After the 3.4.6 patch of SS, everyone will be able to safety wire things from City Plans and plots and will be able to use the Town Meeting Gavel/Start City Plans without first scrapping their settlements manually!
*F4SE users, you can be bold and do whatever you want because you're going to have a fix!
3. These preventative measures, including the new patches, will only help if you start a new save. If the issue already occurred in your save, and you are not an F4SE user, there is no way to repair it. Bethesda would need to patch Fallout 4 to fix it (I have sent them a detailed report about what causes this and what they would need to change to fix this for everyone).
What makes this point 3 worse, is that the issue is kind of a time bomb, there's a chance it will manifest itself down the road. So if you're on PC, and you've been reluctant to use F4SE, it might be worth using even just temporarily once the new Power Grid tools come out so you can go to each of your settlements and clean the grids.
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