Fallout 4 Immediate crash to desktop on save

[guest7625]

first off - I have a  heavily modded FO4, which in itself is a recipe for disaster

secondly - I have had a heavily modded FO4 for a long time with no issues. I'm definitely not an expert to modding my game, but am in no way a complete incompetent (I can sort my load order, run LOOT, etc.)

Now its time for the details: I recently reloaded and re-modded Fallout; completed a modded game with NMM early last year, recently decided to start over again. Then I find out that NMM no longer exists, so I download Vortex and reinstall the game. I've been playing the game for awhile now (a few weeks), up to 35th level with lots of mods, no issues...

Then just yesterday ( I save a lot)

Load a game

Save 1 no problem

Save 2 no problem

Save 3 no problem

Save 4 no problem

Save 5 - hit save - immediate crash to desktop

Reload save 4, everything's fine.  Hit save, immediate crash to desktop.

Reload save 3, same thing

Reload save 2, game plays normally, make several saves, no issues.

Quit game

Today, reload last good save and have all the same problems - every time I try to save, I get an immediate crash to desktop. Then I load up a different save and can play and save for awhile. Then it crashes when I save and I can't save  again on older saves that seemed to work fine before.

I've run Fallrim tools to see if I have any issues with my saves, but nothing comes up - everything seems clean. I have not loaded any new mods in the last few days. I have updated a few mods that needed updating after the last Fallout update (SKSE, Place Everything, Looksmenu, Rename, probably a few others I can't remember), but this was last week.

I just want to find out if anyone else is experiencing the same issues. I know its entirely possible that I just have a corrupt save and need to start over again; I just want to find out if anyone else has experienced the same thing recently. I've googled the problem, but nothing seems to come up (recent, that is)

I know it's most likely my game set-up, just looking to see if anyone else has experienced something similar.

 

Thanks -any advice would be appreciated

[SCZero]

Interesting, I have the exact same issue just like you. I am using Vortex, never had any problems with corrupted savegames and my game is heavly modded as well. I started a new game, played about 30 hours and then suddenly my saves got corrupted for no reason. At the time, the problems occured, I changed NOTHING. No new mods, no changes in the ini files not even updates on Vortex or any mod.

 

I already tried some things:

- Capped framerate at 60 FPS => no success

- Deactivate auto save and only save manually => no success

- Tried to clean up savegames => no success

- Tried to analyse papyrus logs => not possible; no indication, what causes the crash on save

 

My next step would be to uninstall Vortex and Fallout 4 and reinstall everything. But I don't understand, why this savegame corruption just occured without any indication of the cause. I hope someone has an idea because my game is literally over at that point.

 

 

Thanks

[guest7625]

Well that ... sucks (although I guess I'm semi-relieved that I'm not the only one with this problem)

I think I'm about 30-40 hours in as well. Not a whole lot of time compared to my last play-through, but enough that re-installing and starting again sounds less than thrilling.

Did these crashes start after the last FO4 update for you as well?

I've noticed that it does create a semi-save marked "*.fos.tmp" (where * is all the normal save file jargon) when it crashes. But there are three of these files (where normally there's one and a *.f4se file) and they are small, ~1000 kb. Also, the three files, while having the same save number, are all slighty different:

 

Save280_00000000M4D617269612054616B616861736869_Commonwealth_012218_20190320022810_31_2.fos.tmp

Save280_00000000M4D617269612054616B616861736869_Commonwealth_012219_20190320022033_31_2.fos.tmp

Save280_00000000M4D617269612054616B616861736869_Commonwealth_012219_20190320024809_31_2.fos.tmp

 

Normally, the *.f4se and *.fos are the same except for size.

 

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[SCZero]

For me it started just as the new Fallout 4 update became available. But I ignored this update and started my game via F4SE as always when a new update arrives. So there shouldn't be any changes to the game files but it is indeed strange that all problems started with this update (although I did not install it).

 

Unfortunately reinstalling Fallout 4 did not solve the problem either. The only other thing I could try, would be to test every single mod which would be a pain in the a** (currently standing at 108 active mods...). Well I am pretty much done at this point

[shadowlord445]

I had the same problem, I had to load a previous save until I could find one where I could save again, lost about 15 hours of gameplay.  Now it is happening again.  Do you have Family Planning Enhanced and the creatures addon?  Last time it happened my character was pregnant with a deathclaw egg, and now my character is pregnant again, and I CTD on save.

[ijakor]

Sometimes i have this problem too.

 

in my case , i can fix it by loading the last save game and then imediately reload that save.

after loading the savefile twice i can save again without problems.

[SCZero]

Ok so it seems like I fixed this issue for me.

 

After some investigation, I found the Mod which caused the game to crash. It was RSEE Vol.2. After I removed it, I could save again, well until after some time the crash happened again. Once again I tried disabling mods, until saving worked again. This time it was RSEE Vol.4, after disabling the mod, saving worked. Same procedure as last time: I played a bit (~20min) left the game, restart the game and tried to create a savegame and CTD...

Searched again, this time I had to disable RSEE Vol. 7 and now it looks like my game works again. I played for an hour now, left the game mutiple times, reload the latest save and tried to create a new savegame. Right now everything works, I hope it will stay that way.

Personally I don't really mind loosing RSEE Vol.2 and Vol.4, I didn't even used them. Vol.7 on the other hand, was frequently used, so it is a little of a shame I had to remove it.

 

I will keep an eye on my game and will save more often to have multiple backups from now on. Maybe the problem will come back sooner, than I would like, in this case I will give an update in this thred. It seems like this kind of problem can have many different root causes but hopefully I could help someone by sharing my solution

[tch65721]

I have the same problem (using MO2) and it has been driving me crazy.  The really odd thing is that if I revert to a good save (one that allows more saves without CTD)  I can continue on saving forever....until I save to DESKTOP.  If I generate an exit save, I'm fucked.  I looked for a way to turn off exit saves but found nothing.  I don't know where to go from here ....  I could try dumping some of the RSEE stuff but ... it has been fine for 25 levels.  Why would it start acting up now, for no apparent reason?  I'm really at a loss.

[tch65721]

On 3/23/2019 at 1:21 PM, ijakor said:

Sometimes i have this problem too.

 

in my case , i can fix it by loading the last save game and then imediately reload that save.

after loading the savefile twice i can save again without problems.

I admit I did not have high hopes for this solution but I figured... What have I got to lose?  Nothing else worked.  Well, it did work.  No idea why but I won't argue with success.  Thanks!

[Beasty]

On 3/23/2019 at 7:21 PM, ijakor said:

Sometimes i have this problem too.

 

in my case , i can fix it by loading the last save game and then imediately reload that save.

after loading the savefile twice i can save again without problems.

(Almost) same problem here. In my case i was not able to save at all anymore. CTD everytime i tried to save. Even with older saves. Tried your workaround and it works! I have to "double-load" at the beginning of every session, but it worked several times up to now. iakor, thank you! You literally "saved" my game! ?

[D_ManXX2]

On 3/23/2019 at 8:06 PM, SCZero said:

Ok so it seems like I fixed this issue for me.

 

After some investigation, I found the Mod which caused the game to crash. It was RSEE Vol.2. After I removed it, I could save again, well until after some time the crash happened again. Once again I tried disabling mods, until saving worked again. This time it was RSEE Vol.4, after disabling the mod, saving worked. Same procedure as last time: I played a bit (~20min) left the game, restart the game and tried to create a savegame and CTD...

Searched again, this time I had to disable RSEE Vol. 7 and now it looks like my game works again. I played for an hour now, left the game mutiple times, reload the latest save and tried to create a new savegame. Right now everything works, I hope it will stay that way.

Personally I don't really mind loosing RSEE Vol.2 and Vol.4, I didn't even used them. Vol.7 on the other hand, was frequently used, so it is a little of a shame I had to remove it.

 

I will keep an eye on my game and will save more often to have multiple backups from now on. Maybe the problem will come back sooner, than I would like, in this case I will give an update in this thred. It seems like this kind of problem can have many different root causes but hopefully I could help someone by sharing my solution

With bethesda game this is actually the worse thing you could do is removing a scripted mod midplaythrough. you may have just borked your game even more.

Also i always noticed that whenever i save to often the game is even more prone to crashes. how are you saving the game are you using quicksave ? if so maybe that is the problem. i always do full save method that way especially before fastravel and entering a new world space.

[D_ManXX2]

18 hours ago, Beasty said:

(Almost) same problem here. In my case i was not able to save at all anymore. CTD everytime i tried to save. Even with older saves. Tried your workaround and it works! I have to "double-load" at the beginning of every session, but it worked several times up to now. iakor, thank you! You literally "saved" my game! ?

You may want to try if this helps load your game open console command and also be sure to be 3rd person then click on your character and type kill command and then it should reload the game and see if you can now save normally ? this method always worked for me since oblivion day and that part is still vital even today. this is the method to fully unload from character and making sure if some rouge script was still lingering on you this method would remove it. 

[SCZero]

2 hours ago, D_ManXX2 said:

With bethesda game this is actually the worse thing you could do is removing a scripted mod midplaythrough. you may have just borked your game even more.

Also i always noticed that whenever i save to often the game is even more prone to crashes. how are you saving the game are you using quicksave ? if so maybe that is the problem. i always do full save method that way especially before fastravel and entering a new world space.

Right now it saved my playthrough, did not have any crashes after another ~20 hours gameplay. Of course this is not a guarantee for a further crash-free playthrough but right now I am good.

To your question: I tried every saving method, which I could try. Deactivate auto save completly, no quick save just regular save always at a new slot. I worked my way through from old saves with this method but unfortunately to no avail. I did not try the reload twice hint from ijakor cause my game was working again at this point but I will keep it in mind, if I ever meet this CTD again.

[Beasty]

On 3/28/2019 at 11:08 AM, D_ManXX2 said:

You may want to try if this helps load your game open console command and also be sure to be 3rd person then click on your character and type kill command and then it should reload the game and see if you can now save normally ? this method always worked for me since oblivion day and that part is still vital even today. this is the method to fully unload from character and making sure if some rouge script was still lingering on you this method would remove it. 

I tried this but it didn´t work. Same problem as before. I tried it again, because i thought you know what you are talking about and it still didn´t work. I tried it again 2 days ago ( for the same reason ? ) and: "tadaaa" it works! Thank you very much for your help! I still don´t know what causes this error and because i don´t know anything about modding i will never find out why. But at least i have a workaround now. Thanks again for the help!

[ImpactTB]

Thanks a lot, the double loading works for me.

 

I was never able to play more than 24 Hours on any save, I play with Horizon and the game just starts at around 25-30 Hours. So huge thanks!

 

[GoldenRain]

A few questions to get the the bottom/s of your CTD. 

Difficulty?  Survival mods that allow you to save any time are broken atm please remove them and switch to a non survival game if you are playing survival that is.

Secondly how often do you check to see if your mods are up to date?  When issues come up regarding CTD most modders, not all of them fix their mods.

Now of all the mods that have not been updated since the big mod breaking patch, HOW many of them have you searched their forums to see if others are getting that issue?

Next incompatibilities.  As mods grow and changed their incompatibilities grow and change with them.  For example I used to use Zellahair dye.  Now that mod is not compatible with THB (eyebrow mod required for many other mods that I use) so I had to choose between THB and the mods that require THB and Zellahair dye and the mods that require it.  I chose THB.

Another example is Valkire 1k Face texture,  It's not compatible with a few mods that I require/run, but is in turn required for other mods that I want to run.  At first I chose Valkire.  Turns out that the mods that I ditched for Valkire were "embedded" into my game and saves.  My saves wouldn't load without those other mods soooo I had to ditch Valkire and related mods to return to my old mods to ensure that I can actually load my game.

Next on the list is mod changes.  What did you add/remove, if anything, around the time this issue came up?
If you don't keep your downloads clean you can sort by date.  If you do then hopefully you don't clear your download history on your webbrowser too often and the answer to what are your most recent changes, if any. 

If all your answers are - not survival - everything is up to date - all my mods are stable according to the forums - I religiously check up on newly discovered incompatibilities - all my mods are the same from the very start 
Then there is only one more series of questions.  Where are you in the game world?  What mission/s are you on?  Who is your companion/s?  Is anyone pregnant?  Is AAF trying to run even though you can't figure out why?  Are you being stalked? (Karma)  and many many more AAF related questions.

If you want I use Overwolf to record FO4 videos (good quality for low file size)  About 1 mb per second at 1080p at 60 FPS so you can record a 99 second video and have it under 100mb (maximum upload size for LL forums)  be sure to delete the vid after as LL doesn't want 100mb videos clogging it up (cough not that I have forgotten to do so before cough)

[picket]

Damn! For three days I've been trying to fix this problem. The crash on save bug came out of nothing and affected even past savegames, from different characters, including all of those of my current playthrough except the save right before leaving the vault. Since I had not installed/removed any mods at the time I was dumbfounded. I really enjoyed my current playthrough, glad that I didn't have to spend all my time modding because I had a working set from previous games. The only thing I did at the time it started was massediting some bodyslide files and crafting a lot, so I thought it had something to do with bugged .nifs...

Anyway, nothing helped, until you guys pointed out RSEE... and as sad as it is because I really like Brothels and Shenanigans, they are the culprit. Removing them immediately made my game saveable again. So, did anyone tell @Flashy (JoeR) about this? I'd really like to continue using his mods...

 

Edit: Since I'm on it, I have another weird problem I thought was related, but apparently it isn't - I can't start my game without F4SE anymore. Anyone else getting this too? I hit play on the launcher, it appears as if it wants to load but goes right back to the loader, without even attempting to load (i.e. not getting into the loadscreen).

[picket]

Follow-up, I now installed the RSE II - (didn't know my old one was outdated and unsupported AAF RSE)- version of Shenanigans and reactivated AAF Brothels, and it works again. Since I hadn't yet built any brothels in my playthrough that could create script issues, I think the culprit was Shenanigans. It could be that RSE II fixes things, but I guess un- and reinstalling did the job of cleaning up some faulty scripts or the like. Not going to test if the old version works again too now.

[oblivions]

On 3/23/2019 at 1:21 PM, ijakor said:

Sometimes i have this problem too.

 

in my case , i can fix it by loading the last save game and then imediately reload that save.

after loading the savefile twice i can save again without problems.

Bit of a necro, but I have to say thanks for sharing this solution. Double loading worked for me right as I was about to give up on my install.

 

Started getting CTDs upon saving once my character hit the 24-hour mark. Once the crash hits, I'm unable to save my game from any of my latest savegames, just as OP describes. Which, doesn't make sense to me. If I go back 5 saves and still can't save my game, then how was I able to save 4 times after this corrupted one?

 

Ended up losing 10 hours of progress reverting back to a working save. Catch back up to around the 24-hour mark, and the CTDs start again. Spend several more hours troubleshooting, removing mods, scouring Google for clues. I accept that my (otherwise, relatively stable) install is just fucked then I find this post telling me "just load your game twice lol" and it works.

 

I have to double load everytime I start my game but it seems to save just fine after that -- weird. And both times the CTDs hit was when I was around the 24-hour mark, which is consistent with some others who've had the same problem.

[amesbt]

On 10/10/2019 at 9:24 AM, oblivions said:

Bit of a necro, but I have to say thanks for sharing this solution. Double loading worked for me right as I was about to give up on my install.

 

Started getting CTDs upon saving once my character hit the 24-hour mark. Once the crash hits, I'm unable to save my game from any of my latest savegames, just as OP describes. Which, doesn't make sense to me. If I go back 5 saves and still can't save my game, then how was I able to save 4 times after this corrupted one?

 

Ended up losing 10 hours of progress reverting back to a working save. Catch back up to around the 24-hour mark, and the CTDs start again. Spend several more hours troubleshooting, removing mods, scouring Google for clues. I accept that my (otherwise, relatively stable) install is just fucked then I find this post telling me "just load your game twice lol" and it works.

 

I have to double load everytime I start my game but it seems to save just fine after that -- weird. And both times the CTDs hit was when I was around the 24-hour mark, which is consistent with some others who've had the same problem.

Wow! I can't believe it was as simple as this to work around this PITA of a problem! I too lost an entire 20+ hour game... Excellent suggestion and thanks for bringing this solution to the forum ijakor and necro-ing it oblivions so I wouldn't have to search through so many pages! 

[sketch162000]

Bumping this. The double load solution needs to be stickied if it isn't already. I had the same symptoms as everyone else. CTD on saving after 24 cumulative hours playtime. Loading a save twice fixes it.

[Verasmile2]

I have the same issue, CTD as soon as I save. But only with the profile I'm using where I have 30 hours, I tried with a new one and there I can save without any problem.

I've already found the mod which caused it and removed, but yet I can't save...

[GoldenRain]

Wow this topic is old.  I found this advice about  half a year ago.  Delete saves in game.  According to some forum somewhere you can have CTD's if you have too many saves.  I routinely look for no longer required older saves (keeping only the best older saves)  

currently on save 630

[maddadicusrex]

I do not quicksave. I have disabled all autosaves in my settings menu. Only do a hard save and do it often, deleting older saves a couple removed. Have not had a busted save for a long time. Get used to FO4 corrupting saves without cause. Problem is, you will not know a save is busted till sometime after and by that time, that virus has corrupted each save since. Be mindful of glitches listed with any mod you download, regardless how much you think you need it. If there are 2 many complaints, I walk away. Do not let FO4 auto update. Change your Steam settings to stop it. That auto update will always blow up your game, because F4SE and others ,if not updated to match, will crash and burn on impact..

[Verasmile2]

I don't know why, but when I save I get a crash to desktop. The save goes bad and I get a .tmp file instead of the correct save files. 

Weird thing is, the last time it happened I've restarted the game with another character, and didn't had any issue until now.

The latest mod I've downloaded didn't gave any issue either, I've played like 10+ hours with them too along all the "old" mods and all went good.

But today, it crashed on saving. Then I've reloaded the prebious file, which caused another crash. I loaded a previous save again, it loaded it, but as soon as I tried to save... Crashed.

Any idea on how to fix it? I don't want to restart the game again...