Modifying Fallout4.ini or Fallout4Prefs.ini crashes game on start-up

[FrenchJustice]

I've been trying to un-ruin my fallout 4 game after the survival patch went live. All my save games load up once, then do not load up again. After spending a few weeks troubleshooting I've realised that any modification to the ini files to enable mods crashes my game on start-up. Is there another way to enable mods now? (Yes I've tried it without the mods installed, and the game works, but I cannot modify the ini files in that case).

[FrenchJustice]

I have also logged into bethesda.net for it to recognize my load order but that didnt modify the .ini files, so the mods did not show up/my save games didnt work

[FrenchJustice]

For whatever reason, mod enabling has changed b/w patches. Now the ONLY file to add any lines to is the Fallout4Custom.ini (create if you don't have), and only add the lines:
[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1

It will enable all mods. I really hope this helps people, I was super frustrated with this for weeks x.x
Will post if this has not solved the problem (got mods working on a NEW save and im only in the vault)

[timahoo]

Fallout crashes to desktop when loading saves as soon as I add the lines below to Fallout4Custom.ini, and works fine when I remove them.

[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1

Deleting all mods from Nexus Mod Manager then adding the lines above back in still results in CTD.

I am trying an uninstall of Fallout 4, manually deleting out all files and folders remaining in 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Fallout 4\' and 'C:\Users\ItsAMeMario\Documents\my games\Fallout4\' (except saves!), then a clean reinstall. It will be a fews hours

[engie❤cat]

remove/rename your fallout4/data/interface folder. 98% the problem is there.

[FrenchJustice]

Never had one, I wish it was that easy for me D:

[FrenchJustice]

Also, yes do delete the interface folder if thats the case. I've found that I have to delete the Fallout4.ini and Fallout4Prefs.ini everytime I play because I change in game settings (super annoying). Also make sure that those two lines:
[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
are the only thing in the Fallout4Custom.ini for whatever reason it will CTD on start-up if thats not the case (at least for me).

[timahoo]

Originally posted by Teecasey:

Fallout crashes to desktop when loading saves as soon as I add the lines below to Fallout4Custom.ini, and works fine when I remove them.

[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1

Deleting all mods from Nexus Mod Manager then adding the lines above back in still results in CTD.

I am trying an uninstall of Fallout 4, manually deleting out all files and folders remaining in 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Fallout 4\' and 'C:\Users\ItsAMeMario\Documents\my games\Fallout4\' (except saves!), then a clean reinstall. It will be a fews hours

I can confirm that a clean reinstall, making sure to delete any files from the main install folder as well as the user folder allowed the game to load my old saves without crashing. I think the handful of non Bethesda files (i.e. mods and possibly ENB graphics files) in the main folder were the fault.

[timahoo]

Originally posted by engie❤cat:

remove/rename your fallout4/data/interface folder. 98% the problem is there.

You could have been right if I had seen your post earlier. There was one file in there left after uninstalling the game "D:\..\Fallout 4\Data\Interface\hudmenu.swf"

[FrenchJustice]

Nice to see you fixed it :)

[engie❤cat]

Originally posted by Teecasey:

You could have been right if I had seen your post earlier. There was one file in there left after uninstalling the game "D:\..\Fallout 4\Data\Interface\hudmenu.swf"

yep. that's the one known culprit here. well, at least now you know how to fix the issue if the next update brings more changes that break existing interface mods.

[FrenchJustice]

*sigh* nevermind, my FO4 refuses to start up now w/o ctd. Apparently moving any mod in my load order causes a ctd. Wtf is going on, why is the game so incredibly unstable? I moved Modern Firearms down one mod, and FO4 CTD. I move it back, still CTD. I was playing right before the move, the only thing that changed is the load order, which I reverted back. I checked it in FO4edit to see if anything was causing an issue, and it all checked out fine. I've deleted the .ini files and let FO4 regenerate them (because that was my issue before), and nothing still a CTD. I'm at a loss, any help would be greatly appreciated.

[engie❤cat]

Originally posted by Gojira:

*sigh* nevermind, my FO4 refuses to start up now w/o ctd. Apparently moving any mod in my load order causes a ctd. Wtf is going on, why is the game so incredibly unstable? I moved Modern Firearms down one mod, and FO4 CTD. I move it back, still CTD. I was playing right before the move, the only thing that changed is the load order, which I reverted back. I checked it in FO4edit to see if anything was causing an issue, and it all checked out fine. I've deleted the .ini files and let FO4 regenerate them (because that was my issue before), and nothing still a CTD. I'm at a loss, any help would be greatly appreciated.

you _must_ make sure that all master files your plugins are depend upon are placed HIGHER in the load order than the plugins themselves, no exceptions or you'll get ctds.

[FrenchJustice]

Yes, I have made sure, more than once that they are correctly loaded. It would not have started up before the single mod move (which I reverted) if that was the case. Is it at all possible NMM is messing up my mods?

[TinyLittleRaider]

Originally posted by engie❤cat:

Originally posted by Teecasey:

You could have been right if I had seen your post earlier. There was one file in there left after uninstalling the game "D:\..\Fallout 4\Data\Interface\hudmenu.swf"

yep. that's the one known culprit here. well, at least now you know how to fix the issue if the next update brings more changes that break existing interface mods.

Can confirm this is a Fallout 4 save game crash fix.

I deleted the hudmenu in the Data/Interface folder and the game started functioning normally thereafter.
[hopefully google uses those keywords for users to find]

[Dman883]

I didn't have an interface folder. Uninstalled and restored from backup. That mightbe where I went wrong. Tried everything in every discussion I could find. Continued to crash after changing ini. Finally deleted everything in the data folder and let steam download the files. A six hour ordeal. After that, no more problems. Even though the backup should have been a clean install, there was something in it the game didn't like.