Graphical anomalies

[Doggie504]

My game currently has about 80 and i used to play with more but decided to start new and just added what i wanted. When i get out of the vault for the first time its almost impossible to see anything on the ground, I deleted the lighting mod think that was it but no fix.

I'm not sure what is causing this, but its happening now on my old save too, please let me know what sort of mods/issue could casue this.

Images of issue below.
https://ibb.co/8rb4Cnz
https://ibb.co/FHmyzJY

[Fear2288]

With the information you’ve provided I can only make two guesses:

1. Your GPU is dying. When a GPU is on its way out the door, it can result in strange and unusual behavior and graphical anomalies in games. If you’re seeing strange stuff in other games as well, it could be that your GPU is entering its final days and it won’t be long before you get the blue screen of death.

Or

2. You’re trying to use more BA2 files than your game can handle.

BA2 is a file format used by many mods to pack their files (decreasing overall file size and allowing for faster loading of those files in-game). Like the ESP/ESM limit, the game can only handle so many BA2 files. For most people, that limit is around 510.

Usually, when you’ve exceeded the limit the game will just crash shortly after launching, but sometimes it won’t, and it certainly won’t if you’re using something like Buffout 4 and its patch which eliminates this BA2 limit.

However, strange things can even occur when you’re near but still below 510 - it may be dependent on your hardware/settings or what those BA2 files are.

To check how many BA2 files you currently are using, go to your Fallout4/Data folder and use the search function to isolate just the “.ba2” files. In the bottom left of the window, you should see a number.

If that number is above 510, especially if it’s in the 600s or more - then that is likely your problem.

Recently, while using Buffout 4’s BA2 limit remover, I was sitting at around 750 BA2 files. My game would launch and start, but I was getting all kinds of visual anomalies like the face textures of NPCs being replaced with textures for other objects, and all metallic and glass textures turning into multi-colored pixelated messes. The only solution was to reduce my BA2 file count back down to 510.

[TheLoveMummy]

That looks like old school hardware artifacts. Whats it look like at ground level?

[Zekiran]

Deleting a mod mid-game is not always a good thing.

Did you add that "lighting mod" properly in the first place? Did you REMOVE it properly according to its uninstallation process?

[Doggie504]

Originally posted by TheLoveMummy:

That looks like old school hardware artifacts. Whats it look like at ground level?

Ground level was unplayable in some spots. I can fire up a game that uses 100% of this 3080 and no issues like that thankfully

Originally posted by Zekiran:

Deleting a mod mid-game is not always a good thing.

Did you add that "lighting mod" properly in the first place? Did you REMOVE it properly according to its uninstallation process?

The one mod was just a remove, but that doesn't mean i dint make a mistake somewhere else.

Originally posted by Fear2288:

With the information you’ve provided I can only make two guesses:

1. Your GPU is dying. When a GPU is on its way out the door, it can result in strange and unusual behavior and graphical anomalies in games. If you’re seeing strange stuff in other games as well, it could be that your GPU is entering its final days and it won’t be long before you get the blue screen of death.

Or

2. You’re trying to use more BA2 files than your game can handle.

BA2 is a file format used by many mods to pack their files (decreasing overall file size and allowing for faster loading of those files in-game). Like the ESP/ESM limit, the game can only handle so many BA2 files. For most people, that limit is around 510.

Usually, when you’ve exceeded the limit the game will just crash shortly after launching, but sometimes it won’t, and it certainly won’t if you’re using something like Buffout 4 and its patch which eliminates this BA2 limit.

However, strange things can even occur when you’re near but still below 510 - it may be dependent on your hardware/settings or what those BA2 files are.

To check how many BA2 files you currently are using, go to your Fallout4/Data folder and use the search function to isolate just the “.ba2” files. In the bottom left of the window, you should see a number.

If that number is above 510, especially if it’s in the 600s or more - then that is likely your problem.

Recently, while using Buffout 4’s BA2 limit remover, I was sitting at around 750 BA2 files. My game would launch and start, but I was getting all kinds of visual anomalies like the face textures of NPCs being replaced with textures for other objects, and all metallic and glass textures turning into multi-colored pixelated messes. The only solution was to reduce my BA2 file count back down to 510.

I shouldn't be at that limit, i decided to just delete everything and redownload. that's going to tell me if its a mod conflict ( I feel like a just borked my install somehow.)

Thanks for the imput anyway, ill update this post even if the issues fixes with reinstall

[Zekiran]

Definitely do please! It might help someone else too.

[Fear2288]

@Doggie

Don’t be so sure, I would check anyways and keep tabs on it in the future.

BA2 files can be and are found in ESM, ESP, and ESL mods and there are usually at least two of them per mod (not every mod uses the format but you’ll find that many do).

So while you may look at your LO and think “oh I’m not even near the 255 mod limit, there’s no way I’m over 510 of those BA2s” - you could actually have double or even triple that amount in BA2 files sitting in your Data folder.

For example, in my current LO I have about 170 ESM/ESPs and my total number including ESL mods is something like 340. Meanwhile I’ve got 516 BA2s.