Caspian constantly crashing/freezing

[Gamincarnation]

So, I have been enjoying this game immensely, enough to be preparing guides for it - only one massive problem:

I can't complete (yet, I hope) the main game, because the autosaves (ranger hardcore) constantly get corrupted, usually only after exiting Metro, but after Metro Exodus began constantly crashing (shutting down) and/or freezing, it has just plain deleted save files (or at the very least rendered them inaccessible within the menu).

I have completed both the DLCs, because I could do them in a single sitting (although that was a long one with Sam's Story), but I must be on my 3rd run to Caspian at this point, where 1st would have been plenty, and I'm starting to get slightly frustrated... ... .... ... ...!

Now, that I'm in the Caspian chapter again, the game continues to tell me that some saves are corrupted, but they haven't affected the current attempt.

However now, unlike before, the game has started crashing CONSTANTLY (I have never had Metro crash before), particularly upon exiting the cave beneath the lighthouse - that results in the game freezing and hard crashing my computer every time (can only be resolved by ctrl+alt+del, choosing restart, then cancelling restart - can't access task manager once it has been opened).

It's important to note that I usually have OBS recording software running, but I haven't experienced any problems with that before in Metro Exodus or the likes of for example Cyberpunk.

From searching I found that there are a few known possible causes, such as using DX 12, using cloud saves on Steam, using NVIDIA overlay, outdated driver, overclocking CPU, new patch?
All of which I have, to the best of my ability addressed.

Below I have included my specs, and subsequently then the solutions I have tried
Any help would be much appreciated.

My specs:
Win10
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six-Core Processor
GPU: GeForce GTX 1650
16GB Ram
465GB SSD (about 90GB free atm)

Unsuccesfully attempted solutions:
Changing the in-game video settings to DX 11
(besides that, it's only 1080p, medium quality, VSync off, motion blur: high, hairworks: off, advanced physx: off, tessellation: off, texture filtering: AF 16x, shading rate: 1.0x)

Playing without OBS running (while still unsuccesful, it did take longer before it crashed)
Lowering video quality to low (which got me beyond the point where it normally freezes, but it still froze)

Using Safe Mode (supposedly runs on DX 11)
Changing Steam's advance launch options to DX 11
Multiple reinstallations
Steam verified the integrity of the local files multiple times
Disabling Steam cloudsaves
Disabling NVIDIA overlay
My computer isn't overclocking
No new patches from what I can see (last one was 27th of May 2020)
Updated driver the 25th of February 2021 to the latest version (3 days ago)
- and I haven't seen any reports of the update causing issues, but maybe I'm the canary in the mine..

[sult4n4hmet]

first of all, i just oversaw the text, didnt read it carefully. yet i believe my comment will be helpful. caspian chapter is problematic. i finished the game on ultra settings, and only place i had lower than 60 fps was caspian. its not something special for you. so dont worry. about constant crashes, i have no clue. i had a few crashes too, but i had none in caspian. i also played the whole game with dx12. about save corruption, i had the warning twice and pressed yes, and both of them had no loss of progress. they were on the volga chapter though. both my crashes and save corruptions. hope this comment helps you in a way. it will also bring the topic to top, so i think it is also a way of helping.

[Gamincarnation]

Thanks for the responses.

@X
(I'll exclude the rest, because the inherent meaning offends my sensitive, presumably liberal, sensibilities..)

My logic may very well be faulty, but I'm actually baffled by your suggested solution, mainly because it worked, and it doesn't make sense to me.
I have tried playing with the absolute minimum graphics settings in-game, both with and without recording it, both crashed at almost the same time.
Choosing debug mode in NVIDIA, without recording the gameplay, still seems to prevents Metro Exodus from crashing.
So, if I'm understanding your explanation correctly:
my video graphics card is factory overclocking constantly, but it's just only Metro Exodus where it becomes a visible problem.
I doubt that would have occured to me, without taking a computer science degree.

In any case much appreciated - have a few points.

[Gamincarnation]

Unfortunately, as it turns out that was a temporary solution, which worked perfectly for a while, but now it's back to constantly crashing despite running Metro Exodus in debug mode
(edit: running the GeForce graphics card in debug mode)

[theravan]

I have played thru on normal and hard with zero issues, over 80 hours. Now I am working thru ranger mode. (hard). But I have had multiple Metro not responding issues. More so in the Caspian area. I have a pretty beefy PC. I see that freezing is now a common issue for many people. I am going to start logging with support just because I enjoy the game.