I've started playing TTW again but I have found that once I play a certain amount of time my save becomes unstable and eventually unplayable. Would this issue have to do with using a quick save now and then or can the game just not handle a save with too much play time and how would I be able to stop my game becoming unstable.

Unstable how exactly? I've notice that new games always have more FPS than an old save. For example, when going into the DC wasteland with TTW on a save that has 200+ hours I usually have between 25-30 FPS, but with a new game I just started that has 10+ hours I have somewhere between 35-44 FPS.

I've had this issue aswell. Found out that it is caused by an internal code issue. After a certain amount of time the game's credentials and sequences collide with each other and unleashes chaos. I tried everything in order to fix it but because the problem originates with newer code colliding with older I believe reinstalling the darn thing is the only option, were for me. But there might be others more familiar with such problems and fixes that could provide you with a different solution. But it never got fixed for me

When I had this problem I solved it with a complete reinstall.

The process I took was.

1. Uninstall all mods with scripts and do "clean" saves.
2. Uninstall every mod
3. Uninstall FNV / TTW
4. Delete FNVs folder in steam apps
5. Reinstall everything

Ever since then I have had no problems. I think the issue can arise when you keep installing / uninstalling mods that are heavy on scripts. But that's just a guess.

@AdvancedTerror But, I for once use MO, which "technically" doesn't install mods in the data folder. Does this still apply in this case? Or would I only have to reinstall Fallout?

@mpaz96 if it is all of the script mods (mods that req nvse) then yeah they could still be causing the problems as when you save the game you also save the script if that makes any sense. Basically, the scripts become part of the savegame, when installing / uninstalling others this can cause conflicts and yeah maybe cause the issues your having.

I use NMM, with the method I said it resolved the problem, but I was never 100% on what caused it in the first place. I just read that scripts can mess up your game if you're reckless with them.

I would also add that you can never truly have a clean save once you use scripts and save the game. As they get embedded to the save. So it's possible that even a full reinstall may not work for you. It did work for me though.

AdvancedTerror wrote:

I would also add that you can never truly have a clean save once you use scripts and save the game. As they get embedded to the save. So it's possible that even a full reinstall may not work for you. It did work for me though.

Wouldn't the only solution be to start a new game without any mods? Reinstalling isn't going to affect the save files, and scripts aren't going to affect the main executable permanently.

I actually tried uninstalling as many mods as possible to fix any issues but it didn't change anything and the save was still unstable but I did find out that the bigger mods like the large NMC texture packs can reduce the total hours you can play for.

All I can say is that it did work for me, and I use a lot of scripted mods.

It's possible that yeah some saves will be unplayable, but I haven't encountered this yet, all my saves run fine after the reinstall and that was about 2 months ago.

I'm a lot more careful now about installing new mods. But Like I and @Delineator say this may not work for you. It's a "do this at your own risk" scenario.

I'm just sharing my solution to this problem.

Great Teacher Alex wrote:

I actually tried uninstalling as many mods as possible to fix any issues but it didn't change anything and the save was still unstable but I did find out that the bigger mods like the large NMC texture packs can reduce the total hours you can play for.

Does this happen even if you start a new game?

Also, just to clarify the issue. After playing for a few hours your game starts to become unplayable (stuttering or low frame rate)?

Isn't this save bloating ?

To be sure that thats not the case how big are your saves ?

In skyrim this is a common issue as wel caused by heavy script mods.

I should mention that I believe I read somewhere that this issue happened with old save because it had to load more things than a new save, for example dead NPCs bodies and objects that maybe you dropped or moved, the game loads exactly where they were when you move/dropped or kill this things.

mpaz96 wrote:

I should mention that I believe I read somewhere that this issue happened with old save because it had to load more things than a new save, for example dead NPCs bodies and objects that maybe you dropped or moved, the game loads exactly where they were when you move/dropped or kill this things.

Theres a utility to fix that: http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/49396/?

@AdvancedTerror Yeah, I know about it, but read the posts, the application still has some major problems and the author seems to stop working on it.

Great Teacher Alex wrote:

I've started playing TTW again but I have found that once I play a certain amount of time my save becomes unstable and eventually unplayable. Would this issue have to do with using a quick save now and then or can the game just not handle a save with too much play time and how would I be able to stop my game becoming unstable.

Honestly turn off all your auto saves.  They really mess up the game for some reason.  You'll need to remember to save often but the quick saves are hard on a game.  And make sure to save in increments, never overwrite your saves, ever.  Also keep your save folder small.  When I get over 200 saves or so, I remove them to a safe folder for later if I need them.

For MO users, if your game gets unstable and you've been adding mods, make sure to LOOT!!!  Also use the MO archive invalidation.  If you don't know how to do that, I'll help you.  

And when you're in Freeside, make sure to save before entering and exiting the Freeside doors.  Freeside is the buggiest location in the game and there are so many damned mods in Freeside that only make it worse.  If you're using a Freeside home, I suggest getting rid of it if you crash a lot while in Freeside.  The train station is in Freeside so make sure to save before you go into the train station.  Once inside, it runs fine.

And anyone who isn't using Mod Organizer, please reconsider using it.  It's truly the best program out there for running your game, especially if you have to juggle mods around testing your game.  The Skyrim MO works for Fallout also.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?

AdvancedTerror wrote:

mpaz96 wrote:

I should mention that I believe I read somewhere that this issue happened with old save because it had to load more things than a new save, for example dead NPCs bodies and objects that maybe you dropped or moved, the game loads exactly where they were when you move/dropped or kill this things.

Theres a utility to fix that: http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/49396/?

Oh now this is awesome!  Thank you so much for the link!
EDIT:  I was reading the comments on this mod and it might break the Rivet City bridge.  For TTW users that would be a problem because even though there is a fix for the Rivet City Bridge, it's an actual FO3 mod.  That might be a problem for some users like me who don't know how to port mods.  I know my method of saving works and aside from a few occasional crashes, my game runs really stable.  I just save a lot and in increments.

AdvancedTerror wrote:

Does this happen even if you start a new game?

Also, just to clarify the issue. After playing for a few hours your game starts to become unplayable (stuttering or low frame rate)?

I don't really get a low frame rate but I'll get crashes more often and my game becomes unstable at the 60 hours mark if I have mods which add new places but if I remove all mods that add quests and areas I can extend the play time by another 10-20 hours.

Great Teacher Alex wrote:

if I have mods which add new places but if I remove all mods that add quests and areas I can extend the play time by another 10-20 hours.

You could have mod conflicts then. Also, as I said earlier, for some reason some cells are more unstable than others, Freeside is the worst for me. If you run XRE-CARS, the area along the highway going from the Outpost to Nipton is very unstable because of the racetrack that mod adds to that cell. Also make sure all your mods are up to date. If you haven't updated your NVSE for awhile you should, I think it was updated in April or May of this year so keep an eye on those types of notifications.

did something like this not happen in skyrim for ps3?

Mythic842 wrote:

did something like this not happen in skyrim for ps3?

You are correct. With PS3 Skyrim, the further you went into the game, the larger the save files got which made the games less stable.

With games running tons of mods, that creates a load of extra data that has to be written into the saves, or generated within the cells that are loaded, etc... eventually that catches up.

This is why I always shoot down the 'we should be able to use as many mods as we want!' crowd. Unlimited mods would utterly destroy the stability your game, and almost guarantee conflicts and corrupted save files.

I had the same issue, but after close and reopen the game everything come back to normal.

There's a mod called "save key" on Nexus that sets f12 as a save game key. Every time you tap it, it creates a whole new save game and does not overwrite anything. You will need to reassign the screenshot key if you use it though.

For game stability I also find that once things start getting a bit stuttery or choppy, I have to issue the pcb command. Once I do that everything smooths out and all is well. If I don't do it the game gets unstable and a ctd follows soon thereafter. There are mods that do this automatically however from what I have seen (in mine and my sons games) this will often break scripts.

Earlier someone mentioned that the scripts in use are kept in your save game once they are loaded. This is one reason why the only way you can truly get a clean save once you have quest mods installed is to to start over. Some of the save game cleaners help but from what I've seen they don't get everything really cleaned out - there will usually be artifacts that wont go away...