PSA: Editing FO4's ini files for more NPCs crashed my whole save

I tried bumping up the uMaxActorCount setting in Fallout 4's ini to get more random NPCs on the streets. Three days later my save was completely corrupt and wouldn't load past a certain cell. Lesson learned the hard way - always backup your save before messing with those hidden settings, anyone else brick a save like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

pipera5011d ago

And you didn't notice any weird stuff before it finally went corrupt? Like NPCs getting stuck in walls or random crashes that only happened in that same cell? I'm curious because I've been thinking about trying this on a new playthrough but I want to know exactly what warning signs to watch for before I lose another fifty hours.

nora1010d ago

It went downhill fast once the saves started stacking up. I had an NPC in Riften that kept teleporting back to the same spot in the marketplace every time I walked by, then the whole cell started CTDing whenever I entered from the south gate. The first sign was the save files themselves getting bloated like crazy, hit 20 MB way earlier than normal. After that I got this weird bug where animal pelts in my inventory would duplicate themselves randomly. The death blow was a script on a quest essential NPC that just stopped firing entirely, locked me out of finishing the faction. Definitely watch your save file size and any repeat crashes in a single area, that's the red flag to bail.