**bug report** failed startup of sim settlements 2

[modus666]

this all started as i decided to restart fo4 with more of an eye towards not overloading sanctuary with settlers and crashing my game with too many unique and interesting settlers in one place. upon startup i got the dreaded "failed startup of sim settlements 2" followed by the save file resurrection message. continued to play and setup my first beacon. jake is summoned as usual, but... he simply walks towards me and remains silent, and doesnt respond to being spoken to. just stares all glassy eyed.

fast travelling away and back to sanctuary just results in him vanishing, so no resolution there...

figuring this was related to the initial error messages i tried starting again and keep getting the error msg: "failed startup of sim settlements 2" followed by the save file resurrection message

i have since then removed ALL my mods (thats gonna be fun to reconstruct)
after installing ONLY the essentials like SS2, its requirements, and its core recommended mods, I've narrowed the issue down to having certain ss2 addons enabled.
after testing game startup multiple times i've found that having almost any of the currently available SS2 addons enabled seem to trigger the error including:

pra's random addon 2
junktown 2
ruined homes and gardens

so far only wasteland ventures 2 and walled gardens and more seem not to provoke the error.

only other difference that i can see is that i did install ADDRESS LIBRARY, BAKA SCRAPHEAP, and FASTER WORKSHOP as these were suggested mods in the new SS2 wiki or requirements thereof.

any suggestions? im dying here.

edit: Also did a fresh install of fallout 4, as well as confirm my F4SE is current.

 

[modus666]

update: removed/uninstalled ALL addon packs. only starting up with core and suggested mods, and didnt get "failed startup of sim settlements 2" warning. will install one addon pack at a time and see where the breakdowns start

 

[modus666]

update: immediately got "failed startup of sim settlements 2" warning and "save file resurrection" message after installing pra's random addon 2.
tried attaching save file for reference but forums wont accept file extension.

 

[modus666]

thought: would it be problematic to run the game up to the point where i get jakes quests started and THEN install the addon packs? just to see if it breaks down at that point?

 

[Stratt]

Just wanted to say a big thank you for all your work in isolating the mod addon culprit. I was getting the same error message right when you answer the door to the vault-tec guy. I removed the pra's random addon and now the error message is gone. thanks again!! cheers.

 

[GuardianMF]

Assuming you have the latest versions of SS2 and Workshop Framework with a properly sorted load order, you could try starting without the add-ons, then install them once you get out of the vault. There's a lot of quests and triggers running in the background during the intro in vanilla Fallout, and this gets worse with mods and Creation Club content added on top, which can lead to SS2 not starting up properly.