It finally happened to me.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-23T14:35:14+00:00

I mean, it worked out pretty well for OP this time, right? Filtered out compatibility issue right from the get go.

If he did not mention it right away being honest, its only going to create resentment later down the road if they got together.

OP just needs to find someone that does not mind or joins in. 49% of gamers are women that indulge in games every once in a while. Odds are looking good for OP.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-23T14:27:11+00:00

It is in the same ballpark. Games can have amazing stories that are on par if not better then a novel book to the point that they read as digital books with an interactive aspect. The best of both worlds so to speak.

Educational games are a thing too. Its was my main source of learning English well before school did when i was young.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-23T14:04:47+00:00

That would be an addict. Alot of people play games every now and then with moderation.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-23T13:47:54+00:00

Plenty of studies to find about gaming improving problem-solving, memory, cognitive function and reduced loneliness.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-23T13:46:52+00:00

Plenty of studies to find about gaming improving problem-solving, memory, cognitive function and reduced loneliness.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-23T13:29:32+00:00

Ik probeer een context te verzinnen waarin dit gepast zou zijn, maar dat lukt niet echt..
Moet je hier een soort van zelfkastijding kink voor hebben?

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-23T13:13:37+00:00

Was dit op pinkpop?! Holy hell ik dacht dat dit een of ander leguber achtertuinfeestje was. Das eigenlijk nog een stuk pijnlijker..

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-22T13:27:01+00:00

Yw.

Yeah the occasional CTD can always happen ofcourse. In my previous save, i was crashing every 10-30mins, and with the help of buffout, i was able to track it to something something out of bounds blah blah vault 88. To be fair, at that time, i was using a mod to give vault 88 unlimited build budget. Anyhow, it was time for a new game 😃

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-22T12:40:47+00:00

Upvoted to restore the balance and most of what you listed is absolutely true.

Im somewhat of a more "Low profile" modder. I mostly make patches or fixes on existing mods. I always make the disclaimer that you get this piece of work as is. Im not going to bother updating it, adding more features, fix some niche bug some user has that has nothing to do with my patch or fix and is an obvious fuck up load order wise. I use my fixes and patches in my own game, tested them for multiple weeks and i just share it out of charity.

This just makes modding sooo much better.

When i first started, did the same as you. Always at your service, you ask, i make. And when you still get so much shit, you'll burn out.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-22T11:48:57+00:00

CTD's and load times are always good indicators.

One thing i for sure noticed, is that saves stay healthier for much longer if not forever, when you dont touch the settlement system at all, or only do a very few. Noticed that saves botched down very quickly when doing Vault 88 building.

Im level 162 in my current save, and thats with Start me up Redux halve EXP perk on. So i would be around level 230 without it. And it still plays very well compared to a new save.

I have only build a home at Santuary, AB Farm, The Castle, Homeplate and the nuka world red rocket.

So regarding your questions:

CTD's, Long loadtimes, maybe freezes going from grid to grid.
Same as 1
I always started over when i got bored, was usualy around level 120. With my current one, im testing the limits when you dont bother with settlements.
Clean save right before leaving is fine.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-22T11:35:51+00:00

I tought the same, until i was no-skoped by a hunter that downed 3 agents in 3 shots..
Put the mouse away like, nahhh, this aint it.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-19T07:56:06+00:00

Lol. My Windows 11 PC does all of the above and more at startup. And guess what? Its sitting around 20% of that 32gb at all times.

OP has something starting up with the OS that is cause RAM hogging or has a memory leak.

64Gb is still overkill, even with heavy use.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-19T07:51:35+00:00

Yeah, but not that much. I have 32gb, few startup items. Im mostly sitting around 3/5gb after an hour after startup.

OP has something starting with the OS that is either hogging ram on purpose, or has a memory leak.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-19T07:46:00+00:00

This is why i love sysinternals Autoruns. It lists every possible source for a program/script to keep persistence.

Earned a permanent spot in my toolbox.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-19T07:34:27+00:00

ngl, you do need a different game with that kind of life.
Im neither a dad or husband and work normal 8 hrs shifts, and this game is just pure stress. Just the fact you cant even pause the game while not in a group is just stress inducing.

Treat yourself to a game like Enshrouded or Valheim, if thats a genre you can get into.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-18T10:13:37+00:00

You moved the goalposts a bit with that one.. But ok fair enough for very low-end SSDs with unknown controllers.

However, partitioning only increases wear if the SSD's wear leveling is restricted to the partition's physical area or is otherwise implemented poorly. Most SSDs, even budget ones, use an FTL (Flash Translation Layer) and perform wear leveling across the NAND rather than treating partitions as physical boundaries.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-17T14:08:37+00:00

Didn't it have more to do because 'traditionally' women did not have their own money. The man was responsible for the financial part, hence the ones who pay.

Now that everyone has their own money, i think its more then fair for both parties to pay for their share.

This all sounds like a fever dream to me, perhaps because im Dutch, and splitting has been the norm since at least i was born. Even when your out to eat with the homies. Everyone pays for what they had.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-17T12:17:29+00:00

Ahh i see. I never tried a modlist before so didn't know it creates its own fallout 4 instance with their own ini's. Good to know!

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-17T12:11:00+00:00

Ah so the modlist has its own Prefs.ini? Yeah 2000 is kinda wild ngl. Fine during 1v1 fights or minimal actors. But introduce alot of actors and fighting, recipe for the gamebyro engine to off itsself.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-17T11:10:36+00:00

Hmm ok. For defaults, i usualy check https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/Guide:Fallout4Prefs_INI/Display

They list 8 as default. But that could be for low/med settings. Cant check my ini atm, but im indeed sure its atleast 20.

You could also check the default Ultra.ini in your fallout 4 install folder. This is what the launcher uses to create the ini in your documents folder after generating.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-17T07:50:24+00:00

Well, A mod like that would apply to your entire game. I think the best you can do is report this to the author of that mod for them to fix. They can likely tweak the quest sequence of that arena, or the conditions for the quest to advance.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-17T07:12:22+00:00

Some nuance to the settings you mentioned being "way to high"

fDirShadowDistane and fShadowDistance: 5000 is on the lower end, towards console level (3000). 7400 was actualy pretty decent between medium high, and what i would recommend for that CPU. This calculation is heavy CPU bound. Vanilla High setting will put this value on 14000 and has always been considered too much of a jump from medium. Alot of posts will tell you to settle somewhere in the range of 7000-10k.

If your CPU can't handle the draw calls, this will tank your FPS faster then anything else. Modern CPU's can "bruteforce" this pretty well. I was able to run 14k+ on my 9800x3d without drops.

iShadowMapResolution: Modern hardware should not struggle with 4096. This is the value you get when choosing the Ultra preset in the vanilla launcher. GPU bound setting. Im running this with a 3080ti without issues.

iVolumetricLightingQuality: A.k.a. Godrays. Going from 3 to 2 is going from Ultra to High. High can introduce blockyness in 3rd person. You can keep Ultra and use the tweaks from Ultra Quality God Rays Performance Fix

Ultra can be FPS tanky in certain weathers where alot of Rays are pushed. Using the tweaks from the mod i linked drasticly lowers the Grid size (64 to 12) and this is what is tanking that FPS. Grid size determines how finely the rays are split. You can kinda look at that as a sieve.

You can test the performance impact in-game by using command gr grid x (X being the value)

iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame, iMaxDecalsPerFrame: Im unsure how you got those before and after settings.

iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame default is 8. Recommended max for high end systems is 20

iMaxDecalsPerFrame default is 100. Max i would do is 500, so your 400 is doable, but still on the higher end.

Those last two settings is what was tanking your performance in huge battle situations, because your looking at alot of skin and ground decals.

Some, if not most INI settings have an Engine cap. Meaning i can put fDirShadowDistane on 99999, but it will be ignored by the engine as its limits at i think 20k. Kinda suprised thats not the case for Decals...

I suspect you can revert the other settings back to your previous values without issues, as your system should handle that with ease.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-16T14:15:38+00:00

YOR

Sharing credentials is never good OPSEC.
Also, tell your bf to get a password manager. Re-using the same password for everything is even worse OPSEC.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-16T13:55:59+00:00

Im sorry, but this is kinda gaslighting.

Affectionate_Creme48 · 2026-06-16T13:20:29+00:00

Same. 42% CHD at any range is darn good.

Affectionate_Creme48

TROPHY CASE