I've been saving a game, wait 3 minutes, then RESUME the game for about 10 seconds or more. Then Quit to windows, taking 10 seconds or more to click on the two quit screens. I've been saving while a giant convoy is near, saving underwater during attacks and hurt, saving everywhere you're not supposed to. Knock on wood every save has turned out good since I complained at the beginning of this post!!!!! Playing Darkwaters. Haven't tried the same method on other mods yet. I am happy again!
Had a few weird saves where the crew was repeating something over and over when I started it, but diving or doing something else stops the repeating.