[Threadfin]

I've encountered this often and even in the current career. It's an OM run and after the 6th or 7th patrol all saves, from any patrol in the career, failed to load and resulted in a CTD. Even saves that had previously loaded fine.

It's an odd quirk with Silent Hunter and my experience reminds me of the swamp castle scene from Monty Python's Holy Grail. Some won't know what I'm talking about, but if it pops up on Netflix give it a go. Here's the bit..

Listen, lad. I built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started here, all there was was swamp. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp, but the fourth one... stayed up! And that's what you're gonna get, lad: the strongest castle in these lands.

Haha, but what I'm getting at is I've had success in these situations, by just continuing to fail until I don't. Many times I've saved a career by just not giving up, and after a while it does not crash to desktop and loads. No one wants to spend all that time continually reloading the game and then the save again. But sometimes it does indeed work. SH4 is strange.

Another thing that's worked for me is to start a new career, and let it load in to the 3D. Once done, exit and try the previously broken save and see if it works.

And as advised, LAA is a requirement for any significant SH4 mod.