[Dogboy]

Thank you C.K. for your reply. As a result of your reply, I did some checking and have come to the conclusion that the problem is probably my fault. I did verify that on both PC's I selected standard SE V, v. 1.71. But, then I looked to see if the "Paradise" galaxy type (which is, I believe, specific to Balance Mod) was present as an option on either of the PC. It was, on PC #1 (my PC), but not on PC #2 (son's). I then recalled that during the initial install of the Balance Mod, I copied the Balance Mod files over the Standard SE V files, before creating the correct subdirectory for the Balance Mod. I should have realized that this could cause problems.....

I am now wondering if some of the bugs I've been seeing (beyond this discrepancy in initial research points)
could also potentially be an indirect effect of this error on my part. I don't know how this could cause crashes on the other PC (with Balance Mod installed correctly), but I suppose that given the complexity of the systems involved, it might.

Question: Do others find that the combat simulator often crashes the game? If not, that would be good news, since it augurs well for me being able to resolve that bug by a fresh reinstall.

Over the next few days I will uninstall and freshly reinstall SEV on the PC where I think I made this error. I will then play test to see if the bugs disappear.

So, there is hope, and I am embarrassed to have taken up so much time ranting about bugs.

I will post a summary of what I find on this thread....