because I hate when threads like these have no solution- removing the mod "ModernFix" by embeddedt, got my game working. after reading over what it does more carefully (it was something i took from an established pack and saw 'oh bug fixes, thats probably good to have' and didnt have a second thought) I still dont know what it could be clashing with. gonna try continuing my search for the other half of the problem, because i think id rather have it than whatever is butting heads with it. I thought it might be 'better fps - render distance' but no, taking that out with modernfix on still crashes.