I currently have a custom modpack for 1.7.10 with an estimate 184 different mods. Game is running fine without crashes as normal. However, when updating a mod to a new version or adding a new mod, it will break a world that was previously saved on the modpack. This has happened with updating several different mods at different times which leads me to believe this is a forge problem, not mod related, but I could be wrong.
As a quick example I had a world working fine, no crashes. I updated one single mod, Plant Mega Pack, from 4.05 to 4.08. No major changes in the mod. Once this update was applied the world loaded, worked fine without issues. However, when closing the game and coming back this is where the issues start. The second time after loading the world forge will say that the mod loader detected that a backup level.dat file is being used. No previous errors or crashes happened prior to this. Clicking no will return to the menu, clicking yes will load the world and crash before being fully loaded.
The crash log for this says the following (java.lang.NullPointerException: Exception while updating neighbours).
I figured it was the mod, so I reverted back to the 4.05 version and restored a backup save from the day prior. However, now the same problem persists with the world, regardless of which version of the Plank Mega Pack mod is used. It will load the first time upon restoring any backup work without issues, but quitting and reloading will give the same level.dat error and crash upon loading.
Creating a new world works without any problems, no crashes, however, it makes running a modpack near impossible to keep a saved world when applying mod updates as this has occurred in several worlds for me. With 1.7.10 still being worked on there are several mod updates a week. In not all cases does it crash but simply change/shift the "IDs" for the blocks, example, I had one instance after adding a mod where all IC2 rubber trees changed to underground biomes blocks. New created worlds worked fine, but it only applied to previously generated worlds prior to me updating/add a mod to the pack.
This is leading me to believe it is a problem with how the block ids(I know they aren't IDs for 1.7) are assigned and how mods are loaded in. I would certainly appreciate any assistance is locating where this problem is happening. I have searched extensively online for this but unable to find a remedy.
I am using MultiMC launcher with forge 10.13.2.1231 on Java 7. I have tested on two different systems with the same error occurring. I am using Auromabackup for the saves to autobackup and I believe the only jar mods I am using are FPS plus and Fastcraft. These didn't seem to solve the problem upon removal.
Here are the forge logs for the various times I loaded the game.
First run after restoring backup(world works fines):
Client: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/bf9233e792691edc638c
Latest: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/7ab89e5f3ff28bc86d7a
Second run when states a backup level.dat is being used and crashes upon load:
Client: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/e1bffd0998c11a205cda
Latest: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/926fdedadbe5f29d0e96
Thank you for taking the time to read this rather long post. If any other logs or information is needed I will post.