I've been doing this for almost a year and I still can't read half the shit in the log. Most of the time, it helps to just scroll down to the error and read it. It'll usually say what caused the crash, but a lot of the times it may not, especially if it's a CTD. It really comes down to knowing what to look for, here's an example from my log:
[4/6/2018 9:35:10 PM.593] Unhandled exception occurred in console command "ForceDuty"
[4/6/2018 9:35:10 PM.593] Exception type: System.Reflection.ReflectionTypeLoadException
[4/6/2018 9:35:10 PM.593] Exception message: Unable to load one or more of the requested types. Retrieve the LoaderExceptions property for more information.
[4/6/2018 9:35:10 PM.593] Stack trace: at System.Reflection.RuntimeModule.GetTypes(RuntimeModule module)
[4/6/2018 9:35:10 PM.593] at System.Reflection.Assembly.GetTypes()
[4/6/2018 9:35:10 PM.593] at CalloutManager.Main.?????????????????????????????????????????(Boolean )
[4/6/2018 9:35:10 PM.593] at LSPD_First_Response.Mod.API.Functions.OnDutyStateChangedEventHandler.Invoke(Boolean onDuty)
[4/6/2018 9:35:10 PM.593] at LSPD_First_Response.Mod.API.Functions.InvokeOnOnDutyStateChanged(Boolean onduty) in E:\GTA V\LSPD First Response\LSPD First Response\Mod\API\Functions.cs:line 488
[4/6/2018 9:35:10 PM.593] at LSPD_First_Response.Mod.LSPDFR.Command_ForceDuty() in E:\GTA V\LSPD First Response\LSPD First Response\Mod\LSPDFR.cs:line 2153
"Exception message: Unable to load blah blah"
This could mean anything, but a clue is at CalloutManager.main
This means there is an issue either with my callout manager mod, or one of the callouts.
and here was the crash before that one:
[4/6/2018 9:35:05 PM.167] LSPD First Response: Unable to load one or more of the requested types. Retrieve the LoaderExceptions property for more information. at System.Reflection.RuntimeModule.GetTypes(RuntimeModule module)
[4/6/2018 9:35:05 PM.170] at System.Reflection.Assembly.GetTypes()
[4/6/2018 9:35:05 PM.170] at ?????????????????????????????????????????.?????????????????????????????????????????() in E:\GTA V\LSPD First Response\LSPD First Response\Mod\Callouts\CalloutManager.cs:line 528
[4/6/2018 9:35:05 PM.170] LSPD First Response: Could not load file or assembly 'ParksTools, Version=3.0.6298.2824, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. The module was expected to contain an assembly manifest.
Notice that it says it can't load ParkTools? That means that either the ParkTools.dll is not in your directory, or you're on an outdated version. It takes some getting used to, I'm far from an expert with it, but you'll eventually learn how to look deep into the error message to try and find the problem.