Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)
Well. Since Metafalica was removed from mod and you tried to load save started with older version of the mod<which had metafalica> it obviously bugged. Metafalica is part of Thalan shipworks now btw http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=14935.0 .TL:DR : New version of mod breaks saves so you need to start new game.
It's in maintenance mode so I'll maintain compatibility. Removing the Outcast was planned for a while since they didn't really fit in with the rest of the mod well. Just moved over the Metafalica cause it's a nice ship
that crash has been fixed. If you encounter it, redownload the latest version