please make sure you are using the latest ETF version before submitting an issue, you might also find a dev build
fixing this issue already on my discord https://discord.com/invite/rURmwrzUcz in the #dev-blog channel

Game crashes in latest ETF version

• What happened? stack overflow error
• What were you doing when it happened? loading game

Screenshots

• If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Crash log

net.fabricmc.loader.impl.FormattedException: java.lang.StackOverflowError
at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.FormattedException.ofLocalized(FormattedException.java:63) ~[fabric-loader-0.15.3.jar:?]
at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.MinecraftGameProvider.launch(MinecraftGameProvider.java:472) ~[fabric-loader-0.15.3.jar:?]
at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.Knot.launch(Knot.java:74) ~[fabric-loader-0.15.3.jar:?]
at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClient.main(KnotClient.java:23) ~[fabric-loader-0.15.3.jar:?]
Caused by: java.lang.StackOverflowError
at sun.nio.cs.StreamDecoder.implRead(StreamDecoder.java:297) ~[?:?]
at sun.nio.cs.StreamDecoder.read(StreamDecoder.java:188) ~[?:?]
at java.io.InputStreamReader.read(InputStreamReader.java:177) ~[?:?]
at com.google.gson.stream.JsonReader.fillBuffer(JsonReader.java:1351) ~[gson-2.10.1.jar:?]
at com.google.gson.stream.JsonReader.nextNonWhitespace(JsonReader.java:1389) ~[gson-2.10.1.jar:?]
at com.google.gson.stream.JsonReader.consumeNonExecutePrefix(JsonReader.java:1667) ~[gson-2.10.1.jar:?]
at com.google.gson.stream.JsonReader.doPeek(JsonReader.java:543) ~[gson-2.10.1.jar:?]
at com.google.gson.stream.JsonReader.peek(JsonReader.java:433) ~[gson-2.10.1.jar:?]
at com.google.gson.Gson.fromJson(Gson.java:1224) ~[gson-2.10.1.jar:?]
at com.google.gson.Gson.fromJson(Gson.java:1137) ~[gson-2.10.1.jar:?]
at com.google.gson.Gson.fromJson(Gson.java:1075) ~[gson-2.10.1.jar:?]

Then infinite repeating 
at traben.entity_texture_features.config.ETFConfig.loadConfig(ETFConfig.java:41) ~[entity_texture_features_fabric_1.20.2-5.1.1.jar:?]
at traben.entity_texture_features.config.ETFConfig.getInstance(ETFConfig.java:25) ~[entity_texture_features_fabric_1.20.2-5.1.1.jar:?]

Your setup: (please complete the following information):

• Minecraft version: [1.20.2]
• ModLoader: [e.g forge/fabric]
• ETF Version [e.g. 5.1.1]
• Does the issue persist with only ETF installed? Yes
• Nvidia graphics card

Hmm must get triggered if there isn't already a config file hence why no issue in my testing, should be a quick fix

i cannot replicate can i see the full log?

I have attempted to load without a config,
with a config,
with a corrupted config

and cannot replicate so i'll need your full game log for sure

i've closed the loop as described in your log, so it wont be possible after 5.1.2

I'm still not sure what caused it and can only make the education guess this will fix it

Well i am not sure either but it only happened in version 5.1.1 but not 5.1.0 so that just means i will have to skip 5.1.1 which is fine. Thank you for helping.

5.1.2 is out and should fix this