game Versions: 1.15.2 1.16.1 1.16.2
Mod version: 2.5.2
expected behavior: Game loading up.
Actual behavior: game crashes during load up phase
1.15.2 crash report.txt
1.16.2 crash report.txt
1.16.1 crash report.txt

i troubleshooted after the 1.16.1 crash and went back and tested 1.16.2 and 1.15.2 with nothing but the locks mod and got the same error.
i also noted that the .toml config files are empty or full of zeros. unsure if this is related or not

Upon further troubleshooting I realized that my entire configs folder had been corrupted somehow. All the .toml files for all my mods including forge had mysteriously been set to be all zeros. This caused all my attempts to run forge with any mods whatsoever to cause this error.
I fixed it by deleting all my configs and starting forge fresh with all the mods installed.