Fallout 4 crashes so hard it gives Steam a concussion

This has happened to me twice now - the first time I assumed it was just some weird fluke because this problem is bizarre. OS is Windows 10 FWIW.

Fallout 4 will freeze and I am unable to access the task manager to end the application (a black overlay from the game covers up the entire desktop - even though I can open the Task Manager using using Ctrl+Alt+Delete I can't actually see the running processes). Right clicking the Fallout icon -> close window does nothing. I have to force restart the computer in order to get out of this situation. This is annoying but I can live with it (Bethesda games, amirite?).

The problem is that when the computer boots up and I start Steam, Steam no longer thinks that Fallout is installed. The game still exists on disk and Windows recognizes that it's there, but Steam refuses to acknowledge it. I have to "reinstall" the game (essentially Steam verifies that all of the needed files are present). That is annoying. Even though I don't need to re-download and re-install the game, it still takes Steam between 5 and 10 minutes to check that the game is still present.

Any thoughts? If I can stop the freezing that would be great (losing progress in Survival mode through no fault of my own isn't what I would call fun) but I'll settle for Steam not suffering from short term amnesia.

Response to comment questions:

is there any pattern to the crashes?

~~Not that I can tell.~~ Happened again when entering VATS - that seems to be the culprit.

What are you doing when it happens?

The last time it happened was when entering VATS during a Gunner attack on Sanctuary (e.g., VATS noise played, zoomed in, freeze). I don't remember what I was doing the first time.

When did this start happening? Right after initial installation? Months later? Did you install some DLC or mod before it began?

Roughly a week and a half ago. No mods, but I do have Automaton, Wasteland Workshop, and now that I think about it, I was on the beta release for Survival mode. That might be relevant.