Crash to Desktop shortly after starting

[fieldyz]

Hi,

I have been experiencing a CTD for a while but lately, it has become worse. My game loads like normal but after playing for a minute or so, the game appears to stutter while moving the mouse around and then crashes to desktop.

So far, I have tried the following:
1. Delete everything associated with CK2 in the documents folder.
2. Reinstall the game.
3. Reinstall the game with a "clean" install as documented elsewhere in the tech support forum.
4. Update my GFX drivers to the latest release.

I have not found a resolution with these measures. A side note that both EU4 and Stellaris work fine.

I would appreciate any help with my problem!

 

[AndrewT]

Only with this game? How about EU4, HOI4 and Stellaris?


DXDIAG is a program you run from a command prompt or the Windows start menu 'run' dialog box (or 'search programs' in Windows 7 or later). After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach your Documents/Paradox/CK2/settings.txt.
From your Documents/Paradox/CK2/logs/ folder, attach system.log .


Please report the temperatures of your CPU and video (GPU)
1/ before starting the game up and
2/ after say 10 minutes' play.
If your PC's vendor has given you no way of reading temperatures, install
SPEEDFAN http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

 

[fieldyz]

Thanks for the reply.

EU4 and Stellaris are fine, no issues with either of them. Can't say about HOI4, I don't play it much.

Regarding temperatures, I can play other games without throttling or shutdown, including EU4 and Stellaris. I'll observe with full load and check it's not a temperature issue.

Refer attached, hoping you can see something wrong.

 

[fieldyz]

Sorry, I missed part of your reply. Settings.txt and system.log files attached.

 

[AndrewT]

Try these changes to that settings.txt:

refreshRate=60
fullScreen=no
borderless=no

Add ck2game.exe to the exceptions list/whitelist of your antivirus app(s).

Those aside, I can only hope it is the temperatures because I don't see anything else!

 

[fieldyz]

Unfortunately I have bad news, the game is still crashing some of the time. I managed to play last night for some time however today with these settings the game crashed shortly after starting. It's not a temperature issue, I started playing from a cold boot and the game was going for all but 2 minutes. In that time the CPU reached 27 degrees.

Do you have any more ideas?

 

[AndrewT]

It's not a temperature issue, I started playing from a cold boot and the game was going for all but 2 minutes. In that time the CPU reached 27 degrees.

That sounds suspiciously low actually, typically CPUs are in the 30s when idle and up to the 50s or higher when in use by our games. What utility are you using to check? Try a different one.

And what GPU temps are you seeing? They are more commonly a problem than the CPU.

 

[fieldyz]

GPU temps in the 50's in game and idle in the 30's. I'm convinced it's not my GPU temps.

I'm still having trouble, and I've found a few of the log files are reporting errors at the moment of crashing. Can you take a look and tell me what it means? I have already scanned my RAM for errors, and not sure how to proceed. The particular log of note is exceptions.log, as every crash generates a new entry.

 

[AndrewT]

All those logs look similar to mine except the exceptions and system_interface ones. Mine are both empty.

And you are right to point out that the exceptions are all over the place, different memory addresses for almost each one. I'm afraid that points to a hardware issue most likely, game bugs tend to be the same each time they happen.

If it is not Ram then the CPU is the next most likely candidate. You might try reseating all the cards and pluggable chips in your system, if you are okay with opening up the case.

That said I don't see why that would only affect this game. Given the system_interface errors, are you 100% sure your clean reinstall included making sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam CK2 or Documents CK2 locations, before installing again?

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

Disclaimer: i'm just another forum member.
Just my 2cents before RAM or CPU get 'special' treatement and after reading the system_interface.log.
You are free to ignore my post.

Assuming..
the tests are made without mods and no old save files, so fresh game on a standard installation
and the clean installation was done by beforehand manualy (!) deleting the whole content or folder of CK2 in Steamapps/common :

I have to mention that i saw that UI scaling is used and at a resolution not mentioned in the system.log as usable.

graphics=
{
    size=
    {
        x=3072
        y=1728
    }

    gui_scale=1.500000

As UI scaling is experimental and in my opinion could be cause /part of the issue, i'd try to run the game without ui scaling or/and on
a resolution mentioned in the system.log as usable.
Just to see if that makes any difference.


Apart from that..
Apparently patch 3.01 might also have some, relevant or not, changes that could be of interest:
- Various memory optimizations to decrease memory use.
- Fixed issue with holding interaction window being partially or fully outside the game window when using UI-scaling.
- Gui-scale is now correctly applied to right-click interaction menus.

Again, just my humble 2 cents.