Game is crashing on save load after a while, what info would be helpful to report?

[HFY]

- I am using mods.

- It only seems to happen on OS/X even when the same mods are used.

- My OS/X laptop has a nicer screen so I'd prefer to be able to play on it and it's supposed to be a supported platform.

Here's an example where one auto-save can load (the earlier 2213-08-01) but the next month the auto-save crashes, and the manual save also crashes. It's likely that you can't load either save since the mods include a few homebrew personal mods that I'm fooling around with, so this is just for people who like to read or verify save data, which might be nobody.

It's very frustrating since game startup is slow and I don't love re-starting games which were intended to test something out.

Sometimes I can get pretty far in a game, other times the save corruption strikes early (e.g. 2213 in this case).


If it's a mod, how can I find which mod is causing the problem?

If it's a vanilla problem, how should I report this?

 

[prismaticmarcus]

Moved to Tech Support

 

[HFY]

@AndrewT - is this the correct forum for this issue?

If not we can tell @prismaticmarcus to put it back where it was, or move it to the right place.

 

[AndrewT]

We cannot help with mod problems here; IF it only happens with mods in use you should post in User Mods forum, or contact the mod author(s) in the Steam Workshop.

However if it happens in a galaxy which has never had any mods used in it, let me know and we'll look into it further here.

 

[HFY]

Moved to Tech Support

Tech Support is the incorrect forum for this thread, according to the god of tech support.

Please put this thread back where it was.

 

[AndrewT]

I take it you are saying this only happens when mods are in use, so over to user mods it goes!

Please list here what mods are in use.

 

[HFY]

I take it you are saying this only happens when mods are in use, so over to user mods it goes!

It happens without mods, too.

This game had mods, and it happened very early. That's notable. Also notable that I caught it when I had a working auto-save which was only 1 month different from the broken date.

The thread was originally in the General forum, since I'm asking how I can provide information to help the devs find and fix this issue.

The user mods forum is probably not going to be helpful.

Please move this thread back to the general forum, thanks!

 

[AndrewT]

Actually no, as it happens without mods this is one for tech support initially - the devs can't help if it is not a game bug. And I'm better able to say what they will need, if is does turn out to be a bug.

 

[AndrewT]

Please do a full **clean** re-install:

- move any valued save games elsewhere, and user empire designs.txt from /Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/ if you have made any custom empires or races.
- "uninstall" in Steam-Stellaris
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/Stellaris AND Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris folders- In particular you need to make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam Stellaris or Documents Stellaris locations, before installing again.
- re-install game in Steam, run a Steam Verify when done.
- start the game with no mods active and test with a new galaxy, NOT any existing one

**File Locations on Mac OS X**
The executable and DLC folder are in Users/USER/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Stellaris/
To see it go to the Finder, hit command-shift-G (ie Go To) and type in ~/Library/ .
The user files (settings.txt, error logs, saved games, gfx, mods) are in /Users/USER/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/ .


If it then starts crashing,
Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log , exceptions.txt

Also in Steam please click on Steam-Help-System Info, and paste everything there into a text file and attach that here.

 

[HFY]

Please do a full **clean** re-install:

- move any valued save games elsewhere, and user empire designs.txt from /Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/ if you have made any custom empires or races.
- "uninstall" in Steam-Stellaris
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/Stellaris AND Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris folders- In particular you need to make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam Stellaris or Documents Stellaris locations, before installing again.
- re-install game in Steam, run a Steam Verify when done.
- start the game with no mods active and test with a new galaxy, NOT any existing one

**File Locations on Mac OS X**
The executable and DLC folder are in Users/USER/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Stellaris/
To see it go to the Finder, hit command-shift-G (ie Go To) and type in ~/Library/ .
The user files (settings.txt, error logs, saved games, gfx, mods) are in /Users/USER/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/ .


If it then starts crashing,
Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log , exceptions.txt

Also in Steam please click on Steam-Help-System Info, and paste everything there into a text file and attach that here.

When I move the save file over to a different computer (Win10), Stellaris tells me that the save file is corrupt.

What information do you hope to gain by asking me to re-install the game?

The issue appears to be that OS/X Stellaris will sometimes write corrupt save files which can't be loaded.

The crashes are only when loading these saves -- other saves can be loaded correctly, and don't require a re-install to load and play.

For example, the "earlier" save attached above loaded fine (did not crash) and could be played for a century without crashing.


Again, what do you hope to see by asking me to re-install when I've got saves that are apparently corrupt?

 

[HFY]

Just in case this thread is ever allowed to exist near someone who is able to help, here's another example from the same game, many decades later.

The manual save (2266-09-20) will not load; the auto-save from 19 game days earlier does load.

 

[AndrewT]

As you believe this to be a game bug, then Bug Reports would be the appropriate place, not the main game forum. Attach the problem saves (ONLY unmodded ones) there for QA to look into.

Does it seem this affects local and Steam cloud saves? Autosaves and manual ones? Ironmen and non-Ironman?

 

[HFY]

As you believe this to be a game bug, then Bug Reports would be the appropriate place, not the main game forum. Attach the problem saves (ONLY unmodded ones) there for QA to look into.

Does it seem this affects local and Steam cloud saves? Autosaves and manual ones? Ironmen and non-Ironman?

Yeah but since it's a crash-on-load I want to know what else would be helpful beyond just the saves.

It's similar to an old issue which might have been fixed, but I haven't heard if it is or not, and I'm not sure how to check if that's the same problem affecting these saves -- someone who could help with the save file format might give me enough info to write a script to parse the save files and report potential aura problems (and maybe even fix them).

That's why I'm asking in the General forum, because it's more about gathering info than a straight-up bug report with easy to reproduce conditions.

 

[AndrewT]

The folks in the general forum are mostly just players like you, so more expert that I (say) in gameplay, I'm sure. But I'm not sure why you think they are better placed to know what extra data QA and the devs would want on this issue, more than I or they do?

If QA need more info from you in Bug Reports they'll ask you for it there. By all means add other info such as a dxdiag output if you wish - can't hurt, might help.

But I suspect the situation is either that they can tell from the nature of the save file corruption what caused it, or they cannot.

 

[HFY]

The folks in the general forum are mostly just players like you, so more expert that I (say) in gameplay, I'm sure. But I'm not sure why you think they are better placed to know what extra data QA and the devs would want on this issue, more than I or they do?

If QA need more info from you in Bug Reports they'll ask you for it there. By all means add other info such as a dxdiag output if you wish - can't hurt, might help.

But I suspect the situation is either that they can tell from the nature of the save file corruption what caused it, or they cannot.

Well, for one thing, I see @Eladrin and other devs post in the general forum. I feel they are likely to know the state of the game's bugs much better than I do.

My plan was to post in the Bug Reports forum when I knew more about what to post there, which is literally what I'm asking in my first post, and why I think this forum is the incorrect place for this thread.

Maybe bug reports would have been appropriate? But I don't see people asking how to report bugs there, nor discussion about what info goes into different kinds of bug reports -- only finished bug reports targeted at QA, and at this point the discussion feels derailed and I would want permission to make a new thread instead of moving this tragedy elsewhere.

This crash-to-desktop doesn't seem like QA issue, I think it's a dev issue, and there isn't really a place to talk to devs outside the general forum.

 

[AndrewT]

I understand that is your opinion, but I disagree with you on it. And, not to push the point too far, I think I know how things work here pretty well by now!

You are right, there is no place to contact devs directly - for this or any Paradox game. If there were they would be swamped with DMs and unable to do the work they are supposed to. It is precisely QA's job (or at least part of it) to be the interface between them and the users, to qualify issues before they come to the dev's attention.

I urge you to make that thread in BR (if there is not one there already on the issue, since you say it is a general problem on the Mac edition of the game others must be seeing it) and attach there some corrupted saves, and other data like your system setup (Steam-Help-System Info) and whether this affects local and Steam cloud saves. Autosaves and manual ones. Ironmen and non-Ironman.