Menu buttons non-responsive. Can't new game/load game etc

[Geordievillan]

Hi all

I bought this on steam after trying the epic version, and have about 37hours in now.
Yet suddenly I cannot get the game to let me select anything on the main menu.

Doesn't seemto matter whether I let the FMV 'we lost everything' run it's course. Doesn't seem to matter whether I load up with the controller turned on or not. Doesn't matter that i've clean re-installed. It just will not let me select anything.

If i keep clicking the mouse I can get the pointer to be visibile briefly, but it still won't DO anything.
oh, and the mouse pointer is visible before the menu screen pops up btw.

Any suggestions on fixing?

(no mods, windows, fully updated everything. and until earlier this morning, running fine._)

Edit:

So, I've now worked out that it is the stupid update banner that is blocking all other menu interacions. But I can't interact with that either, although it is now at least visible....


WHY is there and in-game update banner Paradox? You already spam via launcher...

So, if anybody knows how to disable THAT so that I can actually use the game, please feel free to let me know. I'm going to keep looking and shall update for any others with similar issue once i figure it out.

 

[AndrewT]

The game has not been updated for some time, so I'm not really understanding what banner you refer to - can we get a screenshot of that please?

Can you run the game from Aftermath64.exe directly from File Explorer okay?

 

[Geordievillan]

The game has not been updated for some time, so I'm not really understanding what banner you refer to - can we get a screenshot of that please?

Can you run the game from Aftermath64.exe directly from File Explorer okay?

Hi Andrew, and thank you for replying.

Running the game directly from the .exe makes no difference - the problem is the pop-up (banner is probably the wrong word) that tells you about what's in the DLC. Patch notes, etc, on the main menu. I know it's not a new update, it's trying to tell me about old stuff.


I caanot exit it when it is visible. Most of the time it isn't - the firt time i run the game after re-installing it'll SOMETIMES show up, but afterwards it is invisible but still there. And it blocks all interactions. Even the mouse pointer disappears once the menu itself loads up..
It's not the box on the right, the big box that pops-up in the centre of the screen.
It'll tell you about Platy and the Platy logo, for example, when you add the DLC. I can't screenshot it right now, because it's not showing up again, but i#ll re-install it again and try to get one.

What's weird is nothing changed my end. Went to be bed, working fine. No updates to the game - obviously. Just suddenly locked out.

 

[Geordievillan]

Shot with the DLC active (i've tried getting it to run with different combinations of the DLC enabled, same problem).

 

[ellacharmed]

Do you use a single or multiple monitors?
What resolution is the OS on? and what is the game set to? Does a Fullscreen, Fullscreen Windowed and Windowed toggle change anything as to whether the panel gets stuck? And even the escape key does not make it go away?

I don't think it is supposed to show up at every session load. Only the first install and at any Updates release.
Are you saying this info panel shows up each time you launched the game? Just to be clear, we're talking about the panel that pops up if we click on the "i" "button" ? Or, is it something else?

 

[Geordievillan]

Hi

I'm using just the single screen. The native resolution is 1920x1080, and it's loading in fullscreen mode. I can't access the settings to change it.

And yes, every time I try to launch the game the panel pops up, but it cannot be escaped from. It's just stuck there.
It took me hours to even find out that it is there though, because half the time it is invisible. I have no way of knowing whether it's the panel that pops up if you click 'i', but it does tell you about recent update / news, so i imagine it's that, yes.

When I can see the panel, it offers me the option to close by pressing 'b' on the controller (whether I''ve loaded with the controller connected or just m&k) - but doesn't actually close no matter what i press on either controller or keyboard., annd all other menu items (new game/load/settings etc) still won't function.

 

[ellacharmed]

Pressing the "i" gives us the changelog - see pic.

I've attached my settings.ini file from this path. Maybe you can manually edit the [General] & [Graphics] sections as appropriate. Open in Notepad, not Word. I had to change the extension to .txt to get it to attach.

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Surviving the Aftermath

Try these values:

Resolution=1920x1080
FullscreenMode=Windowed

And just to cover the bases:
- this issue did not occur in the Epic version?
- accounts linked? paradox + steam?
- Steam and Epic versions installed to different paths as per platform's defaults or you install to a custom location like c:\Games\Surviving the Aftermath ?
- the clean re-install you mentioned, does it include removing files from both the appdata and documents locations? And when you do, you get the reprompt to agree to the EULA all over again?

Can you attach the player.log file so we can see what the game is doing? It's at

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow\Iceflake Studios\Surviving the Aftermath

note: AppData is hidden, need to enable in Explorer.

 

[AndrewT]

Shot with the DLC active (i've tried getting it to run with different combinations of the DLC enabled, same problem).

That's just the main game menu. I don't think your problem has anything to do with the DLC part of that display at all. Probably it is a resolution issue, as @ellacharmed says.

 

[ellacharmed]

Oh, the game did not like having that settings.ini edited manually. Or I used an entry that the game did not recognize. I was tweaking the "FullscreenMode=Windowed" between the 3 options
- Windowed
- ExclusiveFullScreen
- FullScreenWindow

And I get the updates changelog being shown again when I next load the game.
Makes me wonder if your user account has Full permissions to write to that Documents path to save the settings and save game files.
If it cannot save, maybe that's why it is treating each game load as a fresh, first time gameplay.

 

[Geordievillan]

Hi
Thanks for the reply.

So, I added fullscreen-windowed, it wasn't there.

Resolution was already set.

The 'i' button on the menu has also been inaccessible.

Steam and Paradox accounts are linked, yes. I can't remember if the Epic version was but I don't think i bothered until i got steam + DLC.

I had zero problems with the Epic version.

When i thought i was clean installing i didn't realise there was an AppData file - my mistake. I had been clearing everything from Documents and the steam folders.

I do get asked for the EULA each time, yes.

 

[Geordievillan]

Hi
Thanks for the reply.

So, I added fullscreen-windowed, it wasn't there.

Resolution was already set.

The 'i' button on the menu has also been inaccessible.

Steam and Paradox accounts are linked, yes. I can't remember if the Epic version was but I don't think i bothered until i got steam + DLC.

I had zero problems with the Epic version.

When i thought i was clean installing i didn't realise there was an AppData file - my mistake. I had been clearing everything from Documents and the steam folders.

I do get asked for the EULA each time, yes.

I just tried loading having added windowed mode ini setting, and that worked, but still nothing is accessible.

I'm going to delete the appdata folder now and reinstall. Hopefully that'll sort it.

And apologies for the lateness in my replies guys - wound being busier than i expected this weekend

 

[Geordievillan]

Okay, so this time i deleted the appdata as well as files in Documents and Steam.

Re-installed.
Accepted the EULA and ... same as always. Pop up box pops up. No buttons work except 'escape', which moves me onto a second pop-up. Nothing works to close it still except 'escape' but this time i get something new - Privacy Policy.

Which I haven't seen since i first installed the game, so that's actually progress. But still, nothing works to clear it except 'escape', and when i do, still nothing is usable.
Mouse pointer is still hidden, buttons still don't work...

Are there other hidden files somewhere that I'm failing to delete when re-installing?

 

[ellacharmed]

Does this happen for all game session with ALL Saves or just the one?
If just the one Save, maybe just start another? If all Saves, can you attach one, just to see if I get the same player.log?
The reports stops after the "crash" bits, which I see in all reports by the way.

...
Exception: [SerializableManager] Overriding ID 121: Aftermath.WorldMap.WorldMapLocationTemplate - QuestLoc_EscapePod01 -> Aftermath.WorldMap.WorldMapLocationTemplate - QuestLoc_EscapePod01!
...
Exception: [SerializableManager] Overriding ID 160: Aftermath.Data.BuildingTemplate - RadioTower -> Aftermath.Data.BuildingTemplate - RadioTower!
...

But it does not continue beyond that point. Does it really end after "Uploading Crash Report"? Or, you edited out some parts of it?
Are you able to exit cleanly or always had to kill the app via Task Manager? It would show "MainMenu()" near the bottom of the log file it the game was exited cleanly from the Main Menu.


When I load a Save, I get these bits:

Loading save file Autosave-Somewhere-2, Slot name: Autosave-Somewhere-2, Display name: Autosave-Somewhere-2, Version: 171, Timestamp: 2024-01-07_15-13-07, Population: 50, Day: 63, Mod count: 0, Mods:
...

Then it loads data from the Save, as follows.

SetGameState(CityView, force: True)

[ExternalContentManager] Unlocked content: Steam EarlyAccess PdxCon2021 Deluxe NewAlliances RadioPack01 Rebirth ShatteredHope ParadoxLogin

Graphics: Rendering quality set to High

Save originally created on version 171

Loaded PregameData - World: 3 | Catastrophes: 3 | Scenario: 3
StartingPopulation: 3 | StartingResources: 3
ColonyType: 1 | NarrativeAI: 3
FlagSymbol: 36 | FlagBackground: 2 | ColonyName: Somewhere | ColonyMotto: Cats won't go quietly into the night
AutoSaveName: Autosave-Somewhere-2 | DifficultyPercentage: 2.000
StartingSpecialists: Cait, Scrappa
Master Seed: 1404273893

Colony events 501 | Combat events: 47 | Total 548

Change game phase from Error to P0

IncentiveSpecialistPool: Nelson, Platy,
SpecialistsForHirePool:
HireSpecialistQueue:
UsedSpecialistPool: Makeda, Sable,

After reading the log, I have more questions.

1. Which Windows version?
2. Does the user have Admin or Local Account access or you logged in using a Microsoft account login?
3. If Windows 11, does Notification reports on "Unauthorized changes...Controlled Folder Access blocked Aftermath64.exe"?
4. Does Windows Event Viewer show a Red Exclamation marks Errors for the exe? Post what it reports.
5. Is OneDrive turned on for the Documents folder?
6. Do you have Windows Defender or Antivirus or Antimalware running to scan Documents in real-time?
7. Are you using any "Bypass Paradox Launcher" shortcuts, and if so which guide(s) did you follow?

 

[Geordievillan]

So, as last thing i could think of doing myself I tried re-installing the Epic version.

Does this happen for all game session with ALL Saves or just the one?
If just the one Save, maybe just start another? If all Saves, can you attach one, just to see if I get the same player.log?
The reports stops after the "crash" bits, which I see in all reports by the way.



But it does not continue beyond that point. Does it really end after "Uploading Crash Report"? Or, you edited out some parts of it?
Are you able to exit cleanly or always had to kill the app via Task Manager? It would show "MainMenu()" near the bottom of the log file it the game was exited cleanly from the Main Menu.


When I load a Save, I get these bits:

Then it loads data from the Save, as follows.


After reading the log, I have more questions.

1. Which Windows version?
2. Does the user have Admin or Local Account access or you logged in using a Microsoft account login?
3. If Windows 11, does Notification reports on "Unauthorized changes...Controlled Folder Access blocked Aftermath64.exe"?
4. Does Windows Event Viewer show a Red Exclamation marks Errors for the exe? Post what it reports.
5. Is OneDrive turned on for the Documents folder?
6. Do you have Windows Defender or Antivirus or Antimalware running to scan Documents in real-time?
7. Are you using any "Bypass Paradox Launcher" shortcuts, and if so which guide(s) did you follow?

At the moment I can't load any saves. I can't get past the main menu.
I've not edited anything, just linked the 'player' file.

Windows 10 Pro, I've got full admin (and only the one user account).
3: Nope, never seen that.
5: OneDrive is turned off. I'm not sgned into my microsoft account. Rarely ever do, but that can't be the issue as I similarly wasn't when the game was working.
6: No real-time scans running.
7: Not bypassing the launcher, just installed as vanilla.

4: Took me longer to go through, but the only Error messages from any applications within the last few days are one for EU4 and one for microsoft edge.
Other than that here're a ton of 'Microsoft-Windows-DeviceSetupManager/Admin' errors - but from what i know of those they are just to be ignored (caused by windows update), and me trying to run STA again doesn't coincide with the timing of the events in the viewer (i've just installed it again and tried again to be 100% sure).

I'e also tried to re-install the Epic version instead, and it immediately linked me to my Paradox account, so i'm wondering if that could - somehow, i have no idea how - be the problem? Is the game trying to communicate something to my account and getting stuck because I own more than one copy of the game?

 

[AndrewT]

I'e also tried to re-install the Epic version instead, and it immediately linked me to my Paradox account, so i'm wondering if that could - somehow, i have no idea how - be the problem? Is the game trying to communicate something to my account and getting stuck because I own more than one copy of the game?

Basically, no. I have the same setup and it causes no problem whatsoever.

 

[ellacharmed]

Yeah, I too have both Epic (with no DLCs) and Steam (with Ultimate), so I can test mods. And both platforms use same Saves and same mod files with no issues whatsoever.

You can try set the exe to "Run As Admin" and make sure the Documents path folder also has Full Admin rights.
- Did we try running from Nvidia Experience?
- Did we try any resolution other than the 1920x1080 one?
Apart from that, I'm at the end of my experience and skills and no more suggestions for fixes/workarounds.

 

[Geordievillan]

Thanks for trying

 

[ellacharmed]

I was reminded (on the Discord StA server) about the Steam Cloud Sync. And the difference with Epic platform would definitely be this and the Steam Overlay.
Have you tried to toggle these the other way and see if it affects anything?

Just for comparison I have,
- Steam Overlay Off
- Steam Cloud sync On

 

[Geordievillan]

ellacharmed, you are officially my hero.

I had steam cloud synch turned off.
Moment I turned it on, the game works as normal.

Thank you for all your time and effort

I hope your survivors have all the best of luck and see no more catastrophies!

 

[ellacharmed]

Great!

should really document all these troubleshooting into a checklist, as always forget one thing.