Random crashes 1.37

[Sneer]

Hi, I'm experiencing quite frequent random crashes during gameplay. They happen randomly, sometimes after only a few minutes of gameplay, sometimes I'm able to play for like an hour before a crash. I didn't notice any pattern - they don't happen on the same date, or on opening/closing the same menu.
I've tried verifying game files on steam, reinstalling the game, deleting the whole EU4 directory in My documents, starting new save files - nothing seems to work.
I unsubsribed all mods. I've also tried disabling Fullscreen optimizations, and setting the game to Fullscreen with Vsync disabled.
I'm on windows 11, running AMD 3600 CPU and 5700XT GPU. I don't experience similar issues in other games.
I didn't play EU4 for some time, I think the last patch I've played before 1.37 was like 1.34 or 1.35. I never had issues with crashing before.

I'm out of ideas (other than drastic ones, like reinstalling Windows), do you have any leads? I'm also attaching error logs and my settings.txt file. Thanks in advance.
I was unable to add DxDiag as txt, do I zipped it.

 

[AndrewT]

I don't see any cause of this problem in those files.

You are confident all mods are out of the way? You get the right checksum in the game (that is, the same as the one that shows in the launcher)?

Is this happening in a new campaign started since that patch, or only one that was started under older patches?

When it happens, can you run this game up, load that save, and carry on past the point it crashed?

 

[Sneer]

Yes, I'm confident mods are not installed. I'll attach some screenshots. I do get the same checksum in game as in launcher (If I'm reading the correct value - 7a4b)
It happens in new campaigns as well.
I can load the game and carry on past the point of the previous crash, however it seems that crashes tend to happen around the same time. I feel the game is much more prone to crashing just after loading after a previous crash, than in general (Although I'm not sure this is the case, it's just a seeming)
Yesterday, for the first time that I can recall, the crash happened when the game was not running (in a paused state). This particular crash happened when I tried to open diplomacy (with France, playing as Bohemia).

Are there any other logs/files that I can provide that could help?

 

[AndrewT]

It's just that i don't get those errors when I run the game.

There's only one crash in eu4.exe in that dxdiag, which looks a bit Windows-y. Please run this Windows repair tool:

Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files - Microsoft Support

Describes how to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files in Windows.

support.microsoft.com

If that doesn't help, please attach here a save that crashes for you.

 

[Sneer]

Thanks for your support, I've also noticed the crash in DxDiag yesterday and tried running different Windows repair options, including sfc, dism, and in-place windows upgrade, but nothing short of a clean windows resinstall (which I did yesterday) worked. Now, with a fresh Windows install the game runs with no issues. I can even continue the old save file. This was clearly a Windows-thing, not a game thing.

 

[Sneer]

Well, after a day with no crashes, the game is shutting down again. After encountering the first crash, I did a full game reinstall and verified game files, deleted the whole eu4 directory in My Documents and started a new campaign. The game crashed in 1444 before unpausing while I was doing estate stuff. I'm attaching anything that seems relevant from the logs folder and DxDiag (zipped again). Any help would be much appreciated, as now I'm really out of ideas

 

[Sneer]

I've tried starting a new campaign again, picking England this time. Again, I didn't manage to progress beyond the starting date, and the errors log looks wild.

 

[Sneer]

I've tried playing Stellaris and had no issues with crashing. It seems only EU4 is affected.

 

[AndrewT]

Yes, that error log is weird. I don't know how you can have a bad installation after a clean reinstall in the absence of mods.

What if you make a new Windows user on this computer, log in as that, and start a new test campaign - does it still happen?

 

[Sneer]

Thanks for sticking with me on that journey
Unfortunately, on a newly created local account the game crashed as well. I'm attaching the error.log.
What I'm going to try next, is to use betas to revert to an earlier version of the game and see if it crashes.

I'm also wondering if my strange selection of DLCs could be the culprit. I've got all the major ones, but I lack the Digital Extreme Edition Upgrade Pack.

 

[Sneer]

1.36.2 Crashed as well.

 

[Sneer]

1.32 produces tons of errors, but didn't crash yet

 

[Sneer]

It's probably not DLCs. 1.37.2 with all DLCs turned off crashed almost immediately (before unpausing)

 

[Sneer]

Well, this is something new. I messed around with bios settings, changed RAM XMP profile, reinstalled the game, cleared My documents again etc. And with 1.37.2 I've now got the Paradox Crash Reporter pop-up, BUT the game continued to run! I can alt-tab back to game, and continue playing with the crash reporter in the background.
As you can see on the screenshots, the date progresses. I've sent the report, which closed the game, to get the error log to share.

Edit: just to be sure, the XMP profile changes were not done due to RAM errors, MemTest64 showed no errors (either before or after the change)

 

[Sneer]

OK, I figured it out. My CPU was at fault. At the default settings (no OC), one of the cores was running into errors. I found out about that by running OCCT CPU+Memory stability tests. The solution was to use Ryzen Master and manually set max frequency at the faulty core to a lower value (until OCCT stopped showing errors).

Thanks for all your help and inputs. I hope you can use my findings in the future to help someone else