Surviving Mars - can't land first rocket

[angryguy]

Description
can't land first rocket


Windows


GoG

What is your game version?
1009413

What DLC do you have installed?
Green Planet, Project Laika

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
Can't land the first rocket, and I can't access the menu to save/load/quit. I just downloaded the 6 Gb of files to update it after not playing for a long time. I just included a screenshot of the start screen, as I don't have a save file that applies to this problem, and can't find any kind of error log to attach. Disabling mods didn't help.

Can you replicate the issue?
Over and over, it's the default setting as far as I can tell.


File(s) attached

 

[AndrewT]

The error log would be here:
C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Roaming\Surviving Mars\logs\
To see the AppData folder you'll need to enable View Hidden Items in File Explorer.

Does that screenshot correctly show what you are seeing, so only the central part of the main menu screen?

 

[angryguy]

The error log would be here:
C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Roaming\Surviving Mars\logs\
To see the AppData folder you'll need to enable View Hidden Items in File Explorer.

Does that screenshot correctly show what you are seeing, so only the central part of the main menu screen?

No, the screen shot was just because it wouldn't let me submit a report without attaching a file, and the actual problem isn't really visible in a still-image. I uninstalled the game last night, as there seemed little reason to keep banging my head on it. One thing I forgot to mention, was that there were a number of mods at the end of the list, that wouldn't uninstall. When I updated the game, I went through and removed everything that said it wasn't compatible, but there were 5 that just wouldn't disappear. They wouldn't enable with the global setting switch at the top of the list either. I couldn't get rid of them, and that bothered me too. I'm a little OCD, and little things like can really annoy me.

 

[AndrewT]

What I'd suggest is a full clean reinstall of the game:

- move any valued save games elsewhere; they are under
C:\Users\{UserName}\AppData\Roaming\Surviving Mars\{large number}\
- "uninstall" in Galaxy-Surviving Mars
- unsubscribe from ALL mods in the Paradox mods site
- manually delete both the Galaxy Surviving Mars AND C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Roaming\Surviving Mars\ folders
- re-install game in Galaxy
- add MarsGog.exe to the exceptions list/whitelist of your antivirus app
- start the game with no mods active and test

In particular you need to make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Galaxy SM or AppData SM locations, before installing again.

 

[angryguy]

OK, so I did all of this, except the Galaxy part, it doesn't look like I ever installed it on this machine. The game works fine now, as long as I don't use any mods. If I enable so much as a single one of the mods I downloaded, the Build-menu becomes unavailable. The icons show up for a fraction of a second, and then slide down. Other menus appear unaffected. Needless to say, this is a bit of an impediment to gameplay. All of the mods are new, dating from mid-September to early-November of this year. All state they were re-uploaded and are compatible with the latest version of the game. None indicate any DLC requirements. I'm not sure what else to check. I did delete a bunch I don't remember downloading though. I still have some memory problems, and my memory isn't always the best, it also tends to get worse when I'm really frustrated. I do keep notes on paper, but generally not anything like what mods I downloaded or when. I remember the ones I downloaded today, since it wasn't that long ago, only a couple of hours at the time of writing.

Not being able to use mods is a problem for me though, as I bought the game mainly because it could be modded. That's why I don't play SimCity anymore, no variety, no way to make things different and unique. Just the same maps, the same buildings, the same boring stuff over and over. Once you beat it, it's all downhill. I like to see what creative people can do with a system that's provided to them. Once I'm done appreciating their work, I learn how they did it, and try making my own. I did create complete mods in The Sims & The Sims2, and a lot of artwork mods, maps and complete empires for a couple of space empire-building games.

As it stands right now, I'm locked into vanilla gameplay. And I don't really like that. I like mods that add things the developers didn't think of, in this case, some additional power-generation options, compressed storage, an AI, research node... mostly stuff that hides in the tech-tree and is pretty well-balanced. It's not that I need them for gameplay, it's frustrating to see a mods menu every time I enter the game, and know I can't use them. I honestly can't politely express how frustrating that is. I won't uninstall it just yet, and I did make a note for myself, just in case. I know that's usually my first reaction to something that's just not working, yank it & set it aside. This time, I'll wait for a recommendation.

 

[AndrewT]

If these are mods that have been updated to work with the latest game version by their authors, then I can't account for this - it is not happening to any of their other users so far as I know.

You mentioned above that disabling mods didn't help. If not, but a clean reinstall does, that would tend to imply this is something about the mod installation process. Are you subscribing to them in paradoxplaza.com/mods/ , or in the game, or manually installing them?

 

[angryguy]

All of the mods were installed in-game, I haven't actually looked for where the mods are kept in the game folder, so right no, I don't know how to to it manually, or it there would be any advantage to doing it that way.
It doesn't matter which one of the mods I enable, I've tried quite a number of the 25-30 or so I've installed, and it doesn't matter which. If even one mod is enabled, the build menu is unavailable.
I disable all of the others with the global switch at the top, and scroll down and wait for it finish turning them all off. Then enable one and test the game. Every time, the build-menu becomes unavailable, using all 3 methods of accessing it that I know of.

 

[AndrewT]

Can i see the latest error log then please, taken just after a session where this problem was vident?

 

[angryguy]

I think I got distracted, and forgot about this, the perils of adult ADHD, major depression and memory problems. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the game and all DLC's a couple of dozen times now, I think. It's getting old, I don't see an error log anywhere, and have no idea how to create one. The other day, I downloaded over 7Gb of files (AGAIN) to have the latest versions of everything. Still doesn't work.

The build menu just pops up and then closes. With ANY mod installed, as far as I can tell, they don't even need to be enabled, just installed. Even when I hadn't even installed a mod, the build menu opened, but no sub-menu would open, and the game seemed to freeze. I shut it down with the task manager. The only logs in the folder look like daily logs of some kind, they have what appears to be a date and a code-string at the end, this is the name of one: MarsGOG.exe-20220109-06.21.32-61b24f14.log. None say anything about errors though. I wipe the entire \AppData\Roaming\Surviving Mars\ folder every time I've re-installed, so everything before the 8th of January is gone now, and everything else will be gone sometime this week, when I uninstall this game for the last time.

After that, I'll never buy anything that your company is affiliated with again. That's how I am, I haven't dealt with Steam since 2011, when they had an update that broke my paid-for version of Civilization 5. It really annoys me when I spend good money for a product that I had used previously without problem, but suddenly can no longer use because the developers fucked something up in an update.

Tell me what's wrong, and how I can fix it. I hate throwing money away like this.

 

[AndrewT]

I don't see an error log anywhere, and have no idea how to create one.

You don't need to make it, it's there already. I detailed the location in post #2 above, are you having some trouble following that?

 

[ChoGGi_2]

> The build menu just pops up and then closes. With ANY mod installed, as far as I can tell, they don't even need to be enabled

I haven't seen that before (I've installed quite a few mods), and you're not listing which mods, so it's hard to help you (and no log either).