Surviving Mars - Crashes on Launch. Unable to run at all.

[Bubbletronic]

Description
Crashes on Launch. Unable to run at all.


Windows


Steam

What is your game version?
Application Version: 1.0.0.0 according to the launcher error message. It was downloaded fresh from steam on Sept 4, 2021.

Do you have Space Race installed?
Yes

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
Fresh windows 7 x64 install. No windows updates except manually installed Microsoft VC redistributable for versions 2015-2019. Microsoft does not allow me to access to their update server despite the fact that Windows has been successfully activated.

Can you replicate the issue?
Yes. I uninstalled the program and re-downloaded it from steam. Same issue. I also verified the game cache integrity through Steam.

Attachments
File(s) attached

 

[Bubbletronic]

I should add that I have nearly all the DLC's installed for this game except "In Dome Buildings Pack". No mods are installed.

Other games from Blizzard and Steam (including Paradox's Stellaris) run fine on my current setup. I used to run Surviving Mars just fine on this same machine on an older (now wiped) Windows 7 install.

Could this be related to the post about "error launching the game after tourism update" from March 15? Perhaps it's the same problem.

Your forum does not allow me to upload .crash files. Here is the the .dmp.

 

[Bubbletronic]

Here is the .crash file as a .txt.

 

[Bubbletronic]

Could there be a Windows Update that is required to get the game running, or some visual C++ or other library file requirement that isn't delivered automatically via Steam? I only ask because I'm running stock Windows 7 x64 without almost any updates, as stated above.

 

[AndrewT]

If this is the Windows 7 initial release version, not even SP1, then that is almost certainly the source of your problem, yes. Our games are only ever tested on Windows that is fully patched up.

Any chance you can get onto MS to get that update process working? Or just go to Windows 10 perhaps?

 

[Bubbletronic]

A half-dozen other games work just fine. If I knew the dependency that was missing, I would use Microsoft's Knowledge Base website to download and install it...

I haven't purchased Windows 10 because it's just spyware with a new directX version.

For some reason Microsoft started blocking their updates server on my Windows 7 serial key recently. Which is fine by me as I'm told that Microsoft Developer Network servers (MSDN), of which their update servers belong to, are now located in China and I don't particularly trust that region for my software. Blocking their update server is one method MS is probably using to force people to upgrade OS and I don't like to be strong-armed in this way. I would have to personally call tech support and beg them to unlock it.

Do you have a list of dependencies for the game to work? That would help me out immensely.

I bet Steam auto-installs all the dependencies on Linux. Why wouldn't it do it on Windows?

 

[AndrewT]

I do not have such a list, I am sorry - this game is developed by external studios, we at Paradox just publish it. As a minimum the video driver would have to be current, and that would very likely in turn require Windows to be current too.

MS are not blocking Windows 7 updates in general, I assure you. I'm pretty sure they could fix that problem for you, unless it is some sort of entitlement issue.

Steam does not auto-install dependencies on Linux. Apart from anything else that would be a major problem to maintain for the numerous Linux distros and sub-branches, and for each individual game. In general our games come built using the default libraries in supported distros so no such installs are necessary - although that is a current bug in this game in fact! Which I believe will be fixed in the next patch.

As I understand it you can turn off the features in Windows 10 that you consider spyware! Have you checked into that?