[0.8.2] Crash on Startup Standalone, then also via Steam

:+1:

The problem with the logs are that they include a lot of the debug stuff so its very hard for us as players to figure it out unless of course you happen to be up to speed on cross platform Unity development. Tracing the errors in the logs will drive you bonkers and likely lead you down the garden path to some unknown destination… I have given up with that… I just give it a quick skim to see if something is entirely unfamiliar compared to other logs and work from there…

The error logs in the crash folder (if it managed to create one when it crashed) are usually more useful imho.

Taking a break is probably a good idea… Let the dust settle and EHG might even have dropped a minor patch or two - if they find something critical they are usually quick to do so and this 0.8.2 is huge so while I dont work for EHG I figure that they will probably be chasing their tails after this patch trying to fix new bugs & the login issues so its unlikely they will chip in here… From experience I can say that someone will likely see your post but probably will not respond till they actually have time to do so or maybe even a decent reply/solution.

Yeah, problem is that I’m reluctant to take a break as I only bought the game a couple of days ago and literally only had just under 2 days of playing it…
So it’s like getting your first car, only to be banned from driving less than 48 hours later lol

I know… you just wanna play with the new toy… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Cant really offer anything to make you feel better other than putting my neck out there and saying that EHG usually fixes things pretty quickly and considering how many people are having the login issue I am sure they are sweating up a storm in some dev pit…

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Update:
I have tried chasing the “mono.dll” error listed in vain.
I installed the mono runtime to my PC - same error.
I then tried the unrecommended option of finding a unity generated version of mono.dll in both 32 bit and 64 but flavours and installing & registering them. Same error & crash.
I did then uninstall those dll files as even though I did some due diligence & decompiled them to look at the contents they were still from a 3rd party source.

I had a thorough look at the error logs and player log yet again and this line 334 keeps popping out at me. It appears to my uneducated eye as though some in game objects in the new game code are failing to be registered as DX objects within dx11 and are therefore throwing up the flag of the ntdll error.

This, again as a guess, would indicate to me that the new changes to the gui in this patch are not working with my setup Win7 x64 Ultimate SP1 and more importantly dx11. I am guessing that the game code using Unity 2019 was compiled using Win10 and therefore dx12, and that in using the Unity software to port that across to 7 & dx11 (which as I understand it) uses Mono to facilitate the porting to other OS’s including Linux) it is causing these errors.

So, in short, I don’t think there’s anything more I can do with regards to this issue from my client side. It is something in either the new code, or the compiling process that is causing this crash. I eagerly await the devs/programmers being able to examine the problems & come up with a fix.

Could I humbly suggest that at “Dev HQ” someone also uses a PC running Win 7 & DX11 to test out the standalone client (which should also solve this on the Steam Client).
Using a VM within Win10 to emulate Win7 will NOT be sufficient to throw up errors like this, it really needs to be an actual HD/SSD with only Win7 and more importantly DX11/.net installed on it.

There are many, many of us out there who (despite Microsoft) refuse to use Win10 Telemetry Edition and so despite the official “ending” of support for Win7 it still remains a large percentage of any potential customer base for any games developer.

(On a side note, I’ll go to Linux full time before I ever even spit on a Win10 installer. I’ve done repairs for other people’s PCs using it and I feel like taking a long shower after every encounter with it)

Installed hotfix with baited breath…
Same error. Still crashing.

I am uploading the error/log/crash files in their latest versions again, just in case anything has changed in them.

Crash_2021-05-25_233522063.zip (31.6 KB)
le_graphicsmanager.ini (493 Bytes)
Player.log (6.6 KB)
Player-prev.log (5.9 KB)
version.txt (6 Bytes)

Hope these help…

Damn… Just sat down to see if anything worked…

Is this with the patch that dropped 2h ago i.e. C not B?

Re your testing:
I am using DirectX 11 on Windows 10 - according to my player.log.
Telemetry… yes, it is unpleasant to have to use this.
LE does work on Linux :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

EDIT: See the devs post on the issue…

Yes, it’s now path C I am getting the error on.

Interesting that it works ok on Win10.

While the game might be using DX11, on Win 10 you do also have all the files/patches installed for DX11.1 & DX12 installed as well. These DX updates are usually done via Windows Update, so you get those updates on Win10, whereas the highest level of update on 7 is for DX11.

I’m going to research if there’s a way to spoof update my DX on Win7 today and see if that makes any difference.

P.S. I don’t think that the issue you linked to is related. That and the other Issue are both related to logins. With this crash I can’t even get as far as the login screen for there to be an error. I have found on the Steam forums some other people with the same crashes, so I’ve asked them to also confirm their Operating Systems. I’ll bet a pound to a penny that they’re also running Win7 and never downgraded to 8.1 or 10…

Damn… the patch C had lots of updated items - not just the login - you can see the full changelog on Steam - so I was hoping for a solution there…

Yip - Sorry I didnt say 11.1
Yip - DirectX is no longer a separate update - only through Win Update

I dont think its Win 7 as there are a few people still using it… Granted, their problems were related to performance on very old hardware but they were dyill able to play…

The latest Unity version 2021.1 supports Windows 7 with SP1+ so the game should work on your system as Unity 2019.4 should work too… … Maybe you could even try using some command line arguments for the player (midway down the webpage) … no idea really perhaps you can force a particular mode that makes a difference or help debug more.

Really am running out of suggestions here…

EDIT: Considering your penchant for security… Is there something on your machine that is locked down tight that could be involved here? Admin modes… etc…

Maybe even try running the game in Compatibility Mode?

Yeah, as far as security, I have tried various permutations but as the previous version ran fine I think this is a red herring.

Today my plans are to use the latest versions of the Simplix pack to update my core Windows (I don’t use Win update & haven’t for many moons due to the crap they force). (Simplix give an alternative method of doing Windows updates without any telemetry patches or dodgy spyware installs, it’s great for those of us who got burnt a long time ago with the “force to update” patches that MS forced on Win7 users).

My next plan if that doesn’t work is to try and “dupe” a later version of DX onto my PC.

Your link to the Unity page provides some interesting possibilities, thanks for that. D3D11 does seem to be what is related to the issue, so after all of the above I might try and force the game to run in Vulkan and see if that works. If it did, then it would prove that it was indeed the DX11 that was causing the issue.

I am like a dog with a bone here and from all my analysis of the crash & player logs I am absolutely convinced that this is all caused by a rendering issue of new or amended objects contained with the major patch.

It would really be nice is just one tech support guy could chip in at some stage and at least let me know if I am on the right path to finding a solution to this. At the moment I feel a bit like an unpaid intern sat in a satellite office working on a full time job with zero communications back to my employer… I think I am chasing the right rabbit, but some confirmation from someone actually involved from the coding and compiling side would at least confirm or deny that. IF I could get that proof and then find a fix, it at least might prove worthwhile to anyone else who might find themselves in the same situation. This is the whole reason I am trying to document everything I am trying as a correction.

Actually, I guess another thing I might try if all of the above fails is actually installing Unity itself on my PC. Perhaps that itself might force correct/install any DX dependencies missing?

While reading your reply about Windows Update/Simplix etc… a thought popped into my head and will not leave… Its got nothing to do with LE and the problems you are having…

“Why the hell are you not using Linux?”

Totally off topic - I understand every one of your concerns about Win10 and all the hoops you are running through to stick to your principals on the issues but I am just wondering why cause yourself all this aggrivation and not migrate entirely to Linux and put this all behind you and have a much more restful experience?

Seriously… I am really interested to understand this because virtually any Windows only app/etc can now be run in some sort of virtualised containter if you MUST use it and there is no native solution… Any one of the linux distros can serve for virtually everything anyone may want to do… add online services to the mix and there isnt much of a reason NOT to go Linux - especially for someone like yourself (obviously based on my interpretation/reading between the lines of your comments)…

Obviously I am being nosy here so no need to answer that rambling… :wink:

Updating via Simplix - look anything to double check and install updates that works for you cannot possibly hurt.

Vulkan - maybe… Quite a few people who tried Vulkan with LE seem to say it doesnt work very well… But no reason not to try.

Installing Unity - maybe… who knows what it may install - obviously you only really need the runtime libraries but if you are willing to install the dev pack/SDK then I figure thats something to try… I’d mess with the cmd line options before going the hole hog on Unity tho…

Dont forget to try the Compatibility modes on the last epoch exe. maybe it will help or at least pop up some other bone for you to chase… :wink:

Haha, Linux, my favourite love/hate child.

I have it running on other devices, along with vm’s inside it and I’m no stranger to it.

The problem is, my main PC drive(s) here has literally hundreds of programs on it, most of which I do still use a lot. I also have a lot of games, old & new, that I go back to from time to time. Most of these games won’t properly run natively inside Linux distros so it means using a VM. Now, while I much prefer Linux for “day to day” tasks, for gaming it’s still very much a problem child, despite all the improvements in recent years. As 80% of my online time is gaming that is a problem. Vulkan arriving and becoming more prevalent is helping a lot with that, but the days of it being a true alternative to DX and game devs using it more seem a little far off yet.

Once we’re no longer as tied to the evils of MS & DX for gaming, then yes I will be a super happy bunny to bounce across to Linux as my main workhorse & daily driver. I really hope this happens before my trusty Win7 dies its inevitable death.

Having done all my diligence & downloading I’m almost about to embark on my daily regime of tests #97879 and up to see if that works. I’ll keep you posted later on…

Finally getting somewhere… I am excited.

Ok, debugging… I did an “update” using Simplex, but it turned out I was hardly missing anything, so that was a bit of a red herring.

I updated my .net from 4.7.x to 4.8, that didn’t fix the crash or the error.

Next, I focused on the fact that one of the key lines in the Player.log was

Blockquoted3d11: CreateDXGIFactory2(…) not found, fallbacking to CreateDXGIFactory1(…).
d3d11: QueryInterface(IDXGIFactory5) failed (80004002)

So, I had a dig around for other games built using Unity that also failed on create DXGI. I found a few old threads where people had not only had issues with Citrix, but also when using ReShade or SweetFX with games. They too caused this error.

That got me to thinking back to Elite Dangerous which I played for a while, and I remembered using a form of ReShade with that to boost the graphics. I did a hunt on my SSD, and sure enough I used a variant of ReShade called EDFX which also contained SweetFX. Now, supposedly those files do not enter any Windows/System32 or affect any “system” dll’s, but I deleted all the directories on my SSD which contained any traces of EDFX/SweetFX. I also uninstalled ED as well to be double sure.

I then did another HD clean & Registry clean, then rebooted.

Now, using the Steam version I got past the client crash and all the way to the login screen. Granted I was now faced with the dreaded LE-13 error, even when using my login credentials from here, and so I couldn’t actually log in, but the client was running!!! (I’ll take it)

So, I’m going to download the standalone (again for the 5th time now) and see if that will let me actually log in. I’m not a fan of running games through Steam anyway, and I only tried that as an early option for a potential fix. I don’t know if you can have both versions installed, but aside from the Appdata directories being common I don’t see any technical reasons why not. So, downloading away I go…

For the time being, it appears that as well as Citrix conflicting with Unity compiled games, Reshade/SweetFX/EDFX also conflict with the main executable.

IF and WHEN I actually manage to log in and play, I will update here.

Dude… you deserve a medal for going through this level of debugging…

There may not be too many people left with your configuration playing LE at the moment but this info can defintely help and maybe even give the devs something to work with… It will definitely help me when I chip in on the forum to lend a hand where I can.

Steam & Standalone can co-exist fine…

Re logins, one or two users that had the problems patched in 0.8.2C are still getting login timeouts so if it looks like its failing, leave it for a few minutes to see if it gets through…

Good luck… hope by the time you see this reply things are working…

Nope, spoke too soon. Now it’s crashing again on both clients without reaching the login screen. I got to the login screen that ONCE. Stupid me, I thought that had fixed it, turns out it was a one off.

I can’t be even bothered to look at the logs yet, I am completely sick to the hind teeth of this.

I will post the new logs later on, but unless this is fixed by one of the dev team I will just be sadly asking for a refund. It’s not my job to spend 3 solid days trying to debug a program when no one official even takes the time to pop into the thread. Yes, I am now officially fed up. This is ridiculous. If it won’t work with Win 7, then say that up front so that people don’t waste their time or money.

Oh well…

Cant say you didnt give it your best shot… Thats for sure…

Cannot offer anymore from my side other than say I am sorry.

Well, as another last hail mary I did yet another DDU removal, and reinstall of the latest nvidia drivers. Did not install either physx or Geforce experience, so they didn’t interfere.
Crashed on game client, standalone as well as Steam. In the standalone, I have checked every single executable file to run as admin on all accounts, so it should be free to wreak absolute havoc as it sees fit.

Only slight difference is that the executable now crashes only with a windows “window” and no actual debug error message, however this could also be due to all the other tinkering I have been doing over the last 3 days with my OS.

There’s no way on Earth that I can spoof a dx11.1 install on a Win7 engine, but again that;s another red herring. I’ve analysed my DX install and that is fine. I’ve sfc’d. In short I have done everything possible to see if it anything on “my end” now. I can pretty much conclusively say that it is not. I have Sherlock Holmes’d the living crap out of my OS.

In the last 2 hours I have also ran EVERY other game I have installed on my PC, and they ALL work fine without any glitches whatsoever.

The only inevitable logical conclusion is this and it is now inescapable.

The game worked fine prior to 0.8.2 on medium settings with Anti aliasing set at TAA (settings included just for reference) with the Standalone Client. There were zero crashes, zero lag, everything was buttery smooth with my old uncleaned, un-forensically examined OS.

So, 0.8.1 ran perfectly in Win7 x64 Ultimate DX11 with nvidia drivers 452.09.

Then, 0.8.2, 0.8.2B, and 0.8.2C crashes in both the standalone client and also Steam without even getting to login, login for some reason having been reached 3 times in amongst about 100 attempts. To be clear, 100ish attempts, 3 login screens, 97 crashes.

The inescapable conclusion is that this is not client side at all, but a coding or compiling issue that is causing the crash on this OS now. To find the fault from LE’s side is fairly straight forward. Look at the difference between 0.8.1 & 0.8.2 and something in those changes causes this. I thought that this is where the various log and crash files would assist. I can see line numbers are various errors in those, so I am sure that the devs will be able to make sense of those and advise further.

I am attaching the last player.log from tonights last attempt to log in on the standalone.
There is nothing more I can do on my side. This can only be fixed from the Dev’s side now.
I have put in many, many hours now into trying to fix this, most of which has been “in the blind”.

I do want it “on the record” that since my purchase (from here), I only had access to playing the game for less than 48 hours! As such, if there is no fix to this within about 90 days, I do reserve the right to put in for a refund. I will not be applying for said refund at the moment, in the very real hope that the devs can fix this problem; as the little time that I did have playing I absolutely loved the game. However, long term, I won’t leave my money in for something I cannot use, obviously.

I really look forward to some dev’s reply in here eventually. Even if it is not to fix the problem, at least to shed some light on the issue itself. Even if I cannot play the game, I would take some satisfaction in knowing what the problem was.

le_graphicsmanager.ini (489 Bytes)
Player.log (5.7 KB)
Player-prev.log (5.7 KB)
version.txt (6 Bytes)

omg, one more update…

The standalone crashes every time.

However, I tried one more thing. I revoked the admin elevated privileges in the Steam App folder. Now, using the Steam client I have got to the login screen 5 times in a row now without a crash (fingers crossed).

Sadly, I am stuck with an LE-13 error when using my login from here, despite an apparent successful Steam link. Anyway, sent in a ticket on that LE-13 issue, so perhaps they can do their magic on the link and I might (fingers & toes crossed) be able to play once again…

I’m scared to now close the Steam client. I might sit here watching it for the next 12 hours…

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Just wanted to add, many thanks Vapourfire for all your help. I’m also in email communications with Alex from support who is valiantly trying to help.

I wanted to pop this in here for the devs/customer support.

The problem with games & modern gamers is that there are very few of us “hardcore” geeks now. While it is only me & Vapour posting in here, you should be aware that this is not just a “me” issue or me being the only one left on Win 7. I made a post on Steam, and not only are others also reporting pre-login crashes, but I am also getting PM’s on it there and from reddit.

Most modern gamers will not make posts, send in tickets, etc. They simply read the posts of others with similar problems and wait for them to come up with a ready made solution for them. This seems to be what is happening here. I’m not the only one with this problem, but I do seem to be the only one posting & debugging it. I have implored the people contacting me to also post here, but idk how that will go.

I’m having the same problem as Maelstromicus. I was posting about it on the Steam discussion forums with a few other people. I’ve tried a bunch of the stuff Maelstromicus has (uninstalling, reinstalling, Steam files verification, reboots) and I just can’t get to the login screen. I crash to desktop on the initial “Last Epoch” screen every time. The problem started with 0.8.2 and the hotfixes haven’t fixed it. I can’t play the game and I’m bummed about that. I’m not sure what to do.

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