Game Crashing

[ogoundry]

The game has started crashing at seemingly random times while playing since Royal Court update (However it had been a month or so since the last time I played). I performed a full **clean** re-install and removed all the mods I used.

I could somewhat recreate the crash by playing on 5 speed and zooming in and out of the map. Now suddenly the game crashes almost immediately after starting a new save or loading an old one.

 

[AndrewT]

Please try this:

- uninstall the nVidia driver and all other nVidia software
- reboot
- install Feb 2022:

Download the latest official NVIDIA drivers

Download the latest official NVIDIA drivers

www.nvidia.com

- reboot again

Now test with a new campaign - any better?

 

[ogoundry]

Thanks for getting back to me.

This initally worked and yesterday was able to play for 2 hours on my modded muliplayer game before it crashed again. Now it has done what happened earlier where even new unmodded games crash after a few seconds when zooming in and out of the map.

 

[AndrewT]

That's very odd, hard to see any explanation for that!


Please do a full **clean** re-install:

- move any valued save games elsewhere
- "uninstall" in Steam-CK3
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/CK3 AND Documents/Paradox Interactive/CK3 folders
- re-install game in Steam, run a Steam Verify when done.
- add CK3.exe to the exceptions list of your antivirus app; ESPECIALLY if you have Windows Defender, add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list.
- start the game with no mods active and test

In particular make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam CK3 or Documents CK3 locations, before installing again.


If those don't help:
DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/CK3/pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/CK3/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log , exceptions.log

 

[ogoundry]

The full **clean** re-install was the first thing I tried since I had seen you recommend it on other threads.

There isnt an exceptions.log file and also the Cache, Exceptions and Dump folders in Documents/Paradox Interactive/CK3 are all empty for some reason.

 

[ogoundry]

If anything I've noticed that the game seems to run much worse with the Royal courts update. With constant frame drops which usually cause a crash. Whereas before this update there were never performance problems.

 

[AndrewT]

If anything I've noticed that the game seems to run much worse with the Royal courts update. With constant frame drops which usually cause a crash. Whereas before this update there were never performance problems.

If you revert to 1.4.4 and disable Royal Court, does good performance return for you?

You have several LiveKernelEvent and Bluescreen entries in that dxdiag. Are those related to this game or something else?

Please edit that pdx_settings.txt file. Find the renderer entry and change DX11 to OpenGL , save and exit. The game will be slower but does that prevent the crashes?

 

[ogoundry]

After reverting to 1.4.4 there are still frame drops when zooming into the map etc which I'm pretty sure didn't happen before.

I had one blue screen error the other day but that wasnt because of CK3.

Initially changing to OpenGL looked like it might work but the game has crashed mulitple times with no error logs.

Crashes occur at different times. Some randomly occuring, some when I accept the end of a war, sometimes when I change something in the graphical settings (This has happened in game, and at the start menu).

 

[AndrewT]

After reverting to 1.4.4 there are still frame drops when zooming into the map etc which I'm pretty sure didn't happen before.

If 1.4.4 is crashing now when it did not before, that pretty clearly shows there is an issue on this machine that's occurred since then to cause this for you. What that issue is, is not at all clear to me! It seems the graphics area is mostly ruled out by your openGL outcome.

Did these bluescreens only start happening at the same time?

 

[ogoundry]

I have fixed the performance issues by moving my CK3 installation back to my SSD from my HDD. However the crashes still occur at random.

The game doesn't crash in 1.4.4 as I have spent some time trying to simulate the earlier crashes. Then as soon as I switch back to 1.5 with no mods it crashes again.

Could this be an issue with recent Nvidia drivers?

 

[AndrewT]

It's not impossible. If you have GeForce Experience loaded, please unload it before starting the game.

If that doesn't help, edit that pdx_settings.txt and change the renderer part as follows:

"renderer"={
version=0
value="OpenGL"
}

That will be slower, but for the purposes of testing does it still crash?

 

[ogoundry]

Sorry it has been a while. I just got too frustrated and hadn't even tried for a while.

I have a full clean reinstallation of windows 10 and therefore new clean installation of CK3 and newly installed drivers. The game still crashes either at the main menu or right at the start of a new game every time. No mods or left over anything. The only text that shows up in the error log is:


[190727][gfx_dx11_fence.cpp32] D3D error hr returned The GPU device instance has been suspended. Use GetDeviceRemovedReason to determine the appropriate action.

[190727][pdx_assert.cpp584] Assertion failed hr returned

The GPU device instance has been suspended. Use GetDeviceRemovedReason to determine the appropriate action.

[190727][gfx_dx11_master_context.cpp725] Failed creating fence


or something very similar.

 

[AndrewT]

Understood. Can you try what I suggested in my previous post please? That will clarify if it is indeed a DirectX11 error as it seems, or something else.

 

[ogoundry]

Initially this looked like it worked. The first few minutes at the main menu and in game were extremely laggy with masssive mouse delay but that evenutually sorted itself out.

The game still crashes although it does take longer to do so. Also there is no error log after changing to OpenGL.

Going into the settings is extremely temperamental where sometimes changing a setting causes a crash or freezes the game for a short time. However lowering the graphics settings seems to make the game more stable and less likely to crash but is that just due to the OpenGL? Since I have a good PC setup which usually runs the game on high settings no problem.

 

[AndrewT]

OpenGL is a slower and less polished video standard than DirectX. We're just using it here for testing purposes.

The fact it made some difference but didn't completely fix it is about the worst possible outcome of that test ... ! Damn.

it's disturbing that even changing settings causes crashes and freezes. This is only since openGL or it was like that before?

Are these issues since openGL being registered in dxdiag.txt?

 

[ogoundry]

I thnk the instability with the settings was with both DirectX and OpenGL. Almost as if it would take a second or so to sort itself out or it would just crash.

Doing a clean install of the game, reinstalling the GPU drivers or changing from DirectX to OpenGL or vice versa seem to have a similar effect. After doing one or multiple of these, the game seems to run alright if only for a few minutes until it crashes. Then after this initial crash its near impossible to last 10 seconds in the main menu or in game before it crashes. Almost as if the initial crash causes the game to become unstable and all the other crashes just keep coming.

There are some LiveKernalEvent errors in the dxdiag which must be from CK3. Not sure how to interpret any of it though.

 

[AndrewT]

A LiveKernelEvent happens when the machine is forcibly rebooted or downed - that is happening in association with this game?

You may find entries in the Windows Event Viewer in the few minutes leading up to them.


The two game crashes we see in there are in your nVidia driver:

+++ WER1 +++:
Fault bucket 1295054024425763410, type 5
Event Name: BEX64
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: ck3.exe
P2: 1.0.0.0
P3: 62334448
P4: nvoglv64.dll

Which is disappointing as we've already done a clean reinstall upthread here, although with a previous driver version.

All this is starting to point to a Windows or hardware problem, I have to say!

 

[ogoundry]

When CK3 crashes it only crashes to desktop, it doesn't force the PC to restart.

There aren't any problems with other games crashing or anything similar to what happens with CK3.

How would I be able to identify which piece of hardware or windows has problems?

 

[ogoundry]

Could the LiveKernelEvents refer to me reinstalling Nvidia drivers that force a PC restart?

 

[AndrewT]

When CK3 crashes it only crashes to desktop, it doesn't force the PC to restart.

Then the LiveKernelEvents are separate. Still a problem though!

How would I be able to identify which piece of hardware or windows has problems?

That's a larger question than I am qualified to answer I'm afraid. As I said, You may find entries in the Windows Event Viewer in the few minutes leading up to them.

Could the LiveKernelEvents refer to me reinstalling Nvidia drivers that force a PC restart?

No, as that's a requested reboot rather than a forced one. LiveKernelEvents happen when you hold the power button down to force a hung Windows session off, or switch the machine off pull the power cord out while still in Windows.