Interesting Bug (Game won't start - sorta)

[Blaine_The_Badger]

Interesting Bug (Game won't start - sorta)

So I've got an interesting problem that I just can't seem to figure out. I've got around 150 hours in the game and have had minimal issues, just some CTDs occasionally but that's really it, otherwise the game has ran great. However yesterday my game crashed and then wouldn't start again, no error message, nothing, just says in Steam "preparing to launch" then nothing. However the Witcher 3 process shows in the Task Manager. Below are the things I've tried.

• Verify Integrity via Steam
• Delete settings files in User Documents
• Complete reinstall of the game.

Honestly I thought those would do the trick, but it didn't. However the game did start after the reinstall and I thought I was good to go so I moved my saves back into the User Docs folder and restarted the game. Back to square one, game won't launch, no error, nothing in event viewer, yet the Witcher 3 process is running in Task Manager. So I thought maybe I have a corrupt save that's causing issue, so I removed the saves and attempted to restart. Nothing, same results. So I thought the settings files might be corrupt somehow, so I deleted the entire Witcher 3 folder in User Docs (gamesaves folder & user and input settings) and tried to launch the game. It starts, creating new files. So I redo my settings, exit the game, and attempt to restart. No dice, game won't launch again and same as before, process is running in Task.

So in order to play the game I have to nuke the User Documents > Witcher 3 folder (contains gamesaves and settings) to launch the game. Once the game is started and at the title screen I can tab out and paste my saves in the folder to load them and play. I just played a 4hr session no problem. However it's very annoying to have to redo all settings, and I mean all settings, and paste in my saves every time I launch the game.

I'm stumped here and need some advice.

So to summarize:

• Have played 150hrs with virtually no problems
• Game crashed and wouldn't restart
• Did complete reinstall to no avail
• Game will only start if I delete the contets of the User Doc > Withcher 3 folder everytime before I attempt to start the game.
• Once game is started I can paste my game saves in and continue but must redo all settings each time

Below are specs

• I5 3570K
• GTX 980
• 16GB RAM
• Witcher 3 installed on Samsung Spinpoint F3
• Windows 7

 

[tiamatloc]

What is the total size of all of your save files combined? There was a bug in TW2 where if your saves folder got too big it could cause some weird issues and that size was around 1gb if I remember correctly. Try just putting the latest few saves in and see if that helps.

 

[Blaine_The_Badger]

What is the total size of all of your save files combined? There was a bug in TW2 where if your saves folder got too big it could cause some weird issues and that size was around 1gb if I remember correctly. Try just putting the latest few saves in and see if that helps.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I've already tried that. Sorry if it wasn't clear that the game won't even restart with zero saves in the folder. The only way the game will restart is to completely delete the Witcher 3 folder in the User Docs location. When deleted the game will start fine, and create an empty gamesaves folder and new user.settings and input.settings files. I can quit out from the main menu and try to restart but no avail. The files have to be deleted again for the game to start.

 

[SigilFey]

I've heard a lot about "save files might get too big". It was a very unique bug to TW2 -- it does not affect TW3 at all.

@Blaine_The_Badger,

Sounds like you have a corrupted save and/or you did not apply the correct DLC upon reinstalling. I think it's the former, but you may want to ensure that your DLC matches EXACTLY what you had, including toggled options for the Gwent artwork and alternative looks.

However, if you could start up fine after the re-install, but the system would hang again upon trying to load one of your older saves...I'm afraid the writing is on the wall. Was there anything different about that last crash? Was it due to a power surge, or did your screen flicker violently before going back to Windows? Have you noticed any other weirdness in Windows or other games since then?

 

[Blaine_The_Badger]

I'm not trying to be rude here but I don't think people are reading the entire OP or maybe I worded it poorly and it's confusing. I dunno. Here's a quote from OP and then I'll try to explain again in a shortened manner.

So I thought maybe I have a corrupt save that's causing issue, so I removed the saves and attempted to restart. Nothing, same results. So I thought the settings files might be corrupt somehow, so I deleted the entire Witcher 3 folder in User Docs (gamesaves folder & user and input settings) and tried to launch the game. It starts, creating new files. So I redo my settings, exit the game, and attempt to restart. No dice, game won't launch again and same as before, process is running in Task.

Guys, it's not a corrupt save. The game will not start with zero files in the gamesaves folder. Empty and it will not start. I'll try to clear up the confusion.

• By deleting the Witcher 3 folder in User Docs the game will start.
• Upon start the game creates an empty gamesaves folder and a user.settings file in the Witcher 3 folder in User Docs.
• I get to the title menu, change nothing.
• Exit game.
• Game will now not restart with empty gamesaves folder and freshly created user.settings file.
• Delete Witcher 3 folder from User Docs (again) and game will start fine.
• Once game starts I can Alt+Tab out to copy my save files into the freshly created, and empty, gamesaves folder.
• Saves load just fine and can play game - played for a 4hr and 1hr session using this method.
• Once game is closed I must repeat above process to relaunch.

 

[forja19]

Hello everyone,

I am facing a similar issue: the game starts but I cannot get past a black screen. I play on PC the Steam version. I played the game for 220 hrs, since launch. I did not encounter as many bugs, no quest related bugs at all (except the usual hovering objects and Roach related). Last time I played was 24 hrs ago and everything was running smooth as silk.

PC specs: i7-5820K, GTX 970 Strix, 16GB RAM, no SSD, Win7

If you need more details, please let me know.

Rgrds

---------- Updated at 05:49 PM ----------

my apologies for the double post

the game is up and running again. What caused the game not to start, were two apparently corrupt files. They were replaced by Steam through the "Integrity of game cache" process.

 

[DXMG]

I'd let it make the folders/etc and then check the permissions......

 

[dragonbird]

That's a fairly comprehensive list of things you've tried. But there's a couple you didn't mention that came to mind.

Have you tried running the game exe direct, instead of running it through Steam? (It is possible). Make sure that the exe is set to Run as Administrator. If nothing else, it would help troubleshoot if the problem.

I'm thinking access rights, but that seems to be affecting Win 10 most. Have you checked all the permissions in that folder?

 

[Blaine_The_Badger]

Yes I've tried running the exe from the folder, even as admin, to no avail. I knew I forgot to mention something. Also permissions are not an issue as 1) I'm admin and they are not Read Only, and 2) it will create and write the settings and input files every time. It's really odd, and I'm stumped. If the game can't write those files from scratch it won't start. The Witcher.exe will show up in the process tab of the task manager but the game will never start. However, as mentioned, if I delete the files and gamesave folder in the User Docs > Witcher 3 location the game will start and run fine. I just played about 3hrs session.

 

[SigilFey]

Alright...cracking my knuckles...

Try these steps, attempting to play the game after each one:

1.) Add the game's .EXE and any .DLL files to the exceptions list in your antivirus and firewall.

2.) Download CCleaner and run the registry cleaner multiple times. Just keep cleaning the registry over and over until it comes back with "No conflicts found". Truly, I would recommend uninstalling completely, running CCleaner until registry shows up clean, re-installing, and running CCleaner until registry shows up clean again.

3.) Update and run your antivirus on a full system scan (the slow one). I don't think this is a virus, as it affects only TW3, correct? But I also don't like the fact that it will let the game start up once, then not allow it to start up a second time. If it was Windows security, you'd get nowhere, not even the first time. If it was a corrupt save, then it would affect only the save. If it was a setting issue, restoring the settings would fix it for good. It does not sound like anything other than corruption...and if it's not the game files, that means it's a system file.

 

[Blaine_The_Badger]

Welp, I've figured it out but it's still a bit confusing. The quick and dirty of it is Shadowplay is causing it. However it's not that straightforward. As previously stated I've played over 150hrs of this game with little to no issue. All of that previous 150hrs was with Shadowplay enabled and I've recorded over 60GB of footage of Witcher 3 via Shadowplay. When I disable Shadowplay I can start the game just fine, no issues. With Shadowplay enabled the game will not start if, and only if, there are files present in the User Docs > Witcher 3 folder. If that folder is empty the game will start fine with Shadowplay enabled. This issue only arose yesterday after the Witcher 3 crashed to desktop, not a display driver crash. Really odd.

So to summarize.

• Played 150hrs with Shadowplay enabled no problem.
• Now Witcher 3 will not start if Shadowplay is enabled, but there is an exception.
• The exception is the following, Witcher 3 will start with Shadowplay enabled only if the User Docs > Witcher 3 folder is empty.
• The above mentioned folder is not, or should not be, relevant to Shadowplay.
• All other games tested still operate normally. Such as GTAV which also has a folder in the User Docs location.

 

[SigilFey]

Good! Glad you figured it out, and that it wasn't any form of corruption.

The possibilities for 3rd party software to interfere with a game are limitless. Who knows why Shadowplay would suddenly start acting up? My only guess from your description is that there is a memory address conflict between Shadowplay and the game after the latest update.

 

[LiteHeavyGamer]

I have a similar problem to yours.
I use steam to buy and play games, i have downloaded 7 games already, all was going well except one game and that was GTA5, it was sad to me so i focused on THE WITCHER 3 GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION.
I have play that game like 300 hour, at some time i update the nvidia driver i mean the program in hope to play GTA5 but it didn't work, but i noticed that i can now record and take screenshot with program i think its name is GeForce Experience, i think this came up because of the update.

I started to do some record and take some screenshot while playing THE WITCHER 3. some day while traveling in VELEN i had a fight with a high level GRIFFIN and end up with me dead, strange thing that i couldn't reload last saved game or pick up any saved game or even close the game, because the options that appears after being dead didn't appear, instead of that i watched the GRIFFIN staring at me and going after poor ROACH.

I tried to exit the game by pressing ESC button, didn't work.
I tied to do that by pressing the windows button, didn't work.
I tied to do that by pressing the ALT & TAB buttons, didnot work.
Finally i did the [ALT & CTRL & DEL>> TASK MANAGER] way to go to desktop screen, then from the task bar on the witcher icon close the window.

Now comes the problem, i go to steam >> library >> the witcher 3 >> play
Steam says "preparing to launch" then nothing.
funny fact that now i can play GTA5, what is the relation??? i don't know.

so what do you think i have to do?

 

[SigilFey]

Welcome to the Forums, LiteHeavyGamer!

Sounds like it could be an issue with Windows:

1.) Go to your ...Documents\The Witcher 3\... folder and set the Permissions of that folder to "Everyone".

2.) If Steam is installed anywhere under Program Files or Program Files(x86), follow these steps to move the installation to the root of your drive: (e.g. C:\Steam\...) After doing this, you'll likely need to verify the integrity of each of your games once before playing them again.

3.) Be sure that the game and the Documents folder are added to the exceptions list of any anti-virus / firewalls you may have installed.

4.) Disable all Steam Overlay features.

5.) Try running the game in Steam's Offline Mode.

Let us know how that goes! If you need further assistance, please post your specs, Windows version, etc.

 

[LukeSparow]

Are you using mods? Sounds like a pretty classic mod limit issue to me.