The Witcher 2 EE crashes / exits to desktop in flotsam

[sirerised]

The Witcher 2 EE crashes / exits to desktop in flotsam

i know it's not the first post for this topic, but it seems i'm stuck.

since i arrived in flotsam the game "crashes" every few minutes, generally when opening doors or browsing through a dealer's offer. i wrote "crashes", because it's not a real crash, the process seems just to exit. isn't here any kind of logging / error reporting? i mean, everybody's trying _some_thing to solve this problem without knowing any details about this issue...

anyway, i tried this run as administrator thing, moved all other savegames to a backup directory (why should the number of savegames affect a scene transition when opening a door?), checked all my drivers (they are quite new, as is my system), and played with the game settings. i'm playing at "very high" with disabled über-sampling. playing just at "high" seems to lower the crash rate a bit, but not much.

my specs:
- windows 8 pro 64-bit
- intel i7-3770
- 16 gb ram
- geforce gtx 670
- no overclocking

 

[sirerised]

i used debugging tools (adplus + cdb) to investigate this issue further.

it looks like an access violation in a CNewNetwork module.

second crash:

(d9c.108c): Access violation - code c0000005 (first chance)
FirstChance_av_AccessViolation

Current time:
Debug session time: Sun Nov 11 16:27:51.867 2012 (UTC + 1:00)
System Uptime: 0 days 4:52:01.544
Process Uptime: 0 days 0:06:04.554
  Kernel time: 0 days 0:00:24.375
  User time: 0 days 0:06:37.937


Call stack below ---
# ChildEBP RetAddr  Args to Child              
WARNING: Stack unwind information not available. Following frames may be wrong.
00 1b72fb78 009b3943 0ac6eb60 0bbc6680 1b72fde4 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x451528
01 1b72fbd4 00ad4b14 0bbc6680 288412e0 1cae01b0 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x451889
02 1b72fdd0 009bab06 1b72fdec 0000000d 0000000d witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x572a5a
03 1b72fe08 009b0275 00000000 10d52668 10d52668 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x458a4c
04 1b72fe28 00aa3a3b 1b72fe68 00710381 0a066b80 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x44e1bb
05 1b72fe30 00710381 0a066b80 a04f0506 00000000 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x541981
06 1b72fe68 0071040b 00000000 1b72fe80 76748543 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x1ae2c7
07 1b72fe74 76748543 10d52668 1b72fec4 771cac69 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x1ae351
08 1b72fe80 771cac69 10d52668 d667e8ce 00000000 KERNEL32!BaseThreadInitThunk+0xe (FPO: [Non-Fpo])
09 1b72fec4 771cac3c 007103a7 10d52668 ffffffff ntdll!__RtlUserThreadStart+0x72 (FPO: [Non-Fpo])
0a 1b72fedc 00000000 007103a7 10d52668 00000000 ntdll!_RtlUserThreadStart+0x1b (FPO: [Non-Fpo])

Creating C:\TEMP\20121111_162147_Crash_Mode\MINIDUMP_FirstChance_av_AccessViolation_witcher2.exe__1190_2012-11-11_16-27-51-882_0d9c.dmp - mini user dump
Dump successfully written

first crash:

(370.c9c): Access violation - code c0000005 (first chance)
FirstChance_av_AccessViolation

Current time:
Debug session time: Sun Nov 11 16:19:03.486 2012 (UTC + 1:00)
System Uptime: 0 days 4:43:13.163
Process Uptime: 0 days 0:03:12.992
  Kernel time: 0 days 0:00:08.515
  User time: 0 days 0:01:57.734


Call stack below ---
# ChildEBP RetAddr  Args to Child              
WARNING: Frame IP not in any known module. Following frames may be wrong.
00 02a97fdc 0099392c 02a98000 00000000 023b0014 0x2a98018
01 02a98024 00a6d2e0 0257a738 2bdb3a80 26b3d000 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x431872
02 02a98050 00a6d5ab 0b87c000 415bff30 00000000 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x50b226
03 02a980b4 00a8558e 415bff30 00000004 415bff44 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x50b4f1
04 02a980e8 00a85efe 00000008 0b87c000 02a9f8e0 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x5234d4
05 02a9d0b4 004bbc32 3c8615dd 01607940 0c45a500 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x523e44
06 02a9f8d0 00a820bd 0b87c000 0b87c000 00000015 witcher2+0xebc32
07 02a9f8f4 00aa416b 3c8615dd 0c45a500 02a9f938 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x520003
08 02a9f904 00a811a8 3c8615dd 00000000 00000000 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x5420b1
09 02a9f938 00aa3c45 00000000 ff2aa000 00000024 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x51f0ee
0a 02a9fba8 007102ea 003d0000 00000000 02c42e81 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x541b8b
0b 02a9fc38 76748543 ff2aa000 02a9fc88 771cac69 witcher2!LauncherAndRegister::CNewNetwork::GetUserFriendlyErrorMessage+0x1ae230
0c 02a9fc44 771cac69 ff2aa000 a9317d6b 00000000 KERNEL32!BaseThreadInitThunk+0xe (FPO: [Non-Fpo])
0d 02a9fc88 771cac3c 0071033d ff2aa000 ffffffff ntdll!__RtlUserThreadStart+0x72 (FPO: [Non-Fpo])
0e 02a9fca0 00000000 0071033d ff2aa000 00000000 ntdll!_RtlUserThreadStart+0x1b (FPO: [Non-Fpo])

for the second crash i enabled dump creation. can a cd project developer look at that?

of course i can provide the full debug log with the two dumps (1.74 gb unzipped).

(by the way, there are many "Community layer ... was not found!" debug messages. ist hat okay?)

 

[Xaenz1]

Do you have Steam version? If so check this thread.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30364702

 

[sirerised]

nope, i've the retail version.

 

[GuyNwah]

The notes "Stack unwind information not available" and "Frame IP not in any known module" indicate that the stack traces are useless, that the fault is nowhere related to the indicated modules.

This is not official tech support. Nobody here can look at a core dump for you. You can reach official tech support by E-mail; use the Support link at the top of this page.

Do not expect a bug fix. You will be better served by taking time to adjust your settings until the crash does not recur. Start with the "Texture Memory Budget". If it's set high, turn it down. This will reduce the volume of textures the game tries to load at one time.

 

[sirerised]

these notes indicate that the stack trace _may_ be useless. but you are right, the task to analyze this is neither yours nor mine. a cd project dev should take a look at that.

i'm on the official witcher website in a board called tech support? but i'll try mail when i'm at home.

of course i DO expect a bug fix. if i tell my customers to not expect a fix, i would get rid of them (the customers) fast. and i would be very happy about customers sending me memory dumps.

(i dont have 2 gig vram to reduce memor budget. and if you read my first post... ive already tried to lower the details a bit)

 

[tommy5761]

i'm on the official witcher website in a board called tech support?

Yes this is tech support but just like most forums it`s manned by people who volunteer their time and effort to help people try and solve issues with games . Look in my signature bar for a link to contact CDPR .

 

[sirerised]

ok, i contacted tech support.

 

[GuyNwah]

these notes indicate that the stack trace _may_ be useless. but you are right, the task to analyze this is neither yours nor mine. a cd project dev should take a look at that.

i'm on the official witcher website in a board called tech support? but i'll try mail when i'm at home.

of course i DO expect a bug fix. if i tell my customers to not expect a fix, i would get rid of them (the customers) fast. and i would be very happy about customers sending me memory dumps.

(i dont have 2 gig vram to reduce memor budget. and if you read my first post... ive already tried to lower the details a bit)

Actually, I have plenty of experience in reviewing stack traces and core dumps, and my opinion that the stack trace is meaningless is well founded. If you examine the addresses in the stack trace, you will see that they are unrelated to the named symbols.

Adjusting texture memory budget is one of the known possible solutions to this problem, and it is possible no matter what your graphics card memory is. (Just don't set "Very High", which is 600 MB, on a 512 MB card.)

Adjusting "settings" is not the same thing. If you want any help on this forum, you will have to start with the advice we do give and not substitute something that you think is equivalent.

As for the necessity of a bug fix, the game runs for most players without any fix at all. I am sure you understand that issuing a bug fix just for you would be an economic mistake.

 

[sirerised]

in fact, i would not examine any memory dump in detail without symbols. i just try to help the cd project people to fix this bug. thus, i'm offering memory dumps of the crash.
again, i already changed the settings from very high to high. it did not help.

and yes, changing the "settings" is not the same as changing the "texture memory budget". but changing the "settings" includes changing the "texture memory budget", from high to medium in my case. i never claimed that to be equivalent, but my test already includes your advice. thank you.

i am sure that issuing a bug fix for this issue would help many other players. a search for "witcher 2 crash to desktop flotsam" indicates that. but i would ask for a fix anyway.

 

[username_3631616]

Sorry mate, the game releases on May 2011, now it is november 2012 and we have Patch Version 3.2.1

If you google this problem, you could ment that every 3th player have this CtD-Issue, and to be honest,
i dont think that anyone of CDP cares anymore on this game or his players.
I was stunned that such a major problem is still in the game for almost 2 Years.
You really hope that the bring a hotfix? They work on other games right now.

I have the steam Version, and after i see THAT (what say to me: its not our problem! It´s yours) and see that a massive amount of players have this problem, i just request a money refund @ steam. 20€ ($25,96) are to much for a game that crashes every 3-10 minutes.

 

[manutosti]

Check this post.. I think I figured out.. I keep plying since then without problem..

http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/32300-crash-to-desktop/page__hl__deskop__st__20

 

[username_3631616]

Check this post.. I think I figured out.. I keep plying since then without problem..

http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/32300-crash-to-desktop/page__hl__deskop__st__20

That doesen´t work for me.

 

[laubfall]

I have the same Problem in flotsam and even in act 2 outside the fort. My System:
Intel Core i7 Socket 2011
16gb Ram
Gigabyte X79-UD3 Mainboard
Geforce GTX 460

All Game-Settings to high, Uebersampling is disabled, Drivers are up-to-date.

The game crashes to Desktop without any error message.

The only way to get the game working without crashing to Desktop is to choose "very small" at Texturememory-budget (i think thats the english Name for it, i have german language here). With this Setting no crashes so far, but poor looking textures (. All other Solutions found on the Internet did not work for me.

As it seems there is a bug with texture-memory-management. A lot of People running into this issue, so i would wonder if it is an Hardware based Problem.

 

[sirerised]

@VoidByte: yeah, it's so pathetic that such a great game sucks like that....

@manutosti: thanks, but i've already tried that. did not help.

@laubfall: welcome. i didn't try "very small" (have the german version too), i don't want to insult my pc with very small textures...

and i might add, that i didn't get any response from official support since nov 13th. maybe more mail traffic would help? the address is .

 

[scrapervinnen]

I was following this Topic for a long time, because i've had the same problem.

Now I've just discovered a solution for me. For me it worked to start the game in Windows XP Compatibility Mode!

Hope thats usefull to some of you.

 

[laubfall]

Some days are gone since my last post and during that time i upgraded my pc with a new PSU. And the good News first: since this upgrade i have no crashes to Desktop with high Settings. Before i had to set texture-memory Budget to very small to avoid the CTDs. But with the new PSU the game runs in high Settings for hours without a Crash!

My opinion about that: the old PSU 550 W was about five years old. Normally 550W should be enough for my System. But in fact of the Age of it i think the two PCI-E Connectors did not Serve enough Power to the GPU (Geforce 480GTX). Maybe GPUs of that time did not Need so much power. With the new PSU 750W as mentioned, everything works fine!!

So for you guys who have the same Problem: check your PSU! Maybe it is to old or not strong enough for your PC.

@scrapervinnen: i've tried this, but my Steam-Version even did not start in Compatibility-Mode.

 

[GuyNwah]

Power supplies deteriorate over time, even by up to 50% of capacity. So a 5-year-old 550W second-tier PSU such as OCZ (Sirtec) may now be a 350W PSU.

A 5-year-old power supply may also have used capacitors manufactured during the Great Capacitor Scandal (any capacitor made in Taiwan from 1999 to 2007 is suspect), which deteriorate more rapidly and may fail spectacularly.

 

[sirerised]

So for you guys who have the same Problem: check your PSU! Maybe it is to old or not strong enough for your PC.

That's it!

My PC has been assembled in June, so it's not that old. But i checked my PSU: it even supports SLI, has two links for GPUs. Each of these links consists of two plugs. One of these links was connected to my GPU using both plugs (I hope I'm using the right english terms here...). I'm far from an electronic expert, but my simple mind thought "two links, more power". Thus, I connected my GPU with both links, using each with just one plug.

Now I was able to walk through the village while talking to all the dealers, visiting many houses, opening many doors, ... No crash so far. None.

It looks like all my other games aren't putting my PC under THAT pressure. My GPU now maxes at approx. 83 °C, about 5-8 units more (!) than before.

@laubfall, Thank You!