Witcher 2 EE Launcher Crash on Steam first launch

[twau]

I just blocked outbound connections from the launcher.exe with windows firewall. Using the steam version and cloud save. Now I can launch the game and access all my saves again.

 

[Marcin Momot]

We apologize for the inconvenience, our team is working hard on identyfing the issue.

 

[thedaniel]

We apologize for the inconvenience, our team is working hard on identyfing the issue.

THANKS! Finally an official reply, even if a bit short worded. Errors happen, even if some may be embarrassing. But for the affected parties this is only half as bad, if one knows it's worked on and even better, if a reasonable explanation is given.

It's like a delayed train. One only get's really annoyed, if there's no notification whatsoever... ;-)

Regards,
Daniel

 

[tornheart]

I just blocked outbound connections from the launcher.exe with windows firewall. Using the steam version and cloud save. Now I can launch the game and access all my saves again.

I just signed up to these forums just to support this. I've used this fix and it works 100% of the time. For those of you that are less computer savvy, here is a step-by-step. This is for Windows 7 only, though most other versions of windows should be similar enough for this to work.

1. Make sure that Windows Firewall is active and running.
2. Open the Start Menu > Control Panel. Scroll to the bottom of the Control Panel and open the Windows Firewall Settings. If your Windows Firewall isn't active, you can activate it from here.
3. Look the left side of the window you just opened for an option called Advanced Settings. Open it. This should open a new window.
4. On the left side of this new window is a large box that says Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. There are four options here, Inbound Rules, Outbound Rules, Connection Security Rules, and Monitoring. Click on Outbound Rules and be sure that it is highlighted.
5. On the left side of the window is another large drop down box labelled Actions. If you are looking at it right there should be an open drop down named Outbound Rules. The first option in this drop down is called New Rule. Click on this.
6. There are four options here, you want the first one called Program. It should already be highlighted so just click next.
7. Now you need a program path. If you are using the Steam Version like I am the path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\the witcher 2. Note: If you are not using 64-bit windows your Program Files path will not have x86 in parenthesis. This isn't a problem, just go to the Program Files path anyway, the Steam folder should be there. If you installed Steam in a different location replace Program Files with the location where you installed Steam.
8. Double click on the Launcher.exe, it should be the first .exe in the file. Click next.
9. You want the third option on this next screen, which is Block the Connection.
10. Click next twice. Before you hit finish on the last screen you can give the new rule you've made a name and a description. I suggest you at least give it a name to make it easier to find once you can disable it.
11. Click Finish. The new rule should go into effect immediately and you can now launch The Witcher 2 through Steam or the normal launcher without the launcher crashing. This always works. If it doesn't, go back to step 4 and repeat the process. You should have access to your save games from Steam as well. If this still doesn't work then the source of your problem might be related to something else.

 

[thedaniel]

I just singed up to these forums just to support this. I've used this fix and it works 100% of the time. For those of you that are less computer savvy, here is a step-by-step. This is for Windows 7 only, though most other versions of windows should be similar enough for this to work.

[...]

Regard's for this tutorial to prevent any connections from the launcher, thus working around the (strange) bug.

I'd like to add, that the new rule needs to be deleted, when CDPR hast this problem resolved, for the automatic update check and notification to work again.

 

[Jim_The_Great]

Same problem.Every time I try to launch the game Steam is unable to synchronize(I've got the Steam version of the game BTW)and when the launcher opens it immediately stops working and can't establish a connection.Please find a solution quickly.

 

[zeroxenon777]

Same problem here, I have the EE of Steam.

 

[username_3615253]

I just singed up to these forums just to support this. I've used this fix and it works 100% of the time. For those of you that are less computer savvy, here is a step-by-step. This is for Windows 7 only, though most other versions of windows should be similar enough for this to work.

Putting steam in offline mode and disabling my network adapter makes the game launch properly, but blocking outbound connections in Windows firewall for Launcher.exe doesn't help at all.

Update:

Disabling my anti-virus (Avast) allows the outbound connection blocking to work successfully. For whatever reason, it appears that Avast was overriding Windows firewall settings (even though it's not a firewall program..) and was causing problems.

So, to summarize, the workaround for this problem is to block outbound connections for Launcher.exe, and also disable your antivirus program.

FWIW, I'm getting a different DLL in my crash report rather than the MSVCR100.dll that everyone else seems to be getting...

Faulting application name: launcher.exe_The Witcher 2 Game, version: 0.9.0.959, time stamp: 0x4f4f8476
Faulting module name: HsSrv.dll, version: 1.0.10.917, time stamp: 0x4c930239
Exception code: 0x40000015
Fault offset: 0x00017aaf
Faulting process id: 0x1094
Faulting application start time: 0x01cd6a54fe439fb1
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\the witcher 2\launcher.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\HsSrv.dll
Report Id: 3e13705e-d648-11e1-a41f-8c5187b8a410

 

[youngcas111]

I have the retail version and am having the same problem. Only installed it yesterday and played till 4 this morning, when i tried to play again today i got the dreaded message.

 

[alderban]

I just blocked outbound connections from the launcher.exe with windows firewall. Using the steam version and cloud save. Now I can launch the game and access all my saves again.

Cheers mate, that worked.

 

[username_2366354]

Having the same problem as youngcas111.
I have the retail version and had to uninstall it for space reasons. Have the space now, installed, and crashes sfter I put the CD-key in.

Running Vista 32bit Home premium.
Heres the crash report:

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: launcher.exe_The Witcher 2 Game
Application Version: 0.9.0.647
Application Timestamp: 4db2468e
Fault Module Name: MSVCR100.dll
Fault Module Version: 10.0.40219.325
Fault Module Timestamp: 4df2be1e
Exception Code: 40000015
Exception Offset: 0008d6fd
OS Version: 6.0.6002.2.2.0.768.3
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 0c94
Additional Information 2: 377916a206c9ed4ac70ece310810c7e3
Additional Information 3: 3206
Additional Information 4: 8c1271fed41995e4b7410460945da96b

 

[bearzyo]

I have the retail version and am having the same problem. Only installed it yesterday and played till 4 this morning, when i tried to play again today i got the dreaded message.

Ah . . . you've caught the 'The Witcher' bug . . .

Feels good doesn't it?

Good to have an official word, I'll just work around it for the time being.

Cheers.

 

[ruffneckc]

I have this same issue as well. It might be a problem with Microsoft .NET as that was installed and then repaired after getting the crash but it' still happening

I play through STEAM on a Windows 7 64-bit system.

 

[mwillis5]

The fix blocking your launcher through the firewall works, but it seems i have lost my saves completely, or at least i still cannot see them.

This is hugely disappointing and i have wasted many hours..

The problem seems to be the communication between the launcher and the Witcher servers for those that think its the .net framework, this was actually a separate bug with it performing a first time set up and installing that framework every time you start the game.

 

[darklighter]

i'm a new player who bought his new rig yesterday )':
Correct me if i'm wrong, the graphical settings are only found at the launcher and not in-game? i can't lower the settings for smoother gameplay...

 

[mwillis5]

i'm a new player who bought his new rig yesterday )':
Correct me if i'm wrong, the graphical settings are only found at the launcher and not in-game? i can't lower the settings for smoother gameplay...

your correct its in the launcher, but this isnt the topic to be asking about it, we are talking about the launcher crashing issue.

 

[sadlord]

The error occured on multiple platforms so its probably server error.




KaerWolf

 

[darklighter]

your correct its in the launcher, but this isnt the topic to be asking about it, we are talking about the launcher crashing issue.

It is. Unlike you guys i haven't setup my settings properly yet. It's quite choppy and i'd have to wait for this bug to be solved to even begin

Doesn't make sense to me not to have them in-game, especially for a game with as many tweaks as this. To see the effects of different options on FPS i have to quit and restart??

Thanks for the reply

 

[-Alligator-]

i'm a new player who bought his new rig yesterday )':
Correct me if i'm wrong, the graphical settings are only found at the launcher and not in-game? i can't lower the settings for smoother gameplay...

Actually you don't need the launcher to change graphical settings, you can run the Configurator.exe in the bin folder.

 

[darklighter]

Actually you don't need the launcher to change graphical settings, you can run the Configurator.exe in the bin folder.

You are my saviour, kind sir