Constant crashing trying to start a game - Resolved by graphics driver update.

[danpaul88]

Yesterday, X4 Foundations worked perfectly fine. Was able to start a new game, save and load as normal, etc. No issues.

Today... I can't even get past 99% on the loading screen most of the time and it constantly crashes. Once or twice I was able to get my saved game to load, but several jumpgates later it crashed again. Tried reducing graphics settings until it looked like a potato - still crashed before getting past the loading screen. Tried starting a new game, loading a saved game - nothing works. Verified local files via Steam several times, restarted PC, nothing seems to make any difference.

Any suggestions? Perhaps it just doesn't like Sundays?

DxDiag: http://w3dhub.com/danpaul88/x4/DxDiag.txt
Crashdumps (Various): http://w3dhub.com/danpaul88/x4/x4-crash ... 230129.zip
Save Game: http://w3dhub.com/danpaul88/x4/saves.zip

Recently reinstalled this PC with Windows 11, all drivers up to date with latest from Windows Update (originally tried installing from Nvidia website but got WHQL errors as apparently those ones aren't signed?). Before reinstalling with Windows 11 I've played hundreds of hours of X4 on the same hardware.

Any help / suggestions appreciated. Lost almost my entire weekends available gaming time to trying to get X4 to actually work properly (got a 9 month old son so gaming time is very limited!)

Thanks

[chew-ie]

Always check Windows update activities on things like that. A game normally doesn't stop working - especially if there wasn't any (game) update. (which there wasn't). Either Windows (11) did something or another 3rd party / external source did something to the game files.

You could test if your X4 profile got a dent by (temporarely) rename it (doesn't hurt to copy it beforehand if you are not familiar with filesystem operations) - this will let X4 create a new profile with default settings. If X4 launches without a problem, restore your previous X4 profile by moving savegames and other files from the backup.

If it still doesn't work it can't hurt to check for corrupted graphic card drivers etc.

[CBJ]

I've checked your crashdumps, and they are all over the place, in the sense that they don't correspond to any locations that make sense in terms of crashes. That, combined with the fact that I was able to load and play your savegames without any problems, indicates that the problem probably lies with your system setup. The fact that you recently reinstalled Windows tends to support this.

The most obvious issue is that your graphics drivers are a couple of years out of date. Windows Update is hopeless for driver updates, and you should go straight to the NVIDIA site and get the latest WHQL drivers from there. While you're at it, I suggest disabling your NVIDIA sound device, as the drivers for these can occasionally cause problems.

Similarly, you're using some default sound drivers for your other sound devices, and should update those from the manufacturer's site (usually Realtek, which can be a bit slow, but is usually reliable).

[danpaul88]

Installed latest drivers from nvidia website (worked fine this time, not sure why I got WHQL errors last time I tried that... maybe was a corrupt download) and so far things are looking good. I should have known better than to rely on Windows Update for graphics drivers!

Thanks for the quick responses - will update if I see any further crashes. Bit of a mystery still why it worked fine yesterday - guess I just got lucky and somehow avoided the graphics driver issues!


Also thanks for the tip re: sound drivers - made a post it note to grab those from MSIs website (motherboard manufacturer). Disabled the nvidia ones since I don't use HDMI audio anyway.

[danpaul88]

OK, got all the driver updates etc done, updated DxDiag - http://w3dhub.com/danpaul88/x4/DxDiag-updated.txt - let me know if I missed any of your suggestions

Mainly posting this however to say a big thanks to CBJ for taking time out of his weekend to help a frazzled parent of a 9 month old get his X4 fix - especially when "update your drivers" is something I should have already tried before even posting

The dedication of the Egosoft team to support their games and players is one of the many reasons I've never had any qualms suggesting the X series to friends, family and indeed anyone who will listen. You're an example I wish more game developers would follow. Thanks for all your hard work, I'm very much looking forward to XTech 5 and whatever comes after that