Timelines The Ferrymen keeps hard-locking my game

[G315t]

I was able to play it without the freeze now.

I played the Blockade mission a few times until I got 5 stars. After that I was able to play the Engineer without crashing. I played it until I got 5 stars, and then I was able to play the Ferryman rescue mission without the crash.

[vincanis]

I've also enjoyed a hard lock twice. Both times after I've landed on the station and when the refugees start to enter the bridge.

[Drylce]

Attempted the fix listed above - doing other missions a few times. Unfortunately, it seems that the hang up continues to occur (for me) immediately after the combat pilot says he'll take care of the blockade. Currently 5 stars on both repairs and blockade missions (no further repairs to make and all xenon defeated).

Edit: Made progress past that point by re-doing "The Safeguard" but then had another hang-up a bit later when almost docking with the station/after docking with the station if fast enough. I recall taking my safeguard and sprinting to the blockade faster than the npc did the first time, the second time I waited until the blockade was mentioned before heading that direction. Trying a similar fix with "The Mechanic" did the same thing where I bypassed the hang up.

Theory is that there's something about trying to "speed run" the other two missions causes the hang up - temporary fix is to re-run the other two and play the openings "as intended" (it shouldn't hugely impact your scores).

Hang up #1 - identified (potentially) by the safeguard pilot saying he'll take care of the blockade and then immediately the game freezes. Fixed by re-running "The Safeguard" until this goes away.
Hang up #2 - identified (potentially) by the engineer saying he'll take care of repairs on the station and then the game freezes soon afterwards. Fixed by re-running "The Mechanic" until this goes away.

[kuertee]

Hello, Dryce. Thanks for your your tests and detailed report.

To check that I understood what you experienced, is this correct?

The freeze in The Ferryman happens when the player tries to perform a quick-start in either or both The Safeguard (by heading to the blockade before its been reported) and The Mechanic scenarios. How did you quick-start The Mechanic? Or did you simple replay it and allowed its cutscenes and voice-overs to guide you at the start?

[Drylce]

I simply replayed both allowing all cutscenes to play out. The way I recall doing the other two previously was skipping cut scenes with "Esc" and rushing to objectives. Notably going immediately to the blockade area in "The Safeguard" and "jumping" out of the boarding ramp/sprinting to elevator in "The Mechanic".

[codeinemlc]

i got 5* in mechanic and blockade and had hard lock so it was hard to beat my old scores, so i had to edit the userdata.xml for scenario_transport_refugees_escort and set all to 0 (blockade), in the x4 folder in my documents

I then re ran blockade, the only thing i did different was i didnt pause the game and spit out 25 laser towers at once. I dont know if that had anything to do with it. I rushed to the blockade area and spat the laser towers before the mission directed me to go there, without pausing.

No more hard lock on ferryman

[Hearthstone236]

A similar problem. Specifically, in my case, the freeze also occurs after 1-2 minutes in this mission. At first, I passed it without stars (without scoring enough points), then two missions opened that should make it easier to complete Ferryman. And with repeated passage, with any options for action (or inaction), an inevitable hang occurs. The main tasks have been completed up to chapter 5. The version is a Steam license.
The configuration of my PC is AMD Ryzen 5 5600, Radeon RX 6650XT, 16 GB RAM, the game is installed on an SSD. Windows 11 pro 64bit.
No modifications of the game have ever been installed, cheats, trainers and other similar software are not used.
I also noticed that the game, despite the fact that it freezes tightly, does not display as "not responding" in the windows task manager. It dynamically consumes CPU and RAM resources.

[kuertee]

I simply replayed both allowing all cutscenes to play out. The way I recall doing the other two previously was skipping cut scenes with "Esc" and rushing to objectives. Notably going immediately to the blockade area in "The Safeguard" and "jumping" out of the boarding ramp/sprinting to elevator in "The Mechanic".

Thank you. The freeze seems to happen independently of players aborting the cutscenes or not. Players who didn't abort the cutscenes experienced the freeze. Wil continue to investigate.

i got 5* in mechanic and blockade and had hard lock so it was hard to beat my old scores, so i had to edit the userdata.xml for scenario_transport_refugees_escort and set all to 0 (blockade), in the x4 folder in my documents ... I then re ran blockade, the only thing i did different was i didnt pause the game and spit out 25 laser towers at once. I dont know if that had anything to do with it. I rushed to the blockade area and spat the laser towers before the mission directed me to go there, without pausing. ... No more hard lock on ferryman

Hi codeinemic, to clarify ... when you experienced the freeze, were you deploying the laser towers while paused? Did you deploy them all at one time while paused? Or were you pausing, deploying one or two, then unpausing? I'll try this now.

A similar problem. Specifically, in my case, the freeze also occurs after 1-2 minutes in this mission. At first, I passed it without stars (without scoring enough points), then two missions opened that should make it easier to complete Ferryman. And with repeated passage, with any options for action (or inaction), an inevitable hang occurs. ... I also noticed that the game, despite the fact that it freezes tightly, does not display as "not responding" in the windows task manager. It dynamically consumes CPU and RAM resources.

Thanks, Hearthstone. This helps in tracking it down.

[codeinemlc]

I simply replayed both allowing all cutscenes to play out. The way I recall doing the other two previously was skipping cut scenes with "Esc" and rushing to objectives. Notably going immediately to the blockade area in "The Safeguard" and "jumping" out of the boarding ramp/sprinting to elevator in "The Mechanic".

Thank you. The freeze seems to happen independently of players aborting the cutscenes or not. Players who didn't abort the cutscenes experienced the freeze. Wil continue to investigate.

i got 5* in mechanic and blockade and had hard lock so it was hard to beat my old scores, so i had to edit the userdata.xml for scenario_transport_refugees_escort and set all to 0 (blockade), in the x4 folder in my documents ... I then re ran blockade, the only thing i did different was i didnt pause the game and spit out 25 laser towers at once. I dont know if that had anything to do with it. I rushed to the blockade area and spat the laser towers before the mission directed me to go there, without pausing. ... No more hard lock on ferryman

Hi codeinemic, to clarify ... when you experienced the freeze, were you deploying the laser towers while paused? Did you deploy them all at one time while paused? Or were you pausing, deploying one or two, then unpausing? I'll try this now.

A similar problem. Specifically, in my case, the freeze also occurs after 1-2 minutes in this mission. At first, I passed it without stars (without scoring enough points), then two missions opened that should make it easier to complete Ferryman. And with repeated passage, with any options for action (or inaction), an inevitable hang occurs. ... I also noticed that the game, despite the fact that it freezes tightly, does not display as "not responding" in the windows task manager. It dynamically consumes CPU and RAM resources.

Thanks, Hearthstone. This helps in tracking it down.

When i had the freeze, i paused and deployed 25 laser towers during blockade

When i reran blockade and did not pause while deploying them, i did not freeze during ferryman anymore, but i do not know if it was coincidence

[kuertee]

EDIT: I posted this in the wrong forum thread.
This message is supposed to be for the other forum thread about the same bug.
But it's still relevant to anyone browsing this thread.

Spoiler

Show

To everyone experiencing the freeze, when you played The Safeguard mission, did you deploy all 25 laser towers at once while paused?
I.e. the deployment rate for all 25 will be 0 because the first deployment time will be, for e.g., X seconds from game-start. And the last deployment time will also be X seconds as the game is paused.

[Silphion]

TL;DR SOLUTION: Do not pause when deploying laser towers in Ferryman [Safeguard]

I'd like to add my hat to the discussion.

Like others in this post, I experienced a hard lock when playing the "Ferryman" missions. The hard lock occurred after playing the "Safeguard" mission, where I typically died with a low score, and each time I would deploy all my laser towers while paused. (I play with a gamepad controller [switch pro controller]).

Like the others, the hard freeze would typically happen within ~2 minutes of starting the base mission, or the engineer mission, usually during cutscene, though sometimes before the cutscene as well. After reading this thread, I decided to try an experiment:

I remapped one of the buttons to repeat military drops, making deploying laser towers and friend/foe mines easier in real-time and did the Ferryman (Safeguard) mission again. This time, I did not deploy any laser towers or mines while paused, instead using the hotkey to rapidly deploy within the mission bubble. Further, I was able to finish the mission via time-out, rather than death.

Upon completing the escort mission, I tried both the Ferryman (base) and Ferryman (Mechanic) missions again, and could complete them without any sign of a hard lock.

[Hearthstone236]

I simply replayed both allowing all cutscenes to play out. The way I recall doing the other two previously was skipping cut scenes with "Esc" and rushing to objectives. Notably going immediately to the blockade area in "The Safeguard" and "jumping" out of the boarding ramp/sprinting to elevator in "The Mechanic".

Thank you. The freeze seems to happen independently of players aborting the cutscenes or not. Players who didn't abort the cutscenes experienced the freeze. Wil continue to investigate.

i got 5* in mechanic and blockade and had hard lock so it was hard to beat my old scores, so i had to edit the userdata.xml for scenario_transport_refugees_escort and set all to 0 (blockade), in the x4 folder in my documents ... I then re ran blockade, the only thing i did different was i didnt pause the game and spit out 25 laser towers at once. I dont know if that had anything to do with it. I rushed to the blockade area and spat the laser towers before the mission directed me to go there, without pausing. ... No more hard lock on ferryman

Hi codeinemic, to clarify ... when you experienced the freeze, were you deploying the laser towers while paused? Did you deploy them all at one time while paused? Or were you pausing, deploying one or two, then unpausing? I'll try this now.

A similar problem. Specifically, in my case, the freeze also occurs after 1-2 minutes in this mission. At first, I passed it without stars (without scoring enough points), then two missions opened that should make it easier to complete Ferryman. And with repeated passage, with any options for action (or inaction), an inevitable hang occurs. ... I also noticed that the game, despite the fact that it freezes tightly, does not display as "not responding" in the windows task manager. It dynamically consumes CPU and RAM resources.

Thanks, Hearthstone. This helps in tracking it down.

When i had the freeze, i paused and deployed 25 laser towers during blockade

When i reran blockade and did not pause while deploying them, i did not freeze during ferryman anymore, but i do not know if it was coincidence

I use hotkey to deploy laser towers and mines

[Agamotto]

I am hard locking just after landing in The Mechanic portion. I Got two stars on the Safeguard (how does someone get 1.1 million points in this scenario like the person on the top of my leader board) and then returned to The Mechanic. just a few seconds after landing it locks up at first I thought it was the elevator, but even if I stay on the ship I will lock up there. Maybe the insertion of the goal locations?

[Lister03]

Having the same issue as well. Nothing I have tried has worked around it. :-/

Screenshots with freeze moment and my game settings
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/fold ... 67l2UhQLWr

[CBJ]

A hotfix including a fix for this has just been released. Please let us know if it's solved the problem for you.

[Lister03]

Yes 7.00 Hotfix 1 works for me and the 2 missions!

Thanks and have nice day!

[v_make]

A hotfix including a fix for this has just been released. Please let us know if it's solved the problem for you.

Unfortunately the Hotfix 1 did not fix the issue for me. My save is still hard locked upon entering The Ferrymen.

TL;DR SOLUTION: Do not pause when deploying laser towers in Ferryman [Safeguard]

This solved my issue. I replayed The Safeguard, did not pause at all subsequent lt deployment, got a higher score, and it finally does not lock The Ferrymen any more.
It seems that Hotfix 1 did not fix the issue for an already triggered bug. (It might have fixed the issue for future trigger of the bug, but I did not test)

[CBJ]

It sounds like you may not actually have the hotfix. It's harder to tell because the build number didn't change. Try restarting the Steam client to see if that triggers an update, and of course make sure you have automatic updates enabled.

[v_make]

It sounds like you may not actually have the hotfix. It's harder to tell because the build number didn't change. Try restarting the Steam client to see if that triggers an update, and of course make sure you have automatic updates enabled.

Well I have no proof now, but I definitely applied the hotfix (GOG manual installation, not steam) before that trial.
Now it shows 'already applied' if I run the hotfix installation again.
Don't worry about me, I've got no problems atm. It's just a kind reminder what others may find problematic.

[nick75]

This mission for me is impossible.
The ship provided simply can't make it to the drop point in the time given. It's too slow and too slow responding to maneuvers. Its speed should be at least x2.
Enemies just jump on you fro every side and your ship can't even endure one single fighter fire.
If there are side-solutions it would be nice having at least some decent clues not just a Teladi fool sayin "destruction can be delayed" we need how, when, where and estimated time for operation. Without all those factors guessing randomly what could be done is tactically silly and unproductive.
And this mission is ment for starters?