X4 has stopped working

[Ravenhawk11]

Hello everyone,

I started playing X4 again after some time (V.7.6, all expansions except Hyperion) and unfortunately the game crashes regularly (sometimes after 5 minutes). I have also tried various bug fixes in the last few days:

- Checked data integrity on Steam
- Deleted all mods (were not activated anyway), so game is not modified
- Reinstalled the game
- Added the game and savegame folder to the exceptions in Windows Defender. No antivirus programs active either.
- Updated hardware drivers and had Windows checked for updates
- Steam overlay deactivated
- Game started as admin
- Checked all game folders for write protection
- Autosave switched off and graphics settings reduced further and further
- DLSS switched off
- Game run in full screen and borderless window
- VRAM increased to 32gb, as game crashes due to “not enough space”
- Hard disks and RAM checked-> chkdsk; DSIM; sfc; mdsched (no errors)
- Clean restart without programs in autostart
- Downloaded and ran OCCT, no errors found
- uninstalled Overwolf

What was also noticeable was that all saves made in "Home of Darkness" sector could no longer be loaded, or even caused the game to crash when loading. There were also a lot of crashes in the Boron plot.
Personalized error reports are activated for me.

Here is the DxDiag report after the last crash: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/c81i43zq ... 4qscf&dl=0
The Dmp of the crash: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fps1xx13 ... d9ia3&dl=0
And the corresponding save: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ls5abggr ... pyi5f&dl=0

If any information is missing, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Best regards

[CBJ]

The first thing to look at would be the NVidia drivers. There are some issues with the current ones, that are causing problems for quite a few people and quite a few games. The last ones that were known not to have this problem are the 576.28 drivers from April.

The second thing that stands out is that you are using an Intel 14th generation processor. These too have some known problems, and these can be progressive over time. There are firmware updates available to mitigate against this, but if the processor has already damaged itself then it may require an RMA to obtain a replacement. Obviously you'll want to eliminate other possible causes before you go through the hassle of this!

[Ravenhawk11]

Hello CBJ,

thanks for the answer. I have installed and tested the older NVidia driver, unfortunately without success.

MSI has several downloads for my motherboard:

AMI BIOS7D98vHB 2025-05-14 10.41 MB (Download)

Description:
- Fix the issue of DMI UUID loss after clearing CMOS.
- Security update.

- ME Firmware ver: ME_16.1.35.2557 (download)
- ME Firmware update SOP (just a guide)

As I understand, it is about updating the BIOS so that the CPU does not run in overload for too long or does not go into overload in the first place.
But what about the other ME firmware file below, do I need that too? Or is it the same, only with installation via Windows?

I have never carried out a BIOS update before. I have watched a few videos on this and it is theoretically quite simple. I just find it a bit strange that everyone says "pray" or "keep your fingers crossed" before the update, as there is always the possibility that the mainboard will be dead afterwards.

A Guy on the german forums told me he found a Kernel 141 error in the DxDiag. But it doesn't seem to be related to X4's crashing.
When the crash occurs with X4, the Event Viewer only shows the following message, "Application Error":

Incorrect application name: X4.exe, version: 7.60.0.0, timestamp: 0x682daade
Incorrect module name: ntdll.dll, version: 10.0.26100. 4202, timestamp: 0x9194561f
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Error offset: 0x000000000011dcc5
Incorrect process ID: 0x46E4
Incorrect application start time: 0x1DBE127312E5320
Incorrect application path: D:\Steam\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations\X4. exe
Incorrect module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report ID: 0e54920e-be6f-42d4-8ab0-73f1ad4241bc
Full name of bad package:
Incorrect package related application ID:

At the time X4 crashes, there are no errors in the Event Viewer except for the message above. Also i can't find the Kernel Error he mentioned in the Event Viewer, it only shows it as an "Information".

Thx & best regards

PS: what other things could I try, when the BIOS update doesn't fix the problem?

[CBJ]

None of the crashes in your DXDiag mention X4, and the crash in your dumpfile is not in code that would normally be expected to crash. We'd need a few more crashdumps to confirm, but it is starting to look like this could be the CPU issue that I mentioned. If so then that's not something that can be fixed by an update, and involves getting a replacement from Intel.

[Ravenhawk11]

Thanks for the reply, here are the latest crashdumps from today:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t01t24yc ... k8sr4&dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hhfsqa4q ... j8mjf&dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/o1pmbu3k ... rpnzq&dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/n214yfwv ... sv4t0&dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/va749eg7 ... mfqp1&dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6exgdzn9 ... 87ifx&dl=0

Kind regards

[CBJ]

The crashdumps show crashes mainly in two places, but neither of them are "normal". There is a small chance that this represents a corrupt installation, perhaps with leftover bits of old mods that were not installed via the normal mechanisms (some UI mods do this, including one of kuertee's). You might want to try another clean install, making sure that you delete any leftover mod files in the game folder after uninstalling, and making sure that you are unsubscribed from any mods on Steam Workshop or elsewhere before you do so. If that doesn't work then I'm afraid the CPU problem is probably the only remaining candidate.

[Ravenhawk11]

A clean Install sadly did not work. The intel support page says that i should first contact the manufacturer, because i bought it as a complete system. So I'll contact them first.
But I still have to install the new bios update for the new processor, because else it would also damage itself, correct?

[CBJ]

Yes. Though I would hope your system supplier would do that while they replace the CPU.

[Ravenhawk11]

Hope so too, but we'll see.
Thanks for the help and good day to you!