[8.00 / Steam / Build 21408220] Repeated CTD while walking on stations

[0mad]

Short summary
X4: Foundations 8.00 repeatedly crashes to desktop while I am walking around on stations. The crash is not limited to one single station. It happened after entering stations both by docking and by teleporting.

I used chatgpt to look into the dump files. This report and details is chatgpt generated.
Relevant files can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... gtW6W0rvVK


The May crash dumps show a highly consistent pattern:
- Exception: 0xC0000005 Access Violation
- Access type: read
- Invalid read address: 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
- Faulting module: X4.exe
- Repeated fault offset: X4.exe + 0x13B4914
- One nearby variant: X4.exe + 0x13B4ACA
- Repeated human-readable dump string / thread label: "Movement worker"
- X4.exe version observed in dumps: 8.0.0.0

This looks like a repeated internal X4 crash path related to station walking / movement / pathing / entity handling.




Game / platform

- Game: X4: Foundations
- Version shown by dump binary: X4.exe 8.0.0.0
- Steam App-ID: 392160
- Steam Build-ID: 21408220
- Installed content update date shown in Steam: 30 March 2026, 17:39
- Platform: Steam
- OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Build 19045
- Language / regional setting: German

Problem description

The game crashes silently to desktop and writes a dump file. The trigger I can describe is:

1. Load the affected save.
2. Enter a station interior.
3. Walk around on the station.
4. Crash usually occurs within roughly 5-30 seconds.

Additional observations:
- It is not happening on the ship (hyperion, see below); I was walking on station interiors.
- It was tested with the storyline Hyperion ship involved.
- It does not seem to matter whether the station is entered by docking or teleporting.
- It has occurred on different stations, including player/NPC stations and in different systems.
- (at least) the first relevant late-May crash (X4_800_2026_05_22_12_38_08.dmp) listed below was from an unmodified game, when trying to move around in the Player HQ.
- Later crashes were from a save marked modified after I briefly used a remote-access/inventory workaround while trying to avoid the station-walking crash. That add-on has since been removed again.
- Unfortunately, I no longer have the unmodified save from before the first crash because it was overwritten by autosaves.

Modified / unmodified status

- X4_800_2026_05_22_12_38_08.dmp:
Unmodified, (the second might also). This was the first relevant late-May crash while trying to move around inside the Player HQ.

- Later May dumps:
Save was marked modified. The only intentional change was a temporary workaround/add-on related to remote access to HQ inventory after the first station-walking crash, so I do not have to enter it. It has since been removed again.

- I am not asking Egosoft to treat the later modified-save crashes as proof of a vanilla-only issue. I am providing them because the crash signature is almost identical and may still be useful for triage.

System information summary

- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six-Core Processor, ~3.2 GHz / 12 logical CPUs
- RAM: 16 GB
- GPU: Radeon RX 580 Series, 8 GB dedicated VRAM
- Storage: Samsung SSD 960 EVO 500GB
- Display mode: 2560 x 1440, 60 Hz
- DirectX: DirectX 12
- DxDiag notes: no problems found on Display/Sound/Input tabs
- AMD display driver version in DxDiag: 27.20.2001.8002
- AMD display driver date in DxDiag: 06 July 2020
- Vulkan Instance Version: 1.2.176
- Vulkan device: Radeon RX 580 Series
- Vulkan driverInfo: 20.7.1
- Vulkan layers present:
- VK_LAYER_AMD_switchable_graphics
- VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_fossilize
- VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_overlay

Important driver/context note

The AMD/Vulkan driver appears old. I understand this may be relevant for troubleshooting.

However, the repeated May dumps I looked at do not fault directly in amdvlk64.dll. The repeated faulting address maps to X4.exe. Therefore I am reporting the driver as an important context/risk factor, not as a proven root cause.

Crash dump comparison

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FILE                                      UTC TIME              EXCEPTION    ACCESS                         FAULT MODULE      OFFSET       THREAD   MOVEMENT STRING   ASSESSMENT
X4_800_2026_04_05_08_42_43.dmp            2026-04-05T06:42:43Z  0xCCE17000   n/a                            C:\Windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll 0x25369      2152     yes             Different/non-cluster crash; likely not the same repeated issue.
X4_800_2026_05_22_12_38_08.dmp            2026-05-22T10:38:08Z  0xC0000005   read at 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF     C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations\X4.exe 0x13B4ACA    13644    yes             Same May AV family; nearby offset variant.
X4_800_2026_05_22_12_44_04.dmp            2026-05-22T10:44:05Z  0xC0000005   read at 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF     C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations\X4.exe 0x13B4914    17532    yes             Repeated canonical May AV pattern.
X4_800_2026_05_22_13_09_42.dmp            2026-05-22T11:09:42Z  0xC0000005   read at 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF     C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations\X4.exe 0x13B4914    15976    yes             Repeated canonical May AV pattern.
X4_800_2026_05_22_13_16_11.dmp            2026-05-22T11:16:12Z  0xC0000005   read at 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF     C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations\X4.exe 0x13B4914    7952     yes             Repeated canonical May AV pattern.
X4_800_2026_05_23_09_47_14.dmp            2026-05-23T07:47:14Z  0xC0000005   read at 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF     C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations\X4.exe 0x13B4914    10036    yes             Repeated canonical May AV pattern.

Repeated May crash signature

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Exception: 0xC0000005 Access Violation
Access: read
Invalid read address: 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Faulting module: X4.exe
Repeated offset: X4.exe + 0x13B4914
Nearby offset variant: X4.exe + 0x13B4ACA
Context string / thread label found in dumps: "Movement worker"

What I am attaching / linking

I can provide the following files:

- DxDiag.txt
- vulkaninfo.txt
- Screenshot of Steam App-ID / Build-ID
- Crash dump archive containing:
- X4_800_2026_04_05_08_42_43.dmp
- X4_800_2026_05_22_12_38_08.dmp
- X4_800_2026_05_22_12_44_04.dmp
- X4_800_2026_05_22_13_09_42.dmp
- X4_800_2026_05_22_13_16_11.dmp
- X4_800_2026_05_23_09_47_14.dmp
- A third-party pre-analysis (chatgpt) text file
- Savegame: not provided - no unmodified savegame with the bug available

Savegame / reproduction note

Please use the linked save as the best available reproduction material. I do not have the original unmodified save from before the first station-walking crash anymore because it was overwritten by autosaves.

If you need a specific test, I can try to reproduce again with:
- the current affected save,
- a different save,
- Steam overlay disabled,
- after a clean AMD driver update,
- or with any additional logging option you request.

Third-party pre-analysis methodology

I used a small local minidump parser to inspect the dump headers and streams. The analysis extracted:
- exception code,
- faulting address,
- exception parameters,
- faulting module,
- module-relative offset,
- loaded module versions,
- and human-readable strings such as "Movement worker".

The analysis deliberately avoids claiming a final root cause because:
- no Egosoft private symbols were available,
- no source-level call stack could be reconstructed,
- function names inside X4.exe are not available,
- minidumps are limited and do not contain full process memory,
- and the save state / internal game state cannot be inferred fully from dumps alone.

What the dumps do NOT prove

The supplied dumps do not prove:
- GPU hardware failure,
- RAM hardware failure,
- out-of-memory as the direct cause,
- a direct AMD driver crash,
- or Steam Overlay as the direct cause.

Loaded Vulkan/Steam overlay modules are present, but the repeated May crash address maps to X4.exe.

Questions for Egosoft

Could you please check whether the repeated signature below is known on your side?

Code: Select all

X4.exe 8.0.0.0
0xC0000005 read access violation
read address: 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
repeated offset: X4.exe + 0x13B4914
nearby variant: X4.exe + 0x13B4ACA
context/thread string: "Movement worker"
trigger: walking around on stations

If there is a preferred additional logging option or if you need a particular save/test condition, please tell me what to capture.

[CBJ]

The first crash is graphics-related and comes from a failed call to the graphics driver. The remaining crashes all come from system used for animation within the UI and is probably the result of either a corrupt game installation or a UI mod doing something incorrectly. None of them correspond to specific known issues, though graphics driver call failures feature quite strongly in the list of crashes we see, usually caused by older drivers or, ironically, occasionally in new drivers with new faults in them. In your case out of date drivers do seem like the strongest candidate, and while you're updating your graphics drivers you might also want to look at your sound drivers, some of which are 10 years out of date!

[0mad]

Thank you for your fast feedback and suggestions.

I have updated the graphic driver and started a new game with no mods installed anymore (note that the first crash of this month at least was before I tried mods)... the problem re-emerged. I have prepared another set of information:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... SfYkrvgKzr

Now also including a unmodified save game. Trying to walk to the faction representative on the argon station triggered the issue. No other tests done in this run.

I did check the integrity of the game installation files via steam with no errors found.

Note: The problem appeared first, when I re-started the game today, not while I played without reloading. Don't know if this is relevant.

[CBJ]

Both of these crashes are in the UI animation code again. Since this doesn't happen for other players, we are almost certainly still looking at your local installation being corrupt, either accidentally or through the use of third party mods. UI mods are notorious for not being easy to remove, with some of their effects not being removable by simply unsubscribing from them in Steam. If you have a decent connection speed then you might want to try a clean install of the game; if not then you will need to go in manually and look for leftover mod files and folders.

[0mad]

Thank you for the very fast answer.
If clean install means to "deinstall" via steam, and reinstall again - I just did that and still run into it on the same save game. (see 3rd dmp file added: X4_800_2026_05_27_14_34_13.dmp).

If now deinstalled again and have deleted all other files within X4 - other than the dmps. If I now re-install, do you expected the savegame to work, or do you expect it to carry over the defect?

[CBJ]

That new crashdump is the same crash.

And yes, uninstalling the game is what I meant, but you may also need to manually clean out any leftover mod files that are left behind when the game is uninstalled because Steam doesn't know about them.

Regarding your savegame, some UI state data is stored in savegames, so it's possible this may be part of the problem if it relates to a UI mod.

[0mad]

Ok... I re-install and try with a brand new game. -- if the problem persists, I will report here.