[Solution found !] Game crashing every 10-20 minutes

Game Dev Tycoon bug
#1

Edit [16.07.15] SOLUTION : close Nvidia GeforceExp and EVGA Precision X before launching the game

Hello,

I bought the game yesterday and played some hours.
Unfortunately, the game crashes quite a lot (like every 10 minutes)

I was wondering if there were any logfiles so I can try to find a solution by myself (I am a pro developer)
Anyway, here are all the infos you may ask me :

Steam version Windows 8.1 x64
All up to date (windows, drivers, etc.)
Config : I7 2600K + 16GB RAM + Nvidia GTX580 SLI
Antivirus : Windows Defender (added directory exception for Steam+GDT AppData Local)
Disabled my second screen Started game from steam, or from exe directly (with admin privileges)
Tried the compatibility mode set to Win7 or Vista SP2
Tried Steam cache verification
Uninstalled the game multiple times (with savegames deletion)
No mod installed
No firewall

The way I found to make the game generally crash (but never happend right after game start) is to click outside GDT window.

The error is the common “app stopped working” without any other informations (even in the EventViewer)

If you need anything else to track this down (a debug version, some launch parameters, and so on), let me know :wink:

Thank you in advance !

Boris

#2

Have you tried /completely/ uninstalling? I’m not talking about what you said, about uninstalling & deleting save files. There is still steam files left over when you uninstall. The only way to delete these files is by going into your steamapps/common folder and then deleting the GDT folder.

That’s the only thing I could thing of. It worked for me when my Crusader Kings 2 broke. :slight_smile: If it doesn’t work, good luck with a fix!.

#3

Thanks, will try that even if I already saw there was only an empty steam text file remaining in the folder.

#4

Sorry for the double post. Any idea @PatrickKlug or @Charlie ? :slight_smile:

#5

Hmmm. I think that our game code is incapable of actively causing a ‘App stopped working’ error.

Some technical info: Our game is HTML5 and uses node-webkit (essentially a packaged chromium browser to run the game). node-webkit has similar sandboxing features as chromium itself so a ‘App stopped working’ error indicates a problem deeper than our game, possibly with the chromium instance itself but it’s super-weird that there is nothing in the EventViewer.

Have you seen similar issues in any other games/apps or your browser? Have you tried closing down all other applications?

Also, check that you are not using any pre-release/beta drivers.

#6

Or mods.

#7

@chizbejoe
He already said that he had no mods installed.

#8

There is something in the event viewer, but nothing to really track it down. I will copy you this after work.

In the mean time, why is the exe called NW.exe? :stuck_out_tongue:

Will also check if there are new drivers (doubt it
), and try the windows non Steam demo


#9

NW = node-webkit, maybe?

Whoops, sorry, I missed that. Thanks for the heads up.

#10

Hello and welcome! :smile:

When any game crashes with the “Program has stopped working” message this points to a localised issue. If the game itself had an issue it would give you a nice error popup with information on the cause of the error.

Here are the diagnostic steps that I would suggest, which you perform at your own risk:

  • Disable SLI in the NVidia control panel.
  • Disable Geforce experience if you have it running

I also have a couple of questions that may provide further insight:

  • Is Steam installed on your C drive?
  • Is GDT installed on your C Drive?
  • Do you have plenty of free space on your C drive?
#12

So, I just did some tests to further investigate about my issue.

Here is my report :
Uninstalled the game
Deleted AppDataLocal GDT folder
Deleted folder \Steam\userData\xxxxx[number of GTD game] folder
Installed the Windows demo (to exclude Steam)
Executed with admin privileges (already done, but whatever
)

It still crashes when at times, or when clicking outside the game window, or when toggling full screen via settings.

Now I don’t know what else to check.

Here is the unhelpfull event viewer log about my last crash :

Nom de l’application dĂ©faillante nw.exe, version : 0.0.0.0, horodatage : 0x534decc7
Nom du module défaillant : nw.exe, version : 0.0.0.0, horodatage : 0x534decc7
Code d’exception : 0x80000003
DĂ©calage d’erreur : 0x003360e0
ID du processus défaillant : 0x9b4
Heure de dĂ©but de l’application dĂ©faillante : 0x01d0be53d42fb5d9
Chemin d’accĂšs de l’application dĂ©faillante : C:\Mes Jeux\Steam\steamapps\common\Game Dev Tycoon\nw.exe
Chemin d’accĂšs du module dĂ©faillant: C:\Mes Jeux\Steam\steamapps\common\Game Dev Tycoon\nw.exe
ID de rapport : 4182b00c-2a48-11e5-826d-f46d04580130
Nom complet du package défaillant :
ID de l’application relative au package dĂ©faillant :

#13

Great, thanks, I am just looking into the event viewer messages to see what it reveals.

Update
Exception Code 0x80000003 Error Codes are caused in one way or another by misconfigured system files in your windows operating system.

If the nvidia diagnostics do not prove fruitful I would suggest a system restore to return the validity of system files, as this is outside the remit of game support, you would do this at your own risk.

It would be great if you could send me a DXDiag of your system info if the Nvidia diagnostics do not help.

#15

Will do.

I tried to close Nvidia GeforceExperience.

For the moment, it seems to be successfull.

I disabled SLI globally but then re-enabled it (as I can’t keep it disabled). While doing that, I had to close overlay programs (such as EVGA Precision)

I’ll reboot and test only with GeforceExperience closed to see how it’ll do.

I’ll be back, thanks again :blush:

#16

Aha, Nvidia Geforce experience + EVGA Precision are both extremely intrusive programs. i would suggest reading up on the Nvidia Geforce experience software and deciding if you really want to keep it. In time it may improve but as of now it is a very intrusive program.

With those two programs present I would suggest booting in safe mode and running the game.

You may find this thread helpful:
http://forums.evga.com/What-do-you-think-of-Geforce-Experience-m2153170.aspx

And I would guess that this is the reason for the crash.

Update
Also I would suggest:

  • Open NVidia control panel
  • Manage 3D settings
  • Program Settings
  • Russian Roulette 2 (nw.exe)
  • From here you can select that the game only uses a specific GPU chip, not both which means that you do not need to disable the SLI
#17

Thanks Charlie, already did the “Force 1 GPU” for the game.

Interesting enough, I closed GeforceExp + EVGA with good results !

Tomorrow I’ll try to kill only one. I think EVGA is causing it. Even with stats overlay off, it stills computes FPS and displays it to my G510 keyboard.

Still, I only played 30 minutes without problem.

I’ll continue tomorrow and let you know if everything seems good :smile:

Reproducing Bug: Game Crashes after roughly 2 Minutes
#18

Well,

I managed to play several time without any crash (yeeeeeeepah !)

The solution was to close Nvidia Geforce Experience and EVGA Precision X

I didn’t bother to test if it was only one of them as :

  • Geforce Exp is only usefull to notify for new drivers
  • EVGA Precision X is of no use here (no need to monitor FPS or to have a custom GPU fan profile)

Thaaaaanks again for your help :blush: :sunny:

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