Game freezing randomly

[RustIronCrowe]

I have been experiencing game freeze "TLD.exe stopped responding" at seemingly random intervals since the last patch, whereas prior to this point I don't recall any instability whatsoever using the same hardware configurations and at all settings. Currently I experience this (game freezes, clicking on screen reveals mouse cursor, clicking again whitewashes screen with error message) under what appears to be arbitrary conditions. Sometimes it won't happen for a few hours, but once it does it seems to become more frequent. Today I experienced it for the first time on the menu options screen. This seems to happen slightly more frequently when outside under blizzard conditions or sometimes when looking in a certain direction (such as looking towards the water from anywhere in the Coastal Highway) or while looking around while sitting near a fire, but largely it just seems quite random.

I have attempted to test this using every available in-game setting, command line parameters, the force DX .bat files, upgraded and rollback drivers, uninstalling/reinstalling game, moving the install to a different partition, using old pre-update saves, creating fresh starts, reinstalling visual C++, and every other suggestion that I have found on these forums thusfar, but to no avail. The crash always seems random and the only pattern is that once it starts it tends to become more frequent through repeated attempts.

I have uploaded two separate output logs (using the -force-d3d9 and -force-d3d11 command line parameters) in case a comparison helps narrow the issue. I accept that it may be a direct hardware issue on my end but of what nature I cannot pinpoint. This is the only game that I have experienced this issue with, and only since the last update.

Thank you for offering the opportunity to be a part of the ongoing testing of such a wonderful and engaging game!

output_log_dx9.txt

output_log_dx11.txt

[RustIronCrowe]

Update:
Game alpha v.339

Wiped all old saves and began fresh. On default settings (no cmd line parms, medium graphics setting, dx11) began new game at Desolation Point. Spawned at waterfall near broken bridge and explored region under all conditions for 5 ingame days with no game instability whatsoever. Day 6 moved to Crumbling Highway and also explored with no problems. Last autosave on entry to basement at Abandoned Harris Home.

Moved onward to Coastal Highway and experienced game freeze and crash within a minute of entry into region. Same result when attempted several times at different settings. On the last attempt, I simply waited at the entry point into the region without moving the mouse or interacting with the game at all (except to take a screenshot) and it froze and crashed within a minute.

Attached is the output log at default settings.

 

output_log.txt

[Guest Support]

Thanks for reporting this - Looking at the long nothing stands out. You mentioned that this only occurs in TLD - Do you know if you have any other Unity 5 games to compare against? I'm going to have to discuss this issue a bit with the team tomorrow to see if we can identify where this crash may be originating from. 

[RustIronCrowe]

I do not have any other Unity 5 games to compare against, but would be willing to test it if you could suggest a free one.

 

[RustIronCrowe]

Interesting anomaly:
Fired up TLD.exe while a currently "not responding" session was still open, and it opened to this screen-

[Guest Support]

That's the texture atlas, it's loaded when the game first starts. Because you have a stuck process of TLD it does not continue to load the game as Unity is waiting for the stuck process to resolve. 

I've reported the crash to the team, we're going to have to investigate a bit to see what could be the cause. Did you have any crashes prior to the patch?

[RustIronCrowe]

The first time that I experienced any crashes at all was after the "Tireless Menace" update in April. Prior to that, no instability issues whatsoever in over 100 hours of gameplay.

[Guest Support]

Any common things going on in game when this occurs? Such as time of day or weather? Your DX11 log looks normal but your DX9 log does have a shader warning right before the crash. Are you on the latest AMD video driver? There have been a couple updates since Doom's release, just want to make sure you didn't end up on a bad driver. 

 

 

[RustIronCrowe]

I have tried to narrow down common conditions in which the crashes occur, but it still seems somewhat arbitrary. It is noteworthy that once it does crash in a certain area or under certain conditions (such as when looking towards a certain direction, or stepping out of a cabin on a particular night) then it will seem to keep on crashing near that same spot no matter how many times I attempt it.

An example is one session where I began at the Trapper's Homestead in Mystery Lake, and traveled ESE towards the tunnel collapse. About 100 meters from the rail line, the game freezes and I reload the session back at the Trapper's Homestead. I will follow the same path to the tunnel collapse and the game will freeze roughly in the same area in which it did previously.

Another example is in a session where I was at the train unloading area in the upper Coastal Highway, during a blizzard, and the game froze. I had an autosave in an exposed position up there from laying out my bedroll, so I could repeat this many times in the same location. I found that it would crash pretty much immediately when I looked towards the coast. I could remain in position or even walk around while looking at the cliff face above me but as soon as I turned towards the lower elevations it would crash. Eventually I made it all the way to the trailer there by walking backwards (keeping my eyes to the cliff face) and acquiring a new autosave there. Even waiting in the trailer did not help though, as I could exit but as soon as I started heading down the slopes it would crash again, regardless of weather or time of day. It was only after perhaps a dozen attempts was I able to make it to the next cabin down the hill.

Only once have I experienced a crash on the main menu screen, and this was only after a half dozen in-game crashes in rapid succession.

To date, I have not experienced a crash inside a building or a mine. I have experienced one in an automobile however. Nor have I experienced a crash in the Crumbling Highway region, despite repeated crashes upon entering Coastal Highway from there or returning to Desolation point.

Occasionally I have a gut feeling that this is somehow connected to the autosaves, but have no way to confirm or deny this. Otherwise, as I have said, there doesn't appear to be much rhyme or reason to the crashes, and they have occurred under nearly all environmental conditions. About 50% of the time it will happen immediately upon "doing" something (looking up from a fire, picking up a bedroll) and the other half of the time it will simply occur while walking.

At one point it did seem that it would occur slightly more frequently when there was high wind and low visibility conditions, and less frequently during clear, quiet nights.

My graphics chipset is somewhat dated (Radeon HD 5800 series) and is considered a legacy support model, but I have experienced the same TLD crashes with both the latest WHQL certified drivers and the Crimson Edition Beta driver.

[EEE]

@RustIronCrowe thank you for taking us through the exact details of your crashes.

The crash you describe at "the train unloading area in the upper Coastal Highway" I experienced myself a few month ago. I have to add that I'm running on a pretty banged up piece of Mac hardware though...

Same as your description: as soon as I glanced over the bay TLD crashed. Having leaned something about 3D graphics rendering during my university days I figured that the program tried to stuff too much detail into my rather limited graphics hardware (256MB of video RAM, details see below.) After having experienced this kind of crash repeatedly I was able to evade the crash by keeping my "render window" on a few square meters in front of my feet. So I kind of stumbled down the hill looking at my toes... It's risky though, b/c wolves are active in this region.

 

I have to add that I did not experience the crash in the latest Version V.338.

 

the long dark version:
V.338

my specs:
iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010)
OS X 10.10.5
3.06 GHz i3
4GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 4650 256 MB

greets,

EEE

 

[RustIronCrowe]

Update:
I don't know if this is incidental or part of the solution, but I entered a car and then immediately exited it, entered it, and again exited it, and the game crashed at the final exit.

Cheers and greets EEE!

Edit: Attempted to repeat enter/exit vehicle bug but could not replicate.

[RustIronCrowe]

Update:

Completely uninstalled all video drivers and performed a clean install of most recent complete version. Fired up game at default settings (DX11), no modified clocking, all systems normal.

Reloaded existing savegame at Desolation point. (Note - this savegame is a couple of weeks old in-game and has experienced these crashes, so it is not a pristine session..)

Wandered from one end to the other and back again at Desolation point, including exploring the enterable cave and mines. Whiteout conditions, travel by night and day, fires, torches.. all normal conditions were explored and no instability was experienced. Crossed through to the Crumbling Highway and pushed forward in much the same conditions, performing actions that have occasionally co-terminated with a game crash. Game ran immaculately. Total real-time at this point approx. 3 hrs.

Crossed over into Coastal Highway. Game locks and crashes just at acquiring position "Commuter's Lament".

One common theme I see is that the game seems to always crash soon after entering the region "Coastal Highway", although I have experienced crashes in other regions as well. In-game conditions at the time of crash were:

- The weather was clear and bright, perhaps mid-morning. It was cold and windy.

- I was slightly encumbered, carrying approx. 32kg of gear.

-I had just discovered the position "Commuter's Lament" and was facing down the road towards the town.

-All status indicators were at normal levels.

 

output_log.txt

[RustIronCrowe]

On 6/1/2016 at 4:09 AM, EEE said:

I have to add that I did not experience the crash in the latest Version V.338.

Yes, I as well experienced a crash-free experience until the "Tireless Menace" update as far as I can recall, and really have no way to work around it as of yet. This is unfortunate because I really enjoy this game and would like to create a video journal about it. Not possible with random crashes, though

Edit: My next option will be to disconnect the graphics card completely and run off of the integrated motherboard graphics. I should still be able to play the game at a stable 30fps and may be able to indicate whether the problem is ultimately on my end or not.

[Guest Support]

The above gives us a lot to work with already. No need to disconnect your current video card, yet. I will follow up with our engineers today to see if they have any suggestions