CRITICAL BUG Unable to play NS2 as of build 248

RoflcopterV22

Any time I start ns2 since build 248 I get a crash before menu screen, saying a fatal error has occured

THINGS I HAVE TRIED
-Computer restart
-Cache Verify
-Reinstalling NS2+deleting all mods/appdata related
-Reinstalling graphics drivers with a clean install
-Rolling back graphics drivers to a few versions back

Sent logs and minidumps via reporting system, if it means anything my log.txt stops after saying my render device.

Ghosthree3

Could you upload the logs/minidumps instead of just sending them.

IronHorse

What ghost said. your hidden folder %appdata%\natural selection2\ will contain a log.txt

Or you can run the techsupport.exe in the ns2 install folder so we can get all your info like video card and drivers etc.

RoflcopterV22

I defragmented my computer and NS2 has been working since

The log when it was crashing:

Date: 05/21/13
Time: 23:26:36

---

Build 248
Steam initialized
Render Device: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (9.18.13.2014)

not sure where minidump is

IronHorse

hmm.. well.. odd.. but glad that did it.
Did you use steam's defrag or are you on windows xp?

zeq

What did you use to defrag, I seem to be having similar problems, and have yet to figure out a solution.

trinity.ns

I have the same problem. I don't know when it started, but it happens for 248 and 249 (beta build). Since I'm using a SSD I don't want to defrag my computer.

I submitted a crash report. Is there anything else I should do/try to help with debugging?

I tried:
-Computer restart
-Cache Verify

Intel Core i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.2GHz
16.0 GB RAM
64-bit Windows 7 (SP1)

===========

Date: 06/08/13
Time: 10:17:50

---

Build 249
Steam initialized
Render Device: NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (9.18.13.2018)
Sound Device: Speakers (2- High Definition Audio Device) stereo
Record Device: Microphone (2- High Definition Audio Device)

IronHorse

Using steam's Defrag option shouldn't hurt your SSD.
Try at your own risk, of course, but I have an SSD and have used that feature before.

JCD

It will decrease the lifetime of the SSD, because an SSD has a set number of write operations in each sector.
After those were reached you can only read those sectors, so defragmenting is not good for SSD's.

trinity.ns

I have configured my SSD properly so Steam doesn't even give me the option to defragment the game cache.

trinity.ns

Just found out that this probably has to do with my graphic card drivers.
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/130474/crash-on-start-fixed#latest
Will try to downgrade.

DC_Darkling

as a side note.
There is no good reason to ever ever defrag a ssd. Not ever!

Files are cut into pieces and spread across your hard disk. It cuts them up so it can use any tiny spot left on your disk.
Defragmenting is putting all pieces of a file as close together as possible, while doing this with as much files as possible. This is so the read/write head of a mechanical disk needs less travel time for each piece, so it speeds up read/write of your files.

SSDs have no moving part and like memory read all files as fast from any location. So there is no reason to defragment, the problem simply doesnt exist on a SSD.
As SSDs get wear on there cells, moving pieces for 'defrag' when unneeded just adds additional wear and shortens life expectancy, making defrag on SSDs actually a bad idea.

IronHorse

But doesn't steam handle defragging differently?
I swear I read that somewhere and that's the only reason I was okay with it..

Sorry if i gave out misinformation

trinity.ns

Downgrading my driver from 320.18 to 314.22 fixed the problem.

DC_Darkling

defrag is still defrag.
At the end of the road it is to prevent the mechanical drives head from moving more then needed.
SSDs dont have moving parts.

IronHorse

Thanks for posting the fix ;-)

ultranewb

trinity.ns wrote: »

Downgrading my driver from 320.18 to 314.22 fixed the problem.

The latest nVidia drivers have issues all over the place. I was getting driver crashes when the system was doing nothing. I haven't had a video driver crash in a very, very long time.