Very frequent crashes to desktop

glutenfree

Related to a similar problem I have with NS2, I'm having a serious issue that prevents me from playing the game properly.

Each time I play the game, after roughly 10 to 30 min, the game will eventually crash to the desktop. It will suddenly exit without any message or warning and I'll be back to the desktop. I attached to this post 3 crash-dumps that were created for the last 3 crashes I've had.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, it's impossible for me to play the game without saving every 5 minutes.

0x6A7232

If you're having the same problem with NS2, which uses a different engine (Spark, vs Subnautica uses Unity ) perhaps you should update your drivers for your video and audio (check if there's any for your motherboard as well, you never know). Also be sure Windows is fully up to date. You can try to run

sfc /scannow

to check for errors in system files as well.

Maybe after that if the problem persists, try a CPU then a GPU stress test, and use memtest86+ or Windows Memory Diagnostic to check your RAM. If you get failures on multiple fronts, perhaps it's a power supply? Some power supplies begin showing signs of failing only when under increased load, such as when gaming.

glutenfree

"update your drivers for your video and audio"
That's alreay done. Although my GPU is a AMD card, which means I can't update to the latest drivers (18.6.1) because Subnautica has issues with it. I'm on the 18.4.1 driver, which works just as fine for AMD users.

"your motherboard as well"
This might be a bit excessive, but I agree that you never really know so why not. I'd like to avoid doing that because of how much of an hassle that is, and how potentially dangerous it can be. Plus I don't really think that is the issue, see my last point.

"sfc /scannow"
Ran it, no issues where found. Didn't know about that tool btw, thanks

" try a CPU then a GPU stress test, and use memtest86+ or Windows Memory Diagnostic to check your RAM."
I don't believe this is an hardware issue. I can play other more intensive games just fine: GTAV, Squad, all run without any issue.

The recurrent problem I have in all the crash logs is an Access Violation. It's the same issue I have with NS2, which actually prevents me from even creating the crash dump. This is the root of the problem and I can't see what's causing it.

0x6A7232

Perhaps backup saved games, clean uninstall, find and manually delete the game folders, then re-install. Might be a incorrect / corrupt folder permissions issue? This should fix it I think (although there's also registry key permissions, heh...)

0x6A7232

Checked your output_log... try e-mailing those zip files to the devolopers ( subnautica-support@unknownworlds.com ) along with your dxdiag txt output (save all information as... button after running dxdiag).

glutenfree

Actually, you were right. I have played Squad and I get the same CTD 10minutes into the game, so this definitely is an hardware issue.

I ran memtest86+ and the RAM isn't an issue, so I suspect my GPU is the culprit since the more intensive the game, the faster I crash. I've had issues with it in the past, those have been resolved by updating the card but that doesn't seem to do the trick anymore. Do you have any specific software you'd suggest to stress-test it ?

EDIT: Nevermind, it's actually not my GPU ... Temperature is OK and stress test are running up fine. This is getting really annoying, I sent an email to the devs.

0x6A7232

Hmm. crashes across multiple games, but temps are fine.. kinda odd.

glutenfree

Everything ties to this access violation, but what's even more odd is that it doesn't even show up in the event manager.

Maybe it has to do with steam somehow, I need to check games that don't run on the platform.

0x6A7232

Can you do a clean re-install of Steam without re-downloading all the games?

From here:

Move the subfolder /steamapps/ to a safe place before uninstalling Steam, then do the following steps:

1. Uninstall Steam
2. Reinstall Steam
3. Launch Steam
4. Exit Steam
5. Move the content of your /steamapps/ backup to the new /steamapps/ subfolder
6. Relaunch Steam

At this point Steam should find all games without any other action; in the worst case, where Steam does not detect some games as installed, just reinstall them and the game will be downloaded and ready in few seconds/minutes because it only need to validate the game content cache.

glutenfree

Thank you for this, I'll try that out when I have more free time and post the results here

glutenfree

So I did more than just getting a clean steam installation. I also ran scans on my computer, I actually found one Trojan (no idea how I got that, I'm usually very careful with what I download) that I removed with my anti-virus. I ran a new scan afterwards to make sure it was removed. I also got a bunch of new windows update and fixed some issues I found in the event viewer.

But guess what, nope, I still have the same issue ... At this point I really don't know what to do ... I guess this goes beyond just subnautica, but I really can't tackle the source of this problem.

0x6A7232

glutenfree wrote: »

So I did more than just getting a clean steam installation. I also ran scans on my computer, I actually found one Trojan (no idea how I got that, I'm usually very careful with what I download) that I removed with my anti-virus. I ran a new scan afterwards to make sure it was removed. I also got a bunch of new windows update and fixed some issues I found in the event viewer.

But guess what, nope, I still have the same issue ... At this point I really don't know what to do ... I guess this goes beyond just subnautica, but I really can't tackle the source of this problem.

There's only one way to be sure...
Nuke it from orbit! (Do a PC Reset - search for "reset this pc" in the start menu). Or even better (to be sure there's not a trojan lurking in the backup install files), use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool (Click "Download tool now" button, I think it's the second button, underneath "Update now") and make a USB installation disc (or DVD if you have a DVD burner, but USB is faster, it just needs to be 8GB or more).

Neighbour

You might also want to try and check the event viewer (start -> run -> eventvwr, or start -> settings -> control panel -> administrative tools -> event viewer (win7)).
I've had some CTD's that turned out to be out-of-memory-kills because I was running too much other stuff in the background. (Before that, when I still ran subnautica on my ol' AMD HD5750, I've also had AMD driver crashes, which also are listed neatly in the eventviewer).

glutenfree

0x6A7232 wrote: »

There's only one way to be sure...
Nuke it from orbit! (Do a PC Reset - search for "reset this pc" in the start menu). Or even better (to be sure there's not a trojan lurking in the backup install files), use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool (Click "Download tool now" button, I think it's the second button, underneath "Update now") and make a USB installation disc (or DVD if you have a DVD burner, but USB is faster, it just needs to be 8GB or more).

Oh boy ... I hoped it would not come to this but well, I exhausted all my options to be honest so yeah ...
Thanks for the links, I guess it's time to back-up my files and reinstall windows ... If that doesn't even work, I'll write a very angry letter to AMD because the GPU would be the only culprit left.

Neighbour wrote: »

You might also want to try and check the event viewer (start -> run -> eventvwr, or start -> settings -> control panel -> administrative tools -> event viewer (win7)).
I've had some CTD's that turned out to be out-of-memory-kills because I was running too much other stuff in the background. (Before that, when I still ran subnautica on my ol' AMD HD5750, I've also had AMD driver crashes, which also are listed neatly in the eventviewer).

I've had the event viewer opened every time I play, "unfortunately" it's not that easy and my RAM is doing just fine. Actually, half the time the crash doesn't even show up the in the log, but if it does it's always an access violation error.
And my RAM isn't what's causing this issue, as I always play with nothing else running and running memtest86+ resulted in no issues found.

glutenfree

Okay, nevermind, I finally found the issue.

It was my GPU after all, it overheats really bad.
The first time I had monitored it, it stayed at around 60°C while playing which was okay. After further inspection, I noticed it actually does stays at that level only for the first 5min or so, and then gets all the way up to 90°C in minutes.

So welp, I guess it's getting old, I can play with custom fan settings in MSI AfterBurner + other extra fans, but that's clearly not ideal. I'll change it when I can.

Thanks for the help anyways, really appreciated it

narfblat

@glutenfree another player or two have found that disabling Afterburner improves Subnautica performance. Get rid of dust in the case to help a little with temp problems.

0x6A7232

glutenfree wrote: »

Okay, nevermind, I finally found the issue.

It was my GPU after all, it overheats really bad.
The first time I had monitored it, it stayed at around 60°C while playing which was okay. After further inspection, I noticed it actually does stays at that level only for the first 5min or so, and then gets all the way up to 90°C in minutes.

So welp, I guess it's getting old, I can play with custom fan settings in MSI AfterBurner + other extra fans, but that's clearly not ideal. I'll change it when I can.

Thanks for the help anyways, really appreciated it

If the card is out of warranty, maybe try pulling the heatsink and re-applying thermal paste?

Jokersoupnazi

I am having an issue with the game not loading fully where I can see it's opened on the task bar and I can hear the music and that's all. The game never opens further, I am up to date on drivers, graphics card, windows updates and everything else as far as I know. I have tried to run this game in compatibility mode for windows 8 but nothing worked I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, validating game files. Nothing seems to work. Hopefully I can get some kind of assistance this is definitely my last attempt to play this game.

-Frustrated and Defeated

narfblat

@Jokersoupnazi
Your game might be running minimized, you can find directions on maximizing it in 0x6A7232's signature above. If that doesn't fix it, try using the launch option -window-mode exclusive

ExploringUndersea

My game has just started crashing the last few days. This forum system won't let me create a new topic, even though I've already made the one post and waited the one day. I'm frustrated both with the newly frequent crashes and with my inability to report them in a new topic as requested in the sticked post...

Jokersoupnazi

@Narfblat I wasn't able to maximize it and I'm not sure how to force the full screen mode. I went to the link but I don't see where anyone explains how to do it.

0x6A7232

Jokersoupnazi wrote: »

@Narfblat I wasn't able to maximize it and I'm not sure how to force the full screen mode. I went to the link but I don't see where anyone explains how to do it.

Press
CTRL + Shift + Esc

then:

narfblat

Jokersoupnazi wrote: »

@Narfblat I wasn't able to maximize it and I'm not sure how to force the full screen mode. I went to the link but I don't see where anyone explains how to do it.

In Steam, right-click the game and select "properties" then click "set launch options".

0x6A7232

narfblat wrote: »

Jokersoupnazi wrote: »

@Narfblat I wasn't able to maximize it and I'm not sure how to force the full screen mode. I went to the link but I don't see where anyone explains how to do it.

In Steam, right-click the game and select "properties" then click "set launch options".

The launch mode you want is

-window-mode exclusive