[BNW] Crash when loading a save

[AdmiralKirk]

Hello all. I have been a long time player of Civ4, never got around to purchasing Civ5 until just recently and it was this mod that made me go for it. Running into an odd problem. This is a fresh install of Civ 5 Complete Edition, the only mods installed or active are the four Communitas ones. (Tried the versions from the Steam workshop originaly, then tried a direct download from the Communitas site with the latest).

Basically I can start a game fine, play for hours no problem and Save my game all I like. However after closing the game and then coming back to it, when I try to load any of my saves, it crashes.

So, salient points I suppose: This is a fresh install as of yesterday (just bought the game), only mod installed or loaded are the 4 communitas ones. Plays just fine, but can never load a save after leaving the game. Any tips appreciated, thanks!

 

[ExpiredReign]

You're right that is a strange one.

So, assuming you haven't already, read this about how to enable logging on your game and please provide a copy of the logs folder, all the files zipped together is fine.
Additionally could you post a copy of the savegame you are trying to load.

At first I thought it may be due to some missing content, but I think the 'Complete Edition' is in fact that, complete.

 

[AdmiralKirk]

Can do, ok, here we go. The steps I took to produce this are as follows:

1. Deleted my Civ5 folder from MyDocuments (wanted to start clean, was messing with it yesterday)
2. Started Civ5 to recreate folder in MyDocuments
3. Made modifications to ini file as requested to enable logging
4. Started Civ5, went to Mods (it downloaded all the mods I am subscribed to which is now a few more than communitas, but I only enabled the four communitas ones, direct from steam workshop)
5. On the subsequent screen I verified that only the four communitas mods were listed
6. Started a new game with all default settings (only variance was switched to using the communitas map).
7. First turn, settled my unit and saved game (before even ending the first turn).
8. Exit the game back to the desktop
9. Started the game back up
10. Went to single player and load, selected the one saved game
11. Attempted to verify that it only wanted to load the 4 aforementioned mods
12. Oddity detected, it only listed the Gameplay mod of the four I created it with
13. Clicked load, within 5 seconds, Civ5 crashed.

Included is the entire contents of the Log directory as well as a copy of the saved game that caused the crash. The logs should begin from step four, so they include the creation and saving of the game, as well as the loading and subsequent crash. If you have any other ideas or things you want me to test let me know.

Also, just for your edification here is a copy of the crash information from the Application log. I was going to include the Cache as well as indicated by that post but it was 30mb zipped, so if you require that I do have a copy and I can upload it to dropbox or something if you want it.

Faulting application name: CivilizationV_DX11.exe, version: 1.0.3.144, time stamp: 0x525863c1
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.18247, time stamp: 0x521ea8e7
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0002e3be
Faulting process id: 0xd80
Faulting application start time: 0x01cf5cd44da2d5b6
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\CivilizationV_DX11.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll
Report Id: c580d128-c8c7-11e3-b322-005056c00008

 

[AdmiralKirk]

Now that I'm reading through a few more of these rather than searching for this specific issue, it seams I should have reported this to a bug tracker rather than to this forum system. In the interest of not double posting and as this has already received a reply I will not attempt to double post to the bug tracker unless indicated to do so. My apologies for not posting in the correct location in the first place.

 

[ExpiredReign]

hmm...

For future reference I will have to remember that the 'Complete Edition' is different to having all the expansions and DLC separately. I can not load your savegame because I don't have the Scrambled Nations/Continents Map Pack(s). BTW, the listing of only one Communitas module is correct, that is the same for everyone.

I wonder if you could try these options one at a time to see if it is related.
I've listed them in order of likelihood. More than likely the first option will solve the problem as the logs make reference to modded values from a previous release.

1) Unsubscribe from using the mods via Steam, very important to not be subscribed. Using whichever filemanager you like clear the cache, ModUserData & logs folders.
Download the latest release from the GitHub repository and manually install using that. It is just a matter of copying the files into the MODS folder and letting the game install them from local files.
This will mean you are using the latest release mod. The Steam release has been behind for too long and will be addressed in the next release.

2) Now because the Gamecore.log shows some errors that are stopping the game from loading.
Open the Steam client to the Library tab, with the Civilization game highlighted, open the right-click menu and select the last option: Properties.
Now on the new popup window click the 3rd tab, Local Files and on that tab click: VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME CACHE...

I'm making the assumption here that although this is a brand new game there might be one or two errors in the installation. This command will search through your installation and update anything out-of-date or not installed.

After doing so start the game and try and load the savegame.

3) This next option is a bit from left field but there were many issues in the general forum from some time ago about CTDs and this setting.
Locate your config.ini search for EnableGameCoreThreading.
Change the value from 1 to 0, or the other way around if needed.

Again, try only one option at a time and start the game after each attempt. The most likely option is the first so you shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get it working.
If I may make a suggestion, unless you like getting the achievements and other stuff via Steam, try keeping the Steam client as starting in offline mode. That way there will be no problems with mods updating in the background, or downgrading as the case might be. Then when you want to check for updates just restart the client, do your updates and then turn it off again. This way, you are in charge of what gets installed on your system.

 

[AdmiralKirk]

I will give those things a try, doing the Verify right now. As for the direct download, that link 404's for me. I found the link for 3.15.1, is that new enough? Verify just finished, found no problems. I'll try it again anyway just to be thorough. As for the mod, I'll try with 3.15.1 for now, if you post back with a newer version I'll try that as well. Thanks for your help!

 

[AdmiralKirk]

Ok, here are the results of my tests:

1. Verified Integrety, came out with no problems, tested anyway (using Steam Workshop version of mod). Results: crash

2. Unsubscribed from Steam Workshop version of mods, downloaded and installed 3.15.1 version. Results: crash

3. Make adjustment to config.ini as per recomendation. Result: crash


So, so far no dice. Is their any easy way to disable the extra DLC that comes with the Complete Edition? And if so what is the minimum DLC required to run this mod? Thats the only other thing I can think to try. I don't know if you know anyone proficient in assembly, but I could grab a Dr. Watson bugcheck log if it would be helpful. Thanks for your help!

 

[ExpiredReign]

Ok, let's get down to this.

Firstly you can revert the changes, if not done already, to your config.ini. Are you sure you got the latest release from the link I gave you? I pointed you to 3.16 and you mention 3.15.1. Not that it would really matter, this problem seems more related to your hardware and game system software. I can't see how CEP would make these problems.
Zip up the minidumps of the crashes from you Civilization folder and post them here or provide a link to an onsite storage like DropBox or something. I'll get someone to examine them and see what they tell us.

Grab any other mod that grabs your eye and install it and play for a while then save it, reload it, report the outcome.
Do the same with just a vanilla (no mods loaded) game, just to be sure.

DLCs can be turned on/off from the DLC option on the main screen. They're the only things different between our two setups. As I mentioned before though, I can't see how CEP stumbles over these new items and stops you from loading a savegame. If an incompatibility is there you wouldn't be able to start in the first place.

 

[AdmiralKirk]

Ok, I'm starting to think this game hates me. So lets begin. I was thinking somewhat along your lines too, is it my computer? So I installed Steam on my computer at work (very different hardware) and installed CivV their. Loaded Communitas 3.15.1 (latest I can find, the link you gave me doesn't seem to work, but on that same github I can find 3.15.1 marked as "latest"). Started game, no problem, saved, quite, no problem. Loaded, crash...

So it doesn't seam to be my hardware from what I can see. Once I got home, I tried the other suggestions you mentioned, I installed a good assortment of mods (about 10 I think) and tried that out. Weirdly that also crashed but in a different way. Soooo, i tried a few less than those 10 mods, just 4 a small handful. Started a game, saved, went to load it and no problem, loaded just fine. So apparently some mods have issues, while others don't.

Also out of curiosity I tried to load a steam save I made while I was at work with about 10 ish mods loaded, this one crashed in yet a 3rd way, referencing a run-time that was requested to close in an unusual manner. This crash doesn't appear to create a crash dump like the others, although it still causes the game to die.

So, attached is four crash dumps, the 3 oldest are with communitas only, the last one is the one I did a few minutes ago with a bunch of other mods and no communitas. I included it just for reference in case it tells you something.

I must say I am definitely getting discouraged, it wouldn't be so bad if it just up and crashed from the get go, but to get into a game and then never be able to load it again is definitely starting to kill my buzz .

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for being so helpful, I know you don't get paid for this crap but its nice to know their are nice people out their. Thanks!

 

[AdmiralKirk]

Just a little more food for thought. I tried unselecting all the DLC other than the two expansions, no difference. Also I tried moving all the DLC out of the assets folder other than the two expansions. noticed something odd. their is a dlc called "shared" which seams to be unique to the complete edition and CivV wont even start without it. Not sure if that's important or not but I figured I'd let you know.

 

[AdmiralKirk]

Ok, breakthrough I think. After a morning of getting zero work done and googling like crazy I found someone who had posted a somewhat similar problem. Here is what I found.

Some, but not all mods cause this problem. The mods that do are usually of the more complex nature, simplistic mods are usually OK. When the problem happens its almost always the same way, you can start a game and play all you like, save no problem. But whenever you load the game it crashes.

EXCEPT!! Thier is ONE way to load the game that works. If you go to the Mods screen, then click next to pre-load the mods (they MUST be the exact mods you used in the previous save, no more, no less, this includes DLC). Then load the save from their, it loads just fine. This also holds true for the Communitas mod. So the problem appears to be a very strange CivV bug and nothing to do with Communitas at all.

I do apologize for taking up your time on an issue that doesn't appear to have anything to do with the project you chose to donate your time to support. If you are still interested in debugging this I am more than willing but I definitely understand if you want to mark this issue complete. Thanks much for the time you have spent so far, it is greatly appreciated!

 

[ExpiredReign]

Woah!! back up there. Are you saying you were trying to load "modded saves" from the main screen without first going into the MODS menu?


You know last night while I was tossing and turning trying to figure this one out I thought:
"Maybe he's not going into the MODS option screen first?, Nah!! everyone knows to do that."

Well all jokes aside I am glad you got it figured out, now you can look forward to the frustration that comes from using mods that sometimes contain changes that you aren't sure are problems or not.

 

[AdmiralKirk]

Haha, its funny what we sometimes take for-granted as common knowledge huh? I only just started playing CivV last week Had no idea that you couldn't load a modded save directly from the main load menu, especially since no helpful popup came up telling me otherwise and it actually DID work half the time! Firaxis needs to work on their idiot proofing I still think a crash is an odd way to notify your users that their an idiot but hey, now that I know that's how its supposed to work all is well! Again, thank you very much for your persistence in helping this idiot out

 

[Zarggg]

I'm honestly surprised the game let you try to load it, since the regular saves and modded saves are stored in separate directories.