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[CRITICAL] Game crashes upon pressing "Play" or "Change Server" in the menu.
Acknowledged, WishlistPublic

Description

The game launches fine, and the menu pops up without a hitch. But as soon as I press either "Play" or "Change Server" the game stops responding. It doesn't crash to the desktop, but rather freezes indefinitely. However, when checking the Task Manager, the game is "Not responding", and in order to fully exit the game, I have to kill it there - and reboot the computer.

Throughout the freeze/crash, the forest-like audio of chirping birds etc. still plays, but I am unable to make the game respond to anything.

Before pressing "Play" or "Change Server", and thus triggering the freeze/crash, clicking "Character" or "Options" works fine.

This issue occurs every single time, and I am thus unable to play at all.

Details

Legacy ID
195119243
Severity
None
Resolution
Open
Reproducibility
Always
Category
Game Crash
Steps To Reproduce
  1. Run DayZ through Steam
  2. Press "Play" or "Change Server"
  3. Game stops responding
Additional Information

I have tried validating my game cache through Steam.
I have tried running both the game and Steam as Administrator.
I have tried running the game in windowed mode.
I have tried disabling V-Sync through the in-game options menu.

None of the above helped.

I have uploaded both a dxdiag file and a crashdump in a single .rar-file

Event Timeline

madsliljendahl edited Additional Information. (Show Details)
madsliljendahl set Category to Game Crash.
madsliljendahl set Reproducibility to Always.
madsliljendahl set Severity to None.
madsliljendahl set Resolution to Open.
madsliljendahl set Legacy ID to 195119243.May 8 2016, 8:13 PM

I can now add that I've tried reinstalling DayZ through Steam, yet the problem persists.

Also; I forgot to mention that while the game itself seems to freeze, I can still move the cursor around - but other than that, the game is unresponsive.

A couple of things to add:

  • I have of course tried disabling anti-virus (including Windows Defender), with no change at all.
  • My graphics drivers are up to date.
andy added a comment.Oct 6 2014, 2:44 PM

Hi madsliljendahl,
thank you for the report. I have forwarded the data for investigation.
Regards,
Andy

Thanks, Andy.

And to clarify: My editing this ticket earlier to add "Not responding" as a tag, was in no way intended as a snarky remark on the response time of the otherwise excellent DayZ feedback team, but rather related to the problem at hand.

Unlike this comment, naturally.

All kidding aside, thanks again for the reply.

  • Mads

Another thing to add:

  • I have now tried updating to experimental, but the problem persists.

Hey Andy,

I tried updating the experimental build to the latest version, but that didn't help the issue.
Neither did switching back to stable and verifying the steam game cache.

I was wondering something, however. I've had a few months hiatus from the game, and as far as I can gather there was a character wipe of some kind, prior to (or around) the release of the 0.49 build - is that correct?

If it is, I just find it weird that my old character is still featured beside the menu when I open the game.
Could that be related to the issue in some weird way?

Thanks in advance,
Mads

Another batch of things I've tried:

  • I tried to join a server through my Steam Favorites list, in order to circumvent the menu. This time, the game froze and crashed on the black screen with the DayZ logo - so no real change.
  • I reinstalled the game again for the fun of it. The problem (unsurprisingly, perhaps) persisted.

Same thing. If I try to log in to server probably 5 to 6 times it works... sometimes. Other times I'm screwed.

So... Are there any news to report, Andy? :)

andy added a comment.Oct 15 2014, 10:42 AM

Hey madsliljendahl,
I am sorry, but this is quite complicated, however rest assured that we are looking into the issue.
Hopefully I will be able to be the bearer of good news soon.
Regards,
Andy

Hey Andy,

I really appreciate the update.
Keep up the good work!

Kind - albeit zombie-killing-craving - regards,
Mads

Dennooo added a subscriber: Dennooo.May 8 2016, 8:13 PM

I have the exact same issue, tried everything you've tried aswell. It stared with 0.49

Hey Andy, long time no talky!

I tried opening the game again, hoping that the issue would have been resolved in the last few updates, but sadly this isn't the case. This pesky problem is still an issue.

... Any news to share? :)

Regards,
Mads

Hi there! I have the same problem too (/view.php?id=18943) It started with the last update.

So... It's been three months. Long time no talky.

I have to admit, that this is getting a bit frustrating. I'm quite aware that the game is in alpha, but I'm starting to feel that you've forgotten me :)

I just tried opening the game again, hoping that the numerous patches would've corrected the issue, but amazingly it's actually gotten worse. When the problem started, I got to the main menu where the game froze whenever I pressed "Play" or "Change Server" - and not once since have I been able to circumvent that issue.

But now I can't even get into the game. It just freezes immediately on startup with a black screen and a loading cursor. The game stops answering and I have to force a restart to close it properly - killing the application in task manager apparently doesn't close some background process.

... And just for kicks, I tried switching to experimental (for the bajillionth time, roughly), but to no avail.

I'll try reinstalling the game again, but I'm... somewhat less optimistic about the results.

I'm eagerly awaiting your reply :)

Hey Andy,

I really don't mean to be rude, but it's been almost three months since I heard from you, where you said that you hoped to be "the bearer of good news soon".

I'd like to stress that I'm not demanding a solution to the issue right this instant. But if you could just comment here, and reassure me that my problem is still on your radar, and that you're still working on it - I would be very grateful.

Sincerely,
Mads Liljendahl

andy added a comment.Jan 9 2015, 4:47 PM

Hey Mads and sorry for this taking so long.
We have not been able to reproduce the issue and it is quite hard to figure out the cause here. I'd like to ask you to upload your AppData once more, this time from a latest version - please delete the AppData on your computer, then launch the game and reproduce the crash again - then upload the newly generated files here and we will take another look.
Again, I apologize, however the ticket was not being ignored, the problem was simply that I was not able to deliver any real news.
Please attach the new AppData to the ticket.
Thank you,
Andy

Hey Andy,

Thanks a bunch for the reply - it's greatly appreciated.

I tried what you said, but when DayZ starts (and immediately crashes) - it only creates an empty folder within the AppData/Local folder.

What now?

  • Mads

Hey Andy,

As mentioned, I cannot upload a new AppData file, because the game only creates an empty folder upon startup, before it crashes. So what do we do now? :)

  • Mads