RDR 2 Online - Crashes to desktop while loading (3rd Slide)

[Yard-Dog®]

I'm hoping someone else may have experienced this and found a solution that may help me.

I recently tried to load up a game, and the story campaign loads up just fine...every time.

But, I decided to start an online session with my son after about 6 months of us not playing online mode. So I select "Online" like I always did before, and it starts to load with the expected 'loading slideshow and music' like it always does, but on about the 3rd slide, the game crashes and it moves back to my Steam RDR 2 library page, and the green "Play" button shows itself after about 10 more seconds.

I verified the integrity of the install files, and it found no missing files or faults, but it will not let me successfully load into an online game. I've never had this problem before, so it's peculiar.

Has this happened to anybody else? And, do you have any solutions I can try to help me jump back into the online mode? Sincere thanks in advance.

[TigerMonkey]

I have the same problem. I deleted and reinstalled but no joy. Did you ever fix this?

[XOLiD]

Does single player work fine?
For Online are you using the startup.meta file trick to get your own solo session? If not then it's griefers with cheat mod menus crashing your game as soon as you join a session.

[Yard-Dog®]

Originally posted by TigerMonkey:

I have the same problem. I deleted and reinstalled but no joy. Did you ever fix this?

I'm still experiencing the issue. I did a clean install and everything too...also with no joy.

Originally posted by XOLiD:

Does single player work fine?
For Online are you using the startup.meta file trick to get your own solo session? If not then it's griefers with cheat mod menus crashing your game as soon as you join a session.

Yes, single player works fine and loads without fail every time. I am unfamiliar with the "startup.meta file trick." So you're saying that it could be griefers consciously crashing my game before loading into 'free roam' completes? Dammit, I hope not. What a bummer.

[LILI]

I had the same issue on my top-of-the-range PC.
I do not say it is your problem, but this is definitely something you should try.
After changing many things, and reading many (too many...) "solutions", I solved my problem by simply changing 1 thing in the settings: Change from VULKAN to DIRECTX ... (or the opposite)
> RDR2, SETTINGS
> Graphics
> scroll down to Advanced Graphics
> Advanced Settings: Unlocked
> Graphics API : DirectX 12 And if it is already DitrectX 12, change to Vulkan...
Almost 100h later, zero issue, all settings at ultra, FSR 2.0

Don't forget to exit the game and reboot the computer as the video API should be refreshed.

[XOLiD]

Played over 1700 hours and I can say for certain that DX12 is inferior to Vulkan in every way, changing to it will not fix crash issues, quite the opposite, may cause you to be unable to even launch your game without crashing on the first startup screen. But hey if you for some reason are already on DX12 I would highly suggest switching to Vulkan.

Originally posted by Yard-Dog®:

Yes, single player works fine and loads without fail every time. I am unfamiliar with the "startup.meta file trick." So you're saying that it could be griefers consciously crashing my game before loading into 'free roam' completes? Dammit, I hope not. What a bummer.

It's very easy to use any search engine to find out how to do the startup.meta file trick to get your own solo session, just search "red dead online startup meta" and yeah, griefer cheaters have pretty much taken over public RDO... R* doesn't care.

[LILI]

Originally posted by XOLiD:

Played over 1700 hours and I can say for certain that DX12 is inferior to Vulkan in every way, changing to it will not fix crash issues, quite the opposite, may cause you to be unable to even launch your game without crashing on the first startup screen.

Sorry but you are slightly wrong.
True that globally, Vulkan tends to be more stable. But not always.

Changing from the default Vulkan to DirectX 12 did solve the issue on my system, full AMD.
And the culprit was Vulkan, wrongly used by Steam on some specific configurations, especially high-end PCs using AMD SmartAccess Memory unlocking the dGPU memory.

The precompiling of shaders was not properly done and it had to be disabled within Steam. Vulkan was not receiving in times the necessary data for feeding at 5K 32:9 120 fps, hence aborting.

It is system dependent. Vulkan is only better if your configuration makes it shine as it is, which should be the case for most/many.
But if you have a problem, you should not rule out potential solutions...

[Yard-Dog®]

Originally posted by XOLiD:

Played over 1700 hours and I can say for certain that DX12 is inferior to Vulkan in every way, changing to it will not fix crash issues, quite the opposite, may cause you to be unable to even launch your game without crashing on the first startup screen. But hey if you for some reason are already on DX12 I would highly suggest switching to Vulkan.

Originally posted by Yard-Dog®:

Yes, single player works fine and loads without fail every time. I am unfamiliar with the "startup.meta file trick." So you're saying that it could be griefers consciously crashing my game before loading into 'free roam' completes? Dammit, I hope not. What a bummer.

It's very easy to use any search engine to find out how to do the startup.meta file trick to get your own solo session, just search "red dead online startup meta" and yeah, griefer cheaters have pretty much taken over public RDO... R* doesn't care.

I will certainly try switching to Vulkan (it is currently on DX12 after all), and I'll report any changes I experience.

I'll also check that solo-session trick out when I get home. While I can generally peruse Steam forums at work with no issues, I have to be very careful what I search for with search engines, particularly for games if it may be a mod obtained from Nexus Mods with all its sometimes-NSFW content.

Hopefully, a solution is in sight with one or both of those suggestions. Sincere thanks for taking the time to try to help.

[XOLiD]

Originally posted by LILI:

Originally posted by XOLiD:

Played over 1700 hours and I can say for certain that DX12 is inferior to Vulkan in every way, changing to it will not fix crash issues, quite the opposite, may cause you to be unable to even launch your game without crashing on the first startup screen.

Sorry but you are slightly wrong.
True that globally, Vulkan tends to be more stable. But not always.

Changing from the default Vulkan to DirectX 12 did solve the issue on my system, full AMD.
And the culprit was Vulkan, wrongly used by Steam on some specific configurations, especially high-end PCs using AMD SmartAccess Memory unlocking the dGPU memory.

The precompiling of shaders was not properly done and it had to be disabled within Steam. Vulkan was not receiving in times the necessary data for feeding at 5K 32:9 120 fps, hence aborting.

It is system dependent. Vulkan is only better if your configuration makes it shine as it is, which should be the case for most/many.
But if you have a problem, you should not rule out potential solutions...

Oh you said your system was "top-of-the-range" in your other post, which AMD isn't in regards to CPUs or GPUs these days.

[LILI]

Originally posted by XOLiD:

Oh you said your system was "top-of-the-range" in your other post, which AMD isn't in regards to CPUs or GPUs these days.

I use a professional system, not a regular PC.
With CPU : AMD Threadripper PRO 7000 WX, GPU : AMD Radeo PRO W7900, 128 Mb RAM, on a Samsung Odyssey G9. I can assure you it is way more than your regular PC. And it helps a lot for mathematical modeling . And obviously gaming also of course...
It is not a gamer PC, it is a workstation. :)

But what is ONLY important, is to see the OP solving his/her problem. Not arguing about this is best, no this is better.
The issue I talk about was reviewed by Steam Support, and it is them who gave the answer. Steam simply does not built always a flawless interface between its internal process (of Vulkan), and the specific use made by semi-external games like RDR2. Actually, it is best using/playing RDR2 without Steam...

[XOLiD]

Originally posted by LILI:

Originally posted by XOLiD:

Oh you said your system was "top-of-the-range" in your other post, which AMD isn't in regards to CPUs or GPUs these days.

I use a professional system, not a regular PC.
With CPU : AMD Threadripper PRO 7000 WX, GPU : AMD Radeo PRO W7900, 128 Mb RAM, on a Samsung Odyssey G9. I can assure you it is way more than your regular PC. And it helps a lot for mathematical modeling . And obviously gaming also of course...
It is not a gamer PC, it is a workstation. :)

But what is ONLY important, is to see the OP solving his/her problem. Not arguing about this is best, no this is better.
The issue I talk about was reviewed by Steam Support, and it is them who gave the answer. Steam simply does not built always a flawless interface between its internal process (of Vulkan), and the specific use made by semi-external games like RDR2. Actually, it is best using/playing RDR2 without Steam...

Yes I also hope OP finds the solution to his problem, but at the same time I'm thankful for your insight on how AMD workstation type setups will differ from Intel/Nvidia gaming setups.

[Yard-Dog®]

Nothing worked until I completely removed all install files for the game, social club, etc. then re-downloaded and installed. After that, I thankfully was able to experience the online side of the game again. Thanks to everyone who tried to help me.