Cry Of Fear crashing after starting a new game

[Alpinista]

Sorry for the long LONG text but i didn't manage to find anywhere on the internet (both in CoF and HL1 forums) someone with the same issue as mine, so i'm documenting this here to see if anyone has some light to shine here for me and anyone else that happens to get this problem.

I already have completed cry of fear and wanted to try my new unlockables at a higher difficulty, but when i started a new game it simply just crashed after the screen has gone white (before the intro cutscene). The error message that pops up after the crash is:
Fatal Error Bad surface extents 16/2416 at position (192,156,-17).

Stuff that i tried here but to no avail:

- I have tried putting hlds at compatibility mode (both win XP service pack 3 / win 7) and the cof/launcher executables as well, i wiped my save files and unlockables (that hurt) too.

- I have tried as well before erasing my save files loading an save after the starting area (for context, it's the area before the first enemy of the game) and for some reason any area/map that is after the singleplayer starting sequence works.

- Uninstalling the game about 3 times and erasing all files from the steam/common/Cry Of Fear directory then reinstalling.

- Using different save files and collections that users have uploaded on moddb and Steam topics, but unfortunately the first tape recorder is only right before the first enemy and there's no way to go back the way Simon entered for some mysterious reason.

- Downloading the 1.0 version of Cry Of Fear from some strange .exe i got on moddb (lol) and starting a new game (again, i assume i got the same error because this time the message didn't appear).

- Using the 64bit crash patch that ruMpel uploaded on moddb (although it has improved the performance a bit).

So, that's everything that i tried, if someone happens to know a fix please comment. Thanks in advance.

[radu]

Did you find a fix?

[Alpinista]

Originally posted by radu:

Did you find a fix?

Sadly, no. My game kind of just fixed itself after about 3 months and a half after i opened this discussion.

From what i've searched after onto HL1 forums, the glitch is caused because while loading, the game can't find the coordinates of your position, and when trying to spawn Simon, it crashes in the process because it can't spawn on a "null" coordinate.

I could try and help you by recommending for you to do this things:

- Just wait (yeah, that's how at least for me how it got fixed, i don't know how much time though)

- Use Console (" key): On the Cry Of Fear Wiki, there's commands for each location for the whole game, including the Town Square (starting / bugged area), please try using "map c_start2" just to check. Although that specific one didn't open for me, all the other maps on the whole game opened just fine (online works too!), just check all commands for maps on the Wiki.
Link to Wiki: cry-of-fear.fandom.com/wiki/Cry_of_Fear_Wiki

- Collectibles: For that, you have two alternatives, since the collectible room on the start is not an option.
You can use cheats (Cheat Engine or whatever) to give yourself the items at the start (on the first tape player the game works too), OR play the game until after the Train crash chapter starts and go to the secret bunker door on the opposite side of the Forest entrance, inside there, there is another collectible room (the second one of those 2 rooms), so you can use them there too.

This is mainly caused from hardware issues, (i'm 90% sure its from faulty hard drives) but reinstalling the game didn't do it for me, idk about formatting your PC, but it is an option too that you can always try.

My laptop had an ♥♥♥♥ Hard Drive and a first gen Pentium at the time i posted this discussion here, i recently got a new PC and my game is running better than ever.

Hope i helped, any more questions, just ask! :)

[Millsy]

EARLY 2025 FIX...finally
- ISSUE/PROBLEM: Cof not launching after the intro/company sequence -
- EVERY OTHER POSSIBLE SOLUTION I'VE TRIED: Here's a list: -
Turning wifi off before I launch cof - reconnect once I'm in the intro sequence.
"cof.exe and CoFLaunchApp.exe in Properties and change the following in the Compatibility tab". Changing compatibility modes between Windows XP, 7, 8, 98 and Service Pack 3 (Run as administrator) for both CoFLaunchApp.exe + cof.exe.
http://Moddb.com crash patch/fix for 64 bit users (mainly for people crashing WITHIN playing cry of fear) thought I'd chuck it into here.
Verifying Steam game files
Restart PC
Downgrading/Upgrading between Windows 7 - 11 (alternating settings/fixes as shown previously in this list)
Re-installing COF
Ticking all 3 boxes in EVERY POSSIBLE ORDER within the CofLaunchApp pop up...(I know it's only 3 boxes, I'm very impatient ;)
Using 'Reshade.gx' (can't remember what it was called prior), again changing compatibilities (don't even bother)
Many many more that clearly didn't make the list because I forgot due to them not being so relevant which ended up being a whole time consumer
- SOLUTION -
And of course by solution, I mean MY solution that worked for me.
1. DELETING CRY OF FEAR
2. CLEARING TEMPORARY/RECYCLING BIN STORAGE
3. BACK UP EVERYTHING MF*ER
4. OF COURSE - FACTORY RESET
I know it's plain but aside from all the BS that I could say,
Just try it - If you're that desperate as I am, Do it.
Good luck.