game does not start, stuck on Black screen with CPU usage pinned at 25%

[EpicSlayer7.666]

last time i played was from 6 months to 1 year ago, not sure. tho today i wanted to play since a long time and the game does not start. the splash screen displays, the screen goes black, the CPU climbs to nearly 100% then drops to 25% and does not do anything...

i once had that problem where i had to alt tab or alt enter to see the menu and could hear sounds in the background but now it is just dead like it is loading for ever stuck in a loop.

i go have a few workshop items loaded but those should not prevent the game from loading... is there a way to try to load without loading the items without having to unsubscribe to the workshop items?

i have Windows 7, no updates can be done since i installed it on a Intel i3 8100 and it shows a message that updates are forcefully disabled. if i try to manually install updates, an error message appears... so as far as updates goes i cannot do any.

2nd my video card drivers won't update, i have 430.64 Nvidia drivers, the 441.66 drivers i tried does not install properly... i probably could try to DDU and then try but i hate having to tune settings for all the games individually... (remembering all the exact old settings is impossible.)

ironically i can start it on Linux all tho it stutters once per second... but this game worked fine on my machine 1 year ago... so i am not sure what changed in the game since. (since it does not crash, i cannot provide any logs.)

my machine has:

Windows 7
Intel i3 8100
Nvidia 1050Ti
32 GB RAM

i don't know how much it changed but i used to run this on a quad core q6600 4 GB of RAM on a Nvidia 550 TI in 2014... so i doubt it is spec related... as long as the menu is not trying to load videos using missing codex...

[Dan2D3D]

Hi, try the Forum Workaround(s) thread first :

https://steamcommunity.com/app/244850/discussions/0/2440336020748966737/

[Mojo]

Originally posted by EpicSlayer7.666:

I have a few workshop items loaded but those should not prevent the game from loading... is there a way to try to load without loading the items without having to unsubscribe to the workshop items?

Actually they (Workshop items) could be possible for the game not loading. I can not think of an easy way for you to take out the workshop items without unsubbing to them, sorry.

I would do Dan2D3D suggestion first though.

:)

[EpicSlayer7.666]

i tried the workarounds and it does not fix the problem... the only difference is that the game does not go to the black screen tho the game do produce log files for VrageRender-DirrextX11 and SpaceEngineers is there somewhere i can post the ones before using the workaround and after. (2 VRageRenderer and 2 SpaceEngineers logs.)

i will put the only thing here that i see that says "Failed" since the rest is Data that only means something to someone who works on the game.
----

2021-02-11 15:19:52.949 - Thread: 1 -> MyDefinitionManager.PreloadDefinitions() - START
2021-02-11 15:19:53.253 - Thread: 1 -> Loading sound definitions
2021-02-11 15:19:53.267 - Thread: 1 -> GuiTextures.sbc
2021-02-11 15:19:53.267 - Thread: 1 -> Failed to parse texture header! Texture: E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\SpaceEngineers\Content\Textures\GUI\Icons\buttons\BluePrintCloud.png
2021-02-11 15:19:53.273 - Thread: 1 -> GuiTextures.sbc
2021-02-11 15:19:53.273 - Thread: 1 -> Failed to parse texture header! Texture: E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\SpaceEngineers\Content\Textures/GUI/Icons/Browser/CheckServiceBack.dds
2021-02-11 15:19:53.273 - Thread: 1 -> GuiTextures.sbc
2021-02-11 15:19:53.273 - Thread: 1 -> Failed to parse texture header! Texture: E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\SpaceEngineers\Content\Textures/GUI/Icons/Browser/CheckServiceBackChecked.dds
2021-02-11 15:19:53.273 - Thread: 1 -> GuiTextures.sbc
2021-02-11 15:19:53.273 - Thread: 1 -> Failed to parse texture header! Texture: E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\SpaceEngineers\Content\Textures/GUI/Icons/Browser/CheckServiceBackFocused.dds
2021-02-11 15:19:53.273 - Thread: 1 -> GuiTextures.sbc
2021-02-11 15:19:53.273 - Thread: 1 -> Failed to parse texture header! Texture: E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\SpaceEngineers\Content\Textures/GUI/Icons/Browser/CheckServiceBackHighlighted.dds
2021-02-11 15:19:53.273 - Thread: 1 -> GuiTextures.sbc
2021-02-11 15:19:53.273 - Thread: 1 -> Failed to parse texture header! Texture: E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\SpaceEngineers\Content\Textures/GUI/Icons/Browser/ModModioIcon.png
2021-02-11 15:19:53.329 - Thread: 1 -> Loading OffensiveWords definitions
2021-02-11 15:19:53.329 - Thread: 1 -> WARNING: Unexpected behaviour may occur due to redefinition of 'Offensive Words'
2021-02-11 15:19:53.330 - Thread: 1 -> Loading shadow textures definitions
2021-02-11 15:19:53.330 - Thread: 1 -> WARNING: Unexpected behaviour may occur due to redefinition of 'Text shadow sets'
2021-02-11 15:19:53.334 - Thread: 1 -> MyDefinitionManager.PreloadDefinitions() - END

----


i must mention the files verified successfully.

the only change is that it does not go to a black screen, it did not create a new "SpaceEngineers.cfg". all it does it put the "SpaceEngineers.exe" at exactly 25% CPU usage in Taskmanager using 2 GB of Ram, the harddrive indicator on the PC is not flashing so it is not loading anything...

i will try unsubscribing from all the workshop content as my next test. if all else fails, i will go back to older versions until i find the last version that works.

[Dan2D3D]

Share the complete log with last date on it, we may see something wrong in there.
the log that looks like this :

SpaceEngineers_20210211_122642565.log



___


How to share the complete game log on Steam :

The game log can be found here:
C:\Users\{YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\SpaceEngineers.log

or simply paste this into your Explorer:
%appdata%\SpaceEngineers

The log file should be from the game session where you've encountered the bug. If you start the game again, the log will be overwritten.
post log file to www.pastebin.com and add the link here.

+
You may cut the log text in half if too big for Pastebin so just share in more than one page if needed.

[EpicSlayer7.666]

Paste Bin:

https://pastebin.com/Xiaff8pt


i took the oldest of the bunch since i tried to run it about 10 times or so since the first error.

also that site is rather hard to make work... i had to turn off tracking protection and noscript and it once crashed firefox... (probably malicious ads...)

[EpicSlayer7.666]

also adding instead of editing the old comment, since i did not play for above 6 months, the oldest log file is from the 11th, November, 2021. and they all contain the same thing except the one after i cleared the ShaderCache2 folder and "SpaceEngineers.cfg".

[Dan2D3D]

In the log = I don't see any errors, the game just stop loading at some point = ??

In log :

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1)

CPU Info: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-8100 CPU @ 3.60GHz

.NET Framework 4.7.3062.0

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Driver date = 2019 05 05

+

Drive C: | Capacity: 120,031,542,784 bytes | Free space: 9,985,308,672 bytes

___

The only things I can see :

1 - Make sure Win7 updates are completed.

2 - Update the .NET Framework to 4.8 from the Microsoft website.

3 - Add more available space on your C: Drive, only 9GB may be too low.

[Dan2D3D]

Maybe also :

4 - Update the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.

[EpicSlayer7.666]

i can't do windows updates, not because Microsoft discontinued windows 7 updated but because they locked it so i can't do any updates past 2016. i made the mistake of updating... since i have an intel i3 8100 and it is almost impossible to install Windows 7 on it... (i managed with a PS2 mouse and keyboard. then installed USB 3 drivers for windows 8.)

well Microsoft completely blocks any updates from installing. even from .msi files from the official Microsoft site. (i know it is fake and forced since i installed those updates manually on the same machine before i switched to a M.2 drive.)

i might be able to update my GFX card if i DDU since the drivers don't install past 430.64.

for the hard drive space it is impossible. i only have windows on that drive. i don't even store my pagefile on it. windows takes about 60 GB installed then games and programs saves to the "Users" folder and sub folder... installing GFX drivers and a few necessary programs like steam (no games are on C).

Windows is 22.8 GB
Program Files is 8.32 GB
Program Files(x86) is 11.8 GB
Users is 31.6 GB
so about "74.52" is taken by windows and settings files.

all i can do is find a way to disable hibernation since the file takes 23.9 GB. (looking up a guide online right now...)

[Dan2D3D]

SE game uses the C: Drive for the config, Saves, Blueprints and logs.

I have 60 GB used just in my Saves folder on the C: Drive, but I play a lot and always have 2000 to 5000 Saves only in that folder, also more in Blueprints folder...
+
And my C: Drive shows in red when under 100 GB of free space, for me using 1T HD C:

You have 120 GB on the C: and only 9 GB avilable so I would try to uninstall some apps that you don't need cause Win10 need 25 to 40 GB only.


____


+

Some had to reinstall NETFramework C++ so maybe verify those too :

From SE Dev Inflex :

"Anyone experiencing the sudden CTD when trying to place block (MissingMethodException), please update your .NET Framework (Runtime) installation to version 4.7.1 or newer as a temporary solution:"
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download

++

From player bosshi12 :

"Keen helped me out, had to update C++,
Here's the link to fix for those who have the same problem"

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads
#1

[Dan2D3D]

Saves a Blueprints goes on the C: Drive here :

C:\Users\{YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\

[EpicSlayer7.666]

the entire C:\Users\{YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\ folder takes 85 MB on my machine so i am fine for that game in therms of space. i also just disabled hibernation so i gained 24 GB. (the problem of having lots of RAM i guess...)

i will try installing NETFramework C++ again if it helps...

[EpicSlayer7.666]

i have NETFramework C++ 4.7.2 does it have to be 4.7.1 or does anything newer works?

[Dan2D3D]

85 MB is not bad so far, you should be fine but keep in mind that you only have -9 GB for your saves and blueprints.
(some Modded worlds and backups can take a lot of space)

[Dan2D3D]

Originally posted by EpicSlayer7.666:

i have NETFramework C++ 4.7.2 does it have to be 4.7.1 or does anything newer works?

It should work with 4.7.1 but I would download the latest from the Microsoft website and install.