Games freezes when played offline after about 30-40 minutes, only when played offline.

[spyder256]

My friend first noticed this because he has no reliable internet connection. All he has is his cell phones data plan with a 3gb data cap, as he can't afford home internet right now.

So first he came over, installed the game, we played and had no issues.

Then when he plays at his place with no internet the game freezes and has to use task manager to quit. We try all sorts of stuff and nothing helps.

So then he comes back over, verifies cache, gets it working again. And we play for hours at a time with no issues.

Then he goes home and gets the same freezing issue.

And I just now tried playing offline, and sure enough I get the exact same freezing problem after 30-40 mins...

So what the f**k is up with this? Why do you have to be online just to play this game? Is there some kind of b******t always online DRM we are not being told about??

This is beyond frustrating, and is EXTREMELY disappointing. This game is very fun, but we should not be forced to be online at all times.

EDIT: Also, why do files magically disappear after being played offline? After playing offline then reconnecting and verifying cache, 9 files had to be reacquired. WHY???

Also first time setup stuff has to be run and have to accept the EULA/licence thing again.

This is extremely irritating.....

[spyder256]

Sorry if this seems a bit hostile, I'm so annoyed only because the game is great and fun, and it seems so stupid to have this problem. And it doesn't make any sense to me at all.

Anyway here's the log file from the session it froze in if that helps at all: http://pastebin.com/CVnxsXNc

[BlackEagle]

Hmm, that's a pretty bizarre issue.

Firstly, it should not be asking you to accept the EULA every time you launch the game. I have no idea why it would be doing that...

Secondly, also very very weird that it freezes only when playing offline. There is no DRM, so that's not the cause.

Here are some possible fixes, first the EULA:

(1): Try downloading this file: Automatic EULA accept App[dl.dropboxusercontent.com]

(2): Place the file under "\Binaries\" in your main game folder(SteamApps\Common\Viscera\), run it then click on "Accept EULA" and then "Yes".

(3): Launch the game and pray it works.

---------------------
Second, the freezing. It's possible some windows drivers are not doing what they are supposed to.

First try running the UE3Redist.exe file under the game's "Binaries\Redist\" folder.

Then install this from the Microsoft website:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-za/download/details.aspx?id=40784
Be sure to install the one appropriate for your system(32bit[x86], or 64bit).


Then finally, if that doesn't work, try manually installing .Net 4.5 from the Microsoft website: Microsoft .NET framework 4.5[www.microsoft.com]
-----------------------

Also, what version of Windows are you running?
While Windows 10 is not officially supported, it should still work fine for most people. However, we can't guarantee it'll be free of un-explainable issues.
Try Windows 7 compatibility mode.

[spyder256]

"Firstly, it should not be asking you to accept the EULA every time you launch the game. I have no idea why it would be doing that..."

Not every time. Only after verifing cache, after freezing. And I believe if I don't verify cache after freezing it will continue to freeze even after going back online. I could try to confirm this later.

Yeah I tried that app but when I run it the only options are View and Unaccept EULA.

I have both those already.

I'm on Windows 8.1 64 bit. I guess I could try compatibilty mode.

[spyder256]

Okay so I tried running offline with set to Windows 7 compatibility mode. Still froze. Here's that log: http://pastebin.com/pXSvSq7h

And yeah at the end it just cuts off. "[0039.68] Error: Can't start an online game that hasn't bee". Which is weird, did that in the last log too. Also weird it's talking about an online game, when I'm offline.

I tried letting it run for about an hour without verifying cache after reconnecting. So I guess that was not true. But after quitting and verifying cache it still found 8 files that needed reacquiring.

[BlackEagle]

Yeah, the retrieving of 8 files is normal. They're just settings files changed by the game, and then Steam thinks it needs to reacquire them.

The "Online Game" thing is also normal, it's just an error with UDK/Steam communication, but still doesn't impede anything and works normally anyway.

The reason that's the last thing on the log is just because it gets cut off when the game crashes, or is manually terminated, making it very difficult to tell exactly what happened. Which is annoying...


Here are a few other possible things.

What are your/your friend's system specs?
Are you both using a machine with multiple GPUs?
Is your nVidia Control panel telling your system to use SLI even though you only have one GPU?
Have you tried updating graphics drivers?

Some of the info here might be of interest, near the middle of the page.
https://forums.epicgames.com/threads/722748-UDK-Freezing-up


Still, I cannot fathom why you would only experience this when playing offline.

[spyder256]

His is FX 4000 series cpu, R9 280X gpu. I have a i5-3570k and a gtx 970. So completely different specs. Other than ddr3 ram which I have 8gb he has 16gb.

Neither have multiple GPUs.

So no SLI options.

We tried uninstalling his drivers with DDU and installing the latest.

[spyder256]

So I just tried uninstalling the drivers on my machine with DDU, and clean installing the latest 368.81 drivers. Tried offline again, and as I predicted it froze.

So here's that log: http://pastebin.com/T0t85HPb

The last 2 lines... if I recall correct I think I remember reading that save games can cause problems sometimes? Could this be a clue?

[BlackEagle]

Ugh, I'm out of ideas now... this is truly bizarre.
First time I've seen this happen, and info about it seems to be very scarce.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von spyder256:

The last 2 lines... if I recall correct I think I remember reading that save games can cause problems sometimes? Could this be a clue?

Possibly, I mean you can try turning the Autosave off, maybe that'll help.

That save line in the log file probably occurs a while before it freezes, rather than at the same moment. The log files are weird like that.


Ugh, I guess the best course of action left is to try and minimize its impact. Have the autosave on, possibly at every minute, and then when it freezes you can easily load your progress back up without losing too much.
Bloody annoying though...

[spyder256]

Yeah, we even just tried this on his: http://steamcommunity.com/app/246900/discussions/1/358417008726978184/

And even left the backed up save games out... still froze.

So, I was wondering if maybe you could try this yourself to see if you can replicate it.

What I'm doing is disconnecting my computer from the internet, then starting Steam in offline mode. Then going to Athena's Wrath and letting it sit. If it makes it past an hour it probably won't freeze.

Just to reiterate, if I'm connected, there are no issues. It's only when either of us are disconnected.

[BlackEagle]

I'll give it a try and report back.

*EDIT: Tried several times now just leaving the game running in offline mode and the internet unplugged, didn't crash despite leaving it for at least an hour.

[Mortalc13]

Well we didnt really have this problem until after we had a LAN Game together. After i went home in offline mode at my apartment thats when i noticed after 30 min of play the game froze, so told him to start a thread and so far nothing is being resolved. My specs are radeon r9 280 x tri-x, amd 4350 cpu oc to 5.1ghz using noctuah cooling technology, 2x8gb sticks of ram equalling 16gb, msi 990fxa-gd80 v2 mobo, evga 550watt psu. I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling to no avail.

[A JANITOR]

AMD which driver are you using?
I use 16.3.2 vcd has never crashed
my pc has less than half the memory yours has n it 60fps on maxed out settings
ambient occlusion and antialising are disabled the rest is maxed out

perhaps try that driver and if have Raptr app disable it until AMD fix it as plays tv is interfering with steam so disable Raptr and plays to disable plays tv in task manager to stop plays tv.exe from interfering with steam and your games(its possible thats causing it)
maybe disable AMD overlay as that interferes with steam overlay too
when ya did a reinstall was the viscera folder empty if there were leftover files a reinstall is useless=still broken
to reinstall vcd properly backup saves folder or any mod that you might be making so ya dont lose those or your the stuff in the office!
then delete everything in viscera folder then verify game cache to get a clean install n put saves folder back
also could be direct x update that
update dot net framework 4.5
update visuallc++ redist 32 or 64 bit for ones pc
if it still happens then thats weird your pc should eat vcd for breakfast
sometimes i play vcd all day and it never crash in both 64 and 32 bit vcd:)
perhaps disable antialising and ambient occlusion too and maybe set autosave to 0 and save manually
also another possible cause if playing offline without steam running=turn the blue workshop icon off so it not searching for the internet also if on lan make sure both computers have identicle updated vcd
im pretty sure ya know that catalyst control centre is obsolete esp if ya have the new radeon/crimson settings as crapatylyst control centre conflicts with the new radeon settings app(uninstall catalyst control centre if radeon settings is installed as AMD canned catalyst control centre=obsolete)
good luck

[BlackEagle]

Well I'm utterly flummoxed. We've tried all the usual suspects, you both have very different specs, and thus different drivers, it only happens when offline, and perhaps only after having played coop once. None of this makes any sense.

I'm afraid I really just don't know how to proceed. None of the information I've found on the matter, concerning the UDK or otherwise, covers anything like this.

Unless by some massive coincidence both of your respective drivers(and GPU control panel software) are causing the same issue, which seems unlikely.

Do you both have windows 8.1, 64bit?
System not overheating?

*EDIT: One possible issue I've found could be related to windows 8 power settings.

If you can check your Windows' Power Options under Control Panel, and make sure it's not limiting power usage.
Also try ticking the High Performance option under the Additional Plans section.

[A JANITOR]

power options interesting my specks are way lower than they have and im on win 8.1 too
i can play online and offline 24/7 n it never crash ever:)
bit weird that my psu is 300 watts and my video card box says use 650 watt psu lol i cut wires to steal power from my cd drive and an unused sata dock to convert sata to analog connectors so i could connect my video card(dont do that at home it void the warranty of the psu/pc:)
touch wood my psu is still alive after 3 years of heavy use it no go bang yet:)

but yeah weird if it freeze like that something fishy there if get freezes esp if ya pc has like 3 times the grunt mine has lol:)

[spyder256]

So, we both have the Shadow Warrior stand alone game. He said he played that for a couple hours. And I just let it run for about an hour and a half. (again, offline mode internet disconnected) No freeze....

So... yeah. That just makes this all make even less sense...