Help desperately needed with the zlib bullsh*t problem

[AussieWolfhound]

I'm pretty sure i don't need to really explain much as i'm gonna take a wild guess that ALOT of you have encountered this f**king rage-inducing, never-ending c**t of a thing too, right?

I'm only a PC novice at best, so can one of you please help me out with this? I've googled everywhere i can, watched countless youtube tutorials about fixing this little f**ker... tried everything i can think of, but yet still 10 - 30 minutes max after doing whatever it is that i've tried, it comes right back up with "Failed zlib call. Please reboot, verify the game data, or reinstall the game. For more information please visit... blah blah blah" Lost count at the number of times i've done all that sh*t and it still f**king happens!

If it makes any difference i don't have this on Steam, i bought the Rockstar Social Club version (sorry if i sound dumb now but i said i'm only a novice) Also just incase my specs might be needed, here they are...

Operating System : Windows 10 Home x64
SSD : Samsung 960 Evo M.2 250GB NVMe
Motherboard : Asrock B250M-pro4
CPU : i5-7500 @ 3.4GHz
GPU : Gigabyte GTX1060 G1 Gaming
RAM : 16GB (DDR4)
Power Supply : Antec 500W
Internal HD storage : 1.5TB
Capture Card : Elgato HD60 Pro

[psykoteky]

Havent seen it once.
(At gym expect a better response in 10mins)

Also post my docs . Rockstar games . Gtav . Launcher.log
And windows.system32.drivers.etc... hosts file contents.

Any mod use? Scanned hdd for errors?
Ran Gtavlauncher -verify ?

[BigSilverHotdog]

My last two times with failed zlib calls were related to failing hardware (sound card, then memory). I did not realise it at the time, either time. You can try a complete delete, redownload/reinstall and it might fix it, but it didn't for me.

edit: Try backing off OC first, then play with only half memory at a time to verify that neither 8gb set of memory is causing the problem (either run only 1 stick if 2x8, or 2 sticks if 4x4)

If you still get zlib calls with no OC and either set of memory, start testing other hardware next. I would assume the problem is your hardware and not the game at this point.

[AussieWolfhound]

@psykoteky Gonna guess this is the first bit you asked for (the Launcher log)...

[2018-04-28 02:55:56.416] [DISPLAY] Using DPI 120
[2018-04-28 02:55:56.496] [DISPLAY] File version 10000:5550001 (for F:\HARD DRIVE 1\GAMES\1. GTA 5\GTA5.exe)
[2018-04-28 02:55:56.561] [DISPLAY] File version 10002:30008 (for C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Social Club\socialclub.dll)
[2018-04-28 02:55:56.622] [DISPLAY] File version 10000:5550001 (for F:\HARD DRIVE 1\GAMES\1. GTA 5\GTAVLauncher.exe)
[2018-04-28 02:55:56.637] [DISPLAY] Version: 1.0.231.0|1.0.1365.1|1.2.3.8|1.0.1365.1|FFP
[2018-04-28 02:55:57.117] [DISPLAY] OS version: Major: 6, Minor: 2, Build: 9200, Platform: 2
[2018-04-28 02:55:57.185] [DISPLAY] File version 10000:3 (for F:\HARD DRIVE 1\GAMES\1. GTA 5\PlayGTAV.exe)
[2018-04-28 02:55:57.848] [DISPLAY] File version 10000:5550001 (for F:\HARD DRIVE 1\GAMES\1. GTA 5\GTA5.exe)
[2018-04-28 02:55:58.220] [DISPLAY] Opened options file.
[2018-04-28 02:55:58.436] [DISPLAY] File version 10002:30008 (for C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Social Club\socialclub.dll)
[2018-04-28 02:55:58.476] [DISPLAY] Social Club initializing...
[2018-04-28 02:55:58.950] [DISPLAY] Attempting to create device...
[2018-04-28 02:55:58.955] [DISPLAY] Attempting to initialise DX9 COM object...
[2018-04-28 02:55:58.972] [DISPLAY] Window size: 862 x 620
[2018-04-28 02:55:59.007] [DISPLAY] Successfully created DX Device!
[2018-04-28 02:56:02.943] [DISPLAY] Uninitializing.


"And windows.system32.drivers.etc... hosts file contents." - not quite sure what you want me to do there.

No mods

I have a paid subscription to Advanced Systemcare Ultimate 11 which with one click scans your whole system for any bugs, things out of place, registry errors, viruses, outdated drivers... basically it's an all-in-one. Scanned my whole PC several times since this sh*t started and says everything is fine.

"Ran Gtavlauncher -verify ?" - don't know what that is.

[psykoteky]

Gtavlauncher -verify is R*'s version of steam verify - which fixes corrupt/missing files.
I suggest you do it - at some point in your google/youtube/R* help pages - they told you to.

Grab this - put in gtav folder - rightclick - run as admin.
http://patches.rockstargames.com/prod/gtav/Launcher_EFIGS/GTA_V_Launcher_1_0_1290_2.exe

Then, open a command prompt and navigate to your gtav folder.
Run "playgtav -verify" and then after that is complete...
"gtavlauncher -verify"

Those 2 steps you clean your gtav folder, and have done R*'s file verification.
The folder "should" be fine after that - according to R* standards/without comparing md5 -.-

While you are rounding the bases - I would also do these 2 things -

1-Repair/reinstall both vcredist x86 and x64
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30679

2-Directx - I would highly suggest you grab this .bat file and run it as admin.
It will move 90 directx files (2 locations - 180 files total) so you can guarantee clean files.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rJvafaYjKDOZia5IBMeeIOU5sVZPfzKW/view
After you've moved them with my .bat - install directx from the next link - rightclick/run as admin. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35
I suggest a pc restart afterwards.


As for systemcare/similar apps - they are also known to cause problems here - despite scanning your machine 100's/being clean. I'd honestly configure it to ignore gtav programs/folders, possibly sleep/disable it - or even uninstall it to rule it out entirely / test gtav. Maybe even -verify AFTER it is disable. Steam's verify cache will sometimes have issues with 3rd party av/security software. For giggles I'd also run adwcleaner from toolslib and scan/clean.

The log looks fine otherwise - except that the zlib error - isn't present in it (normally is).

And - an old R* version link that almost restats everything above-
http://steamcommunity.com/app/271590/discussions/0/341537388316082218/#c341537388317269771

Edit: And no - I move copies around all the time with zero issue.
Bad / slow internet on the other hand could easily produce wonky files.
gtavlauncher -verify "should" fix them -.-

If it's too much you can friend later - AFK~

[AussieWolfhound]

@Rainbow Droid I seriously doubt it's failing hardware as i've spent atleast 2 grand in upgrades on my PC just in the last 12 months (originally bought it for $300 out of the paper as a low-level gaming PC) Please don't anyone now say anything about "getting ripped off"... ask any Aussie -
PC stuff is way more expensive here, plus also the labour of the guy who did all the upgrades because f**ked if i woud know how to do them lol.

One thing i should add is, as you probably all know, we have the slowest internet in the world down here in Aus (I get on average 1 - 3 mbps on a good day) This would have taken about a decade to download at my house... so i actually left my laptop at the house of a friend of mine who lives in the rich part of my city and (ofcourse) is one of the small amount here to have actual decent net speeds (even then he only gets maybe 30 mbps max)

Anyway i left my lappy there overnight to download, then i brought it home, copied the downloaded files to a folder on my PC and then installed it on my PC. Could that maybe have something to do with it? Like it was originally downloaded on another PC and then copied on to this one?

[AussieWolfhound]

@psykoteky Cheers for all the help. I'll have a thorough look at all that tomorrow cause it's nearly 4 am here now and i can't stay awake any longer. Appreciate the help mate.

[BigSilverHotdog]

Hey I'm an enthusiast too, I used to build rebuild repair PCs for a living and I've built all my own rigs going back into the 80s and 90s. I was in your situation when I was having zlib errors. I was almost certain it wasn't hardware when, really, I should have realized it very well might have been hardware. In fact the second time I really was convinced it wasn't hardware, even having had the same situation before resolve as hardware.

But the first time a cap blew on an HTOMEGA Striker sound card and I never noticed it while troubleshooting the PC for ages and ages (it worked almost completely fine but a couple games had crazy stutter/pausing problems probably due to sound driver crashing and recovering).

But the second time it was JUST GTA V. And it was a memory stick that had intermittently started throwing errors without warning.

[psykoteky]

Yes, it could be hardware - and that is the first fork in the road for troubleshooting. Do you go hardware or software? As someone who has spent 2.5+ years troubleshooting gtav - I personally will go software first - every - single - time. Especially if someone admits to using Advanced Systemcare.. has who knows what else in the background for antivirus/security, and has googled/youtube'd doing who knows what (and questioned what gtavlauncher -verify meant).

Once any software/driver/requirement variables are fixed/replaced/reinstalled/updated/stripped to nothing - do I move onto suggesting hardware tests. Telling someone their 100+ dollar parts are possibly bad - takes the convo from 0-60 quick. It is much easier to stomach after you've tested everything else. You theoretically could replace your whole computer - slap the hdd in - boom - zlib.

Ultimately, be methodical --- whichever route you choose first.
With luck- hopefully you'll find it fast, and only have 1 issue causing it.

[AussieWolfhound]

@psykoteky Ok i'm happy to announce i've fixed the issue of the zlib problem. What i did was right-click on the desktop shortcut for GTA5 Launcher and in the Target i simply put " -verify" at the end and, it took awhile, but it's all fixed now. What i was just wondering now is is there anyway you can download your save files from the cloud to your PC? Just asking cause when i first set this up i chose cloud storage, but now tbh i'd rather just have local storage on my PC cause i don't really have any interest in GTA Online and so if i do encounter any problems in the future, i can still just play the campaign in offline mode as another thing that happens alot and is f**king annoying is the servers go down.

[psykoteky]

The saves "should" also already be on your computer. They are just sync'd to the cloud.
If you logged into gtav on a pc that didn't have your saves - it would download them.
Look in my docs / rockstar games / gtav / profiles / <profilename> ---- SGTA*.* are the files.

In that same folder is a cloudsavedata.dat. - you can rename that to -old...
When you restart gtav - it will ask you again if you want to use local / cloud for storymode saves.
(gta online chars/etc - are saved in the cloud with either setting)

[AussieWolfhound]

Yep they're there. I didn't know that. Cheers for all your help, much appreciated.