Game Crashes Repeatedly; Normal Mode No Longer Fun to Play

[AA]

I came back to the game recently for the first time since your last update. The game crashes every time. The first crash ended with a blue screen and a massive dump. I deleted the save (and the dump) and started again. The second crash was less fatal, but shut down the game with an error code, which I doubt is still sitting on the clipboard.

The "Normal" Mode has become a non-stop combat nightmare, which sucks, frankly, because it sucks out the pleasure of exploring at a measured pace, or any pace, for that matter. Isn't that what the Permadeath mode is for?

You can't go five minutes without a major pirate attack, even early in the game when your ship simply can't withstand such attacks. The pirates are over-hyped. They attack on-planet, targeting trade outposts, off-planet, in galaxies labeled "untroubled" and around the capital freighter, regardless of what you are carrying in your cargo hold. For all intents and purposes, I had to reload because the capital freighter looked like it was destroyed and there was no way of getting inside. This seems more like a bug because the reload worked.

Crashes aside - which have put an end to my adventuring, if this is going to be the "normal" mode from here on - unbalanced and so far removed from where No Man's Sky started - then I'll' just have to shelve this game and hope that Starfield will offer a more balanced experience.

[Krash Megiddo]

There are no pirate attacks in low conflict systems.

[AA]

There are in the one I played - an "untroubled" Gek system.

[Kruler]

I had the same issue with the freighter a few times, I ran file scan and it picked up 2 files, as for the pirates I am not sure where your coming from with this, when they first ran this new idea it was a bit over the top, and they even said so and patched and scaled back, I am not seeing planetside attacks on low conflict , and high conflict systems its toned way way down.
(AMENDED I say this and log in go to a low conflict system and pop the settlement gets pirate attack, oh the fates are having a laugh)
Try the file scan, sounds like the patch for the pirates buggered up, or are you using mods ? That would also explain the same issue.

[AA]

Thank you, Kruler. No mods here. I am inclined to agree with you on the integrity of the files. Don't know why I didn't validate them earlier, but I just did and the Steamworks Redistributables updated, so we'll see where that goes.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

As noted, the crashing problem is likely on your side of the equation. You can put in a bug report to Zendesk or seek help from folks in the Technical Support sub forum.

At least for me, I found the combat changes frustrating until I learned the new strategies to approach them. Old methods like jumping in your ship and flying around no longer work. That actually just spawns the flying sentinels to attack you.

Running away still works pretty well, but there is a little luck in not activating new sentinels on your route so the timer can run out. Works pretty much the same in space. At some point, you will get the boost okay and be able to put distance between yourself and the pirates/sentinels.

To the extent you want to engage, it is nice to have the AI Mech with you. Without it, the fighting can be really frustrating and seemingly endless. Also pays to develop a specific MT for fighting only. The various options are really not the same anymore. Some weapon types are much better then others.

[Felis_Exploria]

I totally agree, AA. I get the blue screen weekly. I am on PS4, so it is on the devs, and not an issue on my end.

The pirates are relentless. In low conflict systems, there are no on planet pirate raids, but mining asteroids, traveling to the farthest planet, or shopping for freighters brings a pirate or two. In conflict 3 zones, every structure is attacked. In fact, when I leave a minor settlement and mine until the pirates leave, I return to find them initiating an attack on the shelter at the same location. I can wait them out inside the structure, but I find it is faster to save and restart. Sentinels can be avoided by boarding your ship and not leaving. Wait until the interceptors arrive and then the threat level to cease. Still, more waiting. How annoying! Considering how many posters describe how to avoid these fights, I am surprised further adjustments have not been made to further reduce pirate attacks.

[taniwhat]

Digging a hole and killing the sentinels as they come in after you also works. Takes a while but has low risk of death and works just about everywhere. Also works for pirate attacks while on the surface, just tunnel and if necessary all the way back to your ship.

[BaneBlackGuard]

NMS seems to dislike aggressive overclocking. both on my current system and on my old system NMS would crash with overclocking that worked fine with every other game. if you are overclocking try setting it to default speeds to see if it stops the crashing.

I'm assuming you've already verified you aren't having heat problems.

I'm expecting Starfield to be considerably more difficult to survive in than NMS. NMS is an extremely laid back easy going kind of game.

[AA]

Well, this certainly is useful. Definitely not crazy about these changes.

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

To the extent you want to engage, it is nice to have the AI Mech with you. Without it, the fighting can be really frustrating and seemingly endless. Also pays to develop a specific MT for fighting only. The various options are really not the same anymore. Some weapon types are much better then others.

I filed a ticket with Hello Games, by the way. There was a specific the-game-has-encountered-an-error-and-will-now-shut-down error message that accompanied the (repeated) crash. For those who might have seen this error, (88970_0x116B240_ST76561198031487003), I will update once it is resolved.

[AA]

Update: I haven't heard back from Hello Games on this issue, but it seems like Windows is suspicious of the latest No Man's Sky update. The last crash I had occurred when Windows ran a bug check, crashing the game and restarting the system. That kinda narrowed things down a bit. I have since added No Man's Sky as an exception in Defender's virus list. Haven't seen a crash since that change. If you are having similar crashes, maybe check the anti-virus app you have for false positives.

[AA]

Unfortunately, the game still crashes, so back to square one.

[Grumpy-Granddad]

Do not know if it effects the game but its a solution I used when Steam was getting buggy.
Go to the left top of the screen at Steam.
It says "Steam"
Then go to "Settings"
Then "Downloads" and from there clear the download cache.

That solved a number of problems including a very low download speed.
Might be it also effects games in general.

[Augoeides]

So, to address the major problem: the crashing isn't likely the game. It's probably a problem on your end. The main causes of a computer crashing from running something like NMS, are usually Power Supply failure or your Graphics Card is dying. Like 75% of the time, it ends up being my Power Supply. If playing other graphical intense games is causing hard blue screen PC deaths, you may want to consider replacing your Power Supply, since that's the cheaper option, and as far as I know, GPU's are still rarer than unicorns at the moment.

Going back to your other problem, I just got back into the game recently after years, and I haven't found the pirate attacks to be difficult at all. You may just need to adjust to space combat, since it's a bit clunky. Once you get the hang of it, and maybe with one or two starship weapon upgrades, you should be taking out pirates in less than 10 seconds.

The only real time they gave me any trouble, is when you have to fight them in waves for the Space Station missions. Even then, you can spam Shield Batteries to fully replenish your starship shields, making the fights trivial. I suggest grabbing those whenever you see them. I can't quite remember how you unlock the recipe to make them, but probably through one of the Terminal questlines (probably the Science Terminal).

Also, consider mods. 2 that I would suggest, are "Loot Pirates Loot" and "Enjoyable Quicksilver". The previous makes it so that fighting Pirates is profitable (killing the random solo space Bounties, and I think the cargo attackers, awards around 100k Units). The latter makes it so that every little thing you do in the game earns you a tiny bit of Quicksilver, which is used at the Multiplayer hub to unlock Cosmetics (and the Void Egg, which gives you an interesting questline). It also gives you 50 Quicksilver, every time you answer the pirates communications and tell them to piss off.

You could also mod the encounter rates on the pirates, so they don't bug you as much, but I don't know of any specific mod that does that, off the top of my head. The beauty of a game like NMS or any sandbox is, that you can easily mod out or alter things to your personal taste. Having completely 100 hours of vanilla and now 100 hours of modded gameplay, I strongly recommend it for NMS.

[Augoeides]

Oh, since your PC seems rough with NMS, I strongly recommend you install the mod "No Fade".
https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/mods/1133

What it does, is prevent the game from slowly "fading" objects into view, which usually occurs from draw distance or approaching a new area. I have a pretty good computer, but even then, I used to get roughly 30 FPS to 60 FPS while playing. After installing No Fade, I got a very consistent 60 FPS.

The downside to the mod, is that things will still be delayed to loading into your game, then suddenly appear. So, like when you land on a planet, there won't be grass and maybe no trees, until a few seconds later, because of the mod skipping that slow transition, but the objects are still on a timer. However, that's a small price to pay for NMS not frying your PC.

[AA]

Thanks for all the suggestions - and mods, all are worth looking into. I will definitely clear the download cache first. The graphics card is good, but thanks to Augoeides for the suggestion on power supply (and the dumb pirates). It's certainly worth a closer look.