[SOLVED!] Bought NMS on PC and after 20 minutes, my game crashes?

[SilentK]

Hi all!

I bought the game 5 days ago, everytime I play, after 10-20 minutes (sometimes less, sometimes more), the game crashes (NMS.exe not responding). I have scoured through the forums, here and Reddit and have tried:

- Reinstalling game.
- Reinstalling and DDU'ing Nvidia drivers.
- Reinstalling Steam.
- Setting all settings to Low or Off.
- Tweaking with TKGRAPHIC~.MXML file; even the NumLowThreads/NumHighThreads.
- Deleting SHADERCACHE per change made.
- Disabling all internet connection whilst playing.
- Defragging where necessary (which is not really required on my setup).
- Setting NMS.exe to Administrator
- Setting NMS.exe permissions to Read/Write on all areas concerned.
- Reinstalling Redists for C++, 2010/15.
- Uninstalling Duet Display (this actually had issues with other applications on my computer, so I got rid of it, which fixed the other apps but hadn't made a difference to NMS).
- Unplugging 2 of my 3 monitors. To ensure only one monitor was running for one dedicated purpose, to play NMS.
- Installed experimental build, also crashed.
- Checked EventViewer, only talks about NMS.exe stopped, nothing in particular.
- CPU/GPU temps are hovering at safe temps, I also opened my rig up bareboned to cool further (to see if the procedural aspect of the game was causing my components to heat exponentially) sadly the game still froze.

Sadly, nothing has helped. I have no issues playing any other game, and I have many (100+ or so). I also have a good enough rig:

- CPU: Intel extreme 5960x (8 core, 16 threads)
- GPU: 980Ti AMP! Extreme.
- HDD: 512Gb PCI-E SSD (3000mb read/write)
- RAM: 16Gb DDR4
- Watercooled and sufficient aircooling inside case.

I think this game is perfect for the type of person I am, I like having a "chill and explore" game to play, and I am determined to make this game work correctly.

Anyone have any hidden gems of knowledge that can help and try and solve this? What I did notice, the game plays for longer when I set everything to Low. I actually got 1 hour out of it. But then sporadically it starting failing quicker. I am a software engineer, so have no trouble getting into the nitty gritty of details to isolate where this is breaking. I am looking at attaching an OpenGL or Just-In-Time Visual Studio debugger to see if I can catch the failure point, but it is difficult to debug when the game is compiled. Much easier if I had the source code of course.

Thank you for reading.

[SilentK]

'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\No Man's Sky\Binaries\NMS.exe'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\ntdll.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\kernel32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\KernelBase.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\apphelp.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\AcLayers.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\msvcrt.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\user32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\win32u.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\gdi32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\gdi32full.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\msvcp_win.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\ucrtbase.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\shlwapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\combase.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\rpcrt4.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\bcryptprimitives.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\winspool.drv'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\kernel.appcore.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\propsys.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\oleaut32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\SHCore.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\sechost.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\IPHLPAPI.DLL'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\bcrypt.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\sfc.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\sfc_os.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\AcGenral.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\ole32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\cfgmgr32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\windows.storage.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\advapi32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\profapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\powrprof.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\fltLib.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\sspicli.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\userenv.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\mpr.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\imm32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\ws2_32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\comdlg32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\No Man's Sky\Binaries\steam_api64.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\No Man's Sky\Binaries\ProfanityFilter_x64_v120.dll'. Module was built without symbols.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\hid.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\setupapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\opengl32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\No Man's Sky\Binaries\libSceFios2.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\winhttp.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\winmm.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\XInput9_1_0.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\dbghelp.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.17134.165_none_fb429645306569ac\comctl32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\msvcp140.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\vcruntime140.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\glu32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\msvcr120.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\msvcr100.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\winmmbase.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\dbgcore.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamclient64.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\crypt32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\msasn1.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\imagehlp.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\psapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\version.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\vstdlib_s64.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\tier0_s64.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\mswsock.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\secur32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\cryptbase.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\dxgi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\GameOverlayRenderer64.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\uxtheme.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\dwmapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\devobj.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\wintrust.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\msctf.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_52ac7eb8f32780d5\nvoglv64.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\wtsapi32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\ntmarta.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\nvspcap64.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\winsta.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\clbcatq.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\MMDevAPI.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\AudioSes.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\WinTypes.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\avrt.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\Windows.UI.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\TextInputFramework.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\InputHost.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\CoreUIComponents.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\CoreMessaging.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\XInput1_4.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\XAudio2_8.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\XAudio2_9.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\nsi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\dhcpcsvc6.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\dhcpcsvc.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\netprofm.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\npmproxy.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\webio.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\winnsi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\dnsapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\rasadhlp.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\FWPUCLNT.DLL'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\schannel.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\mskeyprotect.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\ncrypt.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\ntasn1.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\ncryptsslp.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'NMS.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\dpapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
The thread 0x6e18 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x7804 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x3e44 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x7238 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x40e0 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x5f7c has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x7234 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x48b8 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x1c08 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x838c has exited with code 0 (0x0).
Exception thrown at 0x0000000000000000 in NMS.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation executing location 0x0000000000000000.

Unhandled exception at 0x0000000000000000 in NMS.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation executing location 0x0000000000000000.

Exception thrown at 0x0000000000000000 in NMS.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation executing location 0x0000000000000000.

[SilentK]

I stuck a Just-In-Time debugger on NMS.exe, when it crashed, you can see the ending:

 Exception thrown at 0x0000000000000000 in NMS.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation executing location 0x0000000000000000.

Unhandled exception at 0x0000000000000000 in NMS.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation executing location 0x0000000000000000.

Exception thrown at 0x0000000000000000 in NMS.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation executing location 0x0000000000000000.

A memory location is returning an access violation, which usually happens on a memory leak (an overflow buffer exception perhaps?). Hmmm... how to ensure that a leak is blocked? I know that my Intel 5960x has overflow buffer protection built into it, but i'm sure it's configurable in the BIOS. Let me switch it off and see where I get to.

[RogueLyfe]

I think this is a problem with the latest update. A ton of high-end computers seem to be having a lot of difficulty playing the game for some reason. It seems like an update issue, not an issue with your PC or the instillation or the file. Uninstalling/reinstalling would've worked if that was the case. The game worked perfectly on my PC before the most recent update and it crashes my entire PC after 20 minutes now, just like yours. Not overheating, not any sort of installation problem I can see. I don't think you can fix it.

[SilentK]

Originally posted by Wiznik:

I think this is a problem with the latest update. A ton of high-end computers seem to be having a lot of difficulty playing the game for some reason. It seems like an update issue, not an issue with your PC or the instillation or the file. Uninstalling/reinstalling would've worked if that was the case. The game worked perfectly on my PC before the most recent update and it crashes my entire PC after 20 minutes now, just like yours. Not overheating, not any sort of installation problem I can see. I don't think you can fix it.

Hmm, I see. It's a bummer really, what a great concept of a game.

I've switched off No Execute Bit - buffer overflow protection temporarily to see if the CPU isn't terminating the application due to the access violation. I've also installed an older DX version (or reinstalled, it doesn't tell you if you have it already). Let's see how we get on. Running NMS now.

[SilentK]

Well, since I posted the above, which has been 1 hour and on Ultra settings, and going to different planets, also going to heavy forested areas, I have not crashed at all.

This is what I did:

- In BIOS, disable No Execute Bit. Which disabled the buffer overflow protection.
- Overclock CPU to 4.0Ghz and Ram to 3.0Ghz.
- Reinstall Visual C++ 2012 for Visual Studio
- Reinstall Visual C++ 2013 for Visual Studio
- Install https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=8109 - which is the older version of DirectX.
- Set NMS.exe processor priority from AboveNormal to High.

I will play again and report back.

[SilentK]

Yep perfect! That has fixed it! I have no more issues, after 4-5 days of debugging this is what actually did it. I believe the buffer overflow protection was causing the game to crash (or the host of reinstalls stipulated above!)! Hope this helps someone!

[Mr Lucas]

I'm going to try this now, the constant crashing has worn me down.

[SilentK]

Good luck, let me know how you get on :).