"Open Sesame!" bugged

[ErikG96]

I have encountered what appears to be a game-breaking bug during the Hearts of Stone mainquest "Open Sesame!" (the auction quest).

I have finished the auction itself and talked to Horst Borsodi, prompting him to call the guards and throwing me out etc.
Now, the problem:
After this conversation, you start outside - unarmed - and is supposed to defeat the two guards who took you outside.
Problem is, I manage to beat them both, but then the game freezes.
The cutscene that follows the short exhange of blows starts, but freezes after 1-2 seconds.

* I tried reloading the checkpoint, which made no difference.
* I also tried loading a save before the auction, re-doing it, and still end up the same.
* Finally, I verifed the game's cache, which didn't change a thing.

Upon tabbing out of the game and opening the task manager, I see that the Witcher 3 process has stopped working.

Has anyone else encountered this small yet frustrating glitch/bug?
The funny thing is, this is my second playthrough (Death March), and I never encountered this error on my first one (Story and Sword).

UPDATE:

I tried loosing the fight against the guards on purpose, which strane enough let the following cutscene proceed.
Sadly, the problem did still not go away, since the next transition had the very same effect.

UPDATE 2:

The problem has been solved.
As a final desperate solution, I tried leaving the game on in it's frozen state and came back 1 hour later; the freeze had "passed" and the cinematic had moved on.
I still have no clue what was the cause in the first place, but apparently it solved itself...

[Bite]

Already tried verifying the game's cache?

[ErikG96]

Originally posted by Bite:

Already tried verifying the game's cache?

Yesh, no change.

[tonypa]

Are you using any mods?

[ErikG96]

Originally posted by tonypa:

Are you using any mods?

I am using a few mods, but none that should reasonably conflict with cutscenes in any way.

This is the first time this has happened, and I used mods on my last playthrough as well, without any similar problems.
The freeze happens the instant when the screen goes black in transition from gameplay to cutscene/conversation; I see the soldiers on the ground and the first line of dialogue, but it just stands still.

A few mods I use:
* Disable Witcher-sense zoom
* Disable fall-damage
* Lore-friendly Geralt (eyes and hair change)
* Witcher-sense double range

I can't see how they would in any way interfere, since it has never happend before.
The result is the same each time I reload or try over.

[tonypa]

Yes but the game has been updated after your last playthrough, so the same mods that were working fine earlier could potentially break the game now. Thing is , even if you would remove all the mods now, this could still be broken because something wrong has been written in savegame. As you have already attempted several times from saved game it points to problem with your specific saved state.

Still, I would first try to move the mods into temporary location and see if that helps. Maybe not but it is easiest thing to try at least.

Sometimes it also help when you reset the game settings. user.settings and bak file in YourUserName\Documents\The Witcher 3 folder. Try to move these away (you can later copy them back if needed).

Another thing worth trying is that perhaps it is somehow Steam-related. Shut down Steam completely and try to run the witcher3.exe file directly from
Steam\steamapps\common\The Witcher 3\bin\x64

If none of these have effect, maybe try to update or roll back video card drivers. Sometimes weird things happen when new driver is used, or the game expects new driver but you have not yet updated it.

[ErikG96]

Originally posted by tonypa:

Yes but the game has been updated after your last playthrough, so the same mods that were working fine earlier could potentially break the game now. Thing is , even if you would remove all the mods now, this could still be broken because something wrong has been written in savegame. As you have already attempted several times from saved game it points to problem with your specific saved state.

Still, I would first try to move the mods into temporary location and see if that helps. Maybe not but it is easiest thing to try at least.

Sometimes it also help when you reset the game settings. user.settings and bak file in YourUserName\Documents\The Witcher 3 folder. Try to move these away (you can later copy them back if needed).

Another thing worth trying is that perhaps it is somehow Steam-related. Shut down Steam completely and try to run the witcher3.exe file directly from
Steam\steamapps\common\The Witcher 3\bin\x64

If none of these have effect, maybe try to update or roll back video card drivers. Sometimes weird things happen when new driver is used, or the game expects new driver but you have not yet updated it.

Since I have played the game up until this point without problems (after the last patches), I don't see how the mods could possibly be the problem.
I have engaged in countless conversations and cutscenes before this happened, minutes before it happened.
If a mod conflicted with cutscenes or the like, then all of them would suffer the same effect.
seeing as it's this particular cutscene and not ALL cutscenes it looks more like something corrupt about this quest and it's related files.

The game simply crashes at a certain point in a certain quest.
Always the exact same spot, and the exact same way.
I play normally and defeat the enemies without issue, but the problem lies in the transition from gameplay to cutscene.

[tonypa]

Just tried to help. Not here to argue with you, don't want to try things I proposed, then don't. Really up to you.

[ErikG96]

Originally posted by tonypa:

Just tried to help. Not here to argue with you, don't want to try things I proposed, then don't. Really up to you.

Argue?
I'm not arguing, just explained why I don't think the mods are the cause of the problem.
I don't feel like uninstalling and reinstalling mods that my savefiles rely on if I don't have to - that's it.
I appreciate the help... ^^

[Uncle_LoUU]

If you ever come across this glitch again while if replay it, I found out that you can just physically jump out of the vault, then travel to a signpost and fast travel to skelega and back. The game works perfectly for me. Also found out you could not save at all in that state till the fast travel fix

[Uncle_LoUU]

Originally posted by Uncle_LoUUie:

If you ever come across this glitch again while if replay it, I found out that you can just physically jump out of the vault, then travel to a signpost and fast travel to skelega and back. The game works perfectly for me. Also found out you could not save at all in that state till the fast travel fix

I was also playing with mods