GOG version crashes as a non-steam shortcut [FIXED] :: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt General Discussions

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Glowing_Embers Jun 4, 2015 @ 4:26pm

GOG version crashes as a non-steam shortcut [FIXED]

I'm trying to be able to stream this game to my TV via in-home streaming, but I own it on GOG. When I add the EXE in as a non-steam shortcut, the game crashes immediately. When I launch the EXE directly or through GOG Galaxy it works fine. Anyone get this setup to work?

EDIT: The fix is to move or rename d3d11.dll in the \bin\x64 folder. As soon as I renamed it it worked fine.

Last edited by Glowing_Embers; Jun 4, 2015 @ 5:25pm

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Showing 1-15 of 15 comments

Salur Jun 4, 2015 @ 4:34pm

I was starting it as a non-steam game with no trouble for about 2 weeks, but when I tried yesterday it opened very briefly (like a second) and then crashed immediately. It did this every time I tried it. Same thing as you, I think (I also own it from GOG). Like I said, before yesterday it seemed to be working fine. Just curious, did you play it at all as a non-steam game before recently?

Sorry I can't help, but I can at least tell you that I'm having the same issue (and it was working, so I assume it's fixable).

Nelvin Jun 4, 2015 @ 4:36pm

FYI: This worked earlier this week, broke with today's steam patch. Does steam have a debug log somewhere for non-steam games?

Or maybe this is intentional to promote buying games through steam? OTOH my other non-steam games still work...

Glowing_Embers Jun 4, 2015 @ 4:40pm

I haven't played it before today as a non-Steam shortcut, but I'm willing to believe it was a patch that did it.

Well, the Steam Link doesn't come out for a while so I guess I've got time to troubleshoot it or wait for another patch to fix it.

noobsaibot21 Jun 4, 2015 @ 5:04pm

This has happened to me too. Playing fine in Big Picture mode, all is well then boom. Suddenly not working at all. I can launch the game normally without issue but via Steam, it crashes after a minute. Windows (7 Ultimate) event viewer shows the 'GalaxyCommunication' service starts then stops immediately so it seems that Steam doesn't seem to want to play nice with this service

Glowing_Embers Jun 4, 2015 @ 5:14pm

Okay, I got it working. Just move, rename, or delete (not recommended) d3d11.dll from the \bin\x64 folder in the Witcher 3's install directory. I renamed it d3d11.dll.bak on my desktop where it's installed and tried launching it from my laptop for in-home streaming and it loaded right up with no problem.

Nelvin Jun 4, 2015 @ 5:27pm

Glowing_Embers,

Cool, thank you. It starts now but unfortunately when i use it via steam streaming I only see a black screen. Music plays though. When I go back to the host machine, it shows (no black screen). Just doesn't work via streaming. This part worked earlier in the week.

How did you figure this out? Some forum post? Maybe with that info I can figure out why it broke in the first place. This is rather strange, I had no update on the gog/witcher 3 side.

Glowing_Embers Jun 4, 2015 @ 5:38pm

I asked on the GOG forums and someone else happened to have just figured it out. They pointed me to a fix for recording software not working in Witcher 3 that I saw earlier and stupidly decided to pass on trying.

This is the thread that has the full fix: https://www.gog.com/forum/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt/streamingvideo_capture_applications_xsplit_obs_sweetfx_etc_currently_not_working_on_some_syste

By the look of it, just immediately deleting EVERY file they list could stop the game from launching, so best to try one by one by moving or renaming them so you can easily undo each step. You may also want to have GOG Galaxy verify the game files before you try any of this.

Nelvin Jun 4, 2015 @ 5:41pm

Glowing_Embers,

Thanks! That helped, renaming d3d11.dll and dxgi.dll fixes both starting the game as a non-Steam game and streaming it to my living room.

And sounds like per that forum post the problem was a gog galaxy patch. It appears they are working on a "gog overlay" similar to steam. I'm guessing those two conflict.

Glowing_Embers Jun 4, 2015 @ 5:47pm

Could be. I would hope the GOG overlay wouldn't initialize when you execute the game directly. That would mean they're altering their downloadable installers, as that's all GOG Galaxy uses to install the games.

Crab

Jun 5, 2015 @ 1:43am

I have the same issue. For working Steam Overlay I must backup and delete both files from ...

\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt\bin\x64\
d3d11.dll
dxgi.dll

Now I am able make screenshots with steam again.

Thank you for advice

Last edited by Crab; Jun 5, 2015 @ 1:43am

#10

Bravey Jun 5, 2015 @ 4:33am

Will renaming those 2 files do anything to my game though? What do they actually do? If anyone knows

#11

Nelvin Jun 5, 2015 @ 7:48am

Bravey,

I can tell you they are libraries for direct 3d (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct3D). So that's for programs/games to access your graphics card. My guess is they overrode existing libraries you already use as part of steam. The reason why each steam and gog overrode them is so that they have "overlay" support (or so is the rumor for gog, we havn't actually seen that functionality yet). Impact? I would think eventually when gog releases it: Gog overlay won't work with the way we're removing the libraries.

That's fine from my perspective since at this time I'd rather use steam overlay (and in my case streaming). I doubt you have impact on the game itself. It's unlikely either gog or steam have done tuning/fixes on the libraries.

Take all of this with a grain of salt though, I'm guessing.

Idealy gog & steam would work together to come up with a common solution. But given they are competitors I wouldn't hold my breath. :)

#12

Bravey Jun 5, 2015 @ 8:49am

Originally posted by Nelvin:
Bravey,

I can tell you they are libraries for direct 3d (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct3D). So that's for programs/games to access your graphics card. My guess is they overrode existing libraries you already use as part of steam. The reason why each steam and gog overrode them is so that they have "overlay" support (or so is the rumor for gog, we havn't actually seen that functionality yet). Impact? I would think eventually when gog releases it: Gog overlay won't work with the way we're removing the libraries.

That's fine from my perspective since at this time I'd rather use steam overlay (and in my case streaming). I doubt you have impact on the game itself. It's unlikely either gog or steam have done tuning/fixes on the libraries.

Take all of this with a grain of salt though, I'm guessing.

Idealy gog & steam would work together to come up with a common solution. But given they are competitors I wouldn't hold my breath. :)

Indeed, thanks for taking the time to put together such a thorough reply - I appreciate knowing what I'm doing :) As for the files I've deleted them and now it works like a charm again. Can't say I'd be using GOG galaxy anyway, I use it to download the game and that's it, if I wanted another platform I'm still using Steam.

#13