Common and Potential Issues - Troubleshooting

[chaosavy]

Let me first apologize for any bugs/issues you may encounter. Please feel free to contact me in anyway about a bug/issue.

If the solutions below don't help - friend me, then message me - we'll try to work it out.

Issue:

Intel graphics chipset related

See post dedicated to this topic:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/369530/discussions/6/350542145709912119/

Quick summary - performance issues and startup crashes

Issue:

Crash right after loading screen
Common cause: sound card driver issues
Likelyhood: rare - varies by system and hardware

Potential solution:

Go to this directory: Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Void Destroyer 2

Find OgreLogfile.log - open the file (using notepad for example - it is a text file)

Look for these entries:

20:33:43: *** --- AVAILABLE DEVICES --- *** (your time stamp wil the begining will be different)
20:33:44: *** --- Generic Software
20:33:46: *** --- My Sound Device (example sound device)

If you have another entry other than Generic Software for available devices (for example - My Sound Device), copy that entry and paste it into a file named: soundConfig.cfg1 (again use notepad since this is just a text file) located in:

Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Void Destroyer 2\Config

Like so:

<soundDriver attr1="My Sound Device"/>

Where "My Sound Device" is that other entry you found.

Save the newly edited file, and try to run the game again.

If the file doesn't exit - create a new file, and name it: soundConfig.cfg1
Also add this line to the top of the file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

So the entire file should say:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soundDriver attr1="My Sound Device"/>


Potential solution:

Go to this directory:
Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Void Destroyer 2
Right click on Void Destroyer 2.exe
Click Properties
Click Compatibility
Click Run this program in compatibility mode for
Chose Windows XP SP3

Click Ok to confirm settings, test game


Potential solution:
Multiple sound cards.

Some players have a built in sound card (on the motherboard) and an additional sound card.

Sometimes graphics cards have sound cards built in.

Disabling the "extra" sound cards can get the game running.

For the record, disabling the sound devices from the device manager didnt work, but going to control panel->hardware and sound->Manage Audio Devices, there were six amd HDMI sound cards listing above the realtek, I disabled them there and it took them out of the list.

Disabling the sound system

If the above don't work try this:

In the main game directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Void Destroyer 2

Create a file named: skipAudio.cfg (empty file is ok)

When the game launches and detects this file, it shouldn't initalize the sound system.

If the game does launch - this confirms it is a driver/sound issue.


Potential solution:

One player reported using "Driver Booster" a free third party utility for updating drivers with success here is a link: http://www.iobit.com/driver-booster.php for a download page.


UPDATE: Most players with this issue successfully resolved it via updating their sound card drivers.

Issue:

Crash that references MSVCR110.dll as the culprit
Common cause: Visual Studio 2011 Redistributable not installed
Notes: appears to be issue with Steam installation scripts

Solution:
Install/reinstall Visual Studio 2012 Redistributable

Download here:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-winapps/the-program-cant-start-because-msvcr110dll-is/f052d325-3af9-4ae5-990b-b080799724db?msgId=46d0dd44-18ac-44e2-8004-e8cfb18cac1e

Notes: might need to install 64 bit version in addition to 32 bit version

Issue:

Unsupported resolution
Common cause: DirectX reports a possible resolution that the monitor doesn't support


Potential Solution:
Go to the game folder:
(Default Location) C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Void Destroyer 2
Double click on zRenderingConfig.exe

Double click on zRenderingConfig.exe
This will bring up a rendering config screen.

Change the Video Mode option to a compatible resolution.
Click Ok
Try to run the game.

Potential Solution:
Go to the game folder:
(Default Location) C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Void Destroyer 2
Double click on zRenderingConfig.exe
Find the line that resembles this: Video Mode=1680 x 1050 @ 32-bit colour
and change the 1680 x 1050 numbers to a resolution that your PC supports.

Another potential tweak/fix is this line:
Full Screen=Yes
change Yes to a No to run in Windowed mode, then chose the correct resolution using the in game graphics menu.

TODO - Pernament Solution:
Better "launcher" that allows you to chose resolution before starting the game.

Potential Issues - Best Practices:

Care has been taken to avoid these issues, but they still happen, below are best practices when encountering one.

Issue:

Crash at saving game
Frequency: currently appears to be extremely rare/fixed - but might pop up due to updates

Best practice: send the last save file written to paul @ voiddestroyer . com
The save game directory is here:

(Default Location) C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\VoidDestroyer\Save
Sort by date modified then send the most recent for testing - to paul @ voiddestroyer . com

Issue:

Crash during loading saved game
Frequency: currently appears to be fixed or extremely rare - but might pop up due to updates

Best Practice: send the save file that you attempted to load (see above for save game file location).

Issue:

Crash after loading saved game
Notes: after game loaded, a few moments later - crash (as opposed to crash during loading process - before the start of the loaded game)
Frequency: currently extremely rare or fixed - but might pop up due to updates

Issue:

Crashes during gameplay

Game engine/logic issue:
Best practice: if regularly re-occurs - send latest save file to paul @ voiddestroyer . com
Then I can attempt to reproduce via loading that file into the game

Memory issues:
The game doesn't have a limit as to how many ships you can add in the battle editor, causing out of memory errors. If you've added many ships (eg: more than 100 versus 100) to a battle the game may crash. This also depends on the type of ship, because larger ships tend to have more weapons thus eating up more ram.

Issue:

Game "alt tabs" out at start
Notes: player reported that game constantly "alt tabs" out of itself on startup
Frequency: one player reported

Potential fix: found this via google search and it helped player - "There is a bug in which notifications tab you out. Make your start up with friends offline to fix"

[Rhunin]

First

Mouse has a ghost seperated from the "Windowed" program that does random things ie if its over a text chat, and i scroll, it scrolls my chat, or if i push it towards the corner of my screen it highlights desktop icons and buttons on my start bar, most annoyingly, windows 10 has a show desktop button that "previews" when hovered over making your screen clear temporarily until you alt tab then click the windowed program again

Second

Game will crash at every like 7th station visited (not an issue cuz game auto-saves better than any game ive witnessed and the game loads SUPER FAST) but still, game crashes thought youd like to know ^_^

Thirdly

left my game running while i went to the store so my Hermes would keep generating cash, went to my favorite citizen base to notice they had about 20 anubis, 4 heras, and like.. 50+ fighters? wouldnt be an issue if i hadnt decided to do a defend the base mission with them which spawned even about the same number of pirates, causing game to lag if i looked behind me at the civilian fleet

my recommendation is to have pirates periodically attack with set fleet when citizens reach x amount of station fleet size put on a timer? (simplest way i could think to fix the problem)

and Lastly

i have a bug that i think might be a bug but it broke economy for my game in a way some might seem beneficial but it completely removed all economy needs from my game, would you like to pm about this? (would rather not voice it on public chat lest people exploit it and become disheartened via losing maintenance gameplay, i rather enjoy having to work to upkeep massive fleets)

[chaosavy]

Sorry about the issues -

Your post would be good in a seperate thread - and even seperate threads per issue - it's a bit hard to track stuff at the moment - the sticky is really meant for more of a read type post veruss a reply - I'll most likely lock it.

No worries on creating too many posts/etc.

[Rhunin]

alrighty :) would you prefer i seperate those issues out? or no point in doing that now?

and issues come with being a single dev on an early access game, so far? this game is better than most games i play, let alone early access, keep up the good work! :D (ill keep finding what i can and sharing what i can, would you like me to add you about that one id prefer to keep private?)

[chaosavy]

Seperate threads - easier to wrap my head around em and I tend to pick and chose stuff to work on :)

thanks

[aurumenk2]

Okay since I have been having fun with this game here is my bug report. Still multiple crashes however no game breaking bugs. If you open close the game window to desktop a lot it crashes. Enemy comms should be outlined with red so you can tell the difference between who is speaking to who. For the first mission where you have to protect the arrogant cruise liner is way too hard for one fighter, even with the grim's extreme speed whereas other missions later on are easier. Also It would be easier if you had custom presets for your ships that you can save and use when you want to buy new fighters so you don't have to keep re customizing. To make up for this at other bases it takes time for the fighter to be built and shipped there as a time offset, the only thing is, it takes a bit of time to get them. Another thing is, check out kinetic void's random map generator, but this does not apply to your game, as kinetic void had a wonderful ship builder that was very simple and the map generator was a great feature.

Some loadouts in the game do not fit the frigates, the Horus class feels heavy and clunky and almost downright useless because its more of a drag and drop or perhaps the ability to customize loadouts a bit better or put your ore energy or food into research for better weapons platforms and stuff. Perhaps also time slowdown for when you are commanding units. I found this clunky and difficult to use at first. Wars are top notch keep up the good work. Also with Base defense missions when you have a lot of ships, often you will cause friendly fire wars and I think there needs to be an easier way to pay fines like hailing a base or any ship and having someone ask you if this incident was an accident after you get the wanted hit. I found I couldn't pay it off so it was tough because most things can be replaced. However to do this, you could just have the fleets move out of the base bubble slightly and have areas where the civilian ships go while you defend your end. Military will try to make you pay whereas pirates will try to extort you

However the pride heavy corvette is absolutely devastating, its speed and power are unstoppable. Also would be cool if you wander off the map too far to run into a huge outsider fleet or something, or a strange and scary leviathan which is ruthlessly tough. How about some random events also that you can send your pilots to do and they will gain experience and hunt on their own gaining leadership points and possibly rank similar to starpoint gemini but instead they get a random card which gives them a small speed buff, att, electronic weapons specialists depending on the rarity. Also nothing, and I mean nothing, is more powerful than a large group of fully buffed out pillars as their missle tankage is godly. However no counter to those awesome front shields, maybe have some elctronic warfare ships, they are outlined differently because of how they are armed like enemy red blue is electronic, red purple is missle, red neon orange is bomber. Maybe have some special weapons packages you can go after as well but you need insane amounts of ore and such to develop them, and if your enemy keeps getting better weapons, you'd better keep up eventually.

This game however is X3 simplified and is a great and easy interface which I find BETTER than X3. If I could code, I would help you code this game. The other thing I want to talk about is patrols and commands I find difficult, I mean when I got a frigate, it auto patrolled on its own but I couldn't figure out how to get my fighters to escort my mining ships that kept getting raided, but never destroyed or worse, captured. The screen should blink when your ships are under attack and maybe a small corner window comes up, or a distress alert, etc. Or perhaps just a tab that changes color, you can still however turn it off by clicking the x corner box you get the picture. Also I don't know how to cycle my abilities without hitting space for tactical mode to move my mouse cursor up to them and click them. Maybe bigger ships have better command viewers to make your ships do cool manuvers, making the battle scales much bigger and more challenging, also, a time compression so you can command more quickly than the enemy (eg electronics warfare hint hint) Some people may be able to ECM you and slow your command speed down, weaken your tactics strength blah blah so now it plays more like a strategy game. Would be sweet to see those custom formations mow down enemies built based on your loadouts and tactics like drive and drop. Possibly being good against other tactics or something. This game is so much fun. Thank you for making it.

[chaosavy]

Hey - thanks for the feedback.

I feel like there's several posts worth of stuff in there... This thread is more for players looking for solutions to common bugs/issues versus posting feedback.

If you could post the " If you open close the game window to desktop a lot it crashes" - issue on the bug/support forum? And please provide as many details as possible - I don't understand what you mean by close the game window to desktop - I'm guessing alt tabbing? or minimizing? anyway if you give me steps to reproduce I'll do my best to fix the issue - thanks!

[aurumenk2]

Yes alt tabbing. Also I've noticed when you go from the in game overlay map and you hit a quest circle, when pressing space too quickly it will sometimes crash.

[CunningSTunt]

Need help here... only recently started playing and tried all of the above but anytime i go to load a save either from the main menu or from mid game if i restart i crash back to desktop.

Have tried all of the above as listed with no success as yet... any further suggestions?

[tsmspace]

I'm struggling to configure my joystick/controller. I can't invert all of the axis, it doesn't seem to let me assign axis to all of the controls I want to assign axis to,. I will add friend and try to contact you directly,,, also, I don't understand why no one can post in this forum??

[chaosavy]

Hi - try this for joystick axis options -


While in game - click - Options then Gameplay - then Joystick/Controller - you'll find a bunch of axis options there.

[Gravn]

"Another potential tweak/fix is this line:
Full Screen=Yes
change Yes to a No to run in Windowed mode, then chose the correct resolution using the in game graphics menu."

What line, what file? None of the .exe files are able to start as long as the plugins.cfg has a rendersystem plugin listed. And without any the zRenderingConfig.exe can't generate a config file.

Can you tell me what the file is supposed to be called and what should be in it? The config exe is a wierd solution when all I need is a txt file to input my data. Now I have to debug the config application instead.

[chaosavy]

Running either Void Destroyer 2.exe or zRenderingConfig.exe creates a file named -

ogre.cfg

Here's the contents of my ogre.cfg file -


Render System=Direct3D9 Rendering Subsystem

[Direct3D9 Rendering Subsystem]
Allow DirectX9Ex=No
Allow NVPerfHUD=No
FSAA=4
Fixed Pipeline Enabled=Yes
Floating-point mode=Fastest
Full Screen=Yes
Multi device memory hint=Use minimum system memory
Rendering Device=Monitor-1-NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
Resource Creation Policy=Create on all devices
Use Multihead=Auto
VSync=Yes
VSync Interval=1
Video Mode=1920 x 1080 @ 32-bit colour
sRGB Gamma Conversion=No





----

This is very specific to the PC

Rendering Device=Monitor-1-NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
and the video mode (aka resolution) but other than that it should be pretty much the same for other systems.

[Dragonx]

"Disabling the sound system

If the above don't work try this:

In the main game directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Void Destroyer 2

Create a file named: skipAudio.cfg (empty file is ok)

When the game launches and detects this file, it shouldn't initalize the sound system.

If the game does launch - this confirms it is a driver/sound issue."


This makes the game launch. But I want to play it with sound. I've tried every solution.

- It only works other then "no audio file" solution if I disable every sound peripheral on the system. It feels like game is allergic to audio.
- Updated every driver or downgraded them nothing works.
- uninstalled openal and reinstalled it.

Hoping for a solution.

OKAY FIXED IT. but it was my own doing i guess not everybody can benefit from it. I disabled a service couple of weeks ago that was the problem now this game works and many other "crash on launch" games. services name is "touch keyboard and handwriting panel service" (reset pc after enabling it)