Random crash now XR_3DA.exe stopped working -FIXED with info on what I did

[Tyyni]

Ok so I was playing, game crashed, my computer decided to shut itself down due to 'encountering an error' and now everytime I try to run the game I get a pop-up that XR_3DA.exe has stopped working.

I've rebooted computer, I've verified game cache, I've deleted XR_3DA.exe and reaquired it via verifying game cache again.

I'm using just the vanilla game with SoC Complete 2009 mods (however I'm using the vanilla HUD).
I've played past this point in previous playthroughs without any issues so it's not a random 'hiccup' due to where I'm at.

Steam has clocked over 20 hours on the game, and now it won't run.

Ideas?


A bit more information here's the xr log:

* Detected CPU: AuthenticAMD , F15/M0/S1, 1996.00 mhz, 46-clk 'rdtsc'
* CPU Features: RDTSC, MMX, SSE, SSE2

Initializing File System...
using fs-ltx fsgame.ltx
--found external arch mp_military_2.xdb0
FS: 32265 files cached, 6354Kb memory used.
Init FileSystem 3.341058 sec
'xrCore' build 3312, Feb 27 2008

Initializing Engine...
Executing config-script "user.ltx"...

FATAL ERROR

[error]Expression : sz<(tgt_sz-1)
[error]Function : IReader::r_string
[error]File : E:\stalker\sources\trunk\xrCore\FS.cpp
[error]Line : 349
[error]Description : Dest string less than needed.


stack trace:

[Tyyni]

I got it fixed. I deleted the user.ltx in both the steam game library and in the public documents library. Deleting just one didn't seem to work for me but I deleted both, redid game cache and it now loads.

[Nate]

Originally posted by Tyyni:

I got it fixed. I deleted the user.ltx in both the steam game library and in the public documents library. Deleting just one didn't seem to work for me but I deleted both, redid game cache and it now loads.

I followed your advice in deleting both user.ltx files. However, I didn't 'redo' game cache because I don't know what game cache is nor do I know how to redo it.

The good news is, it stopped crashing in the same spots. The bad news is, it still crashes.

So if I were to follow your advice to the letter, what is game cache and how do I redo it?

[Tyyni]

Right click on your game in your game library. Hit Properties. Under properties go to Local Files, then click verify integrity of game cache.

First go to your documents folder (mine is under Users/Public/PublicDocuments/Stalker-shoc

there should be a folder there named logs. open that folder and then open xray log. It should say something like the one I posted above.

this line is most important:

Initializing Engine...
Executing config-script "user.ltx"...

That's where my game file 'user.ltx' was corrupt and therefore caused the crash.

If your log is also user.ltx then hopefully verifying your game cache will solve your issue, if it's not user.ltx I can find the link (I'll look for it now) where it helped me figure out what to do.


EDIT:
Here's the link http://www.metacognix.com/stlkrsoc/CrashesStillInTheGame.html
I believe it sorts by the last line ([error]Description : Dest string less than needed.)

It's around halfway down that page.

[Nate]

I didn't realize you were talking about verify integrity of game cache. Ya I've done that many times for stalker SOC.

In any case, the line in my logs reads:

"Initializing Engine...
Executing config-script "user.ltx"...
! Cannot open script file [user.ltx]"

Which presumes this has something to do with user.ltx

I deleted user.ltx in both the public and private domains and it still crashed. Then I verified integrity of game cache and it still crashes anyway.

That link you left, I will admit I'd seen that website before but this whole process is starting to make me feel daunted. I'm not into trouble shooting at all and I'm starting to think the stalker dev team isn't either since they won't return my emails.

I don't mean to sound like an ass but unless there's a quick fix for this, there's no way I'm going to spend much time on this. It's a good game but it's also an old game and I have plenty more.

[Tyyni]

Hmmm that's a shame, the last thing that I could say would be move your save game file out of the stalker folder, delete game local files and then manually check for any remaining stalker files and delete then reinstall game and place save game back in folder. If that doesn't work, then it's your save game that's corrupt.

Are you using any mods? I immediately installed Complete 2009 before actually playing the game (minus the start game once before installing complete 09) It's supposed to fix a lot of random bugs and crashes.

[Nate]

I read online about this 'Complete' mod that supposedly fixes most of the common bugs and crashes. That will be my final attempt. Hopefully it works as I do like this game.

[Filip]

how do you delete user.tlx from public domain, im not a computer genious so I don't have a clue how to do it since I really love stalker and I really want to fix it