[FIXED(Sort of)] How to force pre-cache of models? (Survivors Only)

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[If you are one of those people that are going to blindly defend the update or simply just call me with degrading names or anything of the sort because I'm implying the problem I'm having is because of the new "update", I'm not going to acknowledge your comment/response, so please either refrain of attacking me before reading my post or just leave me to my inevitable demise of never playing this great game again, with that said...]

Hello, first of all if anyone will recommend me the follow fixes for this, just don't, since they are not working for me:

1)Putting "+precache_all_survivors 1" in the launch options;
2)Disabling/Uninstalling mods;
3)Verifying the local files; Even when I do this and the game re-downloads the stuff, it still missing and the game crashes.
4)Reinstalling the game;


My problem is basically a simple (or rather a supremely complicaded one, since I did not found any fixes for this for the last 2 weeks, and the ones I found simply don't do anything):Every time I try to load a stage (but never the first one) of a campaing my game crashes with the " not precached model: survivor xxx " error.

All I want to know is this, as implied in the title: How do I force the game to make or create a pre-cache of all models in the game >>AFTER<< I load a game and host a local server so it does not crash?Or something similar or something else that would do the job, I accept any help at this point.

The more details I can offer are the following:

Every time my game crashes, it has nothing to do with the same survivors I'm playing in the campaing, wich can be in vanilla or modded ones, the .MDLs that crashes are always survivors, even WITHOUT ANY MODS INSTALLED AND AFTER A FULL RESINTALL the error persists, I even disconnected from the internet, after the reinstall, removed all mods from the same hard drive that my Steam games are saved and tried, no luck.
I'm always using the same skins I used years back wich never had a problem with even by letting them in my addon list and DISABLED, wich I'm sure I can thank the new "update" for such a problem since I always had overloaded my games with mods, played vanilla some times and never, EVER had this problem whatsoever, the only time I can recall having something similar was with the The Hive campaing years ago and with only that campaing if I did not unsubbed from it. But I cannot blame it since when I got back at playing the game a month before the new update came out, I had it activated and later deactivated on my list and had no problems until the "update".

I do respect the attempt of the people who did this "update", make no mistake, I can just now play versus without loosing my mind thanks for that, but now I can't play campaing due to this new error. My only problem with this new "update" is a simple recurring problem since humans exist: Human error.

(Edit: I think I got this fix for the time being, I hosted 5 games so far and no crashes by using cl_forcepreload 1 in the autoexec.cfg, big thanks to Tiggers from Codeweavers, and definitely not me, for solving this)

[laughing stock]

Have you tried putting precache_all_survivors 1 in an autoexec? That works for me.

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Tried both on the autoexec.cfg and in the launch options, no joy.

[laughing stock]

Originally posted by ♦ßeta♦:

Tried both on the autoexec.cfg and in the launch options, no joy.

I got nothing then. Sorry.

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No worries buddy.
...
*waiting for more replies*

[laughing stock]

Originally posted by ♦ßeta♦:

No worries buddy.
...
*waiting for more replies*

I know that feeling

[Brock]

Hi there mate.

Most people who've been getting crashes and error messages after the last update, had it fixed by disabling all the add-ons, and running vanilla Left 4 Dead 2 with the latest update shouldn't cause the error you are receiving generally, so the issue could be more than that.

You said verifying the local files causes Steam to re-download files? Can you please confirm this (and how many files) as the game is a new re-install and Steam shouldn't be re-downloading anything since you already have re-installed your game, and please make sure there are no files whatsoever in your addons folder in /Left 4 Dead 2/left4dead2/addons

Also make sure that you aren't running any custom configurations on your game, clear your Steam command line parameters, and disable steam cloud synchronization on the Updates tab in steam, and from inside the game through Options ----> Steam Cloud and set it to disabled, after that go to your /Left 4 Dead 2/left4dead2/cfg and delete autoexec.cfg and config.cfg (backup the two files first), then start the game again and check.

If you are still facing the same issue after all that, uninstall Left 4 Dead 2, and make sure it's completely deleted by going to /Steam/steamapps/common folder and delete any leftovers if found, then install the game again (you could try on a different hard/partition), and check if you are still facing the same issue, and make sure Steam cloud was disabled inside the game before you install again, and disabled on the Updates tab as well.

Please report back with the results.

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First of all, if I sound passive-agressive, thats because I'm totally being like this, but this is not directly aimed at you Brock or anyone else, so please bare this in mind, I'm just livid beyond believe that L4D now has the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problems as these newer games no one really likes or have fun with them.

Originally posted by Brock:

You said verifying the local files causes Steam to re-download files? Can you please confirm this (and how many files) as the game is a new re-install and Steam shouldn't be re-downloading anything since you already have re-installed your game, and please make sure there are no files whatsoever in your addons folder in /Left 4 Dead 2/left4dead2/addons"

You misunderstood me or I didn't formulated my phrases right, when I validate files is AFTER the game crashes not after a REINSTALL, I had to do this after a CTD everytime.
And yes, as I mentioned before I had NOTHING on the addons folder, I think I had made this clear, and even then the game get this error.

Originally posted by Brock:

Also make sure that you aren't running any custom configurations on your game, clear your Steam command line parameters, and disable steam cloud synchronization on the Updates tab in steam, and from inside the game through Options ----> Steam Cloud and set it to disabled, after that go to your /Left 4 Dead 2/left4dead2/cfg and delete autoexec.cfg and config.cfg (backup the two files first), then start the game again and check.

The only configurations I have on the autoexcec.cfg are the thirdperson camera positions and the famous "sv_consistency 0", I can you explain/clarefy on how the autoexec can break something?
I will try this today tho.Will come back here after I get a result.

Originally posted by Brock:

If you are still facing the same issue after all that, uninstall Left 4 Dead 2, and make sure it's completely deleted by going to /Steam/steamapps/common folder and delete any leftovers if found, then install the game again (you could try on a different hard/partition), and check if you are still facing the same issue, and make sure Steam cloud was disabled inside the game before you install again, and disabled on the Updates tab as well.

Why installing it on another hard-drive would fix this issue?The problem is the game is not actually loading correctly and/or creating said files (pre caches) in the local server.Could you elaborate?

Also this is all well and good, I will try those things and report back but what I asked is how I can force the game to create a pre-cache of models, specifically of the survivors, not to work-around the problem because this will be, once again, a black hole of so called "fixes" that are not actually fixes, they are a "work-around" at best.
I got back playing Sven Coop and noticed while the game loads it does this, creates pre-caches of models and some textures, I want to know how I can do this MANUALLY before or after I load a local server.

I'm not complaining or anything, I'm just trying to make myself clear on what I truly wanna try to fix this problem once and for all...Since the people behind the new "update" could not care less of the plethera of problems they would bring to this legendary game that held itself for all these years, by forcing this "update" down our throats instead of making it a \GREAT/ optional mod mixed with fixes for versus and a new simple campaing and a much more interesting survival experiences.

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Also forgot to mention, sorry:

When the game crashes the number is random between 1-5 files that are re-downloaded. I would assume that those have something to do with the survivors, since it's always those .MDLs that are having problems here.

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Well, the process of removing the Steam Cloud, aht autoexec and config did not worked.
Funny, it says it's the producer or the mechanic models that are not pre-cached...that's really funny since I was playing on blood harvest, with no skins activated.

[Brock]

Originally posted by ♦ßeta♦:

but what I asked is how I can force the game to create a pre-cache of models, specifically of the survivors

******This method is for forcing pre-cache of models on your local or dedicated server using SM and MM with a plugin*******

1- Download the latest version of Sourcemod from here (1.10.0 at the time of this post) https://sm.alliedmods.net/smdrop/1.10/sourcemod-1.10.0-git6497-windows.zip

2- Download the latest version of Metamod from here (1.10.7 at the time of this post) https://mms.alliedmods.net/mmsdrop/1.10/mmsource-1.10.7-git971-windows.zip

3- Download the metamod.vdf file from here http://metamodsource.net/vdf , from the drop down list choose Left 4 Dead 2 then click on Generate metamod.vdf.

Now open the sourcemod.zip folder, open addons and extract "metamod" and "sourcemod" to /Left 4 Dead 2/left4dead2/addons folder, then open go back in your sourcemod.zip folder, open cfg folder and extract sourcemod in your /Left 4 Dead 2/left4dead2/cfg folder


Now open your metamod.zip folder, open addons and extract "metamod" to /Left 4 Dead 2/left4dead2/addons, make sure to merge the folders not replace them when asked, do not extract the metamod.vdf inside this .zip file.

Now put the metamod.vdf file you created before inside your /Left 4 Dead 2/left4dead2/addons folder, now you've installed Sourcemod and Metamod on your server.

Now go to this plugin https://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?t=291408 , called L4D2 Game Files Precacher, if you check the page it shows a description of the plugin, what this does is that it precaches your game files before the start of every level.

Click on "Get Plugin", it will download a file called "game_files_precacher-l4d2.smx", move that file to /Left 4 Dead 2/left4dead2/addons/sourcemod/plugins folder, now you have the plugin installed.

To get sourcemod to work on your game, you need to add "-insecure" to your Steam command launch parameters, this will prevent you from connecting to VAC secured servers but will load Metamod and Sourcemod on your game.

Simply create a local server (from Play online or from the console), and test your game again.

Originally posted by ♦ßeta♦:

You misunderstood me or I didn't formulated my phrases right, when I validate files is AFTER the game crashes not after a REINSTALL, I had to do this after a CTD everytime.
And yes, as I mentioned before I had NOTHING on the addons folder, I think I had made this clear, and even then the game get this error.

The only configurations I have on the autoexcec.cfg are the thirdperson camera positions and the famous "sv_consistency 0", I can you explain/clarefy on how the autoexec can break something?
I will try this today tho.Will come back here after I get a result.

Why installing it on another hard-drive would fix this issue?The problem is the game is not actually loading correctly and/or creating said files (pre caches) in the local server.Could you elaborate?

I did understand, but the problem you are encountering is a very specific one, and so far I believe you are the only one on this forum that's facing this kind of issue, so it's best to be sure that the game is a complete new install, that's why I recommended deleting your config and autoexec files, as I've seen previously commands that could alter your game performance or network, as well as suggesting installing on a new hard so to make sure that no leftover files are taking over every time you re-install that could cause this crash.

I would also recommend reporting this issue to one of the Last Stand update team, as this seems like a very specific issue that only (so far you on the forum) have reported, so they could have a look into it, you can report it in the Last Stand bug thread but I would recommend contacting one of the update team directly so your comment doesn't get lost, you can link this thread to them so they can confirm what you've already tried.

Most of the people who have been facing similar issues had it fixed by disabling old workshop mods or broken ones after the update, and if you are facing the engine error while joining servers as well, Sourcemod and Metamod only work while hosting your own local server, so you would still encounter this issue on joining server, which is why I recommend contacting one of the update team.

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I think I got this fixed now. I will edit my main post so if someone else have this problem it will be easier for them to correct this as well.

Thanks a bunch for the help Brock, I will try this if something else happens and will report back with results in case my fix didn't helped.

[Brock]

Originally posted by ♦ßeta♦:

I think I got this fixed now. I will edit my main post so if someone else have this problem it will be easier for them to correct this as well.

Thanks a bunch for the help Brock, I will try this if something else happens and will report back with results in case my fix didn't helped.

Hey mate, I'm glad you managed to get it sorted after all, and thanks for including the fix in your thread, I will edit my post to leave it as a method to force pre-caching on your local server using SM and MM.

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Hey Brock, just a warning, the crashes continues but a lot more ocasionally with just my fix, it still crashes, but much more randomly and only 1 crash in 5 hosted games mor or less so far, I will try to add your way now to see if this fixes it for good.
Also, please, go ahead, this might help a lot more folks in the long run ^^