[BUG] GPU device lost when using DX12 render mode [FIX Found!!]

[Chris Solomon]

I just noticed that using the key combo Alt+Enter causes the game to crash with a GPU device lost error. the game is able to switch to window mode when ALT+Enter is pressed under the vulkan render mode. this leads me to believe that this is a bug, and not a driver/hardware/os issue

MSI RAIDER RGB GE73-8RE
Intel i7-8750H
16Gb DDR4
1060 6Gb GDDR5
256 SSD + 1Tb HDD
Windows 11 Pro

[Chris Solomon]

i submitted a bug report to rebellion. so this posting is just a notification to other players about the bug

[Chris Solomon]

i continue to have this error when using the Dx12 mode.

happened to catch this error the last time it happened. not sure if it was the cause or just a symptom of the issue. the error seems to indicate a stack overflow error. but i also found this info " NT Status code 0xC0000409 corresponds to STATUS_STACK_BUFFER_OVERRUN.

However, this status code is also used when the runtime library encounters an unrecoverable error and terminates the process. That would be a reason why ucrtbase.dll is identified as the faulty module, even if the problem originated elsewhere.
"
- source: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20190108-00/?p=100655
not sure which i the case, or how i would find out.

I did perform SFC and DISM checks to makes sure the files were ok. no issues were found in my files.

I did notice one thing since my 1st post. the game seems to minimize to desktop when the error starts. it isn't something else interupting my playing as far as i can tell. trying to go back to the game causes the game to then crash with a GPU device lost error and the below error message. It is curious that using DX12 (D3D) causes the issue, but Vulkan does not.

Faulting application name: evilgenius_dx12.exe, version: 2022.4.4.51685, time stamp: 0x624a6348
Faulting module name: ucrtbase.dll, version: 10.0.22000.1, time stamp: 0x00e78ce9
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x000000000007dd7e
Faulting process id: 0x76a0
Faulting application start time: 0x01d8538ef706849b
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Evil Genius 2\bin\evilgenius_dx12.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\ucrtbase.dll
Report Id: 79735334-d54c-4f18-98a4-450d0bfe5679
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

[Chris Solomon]

just spotted this error that occurs exactly same time as above error.

Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

no other video card related errors or issues with other games.

[Chris Solomon]

thinking that maybe, possibly, it might be a video driver issue, i reinstalled my nvidia drivers.

i am already using the latest game ready drivers, 512.15. so if it turns out that the video driver IS at fault, then it is with the drivers themselves, not with how they are on my system.

also did some googling on the fault offset, since that can sometimes be illuminating on what went wrong when an error occurs.

100% of the returned search results of "offest 0x000000000007dd7e" were abour errors involving UCRTBASE.DLL.
99% both uscrtbase.dll AND OFFSET 0x000000000007dd7e.
80% involved windows explorer and ucrtbase.dll
the rest of the entys i found were for the exact same error, but for other software and games. there did not seems to be any solutions for the other cases i found. and cases were VERY recent, and not all of them were windows 11.

[Chris Solomon]

just caught the following error when EG2 crasjed again.

Fault bucket LKD_0x141_Tdr:6_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys_Pascal, type 0
Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 445585fe-64b9-430a-85f7-5816216e6634

Problem signature:
P1: 141
P2: ffffa806b70e4060
P3: fffff8019675de38
P4: 0
P5: c3c
P6: 10_0_22000
P7: 0_0
P8: 256_1
P9:
P10:

Attached files:
\\?\C:\WINDOWS\LiveKernelReports\WATCHDOG\WATCHDOG-20220418-2221.dmp
\\?\C:\WINDOWS\SystemTemp\WER-23540125-0.sysdata.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER.c2851271-beec-4b77-be6d-69cb94524fad.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER.8d97cbfb-ff55-4941-b271-94df0829be4f.tmp.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER.2177a990-ccb6-4129-a37d-227ad69b317b.tmp.csv
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER.da513939-a2a9-4b61-9fa7-391dcb26af77.tmp.txt
\\?\C:\Windows\SystemTemp\WER.ce9ef2e6-112e-4f9f-bedb-15eb4ca012d3.tmp.WERDataCollectionStatus.txt

These files may be available here:
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\Kernel_141_14116cdff08fdf9d655f7b887b738ab184af2e2d_00000000_cab_08bf0fda-143b-4d96-9df6-4d86158e3e99

Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: 08bf0fda-143b-4d96-9df6-4d86158e3e99
Report Status: 268435456
Hashed bucket:
Cab Guid: 0

Windows seems to classify the issue as a hardware issue, but this is the only game i am having any issues with. which sorta rules that out.

[Chris Solomon]

according to my research, live kernel error 141 indicates a hardware issue. but all other indicators say otherwise. is it something with this game that is causing a hardware error to be generated? for now i am reverting the video drivers back to the version published back in January. i will post back when i have results

[Chris Solomon]

i was almost able to report a sucess when using the older driver. i was able to play for three hours straight. then cortana popped up and the game crashed with the same error as before.. perhaps EG2 is not handling switching from the internal intel graphics and my 1060 like it should? this would be a first for me. even older games are seemingly able to handle when the system switches back and forth. even EG1 can handle it.

[Chris Solomon]

did some deep diving into google search. apparently this issue was first reported by others as far back as march 30, 2021. why has not such a serious issue been fixed yet?

according to the devs, Vulkan mode is meant to be used by lower end systems. i7s and other higher end systems (like mine) should use dx12 mode because of better visuals and higher framerate.

as far as i can tell the devs have basically shelved any further patching or development of EG2 and started to work on sniper elite 5. this is shameful to release a game with a broken graphics engine and no plans to fix it.

[Chris Solomon]

after contacting support, and bringing it up on the discord channel, it seems that devs did a ninja update. i noticed that a 7.7Mb update was downloaded today. and now the issue seems to have gone away completely. just hope i did not just jinx myself....

[Chris Solomon]

looks like jinxed it. not only has problem returned, but it has gotten worse now.

[Chris Solomon]

Found a fix for the error. added some keys to the registry to cause a dump to be made when the game crashes. ran those dumps through windbg, and found the results surprising. the cause of the crashes was not ucrtbase.dll, faulty hardware, or drivers or even eg2. it was being caused by steam's overlay driver! gameoverlayrenderer64.dll is the cause of the GPU Device lost crash! going into the games properties in the steam client and turning off the steam overlay fixed the issue completely! not sure if i shoul
d next take this issue up with rebellion, valve or both, since i frequently use the steam overlay when i play my steam games.

update : after alt tabbing three or four times, the game crashed with same error right in the middle of playing. and the crash dump is now giving different results as well

[Chris Solomon]

ok... in addition to the earlier fix, it seems running EG2 as an admin may be the solution. i wont say its the fix, since i have already been off twice.

[Chris Solomon]

after multiple days running EG2 with out any errors, at the risk of once more jinxing it, i am confirming that i have found a fix for this issue.

to fix the issue, you need to perform the following steps:

1. turn off the steam overlay for the game.
2. turn on windows compatibility admin mode. for the launcher, and the Dx12 version of the executable (evilgenius_dx12.exe). since the issue is not pesent in the Vulkan mode of the game, leave the file 'evilgenius_vulkan.exe' alone.

the launcher resides here by default: c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\Evil Genius 2\launcher

and the main executables for the game reside here: c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\Evil Genius 2\bin

i did discover another thing which caused this crash error: if you find the game starts crashing in the middle of playing, with the same error as discussed in this thread, but not alt+tabbing, restarting the OS will cause the error to go away. if you simply just restart the game, it will crash again after a few minutes. I am not sure why this fix works, only that it does.

[Chris Solomon]

if you are unfamiliar with how to set up compatibility mode for windows programs, there is a wizard built into windows to assist you. just do the following:

1. right click on the executable (*.exe)
2a. (winndows 11 only) - select show more options
2b. select troubleshoot compatibility
3. select troubleshoot program on the window that pops up.
4. select the option "this program requires additional permissions" do not select any oher options. click on next.
5. select test program on next menu.
6. once program opens sucessfully, close the program and go back to the troubleshooting wizard. and click next.
7. select "Yes, save these settings for this program." once the wizard has finished working, select the close button.

[cipco2]

Interesting. I had that error when trying to run the game so I will be trying your solution.