Audio related Crash ? Thread - MISERY mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

This mod has always performed reasonably well on this machine. 2.1 and earlier versions play fine on this rig, but with 2.2 I get a crash minutes after loading a save.

I have been playing 2.2 for about 120 hours on my new backup system and it plays nicely with minimal crashes, but 2.2 won't play right on my main rig. This is what the crash error tells me:

xrEngine.exe caused ACCESS_VIOLATION in module "H:\Games\STALKER MISERY 2.2\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat\bin\xrGame.dll" at 0023:0BF6C2EE, CxIOFile::Scanf()+130462 byte(s)

Registers:
----------------------------------------
EAX=00000000 EBX=7CD4FB84 ECX=00A0F2AC EDX=867555BF
ESI=7BC619F0 EDI=7BC61A75 FLG=00010246
EBP=7CD4FF60 ESP=00A0F320 EIP=0BF6C2EE
CS=0023 DS=002B SS=002B ES=002B FS=0053 GS=002B

When I open task manager, there are several processes named: Creative_Audio_engine_Cleanup 01 through to 0.3 that appear every time it crashes. Here are the system specs of both machines:

Main rig:

CPU: I7-3770K

8gig RAM

GPU: GTX 980 - 4GB

Mobo: G1 Sniper 3

sound: Soundblaster recon 3Di - Optical output

HDD: western digital Black edition 1TB

Backup system:
CPU: i3 - 6100

16 gig RAM

GPU: GTX 980 - 4gb

Mobo: MSI Z170A Krait Gaming 3x

Sound: HDMI - Nvidia High def audio

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB

Any idea what's going on here ? Can post more info if needed. Cheers!

Update:

I deleted my User.ltx file and shader caches and re-calibrated everything, this time selecting DX11 full range dynamic lighting and the same save file played for over an hour without crashing!

It was either a freak occurrence or 2.2 didn't like something about my user configuration. I even took the exact same route so as to replicate the crash, but it was good. Knock on wood!

Glad it is working. Every hardware combination needs a little TLC and its own optimizing. GPU vendors don't always keep their drivers up to date for the older DirectX versions.

That didn't look like a crash log portion, that is the preferred info to help track a problem down. The last 10 lines of your crash log or the portion following FATAL ERROR if it has that near the bottom. At the top of the bugs thread there are instructions for locating it.

Yeah, I'm stoked that it's working now. Going on 2 hours with no crash.

I don't know what's going on with those crash/error log files, looks like gibberish to me lol. I'm still a little bit curious as to what exactly caused the issue. Perhaps I will never know. I'm just happy that both my rigs can run it well now.

You're not looking at the right file. If you are using a DVD version crash logs will be located in the C:\Users\Public\Documents\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Call of Pripyat\logs folder; or C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stalker Call of Pripyat\_appdata_\logs if you are using the steam version. The file will be named xray_yourname.txt.

That looks like a bugtrap or minidump file.

I did some testing with different video modes with a fairly accurate deduction that the game dislikes certain DX modes on my system. While I haven't tested every single mode, the game remains stable using Static lighting or DX11 Full dynamic lighting. It doesn't like what I presume to be the other DX9 modes, though I imagine Static lighting is DX9 but without the fancy lighting effects.

I disabled DX11 because performance wasn't that great. FPS was all over the shop. Using the default CPU affinity, it was as you described, maxing Core 1 with next to no utilization on the other cores. Might play around with that later. For some reason I could not get V-sync to work. Afterburner was showing 40-89fps while panning in-game.

In Static lighting mode, it was very stable and responsive, but crashed when I exited the game- A fairly typical anomaly with this game in modded form if memory serves correctly. Like always, I set compatibility to Windows XP SP3 and Run as Admin. I have done this across all versions on both systems. Seems to yield the best results.

What distribution of the game are you running? It should need zero admin or compatibility settings normally.

Hmm, you just made me realize I was playing from a ripped game install directory using a "crack". I also bought it on steam years ago but never downloaded it, I didn't really see a need to. But oh man! I finally downloaded the steam version and it works so much better.

The crack I was using for the dvd rip must be totally rancid lol. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I can't believe all this time the crack was making my game run like poop! That's roughly 3,000 hours of playing poop when I could have just installed the steam version...

Let my stupidity serve as warning to others that may be playing with a no-dvd crack. The crack makes the game run like garbage! Steam version takes about 2 seconds to load games and there is no pause when entering esc menu. Game still stutters due to the scripts and high switch distance I have set. But holy cow, steam version rocks!

Still can't get V-sync to work though. I wonder if something funky is going on in my NVCP profile. Anyway, thanks a lot for the help!

Oh yeah I forgot, running the the game as admin is actually prescribed in the Misery Manual. That's where I must have got that from. Also I run Win 7 64bit and find older games can run better under XP compatibility, though haven't had a need with the steam version.

Edited by: Daniel_stark

In all cases, I personally only recommend using any compatibility settings when the game/program won't run without them. Steam, especially, hates admin settings. On most systems it will cause huge load time and performance problems. When in doubt, test and verify if your performance and stability are better. By choosing compatibility settings first you may be robbing yourself of performance.

Now that you found your Steam copy, GOG will give you a FREE Digital copy with proof of license ownership. Their distribution is DRM free and could work even better.

IRT Vsync, turn it off in the game config panel, and choose a custom config for COP in your Nvidia Control Panel on the program tab. If the game is not listed, you can add it (Xray engine 1.6). Choose whatever vsync option appeals to you.

Yeah, that's where I picked up the habit from. Then I would do it with many games that exhibited certain oddities or simply failed to work. I have run the Steam version with admin rights, but it didn't make any difference. I was just trying to follow precautions.

I'll try doing what you said with the V-sync. The in-game option doesn't appear to do anything for me. Cheers.

Yes, I don't know why, but the 60HZ and Vsync in-game don't work once you apply MISERY.

That's a bummer lol.

Just to point out the limits of my stupidity, it turns out the crack wasn't responsible for the unresponsiveness, it was switching rendering modes without deleting shader cache that turned the game to poop. Though you could say the cracked version is slightly more unstable, but tends to stutter less when playing- which is kind of odd.

I have experienced the same thing with the steam version. If anyone else is getting the hanging and sound loops when entering esc menu and/or resuming from Alt+tab state and long load times, clear your shader cache!

Also, if I disable Threaded Optimization in NVCP the game just crashes on startup.