Shogun 2 Crashes at start screen since FotS

[Fantoche]

Hello everyone!

This seems to be a very common problem from the research I've done and tries to solve it, but still, I'm certain there must be a solution somewhere I haven't tried.

Thing is, I've been playing Shogun 2 for over a hundred hours and finished the game at least twice now, I can run it smoothly without any crashes and all seems well. That is, until I got the fall of the Samurai expansion. Now it smply gets stuck on the loading and credit screen (the splash page) and.. the game returns to window after a few minutes. I also cannot even try the benchmarks as I get the same results.

Could this be related to the gigantic update on steam in december? I was surprised to see an automated update nearing 17 gigs..

Things I've tried so far;
-Reinstalling the game
-Verifying the game cache, many times, usually right after trying something.
-Checked the registry for "incredibar" occurences and found none
-Reinstalled the visual C++ library
-Deleting the shogun 2 exe from the game file
-Raising the virtual memory allocated from 4 to 6GB

I included the DXdiag, if it can help.. please note the game worked perfectly as Shogun 2 and refused to load from the Rall of the Samurai expansion.

Thanks all in advance.

[irishron]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=552271?

[Fantoche]

Hello!

Thank you for your quick reply, it is very appreciated.. I took a look at your link, got my hopes up as it wasn't something I've tried.. but there is no modified.txt in the shogun 2/log files, just an empty file called "frame rate.log"

(Yes, I can see hidden files)

[wulfgar610]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=552271?

That one has had me going since yesterday morning after steam did that long update. It wasn't til long ago I noticed the rejected 25 old patch files in the appdata log. Doing a search based on that took me where I needed to go.
All that needed to be done was remove the afflicted files from data to a temp folder. Was it just a few or everybody?

I almost had it last night when I pulled all the patches out and thought about verifying, but didn't like the data cost. (I'm cheap)

[Fantoche]

Sorry for the delay, it took me a while to redownload the whole thing after uninstalling.

Reinstalled the game, deleted the shogun 2 folder and tried again... same result.

It must have something to do with the fall of the samurai expansion.

[irishron]

Delete the clientreistry.blob?
delete the shoun2 folder in appadta?

[Fantoche]

Hello!

Tried both a moment ago and neither work. Thanks for the help, still.

[irishron]

Did you have any mods installed before Fall of the Samurai?

[Fantoche]

No mods. I did get all the DLC at the same time as Fall of the Samurai, if it helps.

[irishron]

This seems to be part of the problem for some.
Have you deleted both Shogun2 folders and did a reinstall?

[wulfgar610]

This seems to be part of the problem for some.
Have you deleted both Shogun2 folders and did a reinstall?

Funny, I did that one back half a year ago. I deleted and reinstall again but the little mod file in data I'd forgotten about remained.

[irishron]

Curiousity.
Post the gfx.log.txt if it generated one.

[Fantoche]

We are definately getting somewhere.

After reinstalling, I checked your first step again and I DID see a "modification.txt". This time, I checked where the suggested files were and removed them to another folder. I verified the cache ad instead of just crashing, the game did start.. but the graphics are a complete mess of mishmash. I'll try adding some of the files back, maybe some will make it fine. Here were the contents :

campaign_maps/gem_japan/display/heightmap/heightmap.tif unknown file
campaign_maps/sho_japan/display/heightmap/heightmap.tif unknown file
campaign_maps/sho_tut/display/heightmap/heightmap.tif unknown file
encyclopedia/tech_index_choice.html unknown file
encyclopedia/unit_class.html unknown file
local_en_patch.pack unknown file
patch.pack unknown file
patch10.pack unknown file
patch2.pack unknown file
patch3.pack unknown file
patch4.pack unknown file
patch5.pack unknown file
patch6.pack unknown file
patch7.pack unknown file
patch8.pack unknown file
patch9.pack unknown file
patch_movies.pack unknown file
patch_movies2.pack unknown file
patch_movies3.pack unknown file
patch_movies4.pack unknown file
shaders_patch.pack unknown file
shaders_patch2.pack unknown file
shaders_patch3.pack unknown file
shaders_patch4.pack unknown file

Also, where do I get the gfx.log file?

[irishron]

Leave those files out. They are in the Optimaztion pack or what CA decided to call it. I got back 3gb of hard disc space this way.
The file is in the logs folder.

[Fantoche]

Alright, here it is.

But there's been some progress, definately. At least now the game STARTS, the videos are all blacked out even if I can hear the music and it's still unplayable (the menus are all black and the background is a flash of colors)

Thanks for the help so far, I can tell we'll solve this.

[irishron]

Delete the scripts folder, verify the game cache, then try it.

[Fantoche]

I tried deleting the script folder and then verifying.

Back to square one, the game doesn't start, it crashes. Your first suggestion, to check the modification files and removing them, at least got the cursor to change to the arrow and start the game.

[irishron]

What antivirus and firewall are you using?

[Fantoche]

I am using Avira for protection.. as for a firewall, the windows one, I think they call it "Windows defender"

[irishron]

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...9828-SFLZ-9289?