Another DS2 crash thread

[tehw0rst]

I haven't been able to play DS2 ever, I bought it ages ago as part of some sale and it didn't work then, I figured I'd come back later and the problems would be resolved... well, they're not.

The problem I have is upon startup I get to the "Press Any Key" screen which will sit and run happily, but the moment I press a key or click the mouse, the game immediately crashes to desktop. The crash report is as follows:

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:    BEX
  Application Name:    deadspace2.exe
  Application Version:    1.0.0.0
  Application Timestamp:    00000000
  Fault Module Name:    deadspace2.exe
  Fault Module Version:    1.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:    00000000
  Exception Offset:    01039672
  Exception Code:    c0000417
  Exception Data:    00000000
  OS Version:    6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
  Locale ID:    1033
  Additional Information 1:    b33c
  Additional Information 2:    b33c16cd6e2105827788015b41a4a748
  Additional Information 3:    0fb9
  Additional Information 4:    0fb9b277dcfd80a7e008505964f4c808

I've tried:

- game was initially purchased on Steam, some people said they've had more luck using Origin version - both give the same result

- I have no settings.txt file in the program files DS2 location or in my user\appdata\local\ea games\dead space 2 folder, and manually creating one makes the game crash IMMEDIATELY upon launch rather than at the any key screen (nice quality control there, folks)

- I've set process affinity to a single core with no benefit

- I've unplugged any additional input devices from my computer - I use a G13 gameboard, and sometimes have an XBOX360 controller or a Saitek joystick plugged in, but even down to just my keyboard and mouse, the game won't start

- I'm running the latest video card drivers from nvidia, I updated today just to make sure

Here's a dxdiag - http://pastebin.com/PDmdCPj9

Before anyone shouts "but but but look, your DxDiag shows your system is overclocked!" I'll tell you that my system is rock solid, it passes memtest, will run prime for 24hrs+, I runs any other game, doesn't ever crash (admittedly I got a blue screen today while trying to get this POS to work but prior to that I don't remember the last one I got)... basically what I'm trying to get across is that there is zero reason why this one single game exhibits "stability issues" on my meagerly overclocked system, especially considering the crash is 100% reproducable.

So, what's left to do? Give up on this horribly QA'ed game?

[EA_Barry]

A quick and easy step is to run the Microsoft utility called System File Checker: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

If you are getting Bluescreens this may prevent those and help you play DS2.

[tehw0rst]

Thank you for the reply.

I've run the sfc which "did not find any integrity violations".

I would like to pick at semantics here and point out that I said I got one bluescreen as a result of running this game, and that otherwise I never experience them. While I appreciate thoroughness in troubleshooting and thus am happy to report the results of sfc back to you, the real liklihood that this was the problem was close to nil.

The game crashes when you press a button at the "press any key" screen. It can sit at that screen happily for ages without crashing. Immediately and absolutely crashing upon pressing any key is not an indicator of an underlying system problem but of something going wrong in the game. Similarly to how the game can be made to crash by creating an invalid settings.txt file, I suspect what I'm experiencing is the result of a lazy and poorly QA'ed port from console.

Further suggestions to resolve the problem are appreciated.

[EA_Barry]

Here are some more things to try:

• Disconnect 2 of your 3 monitors from the video card
• Disconnect the Wacom device
• If you can, use a standard mouse and keyboard
• Reset the video card settings to default
• Edit the following settings file with the following settings:

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\EA Games\Dead Space 2\settings.txt

Window.Height = 1200
Window.Hz = 60
Window.Width = 1920

Then save the changes and retry.

[tehw0rst]

Thanks for the additional suggestions. The Wacom tablet was already disconnected, not sure why it was showing in the DxDiag but I uninstalled the drivers altogether, rebooted, and now it's gone for real. I did all the rest outside of the "standard mouse and keyboard" as these are all I have, and still no joy. The game launches in 1920x1200 now thanks to the settings file, so at least it's native resolution when it crashes... but it still crashes

Any other thoughts?

[EA_Barry]

Try cutting the settings file to your desktop and let it recreate the file with default settings.

[tehw0rst]

The file wasn't there originally, I had to create it to put these settings in. The game is not creating this file on its own.

[EA_Barry]

I found more information on the BEX error. Try this:

• right click on my computer
• go to properties
• click on advanced system settings
• under performance, click settings
• click the Data Execution Prevention tab, and then click Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select.
• click Add, browse to the DS2 game executable file and add it.

[tehw0rst]

When I try to do this I get a message saying "This program must run with data execution protection (DEP) enabled. You cannot turn off DEP for this program."

[EA_Barry]

Okay so, leave DEP off then.

I have seen this error before and it related to faulty RAM. Either swap out your RAM sticks or bring it to a repair shop if you are not comfortable doing this yourself.