Risen 3 won't start

[mkreku]

Hi,

My installation of Risen 3 won't start at all, using Windows 7 64 bit version.

Three things happen (listed in order of occurrences, 1 being most common, 3 being rare):

1) Risen 3, the logo, comes up but the application immediately exits. No error messages, just thrown straight back to desktop.
2) The screen goes black and after a while Windows throws up an error message: Risen 3 - Titan Lords has stopped working.
3) The game loads the intro movies, goes to start screen, I choose new game and it goes to a loading screen where it stays indefinitely.

I have the latest video drivers, fully updated Windows, I've tried installing the files suggested in the help section (but my Windows claims they are too old and I should keep my newer versions), I've uninstalled and reinstalled both the game and the drivers.

I have DxDiag.txt and msinfo32.txt and a crash log from the game itself (risen3_311758_crash_2014_8_16T17_44_31C0.mdmp) but this board won't let me add them as attachments.

This might work:

http://upload.worldofplayers.de/files9/zDxDiag.txt
http://upload.worldofplayers.de/files9/nXoj3kyYyymsinfo32.txt
http://upload.worldofplayers.de/files9/risen3_311758_crash_2014_8_16T17_44_31C0.rar
http://upload.worldofplayers.de/files9/u2j1XZkcrash.jpg

[Misanthrope]

May work:

1) Double check that two below are installed:



NVidia PhysX (http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_system_software.html) (must always be installed, even if you have an AMD graphics card)
Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime 2010 (x86) (http://www.microsoft.com/de-de/download/details.aspx?id=8328) (always use the x86 version for 32bit, even if you have a 64bit Windows!)


If Windows claims they are too old and you should keep newer versions uninstall both manually and install them again.

2) Try running as administrator or changing compatibility mode. (unlikely)

3) Close all unnecessary programs running in the background (antivirus, etc.).

4)
- When game crashes click close.
- Type "event viewer" in the start menu and open it.
- On the left click Windows Logs - Application.
- Find the error (red icon) and paste info here.

5) Is only R3 making problems? I mean, you have other games installed and working, maybe Risen 2?

6) Make sure it is not a hardware problem. Do the RAM check and monitor GPU temperature.

[mkreku]

May work:

1) Double check that two below are installed:



NVidia PhysX (http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_system_software.html) (must always be installed, even if you have an AMD graphics card)
Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime 2010 (x86) (http://www.microsoft.com/de-de/download/details.aspx?id=8328) (always use the x86 version for 32bit, even if you have a 64bit Windows!)


If Windows claims they are too old and you should keep newer versions uninstall both manually and install them again.

2) Try running as administrator or changing compatibility mode. (unlikely)

3) Close all unnecessary programs running in the background (antivirus, etc.).

4)
- When game crashes click close.
- Type "event viewer" in the start menu and open it.
- On the left click Windows Logs - Application.
- Find the error (red icon) and paste info here.

5) Is only R3 making problems? I mean, you have other games installed and working, maybe Risen 2?

6) Make sure it is not a hardware problem. Do the RAM check and monitor GPU temperature.

1. I've tried installing, uninstalling and reinstalling both of those. No luck.

2. Tried running as admin. No luck (although I at least got to the point where it stops at the loading screen forever). Tried using compatibility mode (XP, Vista). No luck.

3. I've tried closing exactly everything not needed. No luck.

4. Running as admin, crash log:

Faulting application name: Risen3.exe, version: 1.0.90.0, time stamp: 0x53d8deab
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.18247, time stamp: 0x521ea8e7
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x000ce753
Faulting process id: 0xacc
Faulting application start time: 0x01cfb99522c3560f
Faulting application path: E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Risen 3\system\Risen3.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 691c869c-2588-11e4-97a8-001060d107d3

5. Risen 3 is the only game I have problems with. In fact, it's the first time it has ever happened to me and I've been gaming for a very long time. I guess I've been lucky until now.

6. It is not a hardware problem. My system is working correctly.

[Misanthrope]

OK, I might have a clue. Try the following:

- click start and type "msconfig" and open it
- select boot tab, then advanced options
- select number of processors to 4
- double click OK and restart Windows !!
- report what happens

[mkreku]

OK, I might have a clue. Try the following:

- click start and type "msconfig" and open it
- select boot tab, then advanced options
- select number of processors to 4
- double click OK and restart Windows !!
- report what happens

I did what you told me and turned off 8 of my cores (!). It worked!

The game started running, although a little jerkily. I might have to turn down the resolution and effects some :)

THANK YOU!

Ps. Piranha Bytes, feel free to support 6 core processors in the future :)

[foobar]

Actually, they do. 6 cores are fine. The problem only occurs with more than 10 CPUs. Which your Windows believes to have due to Intel's hyperthreading. So another option would be to start Risen 3 with affinity to only 8 (virtual) cores or to disable HT in the firmware setup (aka BIOS). I'm just working on a FAQ about that.

[foobar]

Another question: Could you check if it also works with 8 cores instead of just 4? It should but I'd like to make sure.

[Misanthrope]

I did what you told me and turned off 8 of my cores (!). It worked!

The game started running, although a little jerkily. I might have to turn down the resolution and effects some :)

THANK YOU!

Ps. Piranha Bytes, feel free to support 6 core processors in the future :)

Great! Enjoy your game. ;)

I don't recommend leaving it that way as it affects the whole system. There's a great tool (it's free) that allows you to set CPU affinity for each individual process.
Try playing with different affinity settings to see what works best. Setting process to avoid non-physical cores should do the trick. So revert everything as it was and download it here (very straightforward):
https://bitsum.com/processlasso/

This can also be done from task manager but you would have to do it every time you start the game.

[mkreku]

Another question: Could you check if it also works with 8 cores instead of just 4? It should but I'd like to make sure.
I would love to do that, but for some reason msconfig only lets me choose 4 cores at the most.

[foobar]

Try doing it manually. Open a command prompt and enter:



bcdedit /set {current} numproc 8

[mkreku]

Another question: Could you check if it also works with 8 cores instead of just 4? It should but I'd like to make sure.

Ok, I tried it and 8 cores works fine. It even stutters less than with 4 cores (I think..).

[Michael Rüve]

The patch for the "more than 10 threads/cores" issue is now officially released.
Steam will autoinstall the patch, users of the "DRM free" versions need to download the patch manually.