Guideline for Nvidia TI series crash solution

[Jiraiyah]

Hi

Don't know if this is a proper thread section for this or not but considering that this problem happens on modded ksp versions, thought it would be proper place.

So, what is the problem?

You install some graphical mods, launch ksp and get random crashes in different places of game but it's not a regular game closing crash. it's a vga failing crash! your pc goes to black screen, the fan on vga goes crazy and you are doomed. no way other than restarting the pc manually. here is what you need to do, STEP by STEP :

 

1- Open the output log under : 

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Squad\Kerbal Space Program\output_log.txt 

look for the last few lines, you may get lots of null entry, go above, there should be tons of null reference exceptions, here is an example :

(Filename:  Line: 572)

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  at KS3P.Shaders.EyeAdaptationComponent.Prepare (UnityEngine.RenderTexture source, UnityEngine.Material uberMaterial) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at KS3P.Shaders.PostProcessingBehaviour.OnRenderImage (UnityEngine.RenderTexture source, UnityEngine.RenderTexture destination) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

as you see in the code above, clearly ks3p has problems. so, first step : get this log file somewhere on the net, report the log file to the mod developer, and remove it from the game instance.

 

That maybe the only thing you need to do, but here is more to think of.

 

We all read and believe that when ever GPU is failing, we need to UPGRADE the graphic driver. Well, in this case, it won't work and MAY cause more harm ! It looks like recent versions of nvidia's drivers have issue on directX 11 on TI series. lots of searching, and you come to two solutions : a) roll back driver b) don't install nvidia experience. So, here is what we need to do :

 

2- Clean Unistall the graphic driver using DDU (Display Driver Unistaller)

The ddu guide line tells you that first, you need to disable internet and make sure windows is not in the middle of updating itself. It tells you that it's better to run the program under safe mode and use clean and restart option. if you are lazy (like i am) you can ignore the safe mode but the guide line tells you to clean and restart and then again clean and restart to be safe. I have done that. This will ensure that your graphic driver and all associated items are being removed from system.

3- Roll back to nvidia driver 411.63

After your second restart on step 3, you can install 411.63 version of nvidia, this was the recommended version on tom's hardware website and trust me, they know what they are talking about !

On the installation, first, you need to select driver only and not driver with experience, then you choose custom instead of express and uncheck 3d vision option and install the driver to the end.

 

Before all of these steps, I would get crash with scatterer beside ks3p. Knowing ks3p has null references, it was ok. but scatterer?

[Scatterer] Volumetric clouds error on planet: KerbinSystem.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  at scatterer.SkyNode.mapEVEVolumetrics () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

d3d11: failed to create staging 2D texture w=6 h=6 d3dfmt=77 [80070057]
d3d11: failed to create staging 2D texture w=3 h=3 d3dfmt=77 [80070057]
Load(Texture): scatterer/config/Sunflares/Sun/Ghost1
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

d3d11: failed to create staging 2D texture w=6 h=6 d3dfmt=77 [80070057]
d3d11: failed to create staging 2D texture w=3 h=3 d3dfmt=77 [80070057]
Load(Texture): scatterer/config/Sunflares/Sun/Ghost2
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Load(Texture): scatterer/config/Sunflares/Sun/Ghost3
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Texture resolution is not valid for compression: 'D:\KSP\GameData\scatterer\config\Sunflares\Sun\Ghost3.png' - consider changing the image's width and height to enable compression

These were the only problematic entries on the log file for it, as you may guessed, it shouldn't have caused any vga crashes. The thing is that, after reading some forums, it may look like nvidia's newer versions of vga have some sort of problem with huge water bodies, and what do we have near ksc? ocean !

So, after going trough 3 above steps, removing the ks3p from folder.... no more crashes and everything is fine ! problem solved. AND DON'T UPGRADE DRIVER UNTIL FARTHER NOTICE (caps are for emphasizing not shouting  )

 

I hope this will help people around if they have this sort of issue, and i remind you it's not only modded ksp, lots of games have this problem and users are constantly yelling and kicking in forums with support of game developers trolling or not being able to solve the problem !

 

Edit : on farther note, the ks3p had an unofficial dx11 compile, got it working and now the scatterer causes the crash to happen ! it looks like no matter what, if you have an NPE (Null Pointer Exception) in your mod list, specially if it's on a graphical mod, it will cause the crash. But, at the same time, i had the crashing problem on some other games when people said their machine is fine and the game is working. So, I assume the combination of above moves, with proper versions of mods, would make a very stable game.

Edited February 23, 2019 by Jiraiyah