Crash at fresh install

[Mołot]

I have fresh (3 days ago) install of Windows 8.1 x64, just installed AMD drivers (autodetect option), with fresh Steam and Kerbal updated today - 0.9 beta version. First run. It crashes right after creating a new game. I tried 3 ways, with the same effect:

1. Run via Steam
   
2. Manual run of 32bit KSP.exe
   
3. Manual run of 64bit KSP_x64.exe
   

Folders with error data here: http://molot.pl/sites/default/files/ksp_errors.zip

My install can't be any more fresh than it is now, so what should I do to have game running? Verified files using Steam built-in tool and it says files are OK. I have 4GB of RAM so I shouldn't be running low, not without any mods.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Mołot

[Claw]

Well, I can't swear this is your problem, but your log is throwing this error on all your launches:

XInput1_3.dll not found.

So my recommendation would be to forcibly update your Direct X. Perhaps it didn't install correctly with the autodetect option. Give that a try and see.

I think it might be this one. Double check though: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=35

Cheers,

~Claw

[Mołot]

Double check though: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=35

Did it. Did not help. From my log:

C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\xinput1_3.dll:xinput1_3.dll (0AB70000), size: 90112 (result: 0), SymType: '-exported-', PDB: 'C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\xinput1_3.dll', fileVersion: 9.18.944.0

So it seems it is not the problem now?

http://molot.pl/ksp-error.zip

It's irritating because I meet Recommended System Specs, and it's a fresh install of everything, I had no time to break anything yet. And it is KSP bug because if game needs something that's not normally found on supported OS, it should provide it or request it - but it didn't.

[vexx32]

Well now, I haven't seen this for ages! But I do know what the issue is! (Probably. You never can be too careful.)

Essentially, what seems to be going on is that for whatever reason, you have a glitched font file installed in your system. When KSP tries to use it (honestly, we don't know why it's trying to use it; it's not a font KSP should need, but all the same this is what we ended up finding) it just crashes.

In most cases, this font file is actually hidden, for some obscure reason. The good news is you can safely delete it without any repercussions. However, you'll need to do that from a Command Prompt window. We'll just rename it to hide it from the system, in case for whatever reason you need it later.

So, since you have Win8.1, what you can do is hit WinKey+X and then select Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu that appears. It'll pop up a confirmation dialog, so confirm it. Enter the following commands (verbatim):

cd c:\windows\fonts

ren UNCL.TTF UNCL.TTF.OLD

Once that's done, you can close the command prompt and launch KSP.

[Mołot]

Thanks, that worked.

Damn, any chance it is caused by AVG or FireFox? Because if not, I can't imagine what software provided that font. And isn't there a way to just, dunno, force KSP to use fonts it provided, only?

[vexx32]

I've yet to hear any word on where that font file comes from, unfortunately. And yeah, you'd think there'd be something like that, but as far as I know there isn't. Squad might be able to throw in a quick patch somehow or other if we ever figure out why the font crashes the engine, but... nada so far. It is a known Unity bug, though, so hopefully they have more luck fixing it at the source. :/

EDIT: A little digging showed it's apparently a Windows system font, though nobody's sure what it's used for, and deleting it has never caused anyone any problems as far as I can see. I can't find any official docs on it, either, which is unusual.

Edited December 26, 2014 by vexx32

[Technical Ben]

I assume it could be some part of the software unrelated to Squad, but related to unity/dx looking for the font? A "help file launcher" or "default fonts" for one of those two?

[vexx32]

Well, look here: http://www.grsites.com/archive/fonts/category/21/?offset=20

It's a little ways down the page. "PRUnclAltCaps" is its name.

This is the only place I can find it, barring three other even more obscure font archives. The only other mentions of its filename are pretty much all complaints of Unity bugs and/or bug reports on the Unity forums.

Whatever it is, it's not an especially useful font, nor is it seemingly a very important one... and yet it turns up pretty frequently for Unity users, causing all sorts of problems. It's not even supposed to have anything to do with Unity -- as far as I can see, nothing in Unity should be using that font.

[Mołot]

Weird. I didn't install it. Not manually, that's for sure. I just checked my downloads folder (it's still pretty fresh install, didn't purge it yet), and there is one font, FoglihtenNo07. I'm sure I installed it later, after experiencing this bug. And it's still available. So it came with something. That leaves us with: Windows, AMD drivers, ASUS drivers, AVG antivirus, Firefox, Steam, Baldur's Gate Enchanced Edition (both 1 and 2) and Oddworld series (all Steam games). Or maybe, just maybe, Libre Office? I'm pretty sure I installed it after experiencing this bug, but I might be wrong. That's all, I have nothing else on this machine at the moment.

But I believe more important than identifying font source would be answering these two questions:

1. Why can't game / engine enclose font loading in some kind of try ... catch block to at least provide human readable information before crash? Or, of course, to try and load another font...
   
2. Why can't it be locked into using only fonts it supplies?
   

As far as I see the font file, it wouldn't make any sense to try to use it in futuristic game. It's signed as:

• Title: Unical
  
• Version: 1.0 1998.02.13
  
• Copyright: Generated by Fontographer 3.5© Peter Rempel
  
• Embedding: with limitations
  

No other data on it. And indeed file seems broken, but at least font preview identifies it properly as broken and does not crash.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Mołot

[vexx32]

No idea where it comes from, but in general error checking may not always pick everything up. Oftentimes, try/catch blocks are targeted at errors that are expected, so if something unexpected occurs the default behaviour is to crash the program and then dump logs (which is what's done). Ideally, the error should be worked around, but for whatever reason that's not what's happening.

Also, we've just have someone else turn up with a very similar problem, although they did not see the issue until they attempted to install Module Manager, so I am even less sure of what's going on now.

Needless to say, this broken font file is... a very arbitrary thing to break something, but getting rid of it seems to harm nothing. I honestly cannot even determine why it exists, at this point.

[Mołot]

try/catch blocks are targeted at errors that are expected

Maybe I'm strange, but I was taught that I should expect every file I load can be broken - unless it's a file I provided with my software (and sometimes even then). Fonts are no exception, as far as I can see.

[vexx32]

Well, yes, but even in those cases you might be expecting a specific error to appear upon loading a broken file -- an error that just doesn't show itself for whatever reason in this specific case. But yeah, maybe it is as simple as just an oversight in Unity's code; I simply don't know.

Whatever the cause... it's not uncommon, oddly enough. A fair few people seem to have that busted font file, and nobody seems to have any idea where it came from.