Cannot start game at all

[Wanderfound]

I've just had a very frustrating day battling with KSP.

My normal KSP install (modded, but I'll explain in a bit why that isn't relevant here) developed a game-breaking bug: after crashing so hard that it reset the computer, it was impossible to load or save any craft from the SPH in a Sandbox save. Clicking the load/save icons just fails to do anything, and if I try to sneak a ship into the SPH via the runway/edit craft option, only the stock craft are available.

Rather than spend eternity attempting to track down that one, I decided to just reinstall KSP from scratch; it was kind of overdue for that anyway.

However, I can't even get a new install to open: it crashes during the initial loading screens, 100% of the time, even after scrubbing it and reinstalling from scratch again. There are no mods involved here at all; they were completely fresh clean installs.

I've run into this before; I have a very dodgy laptop that cannot handle KSP unless the graphics are wound down a bit, and the default settings are enough to crash it. But normally, I can just use the settings option in the Launcher to wind down the graphics to minimum before opening the game for the first time, and then carefully tweak them up to just what my laptop can manage.

Doing that now isn't working; even if I set the options in the Launcher to minimal graphics and not full screen, when I try to start the game it opens in full screen and crashes before ever getting to the main menu. I suspect that it's ignoring the Launcher settings and attempting to start with graphics at a level that my computer can't handle.

I have no idea of how to work around this. At the moment I have no functioning KSP at all, modded or unmodded.

There's an output log from the new install here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4whbre8kasq497h/output_log.txt?dl=0

Edited January 3, 2015 by Wanderfound

[Claw]

At the moment I have no functioning KSP at all, modded or unmodded.

Well that's no good, hopefully we can get that sorted out. You're definitely running out of memory.

d3d: failed to create 2D texture id=2223 w=2048 h=2048 mips=12 d3dfmt=22 [out of memory]

DynamicHeapAllocator out of memory - Could not get memory for large allocationCould not allocate memory: System out of memory!

Trying to allocate: 22369620B with 4 alignment. MemoryLabel: NewDelete

Allocation happend at: Line:0 in Overloaded New[]

Memory overview

[ ALLOC_DEFAULT ] used: 256154009B | peak: 0B | reserved: 267548368B

[ ALLOC_GFX ] used: 121344487B | peak: 0B | reserved: 149152412B

[ ALLOC_CACHEOBJECTS ] used: 222888B | peak: 0B | reserved: 12582912B

[ ALLOC_TYPETREE ] used: 0B | peak: 0B | reserved: 0B

[ ALLOC_PROFILER ] used: 117072B | peak: 0B | reserved: 8388608B

Could not allocate memory: System out of memory!

Trying to allocate: 22369620B with 4 alignment. MemoryLabel: NewDelete

Allocation happend at: Line:0 in Overloaded New[]

Memory overview

[ ALLOC_DEFAULT ] used: 256154009B | peak: 0B | reserved: 267548368B

[ ALLOC_GFX ] used: 121344487B | peak: 0B | reserved: 149152412B

[ ALLOC_CACHEOBJECTS ] used: 222888B | peak: 0B | reserved: 12582912B

[ ALLOC_TYPETREE ] used: 0B | peak: 0B | reserved: 0B

[ ALLOC_PROFILER ] used: 117072B | peak: 0B | reserved: 8388608B

So my first suggestion would be to manually edit the settings.cfg. Find the line "TEXTURE_QUALITY = " and set it to "TEXTURE_QUALITY = 3". That should crank that down all the way. The first run of KSP usually takes a lot of RAM for some reason (I guess because of run time compiling?). You can also manually edit your desired resolution directly in the settings.cfg (SCREEN_RESOLUTION_WIDTH = XXX and SCREEN_RESOLUTION_HEIGHT = XXX).

Also, get KSP out of your "Documents" library and install it somewhere else like C:\Games\KSP... Copy/Paste it (or unzip a fresh copy). Do NOT "move" it or windows DEP may still mess you up. If you unzip a fresh copy, make sure to edit that settings.cfg file directly (you might have to start KSP once to make it generate one, or copy from your other failed install).

After that, try running directly from KSP.exe.

Cheers,

~Claw

[Wanderfound]

No go, unfortunately.

Shifted to C:\KSP, reinstalled fresh with the installer, wound Texture Quality to 3 (and later tried 5, just in case), made sure no other programs were running, started from KSP.exe. The graphics settings in the .cfg are already claiming to be not-fullscreen and lower res than I use, although the loading screen is still fullscreen until it crashes.

Still 100% crash rate in the loading screen.

[sal_vager]

Make sure to copy KSP to C:\Games and no to move it or Windows DEP will still have those files listed as potentially unsafe.

But what I think is causing this, is this:

d3d: failed to create 2D texture id=2223 w=2048 h=2048 mips=12 d3dfmt=22 [out of memory]

DynamicHeapAllocator out of memory - Could not get memory for large allocationCould not allocate memory: System out of memory!

Trying to allocate: 22369620B with 4 alignment. MemoryLabel: NewDelete

Allocation happend at: Line:0 in Overloaded New[]

Memory overview

You definitely shouldn't see this with a new stock install, and even on a modded install, this is a problem, maybe the graphics driver is corrupt or the PC is on a low power mode and the card is not working at full speed, or if it shares RAM, it hasn't got enough.

You mentioned a laptop, many laptops have a main gfx card and a low power Intel chip for powersave mode, your log says it's using an Intel:

Direct3D:

Version: Direct3D 9.0c [igdumdx32.dll 8.15.10.2266]

Renderer: Intel® HD Graphics Family

Vendor: Intel

VRAM: 746 MB (via DXGI)

Caps: Shader=30 DepthRT=1 NativeDepth=1 NativeShadow=1 DF16=1 INTZ=1 RAWZ=0 NULL=1 RESZ=1 SlowINTZ=0

KSP won't like to run on these low power chips.

[Wanderfound]

I know; the computer is underspec. Best I can afford, though.

It appears that my career save on the original install is still working fine. But Sandbox refuses to have a functioning SPH, even if I start a new Sandbox save. Weird.

It may be relevant that it's the middle of an Australian summer here, and the laptop ran hot even in winter (it's my old lab machine, and probably has a fair bit of rat fur in it as well as being a bit scuffed up).

Edited January 3, 2015 by Wanderfound

[sal_vager]

If it's still loading at fullscreen you can try deleting the registry entries for KSP.

[Wanderfound]

Is it practical to upgrade the graphics cards on these things? What sort of cash would I be looking at to do so? It's already got the max 4GB RAM for an x86 box, and it's old and battered enough that it's not worth upgrading too much. I don't need flashy, just functional.

I've got another 4GB of RAM in the drawer, but that won't do anything unless I upgrade the OS to x64. Can you still run x86 KSP on a x64 box? Would updating the OS and installing the extra 4GB RAM help at all given the unusability of Windows x64 KSP?

It's a Dell Latitude e6320.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Wanderfound

[vexx32]

Yes, you can run x86 apps on x64 systems. They will typically run better, as on x86 systems, they are very commonly restricted to ~2.5GB of RAM by the OS.You needn't run the x64 unstable build on an x64 system -- merely having the x64 system running the x86 build will give you a good bit of extra headroom where RAM usage is concerned.

And no, upgrading a laptop's graphics card is an exercise in frustration.

[Claw]

I still can't imagine why it was working before and not now. Have you tried comparing your old settings.cfg side-by-side with a new one? Perhaps some time long ago you did some tweaks inside that you've forgotten about. Or maybe post them here and we can try to help dig through.

Also, double check that none of the directories are read-only, that you have freshly installed into the C:\KSP location, and that the new KSP.exe is exempted from your virus scanner.

Perhaps another thing to try, to get it to load up. Move your "NASA Mission" folder out of GameData and try to get KSP to load. Reducing the load burden can also help get some of that real-time compiling done and out of the way. If that's successful, then move the folder back and try to start KSP again.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Claw

[Wanderfound]

Cracked it: deleted both the NASAMission and Squad/Parts folders, got it to start up, wound down the graphics and then put the folders back.

Thanks folks.

[vexx32]

Regarding your pre-reinstall issue, I'd guess that was probably the result of a truncated craft file (which likely happened due to the crash).

If you run into it again (either in the SPH or the VAB), you can check this by opening your save's Ships\VAB (or Ships\SPH) folder and looking for an unusually small file (compared with the others). Open that file in Notepad to double check it; you'll usually see a very brief file, or a file that just ends abruptly, and without the normal cascades of closing braces. Deleting the borked craft can usually solve the issue.