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Since 5/25 update, just black screen or crashes...

strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
edited August 2021 in PC Gameplay Bug Reports
Using a NVidea 1660 Ti Video Card with latest drivers 466, but even loading in SAFE mode all I see is a little blue circle cursor that keeps spinning on just a black screen.

Never see the Cryptic logo, loading screen, or anything. Yet the application never responds says it's Hung, and will likely stay open till I close it. What's odd is it's not using a lot of memory, cpu, or really anything when it gets in that state!

Game worked fine yesterday, until I rebooted the machine this is often what I see.

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Post edited by strathkin on
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Comments

  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    edited May 2021
    Apparently I'm not the only one either as a few commented on the 5/25 patch notes before the discussion was closed down. Not sure why they closed it down, when they do they loose out on feedback to help improve things.

    https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1261926/pc-patch-notes-for-5-25-21

    "matzdaad Member Posts: 94 Arc User
    11:43AM
    Force verify, load, Welcome to House United... about 2 minutes later I get a black screen with a small rectangle, starts to load... stops.
    Never get to Character Selection. :-("

    minidari Member Posts: 103 Arc User
    11:13AM
    Black Screen :("
    motito78 wrote: »
    Same problem but in an old laptop, with intel hd3000 graphics, please tell game devs

    https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/mkyrnz/black_screen/

    I'm sure this is effectively a lot more as well, as I heard it affecting a fair # people, who posting to other threads from various places.
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  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    For some reason just now, and I don't know what changed it finally ran just fine.

    Seems the game finally reset my graphic settings, and don't know why cause it should have done that after uninstall and re-installing it.
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  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    edited May 2021
    Game is now loading just fine, like it was yesterday. I had to completely uninstall, and reinstall it yet when I did it still had the same problem initially.

    Never saw the Cryptic Logo, or like you should see after a fresh install, the initial graphic setup customization. Then just 15-20 minutes ago it reset my graphics settings and I finally saw all the initial graphic setup eventually.

    Now I just got to login to a character to actually review my display & graphics settings, all were default to maximum.

    Just had to tweak the interface scale for window size and such down to .85 or so.
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  • captainmarvelushcaptainmarvelush Member Posts: 134 Arc User
    I'm having the same problem. Started getting terrible lag last night and again this morning. Logged off for a bit and now the game won't load. Finally got it to the Cryptic screen, but it still will not load. Honestly not sure what to do.
    Captain of the Thunder and the Lightning

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  • fatkat357#2728 fatkat357 Member Posts: 2 New User
    I have that problem intermittently - there are times I can log on, with only a few of the black screens. The problem is that the game crashes during any DSE's or TFOs. It's been like that since last night. I've been playing this game since about 2015 and haven't had this problem in years. I've avoided that by enabling "safe mode", but that hasn;t been working.
  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    edited May 2021
    Try and run Options from Loader menu and select 'Force Verify' it will take an extra 5-9 minutes, yet sometimes helps resolve issues.

    Though I know a few started seeing the Black screens in the last week or two, it was something people originally started seeing back in 2014.

    https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1141815/black-screen

    So not quite sure why it's shown up again, hopefully the DEVs try and resolve these issues soon.

    Sadly the game's diagnostic scan won't run and upload data to DEVs because the game never crashes, just sits mostly on a black screen. Yesterday I found a steam forum that saw people commenting on it from 4/28/2021.

    https://steamcommunity.com/app/9900/discussions/0/2146469347100692232/

    I ended up uninstalling and then still had the same problem, until something changed and finally changed after trying to open it 2-3x, yet then I finally got the new installation initial graphics customization screen to set brightness and so forth. Given it was a fresh install I'm surprised I didn't see that right away.

    For me a completely uninstall and reinstall seems to have eventually FIXED it, however that is not ideal way to resolve it.
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  • xividaxxividax Member Posts: 104 Arc User
    Let's blame Wesley, and his annoying nanites. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Evolution_(episode)
  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    edited June 2021
    Yea, hopefully one of the DEVs is able to look into this. I think I've done my job trying to show various threads in Bug Support forums, and I've seen several commenting on a thread in General Discussion.

    "I admit that I only seen it once after the 5/25 update, despite some seeing it about 4/28. Sadly I uninstalled and reinstalled the game to then resolve the problems.

    The one thing I recalled in the weeks around 4/28 that I recall experiencing was sometimes I had realized my GPU was working harder than it would normally. Yet I recall when I checked Options at the time, under Display (options) it was reporting Resolution Scale at 1.50 which is highly strange! Simply cause it's not me doing that, and I can't even normally choose anything above 1.00 (as its maximum) values. So when I scroll options down and go back up it changes it back to 1.00 and can't even go higher.

    That perhaps started around 4/28 to 5/25 as you'll see by several referenced threads I've mentioned above."

    It's also very similar to an (old) 2014 bug that was posted (which is linked in BUG forum thread) 'this one' above as symptoms appear very similar dated 4/26.
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  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    edited June 2021
    I have that problem intermittently - there are times I can log on, with only a few of the black screens. The problem is that the game crashes during any DSE's or TFOs. It's been like that since last night. I've been playing this game since about 2015 and haven't had this problem in years. I've avoided that by enabling "safe mode", but that hasn;t been working.

    Though today I had a Crash Incident ID 357db2 doing Crystalline just now. And honestly I haven't seen one of those in almost forever (ages) - so hopefully they can really figure out what's cause these issues for people.

    I know the first Crystalline I had problems with I couldn't see any of the 3 shock waves after it absorbed energy, yet when I redid it afterward I saw them just fine and hadn't crashed. So this seems to support what your seeing as well.

    Seems the latest patch has introduced many graphical issues for several people, if not always seeing weapons or visual effects even with Cinematic Focus (enabled) in Graphics; while others are seeing only Black Screens (most) or some of the time, or seeing the odd Crash now and then... *sigh*

    :(
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  • motito78motito78 Member Posts: 65 Arc User
    i still cant login, i dont know maybe it's because the max video settings automattically on, and my laptop cant handle it and get a black screen only with the game pointer to move. But cant play. i can only login disabling video card drivers and using the windows generic one.
  • mandellorian#9145 mandellorian Member Posts: 27 Arc User
    I had this problem to, for me its the offical ARC launcher that causes the issue, if i go direct to the folder and launch the .exe file directly it works fine.
  • minidariminidari Member Posts: 125 Arc User
    I am curious, do will have the opportunity to finish the event, or it will be like one of the last ones were we had to pay zen to complete it ?
  • xividaxxividax Member Posts: 104 Arc User
    minidari wrote: »
    I am curious, do will have the opportunity to finish the event, or it will be like one of the last ones were we had to pay zen to complete it ?

    If you were to place a bet on one of the below options, which would you choose?
    A. The bug will be fixed promptly ( couple days, or so), like any normal game company would do with a recurring bug of this magnitude.
    B. Cryptic will do something unprecedented, and grant players the event progression (or other compensation) that they lost due to the unusually long down time caused by the bug.
    C. The bug will persist long enough that Cryptic will profit from the misery of its players not being able to log in, and forfeiting their event progress, leading to some players paying zen to finish the event.
  • motito78motito78 Member Posts: 65 Arc User
    But not very intelligent on leading to option C, people affected has poor PCs, that cant upgrade, and they want us to leave unwanted money in zen for not being able to play?
  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    edited June 2021
    motito78 wrote: »
    But not very intelligent on leading to option C, people affected has poor PCs, that cant upgrade, and they want us to leave unwanted money in zen for not being able to play?

    I wouldn't say so, I have a Intel Quad Core i7 3.7 PC 16 GB ram, about 2.5 years old. I mentioned the Video Card above maybe 2 years old when I got it. Game has had no problems running on max graphics, and before that system I ran max graphics, on a slightly older Nvidia card too.

    Still that's a bad (assumption) to assume as the cause of all issues, it probably one of the few bugs that seems to affect a variety of graphical related issues all closely related. Today I even saw someone post issues displaying NPC or character's hair as well since 5/25.


    Note: Something I posted to a forth related Black Screen thread.

    I suspect that's not Kael's (CM) role, yet it be nice to see one DEVs take point, or sometimes have a DEV respond every now and then to Bugs. We don't need them to reply to everyone, often it's just nicer to know they've read it, or will review as they investigate. All 3 of these seem closely related causes, and effect a lot of people.
    1. Black Screens unable to show Cryptic logo, or load login screen visuals, effects some.
    2. Crashes that can occur one or more times a day, probably effects the most!
    3. Weapons visual FX (for some) don't appear to show firing of weapons, this also effects several!

    https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1261957/load-game-since-5-25-update-just-black-screen-or-crashes

    https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1262060/game-crashes

    https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1261966/weapons-wont-fire

    Yet as I've noted above several are seeing more game-crashes as well, or black screens. Seems some visuals or FX don't work for others too.

    The problem is even if you want a new video card most are all out of stock, or simply not available. Or many new systems selling with less optimal video cards than mine.
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  • xividaxxividax Member Posts: 104 Arc User
    edited May 2021
    strathkin wrote: »
    ...The problem is even if you want a new video card most are all out of stock, or simply not available. Or many new systems selling with less optimal video cards than mine.

    Worse than that, is the sad fact that we players have zero input from Cryptic concerning what the actual problem is, or might be, or even what has been found to be contributing factors to past occurrences of this same bug. Buying new hardware, or messing with computer settings to trial-n-error troubleshoot is pretty much like p-p'ing into the wind without input on the matter coming from Cryptic.

  • halfmoon10halfmoon10 Member Posts: 84 Arc User
    coldnapalm wrote: »
    What's funny is that after 3 weeks of the game acting like malware and crashing everything running, after today's patch, everything is working fine for me...so try and figure that mess out. This game seems to be a real mess lately. Random issues for random people.

  • halfmoon10halfmoon10 Member Posts: 84 Arc User
    Well its a relief in a sad way that its just not my problem alone either. It should say after engage = GONE FISHING !!!
  • othas3othas3 Member Posts: 4 Arc User
    I had been having this problem for a few months, usually after a major patch. It went away after this last patch, but I guess, for some people it re-emerged. When it happens to me, the first time I run Arc, I get a blank screen. If I run another instance (without doing anything to the first), it works. However, the first instance has to be killed using task manager as right-clicking "Close Window" on the task bar doesn't seem to work.
  • sniper1187sniper1187 Member Posts: 251 Arc User
    I have that problem intermittently - there are times I can log on, with only a few of the black screens. The problem is that the game crashes during any DSE's or TFOs. It's been like that since last night. I've been playing this game since about 2015 and haven't had this problem in years. I've avoided that by enabling "safe mode", but that hasn;t been working.

    I had that black screen on the Arc launcher, I tossed that launcher, reinstalled STO on Steam, no more black screens.
    Nothing but crashes now
    "Nuke the entire site from orbit--it's the only way to be sure"
  • archbetharchbeth Member Posts: 53 Arc User
    > @othas3 said:
    > I had been having this problem for a few months, usually after a major patch. It went away after this last patch, but I guess, for some people it re-emerged. When it happens to me, the first time I run Arc, I get a blank screen. If I run another instance (without doing anything to the first), it works. However, the first instance has to be killed using task manager as right-clicking "Close Window" on the task bar doesn't seem to work.

    I've been getting this intermittently (may be getting worse?), and yeah; task manager, kill the process, go back to the remaining arc launcher process, re-hit play, and I get in. No checking files, etc., just kill the black screen. (I'm on a Mac PowerBook Pro (I think), running Windows via Bootcamp, if that matters.)
  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    Yea I've seen a few crashes even after the Black Screen disapeared, as have many others. I even noted one of the Crash Incident ID 357db2 event above. Maybe others can denote theirs as well.
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  • motito78motito78 Member Posts: 65 Arc User
    anyway to start game with every setting in low or visuals disabled? i cant login with this things with everything is max as default, i get blackscreen or flickering.
    Have to disable drivers and log using win10 generic driver, at 0.1 fps
  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    I had one before a few days ago doing a Crystalline TFO as denoted above.
    Incident ID 357db2

    Today I had it crash just flying in Sector Space doing nothing special. Left Bajor headed to Orellius and...
    Incident ID 35ecaa

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  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    edited June 2021
    Best we can do is:

    https://www.arcgames.com/en/supportredirect/app/home/
    ╘ selecting Game Support and using 'Chat' to log a ticket or open Game Support Ticket.

    And request Chat to explain their problem to a Customer Support Person, or open a Game Support Ticket to help get this resolved. I had ARC Support ask me to send my DXdiag report and upload it in text format, they also send it up to the next level of support for investigation.

    Note: Include any crash ID's you experience or write them down in ticket.
    ╘ unless you have the black screen, no cryptic logo, or login issue.

    So hopefully others are being asked to send this, and include Arc Support Ticket ID in the name of the text you include for tracking.

    DxDiag xxxxxx.txt for example
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  • sniper1187sniper1187 Member Posts: 251 Arc User
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 just had a driver update 466.63
    "Nuke the entire site from orbit--it's the only way to be sure"
  • gaming1ogregaming1ogre Member Posts: 51 Arc User
    My computer is to new to blame age. I consistently get the blank screen on the first try, and sometimes I can play after the first lockup.
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