Game doesn't launch after splash screen

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liam dou
  • updated
  • Completed - Resolved

Core Information

  • Specify your platform - Surface Pro 7 (i5 258GB
    • OS - Windows 10 64bit
      • Ram - 8GB
      • CPU - i5-1035G4
      • GPU - Intel® Iris™ Plus Graphics
  • Specify the build you are using (there will be a timestamp visible on the main menu)
    • Cannot tell, cannot get to main menu. 4/7/2020 version
  • Include as much information as possible (what map you were on, screenshots, videos, etc)
    • Launched game via steam, splash screen comes up, disappears, then nothing happens.
  • Include an output log, crash report or launcher log as required (see below for info)
  • Specify any troubleshooting steps you've already undertaken
    • Found and looked through output log
    • Checked M$ VC redistro 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015 are installed
    • Checked .NET 4.0 x64 is installed. 
    • Tried to install .NET Framework 4.5.2 suggested in another thread but could not, ".NET Framework 4.5.2 or a later update is already installed on this computer."
    • Checked required specs. Surface Pro 7 gfx card only has onboard RAM of 128MB. Tested on another laptop that also has only 128MB onboard RAM on gfx card, runs just fine.
  • Search the Bug Tracker for any similar or identical open reports, if one exists comment there instead of opening a new ticket
    • Did that.
Game Version:
Steam Public
Platform:
Windows
10th-Gen Mobile Intel CPU - Splash Screen Crash

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Satisfaction mark by liam dou 3 years ago

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Replies 18
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Lee "Noontide" Moon
  • Completed - Resolved
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Lee "Noontide" Moon
  • Completed - Next Patch

Hi Liam,

I'm pleased to report that the upcoming Patch 2.0.8 should resolve this issue entirely. It's not yet on the default Steam branch but is available as a beta. How to: Access the Debug Branch on Steam.

Cheers,

Lee

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Lee "Noontide" Moon
  • Pending Customer

Well that's certainly something. Interestingly your experience is different from another affected user, when they blocked the game it simply refused to launch as previous.

I'm at a loss as to why this would have such a drastic effect as seemingly preventing the Engine from initialising your GPU.

As an off-the-cuff thought perhaps you could try different render modes. 

Solution 2: Forcing DirectX rendering mode

  1. Right click the game in your steam library and go to properties
  2. Click "Set launch options"
  3. Add "-force-d3d9" in this box (No quotation marks)
  4. If this fails and you have a DX11 compatible GPU then add "-force-d3d11" instead.

But before you do anything else could you send me a new Output_log and launcher.log when trying to launch the game with this new issue?

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liam dou
Quote from liam dou

Hi Lee,

I've already tried that in my last post ;) I tried blocking both the WftO, separately and together, as well as Steam. No joy.

"Out of curiosity I tried blocking WftO's executable on the Windows Firewall, that did not work. I tried blocking Steam on the Windows Firewall as well (rather, I had to remove it it from the whitelist based Firewall), and whenever I launched Steam it would just get added automatically to Windows Firewall despite me not allowing it when prompted. I don't expect you guys to be able to affect Steam behavior, but just thought I'd let you know."


Is this what you're asking me to do? Or is it something different?

Hi Lee,

More update. Apologies, seems I had misunderstood your instructions.

Previously when I tried to block WftO from the firewall, I had went in here:

And then here:

And since it said "allow apps", I thought it was a whitelist based firewall, so I removed WftO executables from it and thought that was that. I went back and re-read your instructions. I didn't realized advanced settings allow you to specify block or allow, and then I followed that instruction.

Interestingly, blocking the game exec from the firewall had this effect after the partial splash screen comes up:

At least this is something different. I do believe I have the adequate DirX installed, because when I tried the aforementioned wifi-disabling method, the game did not complain about this.

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liam dou
Quote from Lee "Noontide" Moon

Hi Liam,

I've been thinking a little on this issue and on how we might preserve internet access for affected devices while still enabling you to play War for the Overworld.

If possible could I ask you to try adding a set of outbound rules to Windows Firewall to block the game's access to the internet? Theoretically this should have the same impact as disabling your internet connectivity entirely but for the game alone. Hopefully this should enable the workaround to stay in play while keeping your internet access enabled.

If you're not familiar with Windows Firewall this article should be helpful. Here are the step by step instructions:

  1. Open Windows Defender Firewall (Control Panel) by searching "Firewall" in the Windows Start Menu
  2. From the Windows Firewall settings on Control Panel click "Advanced Settings"
  3. In the Advanced Settings window open the "Outbound Rules" tab.
  4. In the Actions menu click "New Rule"
  5. Click next to confirm this is a program rule
  6. Click browse to navigate to your WFTO install folder. Select WFTOGame.exe as the target and confirm by clicking next.
  7. Select the option to "Block the connection" and click next
  8. Select all profiles and click next
  9. Name this as something memorable such as "War for the Overworld - Workaround 1"
  10. Launch the game to test. If the problem persists repeat the steps above adding WFTO.exe as well as a second rule. (Do not remove the WFTOGame.exe rule)

If you give this a try let us know if either of these rules help your issue. My feeling is that blocking WFTOGame.exe should be enough but both may be required. Reverting the change is simply a matter of deleting the rule(s) you created in this outbound rules list.

Cheers,

Lee

Hi Lee,

I've already tried that in my last post ;) I tried blocking both the WftO, separately and together, as well as Steam. No joy.

"Out of curiosity I tried blocking WftO's executable on the Windows Firewall, that did not work. I tried blocking Steam on the Windows Firewall as well (rather, I had to remove it it from the whitelist based Firewall), and whenever I launched Steam it would just get added automatically to Windows Firewall despite me not allowing it when prompted. I don't expect you guys to be able to affect Steam behavior, but just thought I'd let you know."


Is this what you're asking me to do? Or is it something different?

Avatar
0
Lee "Noontide" Moon

Hi Liam,

I've been thinking a little on this issue and on how we might preserve internet access for affected devices while still enabling you to play War for the Overworld.

If possible could I ask you to try adding a set of outbound rules to Windows Firewall to block the game's access to the internet? Theoretically this should have the same impact as disabling your internet connectivity entirely but for the game alone. Hopefully this should enable the workaround to stay in play while keeping your internet access enabled.

If you're not familiar with Windows Firewall this article should be helpful. Here are the step by step instructions:

  1. Open Windows Defender Firewall (Control Panel) by searching "Firewall" in the Windows Start Menu
  2. From the Windows Firewall settings on Control Panel click "Advanced Settings"
  3. In the Advanced Settings window open the "Outbound Rules" tab.
  4. In the Actions menu click "New Rule"
  5. Click next to confirm this is a program rule
  6. Click browse to navigate to your WFTO install folder. Select WFTOGame.exe as the target and confirm by clicking next.
  7. Select the option to "Block the connection" and click next
  8. Select all profiles and click next
  9. Name this as something memorable such as "War for the Overworld - Workaround 1"
  10. Launch the game to test. If the problem persists repeat the steps above adding WFTO.exe as well as a second rule. (Do not remove the WFTOGame.exe rule)

If you give this a try let us know if either of these rules help your issue. My feeling is that blocking WFTOGame.exe should be enough but both may be required. Reverting the change is simply a matter of deleting the rule(s) you created in this outbound rules list.

Cheers,

Lee

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0
Lee "Noontide" Moon

Hi Liam,

Thanks for confirming that for us. We're pleased to hear that this workaround does indeed function at least for those affected on MS Surface hardware. 

We're still not sure what is causing it and another affected user confirms that if you reconnect to the internet while the game is running it will close abruptly after ~30 seconds. This at least is something for us to go on and we'll be looking into it further once we've got our hands and eyes on an affected model that we can control.

Cheers,

Lee

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liam dou

Hi Lee,

Thanks for follow-up on this. Much appreciated. I honestly did not expect to hear anymore on this. I hope you have been faring well as well

I gave the first two of your suggestions a go, the third I deemed unnecessary as you will see why in a moment.

1. Steam offline mode

The result for this was peculiar. The splash screen did not disappear immediately anymore. Instead, it now hangs there and does nothing. I killed the process after a minute or two.

2. Airplane mode

My "gaming rig" being a tablet - Surfae Pro 7 - does indeed have airplane mode. I turned this on and the game did indeed launch. I confirmed that it reached the menu and the dungeon keeper said something then I closed the game down.

3. Disabling the network card

I did not bother to try this as I imagine it would work as well since option #2 worked.


Additionally

Out of curiosity I tried blocking WftO's executable on the Windows Firewall, that did not work. I tried blocking Steam on the Windows Firewall as well (rather, I had to remove it it from the whitelist based Firewall), and whenever I launched Steam it would just get added automatically to Windows Firewall despite me not allowing it when prompted. I don't expect you guys to be able to affect Steam behavior, but just thought I'd let you know.

Avatar
0
Lee "Noontide" Moon

Hi Liam,

I hope you have been keeping well. I wanted to drop in a message as another user has recently reported a similar issue with the same hardware profile. Interestingly this user was able to reach the game on the affected system while it was in Airplane mode. I've yet to confirm this works for other affected users so I thought you might like to give it a go. It's truly a peculiar one as we wouldn't have anticipated a networking issue.

Here's a few steps you can try:

  1. Try launching the game while Steam is in offline mode, on the off-chance it's a steam authentication issue.
  2. If your laptop has an airplane mode try enabling this and launching the game
  3. Try disabling the the network adapter via Windows. First in the networking adapter menu and if that doesn't work then via the device manager. Instructions.

Let us know if any of these work!

Cheers,

Lee

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Lee "Noontide" Moon
  • Accepted