Okay, so I've played RimWorld quite a bit throughout most of the alpha and I've been very happy with it. Now for some unknown reason when I launch the game the whole screen is pink or purple. I can hear the music and menu sounds but the whole screen is just pink. Needless to say I can't play the game. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling. Updating drivers for my GPU. Removing content in the %appdata% folder (locallow/ludeon studios). Verifying the game through steam (no files failed). Updating DirectX and tried using launch options like : -force d3d11. I've unsubbed from every mod and even went so far as to remove all connections RimWorld had in my registry, so it has nothing to do with mods or my config cause they're all vanilla.
I am at a loss for what to do. This seems to be the only game I have a problem with. I have other games I play like DotA 2 and PUBG, these work just fine.
My PC spec is this:
Core i5-4670
8GB ddr3 ram
AMD Radeon r9 280X
Sorry to hear you have encountered this problem. It is usually related to either the graphics driver or settings (in the graphic's card control panel), as pink is the colour the game defaults to when it goes into "something went wrong with the shading and I don't know what to draw" mode.
1 - First thing we need is for you to please post your log file (as an attachment). So start the game, get to the point where the screen is pink, then exit the game (via task manger if need be), and then post the log file that is generated. Details on where to find your log file can be found in the following thread (see #6) https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=513.0
2 - It would also help to know which version of Windows you are using, likewise for which DirectX version. Your OP text suggests it is DirectX 11, but it would be useful for you to confirm this.
3 - Are you using a laptop? (as this might be caused by power management settings deactivating or powering down your graphics card).
4 - You said you have tried reinstalling both the game and the graphic / DirectX drivers, and cleaned the registry of RimWorld entries. Were the driver reinstalls clean? And for the registry entries, did you remove them manually or did you use a utility (such as the one located in the OP of the following thread https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=4805.0)
4a - Another user reported suddenly having a pink screen issue a few days ago, and they traced it back to a recent graphic driver update. Do you know if your graphic drivers updated recently? And if so have you tried rolling back to the previous driver? (as not all driver updates are good ones).
5 - Finally, have you tried doing a clean reinstall of RimWorld (instructions in the OP of the thread I just linked) with Steam sync deactivated? As Steam sync has been known to cause technical issues for RimWorld players in the past. So if you haven't tried this then please can you try it (by following the step by step instructions in that thread) and report back.
I think all but one of the users who have reported "pink screen" problems have solved this issue. Although in some cases it wasn't clear to them what exactly changed to cause it in the first place, or what eventually corrected it. As in a lot of cases the user reported just continually (clean) reinstalling the game until the problem resolved itself. Which doesn't really make any sense but that is what has been reported by users having this issue previously. They just kept reinstalling until, for whatever unknown reason, the game suddenly worked properly again.
Edit - Oh and I know it sounds incredibly patronising, but have you tried simply restarting your computer? As this solved this issue for a number of other users, and they were surprised that this issue could be fixed by something as simple as a restart.
Thanks for the extensive reply!
1. The output-log is attached to this post.
2. I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate ver.
3. I'm not using a laptop.
4. The driver reinstalls were clean. I removed AMD Radeon software through the 'control panel' and afterwards went to 'device manager' and uninstalled the display driver completely.
4a. I have updated my graphics drivers recently, but I haven't played RimWorld for some time, so I can't say for sure if that's where the problem lies. I did revert to an older version of the drivers, but it didn't seem to make a difference.
5. Yes, I just tried this. It didn't fix the problem.
And yes, I have tried rebooting. No worries, I get it, people don't think about the small things.
Edit: I forgot to attach the log file. Here ya go. :)
[attachment deleted by admin due to age]
Thank you for the answers.
I've looked at your log file (thanks!) and this does appear to be a shader issue as suspected. Although it's a bit odd as it seems to be saying your graphic card and/or driver has no shader support at all, and is filled with multiple errors like the following:-
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: [insert name of some feature]' has no vertex shader
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: '[insert name of some feature]' - Setting to default shader.
So the above explains why everything is pink. ie. it can't find the shader it needs so is using the default one, that being Mr Pink. But it doesn't explain why it can't find the required shader. But this does exactly match the log errors another user got in the other recent "pink screen" report I mentioned previously. https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=4805.msg329613#msg329613
That user also had an AMD card, which is probably not a coincidence, and they solved the issue by reinstalling their graphic driver. Apparently there was a mishap after the recent driver update. Although the user doesn't say if the mishap was at their end, or at AMD's end. https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=4805.msg329767#msg329767
I then thought that maybe your graphics card was simply too old, but according to Wiki it was apparently released in August 2013, so it should easily be new enough to have the required shader support. Plus it's not as if it's an on-board graphic chip either. But for whatever reason either Unity doesn't like your current GPU + driver combo, or vice versa. I've done some Googling of that log error, but all I'm getting are people getting that error while making a Unity game, and I can't find anything useful in relation to someone getting that error from a game and being given a solution.
Hhhmmmmm.... Okay, next course of action I reckon is.
1 - Try installing another version of RimWorld. You said you "haven't played RimWorld for some time", so does that mean not since A15? If so then do you know if A16 has ever worked for you? Perhaps it hasn't? As if the version of Unity RimWorld uses was updated between A15 and A16 (I can't remember this OTTOMH), then maybe that Unity update broke support for your GPU + driver combo. Or at least this would offer an explanation as to why the game isn't working properly anymore.
So... (apologies in advance for the next section. But I rarely use Steam so not exactly sure how the following is done)... if you access the game's Beta tab on Steam, there should be an option to both roll the game back to A15 (and A14 I think), and to update to the new unstable A17 build that is currently being tested Edit - If you need instructions on how access the other versions, then please follow the ones given below by nccvoyager (rather than rely on my guesswork).
So please try rolling the game back to A15 and see if you still have the pink problem or not. If you don't then that strongly suggests that a Unity upgrade is to blame. If the screen is still pink then try going back further to A14 (assuming that is an option). Likewise try A17. If all of these different versions give you a pink screen then that makes it more likely the problem is either with your graphics driver, or whatever settings it's currently using (I don't have access to an AMD card to know if you can alter, or enable/disable shader support at all via the AMD control panel. But maybe there are options for this in the CP).
2 - Run a utility to test / obtain detailed info about your GPU. Download and run the GPU-Z utility which can be found here (I've just download and tested it myself and didn't get any malware or the like so it seems a legitimate place to download it from) https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ . Check what it says for the "Shaders" data field. What does it say there?
Okay I think that's all for now. Please try the above two steps and report back with the results. Depending on them this issue might be resolvable, or unfortunately you might have to wait until A17 is released (no ETA yet) and see if that solves the problem for you.
If you still have problems with every version though then I'll try and do some more Googling, but I'm personally reaching the limits of my tech know-how here, and you might need to wait until someone with more expertise than myself notices this and offers their help (as there might be some switches you can use with the .exe to force the game to help troubleshoot this, but I'm not versed on what those switches might be). Plus there might not be anything anyone can do if this is some sort of support issue between AMD and Unity. Do you have any other Unity games you could test your graphics driver on? (the two games you mentioned in the OP are not Unity based).
ps. At what exact point does the screen turn pink? Is it at the main menu, or once you try to start a new game, or is it when the world screen appears. From your OP text it sounds like it happens at the main menu, but it would be useful for you to please confirm this.
Steam Beta changes:
In the Steam Library, right-click RimWorld and choose "properties" from the drop-down list.
Click on the "BETAS" tab.
Click on "NONE - Opt out of all beta programs" to open the drop-down list, and choose the version you wish to use.
(The new shader model requirements were added as of A16.)
Optional: Click "CHECK CODE" with an empty access code box.
(I have had things fail to properly download in the past if I did not do this.)
Click "CLOSE" and wait for the applicable version to download.
Just in case you need a step-by-step guide. :)
Best of luck.
Edit: No problem, Calahan. :)
^^ @ The Steam Whisperer - Thanks for those instructions. Your input is much appreciated, as always.
I really appreciate the help, and I have RimWorld working again!
The problem was, as you suggested, the updated graphics drivers for my AMD card. So apparently it was even longer ago than I first thought that I last played the game. I uninstalled the graphics drivers once more, but this time picked a much older driver than before.
So if anyone has the pink screen problem and uses an AMD card you need to use the driver version 16.12.2 to get RimWorld to work. This driver version can be found here: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous?os=Windows%207%20-%2064 (http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous?os=Windows%207%20-%2064) and from there you just get the 16.12.2 version from 09-01-2017 and it should work. Maybe you can get a newer version at some point that works with RimWorld but for now you need to use the 16.12.2 version of the drivers.
Hope this can help anyone in the future with this problem.
edit: The pink screen problem that I had was right at the main menu - it was completely pink in fact nothing to see but pinkness.
Good to hear that you managed to resolve this issue, and in some ways I'm glad it was a driver issue in the end because that means this issue is remaining consistent with previous cases, which from a support point of view is preferable to it starting to be caused by some new unknowns.
Many thanks as well for both posting again to update us on the situation, and for providing some useful info into the precise cause of it. We also certainly appreciate that super helpful link to an ADM driver that works. At least until the newer drivers start working properly with the game again (assuming that will happen at some point). I'm sure that info and link will prove a real timesaver to any AMD users who report experiencing the same problem in the future (and as a bonus I now have a handy post I can direct them to, which saves me time as well :) ).
Thanks again, and happy RimWorlding!
Quick side note: The link provided above is for the ATI R9 2xx series drivers. I, for instance, have a much older ATI card, and that driver wouldn't work for me. ATI drivers in general can be found by selecting the appropriate menu options on this page: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download