What's the best way to troubleshoot RimWorld issues?

Started by Nullzone, May 22, 2021, 10:15:06 PM

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Nullzone

Hi folks,

I'm not super familiar with RimWorld, but my partner loves it and as the household tech geek they turn to me when they have problems. They've been experiencing some intermittent issues with the game since we upgraded their computer last fall; it hard locks their PC at seemingly random intervals, with no common thread being apparent between game events, system stress, or other potential avenues for disruption. Here are some of the things I've tried to do to fix it so far:

- Remove all mods
- Remove the game via Steam, then reinstall
- Remove the game forcibly by deleting its folders in steamapps and ProgramData, then reinstall via Steam
- Updating all system drivers (we actually thought this one did the trick, as they were able to play for several hours without issue after doing it)
- Run as Administrator
- Use msconfig to disable all non-essential system services, then try running the game
- Probably some other "fixes" as suggested by various threads around Steam forums and google; this has been ongoing for a while, so I don't remember everything exactly

Now with all this I'm sure you're thinking, this must be a hardware issue! Except I've stress tested the hardware, it can run for hours with no problems.

So I'm at a loss for what else to look for. I'm hopeful this community can point me in the right direction for other troubleshooting avenues, or ideally a whole fix - I can't find any logs either on the system or in RimWorld that seem to suggest any kind of instability or place to look for problems.

Thanks in advance!

Canute

Hi,
your upgrade your system but who know's if not some mods got updated too in the same time.
Rimworld works so far, but stoped working.
I think it would be a mod issue at first.
The system/driver should be ok or you would encounter the problems allways and early.
Ofcourse it could some defect peripherie/hardware, i got once a mouse which force the system to freeze for seconds.
But such things are hard to track.

So back to Rimworld, there is a logfile which get created with each start. Maybe take a look at it after a freeze. Maybe you notice something at the end of the file. But since it is a freeze the bad thing don't need to be loged. But when it is spam of error's it could be the issue.

After you start Rimworld, do you got error's at the logwindow ? You need to enable developer mode at the option, then the top left icon to open it.
You shouldn't use mod's that throw out error's (some error's like missing sound.defs are harmless), the mod don't work correct anyway and can cause more trouble later.
Or the mod just miss a requiered mod.

For normal player it is the best to have the log errorfree befor he start a new colony or add new mods during gameplay.
It is mosttimes impossible to fix error's during gameplay, it is hard to identify the problem mod(s) and mosttimes it is a bad idea to remove these mods.

Maybe try to play a vanilla game forwhile, when that don't freeze it is 100% a mod issue.


Nullzone

Hiya,

We've tried running vanilla, still freezes. Have also tried to spawn new games that are vanilla only in case the problem is in the savefiles. I'll check the developer mode log for anything there, that's an appreciated detail.

Any other input is welcome.

Canute

When you don't have error's at a new vanilla colony (and i don't think you got any since you allreay got a 100% clean install since you delete the folders), i don't think it is a Rimworld issue.

Open the logfile (not the ingame log window, button at the options to open logfile folder) and check what video card (and maybe driver number) use Rimworld.
Maybe it use some internal videocard notice any other Failled or error msg.