Crash on startup

[Sem]

Game crashes very early in initialisation with a full screen white window.

Attaching the debugger was not helpful because the window can not be switched away from whilst debugging.

There seems to be no log-file or debug logging in the application - or else no logging code is reached.

I am reporting this seperately to the bug claiming that KSA.exe will not launch or even show in Task Manager... although I believe it may be the same this is not the behaviour I see. It does start but it silently crashes almost immediately. No dialog boxes about exceptions, no crash reporting etc.

It also crashes if launched with administrator privileges.

The file "settings.toml" is created in the data folder... but not any save games etc.

EDIT: it works correctly on another PC.

First PC hardware (where it crashes):

Intel Core i9-10900X CPU @ 3.70GHz
32.0 GB RAM
GeForce RTX 3070

Second PC Hardware:

13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700F CPU @ 2.10GHz
32.0 GB RAM
GeForce RTX 4070

EDIT 2: the crash occurs when using either the default install location or a custom one.

EDIT 3: i forced windowed mode in the settings, here is the callstack (no symbols cos you didn't ship them)

> KernelBase.dll!00007ff9533d80da() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8decba160() Unknown
System.Private.CoreLib.dll!00007ff8ddaa785d() Unknown
System.Private.CoreLib.dll!00007ff8ddaa70bd() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8dec57c63() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8deb2dc06() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8dec0ac9c() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8dec0ab34() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8dec0aaf7() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8dec0aa84() Unknown
Brutal.Vulkan.dll!00007ff8de808923() Unknown
Brutal.Vulkan.dll!00007ff8de8003f4() Unknown
Planet.Render.Core.dll!00007ff8e11aace8() Unknown
Planet.Render.Core.dll!00007ff8e11ab85c() Unknown
KSA.dll!00007ff8dd2a70f2() Unknown
KSA.dll!00007ff8dd2aab8e() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8dec57c63() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8deb2deac() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8dec08520() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8dec08764() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8dec08a7d() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8deb80e45() Unknown
coreclr.dll!00007ff8dec35a62() Unknown
hostpolicy.dll!00007ff8e123e93b() Unknown
hostpolicy.dll!00007ff8e123ec1c() Unknown
hostpolicy.dll!00007ff8e123f553() Unknown
hostfxr.dll!00007ff8e28fd8a6() Unknown
hostfxr.dll!00007ff8e28ffe05() Unknown
hostfxr.dll!00007ff8e2901eb2() Unknown
hostfxr.dll!00007ff8e29003d2() Unknown
hostfxr.dll!00007ff8e28f8580() Unknown
KSA.exe!00007ff7a5b3a4a1() Unknown
KSA.exe!00007ff7a5b3a8b6() Unknown
KSA.exe!00007ff7a5b421f8() Unknown
kernel32.dll!00007ff955cde8d7() Unknown
ntdll.dll!00007ff95600c53c() Unknown

... and exception message:

Unhandled exception at 0x00007FF9533D80DA (KernelBase.dll) in KSA.exe: 0xE0434352 (parameters: 0xFFFFFFFF80131500, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000, 0x00007FF8DEB00000).

EDIT 4:

more from the log...

Exception thrown at 0x00007FF9533D80DA in KSA.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: EEFileLoadException at memory location 0x00000016E397C160.
Exception thrown at 0x00007FF9533D80DA in KSA.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: [rethrow] at memory location 0x0000000000000000.
Exception thrown at 0x00007FF9533D80DA in KSA.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: EEFileLoadException at memory location 0x00000016E397C160.
Exception thrown at 0x00007FF9533D80DA in KSA.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: [rethrow] at memory location 0x0000000000000000.
Exception thrown at 0x00007FF9533D80DA in KSA.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: EEFileLoadException at memory location 0x00000016E397C160.
Exception thrown at 0x00007FF9533D80DA (KernelBase.dll) in KSA.exe: 0xE0434352.
Exception thrown at 0x00007FF9533D80DA (KernelBase.dll) in KSA.exe: 0xE0434352.

Edit 5: found in event viewer...

Application: KSA.exe
CoreCLR Version: 9.0.725.31616
.NET Version: 9.0.7
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: Brutal.VulkanApi.VkResultError: Vulkan call to vkCreateInstance failed with error: VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER
at Brutal.VulkanApi.Instance..ctor(CreateInfo createInfo)
at Brutal.VulkanApi.Vulkan.CreateInstance(CreateInfo createInfo)
at Core.KSADeviceContextEx..ctor(Api inApiVersion)
at Core.Renderer..ctor(GlfwWindow window, VkFormat depthFormat, VkPresentModeKHR presentMode, Api vulkanApiVersion)
at KSA.Program..ctor(IReadOnlyList`1 inArgs)
at KSA.Program.Main(String[] inArgs)


there are at least a couple of bugs here.

it is quite an achievement since 2008 to find a driver is actually the problem and see a graphics api initialisation fail. the real problem i suspect is relying on bleeding edge features ... i've not managed to have this class of problem with native graphics code /ever/... i suspect it comes from some wishful thinking and lack of experience... and a lack of testing on different machines to reveal the problem. granted i am yet to understand what problem vulkan excactly solves... it would be nice if there was a fallback path to something less experimental.

another bug is the lack of any user facing error display. these kinds of problems are much more easily resolved if the user is shown that there is an error, what the error is, and maybe even given a suggestion for a common cause. they are easier to report and debug also...

if the only report of a bug is in event viewer, you are in some software development hell.

 

[Tsuki]

Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: Brutal.VulkanApi.VkResultError: Vulkan call to vkCreateInstance failed with error: VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER

Did you check your driver's? The 3070 supports vulkan 1.2/1.3, not sure why you are getting vulkan driver issues. I don't have huge knowledge in this, I just suspect you don't have proper drivers installed

 

[Sem]

Did you check your driver's? The 3070 supports vulkan 1.2/1.3, not sure why you are getting vulkan driver issues. I don't have huge knowledge in this, I just suspect you don't have proper drivers installed

I have worked around it by updating the driver.

This is still a bug, although possibly quite challenging to address. Although the lack of error reporting and crash report is quite a nuisance - and also a bug - this is a super early release.

I have been working on graphics software since the 90s until today... I have never introduced this class of bug into software, but it is easily done. It comes from having no fallback.

In any case, I will take this as another hint that Vulkan support is still a very poor relation on Windows.

Personally, I always implement at least DirectX and OpenGL paths for Windows - Vulkan is not reliable, and the OpenGL/Vulkan architecture being cross-platform is theoretical and incomplete in practice, and I find having two implementations forces me to write trivially portable code.

I have also worked at massive companies that screw this up casually... and its a very easy mistake to make if you lack experience.