Re: [PC] Dragon Age: Inquisition - Crash to desktop on startup, no loading symbol.

Thanks for the reply!

I followed through the steps in the guide and did a clean install of my drivers, and it has apparently been successfully updated. Inquisition has shown no change, however, and still crashes in the same place as before. 

Here is my updated hastebin, although i don't know if anything has changed.

http://hastebin.com/uxiyiqopuj.tex

I checked to see if the Origin In-Game was on, but I had already turned it off as part of an earlier fix attempt.

@AWildFlygineer Yep, the drivers look up to date now! 

As for the issue, could you check if the same happens after doing a Clean Boot to rule out issues with conflicting programs? 

Thanks!

I've just followed the steps for a clean boot, and tried Inquisition again with no change. One fix mentioned elsewhere that there was trouble caused by having two audio devices competing, although I don't remember which post to the EA Answers forum it was.

I know it shouldn't matter on that GPU but, it does on my Titans so, try turning MSAA OFF in game options. Iv'e seen that stop crashes for several players.

Thanks for the response!

Is that in-game or in the nvidia control panel? I can't actually get into the game to change anything, which is part of the problem. 

Just to add, I made a shortcut of Inquisition and ran it as administrator. When it specifically ran as administrator it got even less further along the startup process than it did when it was run normally, normally being that the game window appears, then a larger game window goes fullscreen and then it crashes, but when run as admin it only got to the first window before crashing. If there was ever a time I was confused, it's now :I

Okay, I'm going to hope you have GeForce Experience installed, if not you need it to do this. Open GeForce Experience, go to Games, make sure DAI is highlighted, click the optimize tool so that you can slide that down until it turns of MSAA for the game. (you can re adjust other settings in game later, once we get it working.) Int the Nvidia CP, it should be Application Controlled.

I did already have Geforce Experience installed, but unfortunately turning off MSAA had no effect, it still crashes in the same place as before. I've also checked to see if it is a problem with my antivirus as that has been a solution to problems with other games but it still hasn't worked.

Hmm, tough one to fix but, it may be due to shared DLL registry entry errors. The easiest way to fix that is to run either CCleaner or Eusing's cleaner. Both are free and easy to use. Pick one and clean the registry, then reboot, move ALL of the files in the Save folder for the game to another location. Now we've got a clean game that will use default settings and, there aren't any registry problems to confuse it.

If that works, put saved games back one by one and, reset your preferences. If the crashing starts after putting a specific save in, remove it and see if it still crashes. If not, then it's a corrupt save and, you will have to permanently delete that save.

I've downloaded CCleaner, though I'm reluctant to actually do anything yet because everywhere I look shouts about the dangers of incorrectly fiddling with the registry. While probably overthinking this, is it possible you could point out what I'm actually looking for or point me to a guide that might? The cleaner said it would delete files when i run it and I just want to be absolutely safe. Thanks!

It's safe, CCleaner will backup the registry for you then remove keys for non existent files and folders. It will display a list of what it is cleaning. almost everything you uninstall or delete leaves registry keys behind. With shared DLLs, refernces to them remian for programs and, places that no longer exist. It slows the computer down while it tries to find the working registry entry for what you are trying to do and, when it takes too long, the program (DAI in this case) crashes because the computer did not allow access to the DLL it needed.

I run a cleaner weekly, and after every uninstall to keep that junk to a minimum. I've used both Eusing's and CCleaner, they are comparable, just depends on the interface you like better. Both back up the registry and, have built in tools to restore an older registry if you ever need to do that, but I've never had to restore the registry, neither cleaner removes a key for a file or folder that still exists on your computer but, it does remove those for things that have been removed.

say the DLL is kernel.dll and, over the life of that computer, you've had 50 programs that need to use that dll but, only have 2 installed now. Well those other 48 keys are still there and, the computer has to sort through all of them whenever you use one of the two programs that actually do use the dll. One of those is fine with the wait, but DAI refuses to wait. (a bit simplified but that's the basics of it.) removing the 48 useless keys means only the two left for the computer to look at and, that takes one or two milliseconds , DAI is happy.

The firat time you clean a registry, there are likely to be thousands of items to be fixed, that's normal. Even weekly i get 200 to 300 because of deleted temporary files and such. Only installing and uninstalling programs affects the dll keys but, you can see how that can get to be a problem over time.

Ran the cleaner, which found no problems related to dragon age or EA etc. I went ahead and fixed all problems that it found and attempted to start it, and there was no difference. Then I tried removing all the saves and tried again with a blank slate - still no change. At this point I'm utterly bamboozled xD

I wonder if any else has had the problem at all, I know I couldn't find a fix that worked in all the other posts I've found.

I've also just tried the fix where you delete the ProfileOptions_profile file, which didn't work either. At this point I'm more curious than frustrated....I want to see what this error could possibly be XD

Just in case it helps anyone, here is my most recent Hastebin:

http://hastebin.com/hilexofilo.tex

I see some Windows update faults. That can be because your computer is not connected to the internet when Windows tries to update but, if it IS connected, then here are some things you can try to get it updating properly.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_update/there-were-some-problems-installing-updates-via/f086b3c1-0ce3-4d3d-823b-a4e44a431666?auth=1

I see something called Ben&Ed crashing as well, it appears to be a steam program. I don't use Steam so have no clue there but, maybe clearing up those issues will help DAI as well.

I followed the instructions in the link to the letter, but the windows update errors persist in the dxdiag. here's the new hastebin: 

http://hastebin.com/uyeficivay.tex

I also did the windows update troubleshooter, which said that it had repaired the windows update service, but after seeing it was still in the dxdiag I ran it again and it says that it has been repaired every time I run it. Same situation after restarting the computer, just to be sure.

Also, Ben and Ed is a different game on steam, with different problems that meant it could run but had all kinds of texture bugs. I thought I had returned it to normal, but it still appears in the dxdiag.

Oh, and Ben and Ed isn't even installed anymore, so what its doing hanging around in dxdiag is anyone's guess.

@AWildFlygineer That's the problem with the error reports at the end of dxdiags, they're not dated or anything, so it can be difficult to tell if they have any relevance to the problem we're trying to troubleshoot. 😉 

Probably obvious, but I don't see a mention anywhere else in the thread; are you using any command line modifiers (such as the one which does something to fps in cutscenes) or mods? 

Have you tried doing an uninstall and reinstall of Origin, just in case something went wonky with a recent Origin update or something? You can download the most recent version of Origin from here. Since the game hasn't updated in a long time, and you didn't mention any major changes to your computer or hardware, this (or a windows update) seemed like the most likely thing to have changed recently (I know I had an Origin update not so long ago), and sometimes Origin not updating properly can have unusual symptoms. Your games will be safe doing an Origin uninstall/reinstall, it won't touch the game files.

Something about your monitor is niggling at me as vaguely familiar, but I can't put my finger on it... May just be my foggy brain getting mixed up/confused, or looking at too many dxdiag reports, so I'll ignore that for now. 

Thanks for the response! As far as I know, I'm only using one command line prompt that was added after all of this started as a potential fix, that being 

• -GameTime.MaxSimFps 60 -GameTime.ForceSimRate 60+.

Me being desperate, I realised a frame rate change probably wouldn't work, but I've been trying to fix this for a whole week and have been scraping the barrel for fixes. :*( Inquisition actually ran really well before this so I knew it was a long shot. I'll go ahead and give the origin installs a go now.

Oh, and my monitor is in fact a quite small Samsung TV, using HDMI ports. I don't know if that causes problems, but it's chugged along quite nicely until now.

Well, I uninstalled Origin and reinstalled it. But after it was done installing it updated itself again, so would trying again and not letting it update help? I also uninstalled it using the wizard as opposed to a manual uninstall, if that matters. Either way, Inquisition still crashes at the same point as before.

I've just gone back and done a manual uninstall, to no effect. Having checked when the last patch was released, it would seem that my troubles started around there. is there a way to roll back to a previous patch? I'm not at all interested in multiplayer so offline is an option.

No, there is no way to roll back patches separately. You can uninstall the game and, install Offline if you have the disk, then never let origin get online or it will update but, that's all you can do there.

This one is a tough one. the game should be fine on that computer, and with a clean install, on a clean boot, and no command line argument. there is nothing that should prevent the game from running.

If you need to do a clean uninstall of anything try Revo Uninstaller, it does a better job that Windows does. http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

That's what's got me so confused. While it's no Titan, this should be well within the abilities of the computer. Having done the more recent suggested fixes Inquisition is re-installing and taking longer than it did previously. I'll try again when it's finished and post the results.

What's weird is that I can't find anyone else who has the same problem, as most of them crash at the main menu, or mid game as opposed to before any of that.

The fresh install didn't help, unfortunately. Honestly at this point I have no idea what is left to try short of factory resetting my computer, but with as much as I have on here I'd really rather not do that. Not giving up yet though!

Also, the idea that it was patch related has died as the date I had seen previously was only for a comment on the bigger page, while the patch itself has been around since october 2015, which is well before I bought the game.