20.4 (b42) Clients Crashing to Desktop Consistently ~30 Minutes - Dedicated Vanilla Hosted Server

[bulldogg0]

1 minute ago, Star69 said:

I hope that a fix is coming for you guys. This is a fun game so I hope you get a chance to enjoy it. The integration with GamePass is a new feature just rolled out and I’m sure this bug will be addressed.

Thanks Star69 , the integration of game pass , w store, etc , is the worst, We're really enjoying the game so I decided to buy via steam and play properly ..

[Star69]

I’m glad you bought the game, you won’t regret it but I’m biased…I love the game lol. Still, I hope a fix is coming for those that still want to try it before buying.

[Bynary808]

1 hour ago, bulldogg0 said:

Thanks Star69 , the integration of game pass , w store, etc , is the worst, We're really enjoying the game so I decided to buy via steam and play properly ..

Sorry to hear you had the same issues, but I am glad to see some confirmation the Windows store/Xbox GamePass for PC version issue isn't just us @bulldogg0.  We felt the same about the game despite the Windows store version issues so we also ended up buying the Steam version (the two pack option was a big help)...

 

Also, thanks again to @Star69 for all of the help and information.  For others with the Windows store version and issue, they helped confirm that the Steam version was much more stable and reliable since I was a bit gunshy.  My friend and I both bought the Steam version and then setup the Frag free dedicated server trial so we could confirm performance and stability before fully committing and we've been having a blast and *knock on wood* haven't had any issues even with some much longer than planned game sessions   

 

Hopefully The Fun Pimps are able to get the Windows store version issue resolved at some point so the Windows store folks can have as much fun with this game as the Steam folks (and us Steam converts).

 

  

[meganoth]

Just a guess but I would bet the game is identical whether distributed from steam or xbox store, but comes either with a steam library or an xbox library that is loaded at startup and enrolls you in steam or xbox live.

 

Check your xbox version of the game, is there a file steamclient.dll in your game directory? If yes, your xbox version probably could be started from steam even though downloaded from xbox with a few simple changes.

All you would need to do would be to change the first line in platform.cfg from XBL to Steam and make steam aware of that game (there is an option to add games on your hard disk to steam).

 

In your logs I see this line " INF [Platform] Using native platform: XBL" and "INF [XBL] API loaded", later there are a few lines where the client talks to Xbox Live. If I'm right, after the start from steam you would not see these XBL lines and your client would not be logged into XBL and likely that 30 minute crash would not occur.

 

(And that would mean that people with the xbox version would not need to buy the game on steam, they just would need a steam account to circumvent the bug)

Edited May 8, 2022 by meganoth (see edit history)

[Bynary808]

23 hours ago, meganoth said:

Just a guess but I would bet the game is identical whether distributed from steam or xbox store, but comes either with a steam library or an xbox library that is loaded at startup and enrolls you in steam or xbox live.

 

Check your xbox version of the game, is there a file steamclient.dll in your game directory? If yes, your xbox version probably could be started from steam even though downloaded from xbox with a few simple changes.

All you would need to do would be to change the first line in platform.cfg from XBL to Steam and make steam aware of that game (there is an option to add games on your hard disk to steam).

 

In your logs I see this line " INF [Platform] Using native platform: XBL" and "INF [XBL] API loaded", later there are a few lines where the client talks to Xbox Live. If I'm right, after the start from steam you would not see these XBL lines and your client would not be logged into XBL and likely that 30 minute crash would not occur.

 

(And that would mean that people with the xbox version would not need to buy the game on steam, they just would need a steam account to circumvent the bug)

This is a bit complicated since adding Microsoft store games to Steam as a Non-Steam Game doesn't work by default for UWP (Universal Windows Platform) Games.  There are workarounds to adding UWP games to Steam (e.g., using UWPHook (https://github.com/BrianLima/UWPHook)), but even then there can be issues.

 

That  being said, there is a steamclient64.dll in the Windows store version install directory.  I edited the platform.cfg file to change the first line from platform=XBL to platform=Steam.  I then used UWPHook to add 7 Days to Die as a Steam game and then restarted Steam.

 

After restarting Steam I can see 7 Days to Die and launching it from Steam first displays an error: "Windows cannot find 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\custominstallexec.exe'.  Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again."  After clicking "OK" to acknowledge, the 7 Days to Die launcher is presented and clicking "Run" in the launcher with the defaults presents a 7 Days to Die Launch Error stating "Easy Anti-Cheat is not installed."

 

After exiting that Launch Error (the only option), I ran it again from Steam (same initial error) and then deselected "Use Easy AntiCheat (EAC)" from the launcher to see if it would run without EAC.  At that point, the game started and then presented an error "Steam Login.  Could not fully initialize Steam: The Steam client is not running or no connection possible."  From there, the only option is to Exit Game since Retry does nothing.

 

TLDR:  Interesting idea, but seems to have some issues.

[meganoth]

6 hours ago, Bynary808 said:

This is a bit complicated since adding Microsoft store games to Steam as a Non-Steam Game doesn't work by default for UWP (Universal Windows Platform) Games.  There are workarounds to adding UWP games to Steam (e.g., using UWPHook (https://github.com/BrianLima/UWPHook)), but even then there can be issues.

 

That  being said, there is a steamclient64.dll in the Windows store version install directory.  I edited the platform.cfg file to change the first line from platform=XBL to platform=Steam.  I then used UWPHook to add 7 Days to Die as a Steam game and then restarted Steam.

 

After restarting Steam I can see 7 Days to Die and launching it from Steam first displays an error: "Windows cannot find 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\custominstallexec.exe'.  Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again."  After clicking "OK" to acknowledge, the 7 Days to Die launcher is presented and clicking "Run" in the launcher with the defaults presents a 7 Days to Die Launch Error stating "Easy Anti-Cheat is not installed."

 

After exiting that Launch Error (the only option), I ran it again from Steam (same initial error) and then deselected "Use Easy AntiCheat (EAC)" from the launcher to see if it would run without EAC.  At that point, the game started and then presented an error "Steam Login.  Could not fully initialize Steam: The Steam client is not running or no connection possible."  From there, the only option is to Exit Game since Retry does nothing.

 

TLDR:  Interesting idea, but seems to have some issues.

 

Thanks for trying it out. That idea still needs some more work 😉

 

Another method to find out if steam and xbox versions differ would simply be to compare them. A difference in a binary or library there would immediately invalidate my hypothesis

 

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by meganoth (see edit history)