Shatter Crashes

[Spire]

Well, I've been having this issue with the game and posted about it on the official forum, but this forum seems to be more active so I thought I'd post in here too. Basically the game just starts up to a blank black screen, then crashes on me, every time I try to run it. I posted more information about the issue in the other thread here:
http://forums.shattergame.com/showthread.php?t=39061

Anyone else having this issue? Or any ideas on how I might be able to fix it?

Edit: Problem Solved! The issue is caused by the Saitek Eclipse (PZ30AU) keyboard. See pg2 for work-around.

[CalmWind23]

Do you have the latest DirectX installed?.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=0cef8180-e94a-4f56-b157-5ab8109cb4f5

[Spire]

Unfortunately yes, I do have the latest Direct X installed. It doesn't help :(

[Ian G.]

Hey Spire,

This is a humdinger of a crash, and not one we've seen before. We're looking into it now.

I'm really sorry you've not been able to get it up and running :(

[Ian G.]

Ok Spire,

Would you be able to try this for me and see if it helps?

1. Run shatter in windowed mode
2. Open the Task Manager (right click task bar, select "Start TaskManager")
3. Find SH.EXE right click on it, select "Set Priority", set to "Normal"
4. Switch back to shatter

Let me know how you get on with that, if it doesn't help let me know and we'll keep trying to hunt the problem down for you.

[Spire]

Hey Ian G. Thanks for the help!

In the task manager the priority for sh.exe seems to be set to normal by default. I tried clicking on normal anyway, but it didn't seem to help. I also tried setting it to each of the other priority settings from low to realtime, and none of them appeared to have any affect.

[KrixBOI]

Check your anti-virus because I got a virus warning from Norton 2010 about sh.exe and it got blocked and deleted.
I unblocked it in Norton and tried to download the game again.

And yes this AWESOME game works now :cool:

[Ian G.]

Hey Ian G. Thanks for the help!

In the task manager the priority for sh.exe seems to be set to normal by default. I tried clicking on normal anyway, but it didn't seem to help. I also tried setting it to each of the other priority settings from low to realtime, and none of them appeared to have any affect.

Hmm, sounds like we're not on the right path there. I'll get the guys to keep looking into it :(

[Spire]

Check your anti-virus because I got a virus warning from Norton 2010 about sh.exe and it got blocked and deleted.
I unblocked it in Norton and tried to download the game again.

And yes this AWESOME game works now :cool:
That's a good idea. However, that is definitely not the cause in my case. I've already tried running the game without having anti-virus software/service running, and I'm still getting the same problem.

Ian G. just let me know what to try and I'll give it a shot, or if you need any more info let me know! Thanks!

[Film11]

If you look in your event viewer (type event viewer in the start menu) and look for a log involving Shatter you might find some further info regarding the crash. Maybe a driver filename or something like that.

[Spire]

Here is what I found from the Event Viewer directly after Shatter crashes:
http://pastebin.com/HRhc6sBh

Also, here is the information in the XML from the windows error report:
http://pastebin.com/QmfZ4Asb

the both seem to give pretty much the same information, something about ntdll.dll?

[Ian G.]

Here is what I found from the Event Viewer directly after Shatter crashes:
http://pastebin.com/HRhc6sBh

Also, here is the information in the XML from the windows error report:
http://pastebin.com/QmfZ4Asb

the both seem to give pretty much the same information, something about ntdll.dll?

Hey man,

Would you be able to do the following to give us a better idea of what might be going on:

> In the start menu, choose "run"
> In the run window type "dxdiag"
> When it's finished loading click "Save All Information"
> Then if you could e-mail the resulting txt file to support@sidhe.co.nz that'd be awesome :)

[Spire]

Done.

[DaracSjet]

Hi Spire it's Antony here from Shatter dev.
Thanks for the info, we're looking into you problem.
This one's really got me puzzled. I read your post on the Sidhe forums and it really does seem like you've tried everything. Just so you know when you alt tab away from shatter we purposly run it at a slower framerate to give whatever application in the foreground some CPU and GPU time. This suggests to me that this is not a graphics problem.
The fact you can hear sound (only music?) in the main menu suggests it's not a problem with your sound card either.
In the few seconds where it doesn't crash when you alt tab back can you interact with it at all? Can you press space to get past the Shatter logo screen, will it instantly crash on any input or simply ignore the input?

[Spire]

Ok, I tried to give it some input today and had some limited success.
First, I waited for it to get to the title screen where it says "press enter" (by alt-tabbing away from the shatter window).

If I alt-tab back to the shatter window, and then try to press enter, it doesn't seem to have any effect (and it doesn't cause it to completely crash immediately, either). Even after I alt-tab away from Shatter after pressing the Enter key, nothing changes and it stays on the title screen. It is as if I didn't press the enter key at all.

BUT, if I really SPAM the enter key as fast as I can while clicking back to the shatter window, and if I'm lucky, I hear a shattering sound effect play on-top of the menu music (but nothing actually changes on the screen since its still frozen). Alt-tabbing away from Shatter then shows the title screen break away (with a slow framerate) to reveal the main menu.

Spamming the enter key doesn't work every time I try, it seems to be a matter of luck when it actually works.

So to answer your questions, it seems to me that I CAN hear other sounds besides just the music. Also, it appears that it will accept input if I can maybe press the key at JUST the right moment.

[Spire]

Good news!

After you suggested that it probably isn't graphics or sound, it got me thinking that maybe there was an issue with a peripheral or peripheral driver. So, I disconnected all my usb peripherals, got my hands on an old ps/2 mouse and a different USB keyboard, hooked them up, started the game. No crashes, game runs fine!

Of course, I wasn't sure which device was the culprit, so I tried hooking my original Razer mouse back up - game loaded up fine. Then, I tried hooking back up my Saitek keyboard, started the game, and it crashed again!

To be 100% sure that this keyboard was the cause of the crash, I disconnected the Saitek keyboard again, and tried running the game, and it again loaded up without a hitch.

I don't know if it is something wrong with my particular keyboard, or if its something about this keyboard model and/or it's drivers that is causing the problem - I don't have another one of these keyboards to test that with. I tried updating the driver for the keyboard, but as far as I can see there isn't one available for it anywhere (even on Saitek's own website). But I haven't had an issue with the keyboard in any other game or program I've used as far as I am aware.

If you guys need to test this, it is an old Saitek Eclipse PZ30au (http://www.google.com/search?um=1&hl=en&q=pz30au&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw) keyboard (not the Eclipse II or Eclipse III).

The Saitek keyboad is a much better board than the other one I'm borrowing here, and I'd really prefer to use it. But it is good to actually be able to play this game now :) Thanks a ton for all the help and support! You guys rock :D

[DaracSjet]

You also rock for taking some initiative! Great to hear it, this really had me stumped and now i see why! lol we'll see if we can get our hands on one of these and figure out exactly why.

Thanks again for helping us make Shatter a better product. Enjoy!

[richiefyh]

I too was having problems with the game crashing, though it would just crash straight after launching, after reading about your problem with the Saitek Eclipse keyboard I tried unplugging mine & it loaded first time.

After loading the title screen I reconnected the keyboard & the game played fine, similarly this is the first I have encountered a problem with the keyboard.

Im using Vista 64 Ultimate with the Saitek keyboard drivers installed by it from update.

[Spire]

Yeah, who would have thought a keyboard of all things could cause a game to crash? Anyway that was a good idea; plugging the Saitek keyboard back in AFTER launching the game works for me too, nice!

[Ian G.]

Hey guys,

we've ordered one of your keyboards to see if we can track this issue down. If we get anywhere with it, we'll let you know. I'm glad you can get the game to work now though :D

[skinnedpuppy]

Same problem here, with Saitek Eclipse USB keyboard (I not II or III), oddly enough I seem to remember having similar keyboard related issues with another game Trackmania. I was baffled as to the cause until I found this thread.

Any word on progress for a fix here?

[Reibus]

Another Saitek keyboard owner here probably should ask everyone that says game crashes on start up if they own a SAitek, ironically Ill be playing with a game pad.

[DaracSjet]

This issue is strange as we specifically went and bought one of these keyboards and our works fine so we've been unable to fix the issue :(

[Ceryk]

Also have a Saitek Eclipse (The first one) and it's not running. So definitely seems to be something up with it. Luckily I have an older keyboard sitting around as well.

[dumpsterKEEPER]

Yep, running into the same problem here with a Saitek Eclipse keyboard. Unplugging the keyboard and then starting the game allows the game to launch. If there's any additional information I can provide to help in debugging this problem, feel free to let me know.

[Ceryk]

Definately seems like unplugging the keyboard is the work around. If you're using a gamepad, then it seems to work out just find to just set Player 1 to Gamepad and then unplug the keyboard and play. But if you're not, guess you're going to have to go with the route the OP went and use a PS2 keyboard.

[LiquidShorts]

I'm also crashing at launch with an old Saitek Eclipse.
Win 7 64

[LiquidShorts]

I was able to "fix" my problem by disabling Saitek Gamers' Keyboard Hot Keys (USB) in the Device Manager.

[Spire]

Hey, disabling that works for me as well, good call! Seems like we can maybe narrow it down to that specific device or it's driver being the cause of the issue.

[Slock81]

I had the same problem, swapped out keyboards and now Shatter starts!

However, now 2-6 levels in it hard crashes. Locks up my computer, screen freezes and the music stutters, occasionally smooths out, then stutters more.

Anyone have that problem and fix it?

[suibhne]

Any progress on fixing this bug? I'm unable to start the game, also with a Saitek Eclipse keyboard (version 1). I don't have access to another keyboard, nor do I think I should be expected to buy one just for one game; I've had zero issues with any other titles, and I have nearly 100 games in my Steam list.

EDIT: Forgot to note -
I was able to "fix" my problem by disabling Saitek Gamers' Keyboard Hot Keys (USB) in the Device Manager.

I don't have that driver piece listed anywhere in my Device Manager, so I can't try disabling it. (I never installed any Saitek keyboard drivers in the first place.) I'm running Win 7 64-bit.

[DaracSjet]

Sorry suibhne we've had no luck tracking this down. We got our hands on one of those keyboards but for us it worked fine. Unless we can find a way of reproducing it here our chances of fixing it are next to nothing.

Note: A work around is to unplug your keyboard when the games first boots up and then plug it in again when you reach the press enter screen. I know this isn't ideal but at least you'll be able to play in the time being.

[Spire]

I'm on win7 64-bit as well, and the device shows up for me. I think it is just a usb device driver not something that you would have manually install on your computer. In fact there are no drivers that you can manually install for the Saitek Eclipse keyboard anywhere last time I looked. I don't know if this will help but here is where I found the driver/device in question:
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/1007/saitekdevicemanager.jpg
just find that in your device manager, right-click it, and then click 'disable'. When it adds that small down-arrow over the icon, run Shatter and it should be working. This was definitely the culprit for me.

DaracSjet: Wish I had some ideas for why you wouldn't be able to repro the issue if you guys have the same exact keyboard and everything. That really sucks :(

[DaracSjet]

Such is the nature of PC development ;P

[Caeldan]

Also having issues with it crashing on start.
Have an old Saitek 'Gamers' Keyboard... PZ08AU and running Vista 64-bit.

Haven't tried the unplug to launch yet - but will give it a try.

[DaracSjet]

You don't have to unplug it if you can find and disable the Saitek Gamers' Keyboard Hot Keys (USB) in the device manager.

[MaxSMoke777]

I'm having a similar crash, where the screen is black, but I still have my Window's cursor, and the music plays. I click and there's a shatter game sound, but nothing ever appears on my screen. I had to Alt-Tab out and close Shatter on my taskbar.

I have a Logitech keyboard and mouse, not a Saitek. I don't think the problem is related to Saitek.

[DaracSjet]

It does sound very similar to this issue. Have you tried the same workaround? Unplug the keyboard as the game boots and then plug it back in. Or have a hunt through the device manager and see if there are any Logitech keyboard hot key drivers running.

[MaxSMoke777]

Logitech uses a system tray program for it's speical features, not a driver. I turned off the program, but that doesn't change the lack of visuals. I know the game itself is running, as it beeps when I press buttons. I can hear stuff bouncing, music, and it reacts to input. I just can't SEE anything.

Sigh, it's dumb stuff like this that is killing PC Game sales. Why buy something that YOU have to troubleshoot yourself? I don't work for the company, *I'M* suppose to be the customer, not the beta tester. If Crysis can run without needing me to disable stuff on my computer, so should a simple action game.

[DaracSjet]

I'm sorry you're having trouble running Shatter but it isn't feasible for a small company like us to test on every combination of hardware and software. We have done our best to get it on as many machine configurations as we can but there are some things you simply can't foresee.

Could you please send your dxdiag information to support@sidhe.co.nz and in the e-mail add your steam forum name "MaxSMoke777" so we know who you are.

-> Start -> Run -> Type "dxdiag" -> "Save All Information" to text file -> e-mail it to us at support@sidhe.co.nz

Another reason for this kind of problem can come from a dual monitor related bug. Do you have dual monitors?

[MaxSMoke777]

My USB monitor was causing the problem. When I turned it off, the game worked fine.

[DaracSjet]

Good to hear you got it working! :)

Have fun!

[protonas]

I can't play shatter. I can view menu, missions, objectives, leaderbords but whenever I choose to start story mode I'm getting runtime error (http://yfrog.com/j0runtimeerrorzj). I tried to reinstall my DirecX, set affinity to 1 cpu, verified integrity of game cache, deleted and redownloaded game. I have win7 32, vga gts250.

In event viewer I found I'm getting this error message:


Faulting application name: sh.exe, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x4c0470d0
Faulting module name: cgD3D9.dll, version: 2.0.0.12, time stamp: 0x47a0e87c
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000096b2
Faulting process id: 0x1dc8
Faulting application start time: 0x01cb9a2e0baac553
Faulting application path: d:\steam\steamapps\common\shatter\sh.exe
Faulting module path: d:\steam\steamapps\common\shatter\cgD3D9.dll
Report Id: 6fbe0f67-0621-11e0-a920-001966b7d05c

[DaracSjet]

Protonas, We're looking into it now. Thanks for your e-mail. We'll keep you posted.

[protonas]

Protonas, We're looking into it now. Thanks for your e-mail. We'll keep you posted.
Thank you, also I updated my video card drivers, scanned and cleaned registry just to be sure that everything is ok with my pc. Still getting the same runtime error message.

[SunGryphon]

Imagine my surprise when I found this thread. I have a double whammy for you guys - a Saitek PC Gamer's keyboard AND dual monitors :)

Unplugging the keyboard and plugging it back in worked to launch the game, however there is no Saitek device for me to disable.

Fun game though, I was a diehard Arkanoid fan back in the day :D

[Shad0WeN]

Hey all, just an update that hopefully can help solve this problem.

I also have a Saitek Eclipse keyboard (model PZ30AU) from like 2005 running on a Windows XP Pro x64 (Service Pack 2) system with a single monitor setup. I recently got Shatter and had the same problem launching the game with a black screen for like 2 seconds, and then it would crash back to desktop. Never had a problem with the keyboard before with any games.

So naturally a search of the issue led me to this thread and to my amazement, unplugging the keyboard as was previously mentioned allowed the game to launch fine. My keyboard was just using whatever native drivers Windows had installed so there were no devices in the device manager with "Saitek Gamers' Keyboard" or whatever in the name, just generic HID devices. Anyway so I checked Windows Update and it found an updated driver from Saitek for the keyboard dated April 2008. After installing, I now have a bunch of "Saitek Gamers' Keyboard _______" devices showing and Shatter seems to run fine with no need to disable anything!

So this just might be a solution for some people having this problem. Just try updating your Saitek Eclipse driver if you can. Check Windows Update (making sure to select "Custom") and see if an update is detected. Otherwise Saitek seems to have the driver available for download here, however it is currently an older version from that on Windows Update (6.2.2.4 vs 6.0.4.1):

http://www.saitek.com/uk/down/drivers.php

Just select Keyboard ---> Gamers Keyboard ---> then your OS

click the "download drivers" button that appears. depending on your OS you may also see a "download software" button as well, however I think that that additional software does not apply and is for a slightly different version of this keyboard that Saitek made that came with an optional "command keypad" that could be plugged into the keyboard, as seen here:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZPB63CYXL.jpg

Notice that the keyboard (PZ08AU) looks exactly the same (aside from the different paint color scheme) as the Eclipse PZ30AU (blue LED backlights) & PZ30AUR (red LED backlights), so they likely use the same drivers.

Also, just another thought to consider. While reading through this thread I made a note of what specific Operating System everyone who was experiencing the problem was running (assuming they mentioned it). So one thing that jumped out at me was that everyone mentioned running a 64-bit OS, whether it was Windows 7, Vista, or XP x64. It makes me wonder whether it could just be either native Windows drivers or some older versions of Saitek's 64-bit drivers for this keyboard that are problematic in this rare case, and whether this same issue would also occur on a 32-bit OS?? I am curious what OS(s) you guys at Sidhe used to try to reproduce the problem before when you were unable to do so? I am going to try testing Windows XP 32-bit (SP3) as I have another PC with Steam installed on it hooked up to the same keyboard, monitor, mouse via a KVM switch.

[DaracSjet]

We have Windows 7 64 bit on the computers I tried.

[Shad0WeN]

okay well I tried testing but was unable to reproduce the problem on the other system running Windows XP 32-bit (SP3)

so just to recap, the problem occured for me in Windows XP 64-bit with those older keyboard drivers but not in Windows XP 32-bit (SP3), using the exact same keyboard on a KVM switch

P.S. - if you guys at Sidhe want my Saitek Eclipse keyboard whenever I get around to getting a new one you are welcome to it

[DaracSjet]

lol, it's all right, we have one. I'm pretty sure it's the OS and driver version that's the issue.

[Nobodo]

If I try to play the game fullscreen I see the same problem described above (game sounds but black screen - have to kill the running process).
If I run it in a 1920x1080 window it runs fine, but ONLY if I set vsync to off, triple buffer to off, and anti-aliasing to 0x. For some reason it opens fullscreen even if fullscreen is not selected but the vsync or triple buffer options are selected.

Interestingly, I just got a new computer and see the same problem on both the old and new computers. Both are Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. One is a dual-processor AMD with a geForce 9600 gt, and the other is a core i7 with 12Gb ram and ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics. Both have 2 monitors. Both have Logitech wireless trackballs and Logitech gaming pads. I have standard keyboards on both computers, no Saitek anything. I do have the latest Logitech drivers for the Logitech trackballs and the Logitech profiler for the the gaming pads. All drivers are current; I am kinda anal about that.

[Nobodo]

I forgot to mention -- I have the same problem with the steam game 'Droplitz' -- same symptoms and same solution (works in window but in fullscreen I just get black screen with sounds). I actually got the idea to try Shatter in window mode because the Droplitz forum said that was how to get that game working if those symptoms happened.

[cornelius_4]

Shatter opens with black screen and sound. It never loaded properly. After disabling vpu recover it now works every time so far.

This should work on windows vista and 7. I don't know about xp.
Note that the following will disable vpu recover. You can read more about it here: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/wddm_timeout.mspx
----------------------------------------------------------------

Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and open the task manager.
Click on File --> New Task (Run...).

Type regedit and click OK.

Navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDr ivers

If you have a DWORD with the name TdrLevel you need to change it's value to 0. Otherwise you need to create a new DWORD with the name TdrLevel and a value of 0. This will disable vpu recover.

reboot and open shatter.

If you want to undo this, change TdrLevel to 3 and vpu will be enabled again.

Hope it works :-).

[Androktasie]

For what it's worth, Shatter isn't the only game that the Saitek Eclipse renders unplayable due to it's detection as a DirectInput game controller. Darn thing gave me hell trying to play Peter Jackson's King Kong a few years back on XP 32-bit, mucking with menu selections and my character's POV.

The same issue has also been reported (http://www.a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4045) in a flight simulator community, and for Grand Theft Auto IV (http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=384041). More complaints here (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=6280105) and here (http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=797). CNET also noted performance degradation (http://reviews.cnet.com/keyboards/saitek-eclipse-keyboard/4505-3134_7-31485260.html) in F.E.A.R on multiple systems with the same keyboard.


I'm curious if there was a silent revision to the hardware that removed it's detection as a "game controller", possibly accounting for Sidhe's inability to reproduce the problem.

[Breitschwert]

I have the same issue and also have a Saitek Gaming Keyboard. System is Windows 7 64bit. I remember back in XP32 having the same issue with another game, my solution back then was to disable the USB device in Device Manager, which was connected to the keyboard. The keyboard still worked after this. I think it was a USB Hub. Just tried this on Windows 7 and it didn't help me.

When trying this, make sure you know how to reenable it again with just the keyboard if you accidentally deactivate your mouse.

[DaracSjet]

If I try to play the game fullscreen I see the same problem described above (game sounds but black screen - have to kill the running process).
If I run it in a 1920x1080 window it runs fine, but ONLY if I set vsync to off, triple buffer to off, and anti-aliasing to 0x. For some reason it opens fullscreen even if fullscreen is not selected but the vsync or triple buffer options are selected.

Interestingly, I just got a new computer and see the same problem on both the old and new computers. Both are Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. One is a dual-processor AMD with a geForce 9600 gt, and the other is a core i7 with 12Gb ram and ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics. Both have 2 monitors. Both have Logitech wireless trackballs and Logitech gaming pads. I have standard keyboards on both computers, no Saitek anything. I do have the latest Logitech drivers for the Logitech trackballs and the Logitech profiler for the the gaming pads. All drivers are current; I am kinda anal about that.

It's probably the dual screens that is giving you this issue. I don't know why but some dual screen configurations don't play well with Shatter.

[Breitschwert]

What I find interesting is that when I start the game windowed and keep it in the background, it will load fine to the start menu. As soon as I switch to it, it will hang and then crash.

I am still waiting for a fix, since I do not want to unplug my keyboard all the time. :(

[DaracSjet]

I know you said you've tried this but everyone else seems to be able to disable the Saitek Gamers' Keyboard Hot Keys (USB) in the device manager to get it working?

Can you give it another shot? There isn't really else I can do sorry..

[Breitschwert]

I know you said you've tried this but everyone else seems to be able to disable the Saitek Gamers' Keyboard Hot Keys (USB) in the device manager to get it working?

Can you give it another shot? There isn't really else I can do sorry..

I did not see that solution before. This is working for me. Thanks.

[DaracSjet]

No worries. It was in this thread on an earlier page.

enjoy.

[Mu0n]

I have Windows 7 Home edition 64 bits, I have a Saitek Executive. I had the same problem launching Shatter. Disabling Saitek Gamers' Keyboard Hot Keys (USB) did the trick.