Troubleshooting Guide: Difference between revisions

If double clicking the icon simply does nothing starting from v1.18.8, your .net7 framework install might be broken and needs fixing. Try re-installing the [https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/thank-you/runtime-desktop-7.0.2-windows-x64-installer?cid=getdotnetcore .net7 desktop runtime]. Running <code>dotnet Vintagestory.dll</code> from the command prompt might yield additional information then.

Vintage Story releases new updates several times each year.  Normally updates add new features and fix older bugs, but very occasionally something breaks in the process.  You could try asking other players on Discord, or if all else fails, try re-installing a previous version of Vintage Story which was stable. If you are playing with mods and you update Vintage Story without also updating the mods, some of the mods may have issues: see the next question!

We encourage modding Vintage Story - see the amazing mods on the [https://mods.vintagestory.at/list/mod Mod DB]. But using 3rd-party mods may possibly cause issues with the game, especially if the mod is not updated for the current Vintage Story game version you are playing.  Generally if updating Vintage Story to a new version like 1.16.5, you should also update all of your mods at the same time (though, some mods are fine with game updates). Checking that mods aren't the source of the problem is a good place to start.  See if an update for the mod is available, generally you should use the latest version. Check the Mod DB comments and forum page for the mod, or talk to other players using the mod.  If disabling mods, you should keep the Vintage Story "vanilla" mods enabled, that's Creative, Essentials and Survival!

The game needs around 4 GB of free RAM to run smoothly, or more than that if you use integrated graphics (because it uses system memory as GPU memory). You can try to free up memory by closing all other applications, setting the in-game viewing distance lower, setting the music volume to 0 and set RAM optimization to "aggressive" in the game's graphics settings. If your computer does not have 4 GB of free RAM, you can perhaps still play on minimum settings, for example a view distance of 96 or less.

A graphics card can also run out of memory, causing the game to crash. Possible causes include: other active games or processes on your computer which also use graphics card resources (including some webpages or video players); two copies of Vintage Story running at the same time; a previous hard crash of any game or application such that graphics resources were not properly freed (try re-starting your system!); ultra-high view distances; fancy shader mods. If it happens repeatedly without any of these causes and even after re-starting your system, then try reducing graphics settings in Vintage Story: you can access the settings from the Main Menu before starting the game.

If you sometimes experience screen freezes after playing for a few seconds or a few minutes (can be an issue with some Intel Iris or Intel HD integrated graphics, common on modern laptops) try switching off some of the visual effects like God Rays, SSAO, Bloom and Foam & Shiny Effect in the game's graphics settings - or generally just try easier graphics settings like "Low". The graphics settings are accessible through Settings in the main menu, before you start playing a game. There appears to be no specific cause for these screen freezes, just that the laptop's GPU is overwhelmed.  The game is intended to run well and be fully playable on standard laptops, as long as the graphics settings are suitable. There is no shame in using "Low" or "Medium" graphics settings on a laptop, the game still looks great with these settings.<br>

''If your screen freezes but the mouse still works, you may still be able to exit the game by hitting the Esc key, then moving your mouse pointer to the center of the screen where the 'Save and Exit Game' button would normally be seen - try clicking around that area and listening for a button-click sound. You may then also need to exit the main menu by looking for the Quit button on the left side of the menu screen in the same way.''

* In the Graphics options, the game can run slow if the resolution is higher then 100% (check that first!) High view distances, God Rays, SSAO and high quality shadows all have a big effect on framerate.

* '''On a Windows 10 laptop, make sure the Windows battery / power mode setting is set to 'Best performance'. Click the battery icon to see this.'''  Especially do not use the 'best battery life' setting, this overrides most other settings on your computer and causes Vintage Story to run very slowly.

* In game version 1.16.5, there are reports that a mod (we do not know which one!) can cause multiplayer connection issues or disconnects. If playing with a large mod list and you have connection issues and you have control over the mods on the server as well, try reducing the mod list (for both the server and the players) until the issue is fixed: as a start, test whether you can connect to the server with no mods except Vintage Story's "vanilla" mods Survival, Creative and Essential