SC2 crashes repeatedly, D3D9 fx issue (unrelated to drivers)

Technical Support
1

Hello SC2 community,

Since the last battle.net update SC2 has been crashing repeatedly during play (Arcade, Ladder, Versus AI, Replay, and Custom).

Myself and a few close friends have reviewed sensitive log files, computer directories and most of the basic and intermediate steps for general trouble shooting related to the repeated crashes. Steps taken include:

  1. Uninstall/Reinstall/PC Restart of SC2, Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment files/folders and all related data (program/app/localapp)
  2. Graphics drivers uninstall/reinstall/pc restarts.
  3. Windows 11 OS uninstall/reinstall/repair.
  4. BIOS update.
  5. Modification of graphics setting levels in game options, such as applying various resolutions outputs, selecting fullscreen/windowed/windowed(fullscreen) display options, and performance settings from low to extreme.

I have had a consistent lack of game crashes while playing in a windowed display, but this option is unreasonable since the mouse screen scroll is not functional and dragging across the mini-map or using hot keys to jump around to different areas for initial viewing is a pain. But then if there is a skirmish in that area the micro issue is greatly affected by a lack of mouse screen scroll (such as when you want to blink stalkers away to a corner out of combat for retreat).

I contacted customer support via a support ticket to no effect. I attached the data log file for the issue and for my system specifications, but the best effort the rep could muster was a generic copy-pasta response without reviewing any attached files, or manually reading my complaint in the ticket field. When i responded to the rep, another rep stepped in, repeated the same information the previous rep did (copy-pasta response) and added a few extra notes, such as ā€œwe are sorry you are inconvenienced by these crashes and WE UNDERSTANDā€¦ā€ then at the end said for me to get a local tech to check the issues if none of the copy-pasta steps worked (which were already performed before escalating the issue to a support ticket. Then the rep marked the issue as ā€œresolvedā€ so that I could not respond to the ticket again. Amazingly cavalier and callous if you ask me. Chat GPT can easily do a better job than either of those clowns, so when their jobs are cut in an effort to bolster board of director earnings reports and share-holder performance reports I hope they do not wonder, ā€œwhy meā€¦im so great at my jobā€¦ā€

For context, my PC is an Alienware Aurora R15:

13th Gen Intel(R) Coreā„¢ i9-13900KF 3.00 GHz
32.0 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (Driver version 556.12)
64-bit Windows 11 OS (Version 23H2)

The game log file associated with crashes reads:

GFX (timestamp)
GFX (timestamp) DXGI: Available
GFX (timestamp) Resource Cache Override Variable: 0MB
GFX (timestamp) Resource Cache: 2048MB Win64 (32486MB Physical, 23837MB Process Virtual)
GFX (timestamp) Resource Cache Sound: 204MB
GFX (timestamp) Resource Cache Common: 1843MB
GFX (timestamp) Resource Cache VRam: 0MB
GFX (timestamp) Selected display mode 1920x1080x0 with format D3DFMT_X8R8G8B8 and error delta 0
GFX (timestamp) Adapter [0]: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (VendorID 0x10de DeviceID 0x2704)
GFX (timestamp) Attempting CreateDevice on adapter [0] (VendorID 0x10de DeviceID 0x2704)
GFX (timestamp) CreateDevice succeeded
GFX (timestamp) Using adapter [0]
GFX (timestamp) Floating point render targets supported.
GFX (timestamp) DXGI Adapter Name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
GFX (timestamp) VRAM Detected: Dedicated [16050MB] Shared [16243MB] (DXGI)
GFX (timestamp) VRAM Override Variables: Dedicated [0MB] Shared [0MB]
GFX (timestamp) Initialized D3D9 GraphicsDevice: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (Driver Version: 31.0.15.5241, VRAM: 16050MB, SVMEM: 16243MB).
GFX (timestamp) Selected display mode 1920x1080x0 with format D3DFMT_X8R8G8B8 and error delta 0
GFX (timestamp) Hardware Depth Sampling: Available
GFX (timestamp) VRAM texture space: 2048MB
GFX (timestamp) PerfNotifiers initialized
GFX (timestamp) Selected display mode 1920x1080x0 with format D3DFMT_X8R8G8B8 and error delta 0
GFX (timestamp) Lost D3D9 device
GFX (timestamp)
GFX (timestamp) D3D9 Device Reset from unknown returned e_errorKindGfx(0)
END

Another log that SC2 has generated deep in the windows program file directory that I have found also discusses a crash with a similar time point to each subsequent game log crash report. This text file is found under ā€œProgram Files (x86) ā†’ StarCraft II ā†’ Support ā†’ BlizzardBrowser ā†’ Logsā€ and reads:

Logging initialized.
[ERROR]-[BNL_Scene]: [Timepoint] {54c8} ERR: failed to fetch process block size from shmem: SHMEM_NOT_FOUND
[ERROR]-[BNL_Scene]: [Timepoint] {54c8} ERR: failed to read target process block for pid: ā€˜13588ā€™
[ERROR]-[BNL_Scene]: [Timepoint] {54c8} ERR: Failed to write message to shared memory.
[INFO]-[BNL_Scene]: [Timepoint] {54c8} INF: client process has terminated.
END

Any comments/help would be appreciated, because I have not been able to play games consistently, or at all depending on my display output. I have tried 2 different monitors (one is 8k/Ultrawide and the other isnt) to see if there is a change, but there is not.

2

Heya!
I have been experiencing these crashes today too. Really weird, as things were going smoothly for years. Now I canā€™t get through a single match without a crash.

3

Check your game logs on sessions that did not crash and i believe you will find the same lines. Not sure if it is relevant or not. Just sharing. I finally uninstalled after dealing with this for a while now. If you find a solution please share.

4

Hey @Gemster312-1665,

It started happening for me almost a week ago now, due to a battle.net app update that was released.

As far as I can tell the issues come from Direct X8 compatibility issues with Windows 11, from the research I have done on the issue.

I have attempted to manually install specific .dll files for Direct X8 and place them into the appropriate system program files where they belong and that has not worked. I have also tried to uninstall my NVIDIA drivers and manually update them. After each new install I have tested the game with the same exact crash. So far nothing has worked. I even finished a new PC build a few moments ago that is completely overkill for any blizzard title that could ever possibly be released and the first melee custom game i played crashed in less than 4:00 minutes.

I have seen some log files discuss ā€œasset fileā€ being corrupted. Some of the files showing up as corrupt appear to be store bought items, like custom unit skins. I have never bought any DLC for this game, but I highly doubt that purchasing the skin from the store would simply fix the issue and there is absolutely no way I will send any more money to blizzard/microsoft.

If anything changes or I find new information I will let you know.

Thanks for posting.

5

I will let you know if I do. So far nothing has made the issue better. Blizzard/Microsoft programmers released a bad update and that has caused these problems. This game doesnā€™t generate enough money for them to justify trying to fix it, either. If anything, I expect this is a calculated move by Microsoft to poop on this whole fan base, so people stop playing the game (because this update makes the game unplayable) so that they can justify closing out dedicated servers for this game.

I imagine the Blizzard/Microsoft thought process is this: when the number of active players drops below a certain level per day/week/month we will begin to reduce the number of servers to host games for players. They then release a patch that artificially drives active player numbers down (because who can play a game that is broken?) to then justify their reduction in game servers globally, or regionally.

1 Like
6

your solution is to switch from direct 3d 9 to direct 3d 11. your cpu does not support direct x 9 to begin with. find the variables.txt file in your starcraft 2 folder in your windows account folder. find the line that says GraphicsApi and change it from direct3d9 to Direct3D11. not only wil it improve compatibility with newer cpus but, it will also increase performance.

7

This was worth a try but didnā€™t work for me.

Error Codes:
EC33D2CD-2637-4650-B7AF-B6FE8F124604
5C4B91B7-1703-4E41-9D49-98E12185BCF9

If this does happen to work for anyone else please share. The symptoms I experience are similar to what the op shared but perhaps the cause is different.

Wish I could post screenshots but this is what it reads before update, after update.

FlexCacheMap=8e13a3fabd96bbed52a5befd55ec92c68265aba868cf7000ec80d1f3b8d90b09
fogvolume=true
foliagedensity=0.750000
foliagequality=3
**GraphicsApi=Direct3D9**
GraphicsOptionEffectsDetail=3
GraphicsOptionLightingQuality=3
GraphicsOptionModelQuality=2

FlexCacheMap=8e13a3fabd96bbed52a5befd55ec92c68265aba868cf7000ec80d1f3b8d90b09
fogvolume=true
foliagedensity=0.750000
foliagequality=3
**GraphicsApi=Direct3D11**
GraphicsOptionEffectsDetail=3
GraphicsOptionLightingQuality=3
GraphicsOptionModelQuality=2
8

F4EDB80B-6089-4E5F-8729-BC38F65D1616

This happened for me as well, I also run Alienware with similar specs to the OP. I noticed that the same thing happens in warcraft 3 as well.

I also noticed it started happening for me roughly around the time there was an alienware update. Not sure if that was just coincidence.

I canā€™t even figure out how to submit a ticket, maybe thereā€™s an obvious button or something Iā€™m missing?

Wish blizzard would fix this as it completely breaks the game and Iā€™ve seen a number of posts about it.

9

https://us.battle.net/support/en/help/product/starcraft2/234/240/solution

10

Hello

Try running it in 32bit instead of 64bit.

  • Open the launcher.
  • Click settings wheel next to the play button
  • Games settings, and youā€™ll see it.
    That should fix it. Youā€™re welcome!
11

Tickets donā€™t work as they donā€™t have an actual person review them before resolving them I think.

I am having this issue as well.

12

Happy I found this. Around that time i built a new PC and thought I made a mistake somewhere. But the logs saying the same and it appears randomly.