Pak file corrupt persists through reformat, verifying local files a dozen times a day

Conan Exiles PC Discussion PC Bug Reports
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Edit: If you read this when I initially posted it last night, please note that today I did extended testing with no mods and the issue persists even when there are no mods and the files have been verified locally.

Game mode: Online private
Type of issue: Crash
Server type: PvE
Region: North America
Mods?: Yes
Edition: Steam

Bug Description:

Please note that I’ve used this same PC to play Conan in the past and the issue that I face today is rather new. I started playing Conan Exiles after a long break somewhere around May of this year. Within the first week of playing, however, I crashed out of the game with an error saying “Pak file corrupt”.

It was at that time that I discovered that the only way to get back into the game from here is to right click the game in Steam and verify local files. However, within a couple of days, I would randomly get this error again and I would need to run the process again. It never says anything needed fixed. It just finishes and then everything is fine. Until the next crash, whenever that may be.

Now the role I play is server admin, so I have about a dozen other people that I play with off and on over the last two years. Nobody else on this server is having any issue of this kind. I am the only person crashing out like this. And in the past two months, it has gotten MUCH worse. Roughly once per hour. Today, I have had to verify my local files 7 times.

What have I done? Well, first, I researched the issue and the steps I took went in the following order, each step being tested and pak file error persisting after.

Verify local files, unload all mods and teleport around for about ten minutes (caused crash).
Try to update all drivers.
Try to reinstall all drivers.
Try switching which drive CE is installed on.
Try reinstalling CE.
Reformat Windows entirely. (Really thought this was the last straw but no)
Re-seat RAM sticks
Run memory test (passed)
Run DXDiag (no issues found) *
Flashed the BIOS to update it.
Try reinstalling all chipset and GPU drivers again.
Ran MSched.exe, no issues found

  • I did have a BSOD right after a pak file error yesterday (for the first time) that, when analyzed, pointed to dx12 crashing. Hence the impetus to flash the bios. I don’t get BSOD’s often though.

It does not seem like there’s anything specific that I’m doing which causes this error. Although it seems less common while I’m just building in one place. Once I have a thrall in tow and I start running around or using map rooms, it’s chances go up significantly.

My suspicion is that there’s a particular conflict with a hardware driver or something. System specs.

Device name DESKTOP-558G7MH
Processor Intel(R) Core™ i9-9900K CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz
Installed RAM 32.0 GB
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 21H1
Installed on ‎6/‎29/‎2021
OS build 19043.1165
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3530.0

I have log files from the point at which the error happens. Here’s a snippet but I can offer the whole thing if required.

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:120][933]Performance:Display: [BP_ConanWorldComposition_C_0] World Composition Update:

-STREAMING POSITION: X=-47618.094 Y=274800.438 Z=-20549.344 (from player #0 () player viewpoint) [REMOVED]

+STREAMING POSITION: X=-308288.000 Y=314140.000 Z=-20870.000 (from player #0 () overriden streaming location) [ADDED]

=STREAMING POSITION: X=-47618.094 Y=274800.438 Z=-20549.344 (from extra streaming position)

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:124][933]LogEngine: BlockTillLevelStreamingCompleted: 2

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:125][933]ConanSandbox: UConanGameInstance::OnLoginStatusChanged: LoggedIn

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:125][933]LogDataMiningUserTracker:Display: LoginStatusChanged: 0 => 2, LocalUserNum: 0, NewId: --redacted–

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:132][933]LogPakFile:Warning: Attempted to load forbidden filename: “…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x0_y0.uasset”

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:132][933]LogPakFile:Warning: Attempted to load forbidden filename: “…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x0_y1.uasset”

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:132][933]LogPakFile:Warning: Attempted to load forbidden filename: “…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x0_y0.uasset”

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:132][933]LogPakFile:Warning: Attempted to load forbidden filename: “…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x1_y0.uasset”

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:132][933]LogPakFile:Warning: Attempted to load forbidden filename: “…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x0_y1.uasset”

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:132][933]LogPakFile:Warning: Attempted to load forbidden filename: “…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x1_y1.uasset”

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:133][933]LogPakFile:Warning: Attempted to load forbidden filename: “…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Maps/ConanSandbox/Cinematics/Cinematic_x0_y0.uasset”

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:134][934]LogPakFile:Warning: Attempted to load forbidden filename: “…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x1_y1.uasset”

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:134][934]LogPakFile:Warning: Attempted to load forbidden filename: “…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Maps/ConanSandbox/Cinematics/Cinematic_x0_y0.uasset”

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:135][934]LogPakFile:Warning: Attempted to load forbidden filename: “…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x1_y0.uasset”

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:135][934]Streaming:Display: Waiting for streaming completed (CC, load)

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:179][934]LogLevelActorContainer: Created LevelActorCluster (240) for /Game/Maps/ConanSandbox/ConanSandbox_SOUND.ConanSandbox_SOUND:PersistentLevel with 12 objects, 0 referenced clusters and 3 mutable objects.

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:189][934]LogLevelActorContainer: Created LevelActorCluster (241) for /Game/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x0_y0.heightmap_x0_y0:PersistentLevel with 165 objects, 36 referenced clusters and 168 mutable objects.

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:190][934]LogLevelActorContainer: Created LevelActorCluster (242) for /Game/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x0_y1.heightmap_x0_y1:PersistentLevel with 155 objects, 36 referenced clusters and 199 mutable objects.

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:191][934]LogLevelActorContainer: Created LevelActorCluster (243) for /Game/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x1_y0.heightmap_x1_y0:PersistentLevel with 177 objects, 36 referenced clusters and 199 mutable objects.

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:192][934]LogLevelActorContainer: Created LevelActorCluster (244) for /Game/Maps/ConanSandbox/Art/Heightmap/Heightmap_x1_y1.heightmap_x1_y1:PersistentLevel with 131 objects, 36 referenced clusters and 195 mutable objects.

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:193][934]LogEngine: BlockTillLevelStreamingCompleted: 3

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:193][934]Audio:Display: [ConanSandbox_C_0] Environment audio level loaded.

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:200][935]Streaming:Display: Waiting for streaming completed (CC, NPC asyncloads)

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:224][936]LogSlate: Took 0.004053 seconds to synchronously load lazily loaded font ‘…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Slate/GLC_-_1350PrimitiveRussian_0_Default.ufont’ (191K)

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:228][936]LogSlate: Took 0.003314 seconds to synchronously load lazily loaded font ‘…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Slate/Posterizer_KG_-_MYWAY_0_Default.ufont’ (540K)

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:266][937]Streaming:Display: Waiting for streaming completed (CC): Done.

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:266][937]GUI:Display: C:\B\tech_exiles\code\UE4\Source\ConanSandbox\Character\ConanPlayerController.cpp(4946): AConanPlayerController::Tick: ToggleIngameLoadingScreen(false), m_ClientState=4

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:266][937]GUI:Display: C:\B\tech_exiles\code\UE4\Source\ConanSandbox\UI\HUD\ConanHUD.cpp(58): AConanHUD::RemoveIngameLoadingScreen_Implementation: RemoveIngameLoadingScreen

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:266][937]ConanSandbox: RemoveIngameLoadingScreen

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:266][937]GUI:Display: C:\B\tech_exiles\code\UE4\Source\ConanSandbox\UI\HUD\ConanHUD.cpp(50): AConanHUD::RemoveIngameLoadingScreenNative: ActivateModule(“IngameLoadingScreen”, false)

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:266][937]GUI:Display: C:\B\tech_exiles\code\UE4\Source\ConanSandbox\Character\ConanPlayerController.cpp(4951): AConanPlayerController::Tick: SetTransitionState(0), TransitionState=1

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:269][937]LogSlate: Took 0.002127 seconds to synchronously load lazily loaded font ‘…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Slate/Posterizer_KG_-_MYWAY_0_Default.ufont’ (540K)

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:271][937]LogSlate: Took 0.001777 seconds to synchronously load lazily loaded font ‘…/…/…/ConanSandbox/Content/Slate/GLC_-_1350PrimitiveRussian_0_Default.ufont’ (191K)

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:282][939]LogVivox:Warning: Vivox login token request finished with status: Succeeded(4). Time taken: 1.377762

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:282][939]VivoxCore: LoginSession created for [8e050ce5169324d7954650ce4a7c625e]

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:282][939]VivoxCore: [201509a3187f200ea002090401303bd2]

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:784][969]VivoxCore: [a54c804138ee037a151ab807c67a5871]

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:784][969]VivoxCore: [5a1a1f2f112334a448d1ac5b27f8e801]

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:818][971]VivoxCore: [6cf04bb5a9f08a21672a6504967f4444]

[2021.08.24-01.07.08:958][980]LogPakFile:Error: Pak chunk signing mismatch! Pak file has been corrupted or tampered with!

[2021.08.24-01.07.09:434][ 8]LogVivox:Warning: Vivox login token request finished with status: Succeeded(4). Time taken: 1.309052

[2021.08.24-01.07.10:087][ 47]VivoxCore: [629a61dede902ec55dd5cb0b3a70af03]

[2021.08.24-01.07.10:087][ 47]VivoxCore: [8d9179661566ccdea69a1dfd120af98e]

[2021.08.24-01.07.30:099][245]LogWindows: FPlatformMisc::RequestExit(1)

[2021.08.24-01.07.30:099][245]Log file closed, 08/23/21 18:07:30

Expected Behavior:

The game will not cause Pak file corrupt errors and not crash.

Installed Mods:

None

Steps to Reproduce:

Please provide a step-by-step process of how the bug can be reproduced. Please be as detailed as possible; the more details, the easier it will be for us to find and fix the bug:

  1. Step 1: Log on, enable admin and begin teleporting around. Within five minutes, I will get a pak file corrupt error.
2

I don’t mean to bump my own thread, but when I posted this last night, I’d only been able to post logs of this exception occurring with mods installed.

I’ve just re-created the issue on single player with NO mods after I had verified local files previous to that specific playthrough.

I wanted to be sure that mods would not distract from this issue which is with the BASE game. Please guys. I love this game, I love the friends that I play with, but I can’t because I’m recovering from crashes every freakin 15 minutes with verification delays.

It’s really frustrating man. And any threads on this forum that discuss this subject just go cold. I do software development by day. Tell me what to do and I will help you get to the bottom of this.

3

Wish I had something for you. The only suggestion I have i feel would have been covered by the reformat.

But, just in case, try doing a full proper reinstall of Microsoft visual c++. That’s shown to solve this particular problem for many people in the past (not all, but a lot).

4

Thanks Multigun. If you’re the mod dev, I also appreciate your hard work there.

I looked up my graphics card, which I failed to provide earlier
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

And its history with Conan Exiles. There does seem to be a fair bit of consternation between Conan and this GPU, although as I said, I played with no issue in late 2019 through early 2020.

I found a thread that suggested switching where your RAM sticks sit. I wasn’t sure if they mean to switch from 1|3 to 2|4 (or vice versa), or if they meant to keep the same slots but just swap which card is in each slot.

I first tried the different staggered config, but my mobo was not keen on boot. I then put the cards in their original two slots, but I made sure to switch which one sat where.

Once I restarted, I began back in SP and started admin teleporting for a good 15 minutes. Non stop. No crash. So then I reinstalled the mods and started playing as normal. It was only for about an hour but no crash there either.

I’m hopeful but not going to get my hopes too high. If I continue to play with no issue over the next two days, I will confirm in this thread so that, for once, a thread about this doesn’t go dead.

Otherwise, if I get a crash again, I’ll also come back.

Cheers.

5

Update:

I only had a few pak errors over the next few days, but they were different. The logs logs always clearly indicated that a mod was involved in the crash. This was after the ram stick swap.

But I was having strange crashes with no dialog after this.

Deciding that marked improvement after RAM adjustments was worth acting on, I installed brand new sticks. I had a weekend of no crashes.

If there are no further posts to this thread by me, then the solution should be considered “faulty hardware, ram in this case”.

I will come back if the pak signature mismatch issue returns. Otherwise, perhaps this thread will be one the few conclusive ones regarding this issue

6

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