Game breaking Bug - Cannot change Party (3.03)

[Rontu23]

Hello,

 

Been looking around a bit and it appears that this bug has been ongoing.

 

It appears that i cannot add Hiravius to my party.  Every time i do, it shows him as added in the "Party Selection" screen while in Caed Nua, however when i close the screen, nothing happens.

 

Now once i do this it begins to bug out everything else and i cannot change anyone at all anymore.

 

I tried loading multiple saves from previous times throughout my play through and nothing seems to work.  I even re-installed and tried using a different computer and still not working.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, i have over 100 hours into the game and already int he middle of act 3, would hate to have to stop.

 

As a side note, this happened right after i updated to 3.03

 

Thank you

[Xaratas]

Attach a save game, with https://www.sendspace.com/ for example.

Add an output log.

And recheck with 3.02 if you can change your party.

[Rontu23]

Thanks much appreciated.

 

Here is the link to the output log - https://www.sendspace.com/file/s2yuw1

 

And here is of the save file

 

One - https://www.sendspace.com/file/rnopqu

Two - https://www.sendspace.com/file/m7wcr3

 

Question, how would I recheck with 3.02 once ive updated to 3.03?

 

[Loren Tyr]

What happens when you add a new hireling? Does that work properly, or can't you do that either?

[Kriber22]

I just tested this on an old save that I have't used since before 3.03, and I can swap Hiravias and others in and out of my party at Caed Nua without issues. Whatever this is, it doesn't seem to be a universal bug.

[Loren Tyr]

And if you save that old save game in a new save slot and load that? Does it still work then, or does that make the bug reoccur?

[Rontu23]

i loaded a saved game prior to 3.03 and i'm experiencing the same issue, it appears to have affected all of my saves.

[Loren Tyr]

That first save game, that had the bug for you? Because I loaded it just now, and had no trouble booting characters out or adding Hiravias...

[Rontu23]

all my saves have the bug, even the ones prior to 3.03 and when i first experienced it (including the ones i provided)

 

the bug appears to only happen on my account and this is in line with players who previously had this issue.

 

it appeared that moderators would try to reproduce the bug using the save games that other people had and it would not happen.

 

see here - https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/73471-group-change-bug/page-2

 

those were however over a year ago, hopefully something can be figured out now.

[Rontu23]

Sorry don't mean to spam this but I just wanted to provide an update on something i've noticed.

 

On both saves, i am unable to go to the second floor Brighthollow.  My game would just crash and bring me back to the main menu screen with an error that says:

 

LOADING ERROR
 

There was an error loading the next map.  Returned to Main Menu to prevent save game corruption.

 

This essentially makes Caed Nua a lot less useful since i can no longer rest there

 

Hopefully this gets looked into.

[Xaratas]

Since 3.0 the resting button is anywhere in caed nua changed to "rest in brighthollow", so you don't need to go to this map.

But the Loading Error should still not occour.

[Loren Tyr]

Hmm, since the save games themselves clearly aren't affected, it sounds like there is some kind of corruption in the game files. It is possible that when you uninstalled not all files were actually removed. You could try using the "Validate game files" (or something to that effect) option in Steam if you haven't already; I wouldn't expect it to find anything but it doesn't hurt to try. Beyond that, I would be inclined to completely uninstall the game and manually delete any remaining traces of the game; in particular the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Pillars of Eternity folder, but also the save game folder (copying its contents elsewhere for later use, obviously) and any game folders in the C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData subfolders (it keeps some stuff in the Local or LocalLow folders, I think). Then, reinstall the game from scratch, hopefully that would result in a completely clean (and working) install.

 

I'm just wondering whether there is some way to also check and ensure that Steam really redownloads all files, rather than using some locally cached install files it squirreled away somewhere. I'll check on that tonight.

[Aarik D]

Hey  Rontu23,

 

After taking a look at your output log, it does look like your game files are corrupted or you are missing files. To fix this, just go to your Steam library and right click Pillars of Eternity > Properties > Local Files > Verify Integrity of Game Cache.

 

That should do the trick.

 

Thanks a bunch!

[Rontu23]

Hi Aarik,  thanks for getting back to me.  I tried this now twice (once before and after re-installing, and i did it on both computers).  Still no luck

 

any other suggestions?

[wconnery]

After reading this post, I seem to be having the exact same issue as Rontu23. Here is a link to my specs, saved games and output log.

 

https://www.sendspace.com/filegroup/rkqK0aMx1sz%2BcfThQAAizSx9UpMgFBZn

[Rontu23]

Well, after reading Loren's theory, i went ahead and bought WM1.  ran my game and still just hiravias causing issue.

 

so i went and bought WM2 and voila, problem solved.  i'm able to put hiravias back in my party and enter the second floor of brighthollow.  looks like Loren's post is correct.  is this some ploy for people to buy the DLCS?

 

Anyways, i hope this helps in solving the problem.

[Loren Tyr]

Glad it worked, would've been slightly embarassing if I had caused you to buy them and it still didn't work

 

Anyway, I suspect that somehow in Steam or even earlier in the update process some WM2 files got mixed into the non-WM version. Which would also explain why Steam file validation doesn't work, since as far as the Steam system knows the files on people's system are exactly what they're supposed to be. So Obsidian will need to sort out the 3.03 files on their end to fix it.

 

@wconnery: looks like exactly the same issue, indeed. Also Form of the Delemgan + Hiravias and no WM2. The problem happens when you try to add him to your party, I assume? Did you get PoE via Steam, or something else. In any case, you could take Rontu's route and buy WM1+2, but maybe just wait for a response on an ETA on when this will be fixed from the Obsidian devs first. 

 

If the problem happens when adding Hiravias, what you could try as well in the meantime is to turn companion auto-leveling off and then add him, he'd start as level 1. Then you could level him manually, maybe that'd work. I'd strongly advise saving a copy of your savegames in a separate folder first though, just in case something does get messed up by this. And if you can't level him up to level 7 yet, I would also test it by using the console to temporarily give yourself enough experience for level 7 (that's when he would get Form of the Delemgan, in WM2). Would be a shame if you played on from there and still ran into trouble when he hits level 7 naturally.

Edited July 14, 2016 by Loren Tyr

[j1057]

I just noticed today that I have this bug too. I haven't changed my party for a long time and now had opportunity to get the druid and the cipher but I cannot put neither of them on my party. Most of time I cannot change my party in anyway. Somehow I managed to get rid of Aloth and Kana and was able to put Grieving Mother on my party, but after that I could not get Aloth or anyone else back to fill the sixth slot. I was forced to load earlier save and and now I'm supposedly forced to play with the current party and forget about other companions and their quests and stories. Currently I have no intentions to buy the DLC's so I guess I'm stuck here.

[Loren Tyr]

I just noticed today that I have this bug too. I haven't changed my party for a long time and now had opportunity to get the druid and the cipher but I cannot put neither of them on my party. Most of time I cannot change my party in anyway. Somehow I managed to get rid of Aloth and Kana and was able to put Grieving Mother on my party, but after that I could not get Aloth or anyone else back to fill the sixth slot. I was forced to load earlier save and and now I'm supposedly forced to play with the current party and forget about other companions and their quests and stories. Currently I have no intentions to buy the DLC's so I guess I'm stuck here.

 

Could you post the output_log.txt file (default location is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternity_Data). If you could try to add Aloth, and grab the output log file then, it'd be great. It sounds like exactly the same problem, indeed. But because it's (also) Aloth for you where it was primarily Hiravias for others so far, seeing what it records in your output log would likely give more information on what exactly went wrong (beyond the general "wrong files coming through the Steam installer", which seems to be the root cause).

[j1057]

 

I just noticed today that I have this bug too. I haven't changed my party for a long time and now had opportunity to get the druid and the cipher but I cannot put neither of them on my party. Most of time I cannot change my party in anyway. Somehow I managed to get rid of Aloth and Kana and was able to put Grieving Mother on my party, but after that I could not get Aloth or anyone else back to fill the sixth slot. I was forced to load earlier save and and now I'm supposedly forced to play with the current party and forget about other companions and their quests and stories. Currently I have no intentions to buy the DLC's so I guess I'm stuck here.

 

Could you post the output_log.txt file (default location is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternity_Data). If you could try to add Aloth, and grab the output log file then, it'd be great. It sounds like exactly the same problem, indeed. But because it's (also) Aloth for you where it was primarily Hiravias for others so far, seeing what it records in your output log would likely give more information on what exactly went wrong (beyond the general "wrong files coming through the Steam installer", which seems to be the root cause).

 

 

 

Here's the output.log

 

It appears that certain conditions determine whether I can assign Aloth (and other companions) to party. My long time party consists of Eder, Aloth, Durance, Kana, Sagani and myself. If I dismiss any number of these "original" companions I can reassign them normally. But if I try to take Grieving Mother and Hirivias same time only the GM actaully is assigned and Hirivias can be seen in your party only in party management screen.

 

Steps I did before grabbing output.log:

1. Start game, load save in Caed Nua

2. Go to party management and dismiss Kana and Aloth

3. Accept

4. Go to party management and assign Grieving Mother and Hirivias and Accept

5. Notice that Hirivias is not in party but he can be seen assigned to party in party management window

6. Dismiss Hirivas who is not actually in your party and assign Aloth instead

7. Accept

8. Notice that Alot is not in your party

 

These steps alone does not seems to work every time though. I clicked GM and Hiravias in different order to assign and dismiss them multiple times and sometimes I got them both, sometimes, only one of them and sometimes neither of them. Hope this information gives some clues about what's happening. Feel free to ask more.

output_log.txt

[Aarik D]

Hey everyone,

 

For those who are experiencing this bug, what platform are you using? (Steam, GOG, Mac Store?) and what version of the game did you start the save on? (3.01, 3.02, 3.03?). It'll help us out determine whats going on.

 

Thank you for your patience while we try to figure out whats causing this bug. 

[Loren Tyr]

Hmm, looking at the output log it's Hiravias and his (WM2) Form of the Delemgan again. There's nothing very specific to Aloth though, so I think it's actually exactly the same problem as already encountered by others and Aloth is just caught in the crossfire. Probably when Hiravias is added to the party and something goes wrong halfway through, some variables become set to an unusual combination of values that block Aloth (or anyone else, I would expect) from being added again. 

 

Regardless, yours is I think at least the fourth report of this same bug, and as far as I can see the only reasonable explanation is that WM2 files or settings got mixed in with the non-WM update, either in the general 3.03 update release or in Steam specifically. That can ultimately only be fixed by Obsidian themselves, so it would be nice to get some input from them. In the meantime I can only suggest avoiding adding Hiravias to your party for now; there's no guarantee that the same issue won't crop up in some other form, but so far he / Form of the Delemgan seems to be the only problematic component.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Loren Tyr

[j1057]

Hey Aarik, it's Steam for me and version 3.03.1047

Loren: Yeah, Aloth was just the companion I wanted to assign back at that moment, but I could not change my party composition at all at that point.

I have played quite a time after finding Hiravias, so I don't think loading back that far is an option anymore. I can confirm that the party management works fine before hiring Hiravias though. After hiring him (and before hiring Grieving Mother if it matters) I can actually add him to the party in Caed Nua if I dismiss two other companion (Sagani and Kana in my case) and then open party management again and take Hiravias with along with someone else same time. But after playing with party management for a time something brakes and I can't dismiss Sagani at all. Other way to break things is to dismiss Kana and Sagani. Then open party management again and try to hire Hiravias again. That fails. After that I cannot hire Kana and Sagani again. It kind of feels like failing to add Hiravias "reserves" the slots from being used.

Edited July 17, 2016 by j1057

[bobobo878]

*edit*

I'm running version 3.03.1047 and I can't seem to recruit Hiravias either. Recruiting him just seems to destroy the functionality of this game's party selection features.

Updated save files, output log, and system specs:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/vooetc

Edited July 17, 2016 by bobobo878

[Loren Tyr]

On the main menu screen, bottom left corner. Latest version is 3.03.1047, from the log file it looks like you're indeed up to date; -px1 / -px2 are WM1 and WM2 by the way (but if you're experiencing this bug I'm assuming you don't have those, at least not WM2).

 

Your log file looks to be from some other session though, not from a game were you tried to add Hiravias. The log file overwrites itself when you start a new game, so you need to grab it right after the bug happened for it to show. If other users are any indication though, it should a series of errors ocncerning PX2_form_of_the_delemgan followed by a null pointer exception. 

[agrash]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm having the same problem. I'm using the steam v3.03.1047 (fysical copy)

 

So i played around 25h, been to the city and surroundings doing quests and when i encounter hiravias i get through his dialogue untill the promt come's up whom i'm to swith out for him joining my party and when i switched him with another character. Either both characters are gone from my party or everything stays the same (with my textbox saying that hiravias joined & then left the party for some reason)

I tried multiple times, different save file's, going through different dialogue line's from hiravias. I even tried going to the keep afterwards and swithing characters there. But that doesn't help at all. He just doesn't want to join.

 

And sometimes when hiravias "joined my gang", he's on a different spot on the (same) map. And when i talk to him, its like his in my party because i can ask him oppinion about my mission/friends etc. One time he was even in the keep map somewhere around the western bridge instead of going to the inn-like place with the different rooms.

 

 

I left a save file here:

 

Its the first link (i think) thats just near the guy

http://www.mediafire.com/download/v345dk8wgnci12d/45664303-c627-41a0-9347-a0a8af263449+quicksave.savegame

http://www.mediafire.com/download/awt2olwhd60w8ek/45664303-c627-41a0-9347-a0a8af263449+autosave_1.savegame

 

Here you can see some screenshots if it could help (i tried changing him with aloth):

http://www.mediafire.com/view/sr4dws3ulvo6e41/PillarsOfEternity_2016-07-17_21-42-58-18.bmp

http://www.mediafire.com/view/1thjo18btmyg12f/PillarsOfEternity%202016-07-17%2021-42-40-56.bmp#

Edited July 17, 2016 by agrash