Zwift crashes at start after clicking “let’s go” on the small launcher window and after opening the large window (which remains blank white). Succesful start happens only under the following conditions:
one external display is connected and display setting is “second screen only”
two external displays are connected and display setting is “second screen only” (effectively extended over the external displays and laptop screen is not used)
two external displays are connected and display setting is “extend” i.e. all three displays (laptop screen and two external displays) are in use
Any other setting, including the ones where only laptop screen is in use (regardless of number of connected external displays, even none), causes a crash at start as described above.
Reinstalling Zwift does not help. Deleting documents\zwift folder does not help (it just screws up the settings file as it cannot be created from scratch).
Updating display drivers or anything in Windows does not help.
Any other software I’ve installed has no similar issues.
I fail to find the logic here and fail to make the software run directly on the laptop. I speculate that uninstall fails to completely uninstall whatever Zwift has done since people have fixed this with Windows re-install and people who never connected an external display seemingly have no issues.
Full Windows re-install/cleanup is no option, I’m not going to do that due to single misbehaving piece of software.
I need instructions on how to clean up this mess Zwift is making.
Or a fix by software devs but that might take a long time (preferable option, because fixing this is in fact their responsibility, not mine).
I believe the issue is hardware-specific, so some information would be helpful.
FYI - I am not Zwift employee, but there are many users here who eventually can help.
I’m using windows 10, on a 3 month old gaming PC, with the latest version of Zwift. It had been running flawlessly until last night when I got the same crash issue as Mikael. I have the gaming PC hooked up to a Samsung 4k tv via a hdmi cable. Other programs launch and display properly, just not Zwift.
Which GPU?
Are all drivers up to date?
Are you using the Samsung TV with other software, too?
And last question - which version is your Zwift Launcher app? There seem to be issues with 1.0.51, @Dave_ZPCMR recommended in another thread to use an older one, Perhaps that could help?
As there was no update in the last days I cannot imagine it is a Zwift issue, but I have no more idea.
I personally would start to test - no TV, less resolution, Zwift in full screen or windowed mode, some GPU testing?
I have a standard home PC, bought the GTX 1650 one year ago, using a Sony TV as 2nd monitor, Zwift in full screen mode or windowed mode with Borderless Gaming App (both tested) - no issues.
Unplugged hdmi cable and then plugged it back in and that reset brought the Zwift window back! Switched the settings to windowed and now it loads okay. Thanks for helping with the ideas! What’s the name of the borderless gaming app you use?
I tried again various things. But in the end, nothing changed. Tried:
fullscreen (works if started with external display but fills the external display only partially), laptop only it crashes
unplugging, replugging display cables (works when zwift is already succesfully running i.e. started using the external display: any variation of messing around does not change the fact that if zwift is started without external display connected it crashes)
switching between fullscreen and windowed, also from settings file (prefs.xml; again no change)
praying to various desktop icons and sacrificing binary theorems while smoking candles that smell funny, to no avail
It simply crashes at start if no external display is connected. When started, I can disconnect or do whatever and it keeps running and readjusts the window nice if display is disconnected. But whatever I do, I can’t get it to start if I’m running the laptop alone.
I can’t find the cause in the logs. There is text “crash detected” near the end.
The last lines of launcher log are below:
…
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Patcher: Local version is “1.0.61590”.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Patcher: Server version is “1.0.61590”.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Patcher: Local manifest is “Zwift_1.0.61590_1cfa9e4a_manifest.xml”.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Patcher: Server manifest is “Zwift_1.0.61590_1cfa9e4a_manifest.xml”.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Patcher: Server manifest file checksum is “-2127818316”.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Patcher: Server ver_cur checksum is “-2048046849”.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Patcher: Local Launcher version is “0.0.0”.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Patcher: Server Launcher version is “0.0.0”.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Patcher: Launcher URL for updating self is “www .zwift .com”. [added spaces because forum posting system does not allow links]
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Patcher: No update available, deleting temp files…
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Launcher: Checking Launcher Version.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Launcher: Checking for Game Update.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Launcher: No Update found.
[9:47:53 2021-02-08] Launcher: ZL has a valid process pointer and the flag HasExited is True.
The last lines of log.txt are below:
…
[9:47:47] Loading WAD file ‘assets/Bikes/Wheels/Zwift/Zwift_Safety/Zwift_Safety.wad’ with file.
[9:47:47] Loading WAD file ‘assets/Bikes/Wheels/DefaultOrange/DefaultOrange.wad’ with file.
[9:47:47] Loading WAD file ‘assets/Bikes/Wheels/Giant/SLR/PropelAdvanced.wad’ with file.
[9:47:50] FILE : Unable to load UI/WhiteOrangeTheme/JerseyIcons/Zwift_RaceLeader_thumb.tga
[9:47:50] FILE : Unable to load UI/WhiteOrangeTheme/JerseyIcons/TealPink2020_thumb.tga
[9:47:50] FILE : Unable to load UI/WhiteOrangeTheme/Customization/RunningShirts/TealPink2020_thumb.tga
[9:47:50] Downloader: “MapSchedule_v2.xml” downloaded successfully (manifest checksum not provided, i.e. -1).
[9:47:51] CrashHandler: Dump Request Failed
[9:47:51] CrashHandler: crash detected: 17752
[9:47:51] CrashHandler: Dump Meta complete
—end of file—
The succesful start log.txt in the same section looks like this:
…
[10:02:40] FILE : Unable to load UI/WhiteOrangeTheme/JerseyIcons/Zwift_RaceLeader_thumb.tga
[10:02:40] FILE : Unable to load UI/WhiteOrangeTheme/JerseyIcons/TealPink2020_thumb.tga
[10:02:40] FILE : Unable to load UI/WhiteOrangeTheme/Customization/RunningShirts/TealPink2020_thumb.tga
[10:02:40] Downloader: “Zwift_StreamingFiles_ver_cur.xml” downloaded successfully (manifest checksum not provided, i.e. -1).
[10:02:40] Streamer: StreamingFiles_ver_cur_Download_Callback - “Zwift_StreamingFiles_ver_cur.xml” download SUCCESS=0
[10:02:40] Shader Loaded successfully. data/shaders/Final/DropShadow.psh
[10:02:40] Loading WAD file ‘assets/Humans/Male/male.wad’ with file.
[10:02:40] Loading WAD file ‘assets/Humans/Male/male_textures.wad’ with file.
…
and the log file continues from here.
The file Zwift_StreamingFiles_ver_cur.xml has only one line: <StreamingFiles version="0.0.0" name="Zwift_StreamingFiles_0.0.0.xml" folder="Zwift_StreamingFiles_0.0.0"/>
Thus, I have no idea what would work. Windows reinstall is completely out of the question here.
The laptop has 2 graphics adapters, Intel and Nvidia. For some reason, Zwift crashes on single display (laptop only) mode if it is set to use the more powerful Nvidia adapter. It must be manually set to use Intel Graphics. I’m not sure how big impact this has on the graphics performance.
With external display (and if messing around the displays after Zwift has succesfully started) it can be set to either Intel or Nvidia adapter.
I have not run into such an issue with any other software and it seems that with Zwift it has a problem only during the startup phase. Therefore, I believe it should be something that the Zwift software devs can fix if they wish to.
The graphics adapter selection can be made in Nvidia settings panel. Zwift must be manually added to the list of programs in order to effectively select the graphics adapter for it to use.
I hope this helps anyone else with the same issue.
