Game crashed again. This time crashed hard on exit. Thought nothing of it at the time. Has happened before. Didn’t check the logs though. Just murdered the process and went on about “IRL” things.
Hours later, tried to jump back into the Zone. It wouldn’t load.
Sigh.
I really can’t complain to anyone. I am running the sandbox on an unsupported operating system which makes this not only my problem, but excellent troll material for the Windows fanboys.
Executed the game from the command line. Much easier to observe the programs behavior. Debugs show It stuck in the following loop when the corrupt saves were selected.
…
0041:err:ntdll:RtlpWaitForCriticalSection section 0x88cc0 “?” wait timed out in thread 0041, blocked by 0030, retrying (60 sec)
0041:err:ntdll:RtlpWaitForCriticalSection section 0x88cc0 “?” wait timed out in thread 0041, blocked by 0030, retrying (60 sec)
004e:err:ntdll:RtlpWaitForCriticalSection section 0xb9ce0 “?” wait timed out in thread 004e, blocked by 0030, retrying (60 sec)
Began loading the auto saves chronologically in reverse. Joy! It seems that I can start from about thirty “in game” minutes earlier. I’m fine with that.
Go auto saves!
I traded what I could with the Dead City population. Had to lighten my load. There was some distance to cover and no time for fatigue. Checked inventory once more and began the journey.
I hurried over to Henri and handed him his prize. In exchange he gave me about five hundred Rubles. Kind of a slap in the face when you think about it. But what was I expecting? A fucking parade. This was a very old side quest, broken and unable to complete. An permanent stain on my to do list is now gone. Still, there are more contracts to complete.
Did not get the Artifact he promised. Not that it matters anymore. The rest of the Zone awaits.