A support issue

[Martyha]

September 16 update:

If anyone is watching, first of all, the issue of the timeout error is not resolved. Since I first reported it on August 7th, my new friend in the SWTOR customer support has opened six tickets for it, and EA has opened two. Every time I respond to a ticket and ask for a status update, they open a new ticket. I was feeling excited for my busy support friend who must be killing it in his monthly KPIs for the number of closed tickets, since he's been closing a new ticket every time I say hi, but eventually I started suspecting that he is AI.

I had a couple of phone calls with the support over the phone and was offered compensation for the few months I paid for my subscription while not being able to launch the game. Spoiler: I haven't received any compensation.

Feeling like maybe some folks in EA customer experience leadership would want to hear about this user case, I looked them up on LinkedIn. I found that dozens of people in customer experience roles, from frontline to VPs, have been let go this year. That's where we are, folks, that's what's up. Don't go break your game if you are not ready to fix it on your own.

I am now playing via Steam, but in the light of macroeconomic events and my long-term strategic vision I made a tough decision to reduce my loyalty to the BioWare/EA brands accordingly.

===

I am one of the players affected by the launcher timeout bug. I haven't been able to launch the direct launcher since June.

On August 7th I opened a support ticket for this issue. The person who replies to me creates a new ticket every time he emails me. There are five tickets open now. Every other time he replies, he sends me the same information: reinstall the launcher, work through the troubleshooting guide, ignoring all the previous communication.

On August 11th, he asked me to send the team my diagnostic files (DxDiag, etc.) Having no further communication after that, I called EA on August 18th and was told that the team has my files and they are asking for my patience. Today (August 23rd), I got an email from the same person who has been communicating with me, saying that he doesn't have my diagnostic files.

This is truly a shameful situation. I've been a subscriber since SWTOR launched. The quality of technical support used to be top notch. Now, I don't know what to do next. Just getting kicked around in the emails, not a sight of a solution on the horizon.

Any advice?

Edited September 16, 2023 by Martyha

[Otowi]

I would try to PM @JackieKo or @EricMusco for help.

There seems to be a CSR that keeps repeating themselves, and keep requesting the DXDiag files, which seems strange, as I would have thought that such files are connected to the case number.

Other than that, I have no clue as how to help any further... Good luck.

[Samcuu]

Steam is much more reliable I'd recommend that if you haven't tried it yet. 

[OwenBrooks]

The issue is to provide a fix the cause needs to be known and this isnt the case unfortunately at present, given the nature of the error , it is possible this is a windows internal communication issue as the window process is timing out 

Years ago the solution for host_windowloadtimeout was to reset the internet explorer settings which windows used as well

Saying that it is not a silly idea to reset your network settings and see if any change see https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-reset-network-settings-in-windows-10/699e8f07-0e0d-4be3-9da9-f4094ff9746d see if that helps

[Martyha]

3 hours ago, OwenBrooks said:

reset your network settings and see if any change see https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-reset-network-settings-in-windows-10/699e8f07-0e0d-4be3-9da9-f4094ff9746d see if that helps

Thank you for suggesting. I followed the steps and reset the network settings, but got the timeout error again, unfortunately.

[OwenBrooks]

3 hours ago, Martyha said:

Thank you for suggesting. I followed the steps and reset the network settings, but got the timeout error again, unfortunately.

If you want to try a few other related things , open a command prompt as administrator and type the below , press enter after each one 

netsh winhttp reset proxy  

netsh winsock reset

netsh int ip reset 

After this reboot and see if any change to this 
 

[OwenBrooks]

8 hours ago, Martyha said:

Thank you for suggesting. I followed the steps and reset the network settings, but got the timeout error again, unfortunately.

Can you do a search for a file called libcef.dll if one exists in a windows folder like wow64 delete it , this file should only exist in a program/ game folder 

[TheVoyant]

There was a large issue with VPNs and the way the launcher delivered the new ToS. It would break the launcher completely if you tried signing in while under a VPN. 

If you are using one, I would try doing a fresh install and launch it without it. 

If not highly recommend utilizing Steams as aforementioned as its way more stable in most scenarios. 

[Martyha]

15 hours ago, OwenBrooks said:

Can you do a search for a file called libcef.dll if one exists in a windows folder like wow64 delete it , this file should only exist in a program/ game folder 

I found one instance of this file in a system folder (not system32 or syswow64 though) and deleted it. It dated back to 2021.

I still had the timeout error after that. Uninstalled and reinstalled the launcher, still having the error.

I also found this file in the folders of a couple of other apps/games (OBS, Fallout 76). That shouldn't be an issue though, right?

13 hours ago, TheVoyant said:

There was a large issue with VPNs and the way the launcher delivered the new ToS. It would break the launcher completely if you tried signing in while under a VPN. 

If you are using one, I would try doing a fresh install and launch it without it. 

If not highly recommend utilizing Steams as aforementioned as its way more stable in most scenarios. 

I am not using VPN. Regarding Steam, however, it might be my saving grace. I installed the Steam launcher recently. It was not working well for me (lag, frequent crashes, and unable to connect to servers every third launch or so). But today I did general maintenance on my computer (cleaned the fans, checked the battery, etc.) out of sheer despair, tried the Steam launcher again, and it seemed to be stable this time. Time will show if it will work out.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Martyha

[Martyha]

@OwenBrooks According to DxDiag, SWTOR causes a RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64 error. I saw another user mention it on the forums ten days ago:

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/930750-app-crashes-after-launching/#comment-9773808

Since it was mentioned in the post, I went through the troubleshooting steps in your guide

https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-Technical/Guide-Game-failing-to-launch-on-Clicking-Play/m-p/4809830/highlight/true#M70795

still no luck.

[OwenBrooks]

3 hours ago, Martyha said:

 

I also found this file in the folders of a couple of other apps/games (OBS, Fallout 76). That shouldn't be an issue though, right?

each libcef.dll should be in its respective program folder 

out of interest is your dxdiag reporting the following windows version 19041.vb_release.191206-1406 ?

What antivirus are you using ?

And just to confirm the launcher via steam is working ok ?

Edited August 25, 2023 by OwenBrooks

[xordevoreaux]

On 8/23/2023 at 6:30 PM, Samcuu said:

Steam is much more reliable I'd recommend that if you haven't tried it yet. 

This.

[Martyha]

9 hours ago, OwenBrooks said:

out of interest is your dxdiag reporting the following windows version 19041.vb_release.191206-1406 ?
What antivirus are you using ?
And just to confirm the launcher via steam is working ok ?

That is correct - the build is 19041.vb_release.191206-1406. Is it good or bad?

I use Bitdefender. I came across discussions of whether Bitdefender blocks SWTOR, but other users with the same errors reported that uninstalling Bitdefender did not solve the issue. I am hesitant to uninstall it, but I tried disabling it, and saw no difference.

Steam launcher was giving me a lot of issues for the first week I had it. Every second or third launch, there were issues: it could not connect to servers, lagged (major time out) in ops (with the graphics on minimal settings, player nametags off, and system priority real time), and crashed often. However, after I did a network reset and hardware maintenance, anything I could think of short of spraying the machine with holy water, since yesterday, Steam launcher has been stable. It is early to be sure, but fingers crossed I will be able to play on Steam. I ventured in DF/DP story 16 player yesterday and saw no lag.

Also, I ran dxdiag today. The information that the support person sent me did not check out. There is no RADAR error for SWTOR. For SWTOR, I consistently see this, every time I attempt to launch the direct launcher, before and after reinstalling it:

Fault bucket 2015131604088351949, type 1
Event Name: APPCRASH
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: launcher.exe_Star Wars - The Old Republic Launcher
P2: 6.1.2.80
P3: 63d3414e
P4: libcef.dll
P5: 103.0.11.0
P6: 62bf8a9a
P7: 80000003
P8: 06691afe
P9:
P10:

[xordevoreaux]

5 minutes ago, Martyha said:

I came across discussions of whether Bitdefender blocks SWTOR

I also use Bitdefender, it does not.

[sharpenedstick]

Put in your CS ticket that you have an issue buying cartel coins. It's the only thing they are guaranteed to address.

[SteveTheCynic]

3 hours ago, xordevoreaux said:

I also use Bitdefender, it does not.

Confirmed.

[OwenBrooks]

6 hours ago, Martyha said:

That is correct - the build is 19041.vb_release.191206-1406. Is it good or bad?

I use Bitdefender. I came across discussions of whether Bitdefender blocks SWTOR

I am looking for similarities with others that have this issue , is your CPU an AMD Ryzen ?

So far some similarities i have seen are 

Dxdiags show an old insider build reported as 19041.vb_release.191206-1406
Bitdefender is being used as the AV 
The crash report is showing libcef.dll in the crash report 

Libcef is part of the chromium files its why i asked if other libcef.dll files exists in the windows file path as locking onto a different version would cause issues with the launcher
 

Edited August 26, 2023 by OwenBrooks

[Martyha]

39 minutes ago, OwenBrooks said:

I am looking for similarities with others that have this issue , is your CPU an AMD Ryzen ?

So far some similarities i have seen are 

Dxdiags show an old insider build reported as 19041.vb_release.191206-1406
Bitdefender is being used as the AV 
The crash report is showing libcef.dll in the crash report 

Libcef is part of the chromium files its why i asked if other libcef.dll files exists in the windows file path as locking onto a different version would cause issues with the launcher
 

My processor is Intel i5-4440, but otherwise there are a lot of similarities indeed.

[Martyha]

Fingers crossed, so far so good, Steam version seems to be stable for me now. I'd still like to get to the bottom of the direct launcher error.

[Martyha]

Here is an update, if anyone is watching.

First of all, the issue of the timeout error is not resolved. Since I first reported it on August 7th, my new friend in the SWTOR customer support has opened six tickets for it, and EA has opened two. Every time I respond to a ticket and ask for a status update, they open a new ticket. I was feeling excited for my busy support friend who must be killing it in his monthly KPIs for the number of closed tickets, since he's been closing a new ticket every time I say hi, but eventually I started suspecting that he is AI.

I had a couple of phone calls with the support over the phone and was offered compensation for the few months I paid for my subscription while not being able to launch the game. Spoiler: I haven't received any compensation.

Feeling like maybe some folks in EA customer experience leadership would want to hear about this user case, I looked them up on LinkedIn. I found that dozens of people in customer experience roles, from frontline to VPs, have been let go this year. That's where we are, folks, that's what's up. Don't go break your game if you are not ready to fix it on your own.

I am now playing via Steam, but in the light of macroeconomic events and my long-term strategic vision I made a tough decision to reduce my loyalty to the BioWare/EA brands accordingly.

[Jelina]

Nothing works for me either through Steam or directly downloaded. Have played since launch too but cancelling sub & washing my hands of it all if I can't get this resolved within the next few days.