Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2

Day Break (Campaign)
 This topic has been pinned, so it's probably important
DannBo  [developer] 26 May, 2021 @ 4:50pm
Troubleshooting FAQ
This campaign has been tested on a large variety of systems with a wide range of hardware to ensure it performs satisfactorily on any system that meets the recommended system requirements for Left 4 Dead 2.

That being said, the Steam Workshop hosts a very wide diversity of campaigns, mods, and content packs, which can sometimes lead to incompatibilities that cause crashes and frame rate issues. Left 4 Dead 2 is also an aging game that has accumulated a number of persistent bugs and crashes over its many years of updates.

And so to help troubleshoot and diagnose those issues, here are some frequent issues that players have had over the years:

I try to join a lobby/game and it says I don't have the right version!

When you first load up Left 4 Dead 2, the game performs a brief inventory of your installed workshop addons. Depending on how many you have installed, and whether there are any incompatibilities, this can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. The spinning L4D2 icon will appear next to "ADD-ONS" in the main menu while this is taking place. Wait until this process finishes before trying to join the lobby.

If the problem persists, check to see if Day Break (Campaign) appears in the "ADD-ONS" menu and is not redded-out. If it appears redded-out that means that there is an incompatibility with another mod. You can temporarily enable and disable other mods in this menu if that is the case. Check the console with ~ to see more info about what addons are conflicting. If it is not immediately obvious, try temporarily disabling all other addons to see if that resolves the conflict, including any non-workshop addons (check [steam install directory]\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2\addons).

If it appears that it is installed in your addons menu without any conflicts, and you've ensured the lobby host has the most up-to-date version, sometimes simply restarting your game and allowing to perform its inventory one more time will solve the issue.

My game keeps crashing every time I try to load the map!

Follow the instructions above to check to make sure there is not an incompatibility with another mod. If that isn't the case, it is possible that data got corrupted during the download or installation process. Try unsubscribing from the campaign while the game is up, close the game, and then resubscribing and allowing the download to complete while your game is closed. Then restart the game and allow it to perform its addon inventory before joining.

Connection to server timed out while I was playing!

If this is not a result of an intermittent loss of internet connection, it's possible the dedicated server you were playing on either crashed or was restarted by the server host to clear the server for a private game.

I see large red ERROR signs across the map and/or purple checkerboard textures!

This happens when it is unable to locate materials or models for one reason or another. Similar to above, it is likely there is a conflict with another addon (such as a content pack) or something went wrong during the download and installation process. In addition to resubscribing, performing a file verification on the game could also resolve the issue.

If you are playing on a dedicated server, it is possible that the server is running an outdated version of the campaign that uses assets that are no longer present in the most up-to-date version. Try running the campaign locally to see if this resolves the issue.

If the problem persists, players have reported that subscribing to this supplemental content pack solves the issue: Valve Missing Content Fix Vol. 2.

Audio started randomly cutting out during horde or when I shoot!

This campaign uses custom audio and can sometimes have rare conflicts with other addons that also use custom audio. Typically this issue can be solved by simply restarting the chapter. If the problem persists, you can try restarting from lobby or try troubleshooting which addon it may be having a conflict with by temporarily disabling other addons in your menu.

My game crashed to desktop when I tried to spawn as a special infected in versus!

This is a well known bug from an unhandled exception with the base game that is unrelated to the campaign. It can happen as often as once or twice every few games and generally will only affect one player at a time, allowing them to rejoin if in a friends game.

My game keeps crashing to desktop randomly while I was a survivor!

This can be difficult to diagnose, especially if it crashes without an error message. Crashes can sometimes happen even the vanilla base campaigns. If it happens persistently (particularly if it only happens in certain locations or on certain maps), try disabling all other addons except Day Break before playing and see if that resolves the issue, as there could be a conflict of some kind.

One possible error message you might see after a crash is:

Engine Error: ED_Alloc: No Free Edicts

This happens as a result of the game trying to create too many entities at once during gameplay. While Day Break has been designed to operate safely below this limit, player-side workshop mods, as well as server-side SourceMods on dedicated servers can drive the entity count above this limit.

Try hosting the campaign locally to ensure that it is not a server-side issue, and if the problem persists, try disabling all other addons in the addons menu.

Similarly another possible error message you might see after a crash is:

Engine Error: Too many indices for index buffer

Workshop addons that use high-poly custom models for survivors and infected in particular can lead to these crashes, as well as mods that generate or use custom particle or blood effects. One example that is known to cause crashes on this campaign is the "Legacy Particles Support (muzzle effects)" add-on and weapon addons that use it.
Last edited by DannBo; 26 Nov, 2021 @ 12:24am
< >
Showing 1-15 of 22 comments
DannBo  [developer] 26 May, 2021 @ 5:14pm 
Also feel free to post here if you have any technical issues that are not described above, or if you followed all the steps outlined above for your problem and still couldn't get things to work right.

I can't guarantee we'll get your problem fixed, but myself and others here may be able to help you out.

General feedback on the campaign can go in the main comments section or in a separate discussion thread.
Last edited by DannBo; 26 May, 2021 @ 5:14pm
Fenix 1 Jun, 2021 @ 5:37am 
In map 4, the game started to lag pretty bad and the sound effects started to stutter to the point it got quiet. When I reached the safehouse, the game crashed.
Colinator 2 Jun, 2021 @ 2:55pm 
Please Fix this I really Love this map!
Camelot 9 Jun, 2021 @ 6:52am 
When i'm on map 3 the bridge I am just going on my way and suddenly when i'm at about the half through the bridge my game crashes but i cannot do anything about it except restart pc.
shqke 12 Sep, 2021 @ 12:12pm 
Hi!

Your campaign contains a script "scriptedmode.nut" which takes precedence over a file shipped with game or even external ones.

Some EMS scripts are being added into active pool of maintained files, and an upcoming change[github.com] already contains "scriptedmode.nut".

Please consider replacing "scriptedmode.nut" with "scriptedmode_addon.nut" which can contain something like this: https://pastebin.com/NMcYvr3R . It will work the same way, but will not cause conflicts with other game files (in case they get updated, or other addons). :steamthumbsup:

Thanks!
DannBo  [developer] 12 Sep, 2021 @ 1:43pm 
@shqke Thanks for the info! I forgot that they implemented scriptedmode_addon, I'll be adding that in a hotfix update soon.
shqke 12 Sep, 2021 @ 2:02pm 
That's great!

I'll let you know if there's a chance to implement a mod friendly solution. Thanks! 😃
smol571 25 Sep, 2021 @ 7:08am 
hey how do i fix crashing on starting this map
smol571 3 Oct, 2021 @ 3:10pm 
Originally posted by DannBo:
@shqke Thanks for the info! I forgot that they implemented scriptedmode_addon, I'll be adding that in a hotfix update soon.
Can you fix the crashing issue
GellotMel_064 4 Oct, 2021 @ 1:57pm 
xd
. 30 Oct, 2021 @ 3:45pm 
There's also a mod that I used that actually causes Day Break to crash. The mod would be L4d1 menu button sounds. If you have any of these mods that is mentioned by DannBo or I mentioned, please temporarily disable these. Thank you and have a nice day! :)
Last edited by .; 30 Oct, 2021 @ 4:22pm
. 5 Jan, 2022 @ 5:30pm 
Following mods that cause Day Break to crash:
Custom weapon models (crashes at the end of chp 2)
L4d1 menu button sounds (crashes before the finale)
Legacy Particles Support (muzzle effects) or any other weapon that uses that effects
Last edited by .; 5 Jan, 2022 @ 5:33pm
TheAlphaHound 2 Feb, 2022 @ 11:10am 
Originally posted by BennyMu2004:
Following mods that cause Day Break to crash:
Custom weapon models (crashes at the end of chp 2)
L4d1 menu button sounds (crashes before the finale)
Legacy Particles Support (muzzle effects) or any other weapon that uses that effects
How come I get to watch videos recently of people getting to play the day break campaign with no crashes, even with having custom weapon models and a bunch more. Such as these two YT videos:
1. https://youtu.be/LbXoIbv1Hng
2. https://youtu.be/yNYjc_V8RlQ
DARK KNIGHT 11 Oct, 2022 @ 3:20pm 
gg
MAJR 13 Oct, 2022 @ 5:06pm 
I'm encountering a hard crash when grabbing the flamethrower secret weapon. Anybody have an idea why?
< >
Showing 1-15 of 22 comments
Per page: 1530 50