Overview
Troubleshooting Marvel Avengers (Steam) crashing and issues.
The Problems
Recently I’ve encountered a few different issues with Marvel Avengers either starting up or getting past ‘Start’ in the main menu. This guide will cover multiple issues as I continue to discover them and aim for solutions. Typically no matter the issue, event viewer in Windows shows the application avengers.exe crashing with the event log pointing to the faulting module: ntdll.dll. The windows generated crash dump usually shows the game ran but crashed due to a fault in avengers.exe.
Marvel Avengers issues this guide might help to resolve:
- Crashing on startup of game. Game usually loads for a few seconds and then crashes immediately without displaying any intro videos or logos. (#1)
- Black and white cutscenes and/or character animations while in game (may not cause a crash). (#2)
- Crashing when selecting ‘Start’ prior to the main menu, after getting through the intro videos and logos. This specific issue might start occurring after the game crashed either during gameplay or when it was saving. (Marvel Avengers.log might show, “[Crash] Unhandled exception at address 0xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (code: 0xc0000005): “Access violation”, after crashing at ‘Start’. (#3)
Troubleshoot the Basics
Before we jump into game specific issues, we should cover the basic troubleshooting that should be performed to confirm you’re working with a valid copy of the game and that it isn’t corrupt.
If you haven’t already, open Steam and login. After click on Library at the top in Steam, on the left side bar find the game “Marvel’s Avengers” -> Next right click the game and click on properties -> Click on the tab titled, “Local Files”, and in the middle click on the button, “Verify Integrity of Game Files.” This could take some time, but will confirm there aren’t any missing or corrupt game files.
It’s worth mentioning that you might want to take a look at your system to see if it’s a system issue or if it’s a game specific issue. I won’t be covering all the common troubleshooting procedures, but a few might include:
- Try clean reinstalling your graphics driver. This is a common troubleshooting practice when games are crashing. The drivers can be downloaded from either Nvidia, AMD, or Intel websites depending upon your system configuration. I recommend using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) to remove previous graphics driver installations prior to installing the driver again.
- Run DISM and System File Checker (sfc) to check for corruption, and run repairs if necessary. Run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth to check for image corruption. If detected run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth to repair. Then run sfc to scan for system corruption and attempt automatic repair.
- Scan drive for errors on the disk. Run chkdsk and then chkdsk /f if repairs are needed and reboot as needed.
- Check Windows crash dumps and event viewer events to look for hints if another system driver or process could be interfering or crashing the game.
Resolving the Issues
The crash log file for Marvel Avengers (Avenger.exe) is stored in user documents: C:UsersUSERNAMEDocumentsMarvel’s AvengersMarvel’s Avengers.log. Checking the bottom of the log file in Notepad, Marvel’s Avengers.log, will show the last logged crash, helping to indicate what last happened that caused it. Sometimes these [CRASH] errors are technical and only help the developers in understanding the fault, but take a look and see if it’s something that might help indicate the problem.
Checking the log file, Marvel Avengers.log, shows that the last file loaded before crashing was: C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataRoamingCrystal DynamicsMarvel’s Avengerspipe_cache_generation.bin.
The steam community support page (linked below) for Marvel Avengers explains that upon running the game for the first time, a Direct3D shader cache file is generated increasing initial load times, but making subsequent loads faster. Rename the file pipe_cache_generation.bin to pipe_cache_generation.bin.old, since this is the Direct3D shader cache file generated upon initial startup. After renaming the file, when the game launches it will create a new one and if that was your only issue, it should launch properly, getting past where it crashed previously.
The above solution that worked for resolving the crashing upon startup (before intro videos or logos)(#1), also works for resolving the black and white cutscences and/or hero animations in game. Open the folder: C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataRoamingCrystal DynamicsMarvel’s Avengers, and rename the file pipe_cache_generation.bin to pipe_cache_generation.bin.old. After renaming the file, when the game launches it will create a new one and the issue should be resolved. I’ve seen this issue come back after reinstalling a graphics driver or launching the game with TeamViewer open, but repeating the same steps again resolved the issue.
Checking the log file in Notepad, Marvel’s Avenger’s.log, shows the last crash message logged as, “[Crash] Unhandled exception at address 0xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (code: 0xc0000005): “Access violation”.
Upon further inspection, using ProcessMonitor (a sysinternals tools from Microsoft) to monitor the running process OpenFile calls, the last file avengers.exe loaded before crashing was: C:UsersUSERNAMEDocumentsMarvel’s Avengers76561198072827914save1_2.dat. (Note: The corrupt save file may be a different file for you, and the folder name, located in Marvel’s Avengers folder, may be another number than what I have). First, backup this folder to another location so that all your save data is safe, in case anything were to happen.
Looking at the files in C:UsersUSERNAMEDocumentsMarvel’s Avengers76561198072827914, there are a few files named savebk_#.dat that seem to be backup files for the different saves. In the folder, rename the corrupt save file to end with .old file extension, for me making save1_2.dat to save1_2.dat.old. Then copy the backup save file with the same number, for me: savebk_2.dat, and paste it again in the same folder to create savebk_2 – Copy.dat. Next rename the backup save file to the same name as the original corrupt save file, in my case: savebk_2 – Copy.dat to save1_2.dat. After open Steam and launch the game, and if Steam asks you to choose which save file to use, make sure to select the Local Save and not the cloud save. The game should then launch and get past the ‘Start’ button prior to the main menu, where it was crashing previously.
If you’re having a different issue then one mentioned above I would check the steam community support page for guidance (linked below). Also check the Marvel Avengers.log file mentioned above as it can help point you towards the issue and correct troubleshooting path.
Official Marvel Avengers Steam Community Support Page
The Steam Community Support page for Marvel Avengers: Steam Community Support Page
NOTE: This guide will be updated and maintained, at least until the developers release permanent solutions for the issues discussed in this guide. Please let me know if the guide helped you, or if you have new suggestions or problems you need help with; please feel free to leave a comment.