It's Not Just You™ - Mirillis' ACTION Crashing On Startup After 2.2.0 Update [My Issue Fixed with 2.2.1]

Just a quick post, to let those of you using the game and desktop recording application ACTION! by Mirillis know that a few days ago (on February 10th, 2017) the program was Updated to version 2.2.0. I enjoy testing out ACTION! as it has good performance - I purchased a License for it a while back and I want to do a 'Game Recorder Comparison' for The Blog which includes it as 'one of the contestants' here someday "Soon™" - but for now, I wanted to let other users of it know that ACTION! currently seems to be crashing after this latest Update...

Example of ACTION! currently crashing on Startup as of the date of this post.
GFX (GeForce eXperience, my abbrev.) shown in the background as having the Latest Drivers.
Click to see Full Size.

Now, this may only be NVIDIA GPU owners - I recently received a shiny new GTX 1060 GPU for Christmas from Santa and was testing out some game recording applications off and on - and found that ACTION! is crashing. Steam users are talking about it as well, as they seem to be having the same issue [my version of ACTION! is the Standalone version]. *Note, I am not "Joker5", one of the users mentioning this issue, in the Screenshot containing the Steam Activity Feed about it, I did not make a comment on the Feed at this time

While I am sorry to say that I do not have a Solution or Fix at the moment (I usually put "[Fix]" or something similar in the Title if I do), this is just a quick post to let other users of Mirillis' ACTION! know that - if you are having 'crashing-on-startup' issues at this time - It's Not Just You™...




Update 1 (2017-02-14):
I did eventually get the application to start, but it took six tries/restarts to do so. I will Update this post when a more permanent fix/update is known

Update 2 (2017-02-15 AM):
There is a new version of NVIDIA drivers released (378.66 dated 2017-02-13), but after installing them, now ACTION gives an Error 104 about half the time when starting it up... I purchased a Commercial Use License for ACTION a while ago, and made no changes to my firewall (the error is related to those aspects) so this should not be happening. I may contact Mirillis or post in their forum, etc. to see if this is related and/or notify them of this

Example of an Error that was occurring with ACTION version 2.2.0 showing NVIDIA Driver version in GeForce Experience
Click to see Full Size

Update 3 (2017-02-15 PM):

There was just now an Update released for Mirillis' ACTION (version 2.2.1, released today, 2017-02-15)

Update 2.2.1 notification message at the bottom of the ACTION! interface
Click to see Full Size

I have installed this new version and tested it - and it runs without issue - I have closed it an opened it numerous times now, without any problems. Here is a Screenshot of it starting up:

Screenshot of ACTION! version 2.2.1 starting up in Windows (including a wide-angle Desktop Wallpaper I compiled from multiple screenshots, with customized logo, I will make these available in the future)
Click to see Full Size

Using this version now, I went and looked at the Changelog for it (History of Changes and Updates to the program). Here is the Changelog for this version:

It is the first item that I find interesting, as I recently was testing out a 'Razer Surround Pro' audio device that came with my Gamepad - and as a result of porting audio through that device, there are no longer any Audio Devices listed as operational in the Recording tab of sound devices in Windows. Here is what my list of input devices look like now:

I only mention this because it is interesting to me [I wonder how related having no Input Devices was, to the issue I was experiencing (along with others, according to their forum and Steam Feeds), with ACTION - prompting this Update? I don't know the answer, of course, I am not a Developer or Programmer for Mirillis... I am merely thinking out loud. Wondering, heh].

Regardless, if you have run into this issue, it seems to have been solved by this update that 'just' came out - go get it - hopefully it will fix any issues for you too. Way to go, Mirillis - keep it up!



[Personal Note/Declaration: I am not affiliated with Mirillis or any of their products in any way (look at the links, there are no 'affiliate links' or 'tags' in them) and have not and will not receive any compensation in any form, for talking about ACTION here. I am merely a user of their program and wanted to share this information to help others. I have also utilized other similar programs in the past (such as FRAPS and Bandicam, free recording programs like OBS and MSI's Afterburner and more) and will use any of these products in the future]

And More: Share and Tell - Imitating The GTAV Title Logo Style [Commentary]

I recently created a logo for The Blog, done in the style of the GTAV game logo (Grand Theft Auto Five Title Logo, seen Left). I had a lot of fun figuring out how to imitate the look of it and wanted to share a bit of how I did it, in case others want to give it a try too, or just to enjoy the 'Behind The Scenes' story of things... Originally I was creating this to be used on Headers for posts here at The Blog (since I was playing GTAV lately), but I also put it on a Wallpaper posted at The Blog's Flickr page - but then decided that from now on, I will not put 'my logo' on Wallpapers that I want to share with everyone, I will just use whatever game logo the game is at the time, reserving 'my logos' mainly for use here [I was feeling bad for 'forcing them onto others' if I were to put them on Wallpaper for sharing with everyone...]


Just below this paragraph then, is The Blog logo, re-done in the style of the game logo from the game GTAV (Grand Theft Auto Five)... Created entirely in Corel's Paint Shop Pro, I first had to find a font for the lettering. I found a few of them (Pricedown is one, GTArussian is another, the name of the last one escapes me at the moment). I typed out each word separately, so that I could place them really close together (like the GTAV logo has for its' words), overlapping some of the 'tails' of the text (which was fine, for me). The "B" behind the ribbon was something else... Baskerville, that's it.

My version of The Blog logo, done in the style of the GTAV game title logo
(Click to see Full Size)

The ribbon was its' own element, blanked out (white with no text), placed on top of the "B", which itself was made in layers of outlines and a Gradient, using the original game title logo ("GTAV") as the source for the green shades (clicking with 'the dropper' on the far sides of the green area in the "V" in the GTAV logo). The spiral design was found online by an anonymous maker [let me know if it is you, I'll give you Credit!], which I had to colourize and then placed in a way that was similar to the GTAV logo, on a layer below the text "B" vectors, so that it 'shows through' within the "B" area.

The text on the ribbon was made with a font that escapes me at the moment, but the colouring for it was hard to figure out, as it looks like it is directional (as though a light were casting highlights from one direction). I figured out to use the Bevel effect in the Layer Styles of Paint Shop Pro, to emulate a light source coming from the bottom-left, for the text 'The Blog'. It turned out great for imitating the lighting on the text 'Five' in the GTAV game title logo ribbon! The hardest part was getting it to 'curve'. I don't know how to create a line and make the Text follow the line yet, so I simply used the Mesh Warp function, to 'move it around' manually and get it to seem at least a bit like it is curved.

A few layers of black and grey for 'outlining' the text and entire composition (made by 'expanding' the selected text and then Filling with Black or Grey, moving the white text in front of it each time) and it was complete...

I'll mainly be using it in Headers and Screenshots in posts almost exclusively here, at The Blog. I just thought that some might like to hear a bit of 'Behind The Scenes' or 'Commentary' about it - hey, there are a lot of people that (like me) watch Commentaries! Haha

I hope you enjoyed my little Share and Tell - and if you play GTA Online - See You In The Game!


Original GTAV game logo design by Rockstar, Take-Two Interactive

[Personal Note/Declaration: I am not associated with, nor do I receive anything in any manner or form, for mentioning Corel or Paint Shop Pro. I am merely an enthusiastic user of the program (I have played with it off and on since it was owned by JASC). For fairness and completivity, I shall mention another great graphic editing program, The Gimp (now just called GIMP?) - which is Open Source and entirely Free - all of the steps above can also be performed with this free program]

Fallout 4: High Resolution Texture Pack (Free DLC) Is Now Available [Notification]

For those that haven't heard yet, as mentioned last week at their site here, Bethesda has released a High Resolution Texture Pack, that is now available for free, downloadable via Steam.

The graphic 'upgrade' includes 'native 1440p' textures [which means the textures themselves are 2560x1440 pixels in size - but remember, textures usually aren't displayed at Full Size, they are squished into say, the sides of a gun, or a sign or other things in the world - even if they cover a large wall in the game, they will usually not display 'at full native size' - and even if they do, they can be repeated ("tiled") to fill in the space of objects needed, in the game world - basically, 1440p textures should make the game look great]. It also includes Enhanced Draw Distancing and God-Ray tweaks [those glow-y, streaks of light, showing up especially when a source of light is behind something, such as the sun behind trees or buildings].

Now, up until this release, I personally was playing with SweetFX a lot in FO4, having fun increasing Sharpness and Shading, dealing with the Aliasing, taking Screenshots and 'Realistic Photos' and 'Close-Ups' (with Depth-Of-Field, etc) of some of the Characters in the game. These can be found here, at a slowly-growing Flickr page I started for The Blog. A couple examples of these, taken with 'SweetFX in ReShade' are just below - I look forward to what the entire game could possibly look like with the new High Resolution textures!

Fallout 4 - Mrs. Nordhagen, Settler I - SweetFX in ReShade
(GTAMblog7Photo SweetFX Preset, made available Soon™)
Click to see Full Size

Fallout 4 - Mrs. Nordhagen, Settler I - SweetFX in ReShade
(GTAMblog7Photo SweetFX Preset, made available Soon™)
Click to see Full Size

ReShade by Crosire (reshade.me)
SweetFX by CeeJay.dk (ceejay.dk)
Game Material by Bethesda Game Studios (bgs.bethsoft.com)
Captured by Troy from The Game Tips And More Blog

Since I don't actually have room for it on any of the drives I have Games on at the moment [which seems to always happen when something cool comes out, of course], I will be moving some things around and uninstalling other games I am not playing at the moment, to make room for this big fella...

It is an optional/separate "DLC" download, weighing in at a hefty 58GB installation through Steam. Once I get it going, I will be working on a QualityTest for it, comparing the graphic look between the two versions and what they really look like in-game - as well as the Performance Hit the Texture Pack creates - look for that coming post Soon™ if you are waiting to see what they look like or if it is 'worth the download'; but if you can't wait and want to get started seeing it yourself, go get it via Steam for free now, here.

This free download, by the way, is - in Bethesda's own words, "...a love letter to our amazing PC fans that have supported us – not just with Fallout 4, but across multiple decades and games...". 

Right back at ya', Beth! 

"Thank You" ~ Sincerely, The Game Tips And More Blog

Header and Footer Images captured by Bethesda, from their example screenshots of the High Resolution Texture Pack