Hi Vitarians! Some of you have had Vitare crash or freeze recently, especially when loading into busy lots. We've been going through every report and crash file you've sent us, and we want to explain what's happening and what we're doing about it.

We've found two separate causes:

DirectX 12 Crash (Windows Only)

On Windows, Vitare automatically determines what DirectX version to run on - which is the part of Windows that talks to your graphics card. There's a fault inside Unity's DirectX 12 support (Unity is the engine Vitare is built on) which can crash the game while a lot is loading. It seems to happen most when loading into a large lot and rejoining the lot often loads fine.

Running Out Of Graphics Memory (Mostly Lower-Spec or Older Computers)

The second cause of crashes or difficulties entering lots relates to graphics cards. Every player in a lot has their own persona, and each one uses some of your graphics card's memory. We found two problems here:

  • Each character was using far more memory than it needed
  • When someone left the lot or changed their outfit, most of that memory was never freed up, so in a lot with people coming and going it kept on building.

On computers with less graphics memory, it eventually ran out and the game closed. On more powerful computers it showed up as stuttering instead.

As Vitare is getting busier, we're seeing more players in a single lot than ever. Every update adds more to the world too, from the weather effects to new objects and more going on in every lot. This naturally asks of more from your computer and it has brought out problems that were always there but never showed when lots were quieter.

As Vitare grows, we want lots running smoothly with 30 people in them, on as many computers as possible - and that's what these changes are for.

What's Coming In Our Next Update

We will be looking to target the source of the crashes.

Firstly, the DirectX 12 crashes. As this sits inside the engine rather than our own code, our next update moves Vitare on Windows over to DirectX 11 for all players. It avoids the crashing code completely, and the game should look and play exactly the same. Mac players aren't affected by this one.

Secondly, ensuring Vitare is accessible on lower spec/less powerful devices. We have adjusted the way personas utilise graphics memory and utilised lighter textures. This means a busy lot uses a fraction of the graphics memory it did before, with savings of over 90% on lower-spec computers.

We're also making sure Vitare only runs at a level your computer can handle, whereas before it would default to High. The game will now check your computer when it starts - to prevent crashes due to graphics memory, lower spec computers will now only be able to run on Low, and computers with less graphics memory won't be able to use High. Anything your computer can't handle will be greyed out in Settings with the reason shown and you'll get a message explaining why.

Running out of graphics memory closes the game as is something we've seen from several players, so keeping lower spec/older computers on a setting they can handle is the best way to keep everyone playing.

If your game does start to struggle at any point, it'll now adapt by itself. The game will gently lower its resolution until things settle, then raises it again once it can, with menus and text staying sharp throughout. If it's still running very slowly, it'll offer to switch you to Low.

Finally, we've removed some of the freezes when loading into lots and the World Map. We're still working on one some players get when the World Map first opens, and we've added some logging to help us see where players might be encountering problems.

Still Crashing After V0.8.6 Hotfix?

We plan to release this update on Thursday 22nd October. If you still crash after this, please let us know! As soon as you reopen Vitare, go to Menu -> Send Feedback and choose Crashing and Freezing. Your game's logs from the session that crashed are sent with it automatically.

On Windows, your crash files help us even more. Press Windows + R, paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp\Vesendo\Vitare\Crashes and press Enter, then zip up the newest folder and email it to contact@vitaregame.com.

Thank you to everyone who has sent us their logs and crash files so far - they've been a huge help in tracking all of this down. See you in Vitare!