Pak01.vpk Corrupting, Verify Integrity Stuck at 0

[adrianchen8662]

Deadlock occasionally gives me the error "citadel/pak01.vpk is corrupt". This issue occurs seemingly at random, either 20-30 minutes into a match or at startup. After receiving the error, attempting to verify the integrity of the game files will get stuck at zero. Other actions, like Backup game files or Move install folder give an error stating that there is an update waiting.

Verifying integrity of the game files stays stuck at zero until the match ends.

Spoiler: PC Specs

Computer Information:​

Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Model: B650 GAMING X AX V2
Form Factor: Desktop
No Touch Input Detected

Processor Information:​

CPU Vendor: AuthenticAMD
CPU Brand: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-Core Processor
CPU Family: 0x19
CPU Model: 0x61
CPU Stepping: 0x2
CPU Type: 0x0
Speed: 4192 MHz
16 logical processors
8 physical processors
Hyper-threading: Supported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Supported
SSE41: Supported
SSE42: Supported
AES: Supported
AVX: Supported
AVX2: Supported
AVX512F: Supported
AVX512PF: Unsupported
AVX512ER: Unsupported
AVX512CD: Supported
AVX512VNNI: Supported
SHA: Supported
CMPXCHG16B: Supported
LAHF/SAHF: Supported
PrefetchW: Unsupported
BMI1: Supported
BMI2: Supported
F16C: Supported
FMA: Supported

Operating System Version:​

Windows 11 (64 bit)
NTFS: Supported
Crypto Provider Codes: Supported 311 0x0 0x0 0x0

Client Information:​

Version: 1733265492
Browser GPU Acceleration Status: Enabled
Browser Canvas: Enabled
Browser Canvas out-of-process rasterization: Enabled
Browser Direct Rendering Display Compositor: Disabled
Browser Compositing: Enabled
Browser Multiple Raster Threads: Enabled
Browser OpenGL: Enabled
Browser Rasterization: Enabled
Browser Raw Draw: Disabled
Browser Skia Graphite: Disabled
Browser Video Decode: Enabled
Browser Video Encode: Enabled
Browser Vulkan: Disabled
Browser WebGL: Enabled
Browser WebGL2: Enabled
Browser WebGPU: Enabled
Browser WebNN: Disabled

Video Card:​

Driver: AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics
DirectX Driver Name: atidx9loader32.dll
Driver Version: 32.0.12019.1028
DirectX Driver Version: 32.0.12019.1028
Driver Date: 10 11 2024
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 180 Hz
DirectX Card: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
VendorID: 0x1002
DeviceID: 0x744c
Revision: 0xcc
Number of Monitors: 2
Number of Logical Video Cards: 2
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 2560 x 1440
Desktop Resolution: 6400 x 2160
Primary Display Size: 23.50" x 13.23" (26.97" diag), 59.7cm x 33.6cm (68.5cm diag)
Primary Bus Type Not Detected
Primary VRAM: 512 MB
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 8x

Sound card:​

Audio device: Front Panel Audio Output (Realt

Memory:​

RAM: 31893 Mb

VR Hardware:​

VR Headset: None detected

Miscellaneous:​

UI Language: English
Media Type: Undetermined
Total Hard Disk Space Available: 3104877 MB
Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 713769 MB
OS Install Date: Nov 22 2024
Game Controller: None detected
MAC Address hash: 3e2035be7f085188019015c9efc32d2d66483024

Storage:​

Disk serial number hash: 4ff544dc
Number of SSDs: 2
SSD sizes: 1000G,256G
Number of HDDs: 1
HDD sizes: 2000G
Number of removable drives: 0
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Other information that might be related:
Memory modules: 2 x 16 GB G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5-6000 CL36
With XMP at 6000 Mhz, without XMP 4800 Mhz
SSD that Deadlock is installed on: Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB

OS and Drivers are up to date on the latest stable builds.

Things I've tried:
chkdsk /f /r - No errors
Install Drive SMART - No errors
MemTest86+ overnight(12 passes) with XMP enabled, both modules - No errors
Reinstalling Deadlock - still has the error
Reinstalling Steam - still has the error
Removing the corrupted file - Lets me verify the game files, but doesn't seem to be a permanent solution

Solutions found online by others who have had the same issue:
Buying new RAM - MemTest turns up clean and nothing else has an issue
Disabling XMP - Will try this
Disabling OneDrive - Deadlock files are in the Program Files (x86) directory, which OneDrive (should) not have access to.
Buying new storage - I'll try moving the install location, I won't buy a new SSD just for this

I've attached the .mdmp files generated; most occur earlier when the game is started, but the latest two on 12/16 and 12/20 happen around 28 and 20 minutes in respectively. There was an occurance that happened 53 seconds in on 12/15. Almost every crash calls out citadel\pak01.vpk, except for one time that calls out dl_streets.vpk.

I'll try with disabling XMP and moving install locations, but I'm a bit hesitant on trying too many times to find the issue, since I keep getting temp banned when these issues happen.

 

[adrianchen8662]

XMP has been disabled, new crash when entering the Hero Sandbox. I launched the game through the system tray; I usually launch through the Steam window. Crashing in the Hero Sandbox does not have the same issue as crashing in game where verifying integrity of game files stays stuck at 0%, I think pointing to the inability to verify game files is tied to the match in progress.

 

[Billy3Toes]

so what ive gotten is that yall havent come around to finding a fix yet either? the wizards of the interwebs? aint worth playing a game that punishes you for their clunky bullshit on the back end.

 

[adrianchen8662]

Hey Billy, so far, it looks like disabling XMP has helped with stability, and I haven't crashed since. I haven't really done too much testing afterwards because I didn't feel like getting banned from the game constantly from crashes. However, the Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX V2 (rev 1.x) motherboard I'm using has DDR compatibility in its beta BIOS releases, so I'm probably going to test again when they exit beta.

A couple educated guesses, but I'm guessing any of the devs who work on the game already know these:

• It's not related to DDR version. I've seen comments online of people running DDR4, which should be rock solid by now.
• It's related to XMP profiles/overclocking RAM. Comments online and my own testing show reducing speeds or going back to stock speeds solves the issue.
• MemTest86+ might not be a good test to determine if it's an issue with the RAM. I'm going to try HCI Memtest to see if my RAM is just unstable at higher speeds.
• The issue seems to only occur in Source/Source 2 games. I've never had an issue in anything else, and might be related to Valve doing more in-memory corruption checking than other programs.
• The file isn't actually corrupted, at least on the disk. Verifying integrity of the files or saving off a copy when it crashes shows the files are identical.
• The main issue that prevents me from verifying integrity and booting up the game again is because the file isn't actually corrupted, and something wrong happens when Deadlock tries to communicate with Steam to verify integrity. This causes the issue where I cannot verify or rejoin the game until the match is over.

I'd love to find a way to definitely test whether or not the memory is good.

 

[adrianchen8662]

More tests that have been run with XMP on:

• HCI Memtest: between 200 and 400 percent coverage across instances, zero errors
• Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool: zero errors

Maybe the BIOS update fixed something? Still hesistant to try a game and getting banned.