Crash with Nord VPN running

[tn_prvteye]

Not a big deal, but still happens.  I can load DCS, open a mission, and it will give me the crask report box after I try and fly it.  This only happens if the NordVPN program is running.  Even if the VPN is paused, and even after I added DCS to the "safe" list.

I think this is the right log file for when it happened.  I was doing a lot of testing.  Anyway, when I shut down Nord completely, DCS runs as usual.

Not urgent, but I thought y'all should know.

 

dcs.log.old

[BIGNEWY]

Hi, 

yes it looks like it is creating a timeout situation 

2025-03-11 05:24:28.052 ERROR   ASYNCNET (18100): HTTP request dcs:login failed with error 28: Timeout was reached
2025-03-11 05:24:28.052 ERROR   ASYNCNET (18100): Login failed with code -28.
2025-03-11 05:24:28.102 INFO    APP (Main): Loading cached auth data...

Which DNS server does NORD use?

[tn_prvteye]

From their website:

 

NordVPN's DNS server addresses are 103.86.96.100 and 103.86.99.100.

 

https://support.nordvpn.com/hc/en-us/articles/19587726859793-What-are-NordVPN-DNS-server-addresses

 

Again, not really that big of a deal since I can turn it off.

[BIGNEWY]

rgr thanks. 

Just wondering if it is a DNS issue, which is what I suspect it is but I could be wrong. 

[tekking98]

Hello, I'm joining this discussion because I'm having a similar problem. When NordVPN is running, DCS crash when loading the mission, it doesn't matter if it is an online or offline mission. With NordVPN program closed DCS works as usual. If needed I can upload a log but I'm not sure which one is the correct one. Playing online without a VPN is not an option for me because my network is restricted. Thank you!

EDIT: I just added this log, it's the most recent one so I guess is the correct one

dcs.log-20250314-223545.zip

Edited March 14 by tekking98

[silverdevil]

13 hours ago, tekking98 said:

Hello, I'm joining this discussion because I'm having a similar problem. When NordVPN is running, DCS crash when loading the mission, it doesn't matter if it is an online or offline mission. With NordVPN program closed DCS works as usual. If needed I can upload a log but I'm not sure which one is the correct one. Playing online without a VPN is not an option for me because my network is restricted. Thank you!

EDIT: I just added this log, it's the most recent one so I guess is the correct one

dcs.log-20250314-223545.zip 2.35 MB · 2 downloads

hello. the log has info of what crashed and here are some suggestions

The crash occurred inside edCore.dll.

Try a repair.

Delete Saved Games\DCS\fxo and metashaders2 and try again.

Next, delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\TEMP\DCS and try again.

Next, try renaming Saved Games\DCS to DCS.old and try again.

Change your pagefile to at least 32768 MB (initial size).

Verify that this is configured correctly in Windows:

Game Mode disabled

Hardware accelerated GPU scheduling disabled

Tuning Tips

Decrease Terrain Textures.
Enable Full Screen mode.
Turn off SSAO.
Set Shadows to Medium.
Turn down Anisotropic Filtering.
Turn off SSLR.
Set Clouds to High.
Set Water to Low.
Tuning tips are recommendations for better FPS based on your CPU, GPU and RAM.
They might result in slightly decreased display quality.

come back to let us know how it goes for you.

[Kanelbolle]

Check "Internett Kill Switch" & "App Kill Switch" settings and try to change the DNS the app uses to example googles dns servers.

[tekking98]

hace 1 hora, silverdevil dijo:

hello. the log has info of what crashed and here are some suggestions

The crash occurred inside edCore.dll.

Try a repair.

Delete Saved Games\DCS\fxo and metashaders2 and try again.

Next, delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\TEMP\DCS and try again.

Next, try renaming Saved Games\DCS to DCS.old and try again.

Change your pagefile to at least 32768 MB (initial size).

Verify that this is configured correctly in Windows:

Game Mode disabled

Hardware accelerated GPU scheduling disabled

Tuning Tips

Decrease Terrain Textures.
Enable Full Screen mode.
Turn off SSAO.
Set Shadows to Medium.
Turn down Anisotropic Filtering.
Turn off SSLR.
Set Clouds to High.
Set Water to Low.
Tuning tips are recommendations for better FPS based on your CPU, GPU and RAM.
They might result in slightly decreased display quality.

come back to let us know how it goes for you.

Thank you for you help, I've been trying sequencially all the things you said. After renaming DCS.old in Saved games, now offline missions load properly, however if I go to multiplayer the server list is empty (before doing that I was able to see the list but the game was crashing when trying to load the mission, multiplayer or single player). Rolling back to the previous Saved games/DCS folder results in crashing again when trying to load single player missions and server list is empty as well, which wasn't happening before. 

I also started the mission with graphics at low and then at high, in both cases the mission loaded properly (in the new SavedGames/DCS folder), so I guess is not graphics related.

I'm pretty sure it's something related with the use of the VPN, without it single player missions works well, opnce I start the VPN everything breaks, single player and multiplayer.

I know it sounds like a mess, I tried to explain it as good as possible .

Thank you again for you time and help. 

hace 33 minutos, Kanelbolle dijo:

Check "Internett Kill Switch" & "App Kill Switch" settings and try to change the DNS the app uses to example googles dns servers.

Appreciate your answer. Internet Kill switch and app kill switch are both disabled. Tried DNS 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1 in the NordVPN app and in windows setting and no results neither. 

Greetings!

[Kanelbolle]

2 hours ago, tekking98 said:

Thank you for you help, I've been trying sequencially all the things you said. After renaming DCS.old in Saved games, now offline missions load properly, however if I go to multiplayer the server list is empty (before doing that I was able to see the list but the game was crashing when trying to load the mission, multiplayer or single player). Rolling back to the previous Saved games/DCS folder results in crashing again when trying to load single player missions and server list is empty as well, which wasn't happening before. 

I also started the mission with graphics at low and then at high, in both cases the mission loaded properly (in the new SavedGames/DCS folder), so I guess is not graphics related.

I'm pretty sure it's something related with the use of the VPN, without it single player missions works well, opnce I start the VPN everything breaks, single player and multiplayer.

I know it sounds like a mess, I tried to explain it as good as possible .

Thank you again for you time and help. 

Appreciate your answer. Internet Kill switch and app kill switch are both disabled. Tried DNS 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1 in the NordVPN app and in windows setting and no results neither. 

Greetings!

Seams like an issue with NordVPN then, you should contact their support.

[rob10]

2 minutes ago, Kanelbolle said:

Seams like an issue with NordVPN then, you should contact their support.

No apparent reason for it, but NordVPN seems to be coming up as a problem with number of people in the last week or so.  Likely something that would need to be tweaked or fixed on their end.

[Jyge]

I'll chime in. I have now, exactly the same problem. Once the game start loading, for example after selecting the mission and so on from instant action, it brings up the loading splash screen and ... crashes. I went already through all the variations what might have been broken, updated nvidia drivers and tried everything possible with my VR headset until I came here. I switched off NordVPN and it worked.

This is something new, last weekend the game was working just fine and I did not really change many things, so it was very difficult to figure out...

[Kanelbolle]

10 hours ago, Jyge said:

I'll chime in. I have now, exactly the same problem. Once the game start loading, for example after selecting the mission and so on from instant action, it brings up the loading splash screen and ... crashes. I went already through all the variations what might have been broken, updated nvidia drivers and tried everything possible with my VR headset until I came here. I switched off NordVPN and it worked.

This is something new, last weekend the game was working just fine and I did not really change many things, so it was very difficult to figure out...

Could also be a Window update that broke this.

[Jyge]

Yes, could be, but the game starts if NordVPN is off and it does not if it is on.
 

Now, obviously, DCS wants to communicate with something at the mission starts and it somehow does not work with VPN and leads to CTD.

 

could be the Martians for all I know.

[Slippa]

Best guess is exactly that, it’s the bleedin Martians. Bound to be.

What’s weird to me is I couldn’t install DCS without using a VPN. Never mind running it. Trying it on a clean Win10 platform wouldn’t work. After installing Avast it installed ok. Haven’t tried Nord with it but I’ve definitely got some weird stuff going on.

My Pilot Helmet isn’t made of tin-foil but I think I’ve spotted a UFO on the Nevada map. Just sayin 

[Jeb]

same here, nord on and game crashes even in training mission single player, disable nord and game works just fine

[silverdevil]

On 3/16/2025 at 3:28 AM, Kanelbolle said:

Could also be a Window update that broke this.

i see other claims about this in general search. has anyone uninstalled and reinstalled nordvpn? a windows update could have affected nordvpn.

https://support.nordvpn.com/hc/en-us/articles/20164307373713-Common-Windows-application-issues

Edited March 17 by silverdevil

[MickyG]

Having the same problem. Anyone found a solution for this problem?

 

[ienatom]

I have a similar problem: game crashes when it's almost done loading any mission, either single or multiplayer. I had it for about 3 months and happens randomly. Someone on the ED Discord (not ED staff luckily but beta testers) replied harshly by saying something like "it's your problem, DCS does not support VPNs and you should just deal with it and not use a VPN"...

Anyways, I selected the UDP server and I'm not using split tunneling (which for some reason was making it worse by not showing me the server list).

Edited March 22 by ienatom

[MickyG]

I installed an slightly older version of NordVPN now and disabled autoupdate. everything works fine now.

so the issue is something with the newer versions of nordVPN.

[ienatom]

29 minutes ago, MickyG said:

I installed an slightly older version of NordVPN now and disabled autoupdate. everything works fine now.

so the issue is something with the newer versions of nordVPN.

Good to know, which version are you using? I'll try that first

[MickyG]

I’m using version 7.31.6.0 at the moment. 

[ienatom]

1 minute ago, MickyG said:

I’m using version 7.31.6.0 at the moment. 

Ah there you go, I am on 7.36.1.0. How do I get an older version?

 

[MickyG]

I got it from one of my backups. Don’t know if they have older versions for download at NordVPN.

Edited March 22 by MickyG

[ienatom]

Mhh I couldn't find them, guess I'm stuck with this issue for now

 

[MickyG]

Maybe I can help you out? Or you could ask their support for an older version?

Edited March 22 by MickyG