Both Amnesia Games Crash When Trying to Write

[shotbybothsides]

I have both the Amnesia games installed via Steam on a PC with Win10

Both will not run properly as they crash at anytime the game tries to write to disk. For example this will happen just by going in and then out of options.
I have looked for the logfile in the Documents Folder, but that does not exist, again suggesting a write issue.

I have made sure that all relevant folders have write permissions set for the accounts I have tried and have run executables as Administrator and still no success.

Somewhat frustrated and not very impressed to see both games fail "out of the box"

[kirakatve]

Hello! I have asked our support and according to them the issue might be that the games lack access to the My Documents folder.

This might be fixed with the following steps:

- Go to \Steam\steamapps\common\Amnesia The Dark Descent\
- Right click "Amnesia.exe"
- Properties > Compatibility > *tick* Run this program as an administrator. > OK

Hope this fix helps, let us know!

/Kat, Community Manager

[shotbybothsides]

Hello! I have asked our support and according to them the issue might be that the games lack access to the My Documents folder.

This might be fixed with the following steps:

- Go to \Steam\steamapps\common\Amnesia The Dark Descent\
- Right click "Amnesia.exe"
- Properties > Compatibility > *tick* Run this program as an administrator. > OK

Hope this fix helps, let us know!

/Kat, Community Manager

Thank you for your response, much appreciated.
Unfortunately this does not work and the game still crashes when it is trying to write. There is definatley something going on with access to the Documents folders as the named profile folder contains nothing and I would expect a log file to be there. I have ensured that all folders under "Users" have full controll and there are pelnty of other games that hapily write to Documents. The account I always use is an Admin account too, so I would not expect these issues.
I think I am doomed not to witness these two games and I will have to consign them to the recycle bin.

[Romulator]

Try right clicking your Documents folder and unticking the "Read-only" box at the bottom of the Properties window, then clicking apply. It may refresh your computer's Documents settings and therefore allow you to write to that area of your computer.

Spoiler below!

I was also having a think about this issue and it could possibly be due to an external application or process on your computer. Check Problem A4 of the Troubleshooting Guide for a list of programs which may cause problems for Amnesia while loading or having loaded the game, and if there are conflicts, try to close their program.

If you have an Antivirus management software, consider also checking if there are particular restrictions put upon Amnesia and revoke them if so.

I also came across this setting in a google search; Windows 10's Controlled Folder Access feature. Look at the instructions on this website if you are on Windows 10 Falls Creator Update for a potential fix (I could not fully replicate the steps in the end, potentially because Macafe was installed).

Edit: merged posts and placed image in a spoiler tag.

[shotbybothsides]

I am very grateful for your help

The link to MS Windows 10 Controlled Folder Access made me think about whether BitDefender was blocking access with its similar "ransomware" module where certain folders are protected. It was indeed blocking. What I don't understand (yet) is what determines BitDefender to record a folder as protected as I have never manually added any folders. But there are at least two ways to get around the issue:
1) Remove the documents folder from the BitDefender Protected List or
2) Tell BitDefender to allow the game/application to write to the folder

Once again your help did result in pinpointing the issue, so thanks hugely

[Romulator]

I am very grateful for your help

The link to MS Windows 10 Controlled Folder Access made me think about whether BitDefender was blocking access with its similar "ransomware" module where certain folders are protected. It was indeed blocking. What I don't understand (yet) is what determines BitDefender to record a folder as protected as I have never manually added any folders. But there are at least two ways to get around the issue:
1) Remove the documents folder from the BitDefender Protected List or
2) Tell BitDefender to allow the game/application to write to the folder

Once again your help did result in pinpointing the issue, so thanks hugely

No problem at all! It was a bit of a stab in the dark for me since this is the first time I've personally come across this issue, but I am glad we managed to find the cause of the issue without too many dramas!

I'll add BitDefender to the list of programs under A4 of the Troubleshooting Guide, just as a precaution in case others experience a similar issue.

I hope you enjoy the games! I'll close this thread for now, but if you need any further support, please feel free to ask