MZ stopped working for literally no reason and now doesn't load.

[Rex Tenebris]

As title said, I was going to test play without doing any change and now MZ doesn't open at all, it gets stuck at the splash screen, I'm legitimate owner of a license key from the prelaunch and I'm using the standalone version, if you need more purchase information send me a PM.

It's really really weird because I literally did nothing, no installed a program or anything, as much I did was place my secondary monitor in vertical view, but before this weird program freeze I could test-play without issues.

Windows 10 64 Bits fully updated.
NVIDIA Geforce RTX2060
16GB RAM DDR4
i7 8th Gen
Laptop GL63 8SE.
BenQ Zowie XL2540 240hz 1920x1080 (1080x1920 atm on zowie, on main laptop monitor it's 120hz 1920x1080).

Rebooting computer didn't worked.

This is soooooooooo weird, now I can't continue the development of my game
Any help? Did someone had the same issue?

 

[slimmmeiske2]

I've moved this thread to Tech Support. Thank you.

 

[Rex Tenebris]

Oh I see, misread the description
" If you have problems with a Non-RPG Maker Product or DLCs in general, this is the place to go. "
Didn't read that part, I was confused. Thank you.

I hope to get support, I'm feeling anxious now :'(

 

[Andar]

there are only two possible causes for something like this:

1) the editor has been damaged and needs to be reinstalled. If you're using the steam version you need to clear the steam download cache before reinstalling because a corrupted steam cache is the most common cause for this.

2) your antivirus or an anti-malware program blocks MZ due to a false-positive. In this case, after making sure that there is no virus you'll need to whitelist MZ in whatever program is blocking it.
The problem is that MV and MZ create HTM5-based games, and a lot of antivirus programs cannot differ between a local HTML program allowed to save locally and a website trying to infect the local computer with a virus.

 

[Rex Tenebris]

Its the standalone version

I've been using it since the launch with no issues, no CIS notification or anything, maybe is much more precise to think that the program got stuck with anything on it's memory like can't load something from the last project, and everytime I try to load it, doesn't work at all.

Oh, also happens when I try to load another project directly, best thing of all is that the direct load of a project by double-clicking the project file, stopped working too, this happened two weeks ago.

There's something on MZ which makes it stop working progressively, MV and all other programs from my computer loads without any issue and speedfully.

 

[Andar]

There's something on MZ which makes it stop working progressively, MV and all other programs from my computer loads without any issue and speedfully.

no, there are exactly the two options I described above.

The only difference here is that MV has been out for years and accepted by all AV companies to be a "good" program, while MZ is nrew and not yet trusted by the AV programs, thereby not automatically included in the "safe" section when an AV gets an update.
There is nothing in MZ itself that causes this - either it is blocked by a protection program on your computer, or it is damaged by a virus and needs to be reinstalled.

It doesn't matter what you believe, those two things are the only ways that could happen this way.

 

[Rex Tenebris]

Okay, so maybe Comodo Internet Security Premium is doing nothing with viruses?

Mmm I'll try to reinstall it, luckidly I remembered about generator parts while I was writting this post in the case that uninstalling the program deletes the folder (in my opinion, Generator should be installed on the documents folder instead than the program itself to keep gen modifications safe).

On a side note, the "Loading..." window persists just miliseconds rather than the usual second or two, like some component was damaged.

EDIT: Just reinstalling directly, does nothing, only makes the splash screen disappear, but the program still gets stuck at loading, everything is white and doesn't answer. Gonna try full uninstall and reinstall.

On a funny note, it didn't asked for a folder, neither for reinstall, it directly asked to Install, which I assume that the installer doesn't delete everything neither cleans the registry, and just replace files, which fixes nothing.

Let's see if a manual uninstall deletes everything fully, otherwise.... we're in trouble, who knows what must I delete on the registry in that case...

EDIT: As I expected, it deleted the full folder, this is dangerous talking about the generator, yes we're responsible for our data, but something so sensitive like generator parts should be kept aside from the main folder of the program.

EDIT: HERE WE GO, FULLY UNINSTALLING IT DOES NOTHING! NO KEY WAS EVEN ASKED AGAIN, THERE'S SOMETHING THAT PERSISTS SOMEWHERE AND THE APLICATION DOESN'T LAUNCH. CCLEANER REGISTRY CLEAR ALSO DOES NOTHING. This happens due unproper installers not keeping a log of which is installed for delete everything, from registry, the hidden folder which name I don't remember right now, etc.

I took a look to my antivirus logs, no blocked content from MZ, Windows defender etc is disabled.

Also, assume that the antivirus is the only issue withouit even take a look to a dxdiag or something like that is too easy, I posted here for get tech support, not assumptions, if I don't get the problem solved, I'll charge back directly from my bank app because I can't work with an unusable software.

EDIT:

- C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\KADOKAWA\RPGMZ wasn't deleted by the uninstaller, doing it manually.
- Equipo\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\KADOKAWA registry key also wasn't deleted, but it doesn't have any number or anything registered, probably trash. Fully deleted it, let's see if it causes conflicts with MV and other kadokawa softwares...
- This is huge mistake: Equipo\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\KADOKAWA\RPGMZ there's where all the registry data is stored, the uninstaller didn't cleared it, keep the serial number for example is reasonable, but it has the last project location and everything still saved, what if the problem resides on the project itself? But weird because I changed it location to force the program to don't load it, but did nothing, I bid that by removing all the registry data, the program will work again once reinstalled.

.........
NOOPE, even clearing registry STILL DOESN'T WORK!! What's this?

EDIT: These registry keys can't be deleted, it gives an error.

 

[Andar]

You don't have to clear everything if the intention is to repair a damaged rpgmz.exe.

The fact that reinstalling it in any way didn't change anything meanst that the second case is what blocks you - one of your protection programs (whether it is one that you know of or not) is blocking the editor.
Now you have to find which one does it and whitelist the program there, or whitelist it in every protection program you have, to get it to run again.

EDIT:
sorry, I forgot:
there is one other possible cause for this behaviour.
If something replaced your display driver with another one that does not support OpenGL, then the editor would fail to open its windows.
And that can happen if Microsoft-programmed drivers got installed, because Microsoft tries to get everything to DirectX which is simply impossible to work with MV and MZ.

So check your display card's manufacturer and go to their website to download their driver setup and install that. Do NOT use the integrated driver update from Windows, because that will favor Microsoft drivers if they got installed.

 

[Rex Tenebris]

No, again, antivirus can't do nothing if there isn't any registry of x program blocked, when something is blocked, the antivirus solution must save a record of it, unless, weird enough, the user manually disables the record service.
And funny enough, I found the problem, which for my point of view is extremelly ridiculous to ever mention it.

Took a look to this topic:

RMMZ Steam Version. Won't open.

It worked fine when it first came out. I played around with it several times, but now it won't open. Things that I have done in an attempt to open it. Uninstalled and reinstalled it from Steam. Double checked my antivirus softwares to make sure the program was whitelisted. Removed program from...

forums.rpgmakerweb.com

Read that the issue could be the second monitor, guess what...
If I extend the view to a secondary monitor, and I set it as the main one, then if I moved the MZ window to the non-main monitor, and close it, when you open the MZ it doesn't load just because it's trying to load on the non-main monitor! That's all!!

Oh my god... what kind of..... is that... can't facepalm harder because I would need a surgery, this is... shameful, I remember also now that this was an issue on MV too, this is really disgusting see how a COMMON PROBLEM isn't still fixed on a newer version, probably not exclusive issue to MZ, but there should've been a tool to change where the program is load.

Can someone from the staff @Touchfuzzy for example report this issue to kadokawa or who responsible are for fix this issue at once on the newer version please?

So, to fix the problem, I have to disable the non-main monitor, open MZ, then enable it again and be sure to don't close MZ on the non-main monitor to avoid same issue? Oh my..... So I have to use my vertical monitor as the secondary one and not as the main monitor if I want to work with MZ?

Also, how's possible that even deleting all the registries the program can still remember where it was load? Probably that's due windows remembering the last position rather than MZ, but the point is, if this issue isn't fixed, and people gives fault to antivirus rather than say "is just a monitor issue do x y z", then how funny must be the person who doesn't find the stupid solution (insulting the issue itself by the way, because the issue is stupid, not even a reinstall solves it, just a monitor issue, too weird).

Well, if MZ isn't responsible to record the last window position, a third tool should be developed with common fixes like remove all registry keys, dll and every information installed by mz, access the last record of the monitor and reset it, etc to solve common issues from the customers like this one.

Just really, wow, so stupid was the issue, spent all the free time from 8PM to 0:20AM trying to solve this issue to find this stupid reason.

Also, curious enough, the "Loading" small window is opened on the main monitor, the splash and main window on the last monitor.


Probably that's the issue, the program doesn't even know where to load if on the main monitor or the secondary, if that's the case, then windows isn't the full responsible, anyways, is too weird because it would be the first ever program I use that has such issue, just because tries to load on the non-main monitor.

EDIT: If still by defining the last monitor where MZ was opened, the program just seems to not open and you use Windows 10 which Microsoft removed the "Maximize minimize" options by right-clicking the program in the task bar, just open the Task Manager and maximize the MZ window from there, et voilà, welcome back MZ, don't be shy, I won't bite you, here, a cookie.


TLDR;Serious troubleshooting:
- Issue: Program is frozen after the splash screen showing a white window and stops answering.
- Solution: If you plugged in a secondary monitor and you closed the program on the non-main monitor, please set the last monitor where MZ was closed as the main monitor and try again, if after doing that the program isn't shown at all, open Windows Task Manager and maximize RPG Maker MZ from there, the window will be maximized on the main monitor. At this moment, MZ is unable to load on non-main screens.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

What is your graphics card? @Killuki Zaoldyeck

I know on mine it doesn't do that (I have a dual monitor set up and do all kinds of stuff throwing it back and forth)

 

[Rex Tenebris]

What is your graphics card? @Killuki Zaoldyeck

I know on mine it doesn't do that (I have a dual monitor set up and do all kinds of stuff throwing it back and forth)

Hey Fuzzy, thanks for come here!

My graphics card is Nvidia RTX2060 Laptop Series. Updated with the last drivers (not "lastest one" maybe, it was updated I guess the past week).
Full specs here: https://es.msi.com/Laptop/GL63-8SX/Specification

Mmmm, as I mentioned before, I found that issue also with MV, on another desktop computer built by pieces which had a GTX1080 (I don't know how I could get so strong pieces being poor, the magic of credits are double-edge swords), it happened on the other computer more than a year ago, just remembered it accurately right now, exact same issue, the last monitor where MV was closed wasn't the main one thus making the issue like happened today with MZ.

It's a really, really weird behavior.
Try this on your computer, move the MZ on the non-main monitor, maximize it and close it by pressing X, then, try to open MZ again, if it opens on the non-main monitor, it won't load. Fix is set the last monitor where MZ was closed as the main one and maximize the MZ by the task manager.

EDIT: Also weeeeirrrrdddd, MZ goes capped at 60FPS on the non-main monitor, regardless of its maximum configured refresh rate, but if I move it on the main monitor, it goes at 120FPS (my laptops default refresh rate).

This is so curius, two problems due mz not being on the main monitor.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

Hmmm. I'm not sure what is going on with your setup. I'm using a NVidia GTX 1660, and I just tried the same things, and MZ is opening and closing fine, no matter which monitor I have it on.

I'll see if we can replicate it internally.

 

[Rex Tenebris]

Hmmm. I'm not sure what is going on with your setup. I'm using a NVidia GTX 1660, and I just tried the same things, and MZ is opening and closing fine, no matter which monitor I have it on.

I'll see if we can replicate it internally.

Okay! So far found three persons with exact same issue and solution yesterday right on the first page of this forum category, and I bid I could find many more if I take a two-hour tour, so isn't an uncommon problem. Maybe it's related also with having a integrated intel graphic card, even if you don't use it as the main one, it might affect due drivers being there, my desktop computer has AMD integrated graphics (Ryzen 2300x I guess it is, I use much more laptop now due work), if you use a Intel CPU on a motherboard without integrated graphics, then probably that's why you can't replicate the issue, most common is have integrated ones, specially on laptops (what a disgrace).

Hope you guys can apply a fix for MV and MZ now that it's been identified more accurately! This will surely help a lot specially to the "offline" community (customers that doesn't go to forums or website, there are so many always!).

You know, sometimes the informatical things brings stupid issues that once identified you just can't stop facepalming so hard. ^^U

 

[Zortik]

I'm running into an issue where I also can no longer open up RPG Maker MZ.

I was able to open it shortly after launch, version 1.0

I haven't tried since then. Current version (through Steam) is version 1.2

I've cleared Cache through Steam, I've confirmed it is allowed Private/Public on my firewall and it's not blocked in any capacity with my antivirus.

I've tried launching it in administrative mode with no additional success.

I'm running Win10 and am currently (deliberately) several windows/drivers updates behind (From May for major patches. My drivers for my graphics cards have not been updated since prior to my successful test of version 1.0 (implying that there has been no driver changes since when it worked now that it has not).
Windows 10 version


Graphics card BIOS

I have restarted my computer and repeated the above steps and still seeing the same symptoms.

When launched I will have an icon labeled "Test Project - RPG Maker MZ" this is the name of the obvious test project I first launched during version 1.0. This folder is located in my documents drive (I've asterisked the path for privacy reasons)
C:\Users\**********\Documents\RMMZ

When trying to open the game executable in the aforementioned filepath I get the same exact symptoms as to when I try and launch from steam. An icon on the task bar, a white preview pane window and the inability to actually access the application or do anything with it.

I made a backup of this folder and moved it out of the RMMZ file path for the sake of testing (renamed the overall folder to "Test Project Backup" and moved it up to the main Documents directory.

I tried opening again in steam. This time it tried to open a generic launch just "RPG Maker MZ" no progress made and no new folder being created in the RMMZ directory.

Opened steam to do a verification of the integrity of application files. Completed 100% successfully with no issues identified.

Uninstalled for the 3rd time. This time took extra steps in addition to uninstalling.

• Deleted the RMMZ folder from Documents directory
• Went to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common to ensure the folder for MZ was gone (it was not present. So, no additional action here)
• Went into Steam Settings ->Downloads and chose the option to "Clear Download Cache"
• Logged back in and started a clean download of MZ

No resolution. Symptoms remain identical to when first started.

Plugged in 2 additional monitors (HDMI Port and a Mini Display Port)

Attempted to launch RPG Maker MZ again.
Application was accessible and fully loaded (Preview showed the launched application as opposed to a solid/blank white image). I was able to drag it over to my primary laptop screen and interact with it.

Closed the application. Unplugged the additional monitors. Relaunched the application.
Application is now launching successfully as intended and launches when just on the laptop with no additional monitors are plugged in.

Closed the application.

Moved the backup folder back into the RMMZ directory (and renamed it back to the original name of just "Test Project")

Launched application, did not auto-load the Test Project game (this was expected.)
Clicked File -> Open Project in MZ and went to the directory for where I put the Test Project and selected the "Game" RPGMZ Project Type file and selected "Open".

Project opened fine.

Hopefully my process and method help both the developers and others who might be experiencing issues to work through a similar situation.

 

[misterprmiller]

Alright, it appears like I'm having these EXACT issues now with MZ. I moved the system over to my second monitor, opened the character generator, and the engine began to hang. And then it force quit. And now, after uninstalls and reinstalls, the same situation persists. I also have a RTX 2060, funny enough.

Unlike the first solution above, I don't have a "minimize" or "maximize" on my taskman. Looking into that, but I'd love to get some feedback from devs on how to get this fixed.

 

[misterprmiller]

Alright, it appears like I'm having these EXACT issues now with MZ. I moved the system over to my second monitor, opened the character generator, and the engine began to hang. And then it force quit. And now, after uninstalls and reinstalls, the same situation persists. I also have a RTX 2060, funny enough.

Unlike the first solution above, I don't have a "minimize" or "maximize" on my taskman. Looking into that, but I'd love to get some feedback from devs on how to get this fixed.

Okay - what a janky solution that took me about 1.5 hours.

I had to unplug my second monitor and restart my computer. After that, the game would CONTINUE TO NOT LOAD, and attempt to load itself off-screen on a monitor that was no longer connected. So, once I knew I was active on the program window even if I couldn't see it, I pressed ALT+Space to bring up the Move option. I then used my keyboard to bring it back over to the main window, and viola, the game loaded "perfectly."

 

[Celestrium]

As title said, I was going to test play without doing any change and now MZ doesn't open at all, it gets stuck at the splash screen, I'm legitimate owner of a license key from the prelaunch and I'm using the standalone version, if you need more purchase information send me a PM.

It's really really weird because I literally did nothing, no installed a program or anything, as much I did was place my secondary monitor in vertical view, but before this weird program freeze I could test-play without issues.

Windows 10 64 Bits fully updated.
NVIDIA Geforce RTX2060
16GB RAM DDR4
i7 8th Gen
Laptop GL63 8SE.
BenQ Zowie XL2540 240hz 1920x1080 (1080x1920 atm on zowie, on main laptop monitor it's 120hz 1920x1080).

Rebooting computer didn't worked.

This is soooooooooo weird, now I can't continue the development of my game
Any help? Did someone had the same issue?

I have personally had, and others have as well, difficulty with MZ and multiple monitor setups. I had to stop using multiple monitors when using MZ...

 

[Shade the Mystic]

I think I'm having this same problem as well, although I'm on laptop so single screen. I've uninstalled, then reinstalled, I've cleared it with my AV, and still it won't open beyond the splash screen. I have it minimized to my taskbar, but when I hover over it, I only get a blank white thumbnail with the project name.

Is there a less convoluted solution for the tech dumb, or am I missing something?

EDIT: Never mind, I remembered that system restore is a thing. Don't know what I updated that mangled things up, but it works now.

 

[mauigamestudio]

I just made a video about this.

Hope it's helpful.

 

[Calamitous Magic]

I just made a video about this.

Hope it's helpful.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was just going spare! MZ stopped loading for no conceivable reason and I had no clue. I don't have two monitors but I did have multiple copies of MZ open whilst I tested some things and first one went blank (last night) and then today I was unable to open it at all (though it was clearly running somewhere).

Fortunately I found this post before I started faffing about uninstalling stuff and your simple ALT/Spacebar - Maximise worked perfectly.

Thank you so much for actually putting it in a video too so non-techo numpties like me could follow the bouncing ball without losing too many brain cells!