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Schwerdti87
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

cannot start any games

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Hello everyone, I tried to start two games today which I unlocked in the stadia store (Metro and Destiny 2) but with both games I had the same issue. Whenever I pressed the Blay Button and I pressed again on the Arrow it would load and check my connection and suddenly a pop up message would say: You can always continue playing this games by ..." So I was unablo to actually start any games.

 

I found someone having the sam issue and I tried the recommended solution of allowing pop ups in Chrome, but this didn't fix it. I still have the issue. ISt his maybe a connection problem? Or maybe this is connected to me using two screens?

Thank you very much in advance

Rouven

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Best Response
Tsu
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

The culprit in file “Preferences” is "media_stream_mic" (→ .profile.content_settings.exceptions.media_stream_mic). Removing it—or just blocking the microphone for Stadia in chrome://settings—solves it. I can start games after the first session.

It apears to me that whatever Stadia contacts for voice-chat is faulty, throws an error, and any switch to the actual game streaming is being aborted by the (silent) error. Without a microphone made available everything works fine because the the erroneous path in Stadia's JS is not being taken or triggered.

On any first and fresh Chrome/Chromium run I'm being asked whether to allow Stadia to access the microphone. As a human I'm too slow to react and grant the permission, hence the microphone is not available when the transition to game streaming happens and the error is not triggered on that very first start as well.

(Please forward it to the devs, @ChrisFromGoogle , as I believe this could help and save time.)

(I really wish I'd not have to do QA work for y'all for free.)

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9 Replies
Chufu
Platinum Stadia Guide
Platinum Stadia Guide

Hey @Schwerdti87,

that sounds weird actually. I think it's not a problem of 2 screens though, but just as a question: Are you using your Chrome Browser only on one screen or running it on two screens at the same time? If you do it on two, try to only run the Chrome Browser on one screen and try again if that works.

Do you also have the possiblity to try on your TV (with chromecast) or on a mobile phone (via Stadia app) if you have the same issue there? Is the issue happening on all devices or really only in the Chrome Browser?

I would recommend to first try the steps in this article to see if one of those is helping you.

If the problem only exists in the chrome browser for you, you can try one of the following steps:

  • Check that you have the most recent Chrome version.
  • Disable all extensions in the browser and check if that solves the issue.
  • Delete the cache & cookies of Chrome.
  • Check that your Chrome Browser is not blocked by any Malware (check here step 5).
  • Check your PC if there is any Malware/Virus installed that might cause issues in your browser. Try to just run an antivirus-programm to isolate this.
  • Check if you have experimental Features (Chrome flags) activated:
  1. Go to chrome://flags.
  2. Search a specific theme to your problem with the search bar and check if you can disable this feature, e.g. "enables pointer lock options" or "hardware accelerated video decode".
  3. If you can't find those, click on "reset to standard" in the top right corner to enable the standard-settings of the browser.
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Tsu
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

I'm experiencing this as well today. Maybe my input could move this forward a bit faster?

Yes, it's the most recent version of Chrome (I've tried Chromium as well, i. e. without any extensions) as distributed through dl.google.com .
Linux, no antivirus. I believe I've the knowledge to rule out any non-targeted infection. :winking_face:
Both, pointer lock options and hardware accelerated video decode are set as they should. (Both won't affect Google/Stadia erroneously mismatching me with any running game sessions on their side, I highly suspect.)

I'd love some specific, non-generic, instructions on how to troubleshoot this. This is not about graphics artifacts, after all, but connecting with the game session that's been started server-side (supposedly).

Screenshot from 2020-11-08 23-48-30.png

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Chufu
Platinum Stadia Guide
Platinum Stadia Guide

@Tsu,

have you done all of the "generic" TS steps for Chrome already? I mean it might also be an extensions issue or whatsoever, therefore best to check all steps I mentioned above including the ones mentioned here.

If you still have the feeling this is "not specific enough", then you can also contact the Stadia support to receive more specific support in this case as they may also know more about potential bugs.

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Tsu
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

It's a constant now, I cannot start any games since a few days.

I've tried the following:

  • Chrome 86.0.4240.183 (Official Build) (64-bit)
  • 87.0.4280.27 (Developer Build) Ubuntu 20.04 (64-bit)

… no difference.

  • turned DNSSEC off (globally and for the link)
  • tried exclusively Google's DNS servers (8.8.8.8 …) (flushed caches, rebooted)
  • tried exclusively my ISP's DNS servers

The only difference I've noticed is that I did have to sign in again.

  • I've turned off HW acceleration (independently whether available with the build) through chrome://flags
  • checked the developer console (ctrl+shift+i), no errors whatsoever logged (just many small requests)
  • (My speed is 140/60 up/down according to various speed tests, like fast.com, but only 8 mbit down according to “projectstream.google.com”. Google's nameservers, IPv4+IPv6 running.)
  • Update: projectstream.google.com now has my speed as 70 mbit down. Issue still exists.
  • No problem starting any games on my mobile, through the Stadia App's experimental feature. But I don't intend to be limited to playing on my mobile.
  • When I select a different game to start, I get told the old session that is running will be closed. Before getting thrown back to game selection as above.
  • No wifi, no router; Desktop PC hooked up to the internet through a “dumb modem.”

I'm effectively excluded from Stadia and the games I've claimed and purchased.

0 Kudos
Tsu
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

In my case, the issue presents with Chrome v86 (stable) and v87 (beta),

but does not with v88 (unstable)—i. e., specifically v88.0.4315.5 works.

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ChrisFromGoogle
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi @Tsu -- I'm sorry to hear that this problem is still affecting you. Have you tried reaching out to our support team about this?

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Tsu
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Happy to report it works with Chrome v88.

0 Kudos
Tsu
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Well, the issue occured again: The first game session will start, the second will never and I'm thrown out as described initially.

I've taken it upon myself to write a script that bisects by deleting half the files at random in the Chrome v88 profile folder. If I set “it worked” then half of these get deleted at random, else the previously list is used for that. Again, bisect.

That's the results, the higher the number the more likely deleting that folder mitigates the issue:

 

      5 ./Reporting and NEL-journal
      6 ./Accounts
      6 ./Feature Engagement Tracker
      6 ./Network Persistent State
      7 ./GPUCache
      7 ./Storage
     14 ./Preferences

 

As “Preferences” is regenerated whenever deleted, I do suspect Stadia stores something in there that contributes to the error (second start won't do).

0 Kudos
Tsu
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

The culprit in file “Preferences” is "media_stream_mic" (→ .profile.content_settings.exceptions.media_stream_mic). Removing it—or just blocking the microphone for Stadia in chrome://settings—solves it. I can start games after the first session.

It apears to me that whatever Stadia contacts for voice-chat is faulty, throws an error, and any switch to the actual game streaming is being aborted by the (silent) error. Without a microphone made available everything works fine because the the erroneous path in Stadia's JS is not being taken or triggered.

On any first and fresh Chrome/Chromium run I'm being asked whether to allow Stadia to access the microphone. As a human I'm too slow to react and grant the permission, hence the microphone is not available when the transition to game streaming happens and the error is not triggered on that very first start as well.

(Please forward it to the devs, @ChrisFromGoogle , as I believe this could help and save time.)

(I really wish I'd not have to do QA work for y'all for free.)

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1 Kudo