Can't create character, change settings

[kukummmm]

when I start up the game I can’t even make a character or change settings at all. checking the local files, trying to find and do smth with file “options.exe” didn’t help. adding the folder with the game to the exceptions in the antivirus didn’t work either. win 10. help pls

[Foehammer]

Base game no mods or external programs? Verifying local saves might help.

Edit: and welcome to the game!

[kukummmm]

yea, base game no mods or external programs. i just downloaded and opened it. the folder “save” is empty

[medea_fleecestealer]

Delete the options and then start the game again so it creates a new one. Also see if anything here helps.

User contributed common solutions

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[kukummmm]

I don’t even have the options file

[medea_fleecestealer]

My Documents\My Games\Grim Dawn\Settings\options

[kukummmm]

so, after that I got a character that I wanted to create earlier, but my settings still don’t change

[kukummmm]

so is there any option to deal with this?

[medea_fleecestealer]

Did you find the options file?

[kukummmm]

yes. i deleted it but as i said above I still can’t change the settings. but at least I can make a character

[Gnomish_Inquisition]

if the settings doesn’t stick it can sometimes be either

• AV blocking the file from being changed, - make a manual exclusion/whitelist in your anti virus for the grim dawn folder in documents (also good idea to make an exclusion/whitelist for the grim dawn install folder/exe in game folder)
• onedrive hijacked your folder and is constantly overriding it - unlink the folder from onedrive/get rid of onedrive
• you (somehow) don’t have user permission for that folder - don’t know how to fix this/never figured it out
  you can check it rather quickly by trying to open the folder as notepad, make some manual changes and trying to save the file

sometimes reinstalling grim dawn does fix it even when manually deleting the options.txt file doesn’t
another use said he couldn’t get it to work on his own windows user, but making a new windows user acc on his computer would let him play GD with settings changed, (tho don’t think they ever found out what was hindering on the first user since everything seemed in order, and folder permissions were the same on both users)

[powbam]

1. Most likely culprit would be OneDrive being active. If it is active and you see the icon for it down in your system tray then I’d advise shutting it down and then start up Grim Dawn and test if you are able to now make changes that persist. If so you may want to consider going into OneDrive’s settings and disable the option for it to run on system start.

2. There is a Windows setting that can also interfere if it is enabled…

   • Hit the Win key and type in Controlled Folder Access.
   
   
   

   …if it is enabled you may want to consider disabling it…

   

[kukummmm]

I have disabled OneDrive and controlled folder access is also disabled. but I noticed that after deleting the options file and starting the game, a new file was not created and changing the settings also did not work.

[Gnomish_Inquisition]

did you try to uninstall and reinstall GD afterwards?
did you remember to whitelist/make a manual exclusion in your anti virus for My Documents\My Games\Grim Dawn folder? (and the game exe in game install folder?)

[kukummmm]

yes, I did all of that. then found the file “repair.exe” in the game files. it created the missing options file. but the game setting still doesn’t work.

[Gnomish_Inquisition]

can you edit the file manually?
as in you open it as notepad, change some stuff, then save, or does it deny you that?

[powbam]

Which version of 10 are you on, Home or Pro? Awhile back there was a user with the same problem and they were using the Home version. Not sure they ever figured out a fix or workaround.

Home versions, to my knowledge, tend to place greater permissions restrictions on users and what they are allowed to do - which may be at the heart of this type of problem. That would be my best guess on it.

In the end, such a thing boils down to being some outside source is preventing the game from modifying and saving the changes normally.

[kukummmm]

I’m on win10 pro

[powbam]

Then you should have few restrictions on what you can and can’t do. The problem then is figuring out what, on your system, is not allowing GD to enact and save settings changes.

What is your AV? Just Windows Defender? Is there any other 3rd party security type software installed?

[kukummmm]

I only have Windows Defender. And I have already added a folder with the game and options file to the av exclusions