To save you some pain and frustration on a wild goose chase.

In theory, it could be your video card, computer, internet, windows version, drivers versions. Support will always point you at those and you might as well check them first. But having said that:

• A lot of people have this issue.
• It happens also when your personally controlled stuff is quite good.
• The only common thing I see to connections where I crash is an "unidentified" server. When I get US East I hardly ever crash and when I get EU I rarely crash. When I get a connection icon with no location name it is very likely that I will crash.

My personal conclusion is that sometimes - for reasons beyond my comprehension - the game connects you to servers that are NOT the ideal ones for you, and in those cases either the server, the server's internet or the latency in the route to the server are so bad that they cause the game to crash.

I know you will say that other games you play, even massive multiplayer ones don't crash like this. It is true, but even those games used to be terrible, and eventually they figured out how to improve their network code so that it could cope with less than perfect servers, internet and even players PCs. Usually that happens with a game company when they get past the denial phase where they blame players and - at least internally - they recognize that the solution is really in their hands and start improving the network code. If so... it typically takes about a year.

So... I suggest patience and don't let the crashes frustrate you too much. Even with the crashes the game is too good to rage-quit it.

I am puzzled by people thinking that crashes to desktop is related to a specific PC. It is very clear to me that it depends on what server I get connected to.

If I get connected to US-East I almost never crash. If I am on a session with a friend in Europe but we are on US-East it is very rare for me to crash. If I am with the same server on a EU server, crashing is a little more common. And when we are on Asian prime time... we typically don't see a server name, we see a lot of chinese symbols on chat, and a lot of crashing.

What all of that tells me is that the issue is either with the specific servers, the network of the server farm, or (most likely) the latency of the connection to a particular server farm.

I am sure that there are specific players that have issues with their hardware or windows installation, but it is quite obvious that for the vast majority of game crashes the issue is not on the player's PC.

I do wish the server location was *always* listed and we could select a server to play on (with the closest server farm as the default, but changeable in the settings), then we'd have nobody but ourselves to blame if the game crashes.

@Ubi-Viral

A suggestion from one person who makes his living developing software to another:

• On the PC branch of Division 2 - since this one does not have the heavy deployment costs of consoles and is "current" code - implement some detection code (either on the server or client).
• You are almost certainly looking for calls to the server that take too long to respond (for whatever the reason) and result in timeouts. This is almost certainly why the game "freezes" first and then crashes. My guess is that either the code is not even aware of the timeout and crashes (possibly related to the development tools you use), or it is an intentional bit of code that says "if the timeout is longer than X assume that the internet went down and crash".
• Once the issue is identified, you could easily add a timeout number in the settings, and allow players to raise it.
• Another thing that I would do is figure out under what conditions you display the "red" connection icon without the server farm name (i.e.: US East, EU). The worst crash problems happen with those no-name servers.
• You might also consider displaying more connection info in-game and maybe even allowing players to select the server farm to connect to. It could help reduce issues, or at least make it much easier to identify the source of problems.
• For a more long-term approach, it is very useful to make error reporting more automatic. For example, in my code I use various types of "my" exceptions for different kinds of problems (the actual thrown exception is of course included in the stacktrace), then I have a standard method in my base classes that automatically routes each kind of exception to a different destination. For example, when my users supply bad data, all exceptions related to that get reported to them, network/file/database access exceptions that are not due to bad data get reported to the network/filer/DB staff, and things that are inequivocably caused by code or that have no other explanation get routed to me via email. The result is that everybody gets the details they need to solve ALL exceptions, and we usually get alerted of problems and either have a fix or an explanation... before the customers even approach us with a complaint. This is not practical to do on the current codebase, but it could be useful in future games that you have not yet started coding.

I hope this helps.

Since we already have multiple DZs, why not make each DZ have a different flavor?

Reminder - this thread is intended as a PSA for people looking to obtain DZ resources. Instead of derailing this one, discussions on the nature of the DZ are better off in their own thread.

Understood. The problem is that the thread does not really give any good options. The best advice is (1) go after boxes only, and (2) die a lot while giving the finger to the one killing you.

Sorry, but that is no fun at all, and we play games to enjoy ourselves, and most of us are not masoquists. So unless the DZ changes at least a little, it is largely pointless for PvE or undergeared players.

The Division 1 DZ was a lot better in that regard. There was a chance of encountering trolls whose fun is to hunt the under-geared, but it was reasonably easy to avoid them. Ultimately it made it fun even for PvE or undergeared players. The way the DZ is designed in D2 I have no desire to go there and I know many others that feel the same.

This thread gave me some hope that it could be made worth playing but after reading it all several times I fear that the DZ in D2 remains a cesspool and that there is no decent enjoyable method to earn DZ resources. Frankly, we are better off making do without them.

@xmdead you're getting that error because it's the weekly maintenance I got kicked at 9am as it started and got that error msg

Ty.

Maybe they need to fix the web page that describes the error. LOL. It would take all of 5 minutes by the most junior of their web developers.

Hey @Frank_Drebbin, thanks for sharing this and I'm glad you've managed to resolve it .

@haywardgb - I am really not sure as to where does such sentiment come from, as we have a dedicated thread regarding this, where the very first post highlights key dates of when issue was anticipated to be resolved. This is there to provide you with transparency, as well as shows that the issue has been acknowledged a while back.

As it stands, I can assure you all that the matter is continuously being looked into. We do understand the impact of it and will try to provide you with the update as soon as we have one.

Thank you for your continued patience, apologies if this has been taking longer than anticipated and if you do have any further queries, feel free to drop us a message at any time!

I think the "sentiment" comes from the fact that the freeze+crash to desktop continues to happen. That thread mentions March 2021 and that the other crashes "were being investigated". It is now mid-November and the problem is still happening with no ETA for a fix.

It might be relevant to mention that the exact same problem happens - at least 1 to 4 times a day - with The Division 1 and The Division 2, and does not happen anywhere as often with any other games, not even other Ubisoft games. It is clearly caused by a key design or code flaw shared only by The Division games.

Based on a few decades of (non-game) development experience my instincts tell me that the problem is most likely triggered when either the server is hitting max capacity or there is a disruption in the connection between the player and the server... and the client isn't handling the timeout/disconnect properly.

On a positive note, last night I saw something that might be a sign of an attempt to fix it, the game kept playing but the other players and doors froze. Then it would unlock and freeze again. Clearly it was trying to reconnect, but eventually gave up and sent me back to login (better than a true crash) and I was able to reconnect and rejoin the group. Bad... but still an improvement.

I don't mind the need for resources, and I don't mind the high cost of optimization.

What I do mind is the stupid resource caps being muuuuch to low. The caps should be 10x or even 100x the current level.

Why? Because at first you get resources but can't use optimization for lack of blueprints. That way 90% of the resources you find can't be collected. Then you can use the station but you quickly deplete the few you collected and start cursing at the game for asking things it had not let you collect. So annoying that more than once I felt like dropping the game.

Hey @XMdead, thanks for your input there and I see where you're coming from.

It was mentioned that some players, including @haywardgb, appear to be fed up with us not acknowledging the matter, therefore my response was for that particular statement, as issue has been publicly acknowledged.

As far as how long it has been taking so far - I understand that it might have been anticipated to have this resolved earlier. The thread I quoted earlier does in fact mention the dates as well as when our team has been attempting to resolve it, however seemingly to no avail, at least for the time being. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, I can confirm that review is on-going. We are fully aware of the impact this causes and we will give you more details as soon as we have it available.

A suggestion: Edit the first post in that thread to contain the various actions and dates, including an expected solution date.

Most readers (like me) see the first post, the March 2021 date... and don't go reading the rest of it (15 pages!). So, having it in one easy to see place will stop the complaints.

Edit: So far I scanned through all of pages 1, 13, 14, 15 and I see no ETAs and no solutions other than the usual cut-and-paste stuff that doesn't solve a thing and empty statements that "we are working on it"... which has been the reply for many months. If there is an answer it is buried "deep". And the fact that the exact same problem occurs in both games hints to an unsolved problem that comes all the way from the days of Division 1. One more reason why people get more and more frustrated... being pointed to threads that are supposed to give answers, but really all they accomplish is make us waste time and get vastly more frustrated than before we started reading. I'll quit reading now... before I leave my "hopeful" stance and join the group of frustrated players.

Isn't a skill build essentially the equivalent to this?

Also, while it would be "cool", I can't see it being as effective or smart as a live teammate. In the end it would feel quite inadequate.

@ivcatenshu

My experience has been that Side Missions are the easiest, Encounters next and Story Missions are the hardest.

Also that if you completely clear an area before moving on to the next your level will stay ahead of the level of the areas you encounter.

Also, I believe that replaying earlier missions will give you extra XP that you can use to raise your level. (I have not tried nor needed this yet to stay ahead of the area level)

I typically try to be 2 levels ahead of Encounters and 5 levels ahead of Story Missions to ensure being able to complete them. Usually when I fail a mission it is because of the stupid "sticky cover" mechanics of the game or because my strategy was bad.

BTW, if you are having trouble killing a particularly hard boss, try locating something large you can run around and block the boss' fire. Then poke and nibble at it before taking cover. It might take a long time to kill it, but the technique works. Also, make sure to focus your abilities on something that lets you get health every so often and don't use your medkits (save those for emergencies).

Hopefully these hints help.

I personally find that Div 2 is better than 1 on some aspects and worse on others.

• The DZ is definitely worse. I enjoy roaming the DZ solo in Div 1, but I won't touch it in Div 2. Too small to avoid the jerks and do what I really want to go there to do. Not everybody enjoys PvP, but more than that... PvP solo against uber-equipped teams of jerks that enjoy nothing beyond ruining other people's gameplay is just play stupid.
• The "feel" of the gameplay I find better. I also like the somewhat more open terrain and of course I love DC itself (not just in game). It would be nice though if once you cleared it the NPCs did some cleanup and removed the trash. If you are "making it civilized", it should feel civilized, even if you have the occasional incursions of Black Tusks and some remnants of the other gangs.
• I don't mind having to do the NY campaign, it only takes a day or so to complete it. But... I do find it extremely annoying that once you do NY and go back to DC the fun dailies/weeklies disappear and instead you get some really grindy ones. I ended up keeping one character DC-only and a couple others DC/NY. But of course they added insult to injury by not letting them share gear no matter how much you play them. Seriously? I understand not sharing gear if you didn't buy the DLC, but once you have the DLC your character should be able to go to lvl 40 even if it stays in DC only.

@xmdead

Looks like you slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

How do you account for the majority of players, who don't experience issues? Luck?

If you are physically in the US or EU the problems are minimal. In the rest of the world it is hit and miss depending on location.

This issue has been discussed at nauseum. The devs acknowledged it and have been working on it for a year or two. Just because you are a lucky one it does not mean that the problem does not exist. I suggest sticking to topics you understand.

@canyonero_

There has been much discussion on the issue. The devs have been looking at it for a year or two with no success. And it is not only quote random but it affects div1 and Div2 equally. Finally, it happens not only to people with bad computers and bad internet but also to people with excellent computers and 200mb+ internet.

If you take those things together the conclusion is fairly obvious. The issue is:
(1) Related to the communication from client to server. Either at the server side or between the client and server ISPs.
(2) The code that handles such communication in The Divison is defective and it simply can't handle the communication issues (while other games do it just fine). Maybe it assigns you to servers that are too far away or maybe they have timeout values that are too low.

So, unless and until the devs fix the issue, assume that these problems will continue forever and don't play any mode where death has permanent consequences.

On the positive side, yesterday I played Div1 all day (to take advantage of the global event) and I had only one crash. It appears that the devs are making at least some progress.

if this is the one that has the building on the surface, look through the windows and shoot the lock at the door. it is not very visible but it is there.

Hey @XMdead, thanks for your input there and I see where you're coming from.

It was mentioned that some players, including @haywardgb, appear to be fed up with us not acknowledging the matter, therefore my response was for that particular statement, as issue has been publicly acknowledged.

As far as how long it has been taking so far - I understand that it might have been anticipated to have this resolved earlier. The thread I quoted earlier does in fact mention the dates as well as when our team has been attempting to resolve it, however seemingly to no avail, at least for the time being. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, I can confirm that review is on-going. We are fully aware of the impact this causes and we will give you more details as soon as we have it available.

A suggestion: Edit the first post in that thread to contain the various actions and dates, including an expected solution date.

Most readers (like me) see the first post, the March 2021 date... and don't go reading the rest of it (15 pages!). So, having it in one easy to see place will stop the complaints.

Edit: So far I scanned through all of pages 1, 13, 14, 15 and I see no ETAs and no solutions other than the usual cut-and-paste stuff that doesn't solve a thing and empty statements that "we are working on it"... which has been the reply for many months. If there is an answer it is buried "deep". And the fact that the exact same problem occurs in both games hints to an unsolved problem that comes all the way from the days of Division 1. One more reason why people get more and more frustrated... being pointed to threads that are supposed to give answers, but really all they accomplish is make us waste time and get vastly more frustrated than before we started reading. I'll quit reading now... before I leave my "hopeful" stance and join the group of frustrated players.

@ubi-karl

The key problem seems to be that the chat is global and has no filter by language.

• Makes most of the chat unreadable and thus nearly useless.
• When chat is turned on... it causes open hostility because some of the "other language" speakers are openly hostile and often insulting. It of course usually leads to retaliation and often insult fights between people of one nation and another.

Frankly, it is a disgusting chat environment.

Hey @Frank_Drebbin, thanks for sharing this and I'm glad you've managed to resolve it .

@haywardgb - I am really not sure as to where does such sentiment come from, as we have a dedicated thread regarding this, where the very first post highlights key dates of when issue was anticipated to be resolved. This is there to provide you with transparency, as well as shows that the issue has been acknowledged a while back.

As it stands, I can assure you all that the matter is continuously being looked into. We do understand the impact of it and will try to provide you with the update as soon as we have one.

Thank you for your continued patience, apologies if this has been taking longer than anticipated and if you do have any further queries, feel free to drop us a message at any time!

I think the "sentiment" comes from the fact that the freeze+crash to desktop continues to happen. That thread mentions March 2021 and that the other crashes "were being investigated". It is now mid-November and the problem is still happening with no ETA for a fix.

It might be relevant to mention that the exact same problem happens - at least 1 to 4 times a day - with The Division 1 and The Division 2, and does not happen anywhere as often with any other games, not even other Ubisoft games. It is clearly caused by a key design or code flaw shared only by The Division games.

Based on a few decades of (non-game) development experience my instincts tell me that the problem is most likely triggered when either the server is hitting max capacity or there is a disruption in the connection between the player and the server... and the client isn't handling the timeout/disconnect properly.

On a positive note, last night I saw something that might be a sign of an attempt to fix it, the game kept playing but the other players and doors froze. Then it would unlock and freeze again. Clearly it was trying to reconnect, but eventually gave up and sent me back to login (better than a true crash) and I was able to reconnect and rejoin the group. Bad... but still an improvement.

Hey @XMdead, appreciate your input and sorry to hear about the multiple issues you have been experiencing.

Would I be able to kindly check a few things with you:

1. Do you happen to experience Delta error outside weekly maintenance hours? Does it persist to this day?
2. Would you be able to elaborate on the occasional freeze/crash issue you've brought up? Also, for troubleshooting purposes, taking into account that you've already verified your game files, did you try going through the rest of the steps mentioned in this article? If you haven't, give it a go and see whether problem continues to persist.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

The Delta error is not a huge problem for me. I've seen it - as expected - during maintenance windows and when my own internet drops (I use PingPlotter to monitor that), but I also on rare occasions see it at other times... even during prime time. My guess for those "occasional" drops is that it is either Ubi's internet or server having issues, or that the problem is somewhere in the path between my ISP and Ubi's.

For other freezes/CTDs I did follow those steps except for running *** a game!!! *** as admin, I'd never do that with any game. I have little fear of Ubi abusing such trust but there are very popular games from less than trustworthy countries like Belarussia, so it is best to be safe and not grant Admin rights to any game.

In those frezes/CTDs there is no error message. It is a VERY well known issue, reported over several years by the community. I think someone even tracked down some error messages in the Window Event Logs and reported it in some other thread in the forums - that you or another Ubi staff read and responded to. Your developers should be aware of it and I hope they already wrote some code to try and detect the issue on the client end... so that it can report the details that cause it. I only know of it happening on PC, but for all I know it happens in the other platforms as well.

If you have someone that wants to work with me I'd be happy to help troubleshoot the issue under controlled conditions. I just ask that it be someone more skilled than your tier 1 support people... regarding this issue they just don't have the skills to help.

TBH, I find that it is more fun to set difficulty to Challenging and playing solo for my personal goals, and answer random calls for help when I want to group up.

But I do that only because the matchmaking filters are awfully inadequate. I would add at least the ability to choose none, one or more of the following:

• District.
• Project (select one from my list of projects)
• Mission name.
• Difficulty.

I would also add a much more noticeable sound when there is a response to my request to matchmake, and always give a button to press that takes you there (since matchmaking takes so long we often go do other things in the meantime). Maybe even add a delay before a player can leave an accepted matchmaking. It is not rare to miss a matchmaking accept due to a firefight's noise, or to answer immediately and the player leaves because he didn't find you at the location because you were in the middle of fast travel.

It seems to me that a lot of the weirdness and bullet sponginess comes from the directives that people choose.

When I play solo or join a group of friends things are exactly as I expect. When I respond to a call for help - especially during US-east prime time - things often get weird (fun, but weird)... one team they go down easy and the next it takes forever to down them. For example, in a recent Heroic team it would take forever to down the enemies at control points.

it makes for interesting matches.