FM2014 crash dump - What to do? How to fix?

A crash dump is a generic name for any type of crash you encounter when running the game. Contained within the file is information related to what kind of crash you have, which in some circumstances Sports Interactive will ask you to upload to their FTP.
Deleting this file will not solve your crash dump.

First, remove any custom graphics

To get to the bottom of your issue, first up we'd ask you to remove any custom graphics/logos/skins etc you've added to your game to see if it was caused by them. If not, we'd then suggest the following:

Delete your settings files

To delete your Preferences Files please do the following:

Windows XP:
1. Click "Start" then click "Run"
2. Type the following into the run box and press "Enter": %appdata% (Make sure you press Enter, it may otherwise say 'No items match your search')
3. Go into the "Sports Interactive" Folder.
4. Go to the "Football Manager 2014" Folder.
5. Delete the "Preferences" Folder found inside here.

Windows Vista and Windows 7:
1. Click "Start"
2. Within the "Search Programs and Files" box, paste the following then press "Enter": %localappdata%/sports interactive/football manager 2014 (Make sure you press Enter, it may otherwise say 'No items match your search')
3. Delete "Preferences" folder

Windows 8:
1. Click "Desktop."
2. Launch a file explorer window (a folder for example or just press the windows key + the letter "E" at the same time)
3. In the address bar at the top copy and paste the following then press "Enter": %localappdata%/sports interactive/football manager 2014 (Make sure you press Enter, it may otherwise say 'No items match your search')
4. Delete the "Preferences" folder

Please bear in mind, these are not your save games or the same folder which contains these, this folder is completely unrelated.

Verify your game cache

- Load Steam
- From the Library section, right-click on the game and select Properties from the menu.
- Select the Local files tab and click the 'VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAMECACHE...' button.
- Steam will verify the game's files - this process may take several minutes.
- Once the process is completed, the Check Window will automatically exit.
- We recommend verifying your cache twice to make sure all files are fully downloaded

Change GPU rendering

Usual Symptom: After launching the game, the screen is grey or black so I can't see anything or the menu buttons appear jumbled.

Your Graphics Card is likely having issues running the game in 'GPU Rendering mode'. If you change it to 'Software Rendering mode' this should solve your problem.

To do this via the in-game preferences, follow the instructions below:
- Enter your in-game preferences
- Click the 'Interface' tab
- Within the 'General' panel change the 'Rendering Mode' from 'GPU Assisted' to 'Software'
- Click the 'Confirm' button

If you cannot access your preferences you can change this when first launching the game by pressing and briefly holding:

ALT + SHIFT + F10 all at the same time.

This should resolve your issue.

Last resort, report it on SI forums

If none of that works, we'll ask you to register on the official Sports Interactive forums and create your own thread within the Tech Issues/Crashes sub-forum.

Within this thread they'll need you to tell them when exactly the game crashes for you.

- Is it always on the same date, or is it random?
- Have you used any type of editing tool? If so, what changes did you make?
- If the crash is random, when does it occur? Is it during processing, when clicking a specific screen (say a players profile) or is it during or when going to a match?

If crash always occurs on the same date...

If your crash is always on the same date and the above steps haven't helped, please upload your save game to their FTP and let them know the file name and date it crashes within your own thread. FTP details.

They'd then ask you for technical information, such as if you're running any kind of anti-virus and what type and to post your dxdiag details for them to look at.

How to access and post your dxdiag details:
1. Go to your Start Menu (Windows).
2. For XP: Click on Run in the Start Menu.
For Vista/Win7/Win8: On the bottom left there should be start search area. Type in Run then press Enter.
3. Type in dxdiag then press Enter.
4. Dxdiag window should open. If it asks you all sorts of license questions just say yes.
5. On the bottom portion of the dxdiag window there should be a button that says Save All
6. Save the file as a txt document.

Once this has been done, a member of SI technical team will be able to reply to your thread and attempt to resolve your issue.

Even for me, who plays FM for many years, is this useful. Thanks buddy

An extremely useful piece, will help thousands of people!

I delete the preferences and cache file every time I start the game but is there a more long term fix?! Or have I just gotta wait for SI to fix it

I did what you said and now my game is really slow but not everything it's slow only when I go to search for players
an when I say slow I mean like 2 hours ....
I did everything to fix that I reinstall the game 3 times , I almost deleted hole local disk... and still the same thing
Help! =(
and I cant save the f*cking game

Excellent piece indeed ,never thought I be here looking for a solution .

In the past week my game crashed twice ,1 was for '' pure virtual cell call '' and the other was for crash dumps ,both times couldn't resume game .

Anyway proceeded to this page and done as Stam stated above ,removed all custom graphics ,deleted preferences folder and verified cache .

After I verified cache I found 5 files missing and second time I verified cache nothing ,anyway proceeded to game and heart skipped a beat when I saw save game files not there anyway checking properly I found it ,loaded up the game and played a month or so and so far no crash ,hoping for the best at the moment .

What I noticed after removing graphics and verifying cache is that game is much faster and my strikers don't like to score ...lol I had a few downloaded tactics and when removing the custom logos and etc I did not remove these .

Never the less this has so far been extremely helpful ,So big ups to Stam !!!

Good evening .. would like to inquire about the error to MANAGER ... I crashed during the games .. not in of a given date .. 2-3 fold in a game time .. normally I buy the game .. You can someone tell me HOW solves the problem;;

Hi,

I did all the steps you told except for the first one, that was to delete the graphics.

The reason for that is because I love my graphics, for me, their existence make all the difference in the game.

So, what I want to ask is if:

1) it's really really necessary to delete the graphics?

2) there is any way to rectify this problem without delete the graphics?


Please, anyone help me...