Issue / error in older UE VR apps, crashing without error messages or logs: here are solutions / workarounds

General Feedback & Requests
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Hi!

I’ve been trying some old Rift VR apps made with Unreal on my PC running Windows 11 and an RTX 4070 Ti. Unfortunately, some are crashing as soon as they start, or a few seconds afterwards. There are no error messages, logs or hints to the cause of the crash.

I’m sharing this information with the community and the Unreal Engine development team to help preserve older apps and to provide some potential solutions/workarounds for other users and developers who might be experiencing similar issues. I hope it might help avoid the same problems with current and next Unreal Engine versions, too.

Apps crashing on my PC include:

Investigating the apps above I found the following solutions / workarounds:

7VR Wonders

  • Crashes right after being started. Error is caused by code in Unreal v. 4.21.2.0, file WindowsPlatformSslCertificateManager.cpp, function FWindowsPlatformSslCertificateManager::BuildRootCertificateArray()
  • Solution / workaround: change C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\SevenVRWonders\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini to include:
[SSL]
bUsePlatformProvidedCertificates=False

The Kremer Collection VR Museum

  • Crashes always about 60 s after being started. Issue seems to be inside libcurl 7.47.1.
  • Solution / workaround: change C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\kremerlighting\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini to include:
[Networking]
UseLibCurl=false

Empire Soldiers: A South Asian Story and
Empire Soldiers: A Caribbean Story

  • Crashes seemingly randomly up to 60 s after being started. Issue seems to be inside libcurl 7.47.1.
  • Solution / workaround: change C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\EmpireSoldiersSA\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini or C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\EmpireSoldiersCS\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini to include:
[Networking]
UseLibCurl=false

I didn’t investigate exactly what is causing the exceptions in the programs, but at a quick glance at the code, it seems to be related to certificates in the computer. At least the developer of 7VR Wonders (VRMonkey) confirmed he had the same issue running the app, so the problems are not (only) on my machine.

I hope this information is helpful, and I welcome any additional suggestions or solutions that the community might have.