EAC Detected Local File Integrity Violation: Unknown file version (Athena\Content\Paks\[file name].pak). Application shutting down.

  • Fansea97
    Seafarer

    EAC Detected Local File Integrity Violation: Unknown file version (Athena\Content\Paks[file name].pak). Application shutting down.

    Since Season 12, on some days this specific error pops up randomly within 10-20 minutes of starting the game (file name varies), causing a crash. On some days, the game is fine. I am on Steam.

    Things I have tried:

    • Deleting the specific .pak file from the error and using Steam to verify integrity of game files. This results in the file being redownloaded and the game works for another 10-20 minutes until the error pops up again with a different .pak file.
    • Deleting the Easy Anti-Cheat folder from the Sea of Thieves folder and using Steam to verify integrity of game files. This results in files being redownloaded and the game works for another 10-20 minutes until the error pops up again.
    • Uninstalling Sea of Thieves completely and letting Steam redownload the game. I have done this twice in the past 2 weeks. It does nothing to change the frequency of crashes.

    I'd rather face a server full of cheaters than continue to deal with this. I know that game health has been touted in recent dev blogs, but I have yet to see any official statement that EAC-related stability issues are being looked at. Hopefully Rare is taking a serious look at how this tool is affecting game health.

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  • iversxn3043
    Castaway

    @fansea97 I have been facing the same issue; I did all the things you mentioned already and moved the game to another SSD. Still the same issue.

    Hope to find a solution from the devs.

  • Lem0n Curry
    Champion
    Insider

    @fansea97

    Tried the solution from here: https://www.seaofthieves.com/community/forums/topic/166891/eac-unknown-file-version-sotgame-exe?page=9

    A window expert helped me and the problem got fixed for me: uncompress game root folder and redownload game

  • Fansea97
    Seafarer

    @lem0n-curry That thread appears to be for Microsoft Store version, not Steam. I checked all folders in Steam directory and none are compressed.

  • TheGreatChan112
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    Been dealing with this for over a year now. Have over 3000 hours on this game and with all the updates, I get constant crashing. Tried all the things listed above, bought new hard drive, installed new version of Windows, deleted files, and everything Rare recommended after submitting multiple tickets. Still an issue. I hope they can figure it out as I have thousands of hours and dollars invested in this game and have always supported Rare.

  • Fansea97
    Seafarer

    Especially annoying this week because I can't possibly finish a gilded voyage and get the time-limited tattoo. Remember, I can't just rejoin session after a crash. I have to verify integrity first and redownload, which takes just enough time to kill the session.

  • Fansea97
    Seafarer

    Adding for the record that tonight I tried something suggested on Steam forums, which was to uninstall the game through Windows control panel instead of Steam. I also made sure to delete the folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\EasyAntiCheat_EOS" to ensure that a fresh copy of EAC would be installed, and I made sure that SeaOfThieves.exe, SoTGame.exe, EasyAntiCheat_EOS.exe are all allowed in Windows Security firewall (no other firewall or anti-virus used).

    Don't bother, it's a waste of time. None of it made any difference. The same error occurs, with a different file tagged each time. The game is completely unplayable for more than 5 minutes.

  • Hillbo7777
    Sailor

    I know it says its for the launch error code but this worked for me

  • Don Elias 04
    Castaway

    Has anyone found a fix for this issue? I literally bought the game today and have a total of 20 minutes play time because this keeps happening to me every 10 minutes, tried the same solutions as OP.

  • Fansea97
    Seafarer

    @don-elias-04 I tried updating my NVIDIA drivers, and since then have had a few hours of playtime without the error. I have no idea if that is related, since my drivers were only a few weeks out of date. But anyway, something to try.

  • Pepsi Max14x706
    Castaway

    I'm getting this issue too, anyone found a fix?

  • KillerKrab3751
    Castaway

    This doesn't answer the original problem (maybe), but if you try opening another game and you can't due to Easy-Anti Cheat being outdated and running on something else, try opening task manager. You'll most likely see a game running that isn't supposed to be

  • malikan777777
    Castaway

    @fansea97 Unfortunately didn't work for me.
    I've tried:
    1- Redownloading the game. Didn't fix the problem.
    2- Updating Graphics Card (GeForce). Didn't fix the problem.
    3- Verify files in Steam. Didn't fix the problem.
    4- Windows Update. Didn't fix the problem.
    5- Redownloading the game into another drive. Didn't fix the problem.
    6- I've deleted the mentioned file in the error message, then verified via Steam, launched the game, crashed again. Didn't fix the problem.
    7- I gave up, went out to touch some grass.........

  • ReaverTreize
    Rogue

    same problem here, please RARE, do something.

  • ooopsie7279
    Castaway

    I somehow fixed mine, I had the exact same issue; would run the game and about 5-10 minutes of it running, maybe I’d get lucky with 20 mins, it would crash and the same pop up coming on the screen.

    I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game multiple times, didn’t work. Tried going into the deep stuff of the game files and deleted the (file name) that came up in the pop up, didn’t work. Tried copy and pasting the (file name) to a different location, didn’t work. At this point I started researching a bunch and found this.

    1. Open up Steam, right click "Sea of Thieves" and choose "Properties…"

    2. Go to the "Installed Files" tab and click "Verify integrity of game files"

    3. This process can take 5-10 mins. Once complete, you can then launch the game

    This worked for me, but if not for you then follow this link and try the extra steps:

    As well as doing the first 3 steps above, I moved the game files’ location from my D Drive into my E Drive (I have a C Drive, E Drive and a D Drive, which is my SSD). I’m not sure which solution actually worked for me, but I tried both nonetheless. I can now run the game for hours on end. Hope this helps!

  • ooopsie7279
    Castaway

    @ooopsie7279 said in EAC Detected Local File Integrity Violation: Unknown file version (Athena\Content\Paks[file name].pak). Application shutting down.:

    I somehow fixed mine, I had the exact same issue; would run the game and about 5-10 minutes of it running, maybe I’d get lucky with 20 mins, it would crash and the same pop up coming on the screen.

    I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game multiple times, didn’t work. Tried going into the deep stuff of the game files and deleted the (file name) that came up in the pop up, didn’t work. Tried copy and pasting the (file name) to a different location, didn’t work. At this point I started researching a bunch and found this.

    1. Open up Steam, right click "Sea of Thieves" and choose "Properties…"

    2. Go to the "Installed Files" tab and click "Verify integrity of game files"

    3. This process can take 5-10 mins. Once complete, you can then launch the game

    This worked for me, but if not for you then follow this link and try the extra steps:

    As well as doing the first 3 steps above, I moved the game files’ location from my D Drive into my E Drive (I have a C Drive, E Drive and a D Drive, which is my SSD). I’m not sure which solution actually worked for me, but I tried both nonetheless. I can now run the game for hours on end. Hope this helps!

  • Hboy1010
    Castaway

    Follow the file path and delete the specific file that is mentioned in the error.
    Worked for me

  • Pedri Nanezgani
    Castaway

    @fansea97 Im going to assume still nothing on this? And for me it isn't just SoT it's ANY EAC game. If yall have at least one eac game working try taking the eac from that game and moving it to your SoT folder. I was hoping to do that with my SoT eac but nope even that won't work. Can't post on reddits bc my karma is low as I don't use reddit.

  • Pedri Nanezgani
    Castaway

    @pedri-nanezgani I'm going to reset my pc and see if that fixes it I'll let yall know afterwards!

  • Eloiez
    Castaway
    Insider

    Same issue here..
    I had the problem a few months ago and as it seems the issue still persists. RARE should really fix that. It seems like its going on for a long time and prevents people completely from playing the game

  • TheHeartHz
    Rogue
    Insider

    Hello all, I might have found a temporary fix. My wife's PC is suffering from the same problem.

    Same error:

    • EAC Detected Local File Integrity Violation: Unknown file version (Athena\Content\Paks[file name].pak). Application shutting down.

    Fix:

    • Deleting the EasyAntiCheat folder located at C:\Users[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\EasyAntiCheat
    • Deleting the Athena folder located at C:\Users[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Athena

    These are temporary files and once you start the game again, they will be recreated.
    You'll need to do this each time before starting the game, as restarting the PC creates the error again.
    If it works for you, please reply and let others know!

    Happy Sailing <3Hz

  • TheHeartHz
    Rogue
    Insider

    @thehearthz said in EAC Detected Local File Integrity Violation: Unknown file version (Athena\Content\Paks&#91;file name&#93;.pak). Application shutting down.:

    Hello all, I might have found a temporary fix. My wife's PC is suffering from the same problem.

    Same error:

    • EAC Detected Local File Integrity Violation: Unknown file version (Athena\Content\Paks[file name].pak). Application shutting down.

    Fix:

    • Deleting the EasyAntiCheat folder located at C:\Users[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\EasyAntiCheat
    • Deleting the Athena folder located at C:\Users[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Athena

    These are temporary files and once you start the game again, they will be recreated.
    You'll need to do this each time before starting the game, as restarting the PC creates the error again.
    If it works for you, please reply and let others know!

    Happy Sailing <3Hz

  • Mike gaming2817
    Sailor

    @thehearthz
    I've tried this two times and it didn't work

  • TheHeartHz
    Rogue
    Insider

    @mike-gaming2817 same, I guess I got lucky once because now it's not working again. Wish I could update the original post.

  • Mike gaming2817
    Sailor

    @thehearthz
    Same thing happened to me it worked for like 3 hours then stopped

  • Phoenix6612
    Castaway

    Seeing this exact error with EAC runtime installed and proton running for steam. The system is a dual boot and will run from Windows side with no problem. Launching in Steam from linux issues this error. Game is Gold rated for proton and available for SteamOS on steam deck. Please fix Rare.

    OS: Linux Mint
    GPU:NVIDIA 3070
    Drivers: Latest from Nvidia

    Reload of game from Steam in Linux tried.
    EAC runtime installed and tried with 3 separate versions of proton including Hotfix and experimental.
    additional launch options were input as recommended by ProtonDB who tracks this type of issue env -u SDL_VIDEODRIVER
    This did not help even after full system reboot and game file integrity validation.

    Please fix this so it will run again, it really sucks having a game that you love suddenly not work on a supported platform.

  • Fansea97
    Seafarer

    @Pedri-Nanezgani

    Update: It worked solidly for a few days after updating NVIDIA drivers, but then it started happening again (with NVIDIA drivers fully updated). In retrospect, I don't think NVIDIA drivers have anything to do with it.

    For those of you posting the "just verify the integrity of your files, bro" solution, please stop. We've tried that hundreds of times.

    I have not tried the recently-posted method of deleting temporary files. But I am not optimistic, because it feels like another superstitious ritual that doesn't actually do anything.

    Current situation:

    • I log on and try to do something quick and easy that will fall within the 20-minute window of crashing, like a sea fort. If I do not crash, I'm probably good for another hour or two. If I do crash, then I quit Sea of Thieves and play something else. Lately it's been about a 50/50 split of "good" days.

    • I'm waiting for the next update to see if anything changes. Drew Stevens mentioned the general issue of crashes for about 4 seconds in the latest video, but no mention of EAC.

    RARE, if you are looking at these threads, please provide some communication that you are actively investigating how EAC affects Steam players. Please be more specific in your dev communications. You can't just talk about crashes in a general sense, because who knows if you're focusing on XBox or PS5 stuff while your PC players drop off.

  • HasanHalili
    Castaway

    I just bought this game and got same error ... is there any changes on the horizon ?

  • Mike gaming2817
    Sailor

    @mike-gaming2817
    Did anyone find a fix

  • Afifslayer235
    Castaway

    @mike-gaming2817 if you buy it from steam check file integrity on steam it will be work

  • Oren301
    Castaway

    @afifslayer235 It only works for a short period of time.

  • Metry4637
    Castaway

    I just bought this game and got this error 2 minutes into the game 0_0

  • Ganuk
    Castaway

    same here .. just got 3 copies of the game for me and my sons for fathers day .. and we all have the same issue

  • Mcscrace
    Seafarer
    Founder

    New update has not resolved the issue still recive a simular error moments after launch.

  • Captain Thunt
    Seafarer
    Insider

    I've suffered this as well after taking a year off. Never had the issue in the past 6 years of playing until now. The only thing that worked for me that is very dangerous and not at all a long term fix. I completely turned off my host firewalls while playing. Both public and private. This got me through a 12 hour session without getting any EAC file integrity errors. However, since 3.0.2 release this may not be effective either (still in testing) as I am still receiving the crash Even with the firewalls turned off. Might be with trying though with caution!!!

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