Bug/Issue Switch - Corrupted save file? Sleep crash bug

Signed up just to report my experiences:

Stardew Valley, digital download, saved on Switch internal memory. Crashes have happened docked and in handheld mode, joycons attached in both instances, for what it matters.

All crashes were with the 10,000G backpack upgrade. All crashes occur before gold tally screen (tried days with and without items in box).

I believe I'm experiencing two separate bugs, one to do with progressing in the mines, and another with tool upgrading (specifically the copper to iron upgrade of my water can).

No prior crashes up until the following instances.

The following attempts/crashes are chronological.

Year 1, Winter 1 (First Crash)
1. Tend chickens, pet, feed, collect eggs.
2. Water in dog bowl, pet dog.
3. Pick up 5 iron bars from chest.
4. Head to blacksmith, on horse, drop off copper water can with Clint to be upgraded to iron.
5. Ride directly to normal mines. Make it from floor 70 to floor 80.
6. Ride home after collecting floor 80 reward, asleep by 1AM, hard crash.

Year 1, Winter 1 (Second Crash)
1. Tend chickens, pet, feed, collect eggs.
2. Water in dog bowl, pet dog.
3. Pick up 5 iron bars from chest.
4. Head to blacksmith, on horse, drop off copper water can with Clint to be upgraded to iron.
5. Forage, fish. I made it a point not to progress in the mines.
6. Sleep by midnight, hard crash.

At this point, I figured my crashing issue was related to my tool upgrading, after snooping around on the reddit and these forums. Began debugging.

Year 1, Winter 1 (First Non-crash)
1. Tend chickens, pet, feed, collect eggs.
2. Water in dog bowl, pet dog.
3. Asleep by 10AM, no crash, save successful, progress to Winter 2.

Year 1, Winter 2 (Third crash, tool upgrade)
1. Wake up, ignore all animals.
2. Collect 5 iron bars, mount horse, ride to blacksmith.
3. Stand outside blacksmith until 9:10AM, head inside and hand over my copper water can to Clint to be upgraded to iron.
4. Immediately ride home on horse, no interactions with townsfolk.
5. Asleep a little after 10AM, hard crash.

Year 1, Winter 2 (Fourth crash, no upgrade, mine only)
1. Tend chickens, pet, feed, collect eggs.
2. Water in dog bowl, pet dog.
3. Ride directly to normal mines. Make it from floor 70 to floor 80.
6. Ride home after collecting floor 80 reward, asleep by midnight, hard crash.

So I did some more reading, and one player suggested that the mine-related crash had something to do with keeping items you found in the mine in your inventory when you slept.

Year 1, Winter 2 (Second Non-crash, mine only)
1. Wake up, ignore all animals.
2. Ride horse directly to normal mines.
3. Elevator to floor 70, proceed down ladder to floor 71.
4. Mine first thing I found, which happened to be an iron node. I received 3 iron ore, immediately left mine.
5. Rode home on horse, immediately went to bed by 8AM. No crash, save successful, progressed to Year 1 Winter 3.

I began to wonder if it had something to do with how far into the mines I ventured:

Year 1, Winter 3 (Third non-crash)
1. Tend chickens, pet (they're peeved, didn't feed 'em yesterday ) feed, collect eggs.
2. Water in dog bowl, pet dog.
3. Ride horse directly to mines.
4. Progress to floor 75, my next milestone floor. Collect stone, iron ore, bat wings, all the while.
5. Use elevator to exit mines from floor 75, ride home on horse.
6. Asleep by 2PM, I do not deposit items in chest, I slept with them in my inventory, no crash, successful save, progress to Year 1, Winter 4.

Due to the crashes seeming a little finicky, I've begun monitoring Stardew Valley's size-on-disk as reported by the Switch's Data Management utility in system settings. I honestly don't know if the information will help at all... How big the actual save is, or how the information is stored is information I can't resolve myself, but I've known games to have issues in the past (not SDV specifically, and not on the Switch to my knowledge) with large/abnormal save files. Since it's save-related crashes we're experiencing, who knows?

Software: 878 MB
Update Data: 31.2 MB
Total: 909MB

==Edit==

I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I managed to trigger ~20 consecutive crashes, working my way back, crash after crash, slowly eliminating the various tasks I was performing while keeping the rest of my actions leading up to the crash the same. At first I thought it was the mines, but I was able to crash the game without leaving the farm. I'll spare the boring trial and error, and skip to the last two attempts.

It should be noted that both of the following instances occurred on Year 1, Winter 4. Fortune teller reported Neutral luck, for what it's worth.

Instance 1:
1. Wake up, go to TV, watch Fortune Teller.
2. Walk outside. I have a chest by the shipping container where I store supplies, including a few stacks of wood. Go to chest by shipping box to get 50 wood for chest (proximity to shipping box causes shipping box lid to open, nothing is deposited).
3. Walk back inside house, make chest from 50 wood, place by bed.
4. Deposit entire inventory, tools and all, into chest.
5. Sleep, hard crash.

Instance 2, immediately reloading after the previous crash:
1. Wake up, go to TV, watch Fortune Teller.
2. Walk outside, but do not open chest to get 50 wood, nor trigger shipping container lid to open.
3. Go back inside, deposit inventory into pre-existing chest in home.
4. Sleep, save successful, progress to Year 1, Winter 5.

The only differences between the two attempts was that, in the successful attempt where the game did not crash, a chest by the shipping container was not opened, the player inventory didn't change, and the shipping container did not open. Ultimately I'm suspicious of the shipping container (or rather, whatever underlying game function or RNG factor that may be tied to it) may have something to do with the crashing. I can't speak for anyone else, but it's the only consistent element between my own successes and failures at being able to progress without crashing at this point. It's also the only consistent element between everyone's game.

Or I could just be going crazy.

==Edit #2==

There have been some posts on the Stardew Valley subreddit referencing empty spaces in the fridge, caused by cooking a meal with ingredients from the fridge (as the game does not auto-sort the fridge inventory, which as a result leaves gaps where the ingredient was), that have been causing the sleep/save crashes.

Since reading those posts, I have emptied the inventory of my fridge into a chest. Doing so, I have been able to successfully upgrade my tools and progress as normal through the mines, no crashing! I recommend anyone experiencing these crashes to do the same and see if it works for you.

====

I'll update with any further experiences I may have.

Best of luck to the Dev team, hope y'all squash this bug. Love the game!

 

Signed up to report some details; also experienced the sleep crash for the first time today! The game crashes and switch produces "this software was closed because an error occurred". Have experienced the same crash twice on the same day, so I'm afraid to try and keep playing haha.

Crash happens after just after screen fades to black after clicking YES to sleep, but before any money tally happens. So ultimately, no progress saved from the day.

Spring, Year 2, Day 4. Have been playing for about 36 hours.

I have the 24 slot bag. Start day with a little over 20,000 g.

Things I did on both days (I believe) were
- tend to 4 chickens/2 cows/1 sheep/2 goats as normal
- make mayo & cheese, spin wool, put in new batch of pickles & wine lol
- purchase a pig!
- make an Omelet >> Farmer's Lunch
- give gifts to 4 different townsfolk (daffodil>Kent's birthday, amethyst>Abigail, Cola>Sam, Farmer's Lunch>Marnie)
- donate 1 item to museum
- place a rarecrow on farm
- purchase seeds (about 30)
- plant seeds/water crops (had about 120 crops planted by end of day)
- went to go sleep a little past midnight (I do tend to sleep pretty late every day though)

I did pretty much the same tasks, maybe in different order, since it all combined made the day pretty packed. Repeat day, I tried to have a mill built, but that was the only big variation that i can remember.

My pickaxe was at the blacksmith, but I had gone to have it upgraded from copper to a steel pickaxe the day before the crash day I believe. This has never happened when I've upgraded other tools.
Apologies if this is not enough detail, or too much haha. Unsure what to pinpoint the crash on.

Thank you & good luck figuring this bug out! Have been really enjoying the game. :' )

 

Wow this thread is growing fast

@Typhoon I tried different stuff, to get rid of the crash, but like I said, I was able to pinpoint it to the adventurers guild quest (see my first post on page 1), so I think it is not related to the bug most people are having here. I think I had a few tries where I didn't sell anything and thus didn't get the screen but it crashed anyways (because I got the quest).

I think my bug should be tracked / investigated separately from the other "crash on sleep" bugs. Should I get a similar bug like others here I'll gladly do my part to track it down.

 

Thanks for the update. As you and a handful of others are indicating, there could well be two similar bugs that have different causes.

The devs will be reading this so they should be able to determine if there are different causes.

 

"Just played the same day (Year 1, Winter 22) twice and both times it crashed. Even after I emptied everything into the chests.


Honestly the thought of doing the day over again makes me not want to play. It's a crap shoot on whether or not it will save at the end of the day."

https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewVal...sh_bug_on_the_switch_chucklefish_are/doanywh/

 

"I've had the crash happen Year 1 Winter 5 & 6 when I was upgrading my steel pickaxe. Emptied everything and did practically nothing but pick up my farming goods and days passed through. Also crashed once ( can't remember date) when I finished the Pantry community bundle (didn't crash when I didn't complete it). I waited a couple days and finished the bundle and it didn't crash then


Also, all of them gave the error before the tally screen and I have the 24 slot backpack"

https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewVal...sh_bug_on_the_switch_chucklefish_are/doakh1c/

 

"I've had the crash happen 3 times, all on Winter 12. First two times I got to level 25 in Skull Cavern for the Mr Qi challenge, second time I didn't do any mining at all. It always happens right after you press "yes" when going to sleep but before the tally of the day's shipping. I have the 36 slot backpack. I've had it happen both in handheld mode and docked."

https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewVal...sh_bug_on_the_switch_chucklefish_are/doaddbe/

 

"My game crashes when going to bed after a day where I've made chocolate cakes. I tried other recipes afterwards to see if it was cooking in general, but so far it has only happened when I've made chocolate cakes."

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw..._bug_with_stardew_valley_chucklefish/doaa959/

 

"I've replied to someone else in the SDV subreddit, but I had my first two crashes on different days last night and I'll put as much info here as I can, and tonight I'm going to summon the strength to play again, and I'll record my sleeping with my phone each night and see if I can catch another crash.

• Spring, Year 2
• Second backback (36 slots)
• Crash was the same both times: Click yes on 'go to sleep', almost instantly after the fade to black I got the error message.

First crash:

Had been mining the day before. Watered my crops, opened a bunch of geodes, put minerals in the delivery chest. Can't remember too many other details that were different to a standard day. There would likely have been some collection of Cherry Jelly from preserve jar. Was on handheld mode.

After reloading and not really doing too much different, the game continued.

Second crash (about 2 days later):

A relatively normal day - no mining, no geode cracking, so mineral sales - except I handed my watering can in to upgrade to Gold. Was on docked mode.

Went to bed after that, will load it tonight and play a day - I'll upgrade a different item to gold, and will see if I can catch the error again."

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw..._bug_with_stardew_valley_chucklefish/doa9yum/

 

Hey there I just wanted to share my experiences with this bug. The first time I had it happen was Winter 2 Year 1. I have had no other problems besides the audio crackling at times. I can't remember exactly everything I did that day but I was in the mine's and reached lvl 120. I think I had talked to some villagers, sold things then went to go to bed. That's when I got the error occurred message. I was quite upset after reaching that level in the mines so I called it quits for the day. Played my game the next day or so and did pretty much exactly what I had done before and didn't crash. I didn't know about this bug so I thought it was a fluke. I've just had it crash multiple times on me tonight.

Winter 14 Year 1(Crash)
-wake up
-move around furniture
-watch tv, learn new recipe and earn achievement
-go feed/pet/milk cows, put milk in cheese maker
-go feed/pet chickens, put eggs in mayo maker
-take cheese/mayo from yesterday to sell
-put cheese/mayo and various things in box
-go into town and Alex heart event triggers (not sure which one but I'm 4 hearts with him. It's when he's talking to the dog)
-go around giving gifts
-upgrade backpack
-process geodes
-fish for a bit
-cook to sell things then go to bed

I don't even get the lights turning off. Just as it asks me to go to bed I got the error message. So I quit then restarted and did everything pretty much the same but didn't fish or cook and crashed again.

Again I reloaded to try again. (3rd times the charm?)

-wake up, move furniture, watch tv, learn recipe, get achievement
-go to feed/pet cows/chickens
-do not milk or take eggs. Do not make cheese or mayo. Do not take goods from the day before.
-head to upgrade backpack and wait till its 9 so I can go inside.
-upgrade backpack and leave which then triggers the Alex heart event.
-go straight back to farm
-Do not sell anything
-go to bed at I0am
- save successfully


I haven't gone and played the next day yet so not sure if it will crash again or not. I thought it could be upgrading the backpack (lvl 3 backpack) which may have caused it but it wasn't that. I also have Robin building a stable on my farm at moment. I'm worried if selling things causes my game to crash that I won't be able to continue. I just wanted to share in hopes it might help find a fix. Thanks all. ♡

 

"Mine has crashed a couple of times here recently as well. This is the most recent crash. I don't Remember everything I did on my Fall 14 first crash to list here.

• I am in year 1 Fall 15
• 24 slot bag
• Steel axe, Copper pickaxe, Base hoe, Base watering can
• Crashes BEFORE tally screen, no fade out. Cut to black.
• For me, it only seems to crash if I create a community bundle. The Fall Crops bundle specifically.
• Did not seem to matter whether or not I shipped anything or opened the shipping box at all.

Will test more tonight after work."

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw..._bug_with_stardew_valley_chucklefish/dob5tmu/

 

Just to be confirm this - can you be absolutely certain whether the game crashed before or after the gold tally screen ? Thanks. Sorry to keep asking, it's just that this is very unusual as 99% of people are experiencing the crash before the gold tally screen is displayed.

Thanks

 

"Just wanted to chime in here! Was able to play normally up until Winter 1 year 1 when it seems like all the bugs people were reporting finally hit me. At that point I had fully upgraded bag, upgraded to big coop and big barn, and had 1st house upgrade. Also had steel axe, gold pickaxe, gold watering can, steel hoe.


Instances are below 1) Day 1 crash: Completed the bundle, got iridium rod, mined, put some stuff in sell box, and upgraded from steel axe to gold axe. Crashes right after I press yes on prompt to go to sleep. Never shows tally. Keeps crashing when I retry until I decide to just complete the bundle then it finally shows the junimos repairing the bus and continues as normal. I decide to retry the axe the next day, crashes again.


So for me it seems like the problem comes specifically from trying to upgrade the axe. Let me know if you need more info!"

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw..._bug_with_stardew_valley_chucklefish/dob93ko/

 

"Has anyone had this bug without having a kitchen? At this point, my best guess is that it has something to do with the fridge inventory."

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw..._bug_with_stardew_valley_chucklefish/dobdybj/

 

I've tested this yesterday. I had crashes when sleeping on the day of Winter 17. I had four playthroughs of this day, that I'm gonna describe next. My farm is the Mountain Farm (the one with ore in it), I'm married to Shane. Clint gives me on this day a quest to bring him an Iron Bar:

1st: I put crops from Winter Seeds on the shipping box. Sold to Willy some fish I got from a box in town that I left there a day before. Moved my Well and asked to build a Silo in its place. Brought Clint the Iron Bar and asked to upgrade my Axe to Gold. Fished before going to bed at 11pm with my tools in my bag. Crashed before tally screen.

2nd: I put crops from Winter Seeds and the fish from the box in town on the shipping box. Moved my Well and asked to build a Silo in its place. Brought Clint the Iron Bar and asked to upgrade my Watering Can to Gold. Fished before going to bed at 10pm after putting my tools in a box and slept with empty bags. Crashed before tally screen.

3rd: I put crops from Winter Seeds on the shipping box. Left the fish in the box in town untouched. Moved my Well and asked to build a Silo in its place. Brought Clint the Iron Bar and asked to upgrade my Watering Can to Gold. Used my Axe to get more than 400 of lumber and went to bed around 9pm after putting my tools in a box and slept with empty bags. Crashed before tally screen.

4th: I put crops from Winter Seeds on the shipping box. Sold to Willy some fish I got from a box in town that I left there a day before. Moved my Well and asked to build a Silo in its place. Did not talk to Clint this day. Used my Axe to get more than 400 of lumber and went to bed around 7pm with my tools in my bag. DID NOT CRASH, GOT TO WINTER 18.

After that, I thought that it's probably because of upgrading tools as I read here. So, the next day, I went at 9am to Clint and dropped my Watering Can to upgrade to Gold WITHOUT giving him the Iron Bar for the quest. Went to sleep right after that, without shipping anything. Crashed before tally screen (or, crashed right after confirming that I wanted to sleep, as there would be no tallying screen because I didn't ship anything). So, I guess I can't upgrade my Watering Can or my Axe to Gold. IMPORTANT THING: I upgraded my Pickaxe to Gold in Fall without crashing, but apparently it's impossible for me to upgrade Axe or Watering Can. I'm gonna try again with the Hoe.

After some more testing today, I pinpointed what was happening to crash my game. In Day 18 of Winter, Year 1, as I said before, I tried to upgrade the Watering Can to Gold and the game crashed before the tally screen. After writing this, I tried upgrading the Axe and going straight to bed with some items shipped. It crashed. Thenm I tried upgrading the Hoe to Steel and straight to bed. Crashed again.

In both days, 17 and 18, it is snowing. So I thought that could be related to weather. So, Winter 19, snowing, I tried upgrading again: crashed. Winter 20 was snowing again, so I kept playing normally without going to Clint. Winter 21, a sunny day, I took my Watering Can to upgrade to gold. DIDN'T CRASH.

Hopefully this is helpful for the devs. At least in my case, there is something to do with upgrading tools and weather in Winter. I had this crash before in Fall, but can't recall if it were raining and if I were trying to upgrade anything.

 

I wish it was possible for the devs to take a look at the save game data from those people who are affected with this critical bug, unfortunately though it's not possible as Nintendo won't allow Switch users to backup that data. The problem would likely be far, far easier to fix if Chucklefish could look at the data. So, in that respect, it's Nintendo's approach which is slowing down the resolution of this bug.

 

I personally have experienced the crashing on days that Clint has a tool of mine for an upgrade and I cook on the same day. It doesn’t occur any other time for me personally. I just avoid cooking during those days and it seems to be crash free.

 

If it would be helpful, and they would be willing to cover shipping costs, I would mail them my SD card with the install that is experiencing these crashes. That is assuming the save game data is also stored on the SD card and not on internal system memory. This is just a super frustrating issue to be having after over 50 hours in game.

 

Just got the sleep crash for the first time. Summer day 26. House upgraded once, bag upgraded once, no tool upgrades.

It was a rainy day so I literally headed straight to the mines and went from 10-20 (not for the first time) filling up on ore etc.. Took it back home and put everything except tools into chests. Pressed OK to sleep, straight to crash screen.

 

The save data is stored on the internal system memory. Nintendo won't allow backup =/