Dead Island

Dead Island

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[Patch] A dll that improves loading times (fixes a known issue not corrected in v1.3.0)
By class101 [ѕtеαмdеcκ]
For Dead Island Game version : 1.3.0 (You are welcome to contact me if the patch is out of date or if Techland provided a patch and this guide is no more needed)

Why this guide ??? Because....
My loading time without tips = 4 minutes to load a chapter/area
My loading time after tip #1 = 3 minutes to load a chapter/area
My loading time after tip #2 = 10 seconds to load a chapter/area
On Core i7-920 with 2 hard drives in a RAID0 setup with a Sound Blaster Recon3d Usb sound on Windows 8 Pro

About VAC...
Tip #1 is completely safe to VAC, Tip #2 is unsafe
By unsafe I mean I can't guarantee you VAC won't detect it, at least for me as I'm forced to use #2 because it's unplayable in Multiplayer as it is, as long you do not see me VAC banned it's safe because I always activate VAC.
I have forwarded all the informationss I have to Techland, I believe they can issue a patch that stops the error log for what it is used today....

Overview
It came to my attention that the original Dead Island Game suffer of a major problem, the loading time between scenes can take up to 15min from a PC to another. This thread has lots of replies.
While there is no official fixe for this issue, the community found a workaround that works with some affected users, but it does not always work.
Before to go deeply with the dll, I suggest you to try tip #1, credits to fbspazzy of the steampowered forums for finding this

Tip #1 (Discovery of fbspazzy in the steampowered forums *)
Set the crash.log file read-only attribute to true (Image 1)
  • Navigate to the directory %USERPROFILE%\Documents\DeadIsland\out\logs\
  • In this directory, right-click the file crash.log and hit Properties
  • In the general tab, check Read-only

Tip #2 (This guide, same approach than Tip #1 but deeply and better)
Replace filesystem_x86_rwdi.dll by the one provided by this guide (Image 2)
  • Download filesystem_x86_rwdi.dll from here hxxp:/goo.gl/ZKux2 (Hosted on Google Drive, Goo.gl host is Google's Url Shortener, replace hxxp with http)
  • In your Steam Game Library, right-click the Dead Island Game
  • In the local files tabulation, hit the button Browse local files
  • Rename the original filesystem_x86_rwdi.dll file to filesystem_x86_rwdi.dll.orig (this will be a backup)
  • Past in the same directory the patched filesystem_x86_rwdi.dll you downloaded in step #1 and confirm the replacement
  • For your trust, Arnaud Dovi the author of this patch is acknowledged several times on Microsoft.com for working to patch higher security issues in Microsoft Office, the newly provided assembly just has NOPs instructions to nullify the problematic calls and is safe for your security.

The game is now patched and will never attempt anymore to touch crash.log

If you tell me, with Tip#1 my initial loading time was of approximatively 3-4min, enough to lose co-op because my buddies can't wait in a car that I load a scene
After #2 initial load time went down to 10-15sec.

Pro note for Tip #2
I used to patch all the calls to CrashInit() with NOPs, there was approximatively 6 calls to patch in the filesystem_x86_rwdi.dll file
OllyDbg has been used to produce the new binary
Simplest not cleanest way to do it, for the cleanest way let's hope someone at Techland will kindly react.
   
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Screenshots
Image 1

Image 2
12 Comments
RIP Ozzy The Godfather Of Metal 18 Nov, 2022 @ 1:39pm 
If you put the game on an ssd or an nvme the load times are super quick. On my nvme loading times are like 5 seconds. I got a samsung 980 pro nvme pci-e 4.0 ssd.
LU1661 25 Jul, 2016 @ 8:45pm 
Thanks a LOT! did only tip one.
it was taking about 6 to 10 minutes in all load screens.
Now it is about 40seconds!!!!:steamhappy:
Demon 20 Apr, 2015 @ 1:57am 
Any way to rehost, or differently format, the link to the DLL file? Right now it says "{LINK REMOVED}[goo.gl]". Thanks, as Dead Island has horrible stutter for me that makes no sense and makes the game almost unplayable. :[
Topped Off 22 Mar, 2014 @ 7:05pm 
it is still 1.3.0 (sadly)
class101 [ѕtеαмdеcκ]  [author] 22 Mar, 2014 @ 4:56pm 
is Dead Island still 1.3.0 ?? (haven't checked since a long time ago)

if yes then you can easy access from steam the directory, Dead Island > Properties > Local files > browse local files
Topped Off 22 Mar, 2014 @ 4:09pm 
Due to the fact this still isn't fixed for me is there a way to find the file in step 2? I'm not sure where to find the file so idk
class101 [ѕtеαмdеcκ]  [author] 22 Jun, 2013 @ 2:14am 
Will have to reformat a bit all this, I didn't notice I wrote everything in the part supposed to be reserved for the guide overview LOL, apologize

:beatmeat:
Harvey Weinstein 14 May, 2013 @ 1:52pm 
*they

Harvey Weinstein 14 May, 2013 @ 1:52pm 
thx. and btw this was very helpfull and i hope cosider this
class101 [ѕtеαмdеcκ]  [author] 14 May, 2013 @ 12:36pm 
Appreciate your confirmation thank you guys, to let you know, I forwarded this to Techland, and the support forwarded this to the QA so let's hope some change in a futur versions
I will keep you informed, for the moment no problems with VAC