Situation

More and more users are reporting Royal TS crashes, caused by the "msmpeg2vdec.dll_unloaded" (Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder which is shipped with Windows). 

After the crash, you will see an event log entry in the Application log like this:

Faulting application name: RoyalTS.exe, version: 5.0.61429.0, time stamp: 0x5c77dbcf
Faulting module name: msmpeg2vdec.dll_unloaded, version: 10.0.16299.248, time stamp: 0x6fae11b2
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000000175310
Faulting process id: 0x4218
Faulting application start time: 0x01d4f4442f1b8a81
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Royal TS V5\RoyalTS.exe
Faulting module path: msmpeg2vdec.dll
Report Id: 46d92f16-a780-43ef-9282-a3fe753025f0
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID:

To connect to Remote Desktop connections, Royal TS is using the Microsoft RDP ActiveX component (which ships with Windows). It seems that this DLL is causing a non-recoverable crash, which can not be prevented from our code. This is not really specific to Royal TS, as other software products from different vendors are also affected.

What we know

After intensive testing and great support from a few customers we were able to observe the following:

  1. Windows 10 1803 and 1809 seems to be affected so far.
  2. Only appears to happen when at least one remote desktop connection was initiated once since application start.
  3. Starting Microsoft Teams seems to be a common trigger for the crash. Other applications/tools may also trigger this crash.
  4. Based on some internal tests disabling "RDP Properties - Advanced - Advanced - Connection - Bitmap Caching" seems to delay the crash, or at least it seems to be more stable.

We need your help!

We're currently trying to get as much information as possible, to be able to understand what is causing these crashes. If you want to help us resolving the issue, please provide us with the information listed below (by sending us a support ticket) and attach longer text/log files or screenshots as separate files:

  • What is your current Windows version (CTRL + R, and enter "winver")?
  • What architecture are you running? x86, or AMD64?
  • What graphic card are you having? (including integrated graphics from CPU)
  • Use following tools and attach their output accordingly
    • Download AppCrashView*, run it, click on the latest RoyalTS.exe crash and export the content below as an own file to the ticket.
    • Download InstalledCodec*, run it, right-click on "Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder" and hit "Properties". Screenshot the details popup and attach it as an own file to the ticket.
  • Go to Royal TS, click on "View - Options", then "User Interface". Please let us know what settings you have set there, specially if "Enable DirectX Rendering" is enabled.
  • Go to Royal TS and open the Properties of the Remote Desktop connections you opened before the crash appeared. Then please attach following:
    • A screenshot what is set at "RDP Properties - Advanced - Advanced - Connection".
    • One more screenshot showing what is set at "RDP Properties - Advanced - Advanced - Performance".
  • Do you have "Microsoft Teams" installed?
  • Does the crash appear when specific applications are launched, or just random?
  • Do you see any patterns when the crash appear? Is it always reliable reproducible? If not everytime, how much time as approximately between crashes?

Possible Solution

Users are reporting that setting the Compatibility Mode to "Windows 7" resolves those crashes. To set the compatibility mode, do the following:

1. Stop Royal TS instances

2. Go to the installation directory of Royal TS v5 (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Royal TS V5\)

3. Right-click and open the Properties of the RoyalTS.exe

4. Open the "Compatibiltiy" tab

5. Enable "Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 7"

6. Click OK

7. Start Royal TS

Call to action

We've seen that there's a Windows 10 Feedback Hub item already: https://aka.ms/AA4w03r

Please take a minute and click the above link or just search for msmpeg2vdec in the feedback hub app to upvote and comment to make Microsoft aware of this.

Also, please let us know if the suggested solution works or does not work for you.

Update (2019-07-22)

According to some users it seems that the update to 1903 resolves the issue. Not sure if this affects all 1903 installations but if you see the crash on a 1903 machine, let us know.


* This is a 3rd-party tool and not affiliated with us or our products.