Constant Crashing

[Tolomeo]

"If you are running a computer with a video card that has 2 cores in one brick such as a gtx 295, DoD:S my not like your pc and you may have to research stability guides on the matter."

Quote from the Marine Raider's medical handbook of knowledge.

Unfortunately, I have the GTX 295, and it has caused DoD:s to become unplayable. It will crash randomly after playing 5-20 minutes with no warning. I was not able to find a guide to help stabilize DoD:s concerning my issue.

I can play other games perfectly well, so my GPU is not broken.

Is there anything I can do to resolve this?

[Ford 1st MRB]

Try running your Direct X on a lower version.

In the launch options for the game try typing either:

-dxlevel 80

or

-dxlevel 81

Not sure if that will help but it's worth a shot.

[Tolomeo]

Alright, I will give it a shot.

[Dillon 1st MRB]

Which drivers are you using? Which OS? 32 or 64 bit?

Also, do you have any skins loaded?

The most recent version of the nVidia drivers is 258.96. I'd make sure you have updated to the most recent version (uninstalling your prior version per the nVidia release notes).

Because its an SLI on a stick card, you may want to check to see if you can adjust the profile for the card in your nVidia control panel. You may be able to tweak it.

Also, are you sure that you are crashing due to the video card? IIRC, there are crash logs/debug logs. When I get home from work, I'll see if I can find a path to them. They might tell us where the problem is.

[Tolomeo]

I am not positive that is what is causing the crashes, I am just assuming that because of what I read from the Medical book. And the fact that other games run without a hitch.

I'm using Vista and 32 bit. I don't know if this is right, but the driver version is 8.17.11.9745.

Pretty soon I am goign to update to windows 7, so if it is an issue that can not be solved without a lot of hassle , then I will just wait and see what happens after updating the OS.

[Jasko]

Whats your graphics card?

[Jasko]

Whats your graphics card?

You put your graphics card in the post topic and you first post sorry, but that is what's fucking your game up, a GTX 295, St. Denis had to switch cards just to keep playing.

[Dillon 1st MRB]

Heat is a VERY BIG DEAL with all the dual-gpu cards out there. I would download something like hwmonitor to see how hot it is getting. Run the program and see how hot it is running and let me know the temperatures (Celsius is best). When was the last time you dusted out your case? With high end video cards, you need high end maintanance. I'd get a can of compressed air and a vacuum and blow the whole thing out. Make sure that your front fans are are clear as well as the video card iteself. DO NOT BLOW IT OUT TO WHERE ANY LIQUID COMES OUT OF THE CAN. Always keep the can as vertical as possible. I know of these cards hitting 99 degrees C, which isn't safe, simply because they were dusty. The trick here is that dust acts as an insulator over your components. If dust is sitting on your stuff, that means air isn't moving across the surface to remove the heat like its supposed to.

From what I can tell, that is a driver Version 197.45. We are currently on Version 258.96. It has had a bunch of improvements in these drivers, particuarly for SLI setups (like yours). Go download some new drivers, too. You'll like it. New Vista/Win7 32bit drivers for Nvidia

[Jasko]

Dillon, are you in this office? If not you should apply. You may want to check your temperatures out, but it's the fact that you are running a GTX 295 and DoD:S hates that.

[Dillon 1st MRB]

Dillon, are you in this office? If not you should apply. You may want to check your temperatures out, but it's the fact that you are running a GTX 295 and DoD:S hates that.

I think I will. And while its true that the GTX 295 was horrible for Source games, there was a driver release that I believe fixed it. Its the whole SLI-on-a-stick thing that creates headaches. I'll go find an app now.

[Dillon 1st MRB]

Any update on this?

[Tolomeo]

Ok, I have the HWMonitor downloaded and will try it out out today and get some numbers for you.

Also downloaded the driver update.

What I don't understand is that this game was working fine for months until one day it became unstable. And this is the only source game I have issues with crashing.

[Dillon 1st MRB]

Contributing factors:

Windows pushes out updates monthly

Valve pushes out updates occaisionally, breaking a few things over and over again (see: flashlights)

Drivers come out regularly to squeak out as much performance as possible

It is entirely possible that there are issues that can be introduced through any of these, or through specific interactions between the three.

Or it could be a buildup of dust. The card needs a good spary out ever 3-6 months, depending on your climate.

Also, NEVER download video drivers through windows update. Always go to ATI or Nvidia.

Edited August 24, 2010 by Dillon 1st MRB

[Tolomeo]

I just played for about 40 minutes without any crashes, so far it is working after updating the drivers.

The max temperature the card reached was 67 C and 69 C.

[Dillon 1st MRB]

I just played for about 40 minutes without any crashes, so far it is working after updating the drivers.

The max temperature the card reached was 67 C and 69 C.

Those are pretty good temperatures. Is 40 minutes longer than you are used to? If the new drivers have it fixed (can't remember where it was mentioned), that's awesome!