Client crashing - detailed informations

Discussion in 'Player Support' started by Brainwayne, Mar 20, 2013.

  1. Brainwayne

    Hello Everyone,

    i've gone through a lot just to make absolutly sure i exhausted every possibility of solving this issue by myself before i post this here.

    Also i want to point out, that for me these crashes only appear since GU4

    (btw. sorry for my bad english)

    What's happening:

    I experience a lot of client crashes after a couple of minutes ingame.
    The amount of time i can play depends on how much "action" i am facing (so i believe)
    Sometimes i am able to play almost for an hour, but this only happens when server is deserted and i am just ghostcapping with some others.

    As soon i get to face lots of enemy units, the game suddenly freezes and crashes.


    I've tryed the following possible solutions:
    1. I did the "validate game assets" after i deleted the usual files (you know, from those copy&paste answers from CS)
    2. deleted "useroptions.ini" and also tryed almost every possible combination of settings (ingame AND "useroption.ini"-settings)
    3. increased my RAM-usage by allowing my Win7 to use the full 8GB (google "unawave" for tutorial)
    4. "unparked" my i5-cores (useless, i know)
    5. installed both PS2-versions seperatly from scratch: Steam-Version and Standalone-Version (not at same time of course)
    6. reinstalled NVIDIA-drivers and after install, i reinstalled BOTH versions of PS2 again (again, seperatly of course)
    7. i used "default-settings" in NVIDIA-Control-Center AND i tryed all possible settings (f.e. "let application decide", turning on/off "GPUPhysics", and so on...)
    8. installed NVIDIA-Beta-Driver (clean install) and did the seperate reinstall of both PS2-Versions again
    9. I created a new PS2-account, just to make sure...
    10. i even reinstalled win7 from scratch and did the testing (everthing i described here) again!!!
    With every change i was making, i was also making sure to perform those steps in the right order (f.e. first installed NVIDIA-driver and after that i installed PS2.)
    And of course i performed a system-restart after each of those changes above

    Now i am pretty sure i've exhausted every possible way to solve this issues on client-side...

    -----------------------------

    Maybe a hint: i have a strange graphic-error since GU4, which might be related to the crashes:
    No matter what i choose ingame or by setting "useroptions.ini: All ingame textures are looking way worse than before GU4 even when set textures to low after GU2 and GU3 - Ususally i played on ULTRA-Settings - But now, ULTRA-Settings dont seem to affect texture-quality anymore.

    Here are some screenshots i have just taken on Esamir (Graphic-Settings all on "High", "texure-quality=0" in "userOptions.ini" (but it doesnt matter what i set in this file, textures look all the same)

    Link to imgur-album:
    So, "textureQuality" is on 0 - You can clearly see, that texture-quality is somehow very low. (please just accept the fact that i've tryed all possible ways of setting up "useroptions.ini - so i really dont think textures should look like that when "textureQuality=0" is set)

    -----------------------------

    If the crashes are not releated to the "textureQuality"-issue i am facing, the only other thing i can think of now is, that the crashes might somehow are related to an USB-device/hub/driver-Issue - But i dont have any other devices connected than my mouse and keyboard and also i have the latest bios-update and all USB-drivers installed correctly. Also all powersaving-Settings on my USB-devices and Hubs are turned off.

    -----------------------------

    Here the DirectX-Output:
    Here the msinfo-Output:
    Specs:
    • Board: MSI - MS-7758 (BIOS Date: 12/28/12 19:51:30 Ver: 04.06.05)
    • Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3450 CPU @ 3.10GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
    • Memory: 8192MB RAM
    • DX-Version: DirectX 11
    • Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
    • HDD: 500GB SATA WDC WD5000AAKX-001CA0
    • Sound: onBoard with Realtek HD drivers (msi board)
    • Interface: USB-Keyboard (Microsoft "Sidewinder X4") and USB-Mouse (noname)

    -----------------------------

    I will also write this all in a support ticket and i really hope, either one of you guys or SOE will provide a solution soon. I just can't stand the thought Vanus and Terrans running around and not beeing owned by me :rolleyes:

    Thx in advance,

    Brainwayne ;)
  2. Terramorph

    Seems like you are making a strong effort to solve your problem, which is good. :)

    It could very well be that your persistent crashing is being caused by the game software. It does happen. If this is the case, I hope that they can quickly deliver a fix for you.

    On the other hand, gaming is very demanding on computer hardware. From the time you start a game, the cpu, memory, hard drive, power supply and graphics card all have to work flawlessly under heavy load to deliver a good gaming session. While you cannot fix the game software, you do have some control over your hardware, and while your waiting for SOE to hopefully fix your software issues, you can be checking out your hardware to make sure that all is well with it.

    From my personal experience, most of my computer gaming problems have been caused by the following:

    1. Bad RAM: Even new RAM can fail or be bad. This can cause very bad problems which get worse over time, as this will slowly corrupt all of your software. Run Memtest to test your RAM.

    2. CPU heat: Many stock and aftermarket cpu fan/heatsink combos do not mount very well to the motherboard. While the cpu fan/heatsink may appear to be mounted correctly, it is possible for the heatsink to be loosely coupled to the cpu, which will cause the processor to significantly heat up while gaming. This could cause crashing as well. Monitor cpu temps under load to be sure they are not exceeding manufactures recommendations. Run Prime95 and monitor cpu temperature.)

    3. Graphics Cards: I go through graphics cards like they were candy :rolleyes:. Drivers are critical, and so is a good power supply, but keep in mind that graphics cards can and do fail, and they might work just fine until under the load of a PC game. I play PS2 with a GTX 580 that drove me crazy with video game crashing and freezes prior to playing PS2. I finally tried underclocking the gpu, which helped, then finally read a post in a forum suggesting a slight over-volt of the card. Since I applied the over-volt with MSI Afterburner, no more crashes! I also had an HD5870 that was consistently crashing after 15 to 30 minutes of playing PS2. Updating to a newer AMD beta driver solved that problem. Don't forget to search the internet to research problems with your specific video card, as others may be experiencing a similar problem. Stress test your gpu to make sure it is healthy, but remember, do so at your own risk. You can use Furmark or something similar.

    4. Weak or insufficient power supply: Gaming computers are very demanding on power supplies. They have to handle all of that high end hardware, plus countless USB peripherals. Your power supply is heavily stressed while gaming. If it is borderline, gaming could push it over the edge. High end graphics cards require substantial power supplies. Monitor voltages to make sure they do not fluctuate. Never buy power supply that has not been well reviewed. Newegg is a pretty good source for user reviews on all kinds of computer hardware, plus there are plenty of websites out there that test and review computer hardware.

    5. Hard drives: Most hard drive failures that I have experienced are sudden and usually I would not suspect that the hard drive could be causing game crashes, but.....I have discovered that some SATA cables can produce errors. I had some no name black SATA cables with metal locking clips at each end that were causing hard drive errors. I replaced them with some no name red SATA cables without the metal clips, and that resolved the errors. Go figure o_O

    6. Overclocking: Don't do it! Overclocking anything can cause all kinds of problems. It is hard enough to get everything working right under normal clocks. If you are going to overclock, make sure everything works properly while using stock clocks by stress testing your system prior to any overclocking. Play some games and verify no crashes. If you are determined to overclock, then stress test your system again after applying the overclock. Back off if it fails. Also note that passing a stress test while overclocked is no guarantee that your game is not going to crash anyway. Electronic components (and electrical connections) degrade over time, and what was a stable overclock yesterday may not be tomorrow.

    7. Software Issues: I can't do anything about the software, except report bugs or uninstall. I'd much rather be playing games..;)


    Bottom line is that it is important to have confidence in your computer hardware before you pull all of your hair out trying to troubleshoot software problems. Stress test your system, troubleshoot any problems that you uncover. If all is well with your hardware, then all you can do is patiently wait for them to fix their software bugs, or go play a game that actually works.

    This link from ZDNet has a lot of the tools that you will need to evaluate your hardware:

    http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/how-to-stress-test-your-new-pc-to-shake-out-any-faults/16438
    I hope this is helpful.
  3. Brainwayne

    Hey Terramorph,

    many thanks for the efforts :)

    here is what i have already tested according to your list:

    1. Bad RAM: I've done a couple of memtests (used ubuntu live) and got no errors
    2. Cpu-Heat never went higher than 70-80°C, even when i played 5 hours without pause :D (that was before GU4 of course - now i cant run a 5-hour-test anymore) - I will run prime95 and update the results here later, but i really dont think that something is wrong here... well, lets see
    3. My GTX660ti works fine in all other games (Batmand:AC, Borderlands 2, Rage, TF2, etc... (all effects, textures and whatnot always on ultra, if supported) and i've also done seperate tests with latest official stable driver and beta driver - no effect
    4. Power supply: Here i am not sure - I've got the "be quiet! Pure Power 530Watt / BQT L7" which should be sufficient - so i've been told by the guy in the store (atelco). And the game literally never crashed before GU4.
    5. HDD: no metal at my cables :) Did you mean by "hard drive errors" stuff like "bad sectors" and similar? Because i tested my harddrive already with "HDD Health S.M.A.R.T." just to make sure the game isnt stumble over a bad sector in a critical loading/writing phase.
      Or did you mean another kind of error, like the metal causes a short power-high/low-peak, which causes a crash? (just to remember, it seems i only crash when facing lot of "action" ingame.)
    6. Never done it - never will :)
    7. Software Issues: cant blame my pc for that :) Also now i am using a fresh installation of win7 x32 with only the needed drivers and apps installed to run PS2 - no other third party junk installed yet :)
    I do the tests suggested by your link now and keep you informed.

    thx again for your halp :)
  4. Brainwayne

    Update:

    The tesing i've done now came to no negative result - Everything seems to be fine (CPU heat/voltage/usage, hdd-sectors all ok, RAM compatible and no errors)

    I installed lates NVIDIA BETA driver 314.14 and 314.21 now (before that i had the 314.07 WHQL installed) - still no improvement when it comes to the crashing-issue :(

    But i can choose gpuphysics now ingame and also see the particles :D (with the older drivers i could only see the sparkles when i set "forcegpuphysics=1" and "gpuphysics=1" - not the jumppad-particles and the other stuff)
    Unfortunaly, when i turn GpuPhysics on, the game crashs even faster (within the first 2 minutes) :(

    At the moment i still use 314.21 and try to see what happens - no use in keep trying other driver versions i guess?!

    any more ideas?
  5. Terramorph

    Sounds like you have been busy :)

    My HDD SATA cable problems were showing as disc access errors in Windows error reporting logs, and a couple of hiccups now and then when loading programs from disc. It was not showing bad sectors or anything like that.

    Your RAM passes, your Cpu heat is as high as mine under Prime95 with stock cooler. I would like to see it lower but I don't consider it a problem at this point. Your power supply is unknown to me, and reviews of this model all appear to be in German, so I will leave it to you to check them out ;) As for overclocking, some new motherboards seem to do this automatically. You might want to verify that this is not the case with yours.

    Your results lead me to suspect the video card itself or the video card drivers. Of course, you have to rule out the other possible hardware problems because there is no flashing red light on the video card to tell us when it is bad...

    Things to try:

    Sometimes newer video drivers are broken and don't work as you would expect. Try reverting back to an older version of the video card driver to see if it works. Since your gpu is a fairly new model, there may not be many previous driver versions to choose from. Nvidia used to store outdated video drivers on their website. I think they still do. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to troubleshoot a marginal video card. If old drivers produce the same problems as the new ones, you might want to try another video card (borrow from a friend?) or try your gpu in another computer. For troubleshooting purposes, you might also try lowering the clock speeds on your gpu (below factory settings) to see if that works. If lowering the clock speeds prevents the crashing or freezing while in game, consider sending the card in for warranty replacement.

    Another possibility that I failed to touch on earlier, relates to your internet connection. I have used Cable and DSL for gaming, and have had problems with both. Games like PS2 rely heavily on a good internet connection, and troubleshooting intermittent connection problems is no easy task. Windows error reporting will log DNS errors if you lose internet connection for a few minutes, but it does not tell you the health of your internet connection while it is connected. Packet loss caused by poor internet hardware or connection problems to and from your internet provider can ruin your game and cause crashes and freezes, but there are very few user friendly tools available for monitoring packet loss.

    Even though it is not intended as a stand alone packet loss monitor, the easiest way that I have found to look for packet loss on my internet connection is to run TeamSpeak 3 and connect to a TeamSpeak server. Once you are in TeamSpeak, you can right click your name and look at your connection info. It will show % of packet loss (which should be 0%). If it is any higher than that or if it fluctuates, that would indicate a problem between you and the internet (or between your internet provider and the internet).
    Having a way to look at packet loss can help to isolate the problem, and the data is really helpful to back up your claims should you decide to contact your internet provider.

    The VS and TR are running rampant on our servers. We need you back in action as soon as possible.

    (BTW, your English is pretty good :))
  6. Brainwayne

    awww, you are so kind :D

    I have fiber DSL which is very fast. I also have the latest drivers for my ethernet card. I tested it now on www.pingtest.net and also with PRTG Network Monitor (trial version at http://www.paessler.com) and i have 0% packet lost. (i only have a 24hour reconnect by provider, and that will crash the game for sure - but only once in 24 hours :rolleyes: ) (Btw. SOE really should implement a timeout counter :D)

    That i will try now, just to make sure. As i mentioned, i already tested the latest drivers and i am finally able to get the particle effects and sparkles running.

    Another thing is, the texture quality i mentioned in my posting. I also feel, that this crashing issue might be caused by some NVIDIA-card related thingy... Hopefully my card does not have a very very special hardware error, where it only fails to render textures in higher quality, which in the end leads to a crash (that would be crazy :confused: ) - I would think a hardware error would not let me see any textures at all, instead of rendering them very ugly :rolleyes:

    btw. i already got a response at my support-ticket, where the CS suspects that the crashes might be caused by low available physical memory - But it was my fault that they misunderstood, because i sent CS a wrong MSInfo file, where i was not using the 8GB version of win7. Instead i only had 2.34GB available physical memory...

    Well, i keep trying...

    Thanks again for your support :) I really do appreciate that you've taken the time to read all my stuff

    I'll keep this thread updated
  7. Lord Gentlecrab

    The crashing is confirmed an issue with physx from a recent update. You can try turning off physx in nvidia control panel but it did nothing for me. Just gotta get in line and wait for a patch like the rest of us.
  8. Brainwayne

    :*(

    please can you send me a link where SOE confirms that? never found nothing about it in forum
  9. starlinvf

    physx in general, or the GPU accelerated setting? I know that everytime they roll in a new physics change it tends to have massive side effects when activity scales up.
  10. Terramorph

    If you are running Windows 32 bit, you will never have more physical memory available, no matter how much memory you add. Windows partitions the available 4GB of address space on a 32 bit system in half, so that the kernel get 2GB and the program gets 2GB. There are many in the gaming community that have suggested that the 2GB memory limit in 32 bit Windows has led to crashing in some games, (including PS2). I cannot attest to this as I am running the 64 bit version of Windows 7. Since you have already said that you are running a clean install with little else on your computer, I would not think that you are running out of physical memory. That being said, there is a way that you can increase the amount of RAM available to programs in 32 bit Windows as a test. But again, this is one of those "use at your own risk" methods. You can find instructions for how to do it here: http://www.araxis.com/merge/topic_largeaddressaware.html

    I did this a while back on my wife's 32 bit Windows 7 computer (she was playing PS2 and crashing every 15-20 minutes, not very happy) but at the same time I installed a new AMD beta driver for her HD5870 GPU. The PS2 crashing stopped, and I can't be sure whether it was the memory allocation increase or the beta driver, or both, that fixed the problem.
  11. Lord Gentlecrab

    Like, in nvidia control panel go to physx configuration and change it from auto to CPU.
  12. Brainwayne

    hmm, ok - so even with the 8GB change, win7 and also PS2 cant use it, right? If so, GU4 must really have more RAM demands than the other versions before - I did not see that coming :rolleyes:


    Thanks, i will try this :)

    Pretty cool wife :cool:

    ---

    If this last atempt wont work either, i'm gonna install win7 64bit - i always hoped it would not come to this...

    Thanks again for your help :)
  13. Terramorph

    That is correct. Also, every program that you have running in the background eats into that 2 GB of available memory.

    I have no idea how much RAM PS2 actually needs in order to run properly, or if GU4 changed that. I suppose it is possible.


    Yes! ;)

    Win7 64bit will allow your programs to use more RAM, but if your video card (or video card driver) is the problem, it may not help that. You should be able to run this game in 32 bit Windows. Just need to keep an eye on background programs that might be eating into the available amount of RAM.

    Good Luck!
  14. ENGTX

    ever tried to play on low? also i had crashes at gu4 .i just updated my bios . all now at medium , graphics high , shadows and flora off . max cpu temp 60c stock cooler . gpu temp gts450 65c . these are normal air temp and playing 4 hours in row . also when getting on game stop running your msi afterburn or any other gpu overclock . yes msi afterburn freeze my bad company 2 game . everytime i use to play this game with msi running but not overclocking , just to show me gpu temp , then sudden all pc freeze . couldn't do nothing just reset button . restart pc . good luck .
  15. Brainwayne

    thx for your post.

    yes, i did play on low but the game still crashs in the same situations... the only thing that happens is that i can play a tiny bit longer..10minutes maybe (it just feels like it, but i am not sure)

    Afterburner is turned off and no other overclock running... :(
  16. Croft

    And here is another one with constant crashes since GU4, yet we get no respone...

    I mean, if they DID change how much ram the games needs after that (GU4), fine TELL us, i would love to know that so i cant stop playing until i buy a better pc/motherboard.
  17. Brainwayne

    they just dont care... :(
  18. DaNDeStRoYeR

    Hi mate.

    I had the exact same problem and I beat it.


    With the previous versions off PS2 we have been led to believe that turning your settings up will make the game smoother which up until GU6 was correct, But as I found out last night they have optimized the game more adding "Very Low" to the settings now which means people can fiddle more to get the desired results.


    I stopped the crashing by:

    RenderDistance - Change this to 500, Having it anymore really struggles your CPU and you will get high load.

    RenderQuality - Turn this down to 75% I noticed that there is a lot less fluctuation using this setting.

    Overall Settings - Low


    I see your running Nvidia the same as me, Do not enable GPU Pyshics, It is not better and actually causes more strain have this DISABLED.

    Next go to your Nvidia Control Panel, Manage 3D Settings - Look for Planetside 2 in the drop down list.

    Find "Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames" This will be set at 3, You need to turn this down to 1 as you will gain FPS and stability due to this.

    Now I am currently running PhysX but with some cards this has made problems and is better turned off this you will have to fiddle with yourself to see if its better on or off for you.

    Download Razor Game Booster - It's a free program that is designed to make your PC run as fast as it can during GamePlay ( I Gained 20fps using this program )

    This made my game stable and I run at 50fps as apose to the 20 I was getting, Hope this helps I know how annoying it can be trying to get this game to run properly!!
  19. Brainwayne

    thx a lot for your advice ^^

    i always(!) get full 60fps, even in Biolabs and amp stations and big fights (i set up 60fps in userotions.ini because i only got a 60hz monitor - so setting it to higher fps wouldnt make sense and would just lead to a higher cpu/gpu burden)

    I also use gamebooster but the game crashes anyway.

    physX is turned off, cause otherwise the game crashs within the first 5 minutes.

    pre rendered frames is on 1 since i installed ps2 the first time ;)

    I know that your settings lead to a lower cpu/gpu burden, but believe me, i've tryed all that allready and yet the game still keeps crashing. The only thing that happens is that i can play a tiny bit longer (really, i am not sure if that really is the case, it just feels like it)

    Overall i am not able to play more than 1hour - regardless of my graphic settings

    Even with very low settings its only a matter of time until the game will crash


    I still think this is caused by RAM management - somehow the client fails to rewrite or use available physical memory - It almost "feels" like there is a NULL-value-issue (i'm not keen on hardware stuff, its just a feeling based on what i've experienced ingame) - Everytime i face a lot of action in big stations after an hour of gameplay, the client crashes.
  20. DaNDeStRoYeR


    Yeah that's the same that was happening too me but when I changed these settings etc I havn't had 1 crash, I'm only running 4GB Ram and your running 8... So I really doubt it's anything to do with your ram mate!