Game freezes/crashes randomly

[ArsenickA]

Hello,

On one of my desktop computer (specs below), the game freezes/crashes at random moments. Example, I may play 2-3 games in a row without crashing and then, the next 3 games will always freeze/crash at any moment (usually after 15 min or +).

Something I have noticed, not 100% sure about it though, is that after a clean install of FA + FAF, it seems to go fine for a while (maybe 10 games MAX) and then, once a freeze occurs, it significantly increases the chances that the future games will freeze as well, if not 100% of the next games, even if there are no mods.

PC specs:

•ASUS SABERTOOTH X58
•Intel Core i7 970
•NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
•Corsair 24 GB (6 x 4 GB)
•Crucial BX300 120GB (OS drive)
•Windows 10 Home x64
•I also have two additional data drives:
○Seagate Desktop HDD ST1000DM003
○Seagate Desktop HDD ST2000DM001

Notes:

•I disabled the built-in audio as I use a FireWire audio interface (Focusrite Saffire PRO 14) since I'm a composer and sound designer.
•I never tweaked or messed with the CPU overclocking.

Here are some logs I could have collected in the past few weeks:

Logs.zip

(402.88 KiB) Downloaded 61 times

For this specific game (attached below), I watched the replay and it froze/crashed 2 times on 4. I included the error details in 2019-06-09-SupCom-Crash-01-Replay.txt.

2019-06-09-SupCom-Crash-01.zip

(134.75 KiB) Downloaded 48 times

What have I tried in order to fix all this?

•Restart PC
•Ensure audio is forced in stereo (no surround whatsoever)
•Disconnected my FireWire audio interface
•Disabled all audio in the PC
•Tried an older version of FAF (Forged.Alliance.Forever-0.16.1-win32)
•Updated all drivers (Windows updates + GPU)
•Clean reinstall (both FAF and FA from Steam)
•Checked game files integrity with Steam
•Fresh install of my OS

Unfortunately, none of the above could have helped.


However, one thing I haven't tried yet is to install it on another hard drive like suggested in the other thread named "Crash after approximately 9-11 minutes". The unclear thing to me is, should I install both FA (from Steam) and FAF on another drive or merely one of these two?

Any help would be welcome because this is driving me crazy.

Thanks!

[Uveso]

Hello ArsenickA,

welcome to the FAForever Forum

After viewing your logs i can see that your game crashes on different addresses:

Code: Select all

EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at address 0x00000000
EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at address 0x00915402
EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at address 0x0091a574
EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at address 0x00915402
EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at address 0x0090a7a6
EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at address 0xc0830440

So its likely not the game itself crashing, but maybe something outside the game.

Then i found this:

Code: Select all

warning: c:\work\rts\main\code\src\libs\gpggal\EffectD3D9.cpp(89) invalid effect technique requested: àEm(pAnimateFlat_ADD

You GTX550 crashed while directx was trying to create an gfx effect.
Did you hear a windows "ping" sound while this happened ? (nvidia driver crashed)

I remember there where some problems with GTX 460 and GTX 550 cards when they switch powerstates.
In case you have 2 monitors, please unplug the second monitor and try again.
And/or set your gfx GPU clock to a fixed value. The card itself must not change the powerstate. Then try again.

greetings Uveso.

PS:
Your game files and configuration looks good from what i can see inside the logs.
i would search for the crash cause inside windows/gfx drivers, not inside the game files.

[ArsenickA]

Hi Uveso,

Many thanks for your quick reply and the warm welcome!

Did you hear a windows "ping" sound while this happened ? (nvidia driver crashed)

No, I haven't. Although Windows sounds don't seem to be deactivated on this PC, I don't hear them (ex.: when an error message pops up, when empyting the recycle bin, etc.). But, when the game freezes, I see this guy (see below), but I guess it's normal.

Windows-01.png (2.1 KiB) Viewed 5846 times

In case you have 2 monitors, please unplug the second monitor and try again.

I don't have a second monitor, so this first potential culprit is eliminated . However, I have another source (from my Mac Mini) plugged in my monitor, but I never run both computers simultaneously.

And/or set your gfx GPU clock to a fixed value. The card itself must not change the powerstate. Then try again.

OK, after some researches, this is where I might need a bit of help, if possible. I checked in both the NVIDIA Control Panel and the GeForce Experience software, but couldn't find a way to set the GPU clock to a fixed value. And nothing regarding the powerstate neither (I don't even know if there could be a setting for that actually). If I could get a little guide/tuto on this, it would be great.

Cheers!

[Uveso]

You need an 3rd party programm to overclock/set your GPU clock.
https://us.msi.com/page/afterburner

Only in case it's the gfx card; Driver version 314.22 was the latest driver that worked with powerstate switching.

[ArsenickA]

Hi and thanks again for your reply.

I tried with Afterburner. However, I don't know how to proceed with it. I don't see an option to keep the GPU clock fixed at a certain value or to avoid any power state switch.

No matter what I do, it tends to change the GPU Clock as well as the Mem Clock.

However, somehow, I haven't had a crash for many games, but I just got two in a row a few minutes ago (logs of the first one in attachment):

2019-06-23-SupCom-Crash-01.zip

(6.27 KiB) Downloaded 35 times

If you are curious, here are screenshots of my MSI Afterburner settings. Unfortunately, I didn't go step by step (I should have though). If I remember correctly, I only checked "Forced constant voltage" and I overclocked the Core Clock from 900 MHz to 936 MHz.

2019-06-23-MSI_Afterburner.zip

(466.81 KiB) Downloaded 34 times

My video settings in game are set to medium. Otherwise, if I set them at high, it will cause the FPS to drop in bigger maps.

•Is there any guide I could follow to use Afterburner correctly in order to fix my issue?
•Would it be pretty much of an overclocking job? I'm really not familiar with this.

Any further help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

[ArsenickA]

Hello again,

In addition to my last reply, I'd like to add this:

Today, I replaced my GTX 550 Ti by a GTX 275 for test purposes.

The result is still the same. Here are the crash logs and replay in attachment (specifically while using the GTX 275 without MSI Afterburner).

2019-06-24-SupCom-Crashes.zip

(261.12 KiB) Downloaded 31 times

As usual, any ideas and help is always appreciated.

Thanks!

[Uveso]

Hello ArsenickA,

nice that you changed your gfx card. So we can say its not the card itself.

The crashlog shows what we already know:

Code: Select all

EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at address 0x006791e2
EXCEPTION_PRIV_INSTRUCTION (0xc0000096) at address 0x00546864

Like before, the game crashes at random memory addresses.
Nothing that can be traced

[ArsenickA]

Hi Uverso,

Alright! At least, I guess I tried everything I could with your help.

I'd like to say thank you for your time and advices. It's really appreciated!

Cheers!

[Katharsas]

Sounds like hardware issue at this point. I would install memtest86 (not memtest86+) on a USB stick and test RAM after booting from USB stick. Also make sure you try without any 3rd party anti-virus program.

[ArsenickA]

Sounds like hardware issue at this point. I would install memtest86 (not memtest86+) on a USB stick and test RAM after booting from USB stick. Also make sure you try without any 3rd party anti-virus program.

Good idea. It might take a while before I try it, but I'll let you know the results once done. Thanks!