SF2 Crash

[tn_prvteye]

And yes, I'm cross-posting this at the TW site, but I'm desperate man.

 

I've been running the SF2 series since they came out. I'm running Win 7 enterprise 64-bit. The past few days, I've been getting crashes after just a minute or so of play. It usually just dumps to a black screen, but after a while I can hit 'esc' and return to the debriefing screen. Occasionally, I have been getting a BSOD (yes, on Win 7) and then reboot.

 

I haven't changed anything that should have caused any problems.

 

A few things I've figured out:

 

1) It's related to DirectX 10. I forced DX9 and the crashes went away

2) No other programs I've tried that use DX10 are crashing (I tried Stalker and FSX)

 

I'm running an Nvidia 8800GTX with the latest Betas (260), but these crashes were occurring with the previous non-beta releases (197) as well.

For sound, I've got Realtec HD audio.

 

I've checked my RAM and found no errors. The vid cards aren't overheating (staying around 55c). I also un-installed, deleted any trace of ThirdWire programs, then did a clean, vanilla install...still crashed with DX10. And yes, DirectX is up to date (June 2010).

 

I've run SFC, and found no problems. I've Defragged. I've cleaned my registry. I've sacrificed chickens. I've now started to drink heavily.

 

What other info can I provide that might help? I am at my wits end.

[+Fubar512]

And yes, I'm cross-posting this at the TW site, but I'm desperate man.

 

I've been running the SF2 series since they came out. I'm running Win 7 enterprise 64-bit. The past few days, I've been getting crashes after just a minute or so of play. It usually just dumps to a black screen, but after a while I can hit 'esc' and return to the debriefing screen. Occasionally, I have been getting a BSOD (yes, on Win 7) and then reboot.

 

I haven't changed anything that should have caused any problems.

 

A few things I've figured out:

 

1) It's related to DirectX 10. I forced DX9 and the crashes went away

2) No other programs I've tried that use DX10 are crashing (I tried Stalker and FSX)

 

I'm running an Nvidia 8800GTX with the latest Betas (260), but these crashes were occurring with the previous non-beta releases (197) as well.

For sound, I've got Realtec HD audio.

 

I've checked my RAM and found no errors. The vid cards aren't overheating (staying around 55c). I also un-installed, deleted any trace of ThirdWire programs, then did a clean, vanilla install...still crashed with DX10. And yes, DirectX is up to date (June 2010).

 

I've run SFC, and found no problems. I've Defragged. I've cleaned my registry. I've sacrificed chickens. I've now started to drink heavily.

 

What other info can I provide that might help? I am at my wits end.

 

I'd say that either the VRAM on your graphics card, or perhaps even your PSU, is starting to fail.

[tn_prvteye]

Unfortunately, I have to agree. Although it puzzles me why no other programs are showing any signs of problems. Even the other DX10 games run fine.

[+Wrench]

sound almost like the symptoms my old XP machine gave me .... except it would shut down completely, and then I could restart it. For be few minutes. I'm pretty sure it was/is the power supply, too.

 

wrench

kevin stein

[tn_prvteye]

Well, I'm running a 1000w PSU, but I'm thinking it might be the vid-card. I WAS running an SLI until one of the 8800s died over a year ago. I'll see if I can pinch another PSU from work and test. If it's the vid-card, I'm screwed, though.

[Chrispilot]

I have a similar setup with a 9800GTX card running with a core i7 and Win7x64 and had the same problem initially. Setting the level for Effects form unlimited to anything less fixed the crashes for me.

[tn_prvteye]

Yep, that works, but why would it start giving me trouble now? I've been running SF2 at Unlimited since it came out with no problems. It does make me think the vid-card is about to die.

[tn_prvteye]

I also noticed that both the VRAM (all of the 756megs used) and the GPU (100% usage) are maxed out when I run SF2. I haven't tested other sims yet, but I'm wondering if this is normal.

[tn_prvteye]

Well, now everything crashes when the GPU is used.

 

Thanks for the help, gents...looks like I'm in the market for a new vid-card. Any suggestions for a reliable card under $200?

[+JediMaster]

Well for that price range you're looking at a Radeon 5770 or GTX 460. The 460 has received awesome reviews (compared to the ostensibly "better" 465) and is pretty much considered the BEST card at $200. It even does DX11 well.

The 5770 is ok at it, but it's also about $50 less. AMD doesn't really have a card at $200 exactly, so I went under. The 5830 is $210, but also isn't considered as good as the 460, go figure.

Anyway, here's a list of possible choices from Newegg: Linky link

There are plenty of other places to check, too, but this gives you some idea.

[tn_prvteye]

Thanks JediMaster, I went with the 460. I'm up and running again!

[Bossco82]

How are you getting on with the GTX 460, any compatability problems with SF2?

[tn_prvteye]

None so far...slight boost in performance for me. I'm running the latest Betas and everything seems to running just fine. Tested a few other sims (LOMAC, Rise of Flight, Il-2) and have had no problems.

 

Nice card.

[+JediMaster]

Keep on the driver update bandwagon, I've heard there are still a couple of titles the 460 has bugs with that will be fixed with upcoming drivers.