17 réponses à ce sujet

[KRIZDA88]

This appears to be a windows issue to me. When it crashes it  returns to the desktop (or like today fails to minimize the game and I just have a spot in the middle up the screen with the normal mouse cursor indicating and error message is under the game) and tells me the application has encontered a problem and needs to close. The "details" of the error are useless like most "helpful" things in Windows 7 (XP was better in that respect) and basically just say the dragonage.exe encountered an error it couldn't recover from (duh!).
To start here are my laptop's specs.

Dell Studio 1558
Intel Core i5 CPU  M 520 @ 2.40GHz
6.00 GB RAM (5.86 GB usable)
64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
Video Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470; DAC Type: Internal DAC (400MHz); Total Graph Mem: 3770MB;
Dedicated Video Memory 1024MB; System Video Memory: 0 MB; Shared System Memory: 2746MB.

I have DA Ultimate Edition in disc format. I've not played Awakening yet but as it was part of the excellent $40 package
from Amazon.com I imagine it was installed along with the evil patch you all have been talking about. I haven't had any other issues besides the random and very annoying crashes. Only once have I had it crash repeatedly when doing the same thing and after a few trys I was able to move on again.

Today has been a particularly bad day for this, it it crashing every 15-45minutes. Some days I will go hours before it crashes. It is only really a problem when I forget to save often and have to do a bunch of things over again. For now it is just inconvinient, but I am wondering if anyone else has had this issue and found a solution. Windows 7 (and vista too I imagine, i never had the pleasure of using vista) has this "wonderful feature" that is supposed to protect against dangerous memory usage which cannot be turned completely off as far as I can tell, best you can do is find all the .exe files for your favorite games and tell windows to exclude them from the "feature".  I have done this and it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Anyway, any ideas or suggestion would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Update: I did read in the unofficial tech support thread about the processor fix, but not sure which one of the listed settings mine should be set on... (see above for processor specs). Thanks.

Modifié par KRIZDA88, 20 janvier 2011 - 09:40 .

[pprrff]

That is weird. I had your exact problem for a while until I switched computer. I always assumed that the problem was because of AMD, now I have intel i5 I never had the problem anymore. Have you tried to update your sound card drive? I know people who had crashes due to that.

[KRIZDA88]

I bought this computer a couple of months ago I would hope the drivers aren't bad already. I'm hesitant to mess with drivers unless I know exactly what driver I need, otherwise you are just begging to get the blue screen of death. I will see if the device manager has any updates though.

[KRIZDA88]

Windows claims sound drivers are up to date (doesn't mean much coming from windows, I know.). Here are details of the two items under the sound section in device manager and their versions in case anyone happens to know if they are truly the latest and greatest:

ATI High Definition Audio Device

Date: 9/18/2009; Version: 5.0.7000.9



IDT High Definition Audio CODEC

Date: 1/21/2010; Driver Version: 6.10.0.6267

[KRIZDA88]

I think the AMD driver for my video card may have an update. Windows says it doesn't but the Dell download site says it does. I'm still hesitant to download and install a new driver, but I guess I can always revert back to the previous version if the dreaded blue screen of death appears. If dell would just install the latest drivers when they build the systems I wouldn't have to do this... the newest version was released back in feb of 2010 and I bought this laptop in August. I will report back here on whether the fix worked or not.

[KRIZDA88]

Ok. So I did need the updated video driver, but it wasn't the problem. It just crashed on me again. Unfortunately, I am unable to see the exact error message because the game won't close until I manage to close the message that appears behind it (alt + tab doesn't work).



If someone could tell me how to optimize my processor or if they have any other suggestions it would be much appreciated. Thanks. Until then I shall get back in the habit of saving every 5 minutes (btw, should the F5 quick save say "saving game" or something? it does nothing for me so I can't tell if it is actually saving or not).

[U1tramarine]

Hi,

Im having exactly the same issue on my system although unlike your system mines not a laptop. Specs:

i7-950

Asus P5T

6gb RAM

Nvidia 460GTX

Win7 64Bit



got the game on Steam (ultimate collection), and I have tried to do the validate game files and that hasnt reported any issues. Im stuck on the circle of Magi quest because it seems my game does the CtD (Crash to desktop) when i click on a mouse hole...

I tried the usual thing of making the DA:O executable file always run as an Admin (even though i am on an admin account) and that hasnt helped. Also had the game do the same to me when the game has just saved (thank christ it didnt currupt my save ).



Any thoughts?



I was tempted to do the debug option when the game crashed (since I have Visual Studio installed) but i cant read hex code

[RaenImrahl]

KRIZDA88 wrote...

Ok. So I did need the updated video driver, but it wasn't the problem. It just crashed on me again. Unfortunately, I am unable to see the exact error message because the game won't close until I manage to close the message that appears behind it (alt + tab doesn't work).

 

What video driver version did you update to? 

[RaenImrahl]

U1tramarine wrote...

Hi,
Im having exactly the same issue on my system although unlike your system mines not a laptop. Specs:
i7-950
Asus P5T
6gb RAM
Nvidia 460GTX
Win7 64Bit

Similar question to the one above... what version of the Nvidia driver do you have installed?

[U1tramarine]

RaenImrahl wrote...

U1tramarine wrote...

Hi,
Im having exactly the same issue on my system although unlike your system mines not a laptop. Specs:
i7-950
Asus P5T
6gb RAM
Nvidia 460GTX
Win7 64Bit

Similar question to the one above... what version of the Nvidia driver do you have installed?

Nvidia driver : 260.99

[KRIZDA88]

RaenImrahl wrote...

KRIZDA88 wrote...

Ok. So I did need the updated video driver, but it wasn't the problem. It just crashed on me again. Unfortunately, I am unable to see the exact error message because the game won't close until I manage to close the message that appears behind it (alt + tab doesn't work).

 

What video driver version did you update to? 

updated to version: 8.692.1.0000, A17.

Is there any way to tell what patch my game is running on? not sure if I have 1.04 or not?

[RaenImrahl]

KRIZDA88 wrote...


updated to version: 8.692.1.0000, A17.

Is there any way to tell what patch my game is running on? not sure if I have 1.04 or not?

Check patch - on the launcher, click "Configure"... let the utility load (may take a moment)... then click "Game".  The DAOrigins.exe should be v1.04.  The launcher will be 1.01, and the others will be 1.03.  This is normal.

As to your driver... consider that the *latest* release for your chipset is actually 8.801.  The release notes are here:

http://support.amd.c...leaseNotes.aspx

It may offer you a solution... you'll have to decide if you want to install it.  I know Dell discourages it, but it's up to you.  The download page is at:

http://support.amd.c...ob_win7-64.aspx

[RaenImrahl]

U1tramarine wrote...


Nvidia driver : 260.99

Okay, that's the latest driver (at least when I checked last week... there's a beta of the next release out, but I hear it's still buggy).

Anyway, some basics to consider (and this applies to both problems in this thread):

Windows 7 is a more resource-intensive environment.  It takes more "computing power", to run demanding games like Dragon Age on a Win 7 computer than on one with XP.  The trade-off is that Windows 7 has other advantages, and I think is generally more stable for everyday use.  DA differs from some other games because it is CPU intensive.  Some people say the coding is "sloppy"... I don't know.  I just know that when I played it first on a 2-core AMD processor, all the cores were maxed, always.  DA also uses a different engine than some other games, like (I think) Mass Effect.  So it's hard to compare the two in some ways.

The point is this-- things that will make any computer crash have a greater chance of doing so when you're playing DA.  Heat is still, in my opinion a big factor.  This is especially true for laptops.  There's freeware out there to monitor heating.

Overclocking, be it factory overclocking or that done by the user, tends to make the game iffy.  Running applications in the background, even e-mail clients, puts more stress on the system.  Other users have talked alot about startup programs and drivers running in the background-- all valid points.

And of course there's graphics settings.  The best way to make DA behave is to back of on the resolution, deactivate a second monitor, and turn down/off vertical sync and AA.  Also check the configuration of your graphcis card control panel-- for example, I know there's a Dragon Age configuration something in the latest ATI driver that helped improve performance and stability for one recent user on this forum.

Wow... didn't mean to write that much. Hope something in there helps

[KRIZDA88]

Ok, I checked and I do have 1.04. I will think about the driver update, I've dealt with the crashing this long and it has yet to cause me any real problems with game progression like it has for some others. Like I said before, I'm reluctant to mess with drivers too much my last laptop had lots of issues with them and I learned the hard way how important it is to have the right drivers and only the right drivers installed. I don't doubt there is a newer release for the chipset, dell seems to get behind on driver stuff. I don't know why the version I installed today wasn't installed to begin with (it had only been out for on their own site for 6 months when they built this computer).
I have tried reducing some of the graphics settings as suggested in some other threads, I will see if that will at least prolong the periods between crashes until I get out of the circle tower (not my favorite place in the game anyway<_<).
Thank you, you have been very helpful and I really appreciate it.

P.S. Just read your above post. Even more helpful. I have also noticed that Win 7 is a bit of a resource hog compared to XP, it will use 25% of my 6GB of mem just sitting there with no programs open. My sister has same problem with hers but her has 4GB and doesn't handle it as well.  I will keep background stuff to a minimum but it's difficult because my strategy guide is a digital version (my dad would kill me if I tried to print even 10 of those 339 full color pages, lol). Anyway thanks again!

Modifié par KRIZDA88, 21 janvier 2011 - 04:21 .

[RaenImrahl]

My pleasure. I enjoy the game, got a little free time right now, and I am happy to help. One other things in your particular case-- laptops. You've got a solid system... but laptops are finicky. A little heat goes a long way with laptops... so, if you don't already, try playing as much as you can on a hard, flat surface so there's airflow under it. And my work laptops, for some reason, stayed cooler when they were plugged in, so you can try to so that as much as possible. I know that kinda defeats the idea of "laptop", but there ya go.



Good luck!!

[KRIZDA88]

RaenImrahl wrote...

My pleasure. I enjoy the game, got a little free time right now, and I am happy to help. One other things in your particular case-- laptops. You've got a solid system... but laptops are finicky. A little heat goes a long way with laptops... so, if you don't already, try playing as much as you can on a hard, flat surface so there's airflow under it. And my work laptops, for some reason, stayed cooler when they were plugged in, so you can try to so that as much as possible. I know that kinda defeats the idea of "laptop", but there ya go.

Good luck!!

Mine stays plugged in because otherwise you throw performance out the window trying to conserve battery. I have a lap desk that has a flat wood surface, and my laptop came with the nice battery that props the backend up of the table by an inch or so which is really nice. It's also good to hear that I bought a solid system, that's what I was going for. I would much rather spend $1300 on a nice machine that $800 on a piece of junk that is already outdated by the time you get it. Anyway, I shall stop rambling now

[U1tramarine]

RaenImrahl wrote...

U1tramarine wrote...


Nvidia driver : 260.99

Okay, that's the latest driver (at least when I checked last week... there's a beta of the next release out, but I hear it's still buggy).

Anyway, some basics to consider (and this applies to both problems in this thread):

Windows 7 is a more resource-intensive environment.  It takes more "computing power", to run demanding games like Dragon Age on a Win 7 computer than on one with XP.  The trade-off is that Windows 7 has other advantages, and I think is generally more stable for everyday use.  DA differs from some other games because it is CPU intensive.  Some people say the coding is "sloppy"... I don't know.  I just know that when I played it first on a 2-core AMD processor, all the cores were maxed, always.  DA also uses a different engine than some other games, like (I think) Mass Effect.  So it's hard to compare the two in some ways.

The point is this-- things that will make any computer crash have a greater chance of doing so when you're playing DA.  Heat is still, in my opinion a big factor.  This is especially true for laptops.  There's freeware out there to monitor heating.

Overclocking, be it factory overclocking or that done by the user, tends to make the game iffy.  Running applications in the background, even e-mail clients, puts more stress on the system.  Other users have talked alot about startup programs and drivers running in the background-- all valid points.

And of course there's graphics settings.  The best way to make DA behave is to back of on the resolution, deactivate a second monitor, and turn down/off vertical sync and AA.  Also check the configuration of your graphcis card control panel-- for example, I know there's a Dragon Age configuration something in the latest ATI driver that helped improve performance and stability for one recent user on this forum.

Wow... didn't mean to write that much. Hope something in there helps

Thinking about it my GFX card is overclocked out the box by standard but ill try turning it down at some point to wait and see. Also heat is no problem for me, my system stays at around 30C all the time

On the subject of laptops, yes your system is pretty solid, trust me i have to sell them everyday but I would have given you this piece of advice, generally GFX cards in laptops are slower than the desktop equivalent because they are clocked back to produce less heat. That can cause crashes especially when overclocked but on your system it *SHOULD* be fine.
The freeware heat monitoring software never used to work on my laptop since the mobile GPU wasnt the same as the desktop GPU so if you find you have issues with it not reporting anything dont worry its normal as far as I can tell.

Back on topic, if this problem is caused by sloppy coding (i.e. memory leaks) surely the devs have found the cause now especially since DA2 is out soon.... but then again im new to these forums so that comment may just cause a flame war

Just tried checking my logs for the game to see why its crashing like some sort of exception is being thrown in the code but the log doesnt even show the game crashing!

[RaenImrahl]

U1tramarine wrote...

Back on topic, if this problem is caused by sloppy coding (i.e. memory leaks) surely the devs have found the cause now especially since DA2 is out soon.... but then again im new to these forums so that comment may just cause a flame war

I suspect DA2 will be better optimized beacuse I think they learned alot from trying to patch DA:O.

Just notices the Nvidia has put out a release canadidate for the next driver... 266.58.  You may have some luck with that.

Anyway... here's the original link to my own overclocking issue... although it did not manifest itself as a crash, but as frame errors. 

http://social.biowar...8/index/5574840

I should note that since getting an updated mobo and quad core processor I have the card back on its factory settings.  Works great.

Your issue may be something different all together, of course.  Please keep up all updated.