I have the PC version of Mass Effect; it was digitally downloaded from Valve's Steam.
My system specs are:
- Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit
- Intel® Core™ i7 CPU Q 720 @ 1.60GHz
- 14 GB DDR3 Memory
- Nvidia Quadro FX 880M (Up to date drivers; no idea which older drivers work with this game)
- Direct X
11.0 (MEPC Configurator reports that DX9 is installed) - Conexant 20585 SmartAudio HD (Up-to-date drivers)
I've:
Patched to 1.02
Installed Bring Down the Sky
Installed Pinaccle Station
Verified the game cache
Reinstalled
Changed video settings to low/ removed all extra effects
Changed audio settings to and from Hardware
Tried lower-than standard screen resolutions
Tried windowed mode
Tried: Windows XPSP2, XPSP3, & Vista Compatability
Run Steam and Mass Effect.exe as Administrator
Setting Core Affinity to only 2 Cores
Tried setting PhysX to CPU and GPU
Tried renaming OpenAL32.dll to OpenAL32.bak (backed-up)
Tried renaming wrap_oal.dll to OpenAL32.dll (backed-up)
Tried removing BioEngine.ini (backed-up)
Tried running from MassEffect Launcher without Steam
Tried running only Mass Effect.exe without Steam
Tried cancelling the Steam process after the game has started
For whatever reason, however, whenever I access the Squad or Equipment menu on certain areas within certain maps and on the Normandy, the game crashes. And not just a crash to desktop, the laptop completely powers off as if it has overheated. I'm never sure where I can and cannot swap gear or actually allot Shepard's skill points. In fact, the only time I've been able to actually deck my squad out was at a point right before the Thorian boss fight. I felt pretty confident after that and decided to run to the Normandy following that mission. Opened up the Equipment menu and toggled on Wrex's helm only to crash the second it was rendered. As you can imagine, it's quite annoying. I would like to find a more permanent solution to this problem.
I am aware that this laptop is not meant for gaming. However: I've never had any heat related shut downs with this game. Even without the laptop cooler. The only game in recent memory to actually make my laptop spike to failsafe temperatures was Skyrim. That remedied itself with a laptop cooler. Other than that, nothing else forces a shutdown. In fact, I played Skyrim for ~6 hours earlier, quit the game and CoreTemp was still reporting ~75 C. But I digress; I've had Mass Effect run on all high with all effects on (except VSync, because it makes my mouse wonky in any game) at a consistent 30 FPS for extended periods of time (1~2 hours), with the fan attached, temperatures were at a steady 65-70 C. Without, they capped at about 80 C. It's just that the crash ALWAYS happens once I access the Squad or Equipment menu.
For future reference: The memory was recently pushed up to 14GB from 2GB, however Memtest has reported a pass on all sticks.
I've tried locating a log in the Event Viewer after a forced shutdown, but no dice...the only "Error" in that time frame to be picked up was an Svchost error.
Modifié par Lihtmus, 01 février 2012 - 10:58 .
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