402 réponses à ce sujet

[Gummy35]

Could be a memory size issue ?

I have a ati hd4850 with 512MB, and ME2 worked perfectly at 1600x1200 (1920000 pixels), until I bought a new lcd monitor. Don't know if it is related, but playing at 1920x1080 (2073600 pixels) leaded to 2 crash in 3 hours.

I tried playing at 1776x1000 ( 1776000 pixels) - jeez, I didn't know such a strange res existed-, and it hasn't crashed since then.

Just my 2 cents

[Jean de Valette]

Nivekius wrote...

While further testing my graphics card I noticed OCCT has a drop down menu for shader complexity. It ranges from 0-8, so I thought using 8 would likely stress the card more. The moment I pressed go to run the test my system would crash, this seemed odd to me because with lower shader complexity it would run without too much trouble at all, for a very ong time. Also other games like Crysis or Borderland don't crash my pc like this.
Tried to find some more information on these instant OCCT crashes while using ATI cards. I found a thread on xtremesystems.org about it, the cards (some of them) basically crash because they can't handle the load (electric current). There are some explanations why these crashes are not related to the program code, one of them is that when you underclock the graphics card the program will run at shader complexity 8. So I underclocked my factory overclocked HD4870 to 750MHz for the GPU and 900MHz for the memory (Default clock for my card is GPU:800MHz and memory: 950MHz) using ATI Overdrive in the Catalyst Control Center. Did a quick OCCT GPU 8 shader complexity test of 15 minutes and have since been playing the game for about 1,5 hour without a crash yet. If this really has fixed it for me, then somehow ME2 generate more load then other games. Thought I would share this before I continue playing, perhaps someone could try this also even with an NVIDIA card.

Google:  "OCCT 3.1.0 shows HD4870/4890 design flaw - they can't handle the
new GPU test" and you will find the forum thread. 

A lot of people in that thread seem to disagree.

And why is it that ME2 causes the system, to reboot but other modern games (like Bio's own DA) don't? Sounds like a programe code issue to me.

Anyway I'll try lowering the clock speeds on my Radeon HD 4870 X2, see if that helps. Otherwise I guess I'll just have to return the game next week.

[LoPretzel]

Gummy35,

Hey! That worked for me, too!

I'll try resetting my video card to stock settings and see if the res adjust was all that was needed.

Modifié par LoPretzel, 06 février 2010 - 05:08 .

[zulu21]

Jean de Valette wrote...

A lot of people in that thread seem to disagree.

And why is it that ME2 causes the system, to reboot but other modern games (like Bio's own DA) don't? Sounds like a programe code issue to me.

Anyway I'll try lowering the clock speeds on my Radeon HD 4870 X2, see if that helps. Otherwise I guess I'll just have to return the game next week.

Who did you buy it from that will let you return an opened game? I bought it from STEAM and I only have heard of one instance of STEAM giving refunds.

[Jean de Valette]

zulu21 wrote...

Who did you buy it from that will let you return an opened game? I bought it from STEAM and I only have heard of one instance of STEAM giving refunds.

I bought it in a shop. If they won't take it back, well, then Bio screwed me royally then. I can think of a lot of things which I can do for 50 euro.
But I still find it odd because again, I have no problems with DA.

Changing overclock speed didn't help, I'm kinda hoping a patch will come real soon that fixes my problem.

Modifié par Jean de Valette, 06 février 2010 - 06:24 .

[WulvenWanderer]

Guys, I think this thread is long and diverse enough that we can drop the "faulty hardware" issue. If it IS a faulty hardware issue then it's because ME2 is destroying our hardware, not because we bought bad hardware in the first place.
Why?
Computer only crashes with ME2 (for most of us). Any way to have a constant message that it's not hardware somewhere...?

At any rate, what's the deal with this res adjust? I have a monitor that has max res of 1920x1080, but ME2 only goes up to 1680x1050.

Apparently 16:9 widescreen seems to have more res options than just 16:10. Going to try that out now.

Update: Set to max res, the game looks nicer... but it still crashes. So I think I'll try Gummy35's solution.
Didn't work, unless there is another way that I haven't tested besides removing RAM from my computer I guess I'll have to wait for a patch. =/

Modifié par WulvenWanderer, 06 février 2010 - 07:38 .

[zulu21]

WulvenWanderer wrote...

Guys, I think this thread is long and diverse enough that we can drop the "faulty hardware" issue. If it IS a faulty hardware issue then it's because ME2 is destroying our hardware, not because we bought bad hardware in the first place.
Why?
Computer only crashes with ME2 (for most of us). Any way to have a constant message that it's not hardware somewhere...?

Most of  those who are posting this hardware failing crap are just trolling. Ignore em and theyll go somewhere else.

I hope we get a patch soon.

[Jean de Valette]

Well my problems were only solved by cranking my vid card's clock speed back down too ~500mhz, the lowest setting on my card. Also turned off most fancy graphic card setting. Apparently this game really doesn't like overclocking, even if it's from the manufacturer itself. Either that or it doesn't like dual-cards or cards that mimic that process.



Since I've also hard to turn off 5.1 stereo I feel like I'm really throwing back my system to the stone age, just to get it playable.



Note that, and I'll keep repeating it, I didn't have to do anything for DA. This is bullcrap if you ask me. I cincerely hope a patch will come out for those with a half decent graphics card.

[L3m0nTwist]

Nivekius wrote...

While further testing my graphics card I noticed OCCT has a drop down menu for shader complexity. It ranges from 0-8, so I thought using 8 would likely stress the card more. The moment I pressed go to run the test my system would crash, this seemed odd to me because with lower shader complexity it would run without too much trouble at all, for a very ong time. Also other games like Crysis or Borderland don't crash my pc like this.
Tried to find some more information on these instant OCCT crashes while using ATI cards. I found a thread on xtremesystems.org about it, the cards (some of them) basically crash because they can't handle the load (electric current). There are some explanations why these crashes are not related to the program code, one of them is that when you underclock the graphics card the program will run at shader complexity 8. So I underclocked my factory overclocked HD4870 to 750MHz for the GPU and 900MHz for the memory (Default clock for my card is GPU:800MHz and memory: 950MHz) using ATI Overdrive in the Catalyst Control Center. Did a quick OCCT GPU 8 shader complexity test of 15 minutes and have since been playing the game for about 1,5 hour without a crash yet. If this really has fixed it for me, then somehow ME2 generate more load then other games. Thought I would share this before I continue playing, perhaps someone could try this also even with an NVIDIA card.

Google:  "OCCT 3.1.0 shows HD4870/4890 design flaw - they can't handle the
new GPU test" and you will find the forum thread. 

Thank you Nivekius for posting this information... I run a ATI HD4870 I was running it at GPU 790 and Memory 1100, but after reading this and nerfing my card down to GPU 750 and memory 900 I've been able to play all day without an issue. Granted once I'm done with ME2 I'm going back to the settings I've always ran but this was very helpful and should be for anyone else with an ATI HD4870 or 4890.

[LoPretzel]

WulvenWanderer wrote...

Guys, I think this thread is long and diverse enough that we can drop the "faulty hardware" issue. If it IS a faulty hardware issue then it's because ME2 is destroying our hardware, not because we bought bad hardware in the first place.
Why?
Computer only crashes with ME2 (for most of us). Any way to have a constant message that it's not hardware somewhere...?

At any rate, what's the deal with this res adjust? I have a monitor that has max res of 1920x1080, but ME2 only goes up to 1680x1050.

Apparently 16:9 widescreen seems to have more res options than just 16:10. Going to try that out now.

Update: Set to max res, the game looks nicer... but it still crashes. So I think I'll try Gummy35's solution.
Didn't work, unless there is another way that I haven't tested besides removing RAM from my computer I guess I'll have to wait for a patch. =/

What resolutions did you try? I was playing at 1920x1080 and swapped down to the next lower 16:9 resolution, and have had luck there.

[WulvenWanderer]

Yeah, I swapped down to 1680 and played for about three or so hours without trouble. So good so far.

Oh right, I also clocked my GPUs back down to 500MHz... the only problem is I can't run it at full graphics.

Perhaps the key is to make your system seem as average not single CPU as possible to the game?

Update: I've played through six or so more minor story missions and two big ones with no crashes.
What seems to have worked for me is to get Crossfire to work on one screen, then scale down the overclocking on my GPUs to minimum levels.

Hope that helps.

Modifié par WulvenWanderer, 08 février 2010 - 01:28 .

[neqsum]

Hey everyone,

managed to play all today with no crashes after previously crashing every couple of minutes. Just bumped the NB voltage up a bit - thanks low8all

[soldazzle]

Hi all,

I'm new to this thread and it seems I am having the same problems as you guys are having. My system meets/exceeds all the system requirements. I have had no problem at all playing any other game but ME2 seems to frequently display a black screen and the display flickers while the sounds still play in the background. When it does this I am unable to do anything, even CTRL+ALT+DEL, and I have to restart my computer by holding the power button for a few seconds.

The last time this problem occured was today, but since I restarted my computer I am unable to play the game at all. The ME2 launcher will shows up fine, but when I click to play, a windows message pops up saying "Mass Effect 2 has stopped working" Has anyone else seen this? BTW I am using the retail disc and not a Steam download.

My system specs are as follows:

Dell XPS 630
Windows 7 professional 64 bit
4.00 GB ram
Intel Core2 Quad Q6600
SLI Nvidia 9800 GT

Thanks in advance

[IcedDog]

zulu21 wrote...

IcedDog wrote...

WulvenWanderer wrote...
@IcedDog -> Have you tried reinstalling the game? Or did this start happening at a specific point in the game? I dunno much about NVidia drivers...

I didn't get very far in the game, right after my initial talk with the Illusive Man is as far as I got. I did try reinstalling the game once. I'm thinking about upgrading to Windows 7 and picking up some more RAM, something I've been considering anyway, maybe that will help.

Are you running Vista? Cause If so, I can say the Windows 7 is a 500% improvement on Vista. But it would appear the game doesn't like more then 2GBs of RAM. But for other games more RAM is usually better.

Yep, I was running Vista...can't say I'm all that impressed with Windows 7 though, it boots up slower than Vista did, which is pretty sad. The new RAM (from 3GB to 6GB) and new Windows 7 64bit OS haven't changed anything regarding ME2...in fact, it seems to be a little worse. I'm gonna try the RivaTuner trick to underclock my GPU and see what happens. The disconcerting thing is that normal videos now crash on me as well...beginning to think that ME2 is digital poison...****in A

[k3js_pl]

I've had the same exact problem (artifacts, graphics crash etc., both on ME1 & 2)

Nothing really worked (1 core, cooling, drivers nor settings changes)

Finally what worked for me was lowering core clock (to 450 MHz) and memory clock (675 MHZ) to the card's minimum (GF 9800 GT using EVGA Precision tool)

Since then - no crash at all, wish You all the same

[mynameisjarvis]

I'm getting this same problem



Athlon II X2 240 2.9Ghz

ATI Radeon HD 4770 512mb

4GB Ram

450w PSU



Same as everyone else, Dragon age runs roasty toasty, but Mass Effect 2 has started just losing signal and crashing. Could it be possible that my card isnt getting enough juice? I built my computer to be energy efficient but am thinking it may not vbe giving the card enough juice.



What PSU wattage does everyone else have? Could this be a problem??



P.S I always run it in a window at 1024 x768

[IcedDog]

IcedDog wrote...
Yep, I was running Vista...can't say I'm all that impressed with Windows 7 though, it boots up slower than Vista did, which is pretty sad. The new RAM (from 3GB to 6GB) and new Windows 7 64bit OS haven't changed anything regarding ME2...in fact, it seems to be a little worse.

Well, I got rid of the 2 old sticks of RAM and left in the new RAM sticks (4GB total) and noticed that Windows 7 now boots up and runs much faster. However, ME2 still crashes at the main menu every time, sometimes giving me a BSOD. I'm done troubleshooting till Bioware issues a patch, hopefully it won't be too long...does anyone know how long it took to issue a patch for ME1? Regardless, I'm not holding my breath that a patch would even fix this issue

[zulu21]

IcedDog wrote...
I'm done troubleshooting till Bioware issues a patch, hopefully it won't be too long...does anyone know how long it took to issue a patch for ME1? Regardless, I'm not holding my breath that a patch would even fix this issue

Yep, I feel ya.

[Terminus Pi]

I'm having these issues as well and I can confirm that, at least in my case, it is related to overheating.

The game will occasionally freeze up with sound in the background and after some 30 seconds it will resume. Very annoying.

I notice that it uses up a lot of CPU (close to 100%) and I'm guessing that it also overuses the GPU.

An overheated GPU is risky business - if it reaches high enough temperatures it won't only freeze or crash your system. The GPU's components expand a lot from the excessive heat and they won't exactly return to the same size/position after it cools down. Continuing to play in these conditions will make it happen again and again and every time the components get a little bit more degraded till a point is reached where video-related problems will pop up randomly in windows, making the whole system unstable.

I see some posts here where this seems to have happened already, with video cards now acting up outside of ME2.

There is no solution for this that doesn't require you to seriously tinker around with your rig to install a better cooling system or nerf down your clocks/speeds to prevent overstressing the GPU. In my case, it's even harder, because I'm on a gaming laptop and I don't have much space avaliable for improvements.

But bear in mind that, if overheating seems to be your problem, you shouldn't insist on playing it over and over again till it crashes, because it will eventually damage your video card.

[whitemufasa]

Hey again folks!



Its been a while since I last posted here... mainly because my system no longer works. So here is what happened....



It appears as though my video card is dead... when I last posted I was going to try and reinstall the game... but I decided to go even further and reinstall windows to ensure there would be no underlying corruptions. And thats when I started getting graphics glitches outside of the game. Tested the system with various pieces of software, as well as tested the video card in another computer... and the problem happens there..... so there you have it, dead 9800gtx.





That being said... it was running fine before Mass Effect 2... and I was running other, more graphics intensive games too. While upset, I am moving on and EVGA is replacing my card....



Something to note!



It appears the vast majority of people effected by the crashes and non-recoverable system freezes are using either nVidia 9xxx video cards or ATI 48xx video cards... or at least around those generations.... this is at least what i can gather from the ridiculous amounts of posts about these issues. So... it may be driver related for these cards or something about the game deals with them weirdly causing them to fail.



I feel as though the game did have a part to play in frying my video card... if only i could prove it,,,





hope this helps





(also as a side note... i don;'t think RAM is the issue)

[Jean de Valette]

ME2 stresses the better vid cards like mad. I don't know why, we're not looking at the greatest graphical achievement ever or something.



Turning down GPU clockspeeds fixes the crashing. I suppose it makes sense to be care not to let overheating happen too often, though if you keep fan speeds up regulairly it shouldn't be a problem.

[igotsmeakabob11]

I'm using a 9800GT and ME2 gives me blue screens too often to actually try playing the game.

[Terminus Pi]

Jean de Valette wrote...

ME2 stresses the better vid cards like mad. I don't know why, we're not looking at the greatest graphical achievement ever or something.

That's probably the result of unoptimized coding.
When you create software, there are many different ways to obtain the same results and some are more complex than others. Code optimization is a process where you try to "clean up" your code, so that it achieves it's goal by using the least ammount possible of code and thus taking up less resources. In games, it can also mean that optimized code is written specifically for certain hardware, taking advantage of specific features of that hardware. This would mean that someone running a game with an ATI or Nvidia card would run the game with code optimizations specifically written for that card's architecture and taking advantage of it's features. This clearly will outperform the use of "generic" code on those cards.
This is the main reason why some games with more demanding features may actually take up less resources than other more "dull" games - they have optimized code and the others don't.
This is also why the highly demanding Futuremark software works without glitches and acually stresses the system a lot less than ME2 - futuremark has one of the best code optimizations for GPU hardware out there and ME2 is clearly showing that it doesn't.
Cleaning up the code is time-consuming, but doable, so it seems that this issue could be eventually addressed via a patch.
One thing is certain right now: ME2 does appear to be using up way too many computing resources (be it Graphical or not) for the contents it's presenting.
In the meantime, avoid stressing your vid cards too much, because overheating will damage them.

Modifié par Terminus Pi, 08 février 2010 - 06:50 .

[zulu21]

Terminus Pi wrote...

That's probably the result of unoptimized coding.
When you create software, there are many different ways to obtain the same results and some are more complex than others. Code optimization is a process where you try to "clean up" your code, so that it achieves it's goal by using the least ammount possible of code and thus taking up less resources. In games, it can also mean that optimized code is written specifically for certain hardware, taking advantage of specific features of that hardware. This would mean that someone running a game with an ATI or Nvidia card would run the game with code optimizations specifically written for that card's architecture and taking advantage of it's features. This clearly will outperform the use of "generic" code on those cards.
This is the main reason why some games with more demanding features may actually take up less resources than other more "dull" games - they have optimized code and the others don't.
This is also why the highly demanding Futuremark software works without glitches and acually stresses the system a lot less than ME2 - futuremark has one of the best code optimizations for GPU hardware out there and ME2 is clearly showing that it doesn't.
Cleaning up the code is time-consuming, but doable, so it seems that this issue could be eventually addressed via a patch.
One thing is certain right now: ME2 does appear to be using up way too many computing resources (be it Graphical or not) for the contents it's presenting.
In the meantime, avoid stressing your vid cards too much, because overheating will damage them.

I belive that these optimization issues should have been caught in beta and quality assurance testing. It is simply unacceptable. I wonder if the testing computers all had the same hardware configuration. EA and Bioware have shown little interest in looking at the problem let alone fixing it. So I would be surprised if they released a patch that optimizes the game's code.

I'm going to seek out the repersentive of BIoware who posted on one these forums and send him a PM asking about the status of a patch. But I'm not holding my breath.

[corran360]

Ok! After a great deal of messing about with my rig and using this as an excuse to order some new stuff (power supply and vid card mainly) I've finally pinned down what was causing my own personal crash. The new ram i had purchased has a bad sector in one of the 2gb sticks, used memchek to run a scan on each ram stick independently and once the trouble stick was gone, no more problems. Dunno how much this helps the rest of ya but can hurt to give it a shot if you've tried everything else.

Modifié par corran360, 09 février 2010 - 05:33 .