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Thread: [Bug] 'Black Screen' crash. Hard reset required.

  1. #1
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    [Bug] 'Black Screen' crash. Hard reset required.

    Version Number: v0.2.4444 (and previous versions)
    Bug Title: 'Black Screen' crash
    Brief Description of Bug: After about 5 minutes of play the game crashes my computer. Hard reset necessary.
    Reproducable? Yes
    Reproduction Method: Play the game for 5 minutes...


    Description:
    The bug / problem is simple. Within about 5 minutes of starting up Sir I get a hard crash. Screen goes blank, sound loops. A hard reset (power off and on) is required. Soft reset POSTs ok but screens remain dead.

    The crash occurs with both the 64 and 32 bit binaries. The crash occurs regardless of graphics settings. All other Unity games (all other games for that matter) are stable on my system.

    The crash only occurs during the main menu or gameplay. Never during the 'island creation' process.

    Things I've tried so far:
    I assumed, given the type of crash, that this was a hardware issue to start with. After putting my computer through a series of tests, I can't find anything obvious. My system isn't ovcerclocked and is stable at all other times.

    I've tried the usual such as disabling Anti Virus and firewall.

    A little while back I had an issue that I diagnosed as my SSD (needed a frimware update, all ok now) and in the process ran memtest and HDD checks; all is ok there. I've tested video RAM and a couple of GPU 'stress tests' and it's all stable.

    Sir puts a fairly heavy load on the card, reporting 97-100% usage, but temperatures remain within what I get for most GPU heavy games.

    Not being able to locate any hardware fault, I guess Sir isn't playing nice with my setup:

    System config (nothing is overclocked):
    i5 2500k @ 3.30 GHz
    8GB RAM
    Sapphire Radoen HD6950 2GB (Using current drivers, 13.4)
    Gigabyte Z68-AP-D3 Motherboard
    Windows 7 x64

    My DxDiag
    output_log.txt

  2. #2
    Big Robot Developer
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    Have you ever been able to run this build without it crashing?

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by James Carey View Post
    Have you ever been able to run this build without it crashing?
    Nope.
    Same crash, every single time, regardless of alpha version.

  4. #4
    HMm i had a very similar issue when playing stalker COP, my system woudl blackscreen and id get an audioloop stuck in a lock. It could only be fixed by hard reset. In my case it turned out that my gfx card fan was full of fluff and it was overheating and locking up (even though the docs said the temperature was ok) I ran a card monitor and after cleaning the card the temp dropped a bit and it was fine.
    Maybe try running somethign else that is gfx intensive and see if that kills it too? (or have you already tried this?)

  5. #5
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    Have you tried sfc /scannow from the command line? Worth a shot, if there's something obscure buggered up in Windows it might find it. (/hopeless optimist)
    The bravest lad amongst our lot, 'twas his misfortune to be shot.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomnullpointer View Post
    HMm i had a very similar issue when playing stalker COP, my system woudl blackscreen and id get an audioloop stuck in a lock. It could only be fixed by hard reset. In my case it turned out that my gfx card fan was full of fluff and it was overheating and locking up (even though the docs said the temperature was ok) I ran a card monitor and after cleaning the card the temp dropped a bit and it was fine.
    Maybe try running somethign else that is gfx intensive and see if that kills it too? (or have you already tried this?)
    I ran some 'stress test' progs for the GPU such as the unigine heaven one (which is the closest those things get a game-type engine) and have been playing a lot of Planetside 2 lately (which is fairly gpu intensive).

    I'll check the fan over. It's been a while. May be that the temp readings are off.

  7. #7
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    Turns out graphics card fan is clear, but case fans filters needed a good clean. Better airflow through my case now has dropped GPU temps by a degree or two when at full tilt, but nothing spectacular.

    Recently been playing a bit of Battlefield 3 (no surprises I guess...). Whilst playing last night was the first time I've had a similar crash to the one Sir causes. Only happened once though and I've been able to play a session of BF3 for a couple of hours completely stable. Still, may be that there's a bit of instability in my system.

    As for other GPU intensive games I can play Planetside 2 fine. I've been playing a fair bit of TF2 recently and some Burnout Paradise. Though these are hardly bleeding-edge, I'd suggest they should be at best equivalent, if not more, taxing on the GPU than Sir?

    I'm gonna try setting the GPU fan power to a manual setting and have it kick in harder at higher loads. See if that works. But, if it is instability due to GPU heat at my end that does pose the question; what about Sir is putting such a huge load on the GPU that it gets hotter than when playing Battlefield 3?

    I'd be interested to know comparable GPU usage & temps people get when playing Sir compared to other games? See if it does run particularly 'hot'.

  8. #8
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    I'd edge towards optimisation. EA and DICE have a huge budget and a lot of time to optimise Battlefield for various systems. Big Robot is a team of 3 people working to develop the game, with a shoe string budget to use.

    Chances are optimisation will happen in the future, but at the moment it's the alpha build, so it's usable, but not got all the bells and whistles.
    I do YouTube (including SYABH)! www.youtube.com/darkkai3gaming

  9. #9
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    I am having the same problem. I just bought the game on steam and within 2 minutes of gameplay the screen goes black and i have to restart my pc I think i had this once befor when i was messing mith CCC (AMD) game profiles. I have a hunch that it might have something to do with Dual GPU cards..

  10. #10
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    Turns out that if I ramp my fan up, all's fine. Guess it was overheating and the GPU cutting out.

    Quite what it is about Sir that makes it run the GPU so hot I don't know.

    I'd be interested to know what temps Sir pushes other people's GPUs to? And how those temps compare to other games on the same rig?
    Last edited by Cooper42; 08-20-2013 at 11:32 AM.

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