Random in-game freezes...need help

Ghryphon

Ghryphon

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2007

Iowa, United States

LOD

Mo/

Hey all,

For the better part of the last....6 months, I have had a lot of problems with freezing. I would just be running around in game, then all of a sudden I would stop, sound would repeat over and over and over again. My computer does not experience and strain in this, its only GW. Sometimes if I have it in a smaller windows screen, I can simply close and restart GW. But when its full screen, only thing to do is restart comp.

Ill post up specs for my pc if someone needs it to help out the issue. Everything is updated included directx and drivers. Its a year old pc running a dual core hyperthreaded processor with 2 gigs of ram. Radeon crossfire (although not running crossfire) graphics card with 512gig ddr3 or whatever it is. 256 or 512, cant remember. Ill get more info though but since I am at work, I dont have access to it all.

I have tried reinstalling, and thats about it. Anyone have any thoughts or ideas to help? Its just frusterating to be in a battle sequence and all of a sudden freeze up and take a few mins to get back in.

Any help appreciated, thanks guys.
-Tiki

wetsparks

wetsparks

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Nov 2006

I had the same problem, and someone said to re download the gw.dat file in your guild wars folder. Be prepared for it to take all night though. I did this a couple weeks ago and the problem went away.

Legandary Spartan

Legandary Spartan

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2007

Friends of God

W/Mo

mines locking up too...but it only started recently. It does it alot in GW:EN. but i like GW to much and i have not done anything drastic with my PC so it's i can't see what could be causeing it and it's making me mad because i have to "rebuild data archive" which take about 30 mins.

Ghryphon

Ghryphon

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2007

Iowa, United States

LOD

Mo/

So basically Wetsparks, re-download gw from guildwars.com right? Dont use the disks?

wetsparks

wetsparks

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Nov 2006

What I did was I went to the Guild Wars folder, deleted the gw.dat file, and then I ran an image of Guild Wars and let it re download everything. Took about 5 hours going at 100kb/sec. Haven't had any problems since.
I don't know about downloading it from the website, since I didn't do it, but I think that should work.

Ghryphon

Ghryphon

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2007

Iowa, United States

LOD

Mo/

Ahhhhhh Gotcha

Ill give it a shot and let it dl over night tonight and see how it goes. Thanks for your input and ill be sure to update you as to how it works. Much appreciated.

-Tiki

Mr_Cynical

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Aug 2006

Scotland

Region of Chosen Kings [R.O.C.K]

E/Mo

I've been having similar problems (strange freezes, sometimes able to alt-tab or ctrl-alt-del out of guild wars, but more often having to turn my comp off). Like Ghryphon, I know my computer isn't to blame (in my case because it can play Company of Heroes without difficulty), so I'll try this solution too. In case it doesn't work I've renamed my dat file rather than deleting it (ie to gw.dat.bak), and I'll post here with my results.

RinLian

RinLian

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Aug 2006

Florida

AA

I'm gonna have to try this. Although I seem to reformat windows now and again, I have my gw.dat file on my server at work that gets distributed to the machines, rather than installing all of the discs... and THEN downloading everything from scratch. Thing is, GW played fine for the longest time without error until there were updates in the sounds and effects in GW.

Ghryphon

Ghryphon

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2007

Iowa, United States

LOD

Mo/

I tried...

And to no avail, it did not work. I still freeze up and are forced to restart GW.

Anyone else wanna take a crack at it? Thanks for the support / help so far, its much appreciated.

Also I am not glad others suffer my same problem, but I am a bit relieved that its not just me...lets hope we can find some answers guys!

-Tiki

Zero The Hero

Zero The Hero

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

Well I've read alot of this Freeze up problem,and Ive had the same problem with freeze ups,and what ive noticed is that there is alot of try this try that to no avail.
Overheating-Not!
dust -Not!
more ram - Not!
update drivers - Not!
GW.dat file defrag-Not!
shutdown background prossess-Not!
-dsound/-nosound - Not!
lowering your graphics- Not!
trying to get help from Anet- BIG NOT!!!!

so what's next? so far no one has come up with a real solution to this problem,people with top line systems are having this same problem,so it must not be because you have a low end system,some people play Oblivion which has higher system requirements and run it fine,but they have this freeze up/crash with GuildWars.

ANET NEEDS TO ADDRESS THIS BIG CRASH/FREEZE UP PROBLEM!
TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE HAVING THIS PROBLEM IT MUST BE THE GAME ITSELF.

Thadius Invictus

Thadius Invictus

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2005

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Wardens of Truth

I have had this problem too. I am playing away and it could be for hours and hours and then BOOM, the game frezes and then sound starts stuttering like a skipping CD. Control+alt+delete doeasn't work or anything. Reboot is the only way. Siometimes it happens within a few hours sometime several times and hour. Thank god for reconnect and reinsert into instance or I would be verily pissed. O ther than this, I have had the game randomly minimise on it's own and once it spontainiously just closed; no warning or dialog. I never had this problem until a couple moths ago. I hope a fix comes around soon.

FlameoutAlchemist

FlameoutAlchemist

Hitmonk Extraordinarre!!

Join Date: Jan 2007

Lurking moar on my forums

Starvin Chillin on Lincoln Drive [MAFB]

Mo/Me

IF you feel you've tried everything that you can to fix the problem, and want Anet to take a look at it, you need to submit a trouble ticket with them to make them 'officially' aware of the problem. The more people that report this as an issue, the better.

Also, it helps greatly to note any particular times/instances where this freeze-up occurs.

pkodyssey

pkodyssey

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

In a cardboard box with Internet

The Order of the Frozen Tundra (TofT)

N/

I found that I was having in game lag and freezing too.

What I did was reinstall the client... helped a little.
Enabled triple buffering in your video cards 3D settings.
Downloaded and ran Contig to defrag the GW.dat file... WinXP's defrag missed it.
Moved my video card to its own rail on the power supply. It was sucking life from my HDD.
Reduced my graphics bit rate to 16bit. Minimal graphics change, but I still run everything at max in game.

All of these things together havce reduced my lag and eliminated 90% of my problems. I now run 60FPS in our guild hall (Frozen Isle). It use to be mid 20's

Most of these fixes can be found in the stickies at the top of this section.

YMMV!

MetalMan

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2007

Some Guild.

W/Mo

i'm getting this too... and its definately not my computer, since:

It only happens in certain areas (while playing on Gyala Hatchery, its happened in the same area... 3 times)

My computer performance was DOUBLED a few weeks ago, with noticable performance increase

i've sent a ticket, but... nothing yet :\

rkimball2000

rkimball2000

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Aug 2007

N/A

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by FlameoutAlchemist
IF you feel you've tried everything that you can to fix the problem, and want Anet to take a look at it, you need to submit a trouble ticket with them to make them 'officially' aware of the problem. The more people that report this as an issue, the better.

Also, it helps greatly to note any particular times/instances where this freeze-up occurs.
Whats ironic about this statement is that after sending a troubleticket they asked me to go to the forums for my issue...that public forums are monitored by employees and that is where real fixes and changes come in.

Mind boggling....I don't agree with the reactive approach.

platypustamer

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Feb 2007

The Dolorous Metronome [Time]

W/

I'm getting this problem also, and it seems that most people with the problem have one thing in common: dual-core cpus. In another thread, the poster said setting affinity helps...I'm gonna try it out and see how that goes.

Ruricu

Ruricu

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2006

치 The Spearmen 치

Quote:
Originally Posted by platypustamer
I'm getting this problem also, and it seems that most people with the problem have one thing in common: dual-core cpus. In another thread, the poster said setting affinity helps...I'm gonna try it out and see how that goes.
Aye, I didn't have this problem until I put together my dual-core. Interesting.

Tachyon

Tachyon

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

Stoke, England

The Godless [GOD]

W/

Yep, setting the affinty to run on a single core seems to work, well it does for me and a few others anyway. However, why the hell the muppets at ANet support refuse to admit there's some sort of dual-core problem is beyond me.

I've had more than a few tickets closed for no reason other than I pointed out to them that this problem is with their game/coding and not the myriad of peoples computers. It's great when official support for a game you paid for treat you like shit.

Ruricu

Ruricu

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2006

치 The Spearmen 치

A guildie with the same issue told me that he solved it by installing the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer from the AMD web site. I'll try it out and report back my findings. (If I remember to.)

iridescentfyre

iridescentfyre

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2006

W/

This might seem like a stupid suggestion, but Vertical Sync used to cause horrible video crashes for me, usually going so far as to restart my PC. I thought it was my video card dying, but all was perfectly fine with it and all other games worked fine. Because it was obviously a video-related crash (scrambled images sometimes), I tried disabling Vertical Sync just as a wild guess and haven't crashed since. Give that a try maybe?

Tachyon

Tachyon

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

Stoke, England

The Godless [GOD]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruricu
A guildie with the same issue told me that he solved it by installing the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer from the AMD web site. I'll try it out and report back my findings. (If I remember to.)
I'm sorry, but if you're running an AMD dual-core without the optimiser then you're just asking for trouble!

cosyfiep

cosyfiep

are we there yet?

Join Date: Dec 2005

in a land far far away

guild? I am supposed to have a guild?

Rt/

geez, I thought I was alone on this boat, I have been having this problem for a long time, (yep dual core too).....will try this affinity and see if that solves it (get tired of restarting my computer every other day....).

Thadius Invictus

Thadius Invictus

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2005

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Wardens of Truth

Ok, I am still getting these crashes. The game randomly locks up and stops responding. Sometimes the game minimises and there is an error report ready to send to Anet but I can't send it because the crash doesn't allow me to click the button. In this instance I can Control-Alt-Delete and restart the game. Other times the game just freezes and the sound starts stuttering like a skipping CD and I have to reboot the computer. Only the game crashes because I can tell the person I am talking with over skype that I have to reboot.

I have tried reinstalling the client several times.

I have the AMD Optimizer installed.

I have played with single and dual affinity and it still crashes.

I have defragmented to no avail.

I have both updated and rolled back my drivers. Video and Sound.

It happans regardless of what programmes I have running or if the game runs alone.

I don't know what else to do honestly. Sometimes I can play for 11 hours and no crash will happen and other times it will happen twice an hour. There is no pattern or apparent in-game cause.

Anet told me to watch the forums, so I do. Any advice people?

AMD athalon 64 3800 dual core.
invidia 6800gt.
2 gigs ram.
soundblaster audigy.

Snograt

Snograt

rattus rattus

Join Date: Jan 2006

London, UK GMT??0 ??1hr DST

[GURU]GW [wiki]GW2

R/

How's your temperatures?

Thadius Invictus

Thadius Invictus

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2005

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Wardens of Truth

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snograt
How's your temperatures?
I have been monitoring them and they have been optimal. I have evr lowered the set alarms a bit to notify me when they get higher than regularly normal.

Snograt

Snograt

rattus rattus

Join Date: Jan 2006

London, UK GMT??0 ??1hr DST

[GURU]GW [wiki]GW2

R/

Have you checked Arenanet.txt in the GW folder to see if there's any recurring reason for the crashes?

Thadius Invictus

Thadius Invictus

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2005

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Wardens of Truth

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snograt
Have you checked Arenanet.txt in the GW folder to see if there's any recurring reason for the crashes?
no i haven't, I didn't even know I could do that. anything specific I should look for..I hope I can read it.

Edit - > interesting!!

*--> Crash <--*
Exception: c0000005
Memory at address 00000000 could not be read
App: Gw.exe
ProgramId: 1
Build: 25888
When: 6/2/2008 16:18:44
Flags: 0

does it refer to video memory or ram? these are new memory sticks, I bought new ones just in case it was bad ram, so.....hummm. my mobo acting up?

BabyJ

BabyJ

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jul 2006

Illinois

SFG

Mo/

I've been having the same problem with the same lock up symptoms. I have tried everything i can and nothing has worked. I've tried updating my video drivers, didn't work. I updated my sound drivers (on board) and that seemed to work for a couple of days then it started again.
I'm running
AMD 64 5000+ dual core
nVidia 8600gt
2 gig ram

All fans working
Not getting hot
Nothing is dusty
drivers updated
drivers rolled back
drivers updated
reinstalled gw
I've done just about everything except finding a really BIG hammer. I've started looking for a sound card thinking maybe that would help since i am running on board sound. But I'm up for any advice if someone seems to find a remedy.

Oh, and i get the same thing in the gw folder.
*--> Crash <--*
Exception: c0000005
Memory at address 00000000 could not be read
App: Gw.exe
ProgramId: 1
Build: 25888
When: 6/3/2008 09:37:21
Flags: 0

Nida

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2007

Australia

Rt/

I am having the EXACT same issue, and apparently for the same reasons (am also running on AMD dual core). Its really frustrating when Im doing some HA and I get this crash as it lets the whole team down (something I hate) as I am not always able to re-connect (2 times yesterday it happend after we killed zaishen and then I could not get back to the group for underworld match). I just checked that file in my gw folder and I have the same crash message as well. Its also interesting that no one seems to know what is causing this issue, or how to resolve it. I wonder how long it will take support to find out what it is and find a sollution.

Lillith10

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2006

The desert

R/Rt

Glad I found this thread!
This has happened to me several times this week. Game freezes....loud awful stuttering..cont +alt+del...sometimes restarts...sometimes not!
It's definately the server because I was chatting away with a guildie on TS when it happened with no problem!
GRRRRR it's annoying!

DarkNecrid

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

Set single core affinity.

Quote:
However, why the hell the muppets at ANet support refuse to admit there's some sort of dual-core problem is beyond me.
UHHHH because pretty much everything that doesn't support dual cores has the same problem? It's not rocket science.

Quaker

Quaker

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Aug 2005

Canada

Brothers Disgruntled

As above - some people seem to think that the dual-core freezing issue is only a problem for GW, but not so. If you Google things like ForceCore, you'll get lots of hits mentioning other games with the same problem and same solution.