Issues with GW in Vista 64x (crashes too)

Hello , only issue pending , issue #1 - Loading templates -

First issue: ** NOT FIXED** http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...2&postcount=15

Second issue: *** FIXED ***

**UPDATE**Third issue *** FIXED *** After removing the faulty gx2 everyhting works like a charm RMA is in process ^^

Ok, so all the graphic card related issues are fixed, finally, no more crashes and maximizing/minimizing works perfect !

The onlye issue I still have the issue #1 , loading templates takes a while , I dont know th reason, maybe I have too much templates ? lol


Thanks.

I use Vista 64, and GW runs flawlessly for me.

From your description, it sounds like the intermittent crash problem you are encountering could be a result of the gfx card overheating. I've dealt with many similar problems to this and nearly all have been due to heat. Even my wife has similar problems with GW which are caused by her gfx card getting too hot. We have a simple, low tech solution for it - pointing a small external home fan at her case solved the problem completely.

It's a simple thing to try, so I recommend finding some way to increase airflow in and around your case which will help get more cool air to the gfx card. See if that helps.

I use Vista 64 with 2 x 2 GB RAM as well and GW runs fine - even using 2 GW copies at the same time for 2 accounts.

I have had heat issues in the past as well, but that was due to the graphics card over heating, not the CPU. And nothing to do with miimizing / maximizing windows.

It seems to me - my guess - that it's the quad GPU setup you are running. If you have a spare graphics card, try pulling both graphics cards and replace them by one single GPU card and see if that changes things. If it does work then you have identifies the problem. I use an 8800 GTX and it runs fine.

If you don't have a spare graphics card try pulling one of your cards - not only disabling it.

I agree. I run GW on Vista 64 and haven't had any problems. On my previous PC I was running on a GeForce FX 5500 which started to overheat and cause significant freezing problems. Airflow didn't help me because I think the card was too far gone. Got a new one and everything runs great. Guess my advice would be try the airflow idea before worrying about memory or the graphics card.

Runs flawlessly for me on Vista 64. One thing to check is the command line options. When it installed, for some reason an option was added to call media center on exit. (Vista Home Premium)

Right click on the desktop icon that opens GW. Look in the Target: line. If there are any options there that you didn't put there, remove them making note of them first. An option is preceded by a hyphen (-).

alright , half year ago , I installed 2 extras fans on the case , taking out the heat of the video card , mmm , I need to check the temperature when the game crash. I can play , lets say UT3 all at max including AA at 2x for hours without crash, same with other games, why the temperature goes so high when playing gw only ?

That is a very good question. My wife plays a few other 3D games and none of them cause her gfx card to overheat. However, when playing Guild Wars, the gfx card will overheat within 15 minutes.

This is the 2nd video card in her system, and both have exhibited the same problem. The first was an Nvidia card, and the current one is ATI. The main problem is that her case is poorly designed and does not provide enough airflow to the video card area.

I also experienced some heat problems with my gfx card, but I was able to fix those by creating an external baffle using some packing foam which prevents the hot air from the rear & top exhaust fans from re-entering the side in intake fan. Doing that dropped my internal temps by over 5 degrees C. A similar baffle was added outside my wife's computer, and it also dropped temps by about 5 degrees C, but it still isn't enough. Adding the external house fan dropped it another few degrees which is finally enough to avoid crashes.

That makes sense , I have the 9800gx2 and there is no air cooling solution for it yet (as far as I know) so I will see what can I do to improve the air flow inside the case.

My wife use a XPS Laptop (forgot model lol) that have two 8800GTX in SLI mode with vista 64x and she doesn't experience any kind of crash or the freezing effect when loading the skill templates. And her laptop is hot like hell , but still she is not experiencing the same issue as I do.

Alright , I will try to fix this and will let you know how its going.

Thank you.

hmm, i am running a 9800 GTX+ in my rig with vista 64, and it runs gw flawlessly, there are no heat problems, to the point where the exhaust airflow is cool, even when running crysis on high settings

Are you sure that it is the heat that's the problem? if graphically intense games are running fine then i can't see a reason why a GX2 would overheat vs guild wars..

have you tried lowering your guild wars graphics settings?

edit: i am using a antec 900 case, which has fairly epic airflow imo (250mm is the way forwards! )

It doesn't sound like a heat issue to me, and even if a heat issue existed, it wouldn't account for problems #1 or #3. Furthermore, GPU overheating often causes artifacting before the game actually crashes, and the OP did not mention anything of that sort.

The first issue is kind of strange, and suggests a hard disk (or maybe file permissions) issue to me. I can't think of anything else that would affect the performance of loading templates.

As for the game crashing issues, the first thing I would look at is graphics drivers. If that checks out, remove all but one video card and see if the issue disappears; remember to try all four cards.

Hmm, i think by "Quad SLI GX2" he means 2x GX2, so he would only be able to remove one, as the gx2 is still one card, just with 2 gpu's on it.

hell, if he has got 4 gx2's then that is very impressive and also highly unnecessary

You're right, I missed the "GX2".

If you have a single-GPU card, you should try that.

Hello ,

I just had the issue again , and this time didn't crash again , I was again able to return to my desktop and finally ! yes finally I captured the error message , here it is ;



Now , how to solve this ? it is the driver not working correctly or is my graphic card dying ? lol

that could mean a number of things. among them are overheating or a card that is dying. or if you are lucky, it simply means you have a corrupted driver.

Issue #1 Still not solved , maybe because I have to many templates ?

THanks.

Alright , latest update:

-Installed windows vista 64x SP2
-Installed all windows critical updates
-Installed Nvidia latest drivers for Graphics and Phyxs
-Yesterday made a fresh installation of GW

Then I couldn't play GW , just in the logging screen I was receiving the "nvlddmkm stopped responding and has recovered" message EVERY bloody minute , making it even impossible to close GW lol. CTRL-ALT-DEL and bang to the desktop.

Ok , so I though , this bloody GW is giving me a sh*ty weekend lol , so I tried to play Prototype and same issue , I was getting the message every 2 minutes lol then I realize this is not a good sign , the game crashed and needed to reboot.

Surprise , computer didn't start anymore lol , so I removed my 9800gx2 that was on the 2nd PCI slot and left the one at the 1st PCI slot , my computer didn't start again , so I put the one from the 2nd PCI slot to the 1st slot and removed the other card and the computer started perfectly , I am running GWs now and I will test if it crash , at least , no error message at the moment, so one of my 9800gx2 is f*ck up , I will create a RMA ticket right now.

By the way the minimizing and maximizing seems to be solved now that I removed the faulty card.

I will come back with more results later or tomorrow.

Thanks.

there could be many reasons for the drivers to stop, over heating is the most likely, when your running 2 cards with 2 of them in each, your producing a tremendous amount of heat, check your temps and try to cool things down.

Now is working fine so far , no crashes and minimizing etc works good and fast. Well , one of my graphic cards is damage , it doesn't work anymore , but I got warranty so sending it for RMA.

Ok, so I am still having the problem with loading the skills templates, is that possible that I have too many templates ? is that the reason takes long to load ?

ah the damaged card explains it, as for templates....maybe you have too much, but then i have the cumulative template project thingy on guru where they have every template on PvX that's rated at great and it loads just fine, then again my stuff is in different sub folders so maybe that's why. i really cant think of anything thats making it slow to load.

Ok , thanks for letting me know about the cumulative template project, I will check that one and see if it loads fine.

I have lots of templates , but only a few on subfolder, maybe thats the reason.

Cheers.