City of Heroes crashing very frequently.

I can barely stand to play anymore. I crashed approximately 7 times on the justice server. Crazy thing is that I was not in the same place everytime, so I am compelled to blame i-14. *sorry*

---

" I don't let me kids play on the Freedom Server" -Oya

I really want to play CoX without problems, so im taking any advice I can get. I just installed CoreTemp, logged on the game, Alt+Tabbed to see what my temps looked like, as im looking at the temps (48, 45, 39, 41), my computer crashed. I will do more testing but the first crash with CoreTemp installed the temperature levels look like I am not overheating. I will try Memtest next.

List of things ive done to try and stop the crashing:
Vista Hotfix
Driver Update
Driver Rollback
Hijackthis and COH Helper(files posted in another thread somewhere no solutions from this)
Driver uninstall, driver sweeper and reinstall
CoreTemp(Testing in progress)

---

Jets L50 eLx3 Blaster (1300 Badges) @Jets or @Jets Too
L50 Stalker, 4-Tankers, 3-Scrappers, 2-Dominators, 2-Arachnos, 3-Brutes, Blaster, 4-Controllers, Defender

Ah-HA!

It's called a "bathtub curve". Unfortunately for you, if the new stuff is okay, you likely bought a "bathtub" that had a rather large rectal spike in it.



At least you were able to find a culprit.

Also, if you successfully test both sets without error, you're likely to have a bad DIMM slot or controller.

---

I wish there were better tools to monitor temp on the GPUs in your system.

Also, you can set up CoreTemp so that it creates a temp log. No need to constantly alt-tab to it. Just play until you hit a crash, then go ogle your logs.

Also, if you have something like this (crash reboot), hop into your BIOS and check the reported temps from the motherboard monitors in there. While it's VERY hard to get accurate results off that, occasionally you can catch a nasty overhead on one of the on-board thermal sensors before the system can cool down again.

And, as I said earlier. Try memtest.

Crash to desktop or lockup/loop-crashes, I can see that being just the game.

Rebooting your whole system? I have a bad feeling about this.

---

friend of mine is having similar issues with CoX. His system will run Warhammer online just fine but he wanted to try this and so far not a good turn out. I have been having monitor issues as well but that is posted in another thread ATM and I don't want to cross the streams.

**EDIT**
He is running a Dell Studio 17 with Vista Pro 64 bit

---

Since the ann. event i have been crashin a couple times a day where it goes to the city of heroes has encountered a problem and must close down screen. Other than that my computer runs fine on everything else i do all day long.

---

[ QUOTE ]
Also, if you successfully test both sets without error, you're likely to have a bad DIMM slot or controller.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ugh, I hope not. The slots seem okay, because Memtest passed for every combination of slots I tested as long as the two pairs weren't both in at the same time. But it could still be a bad controller, which would mean replacing the mobo.

I'm hoping the two pairs (same brand, different latencies) were just incompatible for some reason. The store I got them at just got the type I was using originally AND they're on sale this week, so I'm going to exchange them out. I pulled the new pair out and am running on the original 2GB, and haven't crashed all night.

Thanks for the suggestions, Hyper.

---

Main Hero: Chad Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1396 Badges
Main Villain: Evil Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1193 Badges
Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093

-----

I would also like to thank you for all your help Hyper. I ran the Memtest, no errors found. I also set CoreTemp to keep a log, my Core Temperatures never go above 54.

---

Jets L50 eLx3 Blaster (1300 Badges) @Jets or @Jets Too
L50 Stalker, 4-Tankers, 3-Scrappers, 2-Dominators, 2-Arachnos, 3-Brutes, Blaster, 4-Controllers, Defender

[ QUOTE ]
I would also like to thank you for all your help Hyper. I ran the Memtest, no errors found. I also set CoreTemp to keep a log, my Core Temperatures never go above 54.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think it's your video card. Check to make sure: a) it HAS a fan on it, and b) the fan is unobstructed and spinning. I had a video card die last summer because a small ball of dust and pet hair got caught in the fan and burnt out the motor, and was experiencing symptoms very much like your system locks and random reboots.

Depending on where your computer is located--e.g., under a desk or wedged in a corner--it might not be getting enough air flow. If possible, try taking the side panel off and see if that helps. If there's a lot of dust, purchase a can of compressed air from your local department store, take the system out onto your porch, and give it a good air dusting. Follow the directions on the can. Spraying compressed air upside down can and will damage electronic components and human skin alike.

If there's not much dust but running without the side panel does help, you should look into purchasing additional cooling fans for the system, or at the very least trying to increase the amount of airflow the PC gets by moving it out into the open.

-----
In Chad-related news, I exchanged the new RAM this afternoon for a pair that matched my old RAM and ran Memtest. It works perfectly (so far). I'll report back if I encounter anymore frequent crashing.

---

Main Hero: Chad Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1396 Badges
Main Villain: Evil Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1193 Badges
Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093

-----

The computer is just barely over a month old so its not to dusty inside the dust that was there I blew out with some canned air. Checked the video cards the fans are spinning. When I bought the computer I got a couple upgrades one of them being fans all together inside the case including my Thermaltake Cooler there is 5 fans and one on each video card. My computer is sitting on the side of my desk nothing blocking any of the ports.

And gratz on getting your machine up and running!!

---

Jets L50 eLx3 Blaster (1300 Badges) @Jets or @Jets Too
L50 Stalker, 4-Tankers, 3-Scrappers, 2-Dominators, 2-Arachnos, 3-Brutes, Blaster, 4-Controllers, Defender

Same as the rest of you - I was actually relieved to find that others are experienceing the mapserver, freeze, and debug crash issues. I had overclocking crashes post I-14 in final ITF battle but otherwise fine but the lag/graphic edges and crashes that began post anniversary patch are rediculous. Reinstalled game - no improvement - adjusted nearly every conceivable setting - no change.

Windows XP Pro
Striker II Extreme / NSE (01/09/09 & 04/06/09)
Q9550 Quad core (01/09/09)
4x1GB Corsair XMS 3 PC3-10666 (04/20/09)
(2) Asus ENGTX 260 TOP in SLI (01/09/09)
hec Cougar 1000CM (01/09/09)

Loyola - 50 Scrapper
Rogue 99 - 50 Blaster
Thor 99 - 50 Controller
Cerberus 03 - 50 Tanker
Cerberus Warrior - 50 Warshade
Falcon 84 - 50 Defender
Cerberus1 - 50 Stalker

---

hmmm, I just noticed that while posting this message my system crashed to a previously mentioned dialog box and upon closer examinaton I realized it was asking me to report the problem to "CRYPTIC STUDIOS BETA FORUMS" where there is a somewhat emotional discussion onging about recruitment of players from CoH for their CHAMPIONS beta...

---

I'll add my voice to this .... I've been crashing alot latly as well. Usually it's zoning into City02 (Just that map) or selecting ticket rewards. It either locks up and sits there, or freezes and I get one of those nifty windows that asks me what I was doing at the time of the crash.

I've also had total lockups where windows thinks it stopped working, and drops back to my desktop. I've also had my fair share of crashes just moving across a zone from point A to point B.

---

And here I thought I was crazy. My computer has never been great for gaming (runs CoH sub-standardly, to say the least), but only very rarely crashed. Twice today... Once during a load into an AE mission, the other in the middle of a fight (I just activated Inferno on my Blaster).
I want fixes...

---

I've crashed about 3 times since i14 went out, and I've never crashed before at all.

---

Lvl 50 fire/rad troller Wantonya - Infinity
Too many other alts and servers to bother counting

The number of crashes is so severe that I'd much rather delay Issue 15 by a couple months just to have this major game-breaking issue fixed. As evidenced by the number of people crashing, this will result in a loss of subscribers unless resolved quickly.

---

I'll add my name to the list of people running into this. I crash 2-3 times on an average night since I14 dropped. I'm running Vista 32-bit and nothing about my system has changed. Every other program I have works just fine, it's only CoH that has problems.

---

Another user here that actually has had issues for months now (from when I13 went live) with crashing. I'm tired of the game going POP! every hour and a half or so, and even though I've tried all the tricks listed in the Vista thread (including running ages-old vieo drivers), I still have constant problems. And this is on a recent install of Vista 64, too.

---

Been playing this for almost 5 years and on the whole, pretty impressed. Until now. i14 and AE guff has killed the game imo. My game now crashes almost every time I play, and tonight its died 4 times in less than an hour! Latest snag we found was the comp hanging if you're in or logging in to a map they're banning! What's wrong with just forcing all to exit? I know, I know, that would be far too sensible! Instead let's make everyone's computer freeze and force them to hard-reboot, that's much more fun! Customer care, pah, who needs it?

If anyone thinks it's Vista related, I don't think so. My work Lappy is Vista Premium and worked fine before i14. This one's XPPro.

We all expect some minor glitches when major changes are made to the game, but i14 and AE has been a disaster. Whichever Dev was leading that project needs to be taken out back and given a damn good hiding for being an idiot!

Frustrated doesn't start to cover it. If the subscription renewal is in the 'post', don't hold your breath!

---

I'm having crashing issues too, and with no real reason. Similar to everyone else here, I get a complete computer lockup - screen goes black and nothing works except shutting off the computer manually and rebooting. Sometimes I can play for hours and hours with no crashing, but today especially I've been crashing nonstop - even as soon as I log in! It's so frustrating to be on a team with friends, crash, reboot, log in, crash again, reboot again, log back in, then crash again! It's gotten incredibly severe and I really wish that the Devs would at least give us some idea of a solution, even just one in the works.

EDIT: Here's my computer info, if it'll help.
---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.1.1.7---

DxDiag gathered at May 2, 2009 18:04 (-04:00)
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_ldr.090302-1506)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: P5K-VM
BIOS: BIOS Date: 10/30/07 20:51:06 Ver: 08.00.12
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4600 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 3326MB
.Net Memory Report: 2153MB out of 3326MB available
Page File: 5687MB (1156MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD2500AAKS-00B3A0 ATA Device) 64529MB out of 238472MB (27%) free
D Drive: (ASUS DRW-2014L1 ATA Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 10
DirectX Diag version: 6.00.6001.18000 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce 9600 GT
Video Memory: 1901 MB
Driver Version: 7.15.0011.7516
Driver Date: 5/2/2008 10:46:00 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHDA.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5371
Driver Date: 2/6/2007 6:44:14 AM

Sound Device Description: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHDA.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5371
Driver Date: 2/6/2007 6:44:14 AM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: P5K-VM
Motherboard Version: Rev 1.xx
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: BIOS Date: 10/30/07 20:51:06 Ver: 08.00.12
BIOS Version: A_M_I_ - 10000730
BIOS Release: 20071030000000.000000+000

Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1664x1000
3D Resolution: 1664x1000 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: No
Maximized: Yes
Screen Position: -6, -3
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes

Physics Quality: Medium
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No

Anti-aliasing: 4x
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: High Quality
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: High

World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of Extra Player FX Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.090
Music Sound Volume: 0.086

Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.600
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 179768 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 18.20090324.20T2
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found

---

Dunno if it's a coincidence or not, but I switched from Free to Champ and didnt crash for 2 hrs.

My lappy data:
---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.1.1.7---

DxDiag gathered at May 2, 2009 23:19 (+01:00)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236)
System Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
System Model: F3Sr
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5450 @ 1.66GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 3072MB
.Net Memory Report: 2492MB out of 3071MB available
Page File: 4488MB (468MB currently in use)
C Drive: (ST9160821AS) 55949MB out of 76308MB (73%) free
D Drive: (ST9160821AS) 60190MB out of 68311MB (88%) free
E Drive: (TOSHIBA DVDW/HD SD-L802B) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DirectX Diag version: 5.03.2600.5512 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: Generic Television
Monitor's Max Resolution: 640,480
Video Device Name: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2400 (Omega 3.8.442)
Manufacturer / Chip: ATI Technologies Inc. (Omega 3.8.442) / ATI display adapter (0x94C9)
Video Memory: 256.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6755
Driver Date: 12/05/2007 04:04:08
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Realtek HD Audio output
Driver File: RtkHDAud.sys
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5548
Driver Date: 01/01/0001 00:00:00

Sound Device Description: Modem #0 Line Playback (emulated)
Driver File:
Driver Version:
Driver Date: 01/01/0001 00:00:00


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: F3Sr
Motherboard Version: 1.0
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: Default System BIOS
BIOS Version: _ASUS_ - 4000801
BIOS Release: 20080401000000.000000+000

Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1280x800
3D Resolution: 1280x800 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No

Physics Quality: None
Maximum Particles: 100
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No

Anti-aliasing: Unknown (0)
Anisotropic Filtering: None
Texture LOD Bias: Crisp
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: Lowest

World Texture Level: Low
Character Texture Level: Medium
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 0.500
Entity Detail Level: 0.500
Shadows Enabled: No
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of Extra Player FX Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: Yes
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.058
Music Sound Volume: 0.000

Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.000
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 151191 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 18.20090324.20T2
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers has 96 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 34 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files

---

Another with a crashing problem. Seems to be worse for characters logged off in Atlas, particularly those in Wentworths, although even loading the game is much slower now. Whenever I actually luck out and get logged into a character I can guarantee a mapserve by trying to talk to a vendor in WW.

---

I am no longer having the same issues - the only significant change I made was to the setting on the nVidia control panel from the "City of Heroes" profile to "3DMark06" profile - however, I do not know for sure if this was the cause or which setting in the pre-set City of Heroes profile was causing the incompatibility.

---

i too have been having this exact problem, in intense AE missions, standing around doing nothing, and yes in the character build screen. crashing to the desktop.

i can point it to the patch right *before* issue 14 was released, the day before to be exact. my first crash ever in COH was that day.

ever since then my game crashes so often i want to hurl my monitor through the window. i have also had some other strange costume related issues.

i know it isnt related to system specs or driver versions, im a senior support tech with Dell and i have already done all the PC-related maintenance that would cause a usual lockup of this nature.

my system is running as such:
MSI mobo
AMD 5000 black OC'd @ 3.0ghz per core
Dual Nvidia 8600gt OC edition also MSI
and 4gb of ram
running Win XP 64bit

all drivers and windows updates are current.

from all the other posts and from my own testing i beleive it is a latent issue with the game since the patch as it doesnt seem to be related to load, content, and/or time in game.

i have however noticed it seems more frequent in the zones chocked full of people: Atlas Park, AE buildings, Steel Canyon.
i have never seen it crash in the less populace areas; hollows, faultline, etc.

---

I just recently came back, and had been crashing every hour or so. With the latest patch I logged on twice, first time crashed within 10 minutes, 2nd time I didn't even have time to summon my minions on my mastermind.

The crash is a black screen, with the little ! appearing in the system tray sometimes, saying that the video driver has crashed and successfully repaired or whatever. Sometimes accompanied with a 13/14 error.

Basic computer stats: Vista SP2, Q6600, 8800gt.

EDIT: I posted different info earlier. I just updated to the RTF SP2 for Vista, the legit released version. Still get crashes.

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.1.1.7---

DxDiag gathered at May 7, 2009 20:57 (+08:00)
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.lh_sp2rtm.090410-1830)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: P35C-DS3R
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 4094MB
.Net Memory Report: 2543MB out of 4093MB available
Page File: 6429MB (1991MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD5000AAKS-00YGA0 ATA Device) 263927MB out of 476937MB (55%) free
D Drive: (LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1S ATA Device) zero-size drive
E Drive: (QG2544G OGJ553O SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 10
DirectX Diag version: 6.00.6001.18000 (64-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: SyncMaster 226BW(Digital)
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce 8800 GT
Video Memory: 2289 MB
Driver Version: 7.15.0011.8250
Driver Date: 3/27/2009 10:03:00 AM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
Driver File: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.6002.18005
Driver Date: 4/10/2009 10:39:52 PM

Sound Device Description: Digital Output Device (SPDIF) (High Definition Audio Device)
Driver File: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.6002.18005
Driver Date: 4/10/2009 10:39:52 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: P35C-DS3R
Motherboard Version:
BIOS Manufacturer: Award Software International, Inc.
BIOS Name: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
BIOS Version: GBT - 42302e31
BIOS Release: 20071029000000.000000+000

Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1680x1050
3D Resolution: 1680x1050 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes

Physics Quality: High
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No

Anti-aliasing: None
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: High Quality
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: High

World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 2.000
Entity Detail Level: 2.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of Extra Player FX Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.186
Music Sound Volume: 0.000

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.600
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 184159 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 18.20090422.2T
Installation Directory: C:\games\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 33 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 14 files

---