New computer? or Issue 17?
By
Addicted,
Posted on: 2010-04-30 09:40 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Might check the heat level of the video card anyways just to be sure. Particularly at the time of failure. CoH itself should not be run in any sort of compatibility mode but I believe should be run as administrator. Check your shortcuts and exe files to make sure this is so. It certainly sounds like a graphics issue though to me.
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.
I've definately ruled out the graphics card this time. Can anyone offer any further advice? Here's what I've done since:
1) I ran a stress test in Furmark3D, and the card is running very cool even under extreme settings.
2) I replaced the card with a duplicate, same result. I had two 8600gts kicking around
3) I replaced the card with a different card, nVidia 240gt, same result.
4) I tried running other 3D applications.. seems to be running fine? I'll have to put some more gaming into it in other OpenGL programs to see if the same happens there.
5) Uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them. Same result.
6) Installed 3rd party drivers... Same result.
The result, as I said above is like clockwork... even on the lowest settings, or the highest settings.. Black flashes that cause screen pauses.. Like a very long stuttering effect. Then after a few of these black flashes, the game will lock up entirely...
The message displays:
"This OpenGL program is not compatible with Windows 7"
Any help someone can suggest, any more tests someone can think of.. I'd appreciate the help.
I'm also running a support ticket with Technical Support over this... Just hoped if anyone had any ideas.
KitZune (Emp/Psi Defender)
Maryoku Akki(Katana/Dark Scrapper)
Maria Marcone(Thug/Trap Mastermind)
-=Beware the evil forum lurkers, for we are subtle, quick to anger, and easily ignorable because of the number of posts we've ever made... wait...=-
Out of curiosity, what options do you have set on the Compatibility tab for your CoH shortcut?
Right-click the shortcut and select Properties. Select the Compatibility tab. What is checked here?
EDIT: I know Zloth is still tweaking it to get all the I17 stuff working right, but download and run CoH Helper and post the output here. It might point us at something.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Heya..
I believe you mentioned you have the lastest drivers for your card from NVIDIA. When I run those exact drivers I have similar issues and a bit too much lag in open zones- which is 197.45 drivers.. I currently use drivers 169.21 and really notice a much smoother game. That is my small suggestion. Give 169.21 a whirl.
I have a Core2Quad Win7 64bit, GTX 275, 24 inch monitor. Good luck.
Don't forget to give a good uninstall and reboot if necessary for drivers.
Don't be a mindless farm toon, we may need you on a non-soft SF someday. =)
Okay.. I ran COH helper, like you asked... I should say... keep in mind that I'm running currently in some ultra mode settings.. because this seems to cause the flashing 'faster' but this still happens even on the lowest settings, just takes longer. So don't suggest I turn down settings, it doesn't help. Anyway: here we go.
---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---
DxDiag gathered at May 2, 2010 10:50 (-04:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100226-1909)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: H55M-S2H
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 530 @ 2.93GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.9GHz
Memory: 4096MB
.Net Memory Report: 3021MB out of 3963MB available
Page File: 6807MB (1117MB currently in use)
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7600.16385 (64-bit version)
Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.
Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce 8600 GT
Video Memory: 2223 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.11.9745
Driver Date: 04/03/2010 5:55:30 PM
Driver Language: English
Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5998
Driver Date: 12/08/2009 6:20:14 AM
Sound Device Description: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5998
Driver Date: 12/08/2009 6:20:14 AM
WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: H55M-S2H
Motherboard Version: x.x
BIOS Manufacturer: Award Software International, Inc.
BIOS Name: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
BIOS Version: GBT - 42302e31
BIOS Release: 20091203000000.000000+000
Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1280x1024
3D Resolution: 1280x1024 (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: Off
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: No
Shadow Mode: Shadow maps
Shadow Map Shader: Low quality
Environmental Reflections: Low quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: High performance
Occlusion Strength: Slight
Blur: Fast
Ambient Resolution: High performance
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
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: 1.000
Music Sound Volume: 0.600
Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.750
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: Unknown bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1800.201003300904.10T4r
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\City of Heroes
Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found
KitZune (Emp/Psi Defender)
Maryoku Akki(Katana/Dark Scrapper)
Maria Marcone(Thug/Trap Mastermind)
-=Beware the evil forum lurkers, for we are subtle, quick to anger, and easily ignorable because of the number of posts we've ever made... wait...=-
Well, you aren't going to like my suggestion because I'm going to ask you to adjust settings.
Turn Ambient Occlusion to OFF. Turn FSAA to 2x instead of Off. The 8600 isn't going to run UM full on with no problems as you already know, but I think AO may be part of your problem. Along those lines, people with lower end cards have been reporting better results with FSAA set to either 2x or 4x rather than Off. Of course, since AO and FSAA don't play well together it's better to turn AO off.
Also, what options do you have set on the Compatibility tab for your CoH shortcut?
Right-click the shortcut and select Properties. Select the Compatibility tab. What is checked here?
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Compatibility is off, only 'run as administrator' is ticked.
As I said.. with AO off, AA off.. and everything at lowest settings... the exact same thing happens. It just seems to take a bit longer. But not like I can get a 2 hour run... more like the difference between 2 minutes, and 10 minutes before it crashes.
I just had a really long run on The settings I listed. I was able to level from level 2 to 4 in Mercy island, ultra mode. Runs smooth, over 30 fps... then suddenly crashes.
I was running it with a temperature monitor on to see if it was the CPU or GPUs overheating. Both were very cool at the time of crash. 40*c for the cpu, 60*c for the GPU.
I'm really scratching my head at this. What other hardware could be to blame? Like I said, I've also run this with a far superior card, and had the same problem.
KitZune (Emp/Psi Defender)
Maryoku Akki(Katana/Dark Scrapper)
Maria Marcone(Thug/Trap Mastermind)
-=Beware the evil forum lurkers, for we are subtle, quick to anger, and easily ignorable because of the number of posts we've ever made... wait...=-
Could it be bad RAM?
Sermon
@sermon
One of Six, Cannibal 6
Memory would be the easiest to test. You can find a reviews and links to a few free memory testing tools on this page. Most can be burned as an ISO file and then you can create a bootable CD to run the test.
You could have a problem on the motherboard that is heat related. As the components heat up they expand slightly and may be causing a break in a circuit or trace. I've not used that particular Gigabyte board but we had several Gigabyte boards at work that had problems with the Southbridge chip causing problems once the computer had been running for a bit with any load on it. The Southbridge chip had a heatsink only on it and wasn't dissipating enough heat so it was causing lockups when it got too hot. One of our techs was spending a lot of time removing the heatsinks and adding on a fan instead to keep the Southbridge chip cool. That resolved our problems.
Good luck. Once you get to this point it's more and more difficult to determine the cause of the problems.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Hrmmm... Southbridge heat could be an issue. It does only have a block heatsink on it... I noticed that when installing... I'm a fanatic about heat issues, I've lost a few good computers to... melting GPUs or processors... The case is very cool, the GPU and CPU cool.. next to check is the ram, but the ram has a heatsink and fan on it, so I'm pretty sure that's safe...
But the southbridge, I can get some southbridge fans from my supplier that should hopefully keep it cooler.
Heat is something I'm concerned with... because it takes less time the more features I turn on... and with the 'first' test of the day, it seems to take longer still... Is there any way to test the southbridge heat?
KitZune (Emp/Psi Defender)
Maryoku Akki(Katana/Dark Scrapper)
Maria Marcone(Thug/Trap Mastermind)
-=Beware the evil forum lurkers, for we are subtle, quick to anger, and easily ignorable because of the number of posts we've ever made... wait...=-
One way you can get a simple test on the Southbridge is to run until it locks up (with the case open) and then immediately reach in and carefully touch the Southbridge heatsink. If it is extremely hot so that you don't dare leave your finger on it, I'd suspect that may be the issue. If it's hot but not unbearably so, it may not be but could still be an issue.
As for the RAM, one of the memory testing tools should show if it's the source of the problem.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Yeah, the RAM is definately the next thing to test..
Okay, so I ran COH until it flashed out again, then I immmediately bend down and took a reading of the southbridge manually, there's apparently no monitor onboard for it. It was very cold to the touch, I have an internal fan blowing right over it, temperature reading down there was like 10*c.. soooo I don't think the southbridge is overheating either.
Anyway.. onto a test of the system ram.. might be faulty. I'm at my wit's end hehe.. I don't think there's much left to test!
the case is VERY cold, I just want to state that.. It's practically an air conditioner under my desk.
KitZune (Emp/Psi Defender)
Maryoku Akki(Katana/Dark Scrapper)
Maria Marcone(Thug/Trap Mastermind)
-=Beware the evil forum lurkers, for we are subtle, quick to anger, and easily ignorable because of the number of posts we've ever made... wait...=-
Yeah, if you can comfortably touch the Southbridge and it's cool to the touch that likely isn't the problem.
Good luck. I hate when it gets down to stuff like this, makes it ever so hard to find the problems.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Just want to say, while all this is going on. THANKS for the help. It's really been helpful.
I'm downloading Memtest86 as per suggestion... If the ram is faulty, honestly.. that would relieve me. It's under warrenty, and my supplier is usually awesome about sending replacements...
KitZune (Emp/Psi Defender)
Maryoku Akki(Katana/Dark Scrapper)
Maria Marcone(Thug/Trap Mastermind)
-=Beware the evil forum lurkers, for we are subtle, quick to anger, and easily ignorable because of the number of posts we've ever made... wait...=-
Okay, I just spotted something in an earlier post that has me curious.
You said you'd run this with a far superior card and had the same problem.
Could you be having problems with the card slot itself?
Have you tried putting it into the other PCI-E slot and seeing what it does? I know that the second slot is only running at x4 instead of x16, but it's something to try.
Just a thought.
Another thing crossed my mind while looking at the specs on that board and your CoH Helper output. You are running the original BIOS for the motherboard. I see an F4 and F5 BIOS update available, as well as a Beta F6e BIOS. They don't give much information but the listing for the F5 was to Improve System Compatibility. You may want to try flashing the BIOS to see if that may resolve the issues. One of the things I love about the Gigabyte boards is the Q-Flash utility available in BIOS at boot up. I shy away from the @BIOS live update since I worry about running updates to the motherboard while Windows is running. Some have no problems with it but it's a quirk of mine. I'd give the F5 BIOS a shot, but definitely not the F6e Beta BIOS. Here's a link to the BIOS download page.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Two great new suggestions... RIght now Memtest is running.. and seems to be okay so far.. I'll let the test keep running...
Then I'll flash the bios, see if that helps... I didn't notice the bios software was out of date, thanks for that good eye.
Then I'll try runnin in the back up x4 PCIe slot... see if it's the primary slot that's causing issues...
For now I'm off to work for 3 hours... so I'll post later to see if any of this helps
Thanks again for all the help. I've built a good number of computers... never had this issue.
I'm also installing Fallout3 to really put it through the wringer... Halflife 2 ran no problems... but maybe it just wasn't pushing enough.
KitZune (Emp/Psi Defender)
Maryoku Akki(Katana/Dark Scrapper)
Maria Marcone(Thug/Trap Mastermind)
-=Beware the evil forum lurkers, for we are subtle, quick to anger, and easily ignorable because of the number of posts we've ever made... wait...=-
Woooaaah.. just as I was about to head off to work..
Memtest86 stopped at test 6 with 44 errors... 22 in slot A, 18 in slot B....
So it's looking like my RAM is faulty.... But both sticks? Is that even common?
KitZune (Emp/Psi Defender)
Maryoku Akki(Katana/Dark Scrapper)
Maria Marcone(Thug/Trap Mastermind)
-=Beware the evil forum lurkers, for we are subtle, quick to anger, and easily ignorable because of the number of posts we've ever made... wait...=-
I've seen it, but not that common. It's usually due to damage from an electrical spike or similar when I've seen it. Other damage to the motherboard can also cause those slots to short, damaging the memory.
Looks like you may have the problem nailed down. The test will be when the new memory comes in. If it does the same thing or other quirky behavior I'd question the motherboard having a fault.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
One possible way to test where the errors originate would be to move the sticks around and see if the errors follow the sticks or 'stay' in the slots. May not give a definitive answer but might point you a bit.
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.
Hey,
I just built a new computer with the express idea of having it play city of heroes. I wasn't overly concerned about Ultra mode, and was concerned with keeping the budget under $600. But I got quite a lot for that.
Now when I load up City of Heroes, it runs fine and smooth for a while, even in ultra mode, which was a pleasant suprise. But after a short bit it starts flashing black screens and pausing for a bit. This seems to get worse and worse. If the graphics are set lower, it takes longer to get to this point, but it still seems to happen. Even on the lowest settings.
I built this machine myself, so I know it pretty well.
Pentium Core i3 processor, 2.9ghz
4 GB DDR3 RAM.
nVidia 8600gt (Hand-me-down)
500w Powersupply.
Drivers are the newest, since I just built this rig yesterday, and downloaded the newest drivers.
Running on Windows 7 64 bit home.
When it eventually crashes, win7 says "This program does not function in Windows 7" or something similar. I scanned the tech forums and no one seems to agree with that. This is my first time on a windows 7 rig... So I'm a little nervous about how awful a result this was... considering it was meant to be a COH computer, pretty much nothing else.
Now my concern is I have no experience with this Rig before i17. So I have no idea if it's my computer... or if it's a common issue with i17. I'm worried there's overheating going on, but I wouldn't believe that easily, I have like... 6 fans blowing in and around my graphic card, and the case temp is very low.
Can anyone help me figure out if I've missed something?
KitZune (Emp/Psi Defender)
Maryoku Akki(Katana/Dark Scrapper)
Maria Marcone(Thug/Trap Mastermind)
-=Beware the evil forum lurkers, for we are subtle, quick to anger, and easily ignorable because of the number of posts we've ever made... wait...=-