Freezing - Dead Process While Editing Settings

Alright, let's see if I can get everything listed. I won't be able to respond back till I get home from work, but any insight would be appreciated!

I'm not sure if this is video card related, RAM related, or hard-drive related. Long story short, if I try to edit anything graphics-related to CoH, it freezes. Dead process, ram hits a dead lock on the number it's using at the moment, page faults go up at about 4 per second (so it must be trying to access something). When I say "graphics-related", it's literally everything. Resizing the window, freeze. Maximizing it, freeze. Going into the In-Game options and going to the Graphical Settings tab, freeze. It USED to be freeze if I simply tried to edit a setting on said tab, but now it won't even let me SEE it without locking up. I've had to use TweakCoH to edit my graphics settings since this has been happening. It also won't remove itself (see Firefox note below) from the process list when I close it, and the window sits open unresponsive.

CoH runs raised in administrator mode. I've tried using compatibility settings, no change. Disabling visual themes, desktop composition, no change. I've reinstalled it from scratch, nothing. Manually deleted the registry entries where it stores the install and config information and reinstalled, no change.

-- I use Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit.
-- I recently (within the last couple of months) upgraded my ram to a couple of new sticks, and have been seeing strange issues related to memory use with programs like Firefox since. I know Firefox always does this, but now it seems to hang on closing, the process sitting at 50% use instead of disappearing. I plan on running MemTest tonight after work, to inspect my ram.
-- I also recently upgraded my video card to a Geforce GTX260, and the nVidia site says my drivers are recent. Not sure it's the problem, but putting it here anyway.
-- My game runs on my primary harddrive, which is probably about 6 or 7 years old. SG mates seem to think that this may be the cause of the problems, but I have my doubts because:
-- No other game seems to have this problem. Only CoH is freezing. I'm wondering if it could also be related to GR, seeing as I upgraded specifically to be able to use some of the Ultra settings (and proceeded to turn them off later, while my options were still working anyway)
-- Wanted to add before I leave, I can PLAY. It'll let me load in, get on a character, do missions, no problem at all. The problem is I can't change SETTINGS, and only in CoX. It's really strange.

----------------------------------------------------
---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at September 4, 2010 08:25 (-07:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100226-1909)
System Manufacturer: MSI
System Model: MS-7350
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB
.Net Memory Report: 1853MB out of 3071MB available
Page File: 5710MB (1965MB currently in use)
C Drive: (SAMSUNG HD501LJ SCSI Disk Device) 18848MB out of 102299MB (18%) free
D Drive: (SAMSUNG HD501LJ SCSI Disk Device) 31692MB out of 374537MB (8%) free
F Drive: (WDC WD32 00AAJS-00VWA SCSI Disk Device) 2926MB out of 305242MB (0%) free
G Drive: (Optiarc DVD RW AD-7190A ATA Device) zero-size drive
E Drive: (HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR-H30N ATA Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7600.16385 (32-bit version)

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

No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce GTX 260
Video Memory: 2159 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.12.5896
Driver Date: 7/9/2010 3:37:00 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Creative SB Audigy 4 (WDM))
Driver File: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1241
Driver Date: 4/10/2007 4:20:38 AM

Sound Device Description: Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (High Definition Audio Device)
Driver File: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7600.16385
Driver Date: 7/13/2009 4:51:47 PM

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Turtle Beach USB Headset)
Driver File: USBAUDIO.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7600.16385
Driver Date: 7/13/2009 4:51:23 PM

Sound Device Description: SPDIF Out (Creative SB Audigy 4 (WDM))
Driver File: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1241
Driver Date: 4/10/2007 4:20:38 AM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: MSI
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: MS-7350
Motherboard Version: 1.0
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: Default System BIOS
BIOS Version: A M I - 7000712
BIOS Release: 20070712000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1600x2147483647
3D Resolution: 1600x2147483647 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: No
Maximized: No
Screen Position: Unknown, Unknown
Refresh Rate: UnknownHz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No


Physics Quality: Unknown (2147483647)
Maximum Particles: 25205
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: Unknown (2147483647)
Anisotropic Filtering: Unknown (2147483647)
Texture LOD Bias: Unknown (2147483647)
Water Effects: Unknown (2147483647)
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: Unknown (2147483647)


World Texture Level: Unknown (2147483647)
Character Texture Level: Unknown (2147483647)
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: No
Shadow Mode: Unknown (2147483647)
Shadow Map Shader: Unknown (2147483647)
Environmental Reflections: Unknonwn (2147483647)
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Unknonwn (2147483647)
Blur: Unknonwn (2147483647)
Ambient Resolution: Unknonwn (2147483647)


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) 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: 0.100
Music Sound Volume: 0.000

Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.500
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 773694 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1850.201007290124.24T2
Installation Directory: D:\Games\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers has 214 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Midnight_Squad has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 32 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Scan saved at 8:36:57 AM, on 9/4/2010
Platform: Windows 7 (WinNT 6.00.3504)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.7600.16385)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Windows\system32\Dwm.exe
C:\Windows\system32\taskhost.exe
C:\Program Files\Razer\Mamba\RazerTray.exe
C:\Program Files\PowerISO\PWRISOVM.EXE
C:\Program Files\Ideazon\ZEngine\Zboard.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Essentials\msseces.exe
C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
C:\Program Files\IObit\Advanced SystemCare 3\Sup_SmartRAM.exe
C:\Program Files\AIM6\aim6.exe
C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
C:\Windows\system32\conhost.exe
C:\Windows\system32\java.exe
C:\Windows\system32\taskeng.exe
C:\Program Files\AIM6\aolsoftware.exe
C:\Program Files\IObit\IObit SmartDefrag\IObit SmartDefrag.exe
C:\Program Files\EVGA Precision\EVGAPrecision.exe
C:\Program Files\IObit\Advanced SystemCare 3\AWC.exe
C:\Program Files\EVGA Precision\Bundle\OSDServer\RTSS.exe
D:\Games\Steam\Steam.exe
C:\Windows\system32\wuauclt.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files\DivX\DivX Update\DivXUpdate.exe
C:\Windows\explorer.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe
C:\Windows\system32\taskmgr.exe
D:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Windows\explorer.exe
C:\Users\UltimateZero\Desktop\CohHelper.exe
C:\Windows\system32\notepad.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IELowutil.exe
C:\Windows\explorer.exe
C:\Program Files\HijackThis\Trend Micro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
R3 - URLSearchHook: Yahoo! Toolbar - {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn\yt.dll
O2 - BHO: &Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - {02478D38-C3F9-4efb-9B51-7695ECA05670} - C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn\yt.dll
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O2 - BHO: Winamp Toolbar Loader - {25CEE8EC-5730-41bc-8B58-22DDC8AB8C20} - C:\Program Files\Winamp Toolbar\winamptb.dll
O2 - BHO: Spybot-S&D IE Protection - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {5C255C8A-E604-49b4-9D64-90988571CECB} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: Windows Live Sign-in Helper - {9030D464-4C02-4ABF-8ECC-5164760863C6} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live\WindowsLiveLogin.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: SingleInstance Class - {FDAD4DA1-61A2-4FD8-9C17-86F7AC245081} - C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn\YTSingle Instance.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Winamp Toolbar - {EBF2BA02-9094-4c5a-858B-BB198F3D8DE2} - C:\Program Files\Winamp Toolbar\winamptb.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Razer Mamba Driver] C:\Program Files\Razer\Mamba\RazerTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PWRISOVM.EXE] C:\Program Files\PowerISO\PWRISOVM.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Zboard] C:\Program Files\Ideazon\ZEngine\Zboard.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSSE] "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Essentials\msseces.exe" -hide -runkey
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RTSS] "C:\Program Files\EVGA Precision\Bundle\OSDServer\RTSSWrapper.exe" /s
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DivXUpdate] "C:\Program Files\DivX\DivX Update\DivXUpdate.exe" /CHECKNOW
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Messenger (Yahoo!)] "C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\YahooMessenger.ex e" -quiet
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SpybotSD TeaTimer] C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SmartRAM] "C:\Program Files\IObit\Advanced SystemCare 3\Sup_SmartRAM.exe" /m
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Aim6] "C:\Program Files\AIM6\aim6.exe" /d locale=en-US ee://aol/imApp
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Google Update] "C:\Users\UltimateZero\AppData\Local\Google\Update \GoogleUpdate.exe" /c
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - Startup: Gang Garrison 2.exe - Shortcut.lnk = UltimateZero\Desktop\Gang Garrison 2\Gang Garrison 2.exe
O4 - Startup: server.bat - Shortcut.lnk = UltimateZero\Desktop\emulinker\server.bat
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Winamp Search - C:\ProgramData\Winamp Toolbar\ieToolbar\resources\en-US\local\search.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Add to Anti-Banner - C:\Program Files\Kaspersky Lab\Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 for Windows Workstations MP4\ie_banner_deny.htm
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Spybot - Search & Destroy Configuration - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (nvsvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Windows\system32\nvvsvc.exe
O23 - Service: PnkBstrA - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\PnkBstrA.exe
O23 - Service: PnkBstrB - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\PnkBstrB.exe
O23 - Service: PS3 Media Server - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\PS3 Media Server\win32\service\wrapper.exe
O23 - Service: SBSD Security Center Service (SBSDWSCService) - Safer Networking Ltd. - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDWinSec.exe
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: Yahoo! Updater (YahooAUService) - Yahoo! Inc. - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\SoftwareUpdate\YahooAUService.exe

--
End of file - 6959 bytes

free up space on your hard drive. i suggest having at least 25% free. also try to update your sound drivers. also do a disc clean up and defrag.

Wanted to add before I leave, I can PLAY. It'll let me load in, get on a character, do missions, no problem at all. The problem is I can't change SETTINGS, and only in CoX. It's really strange.

EDIT: Freeing up space may be a trick in itself. The games drive partition (D) is easy to do. C partition is the windows drive with the user accounts on it, deleting a crapload of documents probably STILL wouldn't get it above 25gb. And the F drive (separate HD) is my backup drive (with the pagefile on it), so it's full of things I'd greatly prefer to keep if at all possible.

I get same thing with the freeze, but its only graphic related. I can change anything non-advanced setting or it will drop to 0.1 fps. after which i have to restart the game (force close) to get the graphics to role again. (its like looking at a screen shot but my mouse and name tags still work.

FelisNoctu,

Your problem is that you are running EVGA Precision. I was having the same problem a while back, you can use EVGA Precision with CoH, however, if you are editting your settings at the same time it is running your game or system will freeze/crash as you've noticed. Turn off EVGA precision before starting CoH, change your settings, and then you can turn it on. You should be able to find other posts in the CoH or EVGA forums related to this problem. If you want to OC, you can use a program such as Rivatuner, it works without a problem while in CoH. So just try not using EVGA Precision and see what happens. Good Luck!

I was poking around in the evga forum and apparently a fix had been released. You can setup evga precision to run while CoH is running.
Any anomalies in a game or program caused by evga usually can be fixed by this method.


EDIT:

You should have 2 icons in your tray.
Open "Evga On-Screen Display server (the one with 60 on the icon). Click the triangle pointing up next to your clock if its hidden.


Click the "add profile" (+) icon next to trash bin at the button left.


Navigate to City of Heroes install directory, and add "cityofheroes.exe" to the list.


While the cityofheroes.exe is selected, to the right will be "Application Detection level", Set this to "None".
Make sure your settings are the same as the pic.




This will allow city of heroes to run properly with evga in the back ground.
I also added "cohupdater.exe" with same setting just to be safe.

If you noticed, the tool evga added is called RivaTuner. Not sure if its anything to do with original DeathAlchemist was talking about.

Let me know if the pics are too much and ill remove them.

Thank you thank you thank you, all of you! Changing those settings did it!

The video card I bought actually came with those tools, apparently it's "factory overclocked" so they recommended keeping an eye on it.

You guys just saved me hours of ram testing! Well, tonight anyway. I'm still suspicious due to OTHER bugs, but apparently that wasn't the culprit here. You guys are awesome!