Frequent game freeze

[kcwong]

Frequent game freeze

I'm running:Intel Core2Duo 3.0Ghz4Gb RAMVista Home Premium 32-bitDirectX 10 (passed all Dxdiag tests)ATI Radeon HD3800 series (HD 3850 by Magic Pro)I'm using US version of The Witcher, patch 1.3, with the Microsoft Hotfix 940105 installed.The game seems to freeze very often. The video will stop, but the music/sound goes on. I got freezes under these cases (so far):1) Picking up the sword in tutorial2) After killing the first batch of enemies, after moving to another area but before the second part can start3) Going up on the wall, a short while after receiving the instruction to switch to fast mode4) After dispatching some enemies on the walls, Geralt jumped over a collapsing staircase. The stairs started to crumble, then stopped.I tried disabling stuff: DOF, Antialias, resolution down to 1024x768. But those do not help. The freeze will come all the same, and it seems to be time-based.I once suspected my firewall (TrendMicro Internet Security). I recall the launcher trying to connect to the internet. So I stay connected, and allowed Witcher.exe in my firewall. That has no effect.My computer is 100% new -- I built it yesterday. Windows updates, Witcher and TrendMicro are the only additional programs installed at this point. I haven't installed Vista SP1. Video driver is ATI's 8-4_vista32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_61008.exe.Are there any solutions to this? Is my computer still not good enough?

 

[tomtrapman]

I have almost exactly the same configuration and i am having the same problem. THe only difference is that I'm running a 64 bit system

 

[mobidoy]

Have you disabled the UAC and changed the /userva ?

 

[bitzky]

I have the same exact problem. I would be very grateful for any help. I have AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core 4800+, 2 GB RAM, ATI X1900 and Windows XP Professional.

 

[aeontide]

I've gotten the same thing and it happens a little less frequently than yours seems to but none the less I have a way to get around it -- it's not a fix, merely a way to be able to be allowed to keep playing. When the lock up happens follow this procedure everytime and it should allow you to continue playing after you complete it:1) Game freezes2) The sound and game actually continue, so hit spacebar to pause the game (so Geralt does not die)3) Hit cntrl+alt+delete to bring up task manager4) Do NOT close the game, just wait for the computer to stabilize (it may have to adjust the resolution back to your normal desktop or load all the desktop screen icons, etc.)5) The game should be on that little bar (like when you open an internet browser) and you click on it to re-open the game6) You should see the normal pause screen now and not the frozen screen (my frozen screen seems to 'flicker' between two different frames)7) Unpause the game and it should be running againIf this doesn't help get Tech Support... remember this isn't a fix, merely a way to get around the random freezes and bugs of the game. So far, for me, it has worked every single time it has frozen.I'm using Vista 32- bit as well, so it should work based on us having the same software.EDIT: Shorter version is follow steps 1-3, but hit CANCEL when Vista prompts you for a decision (where one would have been Task Manager). It should automatically go back into the game then and just like before should no longer be frozen and it will display the 'Game Paused' screen-- if you paused it that is.

 

[jton219]

i never did this, but some people set the affinty for thewitcher.exe to 2 cores and high priority. seems to help some. u can try running it in windows XP compatbility. extend page file to 4 gigs or 1.5x ram. delete your autosaves. medium detail settings on low to mid resolution. turn off firewall and anti virusproggies when playing. terminate unneeded background services. witcher is straigh up buggy in vista. i play on XP

 

[hirlix]

Hi,I hope somebody reads this, I know its an old threat but it describes just my problem. So I have the same problem with freezes as the opener, at the same exact points. The way to get around the freezes explained by aeontide works for me, but its just annoying. I have already finished the game once (so that means my comp is able to run the game) and then deleted it and just reinstalled it today. I have patched to 1.45 and I also have the windows fix still on the comp. I dont understand why Im experienceing this problem now, I didnt change anything on my comp since I deleted the game. (uav is off, running windowed mode and xp compatibility, game is set to high priority in the task manager)I would be pleased about any suggestions what to do.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

Hi,I hope somebody reads this, I know its an old threat but it describes just my problem. So I have the same problem with freezes as the opener, at the same exact points. The way to get around the freezes explained by aeontide works for me, but its just annoying. I have already finished the game once (so that means my comp is able to run the game) and then deleted it and just reinstalled it today. I have patched to 1.45 and I also have the windows fix still on the comp. I dont understand why Im experienceing this problem now, I didnt change anything on my comp since I deleted the game. (uav is off, running windowed mode and xp compatibility, game is set to high priority in the task manager)I would be pleased about any suggestions what to do.

read: Getting tech help on the forum and attach that PCWizard report as instructed ( use the older version of PCWizard if you have problems with the newer one )read the FAQ: http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=17503.0attach the ERRLOG.TXT from the witcher/system folder

 

[hirlix]

ok, here is the system summary from pc wizard > > Mainboard : TOSHIBA ISRAE > Chipset : Intel i945PM > Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T5500 @ 1666 MHz > Physical Memory : 2048 MB (2 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM ) > Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 > Hard Disk : TOSHIBA (160 GB) > DVD-Rom Drive : HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T20N ATA Device > DVD-Rom Drive : ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device > Monitor Type : LGPhilipsLCD - 17 inches > Network Card : Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG > Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC > Operating System : Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium Home Edition 6.00.6000 > DirectX : Version 10.00 > Windows Performance Index : 4.5and there is no errorlog because there wasn't an error. The game just freezes and if I leave it via task manager and wait a little bit and then go back into the game I'm in the menu and I can resume the game. So it doesent really crash and I dont get any error message.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

ok, here is the system summary from pc wizard

i wanted the report AS written in the link i gave younow, read the FAQ that i linked you to, and do the Vista tips, see if any ERRLOG.TXT is generated

 

[hirlix]

ok, I attached the file of the pcwizard. I have already tried the vista tips. I have the fix from mircosoft. I'm running the game in compatibility mode, as admin, windowed mode, and with low-medium graphics. As I mentioned before the uac is turned off (the link to tweakuac is dead). I didnt try the 640x480 mode, and the disable decorations cause I still want kinda nice looking graphics. I tried it several times with different settings and there isnt any error occuring and in the whole witcher folder isnt any errorlog.txt. As I said, it doesnt crash, it just freezes and after a while it goes on. Even if I quit the game via task manager I dont get any error or message like "program xxx is not responding".

 

[Licaon_Kter]

ok, I attached the file of the pcwizard. I have already tried the vista tips. I have the fix from mircosoft. I'm running the game in compatibility mode, as admin, windowed mode, and with low-medium graphics. As I mentioned before the uac is turned off (the link to tweakuac is dead). I didnt try the 640x480 mode, and the disable decorations cause I still want kinda nice looking graphics. I tried it several times with different settings and there isnt any error occuring and in the whole witcher folder isnt any errorlog.txt. As I said, it doesnt crash, it just freezes and after a while it goes on. Even if I quit the game via task manager I dont get any error or message like "program xxx is not responding".

http://www.tweak-uac.com/what-is-tweak-uac/ 10x, i've updated the linkwhat drivers are you using for the video card? you took them from where?

 

[hirlix]

Once in a while I use the automatic update for my video card and it always tells me that the driver is up to date. it is from 2007 from Nvidia Version 7.15.10.9759

 

[Licaon_Kter]

Once in a while I use the automatic update for my video card and it always tells me that the driver is up to date. it is from 2007 from Nvidia Version 7.15.10.9759

can you get a newer one from nVidia or from the makers of your video card or laptop?

 

[Granjow]

I had similar problems on my laptop; what helped was switching to window mode instead of full screen. Not great, but better than freezes all time. Granjow

 

[hirlix]

Ok, now I installed the newest driver which I found on the toshiba website. Its from september 2007 and its version 7.15.11.5616 Yea, the trick with the window mode worked the first time after patch 1.1 or so when the game was crashing on the loading screens., but now it doesnt work. I already tried it. I tried every single tipp I could find till now.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

Ok, now I installed the newest driver which I found on the toshiba website. Its from september 2007 and its version 7.15.11.5616 Yea, the trick with the window mode worked the first time after patch 1.1 or so when the game was crashing on the loading screens., but now it doesnt work. I already tried it. I tried every single tipp I could find till now.

what does it do now?running as Administrator does it crash? if so is there an ERRLOG.TXT file generated in the witcher/system folder? if so do attach it here