Combat Crashes with AMD R9 285

[luigiruben]

Combat Crashes with AMD R9 285

There is a problem only affecting AMD cards using the Tonga chips (R9 285 / R9 M295X) that causes the display drivers to randomly crash and restart, locking up the game. It can crash at many different points during combat such as swinging at at enemy, chaining multiple strikes, executing and even casting signs (only experienced with Igni). The game runs flawlessly in and outside combat sans the crashes.

Both CDProjektRED and AMD claim to be working on a fix.


TEMPORARY FIX

Four DLL files found in the latest Windows 10 drivers (http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/104/) intended for a performance boost seem to fix the issue. You just need to register for Nexus Mods to be able to download them. Once you have the files move them to your Witcher 3 x64 folder (where the .exe lies).

 

[wudutek]

Same problem, same card. I am not sure yet because I did not play to much after trying this but setting the witcher 3 task in task manager manually to "high" seems to fix the problem, at least I could play 3 hours straight without a crash after following that suggestion. Maybe try this out and look if this helps for you. I hope a fix is coming soon, wether from cd project or maybe from AMD with new drivers.

 

[luigiruben]

Thanks for your suggestion but I've already tried that with no luck. Hopefully the new drivers help, whenever they come out.

 

[Tommyttk]

Exact same issue here also with AMD R9 285. I see a few threads appearing on this issue. Interesting that not a single other AMD card has this problem.

 

[Eagle77]

Hi,

Well I have a R9 295x2 and my computer completely locks up so I gotta reset the computer to get back in again, so I have given up on playing the game since it crashes after 10 to 20 min.

R9 295x2
Intel i7-5930
32GB Ram
Asus Rampage V Extreme mainboard


/Eagle

 

[Myasoyedov]

Asus R9 285 Strix OC
AMD Fx 8350
8 GB Ram
Windows 8.1

I have the same problem. Crash during combat only. Just tried setting witcher3.exe to high priority in task manager but that didn't help the problem.

 

[wudutek]

Ok, played now a bit without setting the task to high and no problems so far. Checked my Graphic Options, I could remember that I did enable HSBAO instead of SSBAO - you could try with this maybe. AA and Hairworks are off, too.

 

[Myasoyedov]

Ok, played now a bit without setting the task to high and no problems so far. Checked my Graphic Options, I could remember that I did enable HSBAO instead of SSBAO - you could try with this maybe. AA and Hairworks are off, too.

Just tried that. Problem continues.

 

[luigiruben]

Thanks for your suggestions but I've tried almost every possible setting combination in the game, no luck.
Already contacted AMD so they become aware of this issue as I believe there's enough evidence to merit a fix.

 

[wudutek]

Okay, this seems to work more stable / better for me but now after 2hours I encountered again a combat crash...Really strange.

 

[luigiruben]

Just tried that. Problem continues.

Hey Myasoyedov, I came across your Reddit post regarding the 285's factory OC maybe being the culprit. What did you manage to do about that?

 

[hokquu]

I have same problem and same card (MSI r9 285), i think we just need to wait for patch. Thats suck i really want to play in this weekend. ;//

 

[Myasoyedov]

Hey Myasoyedov, I came across your Reddit post regarding the 285's factory OC maybe being the culprit. What did you manage to do about that?

I tried downclocking my GPU to the stock levels but that didn't solve the problem either.

 

[luigiruben]

I tried downclocking my GPU to the stock levels but that didn't solve the problem either.

That's really unfortunate, thanks for you reply.
Still have zero clue as to what can be the cause of this, by now I just want AMD and CDProjekt to know that there's a problem so I can hope to play this awesome game again.

 

[malik911]

same exact problem same exact card...for whatever reason the game just freeze during combat with r9 285 after a random length of time switches back to desktop but the game is still running in taskbar and you can still hear sounds but you have to kill the process to get rid of it. looking at the event log in windows every single time its Display driver amdkmdap stopped responding and has successfully recovered. when it happens but catayst doesnt give the typical "display driver has stopped responding' pop up.

 

[luigiruben]

Is there anyone out there with the R9 285 that has yet to experience this specific problem?

 

[Guldy]

Having the same issue with r9 285. Unfortunately none of the tips work for these AMD crashes.

Spoiler

Can't pass the mission with Ciri now, because simple swinging of sword crashes the game. Had this in the caverns as Geralt with Keira too, but managed to finish the mission with only using spells, can't do that now though.

 

[luigiruben]

Hey Guldy, I was also stuck in those same instances you've mentioned. I just kept trying with extreme frustration until I managed to end combat without crashing.

Regarding only using spells, I have yet to ONLY use them but I've been crashed by spells before (igni to be precise). What spells did you use?

 

[Guldy]

Hey luigiruben, I though using spells was the clear way to go but even that has crashed the game once, only once!! I managed to overcome the first fight I mentioned by using IGNI, unfortunately that's out of a question now with Ciri

Spoiler

(the fight in castle alongside Dandelion)

.

Yeah, the frustration is there..

Shame we don't have any fixes yet, heard AMD is working on a patch though.

 

[-TheQuake-]

@Guldy
The same place, the same mission ..
The same card.
R9 285 = GCN 1.2 = Improved tesselation, but maybe not at all ..
Could someone disable tesselation in Catalyst for witcher 3?