Frequent crash to desktop

[woodencase01]

Hey guys! I've been wanting to play this game for a while, however, I'm currently facing a wall and I'm hoping to find help with this problem.

I'm playing the WItcher 3 on Steam, bought it with all the DLC.
I have played a total of 8 hours up to now, and experienced at least 12 crashes ( there actually 12 CRASHINFO files in the witcher 3 folder, plus I once had a computer reset )

Here is my setup:
Xeon X5675 @ 4.4 GHz
EVGA GTX 980 Ti
Corsair 6x4GB DDR3
Corsair AX1200 Gold
512GB NVMe (where the Witcher is currently installed)
2560 x 1080 display

Windows 10 Version 10.0.16299 Build 16299
Windows defender as antivirus

Everything is liquid cooled, CPU reach 70°C under stress test, 50°C when gaming.
GPU reach 40°C both when gaming and stress test.

Here are what I tried up to now, not in order:

• windowed, borderless and fullscreen
• with and without V-sync
• different graphics settings
• started with a texture mod, tried without
• Checked game integrity (in steam)
• Reinstalled the game (after having tried the texture mod)
• Moved the game to a faster storage (from HDD to NVMe)
• Configured Nvidia game setting
• Updated Nvidia drivers
• Removed Steam overlay
• Removed Discord overlay
• Ran CPU and GPU stress test (Furmark and intel Burn Test together)
• Underclocked my GPU
• Deactivated steam cloud
• Checked for Nvidia Streaming Service and it was already deactivated
• I'm the account admin, and the game is not installed in "Program Files"
• Tried running witcher 3 as an admin

Here are a few lines from the crash reports:

Crash reason: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (3221225477), Error writing location 0xceaffff9

Thread ID: 12564

callstack:
<Unknown Symbol>() + 0x0 - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0x1ccc28 - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0x1ce3b3 - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0x21a92f - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0x10fa75 - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0x6e6634 - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix2x4<float>::Prepend() + 0xc86b6 - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0xeeec4 - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix2x4<float>::Prepend() + 0xc396a - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0xef1c7 - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0x1216 - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0x428ad - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0x166f - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix4x4<float>::SetIdentity() + 0x196c - <Unknown File>(0)
Scaleform::Render::Matrix2x4<float>::Prepend() + 0x23dcf8 - <Unknown File>(0)
BaseThreadInitThunk() + 0x14 - <Unknown File>(0)
RtlUserThreadStart() + 0x21 - <Unknown File>(0)

Still getting crashes. Any idea?

 

[devivre]

Definitely do not under- or overclock your CPU/GPU/RAM. TW3 can have serious issues with that.

Also, are you using any mods for the game?

And make sure to close all non-essential background apps while playing. Even those without overlay.

 

[woodencase01]

Definitely do not under- or overclock your CPU/GPU/RAM. TW3 can have serious issues with that.

Ok, I'll definitely reset my MB config back to normal and see if it works. Looks like I'll be having my computer on stock speed for a while XD

Also, are you using any mods for the game?

No. Tried my first time with mods, then started debugging and it was my first try to remove any mods. Also reinstalled the game, just to make sure there were no leftovers.

And make sure to close all non-essential background apps while playing. Even those without overlay.

Ok, I'll give it a try.

I'll let you know how it goes, hope it will fix my crashes!

 

[SigilFey]

Not sure what the code you've listed is referencing, but it's possible that it could be either the game or drivers causing the issue.

1.) If it's coming from the game, then it could be possible that it's a result of leftover mod stuff. If you used any sort of mod manager to install / remove them, then it's possible that there are still some things lurking in your system (virtual pathing or some such) that may automatically detect and activate again -- even for a new installation. Ruling that out completely would be a good step.

2.) If the drivers are causing it, try rolling back to an older version. Uninstall using Display Driver Uninstaller. Install the older version using the CLEAN installation option. I can recommend searching for the archived Nvidia Reference Drivers 385.69. Been using those since they were released with no issues. Good, solid bet for the eVGA GTX 980 ti -- that's the same card I use.

3.) Repair/install all Microsoft Redistributeables. I'd go back to 2010 for things like Visual Studio and Visual C++. Be sure to install both the x86 and x64 versions of each. Do Visual Studio x86 + x64 for a given year, then Visual C++ x86 + x64. Follow the chronology and run all the installations up to present versions. (Note: they should be installed side-by-side -- not "updated". You should see every version installed when you're done.) Also running the install/repair for DirectX 11/12 and DirectX 9.0c is a good idea. No worries with this stuff. If something isn't compatible or just not needed, the program will tell you. You can just move on to the next installation in line.

Also, as @devivre mentions above, overclocking does not tend to cooperate well with TW3. Default clock speeds and voltage across the board, especially while troubleshooting. And underclocking should never, ever be necessary.

 

[woodencase01]

It looks like it was all about the CPU overclocking...

It's been 2 gaming sessions of 1h - 1h30, and haven't got any crash.

I don't get why the CPU clock could crash the game, but it looks like it does!
I remember having slow-motion problems with Path of Exile and Terraria, my character would move super slow and the game wasn't playable. This was also caused by overclocking. However it was resolved by runne a command in cmd.exe:

bcdedit /set {current} useplatformclock Yes

 

[SigilFey]

I don't get why the CPU clock could crash the game, but it looks like it does!

There are lots of different techniques to run, render, and draw a game. For big games like TW3, there's a lot going on under the hood. Many processes, especially things like PhysX, will base their calculations on synced frames. That means that a call will be made by one part of the process, and it will expect the return to arrive on a certain processor cycle, frame, etc.

By overclocking, what we basically do is increase the voltage and processing cycles beyond what the physical hardware is built to do or a program may know how to interpret. (Think of it as trying to explain directions to someone butyouaretalkingveryfastsoallthewordsblendtogetherandarehardtounderstand.) The greater the overclock, the more voltage will be drawn, and the greater the chances of something being returned in a "garbled" state or at a timing that a program isn't expecting. Some programs will deal with this just fine; others will be, like, "Whut...? I'm crashing. I quit."

As a rule of thumb, it's best to save overclocking for shooters or action-based games. More complex things like RPGs, Strategy, or Simulations will often work better at default clock speed. (Path of Exile, I have no idea. Likely the overclock is rendering too many frames...and the game is drawing them all by default. Frame-timing. The bcdedit tweak is basically telling Windows to use it's own clock to time things, not the system clock. So, it's having the same, inherent effect as slowing down the overclock. Might want to just disable the OC for Path of Exile, too. Save your hardware.)