Periodic crashes in Windows XP SP2 - Computer Exceeds System Recommendations

[gatecrasher]

Periodic crashes in Windows XP SP2 - Computer Exceeds System Recommendations

I have read through 9 pages of threads in the Technical Sub-Forum and did not see any recent threads regarding crashes with Windows XP, only Windows Vista, so I am starting one. I have scanned the Stickied threads, including the new Troubleshooting FAQ and the suggestions are already routine maintenance that I run on my computer, including CCleaner and RegscrubXP. I hand built this system 3 years ago, with periodic upgrades, and play many games frequently on it with no hardware problems. I regularly use antivirus and spyware programs to keep my computer clean and regularly defragment it. I disable all non-essential programs and processess from running in the background to optimize my computer performance and have set my page file to 4GB. It is important to note that I play games 40+ hours a week on this computer (single and no life besides work and games) and experience zero crashes or problems with those games, both new and old.The Witcher crashes periodically, every few hours, sometimes more frequently, sometimes less frequently. I have only played this game with 1.2 patch, so I don't know if there is any problems with the vanilla version. I play on High Settings at 1280 x 1024 resolution with Anti-Sopteric and Anti-Aliasing set to x2. The game runs smoothly except for some brief lag in high population areas, such as in Act III.System SpecsEpox Nforce3 939 motherboardAMD Athlon64 3500+ (90nm core)Sapphire X1950 Pro 512MB2GB Corsair PC3200 RAM, dual channel configuration120GB Maxtor 7200RPM hard drive600watt Nspire PSUplenty of cooling and airflow with 120mm fans, heatsinks, and aluminum case (Kingwin, Maximum PC 9/10)

 

[xhan]

run memtest recently?

 

[gatecrasher]

No. Why would you think I have a problem with my RAM when I use this computer to play games 40+ hours a week with zero crashes or problems of any kind, but only with The Witcher? Anything is possible, but a hardware problem that only affects one game, but not all the other games, is highly improbable. With that said, the problem does appear to be memory related, but the source appears to be The Witcher, not my hardware. When I get home I will run memtest though to rule it out as a possibility. I can post my dxdiag too if you really want it.Has anyone else tried playing long sessions of The Witcher in Windows XP and experience any crashes? I've been playing about 8-12 hours a day on my days off from work and I usually get several crashes during that period. I'll restart the game and play for a few more hours and then experience another crash. There was a similar problem with Vanguard when it was first released and it was determined to be a memory leak within the game that had to be fixed and updated in a patch, along with several other performance issues. I can play that game in maximum settings as well, by the way.

 

[coelocanth]

Someone in another thread with a high end rig (according to him) said he was having crash issues and he was attributing it to a memory leak as well, although he was playing on 64 bit Vista. I've played through once on my old rig (XP SP2, Athlon 64 3200+, 2 GB DDR RAM) and had no crashes. I'm playing through again on the new rig (XP SP2, C2D E6750, 2 GB DDR2 RAM) and so far, about half way through act 1, Ive had no issues. However, my play sessions have gone to only about 5 hours maximum.

 

[batman64]

More as a BUMP, but I get problems too.Normally a CTD during auto-saving at a cut-scene. Happened twice in a six hour period.Running XP Home 32bit SP2

 

[gatecrasher]

I notice that the crashes also appear during long sessions. Today, for example, I woke up at about 3-4pm (I work graveyard shift) and played for about 5-6 hours before I had to go to work and when I hit F5 to quick save before quitting, the game crashed to desktop. Almost every time the game crashes after a long session is when during an Autosave, Quicksave, or a regular save.I wanted to add, that I also decreased my settings to Medium and turned off AA and AS during that session as an experiment. I did not see a noticeable performance increase during the city of Act 3 (the only laggy place in the game so far and only after I first zone or log in) and I still crashed after a few hours, so decreasing the settings did not appear to alleviate the problem.

 

[stanash]

Download SpeedFan, and look at your overall heating/temps.You could have a cooling issue. That can cause a good system to act like mine, which is sub-par, and 6.5 years old. (BTW...it runs the game without too much trouble, though I've had to "tweak" it a bit.)

 

[charnel03]

I jumped on here to see if anybody else was experiencing the problem I'm running into and it looks like it's not just me. I too am experiencing CTD while playing The Witcher, only when attempting to save or during area transition, and generally after playing for more than a couple of hours. I started experiencing this problem after installing the 1.2 patch (though I really like the improved load and save times with 1.2 ;D)Pentium 4 660 @ 3.6 GHzGeForce 7800 GTX w/ 256 MB RAM2 GB DDR2 RAM2 WD Raptor 74 GB HDD in RAID 0 (80 GB free space)Windows XP Pro SP2I'll also mention that I have temperature displays on my case and I'm not experiencing any overheating problem. My CPU never exceeds 42 degrees C and my GPU never exceeds 47 degrees C. I've routinely played other games where my CPU runs around 50 and my GPU runs around 52 and haven't experienced any regular CTD with them

 

[mobidoy]

I jumped on here to see if anybody else was experiencing the problem I'm running into and it looks like it's not just me. I too am experiencing CTD while playing The Witcher, only when attempting to save or during area transition, and generally after playing for more than a couple of hours. I started experiencing this problem after installing the 1.2 patch (though I really like the improved load and save times with 1.2 ;D)Pentium 4 660 @ 3.6 GHzGeForce 7800 GTX w/ 256 MB RAM2 GB DDR2 RAM2 WD Raptor 74 GB HDD in RAID 0 (80 GB free space)Windows XP Pro SP2I'll also mention that I have temperature displays on my case and I'm not experiencing any overheating problem. My CPU never exceeds 42 degrees C and my GPU never exceeds 47 degrees C. I've routinely played other games where my CPU runs around 50 and my GPU runs around 52 and haven't experienced any regular CTD with them

Create a Dxdiag log and a report save as HTML using this tool System Information for WindowsExplain your problem and put your nickPut all that in an email and send it to the adress in my signature !I can have a look at it for you

 

[gatecrasher]

Definitely not an overheating issue. Apparently you missed the part where I use this computer 40+ hours a week (conservative estimate, I really do not have a social life and am home on my computer when I am not working!) and I experience ZERO problems with any other graphically intense computer games I play. I also monitor my system temperature and it also stays around 50 degrees Celsius or less. I have not ruled out the possibility that there is might be some tweaking I can do to my system to prevent or decrease the number of crashes to desktop I experience ONLY when playing The Witcher, but if you are going to suggest that there is something wrong with my hardware, then you need to explain why I experience ZERO crashing with every other game I play that was released in 2007, 2006, and 2005.

 

[username_2067131]

Same problem here. After patch 1.2 the game crashes periodically after a random period of time. There were no problems before 1.2.My specs: XP Prof SP2, CD 6400, 2GB RAM, 8800 GTS 640MB

 

[mobidoy]

Definitely not an overheating issue. Apparently you missed the part where I use this computer 40+ hours a week (conservative estimate, I really do not have a social life and am home on my computer when I am not working!) and I experience ZERO problems with any other graphically intense computer games I play. I also monitor my system temperature and it also stays around 50 degrees Celsius or less. I have not ruled out the possibility that there is might be some tweaking I can do to my system to prevent or decrease the number of crashes to desktop I experience ONLY when playing The Witcher, but if you are going to suggest that there is something wrong with my hardware, then you need to explain why I experience ZERO crashing with every other game I play that was released in 2007, 2006, and 2005.

Create a Dxdiag log and a report save as HTML using this tool System Information for WindowsExplain your problem and put your nickPut all that in an email and send it to the adress in my signature !

 

[donkuan]

Same thing happened to me. Periodic crash after long play time and during scene transition.Windows XP Pro (32 bits)8600GT 512MB DDR32GB DDR2 RAMP4 3.0 GHzDefinitely not heat problem.I can live with this problem. Unlike the PC port of Gears of War, there is a bug that lost all my save files. Absolutely pain.

 

[sam0t]

I have the exact same problem as all the the others here.With the 1.2 patch the Witcher crashes after some time of playing (less than hour) when the game does an auto save or a cut scene starts up. I had literally zero crashes with 1.1 patch, so the crashing is definetly due to 1.2 patch. Still the 1.2 patch makes the game so much faster that I can live with the crashing, though a patch is needed in my mind to correct this.My specs:AMD64 X2 4600+Asus A8N-EClub3D 38702 x 1GB DDR400Windows XP SP2ps. I have all the Windows updates installed and have the latest drivers for all the other components. System is rock stable with all other games and survives all stress tests I have thrown at it (memtest, prime95 etc).

 

[stanash]

Unfortunately, you cannot compare this game with others. It runs unlike most out there. Where I SHOULD have trouble, I don't... there could be a number of things that could attribute to your overall issue... Not saying it's the hardware, but the moment you rule something out without testing it is when THAT becomes your problem (aka Murhpy's Law)Sometimes some of the requests will seem dumb or pointless, and unless you have already done them, humor those attempting to help. It might just make you smile.

 

[username_2067131]

I think the problem is a lack of adress space. In XP 32 bit there are only 2GB available for a process. After a while TW needs more than the 2GB and crashes.You can try to include /3GB /userva=2990 at the end of your boot.ini. Maybe it works.

 

[Skarwind.924]

Maybe your grahpics card does not support the witcher lol i remember when Nvidia Geforce 8 series did not support lost planet for almost 2months after the game's release i'm just taking a wild guess though because i'm running on a Geforce 8600 GTS XXX w/ 2 gigs corsair 800 Mhz RAm Intel Pent D 3.0Ghz and 450 Watt powersupply lol so my PC doesnt' exactly compare to most people but it runs the game on max so im not complaining i only experience a crash when i click exit game and it's not a serious issue since i have already saved and not lost any data.I'm also using patch 1.2 just in case anyone wants to say it could be i haven't updated the game.

 

[byzantian]

I think the problem is a lack of adress space. In XP 32 bit there are only 2GB available for a process. After a while TW needs more than the 2GB and crashes.You can try to include

 

[Tracido]

I think the problem is a lack of adress space. In XP 32 bit there are only 2GB available for a process. After a while TW needs more than the 2GB and crashes.You can try to include /3GB /userva=2990 at the end of your boot.ini. Maybe it works.

this sounds like a worthwhile idea. ???any steps you can provide in doing this so i dont wipout my computer? 1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties. -or- Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK. 2. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery. 3. Under System Startup, click Edit.

Just don't forget that will mean only 1GB will be left for the kernel since 4GB's is always the limit for XP. Test it first and backup your Boot.ini file elsewhere to be safe.

 

[sam0t]

^ Thanks for the tip.I increased my swap size from 2GB -> 4GB and the crashing stopped with 1.2 patch.