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Author Topic: Freeze/Crashes on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition?  (Read 2323 times)

BraveSirRobin

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Freeze/Crashes on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition?
« on: August 31, 2016, 11:50:24 PM »
Hey!


I've moved to a new PC, which is an Alienware x51 R2 w/ Nvidia GTX 760 video card, Intel Core i5 Processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, all those goodies. It is currently running the anniversary update of Windows 10 Home.


You'd think this computer would be running NWN better than any machine before, but I'm experiencing freezes and crashes extremely frequently. I'm not sure if I'm overlooking a compatability setting or a specific toggle or trick to make this work. I've re-installed a fresh version of literally everything. Haks, overrides, the game itself (from GOG) and I'm not sure what's up.


For reference, I have an Asus U56E Laptop w/ 8 GB DDR3 RAM, Intel Core i5 Processor (2nd Gen), and no dedicated video card (Just Intel HD Graphics 3000, I believe) and it runs NWN without any kind of freezing or crashing. This laptop is running Windows 10, but not the Anniversary Update.

I've heard that newer Processors and Video Cards have an issue with older games, the rig I was using before this had the same GTX 760 in it, but an older Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2.66 Ghz, and 4 GB DDR2 RAM. Then, I had to replace that board and processor. So it then had an AMD Athlon II, and 4 GB DDR2 RAM. Both of which ran it fine, both of which had Windows 10 on it. One was upgraded from 10, the other one was enabled with Digital Entitlement.

Any ideas?

InMyDarkestHours

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Re: Freeze/Crashes on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition?
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2016, 12:06:13 AM »
I have a 780 video card, i7 and same RAM, I don't experience this.

Do these freezes/crashes occur when you try single-player as well?
Tried adjusting some graphical options? Turn them down to very lowest? Got the latest drivers?

Under nwnplayer.ini, check for [Game Options] and Client CPU Affinity=1
This specifies the CPU the game client will use on a multi-core computer. Cores are numbered from 0 to the number of cores minus 1.

QDS

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Re: Freeze/Crashes on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition?
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2016, 01:36:37 AM »
  I play NWN with Windows 10 and experienced strange behaviour too. My fix was to run NWN in window mode. Since then, everything runs smoothly. You can try that.
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BraveSirRobin

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Re: Freeze/Crashes on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition?
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2016, 01:49:47 AM »
I have a 780 video card, i7 and same RAM, I don't experience this.

Do these freezes/crashes occur when you try single-player as well?
Tried adjusting some graphical options? Turn them down to very lowest? Got the latest drivers?

Under nwnplayer.ini, check for [Game Options] and Client CPU Affinity=1
This specifies the CPU the game client will use on a multi-core computer. Cores are numbered from 0 to the number of cores minus 1.

Looks like it's running on Core #0, and she has four cores. So likely as not, I could set it to Core #3 and prevent any issues. I did wonder why NWN seemed like it caused my computer to run it's fans a little high, but that could be because all of the standard tasks of the OS are defaulted to Core #0 first, and will slowly shoulder the burden to other cores as necessary. Theoretically, if it's set to Core #3, Core #3 may be less likely to cause crashes. Though in newer OS's, using some of Intel's proprietary software, it will evenly distribute the load. Currently I'm monitoring my NWN session and recording what the clock speed is on each core, the usage, and the temps to see if it causes Core #0 to overheat and shunt the load to another core, causing an issue for the game which has no idea what to do with multiple cores apparently.

I'll experiment.

Jeebs

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Re: Freeze/Crashes on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition?
« Reply #4 on: September 01, 2016, 02:01:12 AM »
I've got just the normal version of Windows 10, running with the following compatibility mode options: Windows Vista SP2, Disable Display Scaling on High DPI settings, and running it as an admin. I don't normally experience any crashes, other than the few that seem to affect everyone across all OS and I'm running it at full graphics normally. One thing I've noticed though is that shiny water seems to cause problems (always has) so I usually have that disabled. Not sure what the difference is between Windows 10 and the anniversary edition, but I'd imagine they should run NWN the same way. Also, I've never had to modify the cores it runs on to get it to work, but it's worth trying... I do recall some people having issues with that in the past. As InMyDarkestHours asked though, do you have these crashes in single-player mode?
« Last Edit: September 01, 2016, 02:04:17 AM by Serillian »

BraveSirRobin

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Re: Freeze/Crashes on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition?
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2016, 02:32:36 AM »
I've got just the normal version of Windows 10, running with the following compatibility mode options: Windows Vista SP2, Disable Display Scaling on High DPI settings, and running it as an admin. I don't normally experience any crashes, other than the few that seem to affect everyone across all OS and I'm running it at full graphics normally. One thing I've noticed though is that shiny water seems to cause problems (always has) so I usually have that disabled. Not sure what the difference is between Windows 10 and the anniversary edition, but I'd imagine they should run NWN the same way. Also, I've never had to modify the cores it runs on to get it to work, but it's worth trying... I do recall some people having issues with that in the past. As InMyDarkestHours asked though, do you have these crashes in single-player mode?

I haven't touched Single-Player since... When I ran this on a Windows XP, to be entirely honest. That's a long time ago, but I'll give it a shot. Sometimes it can be forty minutes, or an hour before there's crash. ... Other times it crashes loading the Atari Splash at the beginning.

The main difference between Windows 10 and the Anniversary Update is that the latter implemented a lot of new additions to the OS's selection of tools. One of the biggest I've noticed is that you can now hotspot your Wireless card either by repeating a wireless signal you're receiving, or by using the Ethernet cable and broadcasting via the wireless card. Plus a redo of the settings menu, major changes to the way the start menu is organized, better DX12 implementation, and QR codes on blue screens to say the least. Anyways, I don't know if that changed something deep-down that would cause compatibility issues, however I wouldn't rule it out.

Easiest way to see this is by holding Windows Key + R  and typing in winver to see your OS's build. My build is (Version 1607) (OS Build 14393.82) however I've got some updates to run so that'll change by a margin. There won't be a label saying, "Anniversary Edition" or "Update" anywhere, but that's what the push update from Microsoft is labeled in order to represent how many changes have been made.

BraveSirRobin

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Re: Freeze/Crashes on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition?
« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2016, 05:27:23 PM »
I am typing this from mobile at work - Tried changing the load from Core 0 to Core 3, it did me not much good. Ran it on Core 0 again just to settle any superstition that it's original position of Core 0 was actually a cleverly veiled lie, and alas it was the same result. I also tried running it in compatibility mode as mentioned above, though not to the same extent with all the options. I'm not sure what causes the sudden freeze. Sometimes it'll freeze, the screen will lock, and then any click will bring up, "Windows it looking for a solution..." And I'm forced to just wait or close, so I close.

Last night I played and it froze after 20 minutes, then it kept going for an hour afterward until I went to sleep for the evening. No, wait, I lied, it crashed twice that evening, I just can't remember the spacing between two of them.

Any ideas?

Fungal Artillery

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Re: Freeze/Crashes on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition?
« Reply #7 on: September 03, 2016, 05:56:31 PM »
In addition everything else suggested here, look up your nwnmain.exe from your nwn folder. This is supposedly the program that the usual nwn launcher uses to launch the game.  Go to properties and make it launch in compability mode of Windows XP service pack 3. And administrator mode probably won't hurt either.

Doing this to your nwn launchers might help. I had a lot of crashes too after windows 10 but right now nwn isn't crashing for me except in the OOC room when there's 9001 people in there.
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