Graphics driver issues - blue screens

[Vampgelus]

Even at minimalistic (not minimal) graphic options, my PC tends to give up at some point of a game, often leading to a blue screen saying nv4_disp.dll is hooked up into an infinite loop and the system had to be stopped to prevent damage to the graphics card...

Ok, i run with some mods, with about 20 civ's on extra-huge maps, but this is beginning to bother me a little, since i had 4 blue screens yesterday.

I have a nVidia 8600 GT, a dual core CPU at 2,8 MHz and 2 GB of DDR2 RAM memory, so configuration should not be the problem, and civ is the only game making trouble.

I have the latest available driver version, and problems persist. Any suggestions ? Is there a patch of something preventing this ?

[dschur]

I too have been having problems with crashing. Under Vista I don't seem to get a BSOD, but it definitely crashes in a way I cannot recover from without restarting.

What I have found is that the crash tends to occur at a very specific point. Sometimes making a save just before it happens, or saving and completing the turn quickly before the crash occurs helps get past it. Since saves seem to help, I wonder if this is related to how the system tracks data inbetween saves? Is there some sort of cache that is updated with incremental unsaved changes?

I have a decent Dual Core CPU, and 2x7950 GT in SLI mode, so i think I should have the horsepower to run this. Surprisingly I actually have FEWER problems running the same Large Map, Marathon Turn games on a very basic laptop (although the graphics settings are turned down). I do have the latest patches for BTS loaded, and all my NVIDIA, Motherboard, SATA, etc drivers are current.

[edit] I know the crash is graphics driver related because while shutting down I get a brief glimpse of the desktop, and there is an alret icon telling me that the system recovered from a graphics driver failure

[snoopy369]

Try going back to a previous driver... that's possibly also a good idea

I'm not sure if it's possibly overheating - overheating usually causes a straight crash (CTD or reboot) but who knows. 8600GT is a powerful card that must be powerfully cooled after all...

It may also be just an nvidia driver related crash that nVidia must fix - try reporting it to them, perhaps?

[Vampgelus]

Good idea Snoopy, a friend of mine told me to take an older driver too. Anyway, i don't think about reporting it to nVidia, since CiV is the only game crashing... (my cooling is ok, it's the driver that sucks).

@dschur : I heard about vista making some trouble if you don't have a certain patch for dual-core processors, don't know the details, sorry.

[martin mcmartin]

not just civ IV that is crashing, I have got the same thing with age of empires III (warchiefs).

crash happens at random. my problem is that I did an almost simultanious update of drivers, Service Pack and patch 303 (or 313, don't remember) which left me in total darkness about where therashes come from.

could anyone tell me how to get back to the previous driver? unfortunately I am the only one here on the forum without an IT job.....

Mc

[Vampgelus]

Take the driver that you had on the CD when you bought your GC

Service Pack 3 is not out yet in europe, so this should not be the origin.

[Tuberski]

I get the video problem, but it's never crashed my game.

It also always happens in the diplomacy screen.

Meaning, the only time I get it is when another Civ comes calling.

I've taken the temporary black screen I get as a sign that someone wants to talk.

ACK!

[Tuberski]

dp

ACK!

[Vampgelus]

Not the same thing for me, can be anything. On Civfanatics they have static diplomatic images, this may help you Tuberski.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Vampgelus
with about 20 civ's on extra-huge maps,

Well that could be part of your problem, try reducing the load you're putting on your system. I'm guessing you're just expecting to much from your computer. The pathfinding alone is going to put a big strain on your CPU and the extra-huge maps could be more than your video card can handle. The 8600 isn't that powerful of a card, my old 7950GT could out perform it in many areas.

[Vampgelus]

Originally posted by Willem


Well that could be part of your problem, try reducing the load you're putting on your system. I'm guessing you're just expecting to much from your computer. The pathfinding alone is going to put a big strain on your CPU and the extra-huge maps could be more than your video card can handle. The 8600 isn't that powerful of a card, my old 7950GT could out perform it in many areas.

I know that i push my machine to it's limits... but i'd like it to handle this a little better, since i am pretty sure it can.

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by Vampgelus
Not the same thing for me, can be anything. On Civfanatics they have static diplomatic images, this may help you Tuberski.

Funny thing is that it's a temporary problem. Vista recovers the video and the game continues.

ACK!

[Crossfire]

Running 64 bit Vista with 4 gigs or ram and I run everything high at 1920x1200. I have a diplomatic movie crash my system about once a month. But I often crash to a blue screen when exiting the game after a long session. Windows dumps memory to the hd and shuts down.

Also, reloading stops working and I have to alt-tab out of Civ and back in order to finish loading. Weird huh? I never had either problem until BtS.

[Virulent]

I remember when I played Civ IV on my old laptop the game would crash late game with an out of video memory error if I used any driver but the one that came with my computer.

[snoopy369]

Tub's and Crossfire's problems are probably Vista related... Vista probably doesn't handle something the way the movie thingie expects. BtS did advance to a newer version of DirectX 9.0c so it's quite possible they changed something that now causes problems.