The evolution of my problems

[privateguba 0]

My PC: Core I5 750, 4gb memory, EVGA GTX560ti, Win 7 64bits, no overclocks.

I bought ARMA+OA+BAF+PMC on STEAM some 4 months ago. The 1st 2 months were spent playing single player. No big problems. Sometimes I veryfied file integrity and it found errors.

Some 2 months ago I started playin DAYZ. After a few dayz I started getting the glitching graphics. Soon found the flush command. No problems for a few more weeks.

Then I started getting the minimize to desktop bug. And discovered that FLUSH also works. Okay for a few more days. But it started evolving and soon I couldn't play for more than a few minutes before it minimized again.

I went on steam and verified file integrity. It discovered missing/damaged files in every instalation and fixed them. But it didn't solve the problem. I updated my Nvidia Drivers, veryfied virus, nothing. Before writing here I decided to delete both ARMA2.cfg and ARMA2OA.cfg. That solved my problem.

One thing to note is that at some point of my troubleshooting, about 1 month ago, it gave the message 'BAD CD KEY' in one of my game starts. I reseted the system and when I came back it didn't give the message again.

That festival of errors curbed my entusiasm with the game. So for the last month I have been sporadicaly playing DAYZ. No problems. A few GF glitches and a couple minimizings. 1 week ago I started playing Dayz NAMALSK. After a few days the minimizing bug started again. And... it evolved until today, when the game minimizes every few seconds.

I deleted CFGS, updated NVIDIA DRIVERS and verified file integrity. One thing to note: For all time I have this game EVERYTIME I verify file integrity it finds some error. EVERY FREAKING TIME! What is wrong with the instalation that the game is so frail?

Finaly, after double checking file integrity, I started getting a festival of errors in the startup:

No entry 'bin\config.bin/CfgInGameUI/MPTable.shadow'

Error compiling pixel shader PSSpecularAlpha:0

air_pmc.pbo decryption of headers failed (That one is incomplete as my patience ran out)

A few others I think I forgot

The stand alone ARMA2 shortcut (The green one) lost the icon

AND. ... AND ....

BAD CD KEY!!!!!!

I appreciate any help

Edited to remove swearing. Sorry for my lack of temper.

Edited November 2, 2012 by privateguba

[[frl]myke 14]

Edited to remove swearing. Sorry for my lack of temper.

Appreciate your honesty, thank you.

Looking at your story, the first thing that goes through my mind was: HD failure coming.

Could you please also post the .rpt file? Also check the temps of CPU, GPU, HD and Ram if possible. I wouldn't exclude a overheating problem at this point.

Also please try without mods, maybe play some of the SP missions or the campaign.

[privateguba 0]

Well, I have a single 1TB HD that's 2 years old, my base computer is 2 years old too. My GTX560ti is 1 year old. I have dual boot, WIN XP and Win 7 64bits. HD is partitioned in 4: Win XP, WIn 7, Docs, GAmes. Arma2 was in Win 7 64bits, drive C:, STEAM didn't give the option for other drive.

While I was writing I was backing up the game files via Steam in the DOCS drive. I backed up everything. Then I uninstaled every Arma game. Note that in Steam there's no 'uninstall' option, only 'delete local game content'. I reseted the computer and turned on Steam.

I clicked on Install ARMA2, thinking it would give me the option of reinstalling from the backup. Nope. It went straight to redownload from the internet. I paused the download and went to the backup folder. It was empty.

That means that when I clicked 'delete local game content' it deleted not only the game in drive C, but the backup folder too.

I know this is not BIS fault. With my internet speed it will only finish tomorrow. Thanks for your help, I'll see what happens tomorrow.

Okay, I've been reading some more threads, the message was 'Bad serial number given in setup', not that it matters now.

Edited November 3, 2012 by privateguba

[Tankbuster 1733]

Myke;2248110']

first thing that goes through my mind was: HD failure coming.

.

Me too. Unexplained file corruption on this scale usually means a dying hard disk.

Change it ASAP.

[privateguba 0]

I just finished installing ARMA2 standalone and the minimize to desktop bug is still there. I haven't found any good solution for this. Is there a thread about it?

I defragmented the HD and ran Checkdisk. It didn't find any error. If there's any hardware error I'd bet it was my GTX560ti. I think ARMA2 may have destroyed it.

EDIT: another thing is that the problems restarted after Steam 'converted the files to a new format'.

[[frl]myke 14]

A broken graphic card wouldn't cause file errors on the HD. It does only read files, it doesn't write them. And you would be the very first having a hardware breakdown caused by ArmA 2.

Defragmenting and running Checkdisk is probably not enough. Try this: http://www.passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm

[privateguba 0]

Hello, I'd like to thank you guys for trying to help and say sorry for wasting your time. Some things happened and you may call me stupid: Yesterday I played some other games and they were having problems too. I was stumped. Then the power grid went down in my neighborhood. When power came back the problems disapeared. I think that the blown transformer may have been suplying bad energy for days. Also, I live in Brazil and the heat mounted suddenly (December summers here). The trouble was that there were many cold fronts between autumn and now. A week ago the cold fronts were gone and sudden heat came. And... errrrmm... I forgot to up the fan speed. The 'automatic' Nvidia control simply didn't do it. :banghead::386::pet2::803: Thanks guys and sorry for the time wasted.

[gunso 10]

you might want to get a power regulator or an UPS if you are concerned about unstable power supply.

[privateguba 0]

Actually, my PSU might be going. The minimise bug is back, and when it happens it simply resets the fan to low speed.