The Dreaded Lock-UP

[nyles 11]

I am suffering from the same problem and can confirm that not alt-tabbing out of the game greatly improves your chances to avoid crashes/lockups.

Running on a dualcore 2.66 with 8800 gts 512 on winxp. Very annoying bug. Same happens to me in VBS2, but in no other game I have installed.

[kridian 33]

I've spent all week trying to fix my crashing but met with no success. I thought it was a heat issue too so I used RivaTuner to turn my 8800GTX fan to 100% and put a stand up fan to my case. Didn't work.

I'm using NV driver 174.74 on a Vista64 OS. I turned off SuperFetch. Did a ram check (passed).

I did have success in windowed mode but like was stated earlier, the framerate is poor.

I lockup when I pan to look at something, zoomed or not.

Is there a solution in sight!? Grrrrrrr.

[Alex72 1]

The v175.19 NVIDIA drivers did not help. Same thing occurs from time to time.

[interal 0]

could any of u confirm this happens on battleye enabled and disabled servers?

because i dont get a lockup when its disabled on a server

audio/video drivers have no effect on this

why isnt bis/battleye involved in this issue already?

XFX 8800GT 512MB

E8400 3.0Ghz Core 2 Duo

Intel DQ35JOE Board

2x 1GB DDR2 667Mhz

XP Home SP 3

[aus_twisted 0]

could any of u confirm this happens on battleye enabled and disabled servers?

because i dont get a lockup when its disabled on a server

audio/video drivers have no effect on this

why isnt bis/battleye involved in this issue already?

XFX 8800GT 512MB

E8400 3.0Ghz Core 2 Duo

Intel DQ35JOE Board

2x 1GB DDR2 667Mhz

XP Home SP 3

Well I get the problem offline to, other then this lockup issue the game is running good.

[Crunch 0]

I noticed this command today in the Wiki...

FLUSH 

Flush all video memory to cure performance issue caused by textures being placed in the AGP memory

I realize most of us are using PCI-E video but perhaps this command used periodically could help? Anyone with tim to test right now please post your results. Thanks

[Lepardi 0]

I noticed this command today in the Wiki...

FLUSH 

Flush all video memory to cure performance issue caused by textures being placed in the AGP memory

I realize most of us are using PCI-E video but perhaps this command used periodically could help? Anyone with tim to test right now please post your results. Thanks

It won't help, it might remove artifacts for a while but it will lock up. Only nvidia could fix the problem, but they aren't fixing anything.

[Crunch 0]

I noticed this command today in the Wiki...

FLUSH 

Flush all video memory to cure performance issue caused by textures being placed in the AGP memory

I realize most of us are using PCI-E video but perhaps this command used periodically could help? Anyone with tim to test right now please post your results. Thanks

It won't help, it might remove artifacts for a while but it will lock up. Only nvidia could fix the problem, but they aren't fixing anything.

Hmm... I don't think we've determined with absolute proof that this is a Nvidia issue. I and some others only have this lock up with ArmA and no other game.

[kklownboy 43]

it is a NVDA issue, and has been since day one. Well it is in Arma so it is a Arma issue too, so lets just call it a NVDA_BIS issue, or a nvdaBS issue. Flush works on 8800 cards, if you know when to use it. I have seen some users , use it effectively.

But still i can keep playing for hours if i lower my settings from veryhigh and high to normal ect... lame,when i can have great frames at high and higher... Texture has been key.. and shadows to off sometimes is good to go...lame, You just have to tweakit till it works for you. I start full ubersettings then when i crash out i just lower a setting down, rinse and repeat. 2gigs of ram, 3.0conroe. 4gigs was a bust... Only game on XP32, but i am setting up a XP64 game box.

[Lepardi 0]

I noticed this command today in the Wiki...

FLUSH 

Flush all video memory to cure performance issue caused by textures being placed in the AGP memory

I realize most of us are using PCI-E video but perhaps this command used periodically could help? Anyone with tim to test right now please post your results. Thanks

It won't help, it might remove artifacts for a while but it will lock up. Only nvidia could fix the problem, but they aren't fixing anything.

Hmm... I don't think we've determined with absolute proof that this is a Nvidia issue. I and some others only have this lock up with ArmA and no other game.

Yes, it is in arma only, I had it in ArmA only and everyone having nvidia card has it in arma only. nVidia doesn't care about some no-name game like ArmA, so it is like this.

Everoyne I know having this lockup in arma only, have gotten rid of the problem when changing to a radeon, including myself. It is a definite problem in nvidia drivers.

[RangerX3X 0]

I noticed this command today in the Wiki...

FLUSH 

Flush all video memory to cure performance issue caused by textures being placed in the AGP memory

I realize most of us are using PCI-E video but perhaps this command used periodically could help? Anyone with tim to test right now please post your results. Thanks

It won't help, it might remove artifacts for a while but it will lock up. Only nvidia could fix the problem, but they aren't fixing anything.

Hmm... I don't think we've determined with absolute proof that this is a Nvidia issue. I and some others only have this lock up with ArmA and no other game.

Yes, it is in arma only, I had it in ArmA only and everyone having nvidia card has it in arma only. nVidia doesn't care about some no-name game like ArmA, so it is like this.

Everoyne I know having this lockup in arma only, have gotten rid of the problem when changing to a radeon, including myself. It is a definite problem in nvidia drivers.

It is an ArmA 1.14 problem. Period.

"In terms of stability, performance and gameplay, ARMA is now a distinctly superior game to the initial release. " (Marek Spanel, Bohemia Interactive).

Hogwash.

I can run the same mission 10 times in 1.08 with NO freezes or crashes. In 1.14 that mission (as well as others that I use binocs or scopes alot) causes the game to freeze or crash after a period of time 4 times or more out of 10.

Blame nvidia all you want. Won't do a damn bit of good because they are not going to fix something that is not their problem.

Face it: BI is done with ArmA I and we just have to eat it.

[kklownboy 43]

There will be atleast one more patch for ARMA1. As for being a ONLY BiS issue is wrong. But whatever...

I would like to see some 1gb Vidcards from NVDA . I think more Vid RAM maybe the answer to this NVDA issue. My GX2 has a "NVDA 1gb", but only a real 512mb amount...( lame NVDA again).the GTX 8800 have 768mb , wonder how many of them crash now?

But still for me i only crash out with veryhigh and high combo,and I ALWAYS use high AA, and give up on other settings to get in more gametime than i should... Thats it! its a feature to crash.. you then go outside and do your life...

[Lepardi 0]

I noticed this command today in the Wiki...

FLUSH 

Flush all video memory to cure performance issue caused by textures being placed in the AGP memory

I realize most of us are using PCI-E video but perhaps this command used periodically could help? Anyone with tim to test right now please post your results. Thanks

It won't help, it might remove artifacts for a while but it will lock up. Only nvidia could fix the problem, but they aren't fixing anything.

Hmm... I don't think we've determined with absolute proof that this is a Nvidia issue. I and some others only have this lock up with ArmA and no other game.

Yes, it is in arma only, I had it in ArmA only and everyone having nvidia card has it in arma only. nVidia doesn't care about some no-name game like ArmA, so it is like this.

Everoyne I know having this lockup in arma only, have gotten rid of the problem when changing to a radeon, including myself. It is a definite problem in nvidia drivers.

It is an ArmA 1.14 problem. Period.

"In terms of stability, performance and gameplay, ARMA is now a distinctly superior game to the initial release. " (Marek Spanel, Bohemia Interactive).

Hogwash.

I can run the same mission 10 times in 1.08 with NO freezes or crashes. In 1.14 that mission (as well as others that I use binocs or scopes alot) causes the game to freeze or crash after a period of time 4 times or more out of 10.

Blame nvidia all you want. Won't do a damn bit of good because they are not going to fix something that is not their problem.

Face it: BI is done with ArmA I and we just have to eat it.

Blame bis all you want. The problem lies in nvidia drivers.

Or how would you explain that ArmA no more crashes, not even a single crash, with HD48xx cards, when it did crash like you mentioned with nvidia cards? Even when the other hardware is exactly same, but when the GPU is changed to an AMD one, the problem just disappears.

If the problem is because of bis, how the hell does it work 100% stable with ati cards, but not nvidia?

HOW?

Simple - nvidia drivers are buggy as hell.

[RangerX3X 0]

I noticed this command today in the Wiki...

FLUSH 

Flush all video memory to cure performance issue caused by textures being placed in the AGP memory

I realize most of us are using PCI-E video but perhaps this command used periodically could help? Anyone with tim to test right now please post your results. Thanks

It won't help, it might remove artifacts for a while but it will lock up. Only nvidia could fix the problem, but they aren't fixing anything.

Hmm... I don't think we've determined with absolute proof that this is a Nvidia issue. I and some others only have this lock up with ArmA and no other game.

Yes, it is in arma only, I had it in ArmA only and everyone having nvidia card has it in arma only. nVidia doesn't care about some no-name game like ArmA, so it is like this.

Everoyne I know having this lockup in arma only, have gotten rid of the problem when changing to a radeon, including myself. It is a definite problem in nvidia drivers.

It is an ArmA 1.14 problem. Period.

"In terms of stability, performance and gameplay, ARMA is now a distinctly superior game to the initial release. " (Marek Spanel, Bohemia Interactive).

Hogwash.

I can run the same mission 10 times in 1.08 with NO freezes or crashes. In 1.14 that mission (as well as others that I use binocs or scopes alot) causes the game to freeze or crash after a period of time 4 times or more out of 10.

Blame nvidia all you want. Won't do a damn bit of good because they are not going to fix something that is not their problem.

Face it: BI is done with ArmA I and we just have to eat it.

Blame bis all you want. The problem lies in nvidia drivers.

Or how would you explain that ArmA no more crashes, not even a single crash, with HD48xx cards, when it did crash like you mentioned with nvidia cards? Even when the other hardware is exactly same, but when the GPU is changed to an AMD one, the problem just disappears.

If the problem is because of bis, how the hell does it work 100% stable with ati cards, but not nvidia?

HOW?

Simple - nvidia drivers are buggy as hell.

Quite obvious you are an ATI Fan Boy and nothing more.

100% stable with ATI cards? LMFAO you dolt.

Same nvidia driver same mission same rig: 1.08=No crashes. 1.14=Crash-O-Matic.

Go away you ATI troll.

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

RangerX3X ,

Maybe you should look at other possibilities of your problems.

If I have a problem with a user made mission with a stable driver, I just do not play it anymore. ArmA did infact kill a few user missions with patches.

Stock/Patched ArmA does not freeze/lock up/bsod/ with a few known stable drivers, with my Nvidia cards. They are all WHQL.

[Lepardi 0]

I noticed this command today in the Wiki...

FLUSH 

Flush all video memory to cure performance issue caused by textures being placed in the AGP memory

I realize most of us are using PCI-E video but perhaps this command used periodically could help? Anyone with tim to test right now please post your results. Thanks

It won't help, it might remove artifacts for a while but it will lock up. Only nvidia could fix the problem, but they aren't fixing anything.

Hmm... I don't think we've determined with absolute proof that this is a Nvidia issue. I and some others only have this lock up with ArmA and no other game.

Yes, it is in arma only, I had it in ArmA only and everyone having nvidia card has it in arma only. nVidia doesn't care about some no-name game like ArmA, so it is like this.

Everoyne I know having this lockup in arma only, have gotten rid of the problem when changing to a radeon, including myself. It is a definite problem in nvidia drivers.

It is an ArmA 1.14 problem. Period.

"In terms of stability, performance and gameplay, ARMA is now a distinctly superior game to the initial release. " (Marek Spanel, Bohemia Interactive).

Hogwash.

I can run the same mission 10 times in 1.08 with NO freezes or crashes. In 1.14 that mission (as well as others that I use binocs or scopes alot) causes the game to freeze or crash after a period of time 4 times or more out of 10.

Blame nvidia all you want. Won't do a damn bit of good because they are not going to fix something that is not their problem.

Face it: BI is done with ArmA I and we just have to eat it.

Blame bis all you want. The problem lies in nvidia drivers.

Or how would you explain that ArmA no more crashes, not even a single crash, with HD48xx cards, when it did crash like you mentioned with nvidia cards? Even when the other hardware is exactly same, but when the GPU is changed to an AMD one, the problem just disappears.

If the problem is because of bis, how the hell does it work 100% stable with ati cards, but not nvidia?

HOW?

Simple - nvidia drivers are buggy as hell.

Quite obvious you are an ATI Fan Boy and nothing more.

100% stable with ATI cards? LMFAO you dolt.

Same nvidia driver same mission same rig: 1.08=No crashes. 1.14=Crash-O-Matic.

Go away you ATI troll.

I'm just pointing out the facts, and you as a nvidia fanboy just can't take the fact that the problem is in nvidia drivers.

[boomboomer 0]

Try to stay polite & rational people, flaming doesn't help anything.

I do have to concur on the driver theory though, since the latest drivers appeared (the ones with the physixs driver included) my lock ups have vanished.

Although nothing else has been changed: hardware, windows or ArmA settings the guaranteed lockups after about 30 mins playing have gone.

This isn't conclusive, but if you are still getting lockups with the new drivers I'd try a clean windows install and simplify your hardware setup as much as possible - which is what I did before switching to the new drivers. My lockups continued even with the stripped down hardware and clean windows (XP SP3) but now have gone. This would eliminate all the hundreds of other potential gremlins from your mix.

[ModaFlanker 0]

I've been playing the game, Mass Effect on my Nvidia 8800GT.

Guess what?

THE EXACT SAME FREEZES!

Its a nVidia driver issue... probably not something BIS can fix.

Added:  Haven't tried the new drivers with the physics, so I'll try that.

Added later:  Tried the latest nVidia drivers.  Just had another Mass Effect freeze (freezes anywhere between 5 to 30 seconds).  Will have to report later if this ever happens to me in ArmA or not.

[169th_Ice 0]

I just upgraded from 8800GTX to AMP edition 280 with 1 GIG RAM. Still same problem. Random freezes / Hard Reboot.

this is as close as ive gotten to finding the cause

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=293078

[ModaFlanker 0]

Not ONE person has mentioned what they are using for their sound.  Shall we start comparing what sound chip/cards we are using?

I've been having the most horrible freezes in Mass Effect that have been driving me nuts [as posted above].  Tried many things to fix it, newer drivers, etc.

Then I decide disable the sound in Device manager completely.  What I have been using is my so-called "Karjan Audio Module" for the NF4 Lanparty I am using [which uses the Realtek AC97 drivers].

The freezing stopped!

I'm going to put an old Soundblaster Live! card in my system and report back here if anything changes.

If it does I'll test the Soundblaster in ArmA-- if it freezes I'll disable sound and see if that does anything.

NOTE:  I never had the freezing problem with my ATI card.  Seems to be a conflict of my Realtek sound with the nVidia card.

WHAT SOUND CHIP/CARDS are you all using?

Update: Changing to my Soundblaster didn't change anything. Maybe the card is old, but its looking more like a conflict between nVidia drivers and the sound. Will have to start experimenting with the hardware acceleration slider in Windows for the sound card.

[Kubicide 0]

Add another confirmation that the freeze is related to Nvidia hardware or drivers. Just changed over to a 4870X2 and no more problems. Had a 280 and 8800Ultra before that - both would randomly freeze ever since the 1.14 patch. Before that it was the annoying 8007000 or whatever crash introduced with 1.07/1.08 patch. Always suspected it was Nvidia related and this confirms it for my setup.

No fanboy-ism. I could care less who has the better card. Just want to have the best ArmA experience.

[xxbbcc 6]

Had the same problem - this happens every once in a while (not very frequently.) Guess what, I'm using an nVidia GeForce 8600 GT with the 175.16 driver, on XP SP3, 3 GB RAM. I'm fairly convinced this is an nVidia issue because I recently got this card and had no problems with the earlier one (which was also nVidia) under 1.14.

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Good point ModaFlanker,

I use onboard 8-in-1,

SoundMAX ADI1988 Audio Driver V6.10.1.6270 (Vista 32 & 64).

EAX enabled.

Hardware acceleration enabled.

[SlipperyJim 0]

I still think this is a BIS problem since I don't get the graphic corruption on any other game. This only started when they released the patch with the new memory management features.

1.14 had too many new additions that completely bypassed the beta process.

[Lepardi 0]

I still think this is a BIS problem since I don't get the graphic corruption on any other game.  This only started when they released the patch with the new memory management features.

1.14 had too many new additions that completely bypassed the beta process.

Then think again. If it works on AMD/ATi graphics cards, why would it be BIS's fault?