ArmA II Random Lockup

[Bulldogs 10]

It's an annoying issue for sure and I hope it's fixed soon for you guys but I wouldn't go too hard on bis for it, every game gets these problems shortly after release, unfortunately you guys were the ones who got the short end of the stick this time. I hope it gets fixed soon for you lot.

[stuart_1981 10]

@ bulldogs -

All sound and exellent advice. The only problem is that I havent got ANY issues with all my other games. Only arma 2 emplying that its not hardware. For me at least. Im an MCSA and work for one of Irelands top IT firms and I cant find any other issues bar buggy software.

Sorry man, Im not angry at anyone in particular its just that having wated 2 years for Arma 2 I expected a finished game, not a buggy beta.

Edited June 28, 2009 by stuart_1981

[rusky25 10]

Agreed. Don't know if this is related but just got the same issue with Overlord 2. This is really unrelated so I'm not going to go into it. but is very odd, only 2 games this is ever happened to me with.

[Nickos 10]

For me, it's ArmA 2-Exclusive issue. I don't have any problems at all with Overlord II or any other game

[stuart_1981 10]

It's an annoying issue for sure and I hope it's fixed soon for you guys but I wouldn't go too hard on bis for it, every game gets these problems shortly after release, unfortunately you guys were the ones who got the short end of the stick this time. I hope it gets fixed soon for you lot.

Thanks dude, I do too. From what I've played its an AWESOME game, just nigh on unplayable in its current state.

Bulldog, I take it you get no CTD's at all? Even on the Manhattan mission?

** edit - just installed the 1.02 patch and the game crashes are even bloody worse now! WTF!!!! **

Edited June 28, 2009 by stuart_1981

[rusky25 10]

Yea..i have the steam version so i cant tell if its worse or not steam just updates it, and there is no way i can think of to downgrade

[Bulldogs 10]

Thanks dude, I do too. From what I've played its an AWESOME game, just nigh on unplayable in its current state.

Bulldog, I take it you get no CTD's at all? Even on the Manhattan mission?

** edit - just installed the 1.02 patch and the game crashes are even bloody worse now! WTF!!!! **

Ouch, I think the world hates you.

Yeah, haven't had any ctd's myself but I try to test it under many different scenarios to reproduce such crashes. No luck yet.

[kyle382 10]

1) This speculation about computer hardware lacking is ridiculous. These gamers are obviously hardcore and are playing games like crysis, cod4, oblivion, fallout 3. Don't say those push your system less or very different from ARMA II

2)Having your own players upload the problems that you failed to test and fix is also outstanding. I did not pay 49.00 to become a beta tester for what looks worse than battlefield 2 thusfar.

3) The next moderator that asks someone to update drivers should be fired...I find it very unlikely that someone could register for a forum like this one and not have at least updated basic drivers first.

I still have no replies to my posts... *tear* don't joo bo-schemeians wub me...?

[MPBR 10]

1) This speculation about computer hardware lacking is ridiculous. These gamers are obviously hardcore and are playing games like crysis, cod4, oblivion, fallout 3. Don't say those push your system less or very different from ARMA II

2)Having your own players upload the problems that you failed to test and fix is also outstanding. I did not pay 49.00 to become a beta tester for what looks worse than battlefield 2 thusfar.

3) The next moderator that asks someone to update drivers should be fired...I find it very unlikely that someone could register for a forum like this one and not have at least updated basic drivers first.

I still have no replies to my posts... *tear* don't joo bo-schemeians wub me...?

But not all games are equal in how they stress your machine. Hence why there are dedacated software apps out there that do completly stress various components to nut it down.

Now if your a hardcore gamer, you will also have installed 3d mark 06 (possible vantage) CPU-z, Core Temp, GPU-z, prime and memtest *well boot disk).

As stated above, run a few back to back 3dmark 06's and not the max temp of both CPU and GPU and see if it hangs or crashes after the 4-5 etc run.

Also run prime for a few hours maxing each core and see max temp and if you get any errors or again lockups or crashes. Prime is really one of the most important tools you can use to ensure anymachine is stable, even with stock speeds.

I know it can be time consuming, but if you find the issue, it means you can play that much sooner and better. I do strongly reccomend that anyone that has BSOD or reboots to run prime for as many hours as possible with every core running flatout.

Also Memtest, a quick and simple boot cd will ensure that its not due to a bad address of memory that causes the machine to roll over when it gets addressed.

Point being, not all are getting the crashes or lockups, as each machine varies so drasticly from one person to another (hardware and background software etc), basic troubleshooting steps are required to elimiate 1 by 1 possible causes. This is how ALL TECH SUPPORT works.

Crash logs are always helpful in helping to track down problems as well.

[Bulldogs 10]

I was sleeping.. and dreaming of forums :j:

Anyways, do what the post above me says, and if it's hardware related it should be found, if not then post a crash report (read the sticky) and wait patiently.

[Allions 10]

But not all games are equal in how they stress your machine. Hence why there are dedacated software apps out there that do completly stress various components to nut it down.

Now if your a hardcore gamer, you will also have installed 3d mark 06 (possible vantage) CPU-z, Core Temp, GPU-z, prime and memtest *well boot disk).

sorry man but i don't agree completely with you.

Ok not all games stress our pc's in the same way, BUT it's impossible that with an hardware that works with cod4, fallout 3, empire total war, dowII, etc.. i can't play this game, because it crashes also if i put evernything on low setting (for example)

the problem it's not only MINE, we are many to have this problem, so it's not a problem of our machines.

(my english is not fantastic cause i'm italian, hope you can understand what i mean)

edit: no way, still freeze with the latest patch 1.02.58

Edited June 29, 2009 by Allions

[stuart_1981 10]

Bulldog, what rig are you running out of interest and what windows ver? Just want to compare HW/OS with a system without crashes.

On a more general note, I tend to agree with the post above. I just cant accept that this is a HW specific issue unless we all find out that there is a common hardware device or driver issue etc between all the users suffering CTD's. Also, its not like this is without precedent - Arma ver1.0 anyone???? ;)

[Nickos 10]

My config is (as stated before) 9600GT, Phenom X3 2,4GHZ and 2GB RAM.

[=Spetsnaz= 0]

im still getting weird freezes,bsods and crashes and such.. somethings wrong..

[kyle382 10]

But not all games are equal in how they stress your machine. Hence why there are dedacated software apps out there that do completly stress various components to nut it down.

Now if your a hardcore gamer, you will also have installed 3d mark 06 (possible vantage) CPU-z, Core Temp, GPU-z, prime and memtest *well boot disk).

As stated above, run a few back to back 3dmark 06's and not the max temp of both CPU and GPU and see if it hangs or crashes after the 4-5 etc run.

Also run prime for a few hours maxing each core and see max temp and if you get any errors or again lockups or crashes. Prime is really one of the most important tools you can use to ensure anymachine is stable, even with stock speeds.

I know it can be time consuming, but if you find the issue, it means you can play that much sooner and better. I do strongly reccomend that anyone that has BSOD or reboots to run prime for as many hours as possible with every core running flatout.

Also Memtest, a quick and simple boot cd will ensure that its not due to a bad address of memory that causes the machine to roll over when it gets addressed.

Point being, not all are getting the crashes or lockups, as each machine varies so drasticly from one person to another (hardware and background software etc), basic troubleshooting steps are required to elimiate 1 by 1 possible causes. This is how ALL TECH SUPPORT works.

Crash logs are always helpful in helping to track down problems as well.

my memory is good...my 3d benchmarks are good.

your suggestion makes no sense and AGAIN suggests the fact that the 400 ppl or so that are having this same problem is ALL DUE TO THEIR BURNT OUT MEMORY OR BOARDS...NO..ur kidding me.

main point here is :

GAME SHOULD WORK OUT OF BOX for $50....this is not Beta time chief. :butbut:

---------- Post added at 12:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:52 PM ----------

im still getting weird freezes,bsods and crashes and such.. somethings wrong..

anyone noticing a trend here...?:butbut:

o his memory has to be burnt right? omgrofl

[=Spetsnaz= 0]

I can Run Crysis,Stalker any Driving Sim,Amra and as many 3Dmarks as you like but it dosn't crash or freeze my PC.

With ArmaII it can crash with just the player unit on the small Island after just 1 minute or it can work for an hour or two with a full blown battle. It is totally random the amount of units or the intensity of the battle have no impact on my system and the freezing issue.

yep me too, im just having this problem with arma 2.. i played crysis for 6 hours non stop at 20-30fps on very high and did not not once give me a freeze,crash or error. But arma 2 does.. within 30min-1 hour of gaming

[Bulldogs 10]

Bulldog, what rig are you running out of interest and what windows ver? Just want to compare HW/OS with a system without crashes.

On a more general note, I tend to agree with the post above. I just cant accept that this is a HW specific issue unless we all find out that there is a common hardware device or driver issue etc between all the users suffering CTD's. Also, its not like this is without precedent - Arma ver1.0 anyone???? ;)

I'm running;

E7300 (not-OC)

9800GT (not-OC)

4GB ram (2x2GB Gingle)

X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound card

10 different hard drivers (Sata/IDE)

OS (tested Arma on) : Win 7 32bit, Vista 32bit (sp1), (tested on Win7 64 bit and game wouldn't start at all)

Gonna test it on XP Sp3 soon, and Vista Sp2.

---------- Post added at 12:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:46 AM ----------

On thing I should note, all games run fine for me, including Arma 2, except for Prototype. That crashes all the time for me under Win 7 (haven't tested under vista)

---------- Post added at 02:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:47 AM ----------

Here's a post from another thread from a user that was suffering the same problem. I hope it helps

I finally got rid of it!

I first ruled out overheating as I monitor my system and nothing passed any historic overheating thresholds for my system. Every other game (even CrysisW) runs flawless with the temperature I was getting on Northbridge, CPU, GPU and Harddrive. But still it

sure looked like overheating in Arma 2. Weird.

So I opened up the case and pointed a big fan at "everything" (even memory) and what do you know, no stuttering or fps spikes at all.

But this didn't satisfy me, as I still suspected Arma 2 to be the culprit. So I monitored my CPU's two cores separately and found out that Arma 2 is very poor at distributing the load between them. Instead it taxes one core and overheats it, making it slow down, and suddenly finds itself in need of CPU cycles so it starts grabbing from the other core making the first cool down some. Then it starts taxing the still very warm first core again making it overheat in notime and so on in an endless loop.

No other game does this so poorly so that is why I can run other games without overheating with the same temperatures.

So the temporary cure is to REALLY cool down your CPU like you never needed before. Still, that wouldn't be needed if the game distributed the load more effectively so to not let one core run 100% and overheat.

[HHawk 0]

Fucking crashes here as well. I wonder for what I paid? An unfinished game probably.

Anyways I have 3 days left to return this game. If it doesn't get fixed within the next few days, I am returning this crap bugged game!

[=Spetsnaz= 0]

erghh just was playing a large scenario i built on the demo editor and played for about 10min and then my PC just froze.. im 100% sure its not my system.. i can run every game including crysis no problems for hours on end!

[Nickos 10]

It's not our goddamn hardware, but the fuckin' game code

BTW, check this: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=76722

Edited June 29, 2009 by Nickos

[Allions 10]

It's not our goddamn hardware, but the fuckin' game code

yeah agree.. however if our hardware gets overheated only with arma II, it's a problem of ARMA II!

[Bulldogs 10]

Read the post. It's stating that the problem (at least in that users case) was the code putting too much pressure on the hardware.

This guy was having no trouble with any other game yet Arma 2 put strain on his CPU and over heated it.

Just to be sure, I'm overclocking my CPU. Only a small over clock, been running for about 30 mins and so far getting 1 random freeze every 5 mins (only 2 freezes so far)

Cpu temps are up to 80 deg C (same overclock game me temps of 50 deg C under Crysis)

I'll keep it going for another 30 mins to see what happens.

[stuart_1981 10]

I'm running;

E7300 (not-OC)

9800GT (not-OC)

4GB ram (2x2GB Gingle)

X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound card

10 different hard drivers (Sata/IDE)

OS (tested Arma on) : Win 7 32bit, Vista 32bit (sp1), (tested on Win7 64 bit and game wouldn't start at all)

Gonna test it on XP Sp3 soon, and Vista Sp2.

My system is almost identical bar the SC and an older slower processor (E6750) and I've only 4 HDD's. Im running vista 32 sp1 also.

Here's a post from another thread from a user that was suffering the same problem. I hope it helps

Will check this out as I did notice one or two CPU heat spikes that I had wrote off as coincidence. With 10 HDD's how do you keep that beast cool?? :eek:

Thanks for the info by the way, you've been very helpful and I really appreciate you taking the time to help man.

[=Spetsnaz= 0]

i thought it was my CPU overheating too but it seems my CPU is on a stable temperature :S around 40 max wtf?

[Nickos 10]

After ArmA 2 crash my Graphic Card has about 45 C temperature, and everythin' is workin' great