"Receiving" screen then nothing

[paelleon 0]

What graphic driver are you using for your GTX 260? I'm using 191.07 WHQL myself and the only real difference from your machine is the SB X-Fi XtremeMusic, I'm using the on-board Realtek HDA sound.

/KC

I'm using the latest Nvidia drivers v195.62, installed just before updating AmrA2. I'm thinking about changing the OS to Windows 7, maybe this new GTX cards are not fully supported by WinXP... ah, this is madness!:confused:

[KeyCat 131]

...maybe this new GTX cards are not fully supported by WinXP

Sure they are, as I said I'm using the same GTX 260 and it works perfectly fine for me in Win XP Pro SP2 with 191.07 WHQL in ArmA 2 (as well as other simulators).

Hope you find the issue tho...

/KC

[Aelin 10]

sadly the bug is still here in 1.05.....no words......just delusion

[mrbinkels 10]

Also try, Shift + Numpad Minus (-) then F L U S H

You'll see a message on your screen if you did it right. It's supposed to clear your video memory cache.

Try deleting Documents\ArmA2\arma2.cfg

After the game creates a new one, check that localVRAM=1068449792;

1068449792 bytes = 0.995071411 GB, so make sure the number of bytes is slightly less than the amount of RAM on your video card (don't double the value even if you have SLI)

Some other tweaks:

Change:

Render_W=1440;

Render_H=900;

To be equal to:

Resolution_W=1440;

Resolution_H=900;

Try lowering:

HDRPrecision=8;

This worked for me thank you!!

[zeep 3]

Never had "Receiving" bug until 1.05

I've seen many threads about the receiving bug in this forum, never had it myself. During the beta patches testing, still no problem.

However since 1.05 i now have the "Receiving" bug. I will just be walking around or driving, then suddenly I'll get the "Receiving" black screen and it will flash then come again, then flash then come again, etc...

Nothing changed in my ARMA2 except the latest patch. I'm playing missions like Cypher, stuff i've always played. With-, or without friends online. There doesn't seem to be a coherent pattern causing the bug, it just suddenly happens.. :/

Has 1.05 triggered the bug for others too?

[sprayer_faust 0]

This bug should be marked high priority on the fix list as it is really ruining the game. Could be something with the connection or memory. Happens only in MP for me, but then again I don't play SP a lot. It happens mostly when I switch map on and off too quickly...

[zeep 3]

..Happens only in MP for me, but then again I don't play SP a lot. It happens mostly when I switch map on and off too quickly...

Happens exactly the same way for me.

[sprayer_faust 0]

(26.1.2010)

The last two days I was using Riva Tuner's logging feature to log physical memory (RAM), page file and video memory usage - I was interested which one was causing the issue and was hoping to see either of them maxed out at the time of 'receiving'. Preferably only one would be maxed out, as that would be a clear indicator. Unfortunately it wasn't so.

Yesterday I was logging for a couple of hours while playing MP (Texture detail: Very high, Landscape detail: Normal, Object detail: Normal, Chernarus). This is my conclusion after examining the graphs:

During gameplay the video memory usage was an all-time high, so I would exclude it as a cause. Logic: If something can be constantly at the same amount of stress for a couple of hours, why would it suddenly fail at a random time - there is a greater chance that something else is wrong.

However RAM usage was not always high or better to say constant. At the begining of the round (session) it started off as 2/3 full and by a quick glance at a 5 minute interval one could say it remained constant. But after checking out on a longer interval or comparing the numbers, a small incline becomes noticable. At (By) the time of the crash it was (is) full (95 %). More specifically: it crashes at the moment it wants to flush. Although it flushes with no problems in SP (receiving screen for a few seconds -> back to game), so my guess is the server does not like the flush (it doesn't register it, somehow desynchronizes and the client becomes caught in an infinite loop - receiving, blink, receiving, blink...). I would have accepted the receiving screen if only the crashing was fixed.

I was able to reproduce the receiving screen on an empty Chernarus map today (the editor). I even lowered the settings (Texture detail from Very High to Normal). I started as an M1A1 at the airport north-west, switched on 4x time compression to speed up the process and drove off towards Chernogorsk and then to Elektrozavodsk - it happened there. No crash though, since it was SP. What was more shocking, was that I started the game with the -maxmem=768 parameter and the game crashed at 1700 MB ram which is roughly 200 MB bellow where it happened in the first scenario (second paragraph). The system uses only about 400 MB ram so something doesn't add up. I expected the limit on ram usage (at the time of 'receiving') to be considerably bellow 2000 MB (the first case), considering the fact that the game should have much less memory at disposal. It is also worth saying that in this case the video memory usage was not always constant, but started low and got maxed out just two minutes before the 'receiving'.

Well... By all these factors entagling (also counting in inconsistent -maxmem) with each other it is hard to say what exactly is causing the problem. I would say that some unnecessary (or maybe not?) data, which could have been deleted on the fly, is piling up until it takes up all the space. I would be happy if at least the crashing in the MP could be fixed.

P.S.: It was not happening in the 1.04 vanilla for me - the receiving did happen but it did not crash. Started with the betas and now continues with the 1.05.

System specs:

Windows XP 32 bit

Intel Core2 Duo E6700

Nvidia GeForce 285 gtx, 1024 MB

2 GB of RAM at 800 MHz (OCZ)

Asus P5B Motherboard

Seagate 250 GB, 7200 rpm disk

______________________________________________________________________________________

EDIT (27.1.2010):

I have reverted the video drivers to 191.07 and tried playing at normal settings (texture detail). The crash frequency dropped quite a bit. It crashed only once today after a long game. Afterwards I started using shift+num_minus flush every half an hour and it never crashed again. This time I am tilting more towards video memory rather than ram as a fault candidate. Because today ram wasn't full and video memory was at the time of the crash... And because shift+-flush only affects video memory.

Edited January 27, 2010 by sprayer_faust

[Aelin 10]

good analysis but why the hell bis doesnt do nothing to help?eh?

[-Shifty- 10]

Fine fixed since the latest patch :D yay!

[Aelin 10]

lucky boy....

[Leopoldo 10]

i get this also under windows XP 32bit when playing multi-player, very frustrating.

Edited February 2, 2010 by Leopoldo

[DevilDon 10]

I've got the same problem but I get a sound loop first and then I lose connection and have this black receiving screen. No fix for me so far.. also happens on MP games.

[CrazyAce 0]

I will have this problem on 5 different computers that have 5 different hardware configurations with ArmA2 1.5 patch, and with different settings. I never had this issue before 1.3, so whatever the developers did from 1.3 onwards screwed everything up.

My Primary machine is:

Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit

Intel Core2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz

2812MB RAM

2x GeForce GTS 250 @ 2160 MB

I’ve tried the flush trick, but it doesn’t help, at first I thought it was a heating issue and it’s not. Reverted back and forth from WHQL driver 191.07 (default driver) to 196.21 (latest driver), with of course still the receiving... problem.

I know for a fact it’s not anyone’s system, it’s whatever the developers did from 1.3 patch onwards. Proof is that I decided to take one last measure and uninstalled and revert back to 1.1, I don’t have this issue.

[Aelin 10]

still waiting for bis solution...........

[CrazyAce 0]

I put in a ticket for this issue to get resolved, please vote on it here:

http://dev-heaven.net/issues/show/8699

.

Edited January 31, 2010 by CrazyAce
Ticket vote request

[sprayer_faust 0]

Thanks... Voted. It was on there at least one time before, but expired. Looks promising judging by the priority setting. I really hope this gets fixed and wish them lots of motivation (much more than I have at the moment for linear algebra :p).

[CrazyAce 0]

My Primary machine is:

Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit

Intel Core2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz

2812MB RAM

2x GeForce GTS 250 @ 2160 MB

I know for a fact it’s not anyone’s system, it’s whatever the developers did from 1.3 patch onwards. Proof is that I decided to take one last measure and uninstalled and revert back to 1.1, I don’t have this issue.

I guess I spoke to soon and have come to the conclusion that it may have to do with higher end video cards, regardless of ArmA2 patches. After 2 hours of playing I got this problem again while running ArmA2 patch 1.1… :banghead:

[DevilDon 10]

Oh no, now it totally freezes up my system!! I was able to do alt+tab before and shut arma2.exe down.

My specs are: Q6600@2.4Ghz, 8800GTS 320MB, 4x1GB Corsair DDR2 RAM, Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm 500GB SATA HDD, WinXp 32bit SP3,

Edited February 1, 2010 by DevilDon

[CrazyAce 0]

Yeah sux doesn't it... And they think this is not an issue, come on... This is a game breaking issue period and is a high priority. Now I’m not trying to incite a riot here, but this has to be taken care of immediately. After seeing my ticket cancelled (obviously my mistake to begin with) and viewing the current in progress ticket float into a black hole past 220 days :eek: makes me wonder how much longer it’s going to take to get this fixed.

After re-reading the temp solution to FLUSH the system, it has to be done every 5 or 10 minutes, (I thought once and it’s done) depending on how much is going on. Why not have insert commands to have this done automatically? Like say –VRAMFLUSH 5 in the target line of the shortcut, flushing the system every 5 minutes or to the given value, this will suffice for a while I think until they come up with a permanent solution.

Lets face it when in the heat of battle, I'm not thinking about is my game going to crash...

Edited February 1, 2010 by CrazyAce

[postreal 10]

hi

I´ve noticed strange pattern in this crash behavior. I can play easily in editor as long as I dont go near any soldiers, if any soldier comes near to me (lets say 5-10 meters) and i see him, crash. Sounds like some LOD issue to me? Also this happens when i get inside a vehicle like A-10; as soon as I see interior (control panels ect) crash, receiving. I can still control all vehicles from outside without crash. Also I get this recieving crash when choose my player to be lets say AT -soldier and also if I look my character from third person. Please this is VERY frustrating, i spend a lot of money for new stuff to get this working.

..and my computer specs are way above recommended comp specs. I also did all memtest stuff, ect. No overheating issue, nothing. Other games work perfectly.

Hoping to get this solved...

Thanks

Edited February 1, 2010 by postreal

[kklownboy 43]

hi

...

..and my computer specs are way above recommended comp specs. I also did all memtest stuff, ect. No overheating issue, nothing. Other games work perfectly.

Hoping to get this solved...

Thanks

Well you have to give more info.

[postreal 10]

uh :) sorry here it goes, im not sure about the mb and psu since they´re factory installed components:

Hp Xw8600 Workstation

Motherboard : Custom made by Hp, I dont see any model numbers from anywhere?

PSU : 800w (from hp)

Processors : 2 * Intel Quad Core 5450 3.00 GHz 2x6 MB L2 cache 1333 MHz FSB

Memory : 4 GB DDR2-667 ECC RAM

Harddisk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s 500-GB Hard Drive

Display Adapter : Asus Nvidia Gtx275 with Nvidia Beta drivers 196.21 (latest)

OS : Windows 7 Professional 64bit

I did prime95 test overnight (about 12 hours) without any problems, also temperatures are normal. Windows 7 is fresh install on formatted harddrive. I have tested almost everything (optimizing, tweaks)...

im sorry if I didn´t provide enough information, this is all I know :)

Thanks

EDIT : just wanted to add that, this game runs like a dream (in editor) on my computer with high settings. Problem seems to come only when I add Ai´s near me. Crash bum!

Edited February 1, 2010 by postreal

[sprayer_faust 0]

Wow... You mean you actually have a motherboard with 2 slots for CPU and 2 physical processors like a server would have? O.O

Maybe things go wrong there? AI is said to be run on the second core of a CPU and something bad (not accounted for) happens when there are two actual processors? Although this is only a speculation and a rough estimate based on intuition.

[kklownboy 43]

uh :) s...

Processors : 2 * Intel Quad Core 5450 3.00 GHz 2x6 MB ...

...

Limit your cores to one CPU, only want 4. (Only 4GB on a dual Workstation:confused: With a 64bit OS....)