Game Freezes

Is anyone else experience game freezes on the main map?  The game is not crashing to desktop.  The screen just freezes and does not recover.  Music still plays, and I can even click buttons if I know where they are in the UI, though no windows pop up.  When this happens, the only option is to CTRL-ALT-DEL and end the application in Task Manager.  I can then reload the last save game and play several (sometimes a couple dozen) turns until the next freeze--no pattern to the freezes I can point to yet.  No debug file is created.  I don't know what, if any, files support could use.

27,314 views 17 replies
Reply #1 Top

At least one other person has started a thread reporting freezes.  I personally have not experienced any such problem, though.  You might want to check the information in this thread: https://forums.galciv3.com/452855/page/1/ to verify that your display drivers are up to date.

Reply #2 Top

I have the same symptoms, since going to Beta 2 [.50].

I also have lots and lots of hangs (need the task manager to kill the game). No dump files, either made by the game or by windows, are generated. I have tried playing a small map, but after 78 turns and more than 100 hangs i finally gave up.

During the previous Beta the game was rock-stable on my machine, except for identifiable bugs (and crashes). So the only time i now spend on the 'game' is not playing it, but going through the xml-files or trying to figure out the various underlying formulas.

I will wait for Beta 2 patch 1 and see if there is then an improvement. There have been a number of postings stating hangs, even on the most elementary things; like double clicking a planet, launching a ship, scrolling the main map, etc.

Like you said support can't do anything with this because there are no log/debug/dump files generated. However you can create a ticket, and attached the zip output from the support tool.

Reply #3 Top

I have this problem too. I've tried three different games on differing sizes, and I'm trying to find individual things that may cause a freeze.

My tiny map will freeze every time I try loading it now. There are four other civilizations so it may somehow be overloading because of that.

On my huge map, it will freeze whenever my scout tries moving (not sure why, it had been working before). This includes me moving it manually or when I click turn it moves automatically.

Hopefully they will fix it soon.

Reply #4 Top

If you have a saved game that can reliably reproduce the problem, read the forum post I indicated in my first response to this thread, gather the information they say they want there, and open a ticket to support, sending that information and your saved game to them.  This sounds like a serious problem, and it deserves a ticket opened to support.

Reply #5 Top

Quoting Publius, reply 1

You might want to check the information in this thread: https://forums.galciv3.com/452855/page/1/ to verify that your display drivers are up to date.
End of Publius's quote

Thanks, Publius.  Good info.

Reply #6 Top

Moved to support.

 

Reply #7 Top

I have had several hangs (or freezes) in early game play. There are several reasons this can happen. First make sure you have at least 6GB (8GB would be better) RAM on your PC (the Devs have reported that they will be reducing the RAM requirement soon). Be sure to give the game lots of time to load. It takes over a minute on my PC with an Intel i7-4770 and a GeForce GT 640 (the Devs have stated that they will be fixing a load time problem in some future patch). Then try clicking on the title bar (if in windowed mode) and give it some more time. Then try closing the game via "Task Manager" and restarting the game a few times (yes, this really worked for me. My suspicion is that there is something in the INI file that is needed before the game adds it to the INI file, or some similar problem.) If you are still having difficulties getting the game to start, try using Steam to delete all game content and re-instal the game (One update on Beta 1 gave me a corrupted set of files that did not show up with the Steam "verify game contents" function). 

 

And always open a ticket with Stardock.

Reply #8 Top

Same Problem, odd part is useful logs would be rather hard to get

 

Reply #9 Top

Documents\My Games\GalCiv3

debug.err

Debug Message:  IMobileDirective::UpdateSurvey fleet 6791 (owner 0) closestTile X 42 Y 193 tick 76168
Debug Message:  CD3D11Renderer::CreateTextureFromFile FAILED to create shader resource view from file: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Galactic Civilizations III\Gfx\Icons\GC3_Dead_Planet_Icon.png Error: (887a0005) The GPU device instance has been suspended. Use GetDeviceRemovedReason to determine the appropriate action.


Reason: Out of memory.
Debug Message:  CD3D11Renderer::CreateTextureFromFile FAILED to create shader resource view from file: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Galactic Civilizations III\Gfx\Icons\GC3_Dead_Planet_Icon.png Error: (887a0005) The GPU device instance has been suspended. Use GetDeviceRemovedReason to determine the appropriate action.

From the above the system basically tries to load resources for the underlying shaders then freaks out.

This is typically caused by the Graphic Card's memory.  In the case of an onboard graphics card (part of the CPU) it could be that it's running out of physical ram.

Documents\My Games\GalCiv3

Prefs -> open in notepad and chage value below to 1 to disable shaders to reduce GPU requirements.  From the errors above, it's listing that the system can't load the shaders (so my attempt is to not load them)

ForceDisableComputeShaders=1

****if you implement the change above, you can probably play the game but it'll look.... D = *****

Error: 0x887A0005
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb509553%28v=vs.85%29.aspx


DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED
0x887A0005

The video card has been physically removed from the system, or a driver upgrade for the video card has occurred. The application should destroy and recreate the device. For help debugging the problem, call ID3D10Device::GetDeviceRemovedReason.

Which points to the fact that the Direct X11 doesn't play nice with this game.  Which seems very odd.  

From this, checking the dxdiag.exe

It listed as nothing wrong and Intel's tools failed to find updated drivers for my card so I had to look at the site to get direct downloads... checking and it's fully up to date.  

Presently at that point, then it may be needed to actually see what DirectX is showing for this but may require me to change the values below in the DirectX SDK/Utilities...

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D:    0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw:  0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay:  0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow:  0/6 (retail)

Reply #10 Top

Fault bucket , type 0
Event Name: AppHangTransient
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: GalCiv3.exe
P2: 0.70.5.0
P3: 54bfcd60
P4: unknown
P5: unknown
P6: unknown
P7: unknown
P8:
P9:
P10:

Attached files:

These files may be available here:


Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: 0bc6e52f-a4c7-11e4-8254-6002928cc6e2
Report Status: 2049
Hashed bucket:

Odd part, is that no crash dump file is created for the game when I have to close it.  Secondary to this, there is no windows dump files or reported crashes, drivers are up to date and the dxdiag shows nothing wrong in terms of the general system. 

When looking at the previous error, it's either caused by a lack of resources, since the onboard graphics is using the local RAM (and it was previously recommended to have 6 GB of ram that doesn't even include the resource usage it'll use with the pagefile).

Or the game has a API failure causing the system to crash when loading graphics drivers.

For me at least the game does seem to load, when I zoom completely out where the game isn't trying to load the graphics for this game.  However, this leaves me worried as the game will most likely crash again if I use the new battle feature...

Reply #11 Top

Might want to start your own thread curiouslarry. As you didnt bother to notice that the original one you are responding to is from october and from beta 2. YOU ARE IN BETA 4.... in other news, look before you post maybe. Also why is this in general and not support? Oh well.

Reply #12 Top

Hey everyone! :)

Thank you for posting your issues, if you are updated to the latest version and seeing issues. Would you kindly, submit tickets via our support system so that I can better assist you all with your issues. After following the link, run the support tool, include your steam name, describe the issue you are having and then send us the zip file to greatly speed up the process!

Link to forums for explanation:
https://forums.galciv3.com/452855/page/1/

Link to support tool:
http://sd.stardock.com/Support/supportToolTest/SDSupportTool.exe

Reply #13 Top

Game freezes up so often for me that I'm about to just give up til the next update.

Reply #14 Top

Quoting Voqar, reply 13

Game freezes up so often for me that I'm about to just give up til the next update.
End of Voqar's quote

You might want to try forcing a dump with the OS's Task Manager, zipping it, and sending it in a ticket to Stardock.

Other things to try:

Make sure you have at least 6GB RAM -- I have seen the game (+ OS) take more than 6GB.

Make sure your GPU driver(s) are no older than 1 year, or are at least the latest driver shipped by the GPU manufacturer (not the computer maker).

Rename the "GalCiv3" folder in your "My Games" folder. This folder contains the prefs.ini file, the saved files, and your ship designs, which all can become out of date during the last few beta updates.

Run the OS's SFC. I have seen some system file corruptions cause GC3 crashes and hangs.

Use Steam's "delete local content" and re-install GC3. I have seen updates result in game content corruptions that Steam doesn't find when you validate game content.

Reply #15 Top

I'm having the exact same problem. I have Windows 8 (64 bit), 8Gb RAM, Intel Core i3 - 3110M @ 2.40 GHz. Intel HD Graphics 4000.

It's not usually a problem at the start of a game, but usually around a 100 turns in it just freezes randomly in the way the OP describes. The display completely freezes but you can hear the music and sound effects if you press Enter, etc. I have to force quit through Task Manager and restart game, and I'm sick of doing this now.

 

I know its early access (or is it full game now, I purchased on 14th May which is apparently the release date?), but this is just bullshit. By the time I have a decent game going it just goes to shit. Want a fix or my money back.

Reply #16 Top

I'm having the same problem. I have the latest version of the game.

My computer specs below

Intel i5

4GB ram

150 GB free space

Intel HD Graphics 4000

 

A little disapointing

Reply #17 Top

Quoting Soloquiem, reply 16

I'm having the same problem. I have the latest version of the game.

My computer specs below

Intel i5

4GB ram

150 GB free space

Intel HD Graphics 4000

 

A little disapointing
End of Soloquiem's quote

You don't say which I5 you have. You also have no ram. If you aren't aware I will educate you. That is an integrated video card, so clearly you are on a lap top. It doesnt have its own dedicated memory. So to run the game it steals its video ram from your 4gb of ram leaving not enough to run things very well. 

 

tldr version: your laptop is using shared memory, so it sucks.

 

also your necroing a thread from beta. Create a new one if you believe it to be an issue that isn't related to the poor hardware its being ran on.