Sporadic crashing

from Sins Forums
I was wondering if anyone has any clue as to why i am plagued with random crashes! There are absolutely no tell tale signs or any patterns with the crashes. It can happen ten minutes, one hour, ten hours into the game or never! Sometimes i don't even make it into a map and i get the same crash on loading but as i mentioned i can play for hours without it occuring! I play on vista 32bit core duo 8800 gt 2gb ram so nothing out of the ordinary. I don't play with any programs running in the background so nothing special there and all my drivers are up to date and i have the latest sins patch!

Its a real mind boggler for me so any help would be much appreciated! Alas i can conquer a whole galaxy yet my civillians all live in a state of terror of the impending doom that is 'Sins of a Solar Empire has encountered a problem and needs to close' ;)
technical
5,956 views 12 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
I have the exact same problem. I have a:

Intel 8400
8800GT 512
4GB Ram
64 Bit Vista Permium

Mine freezes and does a funny color thing on the screen. Almost like a green grid interspersed with the game. The game also appears to run slowly and occasionally it will just take a pause. I have turned down the settings somewhat but that hasn't helped much. I would have thought given the spec on the box my system would be running the game at full settings.

I have downloaded all the Windows updates. Even some optional ones and have the latest driver from NVidia. I'm a little annoyed about this game and am considering taking it back on account of it not working as it should after all I meet all the specs.

Any suggestions would be welcome.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
It must have something to do with the graphics card. X1800GTO here runs the game on max no issues or crashes with vista. But for some reason, networked to a XP machine, when I order about 60 ships at once to move the XP system crashes. The XP ordered about 150 ships at once and my Vista just kept on going.
Curtains - Customize Windows with additional styles
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
I dont know what it is. Although it is rather strange for the computer to lock up in Vista. With the exception of this game I have found it to be a very stable operating system. Not sure what to do about Sins. Hopefully future patches will deal with the issue. Would be nice if the developers got more involved in the discussion of these issue.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
How new are these graphics cards? Does the crashing issue appear on other games?

There was a point where Dell knowingly shipped defective mobile GeForce 6800 Ultras about 3 years ago. I should know since I received 2 defective ones and had to fight to demonstrate that their hardware was causing issues. The third card worked like a charm. The cards loved to fail while playing Battlefield 2 and Counter Strike Source, but ran just fine under Far Cry and Rise of Legends. The crashes were never pinned down, but the replacement hardware fixed the issues.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Relatively new. Since about March. I haven't had issues in any other games except neverwinter nights. I had a couple of crashes in that in the menus but played for a few hours without an issue (except boredom that is). That said I haven't played a whole lot of new games. Mostly Civ IV and Medieval Total War II.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Mine freezes and does a funny color thing on the screen. Almost like a green grid interspersed with the game
End of quote


check the temperature of your gpu, that's likely overheating
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
My card has absolutely no problems running any other games and the temp under load never surpasses 68 degrees so not related to overheating for me. I really am flumaxed by this! I don't get any graphics corruption like Hardly2 but my game does seem to have a problem decided the fps level it wants to run at. Most of the time it runs as smoothly as a mountain stream but occasionally i get juddery loading and lower fps from the outset. Not sure if thats related but thought i might aswell chuck it in there!
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
I have downloaded all the Windows updates. Even some optional ones and have the latest driver from NVidia.
End of quote


If you've got the hotfix mentioned in another thread and the 174/175 nVidia drivers already, try contacting support@ironcladgames.com for assistance.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
crappy PSU causing voltage spikes?
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
How do you check the temperature on your GPU? I wouldn't have thought my GPU would be the problem as I am playing it on low specs and my GPU exceeds the requirement.
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
My other point would be that I have run 3DMark2006 a couple of times without it crashing so I would question why it would be overheating in this game which is surely less taxing.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
I just want to add that I solved my problem with this game crashing. My desktop resolution was out of line (higher) than the resolution the game was running at. By switching the game to the same resolution as the desktop this fixed the problem.