Possible Crash Fix!

Sgt_Bilko · November 2002

<div class="IPBDescription">Don't get too excited :)</div> I was sick of my NS crashing so I just went mad with the settings of my Geforce card, it seems to have worked.

Right click on desktop > Properties > Settings > Advanced > Card tab (IE Geforce 3) > Additional Properties

Now each of these sections have different titles, one for every tab:

<b>3D Anti-Analysing settings:</b>

Allow Applications to choose this (I don't think this made any difference so you can set this how you like)

<b>Open GL settings</b>

Performance and compatability options: Un-tick all boxes

Default Color depth: Use desktop color depth

Buffer-flipping mode: Use block transfer

Vertical sync: On by default

Anisotropic filtering: Disabled

Use up to [ ] MB of system memory (I have this at 10, I don't think it matters)

<b>Direct 3D settings</b>

Performance and compatability options: Un-tick all boxes

Minimap detail level : Blend

Use up to [ ] MB of system memory (Mine is set at 64mb by default, leave this alone.)

More Direct 3d options > Render no more than (I have 2) frames ahead

---------

And thats it, it seems to have worked for me since I just played Natural Selection for about an hour with out a crash.

I really hope this helps you. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

DOOManiac · November 2002

This is also a crash fix, albiet completely unrelated.

Half-life has a tendency to crash when running a new mod, and usually reinstalling it via Add/Remove in the control panel (to be sure to clear out those registry keys) usually fixes it. Make sure the physical files are all deleted, directory and everything. Then reinstall from CD, repatch, and reinstall the mod(s) in question. 93 out of 100 times, the mod will now work.

Do not ask me why, do not ask me how. I don't know. It doesn't make any sense to me either, all I know is that from my experience with 3 other mods, this works.

Sgt_Bilko · November 2002

hmm, strange.

Thanks alot, ill try that if it crashes again..

TheGhost · November 2002

i uninstalled my hl and then reinstalled it and unpdated and it still crashes please help me

Sgt_Bilko · November 2002

Well, did you try what I said at the top?

If so then update your Graphics / Sounds drivers, thats all I can suggest.

Imitation · November 2002

I've seen a few people saying that NS drops to the desktop but none that their computer freezes. That's what happens to me. Is there anyone else out there whose computer freezes? Gives me the shits. Last night I played for about two hours then the map changed and then it froze about 2 mins into the game. Now it's happening all the time about 5 or 10 mins in. I can play other games fine, I just can't play NS. Just have to live with it for now but it's **obscenity** me off since this game rocks.

I tried the driver stuff and no dice. I'll probably reinstall HL later when I have some time but I doubt it'll do much... I've never had any problem with DOD/FA/CS crasing before let alone freezing the computer.

TheGhost · November 2002

same here i never have any trouble with TFC and my comp never froze from NS before and i was able to play the game for a few days then it just crashed and has been doing it ever since i tried every thing reinstalling video drivers and nothing works HELP!!!!!!!!!! i like the mod to much to give it up!!!!

Sgt_Bilko · November 2002

Try reinstalling Natural Selection, if not reinstall Half-Life.

blah · November 2002

the answer is simple for those who are suffering from the game crashing to desktop. simple add this line at the end of your target in ns shortcut properties -nocdaudio. my target looks liek this :

C:\Sierra\Counter-Strike\cstrike.exe -game ns -noipx -nointro -console -nocdaudio

Imitation · November 2002

Yeah that's just what I was about to say but since I cbf looking for the command I just disabled my soundcard. Ended up playing for 5 hours straight (one match went for over 2 hrs!). But yeah htat's what it is as <b>blah</b> so kindly said.

As can be seen from <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=18&t=9172&hl=freeze' target='_blank'>this</a> thread cr3am has the same sound card as me. This is a C-Media. Click 'My System' for specifics. Can people who are crashing please post their sound card here.

The_killer · November 2002

This is my problem and sestem specs. I am running NS on an AMD athalon 1.3gigahertz machine with 256 mb of ram. I am running MicroSNOT windows 2000 Pro Sp3 and it will freze from time to time "mainly 2 minutes into the game after i had gotten all set up and stuff. My in game name differs from NSplayer to [NKGRA][KK][AF]The Killer because of all the reinstalls i have had to do. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/mad.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='mad.gif'> I am about ready to <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='asrifle.gif'> My computer into the next demension. I have so many mods my hl folder itself is more than 2.0Gigabytes big. I do not want to risk an uninstall and reinstall.

Imitation · November 2002

-nocdaudio doesn't work.. I mean that only disables cdaudio right? Well that's what I realised once I got into the game <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'> If youy want to play then just open up Device Manager and disable the sound card.. right click the main device and click Disable. You shouldn't need to restart to disable/enable it. I can play for hours on end.. just it's a little boring with no sound.

What about stopsound? I never use it.. I think that's right isn't it? What you need is a switch or consloe cmd to disable sound in HL. Bah.. :/

Rogue · November 2002

I keep getting two types of crashes while playing natural selection. One is the some sound will repeat itself over and over and the screen freezes until XP decides to put down Half-Life. The other type, which occus much more often to me, is that the computer will made a bunch of weird sounds and just completly crash. This happen very irregularly but I've noticed it happening at certian times. It usually happens when there is a big battle going on or when it's late in the game but at other times it happens when nothing is going on in the start of the game. XP error report states that the source of the crash is my Creative sound card <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='confused.gif'> I'm Running on a AMD 2200, Creative SB Audigy and a GeForce4. I've read turning off the sound helps prevent crashes but sound seems to be pretty critical to this MOD.

Kamikaze908 · November 2002

im having pretty much the same problem as rogue except mine has never completely crashed. When i go into the event viewer it says teh following... faulting module unknown, leaving me to belive im screwed <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='confused.gif'> anyone have any ways to fix this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Ikland · November 2002

Yup, crashes in NS suck big time. I used to get very excited at the end of the evening when I'd get my 1 hour of playtime before I nap. But these days, the idea of playing NS only brings up feelings of frustration, disappointment, resignation and cynacism.

Basically, I'm running 98 SE on a 1.4 Ghz Athlon with 512 MB RAM, with a GeForce2 MX card. I usually get about 15 minutes of play, sometimes less, before NS just crashes and I have to reboot, do a scandisk and start all over again... and that's if I can get on the same server.

I really hope this NS Crashing issue is rectified asap, before my love for the game is dead completely.

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='confused.gif'>

Ikland (aka Ranger)

Imitation · November 2002

Disable your sound card in Device Manager and you can play as much as you want. At lesat I can anyway... I know it's not the same and it get's quite boring without sound but you can still play and play fairly well.

Rogue · November 2002

I tried disabling my sound and that prevented the computer from crashing but NS still crashes every now and then. Plus playing without sound give you a real disadvantage and isn't all that great.

Ikland · November 2002

Further update... I am using an SB Live! card and decided to turn down the Hardware Acceleration on it. It made a bit of a difference... I could play for about 50 mins before my PC would lock up and play the same sound over and over again. This is an improvement on having it crash within about 10 mins if the HW acceleration is turned up on the Sound Card.

Ikland (aka Ranger)

Kamikaze908 · November 2002

Maybe this has been said already, but if you have onboard sound AS WELL AS another sound card you need to use your onboard. You can disable your other card by taking out of the motherboard, then going to device manager and deleting everything that can be deleted in Sound, video, and game drivers. Once this is done, reboot. Then reinstall the drivers for JUST your onboard, do this and your other sound card will be disabled but the onboard will run fine and you will be able to play NS without crashes. (Or at least with mine)

Necroth · November 2002

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Ikland @ Nov 13 2002, 11:05 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Further update... I am using an SB Live! card and decided to turn down the Hardware Acceleration on it. It made a bit of a difference... I could play for about 50 mins before my PC would lock up and play the same sound over and over again. This is an improvement on having it crash within about 10 mins if the HW acceleration is turned up on the Sound Card.

Ikland (aka Ranger)</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
Let me guess. You've got a Via chipset and running in Win2k? Update the Via 4-in-1 drivers to prevent the loopsound thingy.

Cheeseh · November 2002

eww ugly "block transfer", use page flipping <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'> or auto-select or whatever <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'> and see if that works instead (Block flipping slows it down)

aawis · November 2002

hi
i know its my first post but i did alot of work on trying to help people overcome crashes in CS a while back, i madea list of possible ways to fix it but i lost it (doh) anyway, the main fix for this was to declock your video card by about 15mhz, i know thta may seem big but try it, for both graphic clock speed and memory. it worked for me in cs, but not in ns, so i dont know if it will help you guys much

Lazarus1 · November 2002

My system has been crashing as well, although in two different ways. The one that concerns me the most is a B.S.O.D. that tells me a gpf from blahblahblah.VXD is reported but you still may be able too operate normally. Press any key too continue. This usually brings me back into the game, probably about %80 of the time. Im not really sure if there is a fix too this but if anyone knows anything about this or has had it happen too you, I would really appreciate some insight into this.

Peace
-=Lazarus=-

Ikland · November 2002

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Necroth @ Nov 17 2002, 02:09 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Let me guess. You've got a Via chipset and running in Win2k? Update the Via 4-in-1 drivers to prevent the loopsound thingy.</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

Actually, I am running Win 98 with an ALi chipset on an Asus board. I have also found that since I turned all my audio HW acceleration off on my SB Live! card, I have hardly had any crashes. I must have played NS for about 6 hours without a single crash * Keeps his fingers crossed *

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

Ikland (aka Ranger) <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='asrifle.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='skulk.gif'>

Civic · November 2002

this sucks, I have tried like 4 different things to get ns working, im just going to go play another game, if ns gets another patch I will play but this is stupid, no other game is this bad

Demerzel · November 2002

going from being able to play for as long as I wished for the first few weeks of NS to now having it hang my whole system within minutes of a joining server is just taking the **obscenity**. i've reinstalled HL and ns several times, I've tried disabling cd audio, disabling my sound card didn't give work either.

can we have some official support or must I also quit? it's not because I want to but because the game hanging every time is just unplayable...

Civic · November 2002

then the ns team said they aren't going to work on the mod again for a while, so looks like ns will be one of those bad mods... unless they decide to make 1 more update

Demerzel · December 2002

for what it's worth, my problem is not to do with my SB audigy according to my winXp logging but the geforce3 card.

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
//
// The driver for the display device got stuck in an infinite loop. This
// usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device
// driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Please check with your
// display device vendor for any driver updates.
//
</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

when i switched from 23.11 drivers to 40.72, I found that the game would still hang but it would recover after about 7 - 10 secs of hanging and then some after it would hang again. I managed to "play" like that for about an hour, constantly hanging every once in a while, the gap was variable - it could have been a couple of minutes between each hang or a second or two. Eventually the game hung completely and I had to reset. It did it again shortly into the 2nd game, so I tried changing to 30.82 and found that like 23.11 it just hung completely on the first hang.

It's frustating as NS consistently hangs every game whilst other games cause this problem once in a blue moon. Hopefully what I've said above might help the developers when they return from their break.

Please note again, I've tried every solution offered above and they all failed <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='sad.gif'>

Rugger · December 2002

Has anyone come up with a solution to the sound loop crashing problem. I've tried all the suggestions and no luck yet.

Cheers Rugger

zoda · December 2002

this isnt a crash fix exactally, but something to check.

using windows:

press the start button and select run

type: DXDIAG

now it will do some loading... it should load fine, if it asks to bypass soemthing select no, if it then closes the program you have a video driver issue. resinstall your drivers.

If you get threw without any issues, click the isplay tab.. it should now list info about you cards. Under "approx. total memory:" it should list how many MB is on your card.. which is most likely 32mb, 64mb, or 128mb. it may say something slighly different like mine says "63.5MB" for a 64mb card, which is fine.

now if it says 1.0 MB you have a problem, it should say somethign close to your what your card is meant to have. if it says this you need to reinstall your video drivers.

now if all this works good, run both the directdraw and direct3d tests... they should have no problems. if they do guess what: reinstall your video drivers.

Iwas getting illegal operations because my drivers had problems.... now if you go to change your video cards settings you may need to do one thing at a time and restart... I could change both opengl and direct3d safely.. it made dxdiag say I had a 1mb card.

If it says "failure at step 8: creating the device" you may have netmeeting.. do a search online for failure at step 8 netmeeting and you will find the fix.

Dan_Forever · December 2002

Do all the people with this wierd sound repeating crash bug have creative sound cards?

I have an SB Live! 1024 and get the same problem, I had it with CS for ages, then I changed my drivers afaik and it never crashed since (I also remember fixing it so that the "UI tracker dll not found" bug thing that displays when you load half life via the console (which may or may not have anything to do with it).

I reformatted recently and the problem has come back, but I'm not to sure what the drivers were for my sound card at the time, and currently using the latest from the creative website, I haven't once been able to quit from HL/NS because it crashes mid game, seemingly at random

Possible Crash Fix!

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