Darklight Woods Crashing, unique to Nvidia GTX 285...

[Stri]

<p>So i just renewed my account, I played a swashbuckler for hours in kelethin the other night. Today I load up and make a dark elf and i load into Darklight Woods and instantly my screen goes black, monitor shuts off and I can still hear sound. My only choice is to turn my system off. I try to log in multiple times, and same thing, always black screens as I load. I try my wood elf and he works fine, I can run around and play forever.</p><p>So out of frustration I roll back to 6 different driver versions, from the current 197.45s, all the way down to the 186.18 set (read that on another post) and the game still crashes my system to a black screen <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ONLY</span> when i load into Darklight Woods. So I finally pull the video card out (Nvidia GTX 285) and swap in an old 8800 GTX, I load up into windows, EQ2, voila I load into Darklight Woods just fine and played for 7 hours lastnight without a problem.</p><p>I bought the GTX 285 a few months back, it has never once crashed on me in the Starcraft 2 beta, WOW, or Mass Effect 2. It plays fine in any zone (so far newbie zones) <span style="text-decoration: underline;">except</span> Darklight Woods, so there is something in that zone corrupting the card in a way that it does not like, so until a fix is found I guess I'll be swapping my 8800 GTX in every day to play EQ2 and swap it out when I want to play something else.</p><p>SOE I recommend picking up a GTX 285 and testing this so you can resolve the problem, from the posts I saw/searched for this is not a unique problem to me, the 285 cards are having problems with the game in other places as well. After my month is up I will not be renewing my account because of this problem, if a fix is found before then, I will remain though (game is good so far, just not good enough to warrant swapping a video card out each day to play it! lol).</p>

[Stri]

<p>Here's my DxDiag with the GTX 285 at the 197.45 driver level. I'll post the 8800 GTX later when i decide to play and have time to swap cards. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>GTX285 DxDiag</p><p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.darktalisman.com/DxDiag.txt" target="_blank">http://www.darktalisman.com/DxDiag.txt</a></p><p>8800GTX DxDiag</p><p><a href="http://www.darktalisman.com/DxDiag_8800gtx.txt" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.darktalisman.com/DxDiag_8800gtx.txt</a></p>

[Juice]

<p>I have had this crash since I installed my 285 in DLW.  If I take it out and put back in my 2 8800 GTS I have no problems at all.  I also get the occasional crash just as you described in my guild hall and once in Mystic Lake but those are so rare that I am not to worried about it.  5 minutes in DLW spells the end and sometimes will take 4-5 times rebooting to get it all sorted out.</p><p>I posted all my info a while back and never got anything figured out.  I know there are many others with the same issue also.</p>

[Stri]

<p>Yeah I'm finally out of DLW but i go to the guild hall for tradeskills and the random shutdown there is annoying. Would be nice if SOE would put the game in debug and run it on a GTX 285 and figure out why it crashes in those three zones.</p>

[Novana]

<p>same problem here...</p><p><a href="http://www.hallistra.de/DxDiag.txt" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.hallistra.de/DxDiag.txt</a></p>

[Dradorin]

<p>I have this issue aswell, using a 2gig BFG 285 nvidia video card. Screen Goes black, music Plays for a bit, then stops. The PC at this point is unresponsive.  Hard reboot is required. OS is Windows 7 - 64bit, 6 Gigs ram.</p><p>I don't appear to have this problem in any other zones. Ran Heat monitoring software and the video card was in normal range. Why is this only occuring in Darklight woods. Any help would be appreciated. </p><p>NOTE: Other zones are running fine so, I will not be blowing settings to correct this. This definately sounds like a problem between the EQ2 (Zone) and specifically the 285 cards.</p><p>Thanks for your time and response,</p><p>Dradorin (Nektulos Server)</p>

[Aethyra]

<p>I have also experienced this problem in the Emergency Portal Repairs tradeskill instance.... conveniently needed for the damaged relic repair quest you get in the mail 2 weeks after finishing the Que'lule tradeskill quest chain.</p>

[Nefariouss]

<p>I had the same problem with a 285. Google Nvidia Black Screen of Death and you'll find pages and pages of others with the same problems in multiple games. I tried all the fixes recommended and nothing worked. Sold 285 and bought an ATI. No problems since.  Supposedly it's an issue with the card downclocking or something. The issue is with the nvidia cards and not on EQ2's side honestly. It's a widespread problem with the 200 series of cards. </p>

[Lalanu]

<p><cite>Nefariouss wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I had the same problem with a 285. Google Nvidia Black Screen of Death and you'll find pages and pages of others with the same problems in multiple games. I tried all the fixes recommended and nothing worked. Sold 285 and bought an ATI. No problems since.  Supposedly it's an issue with the card downclocking or something. The issue is with the nvidia cards and not on EQ2's side honestly. It's a widespread problem with the 200 series of cards. </p></blockquote><p>If you go into the Nvidia control panel under global settings (or program settings if you have it setup for a specific setting for eq2) and select Manage 3D settings one of the settings in it is power management mode. Change that from adaptive to prefer maximum performnce. What this does in effect is prevent your card from under-clocking during a 3d ap. It isn't so much an issue with Nvidia cards but more an issue with thier driver default settings.</p>

[Nefariouss]

<p><cite>Lalanu wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Nefariouss wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I had the same problem with a 285. Google Nvidia Black Screen of Death and you'll find pages and pages of others with the same problems in multiple games. I tried all the fixes recommended and nothing worked. Sold 285 and bought an ATI. No problems since.  Supposedly it's an issue with the card downclocking or something. The issue is with the nvidia cards and not on EQ2's side honestly. It's a widespread problem with the 200 series of cards. </p></blockquote><p>If you go into the Nvidia control panel under global settings (or program settings if you have it setup for a specific setting for eq2) and select Manage 3D settings one of the settings in it is power management mode. Change that from adaptive to prefer maximum performnce. What this does in effect is prevent your card from under-clocking during a 3d ap. It isn't so much an issue with Nvidia cards but more an issue with thier driver default settings.</p></blockquote><p>Doesn't fix the issue either. As I stated I tried EVERY fix posted on the net.</p>

[Lalanu]

<p><cite>Nefariouss wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Lalanu wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Nefariouss wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I had the same problem with a 285. Google Nvidia Black Screen of Death and you'll find pages and pages of others with the same problems in multiple games. I tried all the fixes recommended and nothing worked. Sold 285 and bought an ATI. No problems since.  Supposedly it's an issue with the card downclocking or something. The issue is with the nvidia cards and not on EQ2's side honestly. It's a widespread problem with the 200 series of cards. </p></blockquote><p>If you go into the Nvidia control panel under global settings (or program settings if you have it setup for a specific setting for eq2) and select Manage 3D settings one of the settings in it is power management mode. Change that from adaptive to prefer maximum performnce. What this does in effect is prevent your card from under-clocking during a 3d ap. It isn't so much an issue with Nvidia cards but more an issue with thier driver default settings.</p></blockquote><p>Doesn't fix the issue either. As I stated I tried EVERY fix posted on the net.</p></blockquote><p>Just offering up a suggestion that fixes the downclocking issue. I run the same card under win7 64 and never had issues with DLW like the op and others have stated.</p>

[Nefariouss]

<p>No I know. I could duplicate the problem every time. DLW was an almost immediate black screen. In our guild hall buy our druid portal we built up an area with lots of trees and waterfall and junk. Guaranteed crash there. And then sometimes it would happen running down from the well to fight Thet. I got tired of messing with it for months, did two rma's. Nothing worked. Sold it and bought an ati 4890. Got just as good performance and have had zero problems. It's definitely a problem with Nvidia. I have always used their cards but this left a sour taste in my mouth. I hope their next series of cards turns out to be better. </p>

[Stri]

<p><cite>Nefariouss wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The issue is with the nvidia cards and not on EQ2's side honestly. It's a widespread problem with the 200 series of cards. </p></blockquote><p>Well, I've played WOW, Starcraft 2, Torchlight, Team Fortress 2, Warhammer, Mass Effect 1 / 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Crysis, Aion, and Eve online for the last year or so, and have <span style="text-decoration: underline;">never ever</span> had a crash on this system. With EQ2 loaded the first hour I play it starts to crash in random places. If it crashed everytime I loaded the game it would show a card problem, but since its in certain zones in EQ2 you can deduct that its something wrong with those zones, or something they do that the other zones don't do. That indicates that EQ2 has a problem, not that the card has a problem with games. Cause I can clearly play ANY other game and never have any problem. So its not so much an Nvidia problem, as its unique to EQ2. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[MikesMind]

<p>Exactly the same problem here.  brand new computer, nvidia 285 card.  every other game runs like a dream with no problem.  Load up EQ2 and somewhere between 30seconds (in darklight) to 30 mins (everywhere else), BAM!  Black screen, 'No signel detected' and sound running in background. </p><p>have reported twice on forums before and sent to bug reports but no replies and no hint of solution <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Dradorin]

<p>Hello,</p><p>Seeing as this is a support forum, it would be much appreciated if we can get some feedback from the Devs. Please confirm that this is a known issue and is being worked on? I would love to be able to finish the quest lines in there without having to worry about Hard Locking my system up in Darklight woods.</p><p>Thanks for your time and Support,</p><p>Dradorin</p>

[Stri]

<p>I'm willing to even buy a GTX 285 for the EQ2 Dev team if it means they could test this and fix it. Can an SOE rep chime in on this?</p><p>GTX 285: $200.00</p><p>Next day shipping: $20.00</p><p>EQ2 Devs fixing the crashes for us 285 owners: Priceless</p><p>Sounds like a credit card commercial. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[inhumanus1986]

<p>hmm, interesting.</p><p>I have 2 GTX 285's and darklight woods doesn't make me crash.</p><p>I do run in window mode though.  Maybe we should compare some settings and see if anything is similiar for peeps with problems.</p>

[GArushda]

<p>I too am getting crashes in Darklight Woods, as well as in Nektulos Forest. I am using a EVGA GTX285 2GB card with the latest drivers. I can quest for hours on end in Thundering Steppes or in Timorous Deeps starting zones, but as soon as I hit DLW or NF...bam, video card stops working, and I have to hard boot my PC. Don't really want to buy a new video card for this game, especially since this video card is not even a year old. =(</p>

[Dradorin]

<p><strong><em>Update:</em> </strong>Not sure if it is the changes they added to Darklight woods or the fact that I upgraded to the latest Nvidia Drivers (ver 298.56) but I played all afternoon in Darklight woods without a single hard crash.</p><p>Note: I have also enabled Shader 3.0, not sure if that had any impact as to why I am no longer crashing in DW.</p><p>Thanks,</p><p>Dradorin</p><p>Note: Card is a BFG 285 with 2Gigs of DDR3 video memory</p>

[Valgrave]

<p>An old thread, but just in case any of you are still having problems...</p><p>I have had the same issue with my GTX 285 card and Darklight Woods for over a year.  Occasionally, it would happen in our guild hall with lots of trees and effects.  Occasionally, Eastern Wastes near the Rygorr orcs.</p><p>After alot of frustration and searching other web sites and game forums, I might have a solution.  After making some changes recommended by another person with the same problems, I have had three extended, uninterrupted visits to Darklight Woods.  He has had no problems either since making some changes.  So, try the following:</p><p>1)  Go into your Nvidia control panel.</p><p>2) Go into Manage 3D Settings</p><p>3) Choose "Vertical Sync" option and change it to "Force OFF"</p><p>4)  Choose "Maximum pre-rendered frames" and change it to "2."  (I bet you have it set for "3" but EQ2 seems to prefer "2.")</p><p>5)  Turn off SLI (if you are running two cards in SLI mode.)</p><p>Also, I switched my in-game EQ2 settings to enable Shader 3.0 since someone here mentioned that, too.</p><p>Like I said, the above changes have given me stable, long visits to Darkwlight Woods.  It could be a coincidence...I could zone in there tomorrow and poof, black screen again.  But, so far, no problems.</p><p>I'm not a tech person so I can't tell you why any of the above changes would make any difference, but a couple folks have said it fixed their exact same problem in other games.</p><p>FYI, I did roll back to older drivers, attempted full / clean reinstalls, etc. prior to trying the above steps.  None of those changes ever made a difference.</p><p>Good luck...hopefully, I didn't just curse my string of successful Darklight Wood visits.</p><p>Valgrave</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p><cite>Valgrave wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>An old thread, but just in case any of you are still having problems...</p><p>I have had the same issue with my GTX 285 card and Darklight Woods for over a year.  Occasionally, it would happen in our guild hall with lots of trees and effects.  Occasionally, Eastern Wastes near the Rygorr orcs.</p><p>After alot of frustration and searching other web sites and game forums, I might have a solution.  After making some changes recommended by another person with the same problems, I have had three extended, uninterrupted visits to Darklight Woods.  He has had no problems either since making some changes.  So, try the following:</p><p>1)  Go into your Nvidia control panel.</p><p>2) Go into Manage 3D Settings</p><p>3) Choose "Vertical Sync" option and change it to "Force OFF"</p><p>4)  Choose "Maximum pre-rendered frames" and change it to "2."  (I bet you have it set for "3" but EQ2 seems to prefer "2.")</p><p>5)  Turn off SLI (if you are running two cards in SLI mode.)</p><p>Also, I switched my in-game EQ2 settings to enable Shader 3.0 since someone here mentioned that, too.</p><p>Like I said, the above changes have given me stable, long visits to Darkwlight Woods.  It could be a coincidence...I could zone in there tomorrow and poof, black screen again.  But, so far, no problems.</p><p>I'm not a tech person so I can't tell you why any of the above changes would make any difference, but a couple folks have said it fixed their exact same problem in other games.</p><p>FYI, I did roll back to older drivers, attempted full / clean reinstalls, etc. prior to trying the above steps.  None of those changes ever made a difference.</p><p>Good luck...hopefully, I didn't just curse my string of successful Darklight Wood visits.</p><p>Valgrave</p></blockquote><p>I'll absolutely recommend disabling SLI but I would not recommend touching the max pre rendered frames without a specific reason to do so.  If your video card can handle buffering more than 2 frames, it should. If it cannot, theres an issue with the card or the drivers and thats what should be addressed rather than worked around.   If you have an incredible PC, perhaps you don't even need pre-rendered frames or you can lower it then but this would not be the norm for the average player.   V-sync is preference, I am very bothered by tearing so it is never turned off for me!</p>

[Valgrave]

<p>{{I'll absolutely recommend disabling SLI but I would not recommend touching the max pre rendered frames without a specific reason to do so.  If your video card can handle buffering more than 2 frames, it should. If it cannot, theres an issue with the card or the drivers and thats what should be addressed rather than worked around.   If you have an incredible PC, perhaps you don't even need pre-rendered frames or you can lower it then but this would not be the norm for the average player.   V-sync is preference, I am very bothered by tearing so it is never turned off for me!}}</p><p>That's the challenge with this ongoing problem for owners of GTX 285 cards.  The problem has existed nearly two years, but technical support has never been able to find a solution for anyone.  This thread in EQ2 forums wasn't addressed and I can tell you that the problem has existed for players of other games, so it isn't just an EQ2 issue...it is an issue with the GTX 285 cards and drivers.  If you google black screen of death and GTX 285, you'll discover it has been a common problem for a very long time and rollback and clean install of the drivers has not solved it for more than a few people.  The manufacturer has also never been able to address it, so owners have either replaced their cards or tried various work-arounds.</p><p>I understand you wouldn't recommend the above changes, but they have worked for several GTX 285 owners. I haven't seen any impact to performance (or appearance) in EQ2 so far, other than a stable game that can be played without crashes.  If you know of another solution that doesn't involve changing the above settings, I'm sure we all would love to try it.  For the most part, owners have been scrapping their GTX 285 cards.</p><p>Like I said, I'm not a technical person, so maybe you have a theory why the above changes to settings would make the card work in Darklight Woods?  Maybe it has an issue with rendering certain conditions in that zone?  I just don't know...I'm just passing along a potential fix that seems to work.  It is nice to actually see the zone again (and play other games uninterrupted, as well.)</p><p>If I had a voodoo doll and that fixed the problem, I'd be recommending it, as well.  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Valgrave</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>We've got many GTX285's and have not been able to reproduce any issues you are mentioning nor do we have general issues with them much at all.  Great cards, IMO.</p><p>I honestly think there is an issue with the card, perhaps with the buffer, which would be the only explanation I have on why lowering pre-rendered frames would have an affect on stability at all (with that card!, some cards simply cannot keep up and need to pre-render frames just to maintain a smooth framerate, the GTX285 can).</p><p>Heres an interesting thing, google black screen of death and <insert any modern video card name at random>.  Everything, in some situation or another, has ran in to similar issues.  Pinpointing what is causing it is another story altogether.</p>

[deadcrickets2]

<p>Sounds like a video card defect.  I would suggest asking on the nVidia tech support forum.  I am willing to bet that it's a bad batch that only has the defect excerbated by how the code functions in the game.</p><p>In the mean time try out the new nVidia 280.26 WHQL drivers to see if it helps.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p><cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Sounds like a video card defect.  I would suggest asking on the nVidia tech support forum.  I am willing to bet that it's a bad batch that only has the defect excerbated by how the code functions in the game.</p><p>In the mean time try out the new nVidia 280.26 WHQL drivers to see if it helps.</p></blockquote><p>That's pretty much what I'm leaning towards as well.  </p>

[Valgrave]

<p>Yes, I (and many other GTX 285 owners) tried the different versions of the drivers...and quite a few folks complained on te nvidia forums and wrote directly.  I personally know several folks that were on their THIRD replacement card and still had the same problem.  As in all cases, one solution works for some folks and not for others.  Some "black screen" issues are caused by different things.  But, there is (or I should say was, since alot of people changed cards) could not get a solution to this issue...as this thread indicates, since no one jumped in a year ago...until I posted with what seems to be working. </p><p>If it works for me and other GTX 285 owners, why knock it?  But, there are alot (and I don't mean just a few or 10 or 15...I spoke with some tech forums and bloggers about it) of people who have this problem with the GTX 285.</p><p>Anyway, the above is working for some of us as a solution.  Like I said, no performance issues here as a result, but everyone's experience will vary.</p><p>Personally, I will drop the card in the next six months anyway.</p><p>Valgrave</p>