Solved: Dragon Age:Origins PC crashes

Post by **Fiffergrund** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 12:50 pm

Many of you know that I've been bellyaching about DA:O's propensity to crash at random intervals, and how it makes the game unplayable. I think I finally found a combination of things that work for me, though I have no idea which one finally tipped the scales in my favor.

So, I'll list everything I've tried, what worked, what didn't work, and hopefully someone else experiencing the problem can make the game playable.

First, my relevant specs:

AMD Phenom II x4 Black

4 GB DDR2

2 WD 74GB Raptors

2 ATI Radeon HD4670 1 GB cards in CrossfireX

Onboard HD Audio

Symptoms:

- Random crashing to desktop, leaving lingering artifacts that forced reboot of entire system.

- Occasional full system crashes.

- Crashing occurred during opening of journal, between cut scenes - basically anywhere that required redrawing of the screen in a significant way.

Attempted Solutions (none worked):

- Rollback of my Catalyst drivers to version 9.7.

- Set processor affinity to one core.

- Removed, reinstalled.

- Turned off all internet communication within the settings of the game itself.

- Decreased all graphics options to the minimum.

- Underclocked the Radeons

- Cleaned all fans in system (most of which were not that dirty)

- Ran in Windowed mode (though still in 1080p)

- Installed all patches.

- Disabled Catalyst Control Center.

- Disabled all sound cards, ran game with no sound.

- Removed all downloadable content.

- Stopped all extraneous processes - including antivirus software.

- Checked firewall settings.

What finally worked:

Here's what I tried this weekend, and some combination of these things works. Again, I'm not sure which one tipped the scales.

- Ran DA:O in windowed mode, 1280x1024.

- Set processor affinity for daorigins.exe to 3 out of 4 cores.

- Ensured Catalyst AI was set to "Advanced" in the Catalyst Control Center

- Ensured latest CrossfireX profiles installed.

- Ensured 10.3 Catalyst drivers installed.

- Ensured 1.03 DA patch is installed.

I was able to waste my entire weekend on the game.

Note that my criticism is still valid - this works for my setup, but many others are hosed, and I would still be if not for a stubborn insistance on trying every single variable combination. If Bioware sticks an ATI label on their packaging, it should work with ATI cards without all of the problems people have been having. (See Bioware forums for extensive threads on the subject.)

As far as the game is concerned, I'm enjoying it. I'm finding the disconnect between the main plot and the side quests to be especially jarring, though, when compared with other games. For example:

[Spoilers]

After fighting off the undead streaming from the castle in Redcliffe, I fight my way into the castle and discover the Arl's son, Connor, is an abomination. Great. I roleplay my way through it, and the end result is I need to go to the Circle of Mages to get help. Great. The urgency of the matter is stressed, after all, the undead stream out of the castle every single night.

Well, I have about a dozen side quests I could do at this point, but I have a choice. I can either play ball, and act as though the effort is really that urgent, or I can step outside the character, knowing that the main plot will wait for me, and do a bunch of side quests.

Every game has this problem, even one as open as Oblivion, but I've never had an experience where there is no much urgency to the main quest that side quests seem like an irrational waste of time. I mean, at this point the Darkspawn are practically everywhere? Who has time to go running after lousy caravans?

For me, the narrative suffers a bit. I do the side quests just because I know I need the experience or the goodies that are offered, but I find them to be jarring in the same context as the main plotline.

Having said that, the game is fantastic. The depth of interaction possible has really impressed me, and the combat visuals are great. I also like how the classes are structured, which makes me interested in the RPG.
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Post by **Breakdaddy** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:46 pm

I hope it turns out to be worth at least some of your trouble

Secret Skeleton · Post by **Secret Skeleton** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:52 pm

If it works right, it isn't BioWare.

Post by **Breakdaddy** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:27 pm

Ive never had an issue with any bioware software back to Baldur's Gate I. To say that bioware software doesnt work is to indicate little more than it doesnt work FOR YOU. I'm glad that Fiff's issue is resolved but (to Secret Skeleton) I'm seeing a trend wherein you seem to delight in maligning Bioware software. I dont own any stock in Bioware but have enjoyed their games immensely and have not seen a trend that indicates their coding is substandard or inherently buggy.

Jason Vey · Post by **Jason Vey** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:36 pm

Holy crap, SS, come off it already. Your jihadic crusade against all non-Japanese games is getting tiresome.

sigh.
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Lord Dynel · Post by **Lord Dynel** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 4:12 pm

The Grey Elf wrote:
Holy crap, SS, come off it already. Your jihadic crusade against all non-Japanese games is getting tiresome.

sigh.

Agreed. I'm not trying to pile on, SS, but it seems like there's more to this dislike than simply "BioWare is bad." I've played KotOR, NWN, both BG games for years without any issues, whatsoever. And, so far, Dragon Age is playing flawlessly for me. So, for ME (as BD reminds us), BioWare is a-okay.
Sorry, SS, for any strife BioWare has caused you.
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Secret Skeleton · Post by **Secret Skeleton** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:03 pm

I love BioWare games. But every BioWare game I have ever played is ridden with bugs and problems.

I think "jihadic crusade" is a bit of an overstatement. I said I believe that Japanese RPG's go through superior quality assurance testing and are far less likely to contain bugs.

I am not interested into going into this, but the only BioWare game I have played through that worked without problems was Jade Empire.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:21 pm

I'll assume it was windowed mode that resolved the problem. There is probably some conflict with the media playback at high resolution (full screen) that gets fixed when it doesn't have to try so hard. It could be a codec issue (unlikely, as I'd think it would not play at all), but that could be it -- you might be able to change your resolution and play full screen but that would mean changing the specs for everything, not just the game.
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moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 9:10 pm

I've played many Bioware games on a variety of setups. Never had a problem... EVER.

That isn't to say I haven't had my share of gaming issues with a variety of other games over the years. I used to be a pretty hardcore PC gamer and it's only recently that I've made a shift to gaming on a console where video games are concerned whenever possible.

As much as I love AMD (my last AMD system was an Athalon 3800 X2 dual core with an Nvidia SLI setup), I have found that I had to play with the affinity for certain games to run correctly and well. As for the Nvidia cards, most of the time I had no issues but I learned to allow new video card drivers much more time in the wild before upgrading them. I always checked the notes regarding issues with various games.

I have learned the more 'custom' the system, the more 'custom' are the solutions to the various problems and unusual quirks that you may uncover over time.
That said, it's relatively easier to release a solid game on a console since there isn't really any variances on the hardware. That's not to say they are perfect just less prone to be problematic if they did their job correctly.

I'm glad you resolved your Dragon Age issue though. Happy videogaming!

M
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angelius · Post by **angelius** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:03 pm

Happy you resolved it but honestly. I've never had problems with Bioware too.

That being said I'm running a Nividia card with maxed out graphics. Worked right the first time.

Could be a ATI thing.
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Post by **Fiffergrund** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:18 pm

serleran wrote:
I'll assume it was windowed mode that resolved the problem. There is probably some conflict with the media playback at high resolution (full screen) that gets fixed when it doesn't have to try so hard. It could be a codec issue (unlikely, as I'd think it would not play at all), but that could be it -- you might be able to change your resolution and play full screen but that would mean changing the specs for everything, not just the game.

I'm inclined to agree, except - I tried it in windowed mode before and it belched on me in a number of resolutions. It might be that windowed mode in combination with something else did the trick. Not sure.
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Post by **Fiffergrund** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:28 pm

This is my first experience with AMD and ATI as a combination, mainly because:

1) more bang for the buck

2) CrossfireX is better than SLI in some ways, according to my research.

As a whole the rig kicks some serious butt. DA:O is the only headache I've had. I can't see how the game QA didn't see this. My configuration isn't that unusual - plenty of folks use Crossfired Radeon HD4xxxx cards with stock Catalyst drivers.

What has been most disappointing is not the bug/bad interaction/, but the *response* to it. People who have spent good money on the game and have far less of a clue than me are left swinging in the wind. Someone at Bioware should be tracking down this problem, recreating it, trying to get to the bottom of what happened. Maybe that has happened. I wouldn't know because they haven't even acknowledged the problem exists.

People running relatively straightforward rigs (like mine) should expect the game to work if the recommended requirements are met, all drivers are updated, and the game has an ATI logo on it. The fact that so many people are having problems leads one to the natural conclusion that the game was given priority for console development, and not as much emphasis on PC gaming - so certain platforms, such as ATI, may not have had as much testing.

So, instead of a response, instead of a "we're working on it", instead of any kind of empathy or help...an expansion pack is released.

That doesn't come off well to paying customers who feel ignored and ripped off.

I'm lucky enough to have found a solution, and I'm enjoying the game, but that doesn't change the fact that the response to the problem has been very poor.
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angelius · Post by **angelius** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:56 am

I miss Black Isle too...
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Secret Skeleton · Post by **Secret Skeleton** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:06 pm

angelius wrote:
I miss Black Isle too...

Most of them are with Obsidian now.