Far Cry crash

[Navid]

MB: P4P800 deluxe
CPU: P4 2.6GHz, 800MHzFSB
9600 pro Sapphire ultimate http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9600proult.asp
CAT4.4
PSU: FSP Aurora 350
http://www.fortron-source.com/proddetail.asp?linenumber=76
OS: XP pro

Sometimes, while playing Far Cry, all of a sudden, the screen goes blank and
the game freezes. I will have to reboot. Once when it happened, I opened
the case and touched the GPU heatsink. It was not too hot. The RAM chips
on the card were not too hot either. I am not overclocking anything.
What can cause this?
Thanks,
Navid

 

[QV]

MB: P4P800 deluxe
CPU: P4 2.6GHz, 800MHzFSB
9600 pro Sapphire ultimate http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9600proult.asp
CAT4.4
PSU: FSP Aurora 350
http://www.fortron-source.com/proddetail.asp?linenumber=76
OS: XP pro

Sometimes, while playing Far Cry, all of a sudden, the screen goes blank and
the game freezes. I will have to reboot. Once when it happened, I opened
the case and touched the GPU heatsink. It was not too hot. The RAM chips
on the card were not too hot either. I am not overclocking anything.
What can cause this?
Thanks,
Navid

Turning off "Fast Write" (in display properties) fixed it for me.

 

[johns]

I'm testing the 9600 too in Far Cry. No crashes with
autodetect set to "medium" all settings. I'm also running
Far Cry on a 9000 with autodetect to "low". Game
still looks great, and no crashes. I did have a crash
problem on a 9200 I was testing, but I traced it to a
poorly seated hdrive data cable. On all three cards,
when I tried to "push" the settings above autodetect,
I had a crash problem, or I had weirdies in color
and tearing problems. Autodetect is about right to
run the game properly and troublefree.

johns

 

[DaveW]

Your non-high quality brand power supply unit may be unstable/underpowered,
despite it's "rating" for driving your components.

 

[Navid]

Turning off "Fast Write" (in display properties) fixed it for me.

Thanks for the tip. I tried it and still had the problem. Now, I am trying
the OMEGA driver.

 

[Navid]

I'm testing the 9600 too in Far Cry. No crashes with
autodetect set to "medium" all settings. I'm also running
Far Cry on a 9000 with autodetect to "low". Game
still looks great, and no crashes. I did have a crash
problem on a 9200 I was testing, but I traced it to a
poorly seated hdrive data cable. On all three cards,
when I tried to "push" the settings above autodetect,
I had a crash problem, or I had weirdies in color
and tearing problems. Autodetect is about right to
run the game properly and troublefree.

johns

I am using the auto detect now (Medium) and having the problem. What is odd
is that before, I set everything to very high first and played the whole
game and had no crashes. Now, I am playing it again at lower setting to get
higher fsp.

 

[Navid]

Your non-high quality brand power supply unit may be
unstable/underpowered,
despite it's "rating" for driving your components.

I am wondering about that too. But, I have had this setup for the last five
months and had no problems until now. I played the soldier of fortune,
Hitman 2, and HALO several times with this setup and never had these
crashes. I am not sure why Far Cry would demand more power from the supply
than the other games?

 

[Ken Maltby]

MB: P4P800 deluxe
CPU: P4 2.6GHz, 800MHzFSB
9600 pro Sapphire ultimate http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9600proult.asp
CAT4.4
PSU: FSP Aurora 350
http://www.fortron-source.com/proddetail.asp?linenumber=76
OS: XP pro

Sometimes, while playing Far Cry, all of a sudden, the screen goes blank and
the game freezes. I will have to reboot. Once when it happened, I opened
the case and touched the GPU heatsink. It was not too hot. The RAM chips
on the card were not too hot either. I am not overclocking anything.
What can cause this?
Thanks,
Navid

If it's just "Far Cry", you might need more memory, or your
memory may not be as available as it could. "Far Cry" is the
first game I've run across that places so much dependence on
system RAM, as it scales up.

Luck;
Ken

 

[Navid]

If it's just "Far Cry", you might need more memory, or your
memory may not be as available as it could. "Far Cry" is the
first game I've run across that places so much dependence on
system RAM, as it scales up.

Luck;
Ken

Ken,
How can I investigate this?
I have 2x256Meg DDR400 Kingston set up as dual channel.
I have 768Meg of pagefile set up under system control.
Thanks

 

[Name]

Dude, this game flat out needs a Gig of RAM. I tried every which way to
prove otherwise and finally bit the bullet. This game has cost me $300 so
far and I am thinking about a new CPU too.

 

[Ken Maltby]

Ken,
How can I investigate this?
I have 2x256Meg DDR400 Kingston set up as dual channel.
I have 768Meg of pagefile set up under system control.
Thanks

You might Google "Black Viper XP Services" and "Memory Tweaks"
and for some reason the name Rojack or something like that comes to
mind.

You could try setting your AGP "Graphics Aperture Size" to 128 or 256.

Luck;
Ken

 

[Ken Maltby]

Dude, this game flat out needs a Gig of RAM. I tried every which way to
prove otherwise and finally bit the bullet. This game has cost me $300 so
far and I am thinking about a new CPU too.

Not if you mow the grass. But I may bite the bullet soon, also.

Luck;
Ken

 

[Buffalo]

Try less agressive ram settings (timings).
Ram can definately cause that problem.
Remove and reseat the ram sticks also, just to clean up their contact
points.

 

[Sham B]

Dude, this game flat out needs a Gig of RAM. I tried every which way
to prove otherwise and finally bit the bullet. This game has cost me
$300 so far and I am thinking about a new CPU too.

Yeah, I find 1 gig of Ram and it runs great. 512 or less and it runs like a dog whatever your CPU
or Gfx card. thats on WinXP btw.

S

 

[Julian D.]

Ken,
How can I investigate this?
I have 2x256Meg DDR400 Kingston set up as dual channel.
I have 768Meg of pagefile set up under system control.
Thanks

I have 2x256meg DDR400 Corsair XMS memory and it lags for a split
second after loading a level when firing a weapon, using binoculars,
or using cryvision thingamajig. Only happens once during the initial
use of doing any of the above and it's smooth after that. Those with
1gig or more of memory don't seem to have that initial lag. So I
think farcry is very hungry for memory and lots of it.
Not saying that it'll solve your problem, but just to clarify the
previous posters answer about farcy liking over 512 megs of memory.

 

[Navid]

I have 2x256meg DDR400 Corsair XMS memory and it lags for a split
second after loading a level when firing a weapon, using binoculars,
or using cryvision thingamajig. Only happens once during the initial
use of doing any of the above and it's smooth after that. Those with
1gig or more of memory don't seem to have that initial lag. So I
think farcry is very hungry for memory and lots of it.
Not saying that it'll solve your problem, but just to clarify the
previous posters answer about farcy liking over 512 megs of memory.

Thanks to everyone for your help.