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Game doesn't load past the Cryptic Screen

saintinixsaintinix Member Posts: 8 Arc User
So, I took a little break from NW....

When I first romped about in NW (Last Summer-Fall), I was using these parts.

Gigabyte 990FX Motherboard
Athlon II x4 630 @ 2.8Ghz (Quad Core)
4GB DDR3 1066Mhz
1GB GPU (Both AMD, one a 5850 and the other a 6670)
120GB Sandisk SSD
Windows 7 (64-Bit)
Stock HSF/Cooler

The game ran fine, with some stuttering in large battles/raids...Otherwise, smooth as butter.

Now, I come back, re-download and re-install the game on newer hardware.

Gigabyte 990FX Motherboard
Phenom II x6 1045T (Hex Core, Overclocked to 3.6GHz, from 2.7Ghz)
16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1600 (Downclocked to 1450ish Mhz)
4GB AMD RX 470 XFX Triple X
120GB Sandisk SSD
Windows 7 (64-Bit)
Cryorig H7 Tower Cooler with 2x 120mm in a Push-Pull config

I've added two cores, almost an entire Gigahertz of CPU frequency, and doubled my GPU performance, with 4 times as much VRAM, as well as 4x the System RAM, at a higher clock speed.

The OS hasn't changed, nothing else has changed...

However, now I can't even get past the loading screen, the game halts in Task Manager at roughly 147,000K loaded into the RAM.

This is with a fresh install, Force Verify on game files, and everything checks out.

What the hell happened to this game since last fall? How could it be so screwed up that better hardware runs worse?

Safe mode does allow me to login to the game, but seriously, why?

This makes no sense, whatsoever, and I'm at a loss as to the reason...

I've built PCs for over two decades, and I've never seen this happen, what are you doing Cryptic?

(Disclaimer: I know about the graphics update, learned about it while reading up on patches during the download process. However, this shouldn't pose an issue for a PC that is more or less double the power/speed of my old rig. What gives? Maybe I missed something, and if I have, please let me know. This issue is making me pull my hair out.)

Comments

  • kreatyvekreatyve Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 10,545 Community Moderator
    How long did you leave it sit at the loading screen? I know sometimes after a large patch, it can take some time for my computer to get past that loading screen. It used to be worse, but it still hangs for a few minutes every now and then. I suggest leaving it sit on that screen for 5 - 10 minutes and see if that does anything. If not, let us know again and we can look into more options.
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  • pitshadepitshade Member Posts: 5,665 Arc User
    edited March 2017
    Did you go into options on the Launcher and select DX11? Using DX9 was pretty standard to keep the game running smoothly even on good machines, but since mod 11 dropped, no longer supported.

    ETA I reread and saw it was a fresh download so probably not the issue, sorry.
    "We have always been at war with Dread Vault" ~ Little Brother
  • saintinixsaintinix Member Posts: 8 Arc User
    kreatyve said:

    How long did you leave it sit at the loading screen? I know sometimes after a large patch, it can take some time for my computer to get past that loading screen. It used to be worse, but it still hangs for a few minutes every now and then. I suggest leaving it sit on that screen for 5 - 10 minutes and see if that does anything. If not, let us know again and we can look into more options.

    I've let it sit 5-6 minutes a few times, never longer.

    Usually when you hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete and open Task Manager, you can tell very quickly if a program has stopped loading data into the RAM. I've let it sit, for a few minutes, then opened Task Manager to watch it just sit at around the 147ish MB level for a couple more minutes before I killed the process.

    I'll give it a go, and just let it sit about 15 minutes while I do something else and get back to you on it.
    pitshade said:

    Did you go into options on the Launcher and select DX11? Using DX9 was pretty standard to keep the game running smoothly even on good machines, but since mod 11 dropped, no longer supported.



    ETA I reread and saw it was a fresh download so probably not the issue, sorry.

    Yeah, fresh install, and I've never gotten the 'Old Graphics Drivers' pop-up or anything.
  • saintinixsaintinix Member Posts: 8 Arc User
    Okay, so I've got a bit of an update.

    I've been using the Arc Launcher, login, then open NW, right?

    Well every time I do that, the game won't finish loading, freezing at the Cryptic screen.

    Now, I went down into the NW install directory, and started poking through the Debug files, Errors, etc.

    I found a few errors burried in those files, but nothing that I could really say was the cause.

    However, when I went further, and found the 'GameClient.exe' inside the 'Live' folder... I was able to get the game to load past the hitch around 147MB.

    Although, it would not connect to the Login server when using that EXE.

    So backing up a bit, I tried starting the game by using the 'Neverwinter.exe' a level or two up from the 'GameClient.exe'.

    I was finally able to get the game to load correctly, without 'Safe Mode', and get all the way to the Character selection screen.



    If anyone else is having this issue, try by-passing the Arc Launcher, and open the game from the 'Neverwinter.exe' inside your install directory, inside folder 'Neverwinter_en'. (EN would be different if you use a language other than English)

    You can also right-click the 'Neverwinter.exe' and 'Send To... Desktop' to place a shortcut right onto your desktop, so you don't have to dig through folders every time you want to play NW.

    Hopefully the work-around helps out others that are having this issue.

    I've never gotten the 'Old GPU Driver' pop-up, but I seem to be doing fine on the AMD Crimson 16.11.5 driver package from Nov. 25th 2016.

    Might not work for you, but if you're having issues, could be worth a shot.
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