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Help Cryptic Solve AMD/ATI Issue

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Hey all,

I am posting this here to get the most visibility. As those of us with ATI based video cards know we have crash issues in ground combat when using Dynamic Lighting. As I mentioned in anothe thread I have been speaking to some people at Cryptic about this. They have requested that we post in-game crash report (the "Error Tracker ID" showed when the client crashes) for them to examine.

I would ask everyone with an ATI based card to please turn back on your Dynamic Lighting or undo the tweaking you have done to stop crashes with your ATI card and post the crash reports in this thread for Cryptic. The more data we can provide them the quicker they can find this issue and solve it for us.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    And if it's a problem with the AMD/ATI drivers, not Cryptic's engine?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Then I know for a fact AMD is in the loop on this and they will work to get it resolved.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Shouldn't this be posted on AMD's forum?
    Aren't they the ones that make drivers for their cards?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    odd but i have never crashed and i roll amd/ati g-card.

    everything is turned on and maxxed.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    I'll try it until it starts crashing again.
    :(
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    i have a card like this an have 0 issues with full graphics. I like a lot of others had issues with my old card when the game launched as it would override the cards heat sensor and cause it to overheat repeatedly. I switched to one of these cards just for that reason and have been very happy.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    From what I've heard, it only affects HD5xxx series. I have a 4850 and no problems with Dynamic Lighting.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Szioul wrote: »
    From what I've heard, it only affects HD5xxx series. I have a 4850 and no problems with Dynamic Lighting.

    I've got a 6870, and it certainly crashes with dynamic lighting above default during ground combat (did the Breen episode with it on, and turned it off after realising the problem - haven't crashed since). [the 6xxx are basically 5xxx internally - so that seems logical]
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Okay while I understand the reason this thread was moved I think it is a bad idea. The idea here is to help Cryptic by getting as much information as we can. Moving the thread to a section that gets only minor traffic compared to the original location is not going to help us do this.

    Guys if yoiu have this error and know how to reproduce it then please do so and post the error log information here, that way Cryptic can begin tracking this.

    BTW back to the first paragraph, I am curious, why was there not a note put in here by the moderator that moved the thread? Usually a moved thread has a reason.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Reproduction tips:

    First the boy and girl have to love each other ver... Oh wait...
    • This is only for ATI 5xxx series cards and above. 56xx series cards may be immune to this, but it's worth testing anyway.
    • Crank up everything to full. Your card's got enough horsepower to do it. Go on. Treat yourself.
    • Most importantly; enable Dynamic Lighting, and set the Number of Lights to 5. (Yes, Jean Luc, there ARE five lights!)
    • Now visit Starbase 24, specifically the ground mission.
    • The CtD should occur within the first few ground fights.

    Now for some links:
    Happy hunting, everyone!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    They have requested that we post in-game crash report (the "Error Tracker ID" showed when the client crashes) for them to examine.

    Ah - I should point that, for me, the game did not crash, instead the PC froze (accompanied by looping sound - an proper olde-worlde crash).

    - the first time the PC seemed 'unrecoverable' (pressing the power button on the pc itself was the only obvious solution).
    - the second crash I was able to access the win7 process manager screen and terminate the STO process.

    Due to the severity of the crash, I'm not particularly eager to reproduce it - but I may give it a go to see if anything useful comes out...

    Edit: reading below, I just realised that I've made a mistake. I leave dynamic lighting ON with 2 lights and there are no problems (never crashed for me with that setting), but if I turn it up to 5 lights then it will crash sooner or later.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    4890 Radeon HD, no problems with Dynamic Lighting with latest drivers. Win7 64-bit.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Okay running as described above with all settings at max and on SB 24 and I got within 4 minutes of playing the Starbase segment a crash that said the client stopped working. I cannot find an error log on this. Can someone from Cryptic tell us how to gather this information for them in a manner they want?

    System is a Phenom II X6 1055T, 4 Gig DDR using a 6850 basec video card under Windows 7 x64bit with Catalyst 10.10 drivers.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Can someone from Cryptic tell us how to gather this information for them in a manner they want?

    The last link in my post above points to a number of resources for getting the right information to Cryptic. I haven't quite got my head around it myself, as it seems designed to force graphic drivers to blue screen when there's a problem, producing useful debug data.

    Let's hope we get a better response than 'ATI FAIL LOL'.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Came back from dinner and fired up Starbase 24 again and have crshed 3 times in under 15 minutes. This is EASY to reproduce it seems.

    Heathenstorm you are right, that was BAD form for a Cryptic employee to post.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Aeidan wrote:
    4890 Radeon HD, no problems with Dynamic Lighting with latest drivers. Win7 64-bit.

    I had that same card and up to a few months ago it would crash.
    Testing the newest drivers as soon as I get home from work with my new 5870 on Win7 x64, your statement makes me hopeful!

    /e:
    Then again, reading the rest..
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    I am hoping we can getsome from Cryptic in here soon to tell us what data they want us to get specifically. To be honest however I am wondering what the big deal is. This issue seems easy to reproduce. We have specific steps that seem to fix it every time. Would seem to me that this is more than enough to be tracking this already.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    I am hoping we can getsome from Cryptic in here soon to tell us what data they want us to get specifically. To be honest however I am wondering what the big deal is. This issue seems easy to reproduce. We have specific steps that seem to fix it every time. Would seem to me that this is more than enough to be tracking this already.

    Problem is that Cryptic think the bug is in ATI's driver code. And ATI think the bug is in Cryptic's code.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    I have a 5770 and I have DL on all the time, though I only use 2 lights. I don't have the processor horsepower to crank up the card all the way and still have a playable game (Core 2 Duo).
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Problem is that Cryptic think the bug is in ATI's driver code. And ATI think the bug is in Cryptic's code.

    Where ever the bug is as long as the community stays passive it will not get fixed any time soon. Right now I know we have Cryptic focused here and I know we have ATI waiting for data. As a community we have a chance to get this worked on directly but if we do not work as a community to get the data this will just quietly slip into the background.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Just out of curiosity, which DirectX version are you all running? I'm guessing DX11, but it might be a DirectX problem.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    I run a Radeon HD 5750 and am constantly having problems with dynamic lighting and also with bloom intensity.. have to turn it down to 20 % otherwise things like emergency power to shields and phasers beams make it so bright it hurts my eyes
    Im also running directx 11 version 8.782.0.0 DDI Version 10.1
    Whatever that means :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    After ordering my new computer i relized that i had gotten the ATi HD 5670, even though i have not seen anyone say anything about that card am i still going to have the same problems with the dynamic lighting issue. If anyone has this card please let me know how thing are working for you
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Turning off the Dynamic Lighting, as it always does stopped the crashes. I will put in an nVidia card this weekend and try again.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    numerous crashed with me with Dynamic Lights on

    XFX ATI5850
    Xp
    4 Gigs of Ram
    I930 OC'd to 3.8

    No Crashed with Dynamic Lights off

    very very very easy to reproduce
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    5770 card crashes on max settings. I tone them down and it seems to solve the issue. If not for the crashing, it is smooth as silk and looks fantastic. But it crashes on beam downs all the time on max settings.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    ALL people with ATI/AMD graphics cards need to understand something ... most of the time its caused by lighting ...dynamic lighting etc..

    Its because ATI/AMD cards have built in Dynamic Lighting ... turning it on IN-game will make the game stutter a lot and/or crash ..especially on ground missions....because its already on in the card automatic ..
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    So assuming we turn off dynamic lighting, it will still work because it is built into the card?
    I'll give it a shot and see if that fixes it, thanks!

    Ken :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    B3RTLE wrote:
    ALL people with ATI/AMD graphics cards need to understand something ... most of the time its caused by lighting ...dynamic lighting etc..

    Its because ATI/AMD cards have built in Dynamic Lighting ... turning it on IN-game will make the game stutter a lot and/or crash ..especially on ground missions....because its already on in the card automatic ..

    Can you point us to a soruce of this information? I was under the impression that it might be handled in hardware but I thought it was up to the software to turn it on.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    When I disabled it in the preferences, it didn't appear to change the appearance of the lighting. I was watching closely and didn't see any change. So far, no crashing. But it's too early to say yet because I can't play since I'm actually working. I'll check tomorrow and let you all know if it fixed it for real. But it looks very promising!

    Ken :)
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