Stop the game crash

[werk]

Okay, I had tried updating video card driver, cleanning registry, and defragging drives. But the issue remains. ...

Don't forget audio drivers as well. DirectX is video and audio, lights and sound.

I had to switch from onboard audio to a PCI audio card when my MB mfg stopped updating their audio driver.


Again, every time I've ever had crashes it has been following an update and was resolved by updating my drivers to accommodate new features.
I am sorry if this is not your problem, but it has solved 100% of problems that I, my friends, and my guildies have experienced.

[AZgreentea]

No, I don't think so. It just puts the data in a nice clean order so the hdd reader does not have to run back and forth while reading data. The problem here is more of some error in the code of the client itself and it dumps stuff in the memory under 64 bit 'for later use' then does not use it at all, moreover it does not delete it. Sooner or later the memory gets full with all this random junk, the opsys starts to use the paging file (so it laaaaags really bad) and then it just crashes. Only relog fixes this. Or proper coding in the first place

Oh yes! the crash because of the memory leak. I dont experience that particular crash because I take special care not to switch characters often. I see the lag when I am doing inventory maintenance, and when I am done with that I close the client and restart it before I start playing. I also dont play for more than a few (1-2) hours without taking a break and closing the client. My days of sitting in front of the computer for 4 hours are gone.

[joueur]

Oh yes! the crash because of the memory leak. I dont experience that particular crash because I take special care not to switch characters often. I see the lag when I am doing inventory maintenance, and when I am done with that I close the client and restart it before I start playing. I also dont play for more than a few (1-2) hours without taking a break and closing the client. My days of sitting in front of the computer for 4 hours are gone.

Ok but here's the OP:

Entering wildernesses causes game crash. Leaving wildernesses causes game crash. Entering bank causes game crash. Boarding guild ship causes game crash.

It is enough. Please try to make the game as stable as U7 which didn't let us have this problem.

And my solution:

Memory leaks (Valgrind/Purify FTW).
How to crash less often, simple fixes:
- Decrease graphic settings
- Reduce texture cache size in the Advanced graphic options (only if you don't load the same instance over and over again)
- Restart the game sometimes
- Get one or two more GB of RAM
- Increase the swap file size

[Nerate_Mireth]

It's pretty hard to write code for EVERY combination of computer hardware/software out there so that it is all compatible. I can pretty much guarantee that the odds of ANY of us having the exact same HW/SW configurations on our computers is astronomical.

Someone in this thread (sorry forgot who) has problems with W7-64bit and DDO. Ever tried doing a dual-boot system with the 32bit and seeing if you have the same issues and if you do, are they happening as frequently? If you don't have the issues or they are less frequent, then there's your problem. I ran 64bit W7 for about 2 months, had issues with DDO and other programs all the time. Spent DAYS on the MS forums and everywhere else that google/yahoo/bing/any other search engine could find. Kept finding the same things suggested....dual boot system into 32bit and "test".

Everyone has the memory-leak issue when swapping toons around. I see it after I've swapped 8 or more toons while banking. I just close out the game, go have a smoke, come back and load up DDO and go....issue solved.

The OP is crashing every zone change. To the OP, without knowing your system configuration it's hard to help you. Several people suggested posting the dxdiag data and other info. This stuff helps US to help YOU figure out what could be the possible problem(s).

[moritheil]

You can find software that never crashes. It was, however, released on the Commodore 64. :P

Gold.

Regarding the actual issue at hand, I have experienced this but I never thought to make an issue of it. For me, it only happens if I play for a few hours, and it always happens as I move to a wilderness area (which, as previous posters pointed out, would require more memory.) I just assumed DDO had eaten too much memory or it was akin to one of those errors Windows gives out when your computer heats up.

[IanYang]

With crashes that frequently, I would uninstall DDO, delete the userpreferences.ini file from 'mydocuments\dungeons and dragons online' folder and re-install the game using a fresh download

Nice! Thanks for this advise. After uninstalling the old version of DDO (U5 version) and installing the newest version of DDO (U8 version). The issue is gone! So, to me, the problem was the old version, not the computer.

BTW, after I installed the newest version, some graphic settings have been reset. Now when I run Titan raid, I cannot see the lasers which strike the warforged titan while I am on the operation platform. Which graphic setting should be enabled to make the lasers visible?

[t0r012]

I myself have encountered the full spectrum of minor to moderate to frequent crashing. It seems that while some people don't encounter crashes at all, this doesn't dismiss them from being a real problem for a significant amount of people.

I actually find it humerous (if not anoying) that most individuals who are fortunate enough to not have any issues typically can't accept that there may be a ddo software issue causing the problem for others. This is a common enough problem that can't be isolated to any single hardware (AMD, INTEL, NVIDIA, ATI, VIA, etc) or OS (XP, VISTA, WINDOWS 7) configuration. Nor can it be associated with any specific hardware driver or driver version.

I, like so many others with this problem, have spent a great deal of time and explored numerous fixes and troubleshooting methodologies including clean OS, client and driver installs, swapping or disabling of hardware, tweaking of BIOS and Registry settings with only minor, but not lasting improvements. Additionally, like the rest, I have no issues with any other software, be that graphically intensive game or otherwise, similar to the ongoing crashes with DDO.

All things considered, I have to come to the conclusion that this is a very real issue and the root cause must be associated with the DDO Client itself. My only hope is that the developers take these occurances seriously enough to some day actualy attempt to address, isolate and patch the issue....if not at least acknowledge it.

I could be wrong. Maybe there is an obscure setting somewhere with something conflicting with the client and causing the problem. But until I see a widely accepted solution that is effective for the majority of individuals, I can't believe this is the case.

-Mastese

correlation does not equal causation

[Hatteras]

Entering wildernesses causes game crash. Leaving wildernesses causes game crash. Entering bank causes game crash. Boarding guild ship causes game crash.

It is enough. Please try to make the game as stable as U7 which didn't let us have this problem.

same problems here. I even got a few blue screens in the process

[Hatteras]

correlation does not equal causation

Do you work for Marlboro

[Meetch1972]

Thoughts:

* Firstly, what could be the problem in many cases - iffy RAM. Diagnose by running a memtest. The dndclient process tends to use a lot of memory after a while - it's possible that a memory corruption is being hit when the client forces the PC to use a memory address that involves a flaky logic gate. Dodgy RAM is a likely suspect, and stress testing it is the only way to be sure (before going to school/work, start up the most heavy duty stress test you can find and you should have an answer by the time you get home). If a problem does show up, and a stick of RAM is fingered, remove it and see what difference that makes. If you cannot tell which one it is, remove half the RAM and test, then remove the other half and test again.

* I was running 32 bit XP, and have since upgraded to 64 bit Win7. Had the occasional crash entering sands around U5 I think - that was on XP. My Win7 upgrade happened around the time of U8. Now the only issue is occasionally the launcher complains at me, then launches the game anyway if I ignore the error.

* And finally, assuming there are no hardware issues, and a fresh system + client, THERE MUST BE A BUG. The big problem is the bug could be in one of the many drivers loaded on the system, the BIOS in some rare cases (I've seen one, for which there was a motherboard firmware update), or the software itself. If you can take the time to verify that the system is fine, and the program crashes, then QED the program isn't smart enough to properly deal with a certain set of circumstances imposed on it, and that IS a bug. I'm certain there are bugs in DDO software, specifically around this character switching issue many people experience, and hopefully there will be a fix. But at least there is a known workaround for that in restarting the client after a few switches.

I wish everyone having issues all the best with resolving their niggling issues. Just remember as well as upgrading drivers and defragging/reinstalling, please try:
* A full memory stress test and
* checking for BIOS updates for your mainboard - look for notes referring to possibly relevant bugs, not feature changes.
OR
* If you're not sure what you're doing and have a few extra bucks, and can trust your local PC shop, pay them to run a full diagnostic on it.

Peace...

[Smitey]

Nice! Thanks for this advise. After uninstalling the old version of DDO (U5 version) and installing the newest version of DDO (U8 version). The issue is gone! So, to me, the problem was the old version, not the computer.

BTW, after I installed the newest version, some graphic settings have been reset. Now when I run Titan raid, I cannot see the lasers which strike the warforged titan while I am on the operation platform. Which graphic setting should be enabled to make the lasers visible?

Hey OP, glad to hear you have resolved your issue.

If you click the 'detect optimal settings' tickbox in the graphics panel DDO will determine the display settings for you.

It may be that video post processing is currently unticked.

[IanYang]

Hey OP, glad to hear you have resolved your issue.

If you click the 'detect optimal settings' tickbox in the graphics panel DDO will determine the display settings for you.

It may be that video post processing is currently unticked.

Thank you. I will try it.

[chester99]

There's only one VERY well known crash zone and that is entering the explorer area in Sands. If you're crashing elsewhere, it can be any of the following issues:

Registry Error
Graphics Card Error
Hard Drive Error
RAM Error
Sound Card Error
VRAM Error
Malware/Trojan
DLL Error
Rootkit Errors
Kernel Errors
GPU Error


Take care of your computer hardware and it takes will take care of your computer software..

thanks for your help. I'll get right on debugging my rookit and try to get my non-malware trojans back in order.

asd;lkfj

[Tres_Tacos]

Glad the OP got his issue resolved, I too had the crash on zoning problem for a while and it was endlessly frustrating, but updating my audio driver has since cleared it up.

[Schwarzie]

It's pretty hard to write code for EVERY combination of computer hardware/software out there so that it is all compatible. I can pretty much guarantee that the odds of ANY of us having the exact same HW/SW configurations on our computers is astronomical.

You dont write software for specific Hardware (well at least no consumersoftware). The programm interacts with the APIs offered by the system. Todays OS dont even allow Software to directly interact with the Hardware.