DDO suddenly disappears

[Resqin]

Hi everyone!

First, I've tried searching for this issue but it is a little difficult due to the specific problem. I don't have a lot of clues to search with and 'shuts down' or 'crashes' gives a little too many hits .

When I open DDO I play for an irregular time, can be 5 minutes, can be 2 hours, but then... the game suddenly shuts down. No warnings, no reports when shutting down, no clear indication why it shuts down. It simply disappears, that's the best word for it. It can be while just running around on the marketplace or when suddenly 10 skeletons appear. It can be 1 time and then stops or it can be 3 times in a row with a variety of time-intervals.

I don't think my RAM can't take it.



When I restart DDO I sometimes get this report. Then, after logging in, I am on the exact same place when it shutted down. This included places in quests. However if I have this problem in the middle of a fight or in a trap I sometimes stand beside my soulstone , not so nice off course. All feats, spells, hirelings, ... are back.

I use an ASUS pc with intel core i7, 6GB RAM and Windows 7, Nvidia geforce GT 520 mx 1 GB (I think that's the graphic card??).

Does anyone else has this problem? Solutions? So far I haven't tried anything actually, I suppose re-installing is an option or not?

Apologies if this does not belong here but I don't want to go blind bug-reporting.

Thanks!

Resqin

[Missing_Minds]

Learn how to use nVidia's control panel and up the speed of your GPU fan. You could be overheating.

The built in fan control algorithms historically are very bad.

[sebastianosmith]

Hey Resqin,

The first issue sounds like a RAM or video driver problem. Both are relatively easy, if somewhat time-consuming, to troubleshoot.

A RAM Issue:

Try re-seating the RAM. Open the computer, pop out the RAM chips and put them back in snugly. Make sure you ground yourself before touching them so any static electricity is discharged.

If that doesn't fix it...

You've got 6Gb of ram so you have at least two and probably three sticks. Try taking one out and see if it fixes the problem. Repeat that with the remainder until the problem is resolved or you're back to where you started. If the problem is resolved by removing any of the memory sticks, you have a bad SDRAM module. Replace it.

A Video Driver Issue:

Make note of your current driver version. Head over to the NVidia download site and get the latest drivers. If you are already running the latest drivers, download the previous WHQL-certified driver release, uninstall the current version and install that one. NVidia recently increased the major release number on their driver set and that will sometimes cause problems with older installations.

If none of that fixes the problem, Try uninstalling and re-installing the game. It's possible there's a problem with a file somewhere.



The second problem is likely due to the DDOClient executable either still being in memory when you restart the game or having left some handles open as a result of crashing. The OS is supposed to clean that up, but it may take some time to do so. I would not be overly worried about it if you can fix the crashing issue.

Best of luck.

[Missing_Minds]

http://www.memtest.org/

If you want to test your memory (after reseating them) I'd advise this program. Let it run overnight and see what it says.

[Resqin]

Learn how to use nVidia's control panel and up the speed of your GPU fan. You could be overheating.

The built in fan control algorithms historically are very bad.

Indeed, I forgot to mention this. When I have this problem my PC is usually very hot so this can indeed be the problem. Thanks for your responses fellows, really appreciate it. Tomorrow I go to work to solve this problem!

Resqin

[Resqin]

Thanks again for these responses. As a first step to solve this problem (I just had it 4 times in a row, I was sick of it) I've taken time to clean my PC and delete all programs that use RAM whenever I'm on the internet, like skype, dropbox, etc. I don't use them anyway. That never hurts!

Then, in second instance, I reinstalled the game. This time I chose for the standard quality, not the high graphics quality, that should also make a difference.

Thirdly, I'm going to install another nvidia system that works better.


If that all does not help I'm going to get my screwdriver and do, for the first time, some hardwarework. I hope you understand that it's not evident for a normal user to mess around with the hardware. I hope you understand this. Yet I still appreciate your feedback.

I hope it works out this way. I'll you guys know so others can see which steps I have taken to resolve this problem.

Resqin

[Resqin]

And the problem is solved!

I've cleaned my PC and downgraded (hight to normal graphics) and reinstalled ddo. I don't know what fixed it but now I can play without restarting it all the time.

Thanks for you help.

Resqin