Civilization & System Hang

[Nick83Weasel]

Hi, my Civ 5 worked flawlessly for more than a year, then suddenly a couple of months ago it became downright unplayable. Basically the entire system hangs, CTRL+ALT+DEL unresponsive, the fan kicks in at full speed and all I can do is a hard reset. No BSOD, no dumps, no errors whatsoever, other than generic "unexpected restarts". I tried switching from directX 11 to directX 9: it still happens. I tried lowering the video settings: no joy. It's totally random: it can happen while loading a game, 5 minutes into a game, or after 20, 60, 100 minutes of play. A few random times it will work without hanging the system. A few other times it will work but hang the system 30-60 seconds after exiting the game! Most of the times it happens right after clicking "next turn", but it's happened in dozens of different situations. I updated the BIOS, updated a few drivers (including the video ones), stress-tested memory, CPU, GPU, checked temperatures (it hangs at relatively low temperatures. While running the stress-tests temperatures were MUCH higher and I didn't have a single hang in hours), I cleaned the fan, i updated Win 7 and other software. The game is patched and I even bought G&K to see if it would make any difference: no joy either. It doesn't happen with any other game or program. I really don't know what else I can do and I feel like I wasted my money.
Please help me.
My dxdiag is attached to this message.

 

[timtofly]

How much space is left on the hard drive?

 

[Nick83Weasel]

230 gb

 

[timtofly]

Did you varify the local cache in steam until it returns the "All files succesfully validated"?

 

[Nick83Weasel]

Yes, it told me it needed to download a 5.0 MB file. But after installing it I started a new game and the problem was still there. After your last message I verified it for the second time today and it keeps telling me that a 5.0 MB file needs to be downloaded. Downloaded a second time, installed a second time, problem still not solved. Strange how it keeps downloading that file (don't know which one) every time I verify the cache.

 

[timtofly]

I would keep doing it until you get the message above. It will eventually give it to you.

You may even want to log out of steam and reboot the computer after that to make sure all the files have been closed and saved properly.

 

[grdolph]

Same problem here and all I can say is that Firaxis is responsible for the continuous Windows blue screens in my PC since the last patch.
The system just hangs and has all the problems the OP wrote.
Firaxis MUST FIX THIS NOW.

 

[The_J]

What about other programs which might be running?
Maybe they have some performance peaks at these points, which brings Civ5 to hang.

 

[Nick83Weasel]

I would keep doing it until you get the message above. It will eventually give it to you.

You may even want to log out of steam and reboot the computer after that to make sure all the files have been closed and saved properly.

Ok, I'll try that and keep you updated

 

[Nick83Weasel]

What about other programs which might be running?
Maybe they have some performance peaks at these points, which brings Civ5 to hang.

I don't know. I mean...I already tried to play several times with Windows Task Manager open to check performances (by the way I tried it with CPU-Z, GPU-Z and SpeedFan too) and most of the times everything freezes with a CPU usage of 20% and a RAM usage of 30%, without any peak. Last night I even created a game, clicked on "begin journey" and then left the game there, without moving any unit, just to check what happened when everything was idle: it hanged in a couple of minutes. By the way I already did stress tests (prime95) and the system never hanged despite a CPU usage of 100% and a RAM usage of 60-70% for hours. Could it be possible that a performance peak occurs so quickly that Windows Task Manager is unable to keep track of it before everything locks up?

 

[Matsern]

I've had this problem too since getting the Gods And Kings expansion. So far it seems like I've paid to ruin my game

 

[jadeezomg]

Same problem here, crashes appear to be completely random. Sometimes at the start, after 10 rounds, 20 rounds ...

Civ completely stops, I can still move the mouse like nothing happend and my GPU usage drops to 0%, Teamspeak is still working, but my music stops (no sense here). If I click on my desktop on my second screen my PC completely freezes and I have to force an reboot, same happens with ALT+F4 or CRTL+ALT+DEL.

 

[timtofly]

Those who have "just started" to have problems after the new patch or G&K, still need to:

Check path for unusual characters, which has be re-introduced because of a new path.

Try disabling the core mode:

1. Open up your config.ini
2. Look for the following line: EnableGameCoreThreading = 1
3. Change it to: EnableGameCoreThreading = 0

Delete all movies in both the V and the new G&K directory.

Problems that may have been solved for your computer configuration last year, more than likely was re-introduced with the new patch and/or G&K.

If none of this helps, then post your diags, because there are people here from Firaxis who are working to solve all problems.

 

[jadeezomg]

Those who have "just started" to have problems after the new patch or G&K, still need to:

Check path for unusual characters, which has be re-introduced because of a new path.

Try disabling the core mode:

1. Open up your config.ini
2. Look for the following line: EnableGameCoreThreading = 1
3. Change it to: EnableGameCoreThreading = 0

Delete all movies in both the V and the new G&K directory.

Problems that may have been solved for your computer configuration last year, more than likely was re-introduced with the new patch and/or G&K.

If none of this helps, then post your diags, because there are people here from Firaxis who are working to solve all problems.

Did that, nothing changed.

 

[Matsern]

Those who have "just started" to have problems after the new patch or G&K, still need to:

Check path for unusual characters, which has be re-introduced because of a new path.

Try disabling the core mode:

1. Open up your config.ini
2. Look for the following line: EnableGameCoreThreading = 1
3. Change it to: EnableGameCoreThreading = 0

Delete all movies in both the V and the new G&K directory.

Problems that may have been solved for your computer configuration last year, more than likely was re-introduced with the new patch and/or G&K.

If none of this helps, then post your diags, because there are people here from Firaxis who are working to solve all problems.

Is this the go-to bug solver for all problems, or this one specifically? Just asking since I have a hard time seeing how deleting the movies will fix my game killing my PC. Will try the core threading one though, and update this post after.

 

[Nick83Weasel]

Those who have "just started" to have problems after the new patch or G&K, still need to:

Check path for unusual characters, which has be re-introduced because of a new path.

Try disabling the core mode:

1. Open up your config.ini
2. Look for the following line: EnableGameCoreThreading = 1
3. Change it to: EnableGameCoreThreading = 0

Delete all movies in both the V and the new G&K directory.

Problems that may have been solved for your computer configuration last year, more than likely was re-introduced with the new patch and/or G&K.

If none of this helps, then post your diags, because there are people here from Firaxis who are working to solve all problems.

tried these, problem still there

 

[timtofly]

tried these, problem still there

Did you ever get the message: "All files varified successfully" when checking the local files in steam?

When I kept getting random crashes and had to keep varifying the local files, I finally moved steam and company onto a USB thumb drive, and that stopped the files from getting corrupted.

It seems that you should not have to do that, but for some reason it looks like files are still being corrupted.

 

[Nick83Weasel]

Did you ever get the message: "All files varified successfully" when checking the local files in steam?

When I kept getting random crashes and had to keep varifying the local files, I finally moved steam and company onto a USB thumb drive, and that stopped the files from getting corrupted.

It seems that you should not have to do that, but for some reason it looks like files are still being corrupted.

never.
it keeps downloading that 5.0 MB file every time.
i even installed the file, then verified the cache 30 seconds later, still no success.
moving steam to a USB drive seems too much of a hassle, but i'll try it as a last resort if nothing "easier" comes up.

 

[timtofly]

never.
it keeps downloading that 5.0 MB file every time.
i even installed the file, then verified the cache 30 seconds later, still no success.
moving steam to a USB drive seems too much of a hassle, but i'll try it as a last resort if nothing "easier" comes up.

I do not think that it is the same file. I think that you have a lot of corrupted files. Have you tried to delete local content and download the game again?

 

[Matsern]

Those who have "just started" to have problems after the new patch or G&K, still need to:

Check path for unusual characters, which has be re-introduced because of a new path.

Try disabling the core mode:

1. Open up your config.ini
2. Look for the following line: EnableGameCoreThreading = 1
3. Change it to: EnableGameCoreThreading = 0

Delete all movies in both the V and the new G&K directory.

Problems that may have been solved for your computer configuration last year, more than likely was re-introduced with the new patch and/or G&K.

If none of this helps, then post your diags, because there are people here from Firaxis who are working to solve all problems.

Well, I can definitely confirm that this does not work.I'll go into some more details about how my bug manifests itself though:

So I boot up Civ as usual, and start a game. There are no signs of anything being wrong. The game runs smooth, and my computer seems completely okay with it. Then, without forewarning, everything fails. This is at about 60 turns ingame. It starts with the screen going black, and ultimately loosing input all together. The first time I had this bug, the USB ports on my computer even failed.

Anyways, nothing works when the game has crashed. Not CTRL-ALT-DELETE, mouse movements or any other commands. I can't even use the reboot button on my computer, I have to turn it all the way off, and then on again.

This problem came with G & K, and I've never seen anything like it before.

I can upload my dxdiag if you think that will help, but I'm absolutely sure that there's nothing wrong with my computer. Newest drivers and good hardware.


EDIT: Actually, I forgot looking for foreign characters, where exactly am I supposed to look? The game's launch path?