Higher-End Comp; Game Freezing (5-15min)

[Seanicus]

Hey, tried to organize this as well as possible. Any help is very welcome! Thanks.

Computer Specs:
P4 2.66 gHz
300W Power Supply
2GB Geil 3200 DDR RAM
PNY GeForce 6600 AGP 256 MB RAM
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy
4 GB of Page File space
120 GB Hardrive
1 System Fan, 1 Video Card Fan
Latest Patches and Drivers all installed.
Optimized BIOS Options

The Problem:
Civ 4 freezes after 5-15 minutes of game play. Sound begins suddenly stutter for an infinite amount of time and I am completely locked out of all controls. I am then forced to reset machine using button.

Attempts: Have attempted all patches, older drivers, disabling certain devices. Browsed forums numerous times to find little or no identical problems.

Guess: Power supply... was reading power supply may be inadequate when CIV4 begins to suck up resources. Video Card requires 300W of power and I can only assume this occupies the majority of power. However, I question this as running "Elder Scrolls IV" on high graphical settings runs smoothly with no problems.

Again any help is very welcome, game rules, compatability seems to be a problem though. Cheers all!

 

[civ_god06]

Well I wouldn't call it a "high end" computer but it should run the game ok. Could you attach a copy of your dxdiag using the go advanced button please and we'll have a look for you

 

[crunch]

Not enough power or too much temperature perhaps...

Have you tried to dumb down civ options? (audio off, movies off, lower resolution, low details, etc.)

 

[Artosoft]

I am not sure, but looks like nVIDIA graphic card have more problem than ATI graphic card.

Regards,
Arto.

 

[auldian]

Additionally, enable logging in the civilizationiv.ini. Check these logs and your eventvwr.msc (from Start > Run... ) after you experience on of these freeze events.
Let us know what you find. You can attach dxdiag.txt and other logs to your posts here as well.
[edit: My Spelling Fu is weak.]

 

[Seanicus]

Hey thanks for the advice, what would be the best way to post the dxdiag.txt? That's a lot of text to simply copy/paste... I'm not very HTML/forum oriented. I have tried killing graphical options some... guess I'll try that again to a more extreme extent. I doesn't appear to be even saving the events to file in my event viewer. The crash is so sudden and completely crippling to my system Im not suprised it's not logging it. Will be ordering a new power supply shortly if this continues to not work.

 

[civ_god06]

To post dxdiag click on the go advanced button then there is a paperclip symbol to add it as an attachment

 

[Seanicus]

That should be the dxdiag.txt there.... I actually just had the same crash in Counter Strike Source earlier... Im beginning to believe more and more Im having a power issue.

 

[auldian]

VIA has updated chipset drivers (Hyperion IIRC) at www.viaarena.com.
Nvidia has newer driver software.
Also update to a newer version of DirectX 9.0c from the Civ4 CD or microsoft.
Follow any installation instructions carefully (I'm not familiar with recent nvidia software), specifically if they call for removing old drivers 1st.
Defragment after you do these.
Good luck and let us know how it goes. I hope you're gamin' carefree soon.

 

[Seanicus]

I have completely resolved my issue. Did not change any drivers as for some reason I've had WMP problems with newest Nvidia driver. To solve my problem I opened up my case and removed a secondary hard drive, as well as re-routed some of the power connectors, and then finally vaccumed out all the dust as I do every 6 months or so. Restarted the game and played 4 hours no problem on maxed settings. Victory. Thanks guys.