mid-game freezes and Load-related CTDs

[CaptainPatch]

Forgive me if any of this has been covered anywhere else. I didn't see any threads that seemed to directly address these issues.

A) [not covered in thread title] After I installed Civ5, whenever I booted up or rebooted my PC, I started to get two Error messages: 1) "Couldn't locate dsat3d.dll" and 2) "Couldn't locate ujanuhece.dll." I did some Searches online, but I couldn't find any hits that addressed either of those DLL files. I'm thinking (because of the timing) those files are connected to either Civ5 and/or the Steam components for Civ5.

B) All along, I've had occasional freezes. Those seem related to overloading the AI with multiple tasks. Like while it was processing the End Turn calculations, some graphic call was the straw that broke the camel's back. But when I hit Turn 200, I started to get a freeze EVERY turn. I thought maybe my video settings might be too high, so I set _everything_ to "low". That had NO effect; the EVERY turn freezes continued. So I gave up on that game and start a new one.

C) When I started the new game I planned to QuickSave and then look around in one direction, QuickLoad, and then look in another direction, etc. [What can I say? I was trying to optimize while learning the revamped system.] HOWEVER, I quickly discovered that attempting to QuickLoad while currently inside a game guaranteed a CTD. So I skipped the QuickSave/QuickLoad and did the Loads via the Menu. The CTDs continued EVERY time.

Anybody experience anything similar? Any clue as to what is happening? Any suggestions?

Sytem specs:

Windows XP, SP3
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200 @2.33 GHz (4 CPUs)
3 Gb RAM (4, actually, but the NVidia card only reads 3 of it)
DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
NVidia GeForce 9500 GT (two cards linked together)
1 Gb video RAM

 

[tokala]

Windows XP, SP3
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200 @2.33 GHz (4 CPUs)
3 Gb RAM (4, actually, but the NVidia card only reads 3 of it)
DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
NVidia GeForce 9500 GT (two cards linked together)
1 Gb video RAM

Try throwing out on of the 9500GTs
It' rather ridiculous to SLI such weak cards anyway, might do more harm than good.

 

[CaptainPatch]

Try throwing out on of the 9500GTs
It' rather ridiculous to SLI such weak cards anyway, might do more harm than good.

But the 9500s are _still_ above the Minimum requirements, are they not? That would mean that they **shouldn't** be the cause of my crashes.

 

[CaptainPatch]

1) I updated the NVidia driver. (Just generally a Good Thing to do.) 2) Switched to Window mode (down from Full-screen). 3) Set the screen resolution to 1024 x 768 (a less-demanding resolution). No change in the problems.

 

[tokala]

1) I updated the NVidia driver. (Just generally a Good Thing to do.) 2) Switched to Window mode (down from Full-screen). 3) Set the screen resolution to 1024 x 768 (a less-demanding resolution). No change in the problems.

The official 2K stance on SLI: Not supported, can cause all kinds of problems with Civ5.

This is true for SLI in general. Unless you love to tinker around with your hardware, or really need more power than the fasted single chip card can provide, it makes neither technical nor financial sense.

Sigh. The nVidia marketing guy who resurrected SLI ought to be shot.


And people have enough problems with the 8800 derived cards without SLI, so no, just because it's above minimum it's not guaranteed to work.

 

[CaptainPatch]

FOLLOWUP: I started a new game and pointedly did not use QuickSave or QuickLoad. _NO_ CTDs when reloading a Saved game while in-game. My first CTD didn't happen until Turn 43 (after many, many Loads from Menu). Now I'm back to the erratic, once-in-awhile CTDs that seem to crop up for no apparent reason.

Still a VAST improvement over getting CTDs every time I tried something. Now I just need to plow on to Turn 200+ to see if the freezes start up again.

 

[snoochems]

C) When I started the new game I planned to QuickSave and then look around in one direction, QuickLoad, and then look in another direction, etc. [What can I say? I was trying to optimize while learning the revamped system.] HOWEVER, I quickly discovered that attempting to QuickLoad while currently inside a game guaranteed a CTD. So I skipped the QuickSave/QuickLoad and did the Loads via the Menu. The CTDs continued EVERY time.

I get this one. Nothing worse than a save game that just CTD.

 

[CaptainPatch]

Apparently I spoke too soon. Started another game and the CTDs started again about Turn 30.

Now I don't even bother to Load a game once I've been playing. I just Exit to Windows and restart the game from my desktop. It takes almost two minutes to get back into the game again, but that's faster than also fitting in a CTD into the restart process.

 

[CaptainPatch]

UPDATE: 1) I discovered that CTDs right at the start (just before Turn 0 would start) are most likely related to the fact that I have Windows XP as my OS. At Steam, there are _two_ "Play Civ 5" options, the second one ending with "(9.0c)". This apparently indicates that if you have XP -- which means you are using DirectX 9.0c -- you MUST use the second "Play Civ 5" (or risk early crashes.

2) Even with a NVidia GeForce GTX 460 -1024, and a quad-core CPU with 4 Gb of RAM, I can NOT put my graphic settings above "Low" without having an immediate CTD. [Talk about demanding!]

3) Even with patch 1.0.20, the latest NVidia drivers, et al, trying to Load an earlier Save after Turn 40 or so, in you have already been playing (that is, "taking a step back to an earlier fork in the road") WILL cause a CTD. Anyone have news on an upcoming patch that will remedy this?