Crysis Trouble

[TBSN]

I took advantage of Steams sale on crysis. What a mistake. The game runs fine except when the "Shaders" setting is turned to High. Then the game crashes almost immediately, taking windows down with it. I'm running:

Windows 7 x64
ATI 4870
up-to-date directx and drivers

What I tried:
uninstalling x-fi, didn't work

This is the 32 bit version of the game. Steam doesn't include the 64bit version for some reason. The card runs all other games well, including the DX10 ones I have tried. Crysis runs great with all the settings high, EXCEPT for shaders. The shaders make a big difference in image quality and please don't tell me to turn them down to fix it, I know it'll work then!

I'm just trying to make it work with high shaders.

Thanks!

 

[zagood]

monitor your gpu temps in the background. fan speed too if you can to see if it's ramping up or not.

Have you tried playing in DX9? Won't solve your problem (wanting to play with best IQ) but worth a shot.

 

[TBSN]

I have monitored the temps and they haven't risen too much. Also it happens pretty suddenly after changing that one setting. I haven't tried dx9, but dx10 works fine until the shaders are turned up.

 

[tviceman]

Steam DOES include the 64-bit exe; they just do not give you the option to run it through the steam window. You have to look in the bin directory of your crysis folder.

Also, if running in 64-bit doesn't immediately solve your problems, try running it in directx 9 mode by creating a shortcut to the game on your desktop and typing " -dx9" after the the filename in the command line. And, finally, head here to get some great info on tweaking the game to run great and look better http://www.tweakguides.com/Crysis_13.html.

 

[TBSN]

Are you sure you're not thinking of warhead? The crysis folder doesn't have bin64 just bin32....

 

[tviceman]

Are you sure you're not thinking of warhead? The crysis folder doesn't have bin64 just bin32....

Now that I am thinking about it, I could be wrong. But I don't think the 32-bit executable is your problem. Try running it in DX9 mode; I bet more than likely that will correct the problem.

 

[TBSN]

Well that would kinda defeat the purpose, lol. I can run with all the settings up except shaders on medium, so I'll just do that I guess. It is ridiculous that the steam version doesn't have the bin64 folder.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

They both have bin32 and bin64.

 

[vj8usa]

Well that would kinda defeat the purpose, lol. I can run with all the settings up except shaders on medium, so I'll just do that I guess. It is ridiculous that the steam version doesn't have the bin64 folder.

How would that defeat the purpose? DX9 mode can use the in game "high" setting for shader quality. If you meant to say "very high", DX9 can still achieve image quality almost identical to DX10 "very high" with a simple .ini tweak.

 

[TBSN]

They both have bin32 and bin64.

I have the steam version though, which doesn't have a bin64 folder

How would that defeat the purpose? DX9 mode can use the in game "high" setting for shader quality. If you meant to say "very high", DX9 can still achieve image quality almost identical to DX10 "very high" with a simple .ini tweak.

I mean that dx10 mode runs fine as long as that one setting (shaders) is not set to high. So I would assume dx10 would look better than 9, (although I hear they are almost identical)

edit: Or is high in dx10 mode the same as high in dx9?

 

[tviceman]

I have the steam version though, which doesn't have a bin64 folder



I mean that dx10 mode runs fine as long as that one setting (shaders) is not set to high. So I would assume dx10 would look better than 9, (although I hear they are almost identical)

edit: Or is high in dx10 mode the same as high in dx9?

No, actually it does not. Go to the link I provided you in my first post in this thread and read over the various bits of it.

 

[vj8usa]

I mean that dx10 mode runs fine as long as that one setting (shaders) is not set to high. So I would assume dx10 would look better than 9, (although I hear they are almost identical)

edit: Or is high in dx10 mode the same as high in dx9?

"High" is identical in both DX9 and DX10. "Very high" isn't available in the DX9 settings menu, but can be used by changing .ini/.cfg files. DX9 "very high" is virtually identical to DX10 "very high", but I believe there are some very small differences (or maybe I'm just thinking of Warhead).

edit: come to think of it, you never actually mentioned "very high". What happens when you run the game with shaders set to "very high"?

 

[TBSN]

Alright, I thought they were different.

I believe it still crashes at very high. I am going to try the "very high in dx9" fix/edit/hack from the tweakguides. Thanks for all the help. What a PITA this game has been so far.

 

[TBSN]

So I ran the game in dx9, still crashes when shaders are set to high. This is ridiculous! The shaders are the single most important setting, more or less. Maybe I have to wait until there's a new ATI driver? The game has been out for a while, I thought by waiting the bugs would be ironed out...

Any last suggestions?

 

[Qbah]

I ran both Crysis and Warhead on my (now sold) HD4870 512MB without a single issue (except for the low performance). That was at 1920x1080, 1920x1200 and 1680x1050. Windowed and fullscreen. And very different settings - from Medium to Very High. Including shaders. Which model do you have?

There must be something wrong in your system... Are you overclocking? And no, just because every other game works fine with an OC, doesn't mean it's stable. I have seen numerous times that an OCed system works fine under Prime95 full load and crashes in idle for example. Every application loads components in a different way - you can't claim system stability because "other games work fine".

Did you try to downclock the Radeon too? Just a bit, like 50MHz off the core and something similar off the memory? What are the VRM temps (check in GPU-Z)? The core can take a lot of punishment, so that one's really not the problem usually. Are you running stock cooling? Or some third party?

 

[evolucion8]

I played that game like 3 months ago with everything on max at my resolution in DX10 mode and never gave me issues, actually the Shader Core temperature never exceeded 80C, Cryostasis can push it up to 86C and doesn't look that good. Try to remove any overclocking, update chipset drivers and install the latest game patch.

 

[tviceman]

I played that game like 3 months ago with everything on max at my resolution in DX10 mode and never gave me issues, actually the Shader Core temperature never exceeded 80C, Cryostasis can push it up to 86C and doesn't look that good. Try to remove any overclocking, update chipset drivers and install the latest game patch.

This and the overclocking issue. A few years ago, when I owned a geforce 6600GT, the game would crash/lock up every 10-15 minutes in half-life 2, but not in Doom 3 or other games I played. I came to find out my GPU was faulty and overheating, but not every game caused it to overheat.

 

[tviceman]

Cryostasis can push it up to 86C and doesn't look that good.

I thought the water and ice particles in Cryostasis were amazing looking.

 

[TBSN]

I ran both Crysis and Warhead on my (now sold) HD4870 512MB without a single issue (except for the low performance). That was at 1920x1080, 1920x1200 and 1680x1050. Windowed and fullscreen. And very different settings - from Medium to Very High. Including shaders. Which model do you have?

There must be something wrong in your system... Are you overclocking? And no, just because every other game works fine with an OC, doesn't mean it's stable. I have seen numerous times that an OCed system works fine under Prime95 full load and crashes in idle for example. Every application loads components in a different way - you can't claim system stability because "other games work fine".

Did you try to downclock the Radeon too? Just a bit, like 50MHz off the core and something similar off the memory? What are the VRM temps (check in GPU-Z)? The core can take a lot of punishment, so that one's really not the problem usually. Are you running stock cooling? Or some third party?

Thanks for the reply. It is not overclocked, but that doesn't mean it isn't overheating. I wouldn't be surprised if it were seeing how the screen turns off before the sound and keyboard, etc stop responding.

So it's a stock XFX 4870 1gb. It has XFX's cooler on it (single slot). I would be willing to try underclocking it. Should I use rivatuner? Can I use ATI's built in overclocker (overdrive I think).

The disappointing thing is that this card runs the game REALLY well! Even with the shaders up it is great, until it crashes of course.

 

[happy medium]

Thanks for the reply. It is not overclocked, but that doesn't mean it isn't overheating. I wouldn't be surprised if it were seeing how the screen turns off before the sound and keyboard, etc stop responding.

So it's a stock XFX 4870 1gb. It has XFX's cooler on it (single slot). I would be willing to try underclocking it. Should I use rivatuner? Can I use ATI's built in overclocker (overdrive I think).

The disappointing thing is that this card runs the game REALLY well! Even with the shaders up it is great, until it crashes of course.

If thats the xfx on Newegg for 155$, I remember reading reviews that people were having heat problems with that card.

Edit: Just read through a few reviews and even though they are rated 4and 5 stars ,all the cons were heat related.

 

[Qbah]

Thanks for the reply. It is not overclocked, but that doesn't mean it isn't overheating. I wouldn't be surprised if it were seeing how the screen turns off before the sound and keyboard, etc stop responding.

So it's a stock XFX 4870 1gb. It has XFX's cooler on it (single slot). I would be willing to try underclocking it. Should I use rivatuner? Can I use ATI's built in overclocker (overdrive I think).

The disappointing thing is that this card runs the game REALLY well! Even with the shaders up it is great, until it crashes of course.

Do you have 2 displays? The easiest would be to run GPU-Z, switch it to Sensors tab, put it on the other screen, run Crysis and check. Another way: run Crysis windowed with GPU-Z too. It will run worse, but should stress your card as much as usually. Be sure to check VRM temperatures, as that's what usually overheats with 3rd party cooling (as in non-stock). If you're 90-ish Celsius or lower on VRM and core, it's not the card.

As for downclocking, you can use Overdrive to lower clocks. It's built into CCC. Easiest way imo.

Though a single slot cooler on a HD4870 sounds like asking for trouble ... :/

 

[TBSN]

WOW!!!!

I underclocked it about 50Mhz and its been running fine for hours!

I was running GPU-Z and the COre temp got up to 90degrees at some point! Is that okay?

Thanks for the tip, that solved everything. Great game by the way.

edit: what is the vrm temp? the ones listed in GPU-Z are GPU Temperature, GPU Temp.(DISPIO), GPU Temp.(MEMIO) and GPU Temp.(SHADERCORE)

 

[tviceman]

WOW!!!!

I underclocked it about 50Mhz and its been running fine for hours!

I was running GPU-Z and the COre temp got up to 90degrees at some point! Is that okay?

Thanks for the tip, that solved everything. Great game by the way.

edit: what is the vrm temp? the ones listed in GPU-Z are GPU Temperature, GPU Temp.(DISPIO), GPU Temp.(MEMIO) and GPU Temp.(SHADERCORE)

If you're having to underclock your card to get it to function properly, then it is defective.

 

[Qbah]

WOW!!!!

I underclocked it about 50Mhz and its been running fine for hours!

I was running GPU-Z and the COre temp got up to 90degrees at some point! Is that okay?

Thanks for the tip, that solved everything. Great game by the way.

edit: what is the vrm temp? the ones listed in GPU-Z are GPU Temperature, GPU Temp.(DISPIO), GPU Temp.(MEMIO) and GPU Temp.(SHADERCORE)

You should be seeing something like this (not my screen, just a random one from googling):

The 3 VDDC things are the VRM temperatures. Are you running the newest GPU-Z ?

And 90C on the core is perfectly fine.

And yeah, if it's overheating, then I'd return the card - contact XFX warranty support, they should help you out.

 

[TBSN]

I'm running 0.3.6 which I think is the latest. It doesn't have the VRM temps. If I contact XFX while the card is still working and not fried, how can they help me out? Send me another that might not get as hot?