The game black screens and the PC resets - usually on Stations - Improved after reducing resolution.

[mintydog]

Hi All,

I've got a problem which is becoming more frequent.
Usually when I'm docked at, or walking on a station, the screen will turn black and the PC will reset.

I have ruled out GPU temperatures because I've had this occur seconds after loading up a save while standing on a station. And if I leave the game paused, it won't happen, so it only happens when unpaused.

On this particular save, the black screen and reset would happen between 10-30 seconds after logging in, and it would do it constantly. But I loaded up an earlier save and I could continue as normal.
After a few hours on the new save it occurred again. I'm wondering if perhaps one of my trade ships or mining ships is doing something that is causing the crash, since it would happen almost the exact duration every time after loading up the save file.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Or has encountered this before?

Thanks in advance.

[Alan Phipps]

The game code itself cannot cause a PC to reset (at least not unless there is significant code corruption and that can usually be checked/resolved by a game installation verify or clean game reinstall). An issue causing a system reset has to be at a deeper level such as with driver, OS or hardware issues.

The fact that the screen blacks out first suggests the graphics driver and its Vulkan content would be the place to investigate/update first. This is assuming that your system meets the minimum specifications for playing X4, especially in having 3 GB or more dedicated VRAM on your graphics card.

The only way we can help you further is if you supply the information requested in the very first Sticky thread on this forum.

[Imperial Good]

Without dxdiag information it is hard to make a more accurate suggestion other than something is wrong with your PC hardware.

Be aware that GPU and CPU temperatures are only half the picture. There is also VRM temperatures which are usually unmonitored so you cannot know if they are overheating or not. These might even be passively cooled and so rely fully on case airflow.

If any part of your system is overclocked, return it to stock as this can easily be the result of an unstable overclock. Try running some extreme load tests like Prime95 for CPU and furmark for GPU and both (with furmark set to higher CPU priority using task manager) for a combined load test. If any combination of these causes the system to black screen and/or reboot then that might be a good indicator as to what hardware is not working reliably. Correctly running systems do not have any problems with these tests, even after running them for extended periods.

You could try placing artificial performance limits to work around such a problem. For example limiting frame rate on the GPU while also reducing visual quality so the GPU works significantly less hard. Or using power management to prevent CPU boosting so it uses significantly less power. If you have some idea about overclocking you can try the inverse procedure by lowering GPU and CPU power limits until the system is stable rather than trying to limit from a workload or capability perspective, this should produce better results.

[mintydog]

Thank you for your replies, apologies I didn't post the information you required.

Game Version: 4.20 English
Mods: None.
Game Start: Young Gun

Sorry I can't see how I can attach the requested documents to this reply, so I've pasted below some information from the documents.
I think I did manage to avoid a crash for a while when reducing the graphics from high to medium, but it still happened a bit later on.

Thanks again for the help.

------------------
GPU Information
------------------
Vulkan Instance Version: 1.3.203
GPU is Radeon RX Vega 64 with 8GB VRAM
I've tried 3 versions of drivers, currently I'm on the latest Radeon Software 22.2.3

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 2/27/2022, 10:59:25
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit (10.0, Build 19043) (19041.vb_release.191206-1406)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
System Model: MS-7A34
BIOS: 1.M0 (type: UEFI)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 Eight-Core Processor (16 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16334MB RAM
Page File: 20690MB used, 7931MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
Miracast: Available, with HDCP
Microsoft Graphics Hybrid: Not Supported
DirectX Database Version: 1.0.8
DxDiag Version: 10.00.19041.0928 64bit Unicode

[Imperial Good]

I suggest reading and following this.

Back when X4 released I recall a number of people with Zen1/Zen1+ processors having symptoms similar (but not the same) to yours. In the case of some of them it was due to an unstable CPU overclock being applied automatically by the motherboard and motherboard support software. Removing the overclock fixed the issue for these people.

[mintydog]

Thanks, I'll see what I can find out about that.
Although it's only started happening recently. I'm over 120 hours into the game, and it's started happening in the last 15 hours or so, and I've had the same CPU since the very start.

I haven't updated the motherboard software, but I do often update the GPU drivers, so I'm wondering if it's the GPU drivers which are dodgy.

[BitByte]

What resolution you're using in the game?

I've Ryzen 2700 + Vega 56 Mobile combination and game worked fine with 2560*1440 resolution but when I bought new monitor and tried play game 3440*1440 it worked fine couple weeks but then started crash to black screen.

Becuase of that I needed lower resolution to 1920*1200 as LG monitor does not offer 2560*1440 which would have been much more optimal.

[Alan Phipps]

You might also try updating your Win10 OS from 21H1 (19043) to the latest version of 21H2 (19044) in case that helps out.

[mintydog]

What resolution you're using in the game?

I've Ryzen 2700 + Vega 56 Mobile combination and game worked fine with 2560*1440 resolution but when I bought new monitor and tried play game 3440*1440 it worked fine couple weeks but then started crash to black screen.

Becuase of that I needed lower resolution to 1920*1200 as LG monitor does not offer 2560*1440 which would have been much more optimal.

I'm running 2560*1440. I may try 1080p for a while and see what happens.

I did once try using VSR with a resolution higher than 4k, and that black screened after a few minutes.
So it is more stable with a lower resolution, but it still black screens.
I may lower the settings even further and see how it goes. It could just be the GPU is defective. I've not played any other 3D games recently so I don't know if it does it for other games.

You might also try updating your Win10 OS from 21H1 (19043) to the latest version of 21H2 (19044) in case that helps out.

Good idea, thanks, I'll give that a try.

[Imperial Good]

I'm running 2560*1440. I may try 1080p for a while and see what happens.

I did once try using VSR with a resolution higher than 4k, and that black screened after a few minutes.

When 5.00 releases you can try using FSR. This renders the game at a lower resolution and upscales it with reasonable looking results. Assuming the problem is with the workload on the GPU and not the resolution itself.

[mintydog]

I'm running 2560*1440. I may try 1080p for a while and see what happens.

I did once try using VSR with a resolution higher than 4k, and that black screened after a few minutes.

When 5.00 releases you can try using FSR. This renders the game at a lower resolution and upscales it with reasonable looking results. Assuming the problem is with the workload on the GPU and not the resolution itself.

Thanks for your suggestion.

I have been running it at 1920*1080 for a few days now and it hasn't black screened yet, so I think that's the problem, the GPU/drivers are causing the problem.

The strange thing is that I can run the GPU at 100% for ages using BOINC and it is absolutely fine, so I guess the drivers.
Yes I'll try FSR when 5.00 comes out and see what happens.

Thanks everyone for your help.

[mintydog]

I spoke too soon, it black screened while trying to dock at a station.
I'm going to get onto AMD and see what they suggest.

[BitByte]

Try find older 20.11.3 drivers. Atleast those are the ones I use.
With newer versions I have had problems with Radeon software crashes (multiple Radeon icons in systray) and alt+tab black screens when try come out from X4 (or if any program pops on Windows side that changes focus away from X4).

[Skeeter]

Have you tried DDU to clean the comp of ur gfx drivers btw?

What psu do you have as you said something about a reboot when gaming, that can be a cause if the psu is too weak and vega cards can be power hungry.

[Imperial Good]

Black screen and reset is likely some error condition for AMD CPUs. I have started having one happen randomly (not related to playing X4) on my 3900X system after installing some new hardware.

Consistently when playing would point towards thermal or power being the cause as that is when the system is most strained. Lowering resolution reducing how frequently it happens might mean it is due to power, such as the PSU failing to provide sufficient power regulation causing the system to become unstable.

[mintydog]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
I found on the AMD forum that someone was suffering black screening due to a feature called Image Sharpening
You can find this option on the Radon Software. I disabled mine and I haven't had a black screen crash since, although I'd like to play a few more hours before I say it has solved the problem, but it's been ok for the last couple of days.

[user1679]

I know this thread is a bit old but I just started experiencing this with the 5.10 HF2 update.

OS: Win 7 x64
GPU: GeForce 1050 Ti

Dedicated VRAM: 4096 MB
Total Available Graphics Memory: 16089 MB
System Video Memory: 0 MB
Total System Memory: 24000 MB
Shared System Memory: 11933 MB


Background:

I played x4 at the 3.x version for a while, updated when the 4.00 patch came out and played for a while more. Never had any graphical issues and overall have put a few months of
daily playtime in. I then updated through all the 4.x patches and up to the 5.10 patch before I got time to sit down and play again. Unfortunately I also updated my nVidia drivers.

What happens:

When I spawn on the station everything is fine. After a minute or two, I'll notice there are some graphical glitches in the preview window of the "change ship logo" screen. Everthing
looks pixelated and several pink boxes appear as if there were missing textures.

If I close out of the map, everything seems fine. But within a minute or two of that first glitch, the entire screen will go black except for the outline of objects I can interact with.
For example, a white outline will appear where the cockpit is despite the screen being black.

If I press ESC and quit the game everything is fine (no system crash). If I don't quit and instead wait a few minutes more, the audio will get stuck, repeating whatever was the last sound to be
playing. And then a minute or two later my entire system will crash (blue screen).

Interestingly, the code for the bluescreen (116) indicates a crash in the graphics driver.


What I've tried:

Reinstall the game - no effect
Reinstall different GPU drivers - still in progress*



* I have 15 versions of the nVidia driver installers archived from version 425.31 up to 473.62. I know that nVidia stopped providing bug fixes for Win 7 in 2021-10-01
with 472.12 being the last driver to include fixes. Future releases for Win 7 will only include security fixes, no bugfixes or feature improvements, up until 2024.

Confirmed that the crash happens on versions 473.62 and 473.04. In the process of checking the 472.12 driver now.

[Imperial Good]

I suggest making a new topic about this and provide the required information.

Interestingly, the code for the bluescreen (116) indicates a crash in the graphics driver.

Your symptoms are general GPU instability symptoms. This can either be due to an unstable overclock, unreliable power delivery or faulty GPU.

First I would recommend trying to reseat (take out and put back) your GPU in case there is a loose connection in power delivery or the PCIe slot. If your GPU is overclocked, even factory overclocked, check for firmware updates from the manufacturer, and if none are available try reverting the factory overclock to Nvidia stock configuration. You can try lowering the power budget/maximum frequency of your GPU below stock (underclocking) to try and improve stability further, this can help against ageing/poor binning related instabilities.

[user1679]

I suggest making a new topic about this and provide the required information.

Interestingly, the code for the bluescreen (116) indicates a crash in the graphics driver.

Your symptoms are general GPU instability symptoms. This can either be due to an unstable overclock, unreliable power delivery or faulty GPU.

First I would recommend trying to reseat (take out and put back) your GPU in case there is a loose connection in power delivery or the PCIe slot. If your GPU is overclocked, even factory overclocked, check for firmware updates from the manufacturer, and if none are available try reverting the factory overclock to Nvidia stock configuration. You can try lowering the power budget/maximum frequency of your GPU below stock (underclocking) to try and improve stability further, this can help against ageing/poor binning related instabilities.

Thanks, It isn't overclocked (neither core nor memory).

I will try the reseat. I did have my case open recently to remove a dead hard drive so it's possible it's a bit loose, though according to MSI Afterburner, the voltage is consistent.
On a side note, I seem to be having good results with the 472.12 drivers.

[SharpEars]

Just to add my experience into this, but 472.84 is the highest number driver that works reliably with Destiny 2, not due to crashes, but due to huge frame-rate drops when using 1080Ti boards (both in SLI and not in SLI).

So, the highest performance stable drivers I have tried, also trying them all, are 472.84. Just another data point to add into the mix. If you guys find blue screening with this version, let me know.