Bug report (PC): crash in rift battle in Hinterlands northwest
I am exploring the Hinterlands, making my way to see the horse master in the northwest of the region. There is a fade rift south of his location, just west of the possessed wolves' lair, at the base of a waterfall, just north of the Burning Man's Something-or-other. It's one of two fade rifts that has to be closed to help the farmstead by the horse master.
Every time I fight this rift battle, usually during the second wave of demons, the game will crash so hard that I have to power down or hard reset my computer. I haven't been able to tie it to a specific event in the battle. I have been able to complete other rift sequences in the game, including the rift north of the farm (an easier, shorter battle). Unfortunately, since the game crashes my system so completely, I'm unable to tell if there is an overheating or resource problem, but I doubt it - it's a new computer that has been through much more complicated scenes in DA:I without any trouble.
Crash Experience: Begin battle, complete first wave. Second wave appears, kill off one or two of those demons and suddenly my video turns off causing my monitor to go to sleep. Sound stops - I do not hear any ongoing sounds of the battle in progress, so I believe the game has halted. The video thing is the killer - I can't see what I'm doing, so everything else is guesswork. I try ctrl-alt-del, but it doesn't appear to do anything. I'm not used to Windows 8.1, so I don't know the keystrokes to trigger a reboot blind. I don't know if the OS is still running, or if the system is completely locked. I suspect it's locked. I have to power down or reset the machine in order to get video back.
This crash is consistent. I have attempted the battle 5 or 6 times, even approaching the area from different directions, and I have crashed every time. I never get far enough to attempt closing the rift, so that sequence has nothing to do with this crash. It always dies mid-battle. I was able to reach the horse master by running past this area, not engaging with the first wave demons, but since this rift has appeared as a quest marker for the farmers, I'm concerned I may end up blocked due to this bug.
One thing I haven't tried yet: I have not been back to that rift since it was added as a quest item for the farm (I found the rift before I found the farm). So I will try that next.
My system:
Windows 8.1
16 GB RAM
GeForce GTX 970
All drivers and the game are up to date. I would give you a version number for the game if I knew where to find it. I can also provide a save game just before the battle if that would help.
