Re: Mass Effect 3 No Longer Stable

@CChrisA

Can you open the nvidia Control Panel and then in the Adjust image settings with preview click Restore Defaults from the top right of the screen.

Are you using any customisations whether that be drivers, firmware or third party FX injectors.

@EA_Barry

Thank you for your answer. Unfortunately this does not seem to work.

I have

1. installed and patched up to date a fresh copy of Win 7 Ultimate
2. The main drivers for my current hardware are nVidia 353.06, Echo 3G 8.6.0.0 (of 23-Nov-2011) and Intel 82579V driver 12.10.29.0
3. I have not installed any custom drivers (all manufacturer supplied), firmware is unaltered and I have no third party FX injectors. (I assume the last is an alteration to the video driver to alter the displayed graphics?)
4. I Restored Defaults as requested.
5. The only software installed is Google Chrome, Origin (to pull in ME3), a password safe and Mass Effect 3 itself.
6. I cloned the ME/ME2 directories from my old partition.

Regrettably when either using the save data from the cloud or creating a new character (based on an ME2 save) I still get crashes. They are now during the preamble before any play is possible. My impression is that the 'fleet video' segment is played from a pre-rendered file and plays successfully. However when the scene shifts to inside Vancouver HQ (and I think live rendering is now happening) very shortly I get a crash, within a minute or two. This normally occurs when the young boy is playing with his spaceship or after James escorts Shepherd into the corridor.

With thanks,

  Chris

@CChrisA

Can you check if right click and Repair Game via Origin has any effect on this please.

@EA_Barry

Thanks for your reply.

I have repaired ME3 on both my main gaming partition and the new Win7 partition I installed for testing.

Regrettably the problem (crashing very shortly after the game starts) remains, in both partitions,

Chris

@CChrisA

Can you try disabling any unused audio devices via device manager.

Nice audio hardware BTW, is it the Layla or Gina?

@EA_Barry

I have disabled unused audio devices on both relevant partitions. This has disabled NVIDIA High Definition Audio devices, and my motherboard's Realtek HDA device. My Echo3G (Gina BTW 😕mileyhappy🙂 is still enabled.

Unfortunately the crash still happens on both partitions.

However I have done some poking around in the event log.

One ME3 crash on the testing partition left an Event 1001 error in its log. I enclose the report.

Fault bucket 3445101512, type 5
Event Name: RADAR_PRE_LEAK_WOW64
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: MassEffect3.exe
P2: 1.5.5427.124
P3: 6.1.7601.2.1.0
P4: 
P5: 
P6: 
P7: 
P8: 
P9: 
P10: 

Attached files:
C:\Users\chris\AppData\Local\Temp\RDR251C.tmp\empty.txt

These files may be available here:


Analysis symbol: 
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: 1f637ed5-0a27-11e5-aaf7-902b345a1c52
Report Status: 0

I have also found events 2001 for NvStreamSvc and event 1000 for NVNetworkService and nvSCPAPISvr. I enclose more reports.

Faulting application name: NvNetworkService.exe, version: 2.3.7.63, time stamp: 0x55574610
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x74fe7270
Faulting process id: 0x658
Faulting application start time: 0x01d09caf2970600e
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NetService\NvNetworkService.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: 191e3fde-08b0-11e5-9ffb-902b345a1c52


Faulting application name: nvSCPAPISvr.exe, version: 7.17.13.5306, time stamp: 0x55669054
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x74fe7270
Faulting process id: 0x338
Faulting application start time: 0x01d09caf28c80942
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\3D Vision\nvSCPAPISvr.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: 1901af5b-08b0-11e5-9ffb-902b345a1c52

With thanks,

  Chris

@CChrisA

Okay, that is good info. Please run your video driver installer and choose Custom install then Clean install. Deselect the options for the 3D vision and GeForce Experience and finish the installation. Reboot and retry the game.

@EA_Barry

The good news is its a very slight improvement. The bad news is that its still unusable.

I get slightly further. The preamble video reaches the point where the auburn haired lady officer

meets Anderson & Shepherd to usher them into the defense committee room. The crash now seems to happen there.

I have the following errors, but these are not produced reliably.

The description for Event ID 2001 from source NvStreamSvc cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event: 

NvStreamSvc
Failed to open Audio Capture session [6]


The description for Event ID 2001 from source NvStreamSvc cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event: 

NvStreamSvc
NvVAD initialization failed [0]

Later attempts gave errors like:

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck.  The bugcheck was: 0x00000116 (0xfffffa800ce76010, 0xfffff88005034ad4, 0xffffffffc000009a, 0x0000000000000004). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 060415-22932-01.

with kind regards 😕mileyhappy:,

  Chris

@CChrisA

Is your video card overclocked or factory overclocked?

Regarding the NvStreamSvc error: Re-run the nvidia installer, Custom + Clean, deselect only the 3D Vision components and complete the install.

Then, via Windows Control Panel, Admin tools, Services, find the nvidia stream service, right click, properties, Stop. Set the startup type to disabled.

Cross fingers and retry ME3.

@EA_Barry

My video card is not overclocked in any way.

I took a slightly different approach to the video driver this time. I was somewhat concerned (especially after my last post's error messages) that the clean install was not removing all traces of the previous video driver. Therefore I have reformatted and reinstalled the partition I am using to bug chase this.

This partition now:

1. has a new clean install of Win7 Ultimate
2. has been patched up to date
3. I stopped the automatic installation of the video driver
4. I performed a manual install  of the NVidia driver 353.06
5. I only installed the graphics/sound/PhysX drivers in a custom install (meaning that the undesired components have never been installed on this system)
6. I installed a password safe, Origin for PC and downloaded a fresh install of ME3
7. when all was installed I ran ME3

Unfortunately it still doesn't work. On one trial run I got a bit further into the Defence Committee meeting and on a second ME3 collapsed when James comes into Shepherd's room. These are hard crashes where the machine is pole axed and caught by the watchdog timer into a reboot.

There is much less in the event logs.

Event 6008

The previous system shutdown at 21:46:23 on ‎05/‎06/‎2015 was unexpected.


Event 41

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.


Event 1001

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck.  The bugcheck was: 0x00000116 (0xfffffa800dae4010, 0xfffff88005057ad4, 0xffffffffc000009a, 0x0000000000000004). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 060515-21559-01.

I have now handed the mini dump to WinDbg and enclose some output.

Microsoft (R) Windows Debugger Version 6.3.9600.17298 X86
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


Loading Dump File [Z:\ME3 Dumps\20150606a G2\060615-20982-01.dmp]
Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available


************* Symbol Path validation summary **************
Response                         Time (ms)     Location
Deferred                                       SRV*C:\Symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Symbol search path is: SRV*C:\Symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Executable search path is: 
Windows 7 Kernel Version 7601 (Service Pack 1) MP (8 procs) Free x64
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS
Built by: 7601.18869.amd64fre.win7sp1_gdr.150525-0603
Machine Name:
Kernel base = 0xfffff800`02e00000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0xfffff800`03047730
Debug session time: Sat Jun  6 19:42:15.400 2015 (UTC + 1:00)
System Uptime: 0 days 0:05:45.290
Loading Kernel Symbols
.

Press ctrl-c (cdb, kd, ntsd) or ctrl-break (windbg) to abort symbol loads that take too long.
Run !sym noisy before .reload to track down problems loading symbols.

..............................................................
................................................................
.............
Loading User Symbols
Loading unloaded module list
....
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck 116, {fffffa800d1b0010, fffff8800510ead4, ffffffffc000009a, 4}

Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nvlddmkm.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys
Probably caused by : nvlddmkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+82fad4 )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

7: kd> kpn 200
 # Child-SP          RetAddr           Call Site
00 fffff880`04371a48 fffff880`03f5a134 nt!KeBugCheckEx
01 fffff880`04371a50 fffff880`03f2d867 dxgkrnl!TdrBugcheckOnTimeout+0xec
02 fffff880`04371a90 fffff880`03f59f43 dxgkrnl!DXGADAPTER::Reset+0x2a3
03 fffff880`04371b40 fffff880`03e3803d dxgkrnl!TdrResetFromTimeout+0x23
04 fffff880`04371bc0 fffff800`0310e456 dxgmms1!VidSchiWorkerThread+0x101
05 fffff880`04371c00 fffff800`02e662c6 nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x5a
06 fffff880`04371c40 00000000`00000000 nt!KxStartSystemThread+0x16
7: kd> !analyze -v
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (116)
Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed.
Arguments:
Arg1: fffffa800d1b0010, Optional pointer to internal TDR recovery context (TDR_RECOVERY_CONTEXT).
Arg2: fffff8800510ead4, The pointer into responsible device driver module (e.g. owner tag).
Arg3: ffffffffc000009a, Optional error code (NTSTATUS) of the last failed operation.
Arg4: 0000000000000004, Optional internal context dependent data.

Debugging Details:
------------------


FAULTING_IP: 
nvlddmkm+82fad4
fffff880`0510ead4 48ff25e5f1ebff  jmp     qword ptr [nvlddmkm+0x6eecc0 (fffff880`04fcdcc0)]

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_FAULT

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1

BUGCHECK_STR:  0x116

PROCESS_NAME:  System

CURRENT_IRQL:  0

ANALYSIS_VERSION: 6.3.9600.17336 (debuggers(dbg).150226-1500) x86fre

STACK_TEXT:  
fffff880`04371a48 fffff880`03f5a134 : 00000000`00000116 fffffa80`0d1b0010 fffff880`0510ead4 ffffffff`c000009a : nt!KeBugCheckEx
fffff880`04371a50 fffff880`03f2d867 : fffff880`0510ead4 fffffa80`0dde0000 00000000`00000000 ffffffff`c000009a : dxgkrnl!TdrBugcheckOnTimeout+0xec
fffff880`04371a90 fffff880`03f59f43 : 00000000`ffffd846 00000000`0000000f fffffa80`0d1b0010 00000000`0000000f : dxgkrnl!DXGADAPTER::Reset+0x2a3
fffff880`04371b40 fffff880`03e3803d : fffffa80`0e67a9b0 00000000`00000080 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`0ddbb010 : dxgkrnl!TdrResetFromTimeout+0x23
fffff880`04371bc0 fffff800`0310e456 : 00000000`045eb273 fffffa80`0f678060 fffffa80`0c76f040 fffffa80`0f678060 : dxgmms1!VidSchiWorkerThread+0x101
fffff880`04371c00 fffff800`02e662c6 : fffff800`02ff3e80 fffffa80`0f678060 fffff800`03001cc0 00000000`00000000 : nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x5a
fffff880`04371c40 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KxStartSystemThread+0x16


STACK_COMMAND:  .bugcheck ; kb

FOLLOWUP_IP: 
nvlddmkm+82fad4
fffff880`0510ead4 48ff25e5f1ebff  jmp     qword ptr [nvlddmkm+0x6eecc0 (fffff880`04fcdcc0)]

SYMBOL_NAME:  nvlddmkm+82fad4

FOLLOWUP_NAME:  MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: nvlddmkm

IMAGE_NAME:  nvlddmkm.sys

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP:  5566824f

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x116_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys

BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x116_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys

ANALYSIS_SOURCE:  KM

FAILURE_ID_HASH_STRING:  km:x64_0x116_image_nvlddmkm.sys

FAILURE_ID_HASH:  {1f9e0448-3238-5868-3678-c8e526bb1edc}

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

7: kd> lmvm nvlddmkm
start             end                 module name
fffff880`048df000 fffff880`053a2000   nvlddmkm T (no symbols)           
    Loaded symbol image file: nvlddmkm.sys
    Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nvlddmkm.sys
    Image name: nvlddmkm.sys
    Timestamp:        Thu May 28 03:49:51 2015 (5566824F)
    CheckSum:         00A7E4BD
    ImageSize:        00AC3000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

@CChrisA

Thank you for the detailed info. I think at this point we need to consider the possibility that this is a hardware issue. You should maybe look into initiating a warranty replacement of your video card. Not great news but at least we have made some progress here.

@CChrisA

Excellent! More experimentation with lowering your clocks may allow you to get to a place where you can have a fully stable play session. Thanks for posting your positive reults. +XP for you.