Re: Sims 4 crashes GPU driver/makes PC restart

@holger1405 

First of all: Thanks for your reply!

Sorry, I'm not comfortable posting that much information about e.g. my HDDs. What infos in the DxDiag file do you need exactly?

Reliability monitor: There's no entry for the game (for none of the GPU driver crashes), there are "only" multiple "gpu error" ones and an additional single "windows stopped working" one for today.

@Nathipha 

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@Nathipha wrote:

Sorry, I'm not comfortable posting that much information about e.g. my HDDs. What infos in the DxDiag file do you need exactly?

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Then I am sorry as well, but I won't to be able to helps you with this.

There is nothing in a DxDiag that I, or anyone else for that matter, could use to harm you or your computer in any way.

@holger1405 

Thanks for restoring the post!

You can find a slightly edited version here.

I'm aware that the gpu driver is 1.5 years old but it took multiple months to find one that let me access the nVidia control panel, so I'd rather not mess with it.

@Nathipha 

If you feel more comfortable discussing this in German, we could move this thread to the German section.   

After a (very) short look at the DxDiag I see some problems.

The first is of course the very old driver.

That the NVIDIA control panel is not working with other drivers is a indicator of severe problems by itself. 

Then the DxDiag only recognises 3GB VRam at your 1070, a card with 8GB VRam.

(You should set your Predator to 60Hz as long as we troubleshot)

How many space do you have free on the C: drive?

Last but not least, a Windows 7 DxDiag doesn't contain WER error reports, that's what the paragraph in my previous post was for.

I need all driver, Origin or game related error reports from the Reliability monitor.

If you feel more comfortable you could PM me this reports, but I simply need them. 

@holger1405 

I don't mind writing in English - your choice. 😉

I tested multiple driver versions and the control panel's always been buggy, I'm not the only one with this problem but nobody knows how to fix it. It's working with the current version and I've never had any problems with the game until I installed the new packs (or maybe it's a patch that's causing it? No idea).

Uhoh, that's not good and pretty weird too. I checked MSI Afterburner when I got the gpu and I'm pretty sure I would have done something if it'd been like that. But you're right, I checked again and it only says "3072".

Sometimes more, sometimes less, currently it's about 20gb. Origin and Sims 4 are installed on G:/ though, only the mods and savegames are stored on C:/.

There are no error reports from Origin or Sims 4 in the reliability monitor, it's only the "gpu error" and "windows stopped working" ones. They are an indication when the problem happened but that's it.

@Nathipha 

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Nathipha wrote:

I don't mind writing in English - your choice. 😉

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Then lets stay here.

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Nathipha wrote:

Uhoh, that's not good and pretty weird too. I checked MSI Afterburner when I got the gpu and I'm pretty sure I would have done something if it'd been like that. But you're right, I checked again and it only says "3072".

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Could you test the GPU in another PC? Is there still warranty on that card?

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Nathipha wrote:

There are no error reports from Origin or Sims 4 in the reliability monitor, it's only the "gpu error" and "windows stopped working" ones. They are an indication when the problem happened but that's it.

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Then I would need the details about this errors.

@holger1405 

Sigh of relief: Just checked in CPU-Z and it's showing the 8192mb there. Rightclick on desktop -> adjust screen resolution -> advanced also says 8gb.

There's a setting in Afterburner that sets the maximum shown vram and I changed that to 8gb. I'm still going to try one of the more hardware intensive games tomorrow with OSD on, just to be sure, but I'm pretty sure that's just a bug in dxdiag.

I added the error messages to the beginning of the dxdiag pastepin.

@Nathipha 

The first error is a TDR (Timeout Detection and Recovery) error.

In simple terms, the graphic driver is not reacting in a from Windows predetermined time frame. (2 seconds) As a result Windows stops and then tries to recover the driver.

The task that was executed by the driver at this point, in your case TS4, crashes.

The second error is a Stop-Code error that is related to the first error. You got at least one BSOD because Windows was not able to recover the driver and therefore stopped the system to prevent further damage. 

This problem can have several reasons.

• The old driver you run.
• Failing system cooling.
• Overclocked hardware components. (Everything, from the GPU over the CPU to motherboard and RAM, even your 240Hz monitor could be the problem.)
  (Did you set the Monitor to 60hz?)
• A failing PSU or failing components on the Motherboard and the GPU that are power related.
• RAM configuration and timings.
• Wrong BIOS settings.
• A real hardware error.

To get further info about the real reason for this crash I would need the Memory dump (MEMORY.DMP) from under "C:\Windows"

@holger1405 

"In simple terms, the graphic driver is not reacting" - I know, that's why the screen goes black for a second or two.

"You got at least one BSOD" - The screen just turned black, then the PC restarted, so I can't be sure if it actually displayed a bluescreen.

"The old driver you run." - Like I said, everything was fine until I installed the new EPs and only Sims 4 is affected. I'll try to install a newer driver but if it messes with the control panel again, I'm going to reinstall the old one.

"Overclocked hardware components. (Everything, from the GPU over the CPU to motherboard and RAM, even your 240Hz monitor could be the problem.)" - Nothing is overclocked, even the 240Hz of my monitor are a standard setting. I got the new monitor last year, so not sure if I ever played the old Sims 4 version with it but my old monitor clocked up to 144Hz. You'd think that if 144Hz is fine, 240Hz would be too. But no, I haven't tested it with 60Hz yet.

"Failing system cooling.

A failing PSU or failing components on the Motherboard and the GPU that are power related.

RAM configuration and timings.

Wrong BIOS settings.

A real hardware error." -

Wouldn't other games be affected then too? Everything else I'm regularly playing is more demanding on my hardware/power consumption. According to MSI Afterburner the temperature and hardware usage seem to stay pretty constant:

- GPU: 30-35%, 60°C, < 1000mb

- CPU: 25-35%, < 60°C

- RAM: ~ 11gb

Other games that are installed on the same HDD max out the RAM almost completely and the CPU usage is then often at 50% or more (can't remember GPU stats).

"To get further info about the real reason for this crash I would need the Memory dump (MEMORY.DMP) from under "C:\Windows" - The file is 1.3gb. I already tried to open it when I saw the error in the reliability monitor but no text editor would open it, not even Visual Studio, which seems to be the default app for some reason.

@Nathipha 

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Nathipha wrote:

"You got at least one BSOD" - The screen just turned black, then the PC restarted, so I can't be sure if it actually displayed a bluescreen.

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You did, trust me. 😉

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Nathipha wrote:

"The old driver you run." - Like I said, everything was fine until I installed the new EPs and only Sims 4 is affected. I'll try to install a newer driver but if it messes with the control panel again, I'm going to reinstall the old one.

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That you have problems with the control panel under different driver points already to some problems on your system.
And because other games run fine it is very well possible that there is a incompatibility between the Sims and this driver.

Windows 7 loses all support in January 2020. Did you consider to upgrade to Windows 10?

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Nathipha wrote:

"Overclocked hardware components. (Everything, from the GPU over the CPU to motherboard and RAM, even your 240Hz monitor could be the problem.)" - Nothing is overclocked, even the 240Hz of my monitor are a standard setting.

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I know, for the Monitor, but such high Hz Monitors are still far from standard for the driver or Windows, and certainly for a game that was programmed at a time nobody dreamed about such Monitors.

That does not mean that the problem is there, but you should have a system that is as much "standard" as possible if you troubleshot.

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Nathipha wrote:

Wouldn't other games be affected then too? Everything else I'm regularly playing is more demanding on my hardware/power consumption.

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 Probably yes, but as long as I did not see the Dump, I can't say for sure.

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Nathipha wrote:

The file is 1.3gb. I already tried to open it when I saw the error in the reliability monitor but no text editor would open it, not even Visual Studio, which seems to be the default app for some reason.

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Yeah, that it is so big is normal. You need a debugger to open that file, no application that was standardly installed whit Windows will open a dump. 

@holger1405 

"That you have problems with the control panel under different driver points already to some problems on your system. " -

As I said, I'm (was) not the only one with this problem. I tried different drivers and this one's the first one that actually lets me open the control panel, so Sims 4 is currently the only app that's causing problems.

"Windows 7 loses all support in January 2020. Did you consider to upgrade to Windows 10?" -

No, I'm going to get a new PC in November or December - with Win 10 (unfortunately). Going to enjoy Win 7 on this PC until then.

"but you should have a system that is as much "standard" as possible if you troubleshot" -

So basically turn it down to 144Hz or worse, 60Hz and run the game a couple of times to see if the driver crashes?

"You need a debugger to open that file, no application that was standardly installed whit Windows will open a dump. " -

There's no way I can upload that file. Can you recommend an app that is able to read it?

@Nathipha 

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Nathipha wrote:

As I said, I'm (was) not the only one with this problem. I tried different drivers and this one's the first one that actually lets me open the control panel, so Sims 4 is currently the only app that's causing problems.

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I know, but there is a reason that the CP is not working, and we don`t know what that reason is.

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Nathipha wrote:

"Windows 7 loses all support in January 2020. Did you consider to upgrade to Windows 10?" -

No, I'm going to get a new PC in November or December - with Win 10 (unfortunately). Going to enjoy Win 7 on this PC until then.

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Good plan. 👍

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Nathipha wrote:

"but you should have a system that is as much "standard" as possible if you troubleshot" -

So basically turn it down to 144Hz or worse, 60Hz and run the game a couple of times to see if the driver crashes?

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Yes.
Please also preform clean boot and test the Game in clean boot mode.

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Nathipha wrote:

"You need a debugger to open that file, no application that was standardly installed whit Windows will open a dump. " -

There's no way I can upload that file. Can you recommend an app that is able to read it?

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BlueScreenView is a automated program that will give you some information.

It is not a real debbuger, but it is much easier to use.