Game has a power/GPU management problem

[Danemous]

Theres multiple people reporting the game either shutting down or rebooting their PC. Yes yes bad PSU. Most the time this would be true but in this case I really don't think it is the case. My PSU is relatively new, and my hardware more than capable of running this game, yet it was powering down my PC almost at the exact same part in a cutscene everytime. My temperatures were fine, utilisation etc. Tested on more intensive games and none of them do it, only BG3.

I searched around and it seems people had this problem during the early access aswell, again only with BG3 and more than sufficient enough PSU's and components. I know people will say "games dont shut down PC's". Games are programs, like any other software they can be poorly managed and absolutely cause a PC to shut down.

I think there is some bad resource management happening, causing there to be too high of a power draw from the PSU, triggering the safety mechanism and causing the shut down to happen. There are people with 1300W PSU's having this problem which definately shouldnt be an issue in this game. Most these games do have some C++ code implementation because of efficiency, but it's also a language that it's easy to cause bad resource management problems (e.g., dangling pointers and so on). This problem is too common and far too specific to this game for all these people's PSU's to just coincidently fry on the release date of BG3.

I tried a few things to get it more stable and try to force the power draw to lower. I lowered the v-sync setting in game, and limited the framerate to 60fps through the in-game graphic setting. I also lowered any ultra settings to high (you could try lowering some others even more though). I also upped my fan profile (even though my temps were fine) just incase and dusted the little tray under my PSU (again though it was all fine). Also the Direct X option seemed to be more stable. After changing these settings I played for a few hours, plus went through that cutscene without a shut down.

Usually I would agree the PSU is going bad, but in this case, I think theres some bad programming not agreeing with some system configurations causing an excessive power draw even if the GPU or CPU is not actually utilising it (yes that can be done). Remember that power is only drawn from the PSU based on demand, it isn't delivered by the PSU arbitrarily. This problem seems too common and very specific to this game, plus the way it occurs.

Try changing some of those settings and see if it helps anyone with the same problem. It essentially is trying to force the components to demand less power from the PSU and not trigger the safety mechanism to cause a shut down or reboot. Hopefully it is addressed properly by Larian though because it is definitely a problem.

[Somulo]

i think its really gonna be polished we need a thread about "well known" issues because its already more than enough uselles trolls who use this forum for nothing but spreading they mad fantasies

judging by previous larian games graphics goes first optimization later

enchanced and definitive editions of divinity os was quite all right after release

but i think this game gonna make your pc feel hot for real

[Noei]

Same here

[Zoid13]

i run on all ultra at 1440 21:9 and have 0 issues at all (850w psu)

i did hard cap the fps at 60. since a turn based game doesn't need mroe than that and 60 is nice and smooth for scrolling the map around.
runs at 100-150fps+ if i don't limit it but i also don't need my PC sounding like a jet engine for no reason. lol

[➕⁺+₊ ⁺]

Yeah, noticed that when idle the game starts using CPU like crazy and it goes from 60C up to whopping ~84C (notebook 1650Ti / Ryzen 4800H) it usually stays in the low 60s in any other game (also has a cooling pad under it, helps with the dust mostly but still)
Only solutiuon so far is to restrict CPU usage to 5-30% in power plan settings, doesn't affect frame rates but keeps CPU in 60-70C range for now, I bet a big fix is coming soon

[Monjac]

Some of your argument just do not make sense if at all . If anything it reveals you are totally not a tech-savvy person .


So just because your PSU is new , you think it should not be prone to having problems ?
What kind of logics are that ?

Like new world when it was launching , frying a bunch of rtx 3090 . People are again saying New World Killed their GPU .

Yes , it was pushing boundary , it was using a lot of PC power , but under normal circumstance your PC is designed to be able to run workload at 100% . When it can't , it means something is wrong . And no , it can't be using 104% of your PC my friend , because the game does not install bios and drivers on your PC . If it does , it isn't the game , it is something else .

Can the game be optimized more to use less resource from your PC ? I am sure that can happen . But if it isn't this game that is crashing your PC , it will be the next game , because there is something wrong with your hardware to begin with .


Also most people aren't having much problems , because there are 400k people playing right now . So don't say the majority of the ppl have problem , no they don't .

And no , not another " I CAN RUN RDR2 WHICH IS 78 MILLION TIMES PRETTIER WHY CAN'T I RUN THIS " . Different game engines , utilize your hardware in a completely different way .

[Duranu Lithdel]

Originally posted by Danemous:

My PSU is relatively new

Factory defects are a thing, Just because it is new doesn't mean it is working properly

Originally posted by Danemous:

Tested on more intensive games and none of them do it

That doesn't necessarily mean anything, When my last PSU died I was able to play all sorts of different graphically intensive games with no issues, yet stupid simple games would lock my ♥♥♥♥ up faster than I could blink, things just be wack like that sometimes, different game engines can affect PC's in different ways

Originally posted by Danemous:

excessive power draw

If you think that is the case then you can try under volting your system as low as you can while still being stable and see what happens, if your system supports changing voltages

Originally posted by Danemous:

Usually I would agree the PSU is going bad

Check Event Viewer, System Logs, if you have any Error 41's at the time of crashing there is a 90% chance it's your PSU

Originally posted by Danemous:

This problem is too common and far too specific to this game for all these people's PSU's to just coincidently fry on the release date of BG3.

Thats false equivalency or confirmation bias, The people that arent having PSU issues obviously aren't going to be on the threads talking about how great it runs for them, The only people on the forums talking about it are going to be people with issues, which could be as simple as them having aging PSUs that just don't like this game and in turn are showing their flaws when they try to play it, or, they just have a factory defective PSU, ♥♥♥♥ happens

[Danemous]

Originally posted by Monjac:

Some of your argument just do not make sense if at all . If anything it reveals you are totally not a tech-savvy person .


So just because your PSU is new , you think it should not be prone to having problems ?
What kind of logics are that ?

Like new world when it was launching , frying a bunch of rtx 3090 . People are again saying New World Killed their GPU .

Yes , it was pushing boundary , it was using a lot of PC power , but under normal circumstance your PC is designed to be able to run workload at 100% . When it can't , it means something is wrong . And no , it can't be using 104% of your PC my friend , because the game does not install bios and drivers on your PC . If it does , it isn't the game , it is something else .

Can the game be optimized more to use less resource from your PC ? I am sure that can happen . But if it isn't this game that is crashing your PC , it will be the next game , because there is something wrong with your hardware to begin with .


Also most people aren't having much problems , because there are 400k people playing right now . So don't say the majority of the ppl have problem , no they don't .

And no , not another " I CAN RUN RDR2 WHICH IS 78 MILLION TIMES PRETTIER WHY CAN'T I RUN THIS " . Different game engines , utilize your hardware in a completely different way .

No, I didnt say because its new it cant have defects. I said the fact its new, combined with testing it on multiple games, checking temps, utilisation, and checking with a multimetre is about as extensive as you can go to confirm that the PSU is fine.

A PC, depending on configuration can work at 100% workload yes. I don't see anywhere where i said it can work at 104%? But what can be done. The PC operates based on the programming behind it. PC's only do what they are told to do, which is the code being delivered to it. A bad piece of code can dictate bad power draw from the PSU, causing the safety mechanism to trigger. If you know anything about it, you can go into VScode right now and right a relatively simple program to fry your processor if you want. It is not hard to do, but it is an easy mistake to make with programming, especially a lower level language like C++ which is used because opf it's resource efficiency, but easy to cause these bugs.

Again, I don't see any quote about RDR2 so your just pulling another made up quote. I'm not just talking about the graphic intensity, I'm talking about it in combination with the required power draw, which is whats happening most likely. You are talking at an extremely basic level with the assumption that the power and resource management in the games code is perfect, but evidence would suggest it is not.

[Danemous]

Originally posted by Duranu Lithdel:

Originally posted by Danemous:

My PSU is relatively new

Factory defects are a thing, Just because it is new doesn't mean it is working properly

Originally posted by Danemous:

Tested on more intensive games and none of them do it

That doesn't necessarily mean anything, When my last PSU died I was able to play all sorts of different graphically intensive games with no issues, yet stupid simple games would lock my ♥♥♥♥ up faster than I could blink, things just be wack like that sometimes, different game engines can affect PC's in different ways

Originally posted by Danemous:

excessive power draw

If you think that is the case then you can try under volting your system as low as you can while still being stable and see what happens, if your system supports changing voltages

Originally posted by Danemous:

Usually I would agree the PSU is going bad

Check Event Viewer, System Logs, if you have any Error 41's at the time of crashing there is a 90% chance it's your PSU

Originally posted by Danemous:

This problem is too common and far too specific to this game for all these people's PSU's to just coincidently fry on the release date of BG3.

Thats false equivalency or confirmation bias, The people that arent having PSU issues obviously aren't going to be on the threads talking about how great it runs for them, The only people on the forums talking about it are going to be people with issues, which could be as simple as them having aging PSUs that just don't like this game and in turn are showing their flaws when they try to play it, or, they just have a factory defective PSU, ♥♥♥♥ happens

Yes just because it is new doesnt mean its working properly. But when it is tested, benchmarked, tested on multiple other games, tested with a multimetre, thats about as extensive as testing can go to confirm it is working fine.

Programming, power and resource management isn't "just whack", thats not how it works. The code doesnt have a personality, it operates off of logic.

I've already checked event viewer. Like i said in the post, 90% of the time this would the PSU, but in this case, no.

And no its not confirmation bias when cases actually exist. It's just called consistency. When multiple instances of the exact same problem occurring with only one game and no others happen, thats a common denominator. Especially when these people have all confirmed their PSU is working fine.

[Danemous]

Originally posted by Monjac:

Some of your argument just do not make sense if at all . If anything it reveals you are totally not a tech-savvy person .


So just because your PSU is new , you think it should not be prone to having problems ?
What kind of logics are that ?

Like new world when it was launching , frying a bunch of rtx 3090 . People are again saying New World Killed their GPU .

Yes , it was pushing boundary , it was using a lot of PC power , but under normal circumstance your PC is designed to be able to run workload at 100% . When it can't , it means something is wrong . And no , it can't be using 104% of your PC my friend , because the game does not install bios and drivers on your PC . If it does , it isn't the game , it is something else .

Can the game be optimized more to use less resource from your PC ? I am sure that can happen . But if it isn't this game that is crashing your PC , it will be the next game , because there is something wrong with your hardware to begin with .

Yes exactly why I tested multiple other games. BG3 is the only one doing it, just like it is for many others, eliminating the possibility of the "next game" doing it...because that isnt happening.

So don't say the majority of the ppl have problem , no they don't .

I didn't say the majority of people are having the problem. Are you even disagreeing with me or the narative youve made in your head? multiple made up quotes here. ...

[Danemous]

Originally posted by Zoid13:

i run on all ultra at 1440 21:9 and have 0 issues at all (850w psu)

i did hard cap the fps at 60. since a turn based game doesn't need mroe than that and 60 is nice and smooth for scrolling the map around.
runs at 100-150fps+ if i don't limit it but i also don't need my PC sounding like a jet engine for no reason. lol

It does seem to happen with certain configurations and not others. I think there might be a conflict with particular hardware causing a bug in the power draw.

[Cirrus]

Originally posted by Danemous:

Theres multiple people reporting the game either shutting down or rebooting their PC. Yes yes bad PSU. Most the time this would be true but in this case I really don't think it is the case. My PSU is relatively new, and my hardware more than capable of running this game, yet it was powering down my PC almost at the exact same part in a cutscene everytime. My temperatures were fine, utilisation etc. Tested on more intensive games and none of them do it, only BG3.

I searched around and it seems people had this problem during the early access aswell, again only with BG3 and more than sufficient enough PSU's and components. I know people will say "games dont shut down PC's". Games are programs, like any other software they can be poorly managed and absolutely cause a PC to shut down.

I think there is some bad resource management happening, causing there to be too high of a power draw from the PSU, triggering the safety mechanism and causing the shut down to happen. There are people with 1300W PSU's having this problem which definately shouldnt be an issue in this game. Most these games do have some C++ code implementation because of efficiency, but it's also a language that it's easy to cause bad resource management problems (e.g., dangling pointers and so on). This problem is too common and far too specific to this game for all these people's PSU's to just coincidently fry on the release date of BG3.

I tried a few things to get it more stable and try to force the power draw to lower. I lowered the v-sync setting in game, and limited the framerate to 60fps through the in-game graphic setting. I also lowered any ultra settings to high (you could try lowering some others even more though). I also upped my fan profile (even though my temps were fine) just incase and dusted the little tray under my PSU (again though it was all fine). Also the Direct X option seemed to be more stable. After changing these settings I played for a few hours, plus went through that cutscene without a shut down.

Usually I would agree the PSU is going bad, but in this case, I think theres some bad programming not agreeing with some system configurations causing an excessive power draw even if the GPU or CPU is not actually utilising it (yes that can be done). Remember that power is only drawn from the PSU based on demand, it isn't delivered by the PSU arbitrarily. This problem seems too common and very specific to this game, plus the way it occurs.

Try changing some of those settings and see if it helps anyone with the same problem. It essentially is trying to force the components to demand less power from the PSU and not trigger the safety mechanism to cause a shut down or reboot. Hopefully it is addressed properly by Larian though because it is definitely a problem.

First of all. Game never ever manages power. It is not games job.

So it all your comments starts to go hell after that.

When building computer and after it is finished you seek test applications that inflict maximum pain meaning power draw to cpu and gpu at same time. They do that because they take every drop of calculation power available. Not because they somehow ”manage power”. If your PC can take that, this game will be easy as sunshine. If your PC does not take that it is broken.

1. Start your tests with prime95 smallfft stress test.
2. Start furmark at same time
3. Start some ram test at same time (aida64 or ramtest etc)

Keep this running for few hours. No crashes you are propably good to game. But not 100%. You could still suffer PSU shutdowns under heavily varying load. My test scenario for that is y-cruncher + game called pubg in training scenario.

[Danemous]

Originally posted by Warden:

Yeah, noticed that when idle the game starts using CPU like crazy and it goes from 60C up to whopping ~84C (notebook 1650Ti / Ryzen 4800H) it usually stays in the low 60s in any other game (also has a cooling pad under it, helps with the dust mostly but still)
Only solutiuon so far is to restrict CPU usage to 5-30% in power plan settings, doesn't affect frame rates but keeps CPU in 60-70C range for now, I bet a big fix is coming soon

Interesting yours is Ryzen aswell. From most posts Ive seen, alot of people with this problem have had some Ryzen and AMD cpu/gpu's. Same as mine. The consistency in how it occurs for the people with this problem, plus I did some pretty deep testing on PSU really makes me think this isnt a problem with everyones PSU, but how the game is utilising its power draw. Some have power shut downs, others have had graphic issues and GPU utilisation spiking all over the place.

[Danemous]

Originally posted by Cirrus:

Originally posted by Danemous:

Theres multiple people reporting the game either shutting down or rebooting their PC. Yes yes bad PSU. Most the time this would be true but in this case I really don't think it is the case. My PSU is relatively new, and my hardware more than capable of running this game, yet it was powering down my PC almost at the exact same part in a cutscene everytime. My temperatures were fine, utilisation etc. Tested on more intensive games and none of them do it, only BG3.

I searched around and it seems people had this problem during the early access aswell, again only with BG3 and more than sufficient enough PSU's and components. I know people will say "games dont shut down PC's". Games are programs, like any other software they can be poorly managed and absolutely cause a PC to shut down.

I think there is some bad resource management happening, causing there to be too high of a power draw from the PSU, triggering the safety mechanism and causing the shut down to happen. There are people with 1300W PSU's having this problem which definately shouldnt be an issue in this game. Most these games do have some C++ code implementation because of efficiency, but it's also a language that it's easy to cause bad resource management problems (e.g., dangling pointers and so on). This problem is too common and far too specific to this game for all these people's PSU's to just coincidently fry on the release date of BG3.

I tried a few things to get it more stable and try to force the power draw to lower. I lowered the v-sync setting in game, and limited the framerate to 60fps through the in-game graphic setting. I also lowered any ultra settings to high (you could try lowering some others even more though). I also upped my fan profile (even though my temps were fine) just incase and dusted the little tray under my PSU (again though it was all fine). Also the Direct X option seemed to be more stable. After changing these settings I played for a few hours, plus went through that cutscene without a shut down.

Usually I would agree the PSU is going bad, but in this case, I think theres some bad programming not agreeing with some system configurations causing an excessive power draw even if the GPU or CPU is not actually utilising it (yes that can be done). Remember that power is only drawn from the PSU based on demand, it isn't delivered by the PSU arbitrarily. This problem seems too common and very specific to this game, plus the way it occurs.

Try changing some of those settings and see if it helps anyone with the same problem. It essentially is trying to force the components to demand less power from the PSU and not trigger the safety mechanism to cause a shut down or reboot. Hopefully it is addressed properly by Larian though because it is definitely a problem.

First of all. Game never ever manages power. It is not games job.

So it all your comments starts to go hell after that.

When building computer and after it is finished you seek test applications that inflict maximum pain meaning power draw to cpu and gpu at same time. They do that because they take every drop of calculation power available. Not because they somehow ”manage power”. If your PC can take that, this game will be easy as sunshine. If your PC does not take that it is broken.

1. Start your tests with prime95 smallfft stress test.
2. Start furmark at same time
3. Start some ram test at same time (aida64 or ramtest etc)

Keep this running for few hours. No crashes you are propably good to game. But not 100%. You could still suffer PSU shutdowns under heavily varying load. My test scenario for that is y-cruncher + game called pubg in training scenario.

Code in any program, whether a game or anything else, can cause problems with power or any other resource management. That isn't even up for debate. Just simple fact. Whats your alternative? All of these people with this problem had their PSU's fry on the exact same day, and only occurring with the exact same game, and no others? PSU's dont have a personality or preference. If the power draw was too much for BG3, then it is definately too much for many other games that require far more, yet it doesnt occur with them. Only BG3. Where the problem is consistent and occurring in an instance, thats where you look. You dont ignore the one common denominator everyone has.

[➕⁺+₊ ⁺]

Originally posted by Danemous:

Originally posted by Warden:

Yeah, noticed that when idle the game starts using CPU like crazy and it goes from 60C up to whopping ~84C (notebook 1650Ti / Ryzen 4800H) it usually stays in the low 60s in any other game (also has a cooling pad under it, helps with the dust mostly but still)
Only solutiuon so far is to restrict CPU usage to 5-30% in power plan settings, doesn't affect frame rates but keeps CPU in 60-70C range for now, I bet a big fix is coming soon

Interesting yours is Ryzen aswell. From most posts Ive seen, alot of people with this problem have had some Ryzen and AMD cpu/gpu's. Same as mine. The consistency in how it occurs for the people with this problem, plus I did some pretty deep testing on PSU really makes me think this isnt a problem with everyones PSU, but how the game is utilising its power draw. Some have power shut downs, others have had graphic issues and GPU utilisation spiking all over the place.

Yeah! I bet it's the abnormal heating and power draw to be the cause, I haven't noticed the problem on my desktop PC but only because it's in another room (long cables for keyboard/mouse/monitor so it's 99% silent where I sit) but when my notebook initiated rocket launch sequence I got worried and started measuring temps and power draw... those crazy spikes are frightening and definitely not normal

[Cirrus]

Originally posted by Danemous:

Originally posted by Cirrus:

First of all. Game never ever manages power. It is not games job.

So it all your comments starts to go hell after that.

When building computer and after it is finished you seek test applications that inflict maximum pain meaning power draw to cpu and gpu at same time. They do that because they take every drop of calculation power available. Not because they somehow ”manage power”. If your PC can take that, this game will be easy as sunshine. If your PC does not take that it is broken.

1. Start your tests with prime95 smallfft stress test.
2. Start furmark at same time
3. Start some ram test at same time (aida64 or ramtest etc)

Keep this running for few hours. No crashes you are propably good to game. But not 100%. You could still suffer PSU shutdowns under heavily varying load. My test scenario for that is y-cruncher + game called pubg in training scenario.

Code in any program, whether a game or anything else, can cause problems with power or any other resource management. That isn't even up for debate. Just simple fact. Whats your alternative? All of these people with this problem had their PSU's fry on the exact same day, and only occurring with the exact same game, and no others? PSU's dont have a personality or preference. If the power draw was too much for BG3, then it is definately too much for many other games that require far more, yet it doesnt occur with them. Only BG3. Where the problem is consistent and occurring in an instance, thats where you look. You dont ignore the one common denominator everyone has.

Simpe fact is that any resource use coded exessive or not only crashes computer if it broken or components are not selected correctly.

There is no such thing as ”too much power draw”. There are only PC components not suited for each other. If your gpu and cpu can max out your psu in ANY circumstance someone has selected too crappy PSU.

When previous generation of GPUs were introduced with high transient loads we saw huge influx of crappy PSUs failing. Leading the bunch was good name PSU company Seasonic. I had to replace 2 units under warranty to take transients from 3080.

Again any software, games included, can only use resources available to it. It can use ”maximum” or something below maximum. It is your job to select components that can take also the ”maximum” and not only something less.

No software can do anything over ”maximum”. It is just impossible.