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.

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by Nordil(Hun):

Originally posted by 6<--mhx-->9:

and your vrm temperature is ok? btw. the high cpu one thread load is caused by light/ shadow, so lowering of shadows to medium helps.

Yep vrm is no issue, i checked it is allways the CPU the overheats and shuts it down. (I have the hardware monitor i even checked the logs)
Most of the time for folks it is also the CPU, for some it is the GPU but that is rarer.

Had my first vulkan crash, by a misclicked load game.(Wanted to delete some saves..and clicked on loading, i really hated this ui even in DoS that it does not ask if i want to load that game.)

[TapeWyrm]

Because you're such a smrt computer man with the C++ and pointers: Here's how you fix it. First open up "bg3_dx11.exe" (under /bin in your game folder) in debug.com (you'll need to boot into DOS 3.2 for that).

Then, look for this:
00007FFD4C4DAF0A mov rcx,1A2EF622E98h
00007FFD4C4DAF14 mov rcx,qword ptr [rcx]
00007FFD4C4DAF17 mov qword ptr [rbp+30h],rcx
00007FFD4C4DAF1B mov rcx,qword ptr [rbp+30h]
00007FFD4C4DAF1F mov rax,qword ptr [rbp+30h]
00007FFD4C4DAF23 mov rax,qword ptr [rax]
00007FFD4C4DAF26 mov rax,qword ptr [rax+40h]
00007FFD4C4DAF2A call qword ptr [rax+8]
00007FFD4C4DAF2D mov qword ptr [rbp+78h],rax
00007FFD4C4DAF31 mov rcx,qword ptr [rbp+78h]
00007FFD4C4DAF35 mov edx,dword ptr [rbp+0BCh]
00007FFD4C4DAF3B cmp dword ptr [rcx],ecx

Change mov rcx,qword ptr [rbp+78h] to fix_my_problem 0000DEAD0000BEEF, [rcx + 2]

And that'll solve everything. True story.

[Sugarwolf]

I ain't gonna claim to know all the ins and outs of power management stuff, but at 60hz 1080p this game is dropping frames on a 3070ti, it's excruciatingly bad in the goblin camp, sub 20fps sometimes.

Game needs optimizing.

[TapeWyrm]

Originally posted by Mazovian Socio-Economist:

What power and temperature 'superpowers' do you think Windows lets games have?

There's no line the devs can write in a function like SetPowerAndTemp(♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥);

That's a super secret undocumented function in kernel32.dll at offset 0x666. Don't tell anyone though.

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by TapeWyrm:

Because you're such a smrt computer man with the C++ and pointers: Here's how you fix it. First open up "bg3_dx11.exe" (under /bin in your game folder) in debug.com (you'll need to boot into DOS 3.2 for that).

Then, look for this:
00007FFD4C4DAF0A mov rcx,1A2EF622E98h
00007FFD4C4DAF14 mov rcx,qword ptr [rcx]
00007FFD4C4DAF17 mov qword ptr [rbp+30h],rcx
00007FFD4C4DAF1B mov rcx,qword ptr [rbp+30h]
00007FFD4C4DAF1F mov rax,qword ptr [rbp+30h]
00007FFD4C4DAF23 mov rax,qword ptr [rax]
00007FFD4C4DAF26 mov rax,qword ptr [rax+40h]
00007FFD4C4DAF2A call qword ptr [rax+8]
00007FFD4C4DAF2D mov qword ptr [rbp+78h],rax
00007FFD4C4DAF31 mov rcx,qword ptr [rbp+78h]
00007FFD4C4DAF35 mov edx,dword ptr [rbp+0BCh]
00007FFD4C4DAF3B cmp dword ptr [rcx],ecx

Change mov rcx,qword ptr [rbp+78h] to fix_my_problem 0000DEAD0000BEEF, [rcx + 2]

And that'll solve everything. True story.

Wow...seems a bit similar to what we did in MASM:)
Yeah C++ is foreign land for me sadly:(

[Midnight Meows]

Originally posted by Ethanwulf:

I play Cyberpunk 2077 and other cool games on Ultra 60 fps. BG3 is the only game ever that made my PC shut down. I don't know how, but it gets my CPU temp to 95*, while during other games it's around 80.

I bought a new CPU cooler & thermal paste, then put the new cooler in a push / pull config with the fans, specifically because of BG3 causing the CPU to rapidly overheat.

And even after cleaning off the old paste, blowing any potential dust out of the system, installing a new chonky cooler with high quality Artic Silver and slapping two fans onto it, BG3 still tries its absolute damnedest to push the CPU hotter 'n hell.

I'm not even being hyperbolic when I say that the only other software on my system that gets the CPU this hot is Cinebench.

edit: typo

[Sugarwolf]

Originally posted by Rye:

Originally posted by Ethanwulf:

I play Cyberpunk 2077 and other cool games on Ultra 60 fps. BG3 is the only game ever that made my PC shut down. I don't know how, but it gets my CPU temp to 95*, while during other games it's around 80.

I bought a new CPU cooler & thermal paste, then put the new cooler in a push / pull config with the fans, specifically because of BG3 causing the CPU to rapidly overheat.

And even after cleaning off the old paste, blowing any potential dust out of the system, installing a new chonky cooler with high quality Artic Silver and slapping two fans onto it, BG3 still tries its absolute damnedest to push the CPU hotter 'n hell.

I'm not even being hyperbolic when I say that the only other software on my system that gets the CPU this hot is Cinebench.

edit: typo

Just out of curiosity what cpu and cooler are you using?

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by Rye:

Originally posted by Ethanwulf:

I play Cyberpunk 2077 and other cool games on Ultra 60 fps. BG3 is the only game ever that made my PC shut down. I don't know how, but it gets my CPU temp to 95*, while during other games it's around 80.

I bought a new CPU cooler & thermal paste, then put the new cooler in a push / pull config with the fans, specifically because of BG3 causing the CPU to rapidly overheat.

And even after cleaning off the old paste, blowing any potential dust out of the system, installing a new chonky cooler with high quality Artic Silver and slapping two fans onto it, BG3 still tries its absolute damnedest to push the CPU hotter 'n hell.

I'm not even being hyperbolic when I say that the only other software on my system that gets the CPU this hot is Cinebench.

edit: typo

Try Wrath of the righteous, is a very good game but will also make everything it can to fry your CPU:D Some guys installed water cooling cuz of that game:D

(I have WoTR on medium settings at about 79-85 C the CPU. Luckily this is the peak, with these settings, elsewise...comp would shutdown. This game is max 81 C so far, but i only watched with DX11, and recently started to try with vulcan. Interestingly i experienced more crashes with vulcan. though not cuz of CPU or GPU frying issues.)

[Cirrus]

Originally posted by Rye:

Originally posted by Ethanwulf:

I play Cyberpunk 2077 and other cool games on Ultra 60 fps. BG3 is the only game ever that made my PC shut down. I don't know how, but it gets my CPU temp to 95*, while during other games it's around 80.

I bought a new CPU cooler & thermal paste, then put the new cooler in a push / pull config with the fans, specifically because of BG3 causing the CPU to rapidly overheat.

And even after cleaning off the old paste, blowing any potential dust out of the system, installing a new chonky cooler with high quality Artic Silver and slapping two fans onto it, BG3 still tries its absolute damnedest to push the CPU hotter 'n hell.

I'm not even being hyperbolic when I say that the only other software on my system that gets the CPU this hot is Cinebench.

edit: typo

That is exactly how stress testing works. Your PC needs to be able to run cinebench r23 and some graphical stress test at same time and survive that decently. Then you can be quite sure that any game will work too.

If cinebench r23 alone puts you to 100 degress and throttling starts, then some game can do it too.

My main gaming PC can do that stress test without intel power limits (no power limits = asus default z690 series and 13700k). AIO cooling and lots of fans in fairly small itx case.

My secondary gaming PC with 9900k and extremely small itx case does not surive that test without power limits (I believe this one defaults power limits ON, but I have confirmed that). Small air cooler and only 1 case fan. So What needs to happen that CPU power limits start to drop clocks and limits power intake to maintain temperature below temp-throttle limit. But throttlng with power IS required. Meaning lower perf of course.

[scubasteve28666]

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 .

so what everyone whos having issues has a bad psu yh rightio buddy plenty of othger games out there with just as much demand with no issues ♥♥♥♥ i can have 2 -3 aaa titles running at once alt tab between them with chrome running a dozen windows playing a movie in the background on another screen all while chating to mates on discord and no issues at all im fairly bloody certian thatll put more of a load on my computer than 1 instance bg3 and everything else closed down with all graphics cut down ect ect ect ever should

[zobee]

random comment here but i was having temp issues while playing and GPU at 100%. I didn’t realize i was locked at 240fps, so i dropped it to 60 and everything is in perfect ranges now. felt really dumb lol

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by zobee:

random comment here but i was having temp issues while playing and GPU at 100%. I didn’t realize i was locked at 240fps, so i dropped it to 60 and everything is in perfect ranges now. felt really dumb lol

Yeah, need to allways check adrenalin and the NVIDIA equivalent as well, because those can cause some serious unforeseen settings changes if left to their own devices.

[He Who Comes With The Dawn]

The game looks great and runs great with everything maxed out. Don't be a poor hobo and buy a good PC. 👍

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by Ohmega:

The game looks great and runs great with everything maxed out. Don't be a poor hobo and buy a good PC. 👍

Funny thing the latest hotfix actually punishes the good pc-s. Mostly the late gen GPU-s and CPU-s:D
So if you have a previous generation one you have better chances of running it smoothly:)

[WowCoolRobot]

I've had massive problems with this. My PC reboots maybe every 10 minutes or so, and weirdly, about half the time it does it trips my surge protector. It often does this fifteen minutes into turning the PC on from room temp, so I don't believe it's a heat issue. Temps on the video card around when this happens are well below other games, to the point my PC isn't even running the fans at max. I've got a mix of big slow fans and an a ton of extras that I've had make jet engine sounds in other games, I get nowhere close volume wise.

I haven't noticed a difference between the DirectX and other version, both reboot. My recommended settings were maxed, and I'm already using a 60 frame vsync since I'm playing it with a controller on a living room TV.

I've lost probably about half my total playtime, and I'm currently in a combat I've had multiple attempts and I just can't seem to do it in the roughly ten minutes chunks the game is giving me.

I feel like there's literally no way there's not some bug with specific hardware or just wildly unoptimized game doing like a video card memory overflow or something.