This game keeps crashing my PC

[wims]

More specifically it keeps crashing my Desktop Windows manager.

After random amounts of time playing my screen goes black and I can still hear the game but I can't see anything. I have to restart every time. Sometimes after like 2-3 mins of play. Sometimes more than 30 mins of play.

Reliability monitor doesn't show any critical events other than:

Description
Faulting Application Path: C:\Windows\System32\dwm.exe

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: dwm.exe
Application Version: 10.0.22621.3672
Application Timestamp: 85e98d33
Fault Module Name: dwmcore.dll
Fault Module Version: 10.0.22621.4111

This is the only thing I can find that crashes during the game.

I've verified integrity of game files
I've used ddu and installed new drivers on safemode
I've updated my bios
I've turned off hyperthreading as I heard that causes issues.
I've even removed my OC.

I don't know what else to do. It keeps crashing. No other game does this.

I don't know if this might effect it but I'm running game on virtual windowed mode on and the last crash happened when I was using my 2nd monitor. As I double clicked on something while the game was running on my main screen it crashed instantly. However this didn't happen the last 5 or so times before. I did have wiki articles open that i would go to but it didn't crash instantly when I went there.

Specs:
i9 10900kf @ 3.7ghz (was 4.5ghz but removed OC to see if that effected anything)

gigabyte 3060ti - it does run a bit hot 70-90 degrees but I've had no issues playing for 6 hours on much more demanding games like space marine 2 or bf2042 (in case you thought it was cpu).

32gb ddr4
z490-e motherboard with newest bios
running on ssd

I'm not that good with troubleshooting so let me know if I'm missing something that I need to do. Or if there's any other info that you need.

Also, I posted on both technical support and here cause there seems to be way more people that can help me in this forum, but I can delete if needed and just keep the technical support one up.

[Wuorg]

Originally posted by wims:

More specifically it keeps crashing my Desktop Windows manager.

After random amounts of time playing my screen goes black and I can still hear the game but I can't see anything. I have to restart every time. Sometimes after like 2-3 mins of play. Sometimes more than 30 mins of play.

Reliability monitor doesn't show any critical events other than:

Description
Faulting Application Path: C:\Windows\System32\dwm.exe

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: dwm.exe
Application Version: 10.0.22621.3672
Application Timestamp: 85e98d33
Fault Module Name: dwmcore.dll
Fault Module Version: 10.0.22621.4111

This is the only thing I can find that crashes during the game.

I've verified integrity of game files
I've used ddu and installed new drivers on safemode
I've updated my bios
I've turned off hyperthreading as I heard that causes issues.
I've even removed my OC.

I don't know what else to do. It keeps crashing. No other game does this.

I don't know if this might effect it but I'm running game on virtual windowed mode on and the last crash happened when I was using my 2nd monitor. As I double clicked on something while the game was running on my main screen it crashed instantly. However this didn't happen the last 5 or so times before. I did have wiki articles open that i would go to but it didn't crash instantly when I went there.

Specs:
i9 10900kf @ 3.7ghz (was 4.5ghz but removed OC to see if that effected anything)

gigabyte 3060ti - it does run a bit hot 70-90 degrees but I've had no issues playing for 6 hours on much more demanding games like space marine 2 or bf2042 (in case you thought it was cpu).

32gb ddr4
z490-e motherboard with newest bios
running on ssd

I'm not that good with troubleshooting so let me know if I'm missing something that I need to do. Or if there's any other info that you need.

Also, I posted on both technical support and here cause there seems to be way more people that can help me in this forum, but I can delete if needed and just keep the technical support one up.

Used to do tech support. This sounds very much like a GPU problem.

My first suggestion would be to double check that your GPU is seated properly. The heavier ones can sag over time.

If that doesn't work, can you tell me the model of your GPU and its age?

[Wuorg]

One more thing. You mentioned it runs hot, that could also be a problem, *especially* with a multiple monitor setup. What is your cooling situation?

Edit: The solution could be as simple as grabbing a can of air and blasting out the dust.

[wims]

Originally posted by Wuorg:

Originally posted by wims:

More specifically it keeps crashing my Desktop Windows manager.

After random amounts of time playing my screen goes black and I can still hear the game but I can't see anything. I have to restart every time. Sometimes after like 2-3 mins of play. Sometimes more than 30 mins of play.

Reliability monitor doesn't show any critical events other than:

Description
Faulting Application Path: C:\Windows\System32\dwm.exe

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: dwm.exe
Application Version: 10.0.22621.3672
Application Timestamp: 85e98d33
Fault Module Name: dwmcore.dll
Fault Module Version: 10.0.22621.4111

This is the only thing I can find that crashes during the game.

I've verified integrity of game files
I've used ddu and installed new drivers on safemode
I've updated my bios
I've turned off hyperthreading as I heard that causes issues.
I've even removed my OC.

I don't know what else to do. It keeps crashing. No other game does this.

I don't know if this might effect it but I'm running game on virtual windowed mode on and the last crash happened when I was using my 2nd monitor. As I double clicked on something while the game was running on my main screen it crashed instantly. However this didn't happen the last 5 or so times before. I did have wiki articles open that i would go to but it didn't crash instantly when I went there.

Specs:
i9 10900kf @ 3.7ghz (was 4.5ghz but removed OC to see if that effected anything)

gigabyte 3060ti - it does run a bit hot 70-90 degrees but I've had no issues playing for 6 hours on much more demanding games like space marine 2 or bf2042 (in case you thought it was cpu).

32gb ddr4
z490-e motherboard with newest bios
running on ssd

I'm not that good with troubleshooting so let me know if I'm missing something that I need to do. Or if there's any other info that you need.

Also, I posted on both technical support and here cause there seems to be way more people that can help me in this forum, but I can delete if needed and just keep the technical support one up.

Used to do tech support. This sounds very much like a GPU problem.

My first suggestion would be to double check that your GPU is seated properly. The heavier ones can sag over time.

If that doesn't work, can you tell me the model of your GPU and its age?

It's 3060ti and i just checked it's still seated properly. It's not that heavy but I still have a pillar of sorts that I put when I built it that makes it stay completely levelled.

The card is:
RTX 3060 Ti EAGLE OC
Device ID
10DE 2489 - 1458 405B

I bought it like 3 years ago roughly.

[wims]

Originally posted by Wuorg:

One more thing. You mentioned it runs hot, that could also be a problem, *especially* with a multiple monitor setup. What is your cooling situation?

Edit: The solution could be as simple as grabbing a can of air and blasting out the dust.

In sins it runs between high sixties and low 80's with the small amount of time i've spent playing it between crashes, and as I was trying to fix this issue I ended up cleaning the pc a bit as well. It wasn't dusty to begin with though but since the case was already open I thought i might as well. Also I have 6 intake fans + 3 for 360 radiator for the CPU

[Wuorg]

Alright, what about your PSU? If your GPU tries to draw too much power, it could cause a crash like the one you describe, if your PSU is too old or insufficient.

Could you do another test? When running the game, look at Task Manager -> Performance -> GPU and see what the Utilization percentage is.

[wims]

Originally posted by Wuorg:

Alright, what about your PSU? If your GPU tries to draw too much power, it could cause a crash like the one you describe, if your PSU is too old or insufficient.

Could you do another test? When running the game, look at Task Manager -> Performance -> GPU and see what the Utilization percentage is.

850 watt

I tried the last tutorial where you're fighting the base with heaps of ships and
68-74% usage 78-83 degrees

It hasn't crashed yet.

[Jambie Lionheart]

It sounds like either a cooling system problem or a program conflict on the pc itself.

Does it happen with any other games or any other programs? What exactly are you actively running while the game is on? you didn't mention number of CPU cores. How many do you have? If I assume just the one then that's almost guaranteed to be the problem because SoSE II is designed for multi-core.

What's a typical game set up for you? Larger maps and a higher player count demand more computer resources.

[wims]

Originally posted by Jambie Lionheart:

It sounds like either a cooling system problem or a program conflict on the pc itself.

Does it happen with any other games or any other programs? What exactly are you actively running while the game is on? you didn't mention number of CPU cores. How many do you have? If I assume just the one then that's almost guaranteed to be the problem because SoSE II is designed for multi-core.

What's a typical game set up for you? Larger maps and a higher player count demand more computer resources.

No other game has this issue. Programs I have running are firefox, voicemeter, discord, steam and the nvidia control panel.

In the specs section i put cpu i9 10900kf so 10 cores 20 threads and all cores are functioning on resource monitor.

I haven't even tried to play a game cause it kept crashing in tutorials so spent hours troubleshooting but i opened a large map just then and it was same usage.

I play, squad, bf2042, which is very cpu dependent now, call of duty, dota 2 and recently i played age of empires 4, age of mythology, space marine 2 and re2 remake. No game I've played on this PC since I built it has had this crashing issue with desktop windows manager.

[Wuorg]

Originally posted by wims:

Originally posted by Wuorg:

Alright, what about your PSU? If your GPU tries to draw too much power, it could cause a crash like the one you describe, if your PSU is too old or insufficient.

Could you do another test? When running the game, look at Task Manager -> Performance -> GPU and see what the Utilization percentage is.

850 watt

I tried the last tutorial where you're fighting the base with heaps of ships and
68-74% usage 78-83 degrees

It hasn't crashed yet.

Alright, without knowing the rest of your specs, it is difficult to tell whether 850 watt is enough. It wouldn't be for my relatively mid-range system. Go here and plug in your specs: https://www.newegg.com/tools/power-supply-calculator

If the calculator recommends anything above 800 or so, this could be a contributing factor.

That would seem to be a pretty high utilization (edit: and temp), assuming you are doing other things too while the game is open. Next, could you open the game again, but this time open up a few browser tabs and any other programs you'd normally have open on your other monitor? In Task Manager -> Processes, keep an eye on the Power Usage and GPU columns (you may need to enable them by right clicking a column header and then checking the category).

[wims]

Originally posted by Wuorg:

Originally posted by wims:

850 watt

I tried the last tutorial where you're fighting the base with heaps of ships and
68-74% usage 78-83 degrees

It hasn't crashed yet.

Alright, without knowing the rest of your specs, it is difficult to tell whether 850 watt is enough. It wouldn't be for my relatively mid-range system. Go here and plug in your specs: https://www.newegg.com/tools/power-supply-calculator

If the calculator recommends anything above 800 or so, this could be a contributing factor.

That would seem to be a pretty high utilization (edit: and temp), assuming you are doing other things too while the game is open. Next, could you open the game again, but this time open up a few browser tabs and any other programs you'd normally have open on your other monitor? In Task Manager -> Processes, keep an eye on the Power Usage and GPU columns (you may need to enable them by right clicking a column header and then checking the category).

I gave specs in the original post. They aren't the issue. The recommended psu is 600-700 if you're wanting to be overly safe as you'll never crack 600. 10900k at maximum 250 watts with max oc 5.0-5.3ghz which ive never tried to do, with 3060 ti rated 200w maximum.

I always have like 10 tabs open, same with the previous test i did. This time I just tried with youtube playing it's around the same usage ranging from 68-74% in the same tutorial.

Odd thing is I haven't crashed yet. Hopefully it's gone away.

[Wuorg]

Originally posted by wims:

Originally posted by Wuorg:

Alright, without knowing the rest of your specs, it is difficult to tell whether 850 watt is enough. It wouldn't be for my relatively mid-range system. Go here and plug in your specs: https://www.newegg.com/tools/power-supply-calculator

If the calculator recommends anything above 800 or so, this could be a contributing factor.

That would seem to be a pretty high utilization (edit: and temp), assuming you are doing other things too while the game is open. Next, could you open the game again, but this time open up a few browser tabs and any other programs you'd normally have open on your other monitor? In Task Manager -> Processes, keep an eye on the Power Usage and GPU columns (you may need to enable them by right clicking a column header and then checking the category).

I gave specs in the original post. They aren't the issue. The recommended pcu is 600-700 if you're wanting to be overly safe as you'll never crack 600. 10900k at maximum 250 watts with max oc 5.0-5.3ghz which ive never tried to do, with 3060 ti rated 200w maximum.

I always have like 10 tabs open, same with the previous test i did. This time I just tried with youtube playing it's around the same usage ranging from 68-74% in the same tutorial.

Odd thing is I haven't crashed yet. Hopefully it's gone away.

In that case, it sounds like your GPU is potentially overheating when under load. After a bit of searching, this kind of thing seems to be a recurring problem for Gigabyte GPUs. However, their warranty lasts for 4 years, so if the problem persists or gets worse, you might try contacting them for a replacement.

If you are comfortable with it, you could also open it up and replace the thermal pads and reapply thermal paste yourself and that will almost certainly fix the problem entirely. If you want to be extra sure, you could also clean it while you are in there, but if you have been keeping good care of it and regularly dusting it (it sounds like you have), the cleaning part probably isn't necessary.

[wims]

Originally posted by Wuorg:

Originally posted by wims:

I gave specs in the original post. They aren't the issue. The recommended pcu is 600-700 if you're wanting to be overly safe as you'll never crack 600. 10900k at maximum 250 watts with max oc 5.0-5.3ghz which ive never tried to do, with 3060 ti rated 200w maximum.

I always have like 10 tabs open, same with the previous test i did. This time I just tried with youtube playing it's around the same usage ranging from 68-74% in the same tutorial.

Odd thing is I haven't crashed yet. Hopefully it's gone away.

In that case, it sounds like your GPU is potentially overheating when under load. After a bit of searching, this kind of thing seems to be a recurring problem for Gigabyte GPUs. However, their warranty lasts for 4 years, so if the problem persists or gets worse, you might try contacting them for a replacement.

If you are comfortable with it, you could also open it up and replace the thermal pads and reapply thermal paste yourself and that will almost certainly fix the problem entirely. If you want to be extra sure, you could also clean it while you are in there, but if you have been keeping good care of it and regularly dusting it (it sounds like you have), the cleaning part probably isn't necessary.

I have done it once before on my last gpu but I'd rather not as this is the only game with this issue.
If it starts happening in other games I guess I'll try that.
Thanks for taking the time for troubleshoot advice

[Wuorg]

Originally posted by wims:

Originally posted by Wuorg:

In that case, it sounds like your GPU is potentially overheating when under load. After a bit of searching, this kind of thing seems to be a recurring problem for Gigabyte GPUs. However, their warranty lasts for 4 years, so if the problem persists or gets worse, you might try contacting them for a replacement.

If you are comfortable with it, you could also open it up and replace the thermal pads and reapply thermal paste yourself and that will almost certainly fix the problem entirely. If you want to be extra sure, you could also clean it while you are in there, but if you have been keeping good care of it and regularly dusting it (it sounds like you have), the cleaning part probably isn't necessary.

I have done it once before on my last gpu but I'd rather not as this is the only game with this issue.
If it starts happening in other games I guess I'll try that.
Thanks for taking the time for troubleshoot advice

I just hope it was helpful!

Good luck!

[Jambie Lionheart]

Originally posted by wims:

Originally posted by Jambie Lionheart:

It sounds like either a cooling system problem or a program conflict on the pc itself.

Does it happen with any other games or any other programs? What exactly are you actively running while the game is on? you didn't mention number of CPU cores. How many do you have? If I assume just the one then that's almost guaranteed to be the problem because SoSE II is designed for multi-core.

What's a typical game set up for you? Larger maps and a higher player count demand more computer resources.

No other game has this issue. Programs I have running are firefox, voicemeter, discord, steam and the nvidia control panel.

In the specs section i put cpu i9 10900kf so 10 cores 20 threads and all cores are functioning on resource monitor.

I haven't even tried to play a game cause it kept crashing in tutorials so spent hours troubleshooting but i opened a large map just then and it was same usage.

I play, squad, bf2042, which is very cpu dependent now, call of duty, dota 2 and recently i played age of empires 4, age of mythology, space marine 2 and re2 remake. No game I've played on this PC since I built it has had this crashing issue with desktop windows manager.

Have you tried reducing the number of open programs to bare minimum required? So only the game itself and steam (plus background stuff, but i'm only really gunna count the stuff you activate yourself cuz I can't help you with core background programs).
If problem goes away when the other programs aren't running, try reactivating firefox (if you have voicemeter, are you also running video and/or audio recording software?). If the problem then re-occures the it means either the browser itself is interfering (very unlikely) or one of the extensions, perhaps even what ever websites you are on is causing interference/conflict on your computer, specifically with SoSE II. Out of all the programs you listed, I'd say firefox is the most likely cause.

It is possible that it could be an update issue as well. It's hard to tell on a custom built machine though. Could honestly bea million, billion different things.

[wims]

Originally posted by Jambie Lionheart:

Originally posted by wims:

No other game has this issue. Programs I have running are firefox, voicemeter, discord, steam and the nvidia control panel.

In the specs section i put cpu i9 10900kf so 10 cores 20 threads and all cores are functioning on resource monitor.

I haven't even tried to play a game cause it kept crashing in tutorials so spent hours troubleshooting but i opened a large map just then and it was same usage.

I play, squad, bf2042, which is very cpu dependent now, call of duty, dota 2 and recently i played age of empires 4, age of mythology, space marine 2 and re2 remake. No game I've played on this PC since I built it has had this crashing issue with desktop windows manager.

Have you tried reducing the number of open programs to bare minimum required? So only the game itself and steam (plus background stuff, but i'm only really gunna count the stuff you activate yourself cuz I can't help you with core background programs).
If problem goes away when the other programs aren't running, try reactivating firefox (if you have voicemeter, are you also running video and/or audio recording software?). If the problem then re-occures the it means either the browser itself is interfering (very unlikely) or one of the extensions, perhaps even what ever websites you are on is causing interference/conflict on your computer, specifically with SoSE II. Out of all the programs you listed, I'd say firefox is the most likely cause.

It is possible that it could be an update issue as well. It's hard to tell on a custom built machine though. Could honestly bea million, billion different things.

yea that's the problem with owning any PC even OEM ones instead of buying a console; the problem could be literally anything but at least in this case it's safe to assume it's this specific game not working properly with something that's causing dwm to crash, as this is the only time I've had an issue with this and I also found a thread where others had similar problems just there was no fix :(

Yea I tried without firefox and the only open programs were steam and nvidia control panel. Closed every background process that I could find that I knew wasn't necessary and still same problem. Good thing is it hasn't crashed for a while and i have firefox plus all the other programs running. I have no idea why it's not crashing but not complaining lol.