Crash on launch when using NVIDIA GPU - anybody knows why?

[BLUE_CAT]

So my laptop has 2 GPUS - Intel HD 630 and NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti.
When I choose to use the Intel GPU, it starts and works as normally, but the performance isn't the best.
When I try to use the NVIDIA GPU it just... crashes straight after starting it? I just see the background picture and "has stopped working" message.

I am running Windows 10.

Thanks.

[Captain.Scarlet]

Do you have the latest driver from Nvidia as the Windows driver from Windows update doesn't work well with dual gpu systems. Do you have a profile setup in Nvidia Control panel for Sven Co-op?

[Adambean]

I've got a 1060 (6GB edition), and it seems to work rather perfectly, so your line should also be very compatible. As Captain Scarlet mentioned ensure you have nVidia issued drivers. Personally I use version 398.36 because I found anything since 400 wasn't very stable. (Occasional hard system lock-ups.)

You can search for an exact version here:
https://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/Find.aspx

You may need to disable your IGP entirely either via your system's BIOS/UEFI setup utility (pre-boot) or via Windows' Device Manager to ensure only the nVidia path is being used.

[BLUE_CAT]

Originally posted by Captain.Scarlet:

Do you have the latest driver from Nvidia as the Windows driver from Windows update doesn't work well with dual gpu systems. Do you have a profile setup in Nvidia Control panel for Sven Co-op?

I have Windows Update turned off completely since I installed my Win10, so no chances of it getting wrong drivers, and I am running the latest NVIDIA driver AFAIK. Here's the info:

NVIDIA System Information report created on: 04/18/2021 19:39:04
System name: QUICKSILVER

[Display]
Operating System:	Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB, 64-bit
DirectX version:	12.0 
GPU processor:		NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Driver version:		466.11
Driver Type:		Standard
Direct3D feature level:	12_1
CUDA Cores:		768 
Core clock:		1493 MHz 
Memory data rate:	7.01 Gbps
Memory interface:	128-bit 
Memory bandwidth:	112.13 GB/s
Total available graphics memory:	12100 MB
Dedicated video memory:	4096 MB GDDR5
System video memory:	0 MB
Shared system memory:	8004 MB
Video BIOS version:	86.07.45.00.28
IRQ:			Not used
Bus:			PCI Express x16 Gen3
Device Id:		10DE 1C8C 07FB1028
Part Number:		2904 0001

[Components]

nvui.dll		8.17.14.6611		NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component
nvxdplcy.dll		8.17.14.6611		NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component
nvxdbat.dll		8.17.14.6611		NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component
nvxdapix.dll		8.17.14.6611		NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component
nvCplUIR.dll		8.1.940.0		NVIDIA Control Panel
nvCplUI.exe		8.1.940.0		NVIDIA Control Panel
nvWSSR.dll		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA Workstation Server
nvWSS.dll		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA Workstation Server
nvViTvSR.dll		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA Video Server
nvViTvS.dll		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA Video Server
nvDispSR.dll		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA Display Server
NVMCTRAY.DLL		26.21.14.4223		NVIDIA Media Center Library
nvDispS.dll		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA Display Server
nvDevToolSR.dll		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA Licensing Server
nvDevToolS.dll		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA 3D Settings Server
PhysX		09.19.0218		NVIDIA PhysX
NVCUDA64.DLL		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA CUDA 11.3.70 driver
nvGameSR.dll		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA 3D Settings Server
nvGameS.dll		27.21.14.6611		NVIDIA 3D Settings Server

Originally posted by Adambean:

I've got a 1060 (6GB edition), and it seems to work rather perfectly, so your line should also be very compatible. As Captain Scarlet mentioned ensure you have nVidia issued drivers. Personally I use version 398.36 because I found anything since 400 wasn't very stable. (Occasional hard system lock-ups.)

You can search for an exact version here:
https://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/Find.aspx

You may need to disable your IGP entirely either via your system's BIOS/UEFI setup utility (pre-boot) or via Windows' Device Manager to ensure only the nVidia path is being used.

This is a laptop with dual GPU, so there are no options in BIOS to turn off the IGP completely. Afraid to turn off the driver on Device Manager because it would probably screw everything up!

I noticed I have the same issue on CS 1.6 and regular HL - runs perfect on IGP, but when I select to use the NVIDIA GPU it crashes.

[Captain.Scarlet]

If Windows update is off then Not sure why you wouldn't want security and bug fixes but I would recommend you ensure Windows has the latest patches and you are on a supported version of Windows 10.

[Adambean]

What laptop is this mixing IGP and nVidia..? If the 1050 Ti is able to output to the main laptop screen at all times there's no reason to have the IGP enabled at all, unless it saves battery, but given you have a laptop with two GPUs I suspect battery capacity is not a concern. (Much like my Dell XPS M1730 with two GeForce 8700M in SLI from 2008.)

[BLUE_CAT]

Originally posted by Captain.Scarlet:

If Windows update is off then Not sure why you wouldn't want security and bug fixes but I would recommend you ensure Windows has the latest patches and you are on a supported version of Windows 10.

I always turn off automatic updates after an installation since WinXP. Never have I encountered any bugs that would actually need fixing. Updates just randomly slow down the computer and screw your Windows configuration for no reason just to make you angry and slow down the performance to fix "security issues". What a load of rubbish!

Originally posted by Adambean:

What laptop is this mixing IGP and nVidia..? If the 1050 Ti is able to output to the main laptop screen at all times there's no reason to have the IGP enabled at all, unless it saves battery, but given you have a laptop with two GPUs I suspect battery capacity is not a concern. (Much like my Dell XPS M1730 with two GeForce 8700M in SLI from 2008.)

Yeah I guess back then there were actually useful options available in BIOS, mine is very simple and dumbed down.

There is no option in anything related to a GPU, whether integrated or dedicated. It is one of the "gaming" laptops that have NVIDIA Optimus which allows to use the dedicated GPU for specific programs using the NVIDIA Control Panel. I have the specs below:

Summary
		Operating System
			Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB 64-bit
		CPU
			Intel Core i7 7700HQ @ 2.80GHz	54 °C
			Kaby Lake 14nm Technology
		RAM
			16.0GB Dual-Channel Unknown @ 1197MHz (17-17-17-39)
		Motherboard
			Dell Inc. 0NGX46 (U3E1)	25 °C
		Graphics
			Generic PnP Monitor (1920x1080@60Hz)
			Intel HD Graphics 630 (Dell)
			4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Dell)	42 °C
			ForceWare version: 466.11
			SLI Disabled
		Storage
			931GB Samsung SSD 870 EVO 1TB (SSD)	25 °C
			931GB Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB (Unknown)
		Optical Drives
			No optical disk drives detected
		Audio
			Realtek Audio
Generated with Speccy v1.31.732

I know my issue might be overly specific and probably not easily fixable or worth your time but thanks for helping. I will try to downgrade the NVIDIA driver to pre-400 version to see if it fixes things.
Thanks again!

[Adambean]

NVIDIA Optimus

Not heard of this. I'll have a read.

[H2]

Oh boy, an Optimus setup, that's going to be a tough one to deal with. :x

Originally posted by Adambean:

NVIDIA Optimus

Not heard of this. I'll have a read.

It's basically an Nvidia-special way for letting Intel IGPs and Nvidia GPUs share the same PCI-e link through some fancy-pants (and very proprietary) link handoff scheme if I'm not mistaken. I've heard of this being a gaming nuisance not just for Linux, but just about every OS out there so OP might be out of luck on this one, sadly.

[Adambean]

Oh okay that explains it[en.wikipedia.org]. I doubt anyone on the team has such hardware to test this on.

[H2]

Well, I kind of have a laptop lying around that relies on Optimus technology but it's about 4 generations older than OP's system, meaning that there are no guarantees that I'd be able to replicate the issue on it due to driver differences.

[BLUE_CAT]

Originally posted by H²:

Well, I kind of have a laptop lying around that relies on Optimus technology but it's about 4 generations older than OP's system, meaning that there are no guarantees that I'd be able to replicate the issue on it due to driver differences.

I remember being able to use the NVIDIA GPU for Half-Life, CS 1.6 and Sven-Coop on my old Optimus laptop (if I remember correctly, i5-2410M and GeForce GT 520M, 4GB RAM) running Win7 64bit. However, that was probably 8 years ago. I guess it is something that Win10 is screwing up or something with the drivers or something about OpenGL... who knows.

If you have time you could test it on your old laptop and see if it runs on your specs.

[BLUE_CAT]

OK this just in, I turned off the "Threaded optimization" option in NVIDIA Control Panel, and managed to start the game and crash with a crash report! I could hear the main menu music but after pressing OK it just closes. Is there anywhere I can find this crash report and upload it here?
Here's a screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/M0ZxYnc.png

[Adambean]

Those crash reports are located in the "dumps" folder within your Steam application root.

Contrary to the message Steam will only bother to send us a copy of a crash dump when they occur "frequent enough". Apparently this is 10 times a day but I'm yet to see this materialise.

[BLUE_CAT]

Originally posted by Adambean:

Those crash reports are located in the "dumps" folder within your Steam application root.

Contrary to the message Steam will only bother to send us a copy of a crash dump when they occur "frequent enough". Apparently this is 10 times a day but I'm yet to see this materialise.

I have uploaded the dumps here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0tzep311w4ejt15/dumps.zip

I tried opening them with Notepad++ but it is unreadable. Hopefully you have more luck than me. Thanks for trying to help!

[Adambean]

Looks like you've included a bunch of Half-Life crash dumps too. We can't look into those.

The Sven Co-op crash dumps are all pointing at a library named "nvwgf2um.dll", which belongs to nVidia, so we can't debug issues inside that library specifically. I noticed your Half-Life dumps point to the same nVidia library with the same exception code (0xc0000005) too, which tells me this isn't a Sven Co-op fault.

I think nVidia will have to look into this one as their library is closed source. You may get some answers with a search for "nvwgf2um.dll opengl crash 0xc0000005". Did you try downgrading your nVidia drivers to pre-400 yet?