Game crashing PC randomly

[Cobalt6D]

I've seen a few posts relating to this, but never found a solution beyond adjusting settings with Nvidia cards, which I don't have. Sometimes, the game will just spontaneously crash my entire system. Usually it happens on startup, but sometimes mid-game too. It's also a recent problem. I've had the game and been playing it without problems for months, but within the past couple days, it's crashed my system around 8 times.

I'm running on an Intel i7 14700k with an RX 7800 XT and 32gb of ram. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Zloth]

Could be a recent drive update. I suppose it could be heat, but crashing on startup makes me dubious. Have you validated your files to make sure nothing got corrupted?

[Cobalt6D]

Originally posted by Zloth:

Could be a recent drive update. I suppose it could be heat, but crashing on startup makes me dubious. Have you validated your files to make sure nothing got corrupted?

Yes, I did that earlier. It isn't heat either. I've run it with iCue open to monitor temps. They all stay within normal ranges for the CPU and GPU

[Quasinerdo]

Only time I had this issue in the same specific way you describe was when playing the latest Jedi game (Jedi Outcast?) .

My GPU was failing. PC worked fine in all other respects but starting that game crashed it with the same pattern you describe.
Initially it was only Jedi Outcast and then it began to show up elsewhere. I RMA'd my card and it was correct that it was indeed a dud.

That's a very niche cause though and though I would look at software 1st as a cause it could be useful to re-seat your GPU and power cables on your PC - motherboard and GPU and powersupply.

Check if your CPU is in the batch that intel have identified as dodgy too - I don't know the details sorry, just that they have admitted a slow permanent forming defect on certain models. Gamers Nexus would be a good spot to go looking for info I reckon.

Having checked game files, reinstall GPU, audio and mouse drivers in case something has been altered there by windows.

It's a strange one and no doubt frustrating. You have my empathy and I'll keep an eye open for your replies to help more if I can.

I sincerely hope it isn't a hardware cause.

[tragickingdom]

I've had crashes with this game up until the very end (Burning Shore) when I got to the Epilogue playing the remaining side quests where I finally figured out my issue.

CPU: i5-12600K w/ OC, then later upgraded to a i9-12900KS
RAM: 32GB DDR4-3600 G.Skill OC to 3733 CL14-14-14-28: Gear 1: Real1
GPU: RX 7900 XTX default setting on Adrenalin 24.5.1 | Rage mode enabled on Burning Shore with 24.5.1

The above combo was the recipe for crash city, and by crashing. I'm talking about the game randomly closing down taking you back to the Desktop and displaying the SONY PS crash report window. I must have got the crash report window at least 35+ times throughout my game play.

Changes I made to my system to correct this issue: (TLDR: Run TestMem5 to make sure your Memory timings is Stable & update your Graphics driver to the latest version)

Initially while on my OC i5-12600K , I thought perhaps my manual OC was the cause, so this past month I updated the BIOS on my Pro Z690-A board so it would support the 12900KS (late March 2022 BIOS) and then picked up that CPU which only cost me $250 on Amazon.
With the 12900KS, I didn't have to mess with OC its clocks, but the HFW game crashing continued.
So I focused on memory, I was applying a hard 14-14-14-28: Gear1: Real1 timing to my G.Skill Trident Royals that were rated for C16 3600, that I was forcing 3733.
This passed the MemTest5 memory test back when using the i5 CPU, but when I ran it again, I discovered it was failing it.
So I did two things here, I moved my BIOS up from March 2022 to the July 2024 firmware. Since the only reason I was sticking to the old BIOS was because newer BIOS would not let me post with those timings above, but once I realized those tight timings were unstable, it made no point sticking to old firmware.
Now my memory timings are 14-16-16-38: Gear1: 2N , I also locked my ring ratio to 43, where I found it to be stable in running Cinebench 2024, any higher & Cinebench would crash.
Last was the GPU driver. Since I bought the 7900XTX this summer, I been using the May released 24.5.1 Adrenalin driver, disable auto-fan and using the default setting which is a simple fan-profile curve that ramps up as temps get higher. I found his kept my GPU between 40-50c during game-play in my Phanteks NV7 case.
But as usual crashes would randomly occur in HFW, sometimes the game will play for 45 min to an hour without a crash.
I went to 24.6.1 driver and saw with the same default fan profile have my temps now operate at 60-70c, and game crash in 5 minutes of playing. This led me to think there is something wrong with newest Adrenalin driver and I went back to 24.5.1.
But since stabilizing my DRAM OC with slightly looser timings and confirming it through the Mem5Test tool, the 24.7.1 driver is out and I took another chance on it.
This time I'm in Burning Shores DLC practically finished the game, just playing the side missions and I noticed my default temps are high again, but the game did not crash this time, also noticed my FPS was sitting comfortably between 85-95 (at 4K Max settings I play at) , which was a contrast from the 24.5.1 driver I used which forced me to enable Rage Mode from Default because the FPS was dipping below 60 at times in Burning Shores, but here on 24.7.1 driver at the Default profile with no Zero fan I was getting better performance out of it, and no more random crashes.

[X6205]

What about your CPU, it may be starting to degrade.. Are you aware of current Intel issues?

[RodroG]

Your i7-14700K is likely starting showing degradation issues.

• https://community.intel.com/t5/Processors/Microcode-0x129-Update-for-Intel-Core-13th-and-14th-Gen-Desktop/m-p/1622129
  
• https://community.intel.com/t5/Processors/June-2024-Guidance-regarding-Intel-Core-13th-and-14th-Gen-K-KF/m-p/1607807
  
• https://community.intel.com/t5/Processors/Additional-Warranty-Updates-on-Intel-Core-13th-14th-Gen-Desktop/m-p/1620853

[Mhill]

Not likely the 13th/14th Gen issue, since crashing in this game is pretty common even on 12th gen and before it. Which are not susceptible to the same issues currently on 13th/14th Gen. Besides you'd have far more than a CTD without errors if degradation was really the culprit.

[RodroG]

Originally posted by Mhill:

I've had the game and been playing it without problems for months, but within the past couple days, it's crashed my system around 8 times.

I'm running on an Intel i7 14700k with an RX 7800 XT and 32gb of ram. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Originally posted by Mhill:

Not likely the 13th/14th Gen issue, since crashing in this game is pretty common even on 12th gen and before it. Which are not susceptible to the same issues currently on 13th/14th Gen. Besides you'd have far more than a CTD without errors if degradation was really the culprit.

Yes, it's likely a CPU hardware instability issue (probably leading to some level of chip degradation as OP's CPU SKU is affected by the Intel Core 13th/14th Gen fiasco) when the crashes are so frequent and repeated from a certain point as OP reported.

By the way, I never experienced a single CTD in this game during my 180+ hours of playtime using an i9-12900K, RX 7900 XTX (Adrenalin 24.5.1), and 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600 CL14 XMP, Win11 Pro 23H2 latest build.

[Oxotnik]

I have same problem on 11400. It just crashes in some areas, or when u load same place many times.
Just finish game and delete it

[Mhill]

Originally posted by RodroG:

Originally posted by Mhill:

I've had the game and been playing it without problems for months, but within the past couple days, it's crashed my system around 8 times.

I'm running on an Intel i7 14700k with an RX 7800 XT and 32gb of ram. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Originally posted by Mhill:

Not likely the 13th/14th Gen issue, since crashing in this game is pretty common even on 12th gen and before it. Which are not susceptible to the same issues currently on 13th/14th Gen. Besides you'd have far more than a CTD without errors if degradation was really the culprit.

Yes, it's likely a CPU hardware instability issue (probably leading to some level of chip degradation as OP's CPU SKU is affected by the Intel Core 13th/14th Gen fiasco) when the crashes are so frequent and repeated from a certain point as OP reported.

By the way, I never experienced a single CTD in this game during my 180+ hours of playtime using an i9-12900K, RX 7900 XTX (Adrenalin 24.5.1), and 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600 CL14 XMP, Win11 Pro 23H2 latest build.

A fair few ppl in this thread do NOT have 13th/14th Gen. I do and i've had CTD but like everyone else it's not associated with any error whatsoever, event viewer says nothing either. The game does have a few issues here and there, there are optimisation issues in Burning Shores, there are black screen glitches when fast travelling randomly (more so on the lastest nvidia driver). Just because a game has a few crashes it's not automatically a degraded CPU, that's a damn stretch.

[Quasinerdo]

It's importnt to look at all possibilities and like diagnosing a disease you develop a list of provisional diagnoses from the information you have, and then you narrow down that list as you test and learn more.

What we do not have are crash logs telling us what is happening (eg GPU is resetting, or CPU is not responding in time). Can you run a test for FW or find logs for the game that it generates?


Without that specific info we can break down a basic diagnostic sieve.
IN ORDER OF ACTIONS TO TAKE:

1. a FW coding issue - look online for workarounds
(done)

2. A driver version issue - update drivers (not just GPU)

3. A bios settings issue - update and/or reset bios to most stable settings.
(I consider this a strong possibility of cause) Even Test mem on default NOT XMP.

4. A correctable Hardware fault - reseat memory, cards and importantly - power connectors.

5. Uncorrectable Hardware fault: Best detected with crash reports or DX diag etc.

This is the last thing to test because it means replacement and that means convincing that RMA is deserved - so above stuff is your evidence.

CPU IS on the list but hard to test - see how others confirm degradation and test that way.
GPU could be the issue and you will need reports on this.
RAM - run memtest.
MB- honestly hardest to tell but likely would be a problem broadly.



Making blanket statements will not help the OP or others who have crashes.

[RodroG]

Originally posted by Mhill:

Just because a game has a few crashes it's not automatically a degraded CPU, that's a damn stretch.

After the well-known issues with the Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors, and experiencing frequent crashes on an i9-14900K, it seems likely that there could be a sign of CPU instability or chip degradation. There may be other root causes for the crashing issue, but Intel Core 13th/14th Gen processor users should be concerned when they start experiencing consistent crashes while gaming. Surprisingly, some users still prefer to overlook or ignore such a widely acknowledged problem. Good luck OP, and I hope your issue gets sorted out, whatever the root cause is.

[acowsik]

Originally posted by RodroG:

Originally posted by Mhill:

Just because a game has a few crashes it's not automatically a degraded CPU, that's a damn stretch.

After the well-known issues with the Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors, and experiencing frequent crashes on an i9-14900K, it seems likely that there could be a sign of CPU instability or chip degradation. There may be other root causes for the crashing issue, but Intel Core 13th/14th Gen processor users should be concerned when they start experiencing consistent crashes while gaming. Surprisingly, some users still prefer to overlook or ignore such a widely acknowledged problem. Good luck OP, and I hope your issue gets sorted out, whatever the root cause is.

If your CPU is crashing in cinebench or a shader compilation process then definitely there is an issue with the CPU being unstable cos at 100% load on all cores if it cannot run stable unless you manually downclock it then yes it definitely needs replacing.

A random crash could be due to GPU overclock or a driver conflict or maybe even corrupt Windows files.

Check event viewer application and system logs when crashes happen to see if any errors are logged. Run a system scan (sfc /scannow) to see if any corrupted Windows files exist. Do a clean install of GPU drivers if need be. Hopefully all this will make things smoother.

[Aardvork]

I had random crashes since beginning, but now that i disabled memory XMP profile and run it base speeds, the crashes have dissapeared.

[Mhill]

Originally posted by olari2004:

I had random crashes since beginning, but now that i disabled memory XMP profile and run it base speeds, the crashes have dissapeared.

You sure your memory is on your motherboards QVL list? Also, make sure your not running some ludicrous speeds since the IMC might not be able to cope.