Application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware.

[Arkangel of Mono]

Semi-SOLVED: Using Huberspaces recommendation I changed the permission on the entire steam folder removing the read only tag. (If you have a lot of games this will take a while so you might want to try just doing the 7 days to die folder first and see if that works.)

UPDATE: After playing several hours there is some minifreezing lasting about 2-3 seconds every 6-8 minutes

Ok so this seems to be a common problem but the solutions offered to this don't seem to work for a lot of people including myself.

The problem started about a week ago where the game seemed to be trying to adjust the screen resolution every few minutes giving me a black screen and pausing for about 4-5 seconds while it adjusted despite the desktop and game running the same resolution.

I have since taken the following actions to try and correct the problem.
I updated my OS to Windows 10 Pro from Windows 7 pro. *(Also reinstalled with clean recovery)
I updated my graphics driver, uninstalled my graphics driver and reinstalled many times.
I updated my bios *(this showed the biggest improvement and now the game simply freezes for about 7-8 seconds with no black screen)
I implemented registry fixes recommended by others for TDR delay.
I disconnected a secondary monitor and am running on a single monitor now.
I ran the game in windowed mode
I have adjusted settings between low and high (this makes no difference and game is recoomended to run on ultra settings per the NVIDIA experience)
I have gone into local files and run in compatibility mode for Vista SP1 and Windows 8.
I have run the program as administrator
I have added and removed launch operation commands for direct draw and frame rate caps
I have checked and verified the local file cache with no files missing
I also manually removed the graphics card from the slot and plugged it into the slot again to make sure there were no loose connections
I blew out the box itself thoroughly (it was pretty dusty)
I also removed the cover of my tower and set up a box fan to blow into it in order to reduce temperature while playing but this seems to have no effect.
While running the game in windowed mode I have the task manager up and watch the CPU and GPU usage. After about 5-10 minutes of the game running smoothly the GPU will jump from running about 20-30% to 100% and the freezing occurs. I'm not doing anything intensive in the game when this occurs typically just walking around or collecting grass with my hands.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

My specs and equipment
Case: Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 CC-9011034-WLED Silver Steel ATX Cube Computer Case
Motherboard: ASUS SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK2 LGA 1150 Motherboard
GPU: EVGA EVGA GTX980 Superclocked ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 256bit, DVI-I, DP x 3, HDMI, SLI Ready Graphics Card Graphics Cards 04G-P4-2983-KR
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB Memory (2 sticks of 8 gb each)
Monitor: ASUS VX238H Black 23" 1ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight Monitor
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM0012TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA HD
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K Haswell Quad-Core 4.0GHz LGA
Solid State Drive: Corsair Force LX Series CSSD-F256GBLX 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Cooling: Corsair CO-9050035-WW Air Series SP140 140mm White LED High Static Pressure Case Fan - x8
CD Drive: ASUS Black SATA Blu-ray Burner Optical
CPU cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO Processor Cooling
Power supply: CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W Powersupply
OS: Windows 10 pro (previously Windows 7 Pro)

[Huperspace]

dxdiag pls

What do you mean with reinstall with clean recovery? Installed win7 again and upgrade later or downloaded the lastest Win10 iso with media tool and made a clean install. (only important data backup before)

Have you diabled all unneeded overlays (Shadowplay share, Windows game bar)
Have you except all the steam libary from AV? (or deactivate it)
Have the save folder read and write permission.

[SylenThunder]

Disable the Steam overlay. If you have MSI Afterburner or Evga Precision installed, remove them.

[Arkangel of Mono]

Changing the folder setting for the entire steam file folder seems to have worked. I still have freezing on respawn for about a second or two but I can deal with that at least.

You are a game saver sir. Thank you so much.

[Arkangel of Mono]

UPDATE: After playing several hours there is some minifreezing lasting about 2-3 seconds every 6-8 minutes

[YamaKami]

Originally posted by arkangelgofgmono:

UPDATE: After playing several hours there is some minifreezing lasting about 2-3 seconds every 6-8 minutes

Monitor your CPU/GPU temps, it may be time to dust and/or redo thermal paste. Typically this is a RAM issue. But with 16GB, unless one of the two 8GB sticks is faulty it should not be that.

[Arkangel of Mono]

Any recommendation for Temp monitoring programs?

[YamaKami]

Originally posted by arkangelgofgmono:

Any recommendation for Temp monitoring programs?

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

[Arkangel of Mono]

hmmm after a few minutes they have gone from 80s F to as high as 111 F.

[YamaKami]

F? really....

[YamaKami]

Originally posted by arkangelgofgmono:

hmmm after a few minutes they have gone from 80s F to as high as 111 F.

so after some math (not really just google converted it lol) that is 43.8889C so we'll call it 44C, and CPU you have is good to 90C before throttling occurs. GPU is safe up to 80C too. So likely not a thermal issue unless the longer play times show a mark increase in temps.

[Arkangel of Mono]

Sorry to get back to this thread after so long but I bricked my motherboard and had to replace it. (my own fault removed the CPU and bent a pin) now I have an MSI Z97 Gaming 5 motherboard installed.

I am still having the problem but much worse now with complete freezing and having to exit the game via the x in the upper right hand corner in windowed mode. Full screen will not run at all. To compound the problem now with my new motherboard my OS Windows 10 thinks its been installed in a new computer and wants me to buy a new copy. (F^ck my life right?)

The CPU temps still seem to be about the same. What program should I use to monitor the GPU temp?

[Arkangel of Mono]

Ok so using MSI kombuster I see when it freezes I get a notice saying that the GPU voltage max has been reached. Temp gets up to 66 C.

[YamaKami]

Originally posted by arkangelgofgmono:

Sorry to get back to this thread after so long but I bricked my motherboard and had to replace it. (my own fault removed the CPU and bent a pin) now I have an MSI Z97 Gaming 5 motherboard installed.

I am still having the problem but much worse now with complete freezing and having to exit the game via the x in the upper right hand corner in windowed mode. Full screen will not run at all. To compound the problem now with my new motherboard my OS Windows 10 thinks its been installed in a new computer and wants me to buy a new copy. (F^ck my life right?)

The CPU temps still seem to be about the same. What program should I use to monitor the GPU temp?

Please do an updated dxdiag for further assistance with this.