Freezing mid move, DX11 driver errors, and crashing on exit!

[Nats]

My Civ 6 game keeps freezing at random moments usually when I try to make one of my units move I think - the fan speeds up and the screen just freezes only way to get out is to reboot. Other times I get the message saying I need to update my cards DX11 drivers (which is rubbish) after which I think it then crashes to the desktop, that can happen at any time. And other times it freezes when I try to exit the game back to the desktop at the end of my session and again only way to get out is a reboot after that. All in all after around 50 hrs of play the game has crashed around 10-15 times in one of the above ways which is not that great.

I havent seen anything like this in any of the other games I own - far more graphically intensive games as well like Project Cars 2 which never crashes.

This game does seem extremely harsh on the GPU and CPU processors as well but there doesnt seem to be anything going on to cause this other than minor animations. You might expect this on a real time game not a turn based game. I dont experience this in Hearts of Iron 4 for example.

So yeah something is not right with this game at all. I've rechecked my files in Steam etc cant think what it can be but all these crashes are very disruptive to my enjoyment of this game. Cant recommend it as it stands. Its not unplayable but its not enjoyably stable either, and not very well built considering the price of the game I think.

I would like to know if the new patch that accompanies the release of the new expansion will fix any of these constant crashes please Firaxis?

[Nats]

Could anyone else who is getting one of these threetypes of crashes report below so we can see how many are experiencing them, I know its a fair few from all the other posts Ive seen but we should try to keep these all in one post..

[Nats]

Further invesitgation seems to show that this issue is prevalent with the Nvidea 900 series cards and I have a 960 - anyone else getting these crashes with this card?

[Nats]

Just in case anyone else is experiencing these problems heres what the publishers mentioned I might try. Of the steps below reinstalling directx and vcredist are most interesting to me as I had already done the cache and dont have any mods. I will report back if I get any more errors after doing these. The last one running Steam as adminisatrator doesnt seem to work for me - doesnt let me get to the Steam Store:

• Unsubscribe from mods
With the release of the latest update, many mods become incompatible with Civilization VI until their respective creators update them so these can easily cause issues when trying to play the game. For this reason it is highly recommended to always unsubscribe from mods when troubleshooting to ensure they are not the cause of the issue to begin with. To do so;
1. Go into the Steam Workshop
2. Click "Browse" and on "Your Subscriptions"
3. Unsubscribe from all mods in that list
Once complete, continue with the below troubleshooting steps in the order they appear in;

• Verifying Game Cache
1. Load Steam.
2. From the Library section, right-click on the game and select “Properties” from the menu.
3. Select the “Local files” tab and click the “Verify integrity of game cache” button.
4. Steam will match the local files to the cloud files, and fix any errors it encounters.

• Reinstalling DirectX
1. In the Steam installation folder of the game you’re having trouble with, there will be typically be a DirectX setup package.
2. Example file path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meiers Civilization VI\_CommonRedist\DirectX\Jun2010\
3. Find and run DXSETUP.exe
4. Reboot the computer (mandatory)

• Reinstalling Vcredist
1. Navigate to your game’s Steam folder – there will typically be a Vcredist folder.
2. Example file path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meiers Civilization VI\vcredist\\_CommonRedist\2012
3. Find and Run vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
4. Should the files already be installed, you will be prompted to either ‘uninstall’ or ‘repair’. Choose ‘*repair*’.
5. Reboot the computer (mandatory)
6. Afterward, do the same for those located in the 2015 folder. Ex: : C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meiers Civilization VI\vcredist\\_CommonRedist\2015

• Run Steam as Administrator
1. Completely exit the Steam client.
2. Right click on Steam.exe
3. Select "Run as administrator"

[Nats]

These didnt make any difference game still crashed again today. I now think it must be the game itself as it cannot possibly be my hardware - no other games I have crashed out like this one does. I can play Endless Space 2, Hearts of Iron 4 and Project Cars 2 etc all day with no issues at all.

Anyway I have just given all my files to the devs and will report back here on what they find if anything. Definitely there is at least one crash from yesterday in the msinfo file regarding Civ 6 I noticed.

The only thing I definitley notice makes a difference to some of the crashes is reducing my graphics settings a bit - AA to 4x not 8x, high settings not ultra. But this game does really tax the GPU - fan goes pretty fast the whole time its running. Which is strange considering its not a massively graphically intensive game. I have noticed several people report having problems in this game with similar Nvidea 900 series cards as well.

[Nats]

Right I tried everything 2k advised me to do - verified the cache after doing a clean boot, checked for errors, reinstalled directx and vcredist even cleaned out my computer dust to improve ventilation etc. And guess what - my computer crashed again today with the same message update your driver files. So nothing worked. My computer is fully up to date and clean. Is quite fast, it works well in many other games and Ive never had this message come up before in any other game.

So after all that I can only determine that it is this game that is at fault. Its got to be! It may be some unusual code that is conflicting with my hardware or whtever but whatever it is it is definitely something that is in this games code and not my computer that is at fault.

And you know what? I knew it was. From the first time I got the first freeze/crash. Because why? Because everytime I have had the same thing happen in other games many years ago it has always been the game that has been at fault. And its always a sign of poor programming.

And I mean its got to be this game anyway because the fan is whirring around whilst its running! But the game doesnt have anyhting in it to tax it really.

So seriously Firaxis/2k - get your game fixed please because this aint good enough for an expensive game like this. Yes it may only mean I lose out on a single turn but that still is a pain. AND it shouldnt be happening.

You want money for your expansion - get your game fixed!!

[Nats]

Last post about this for the moment - I reckon these crashes make be down to Directx12. There arent many games around for DX12 yet. It uses more GPU and relieves the CPU of work so that will mean the GPU is working harder. I reckon the higher stress on the GPU of many older cards is causing them to overheat as they are working at 100% all the time with this game. The solution may be to try using the DX11 shortcut instead and see how that works. I am going to try it for a few weeks and see if that makes a difference. You have to manually choose the DX11 shortcut in the gmae folder if you want to use that one as I believe the game defaults to DX12 if it detects a DX12 card in your system.

[Sztachu]

I have the same problem - random driver crash. I have NVIDIA 980. I've tried every possible solutions. Any other games I can play without issues.

[donald23]

Originally posted by Nats:

Last post about this for the moment - I reckon these crashes make be down to Directx12. There arent many games around for DX12 yet. It uses more GPU and relieves the CPU of work so that will mean the GPU is working harder. I reckon the higher stress on the GPU of many older cards is causing them to overheat as they are working at 100% all the time with this game. The solution may be to try using the DX11 shortcut instead and see how that works. I am going to try it for a few weeks and see if that makes a difference. You have to manually choose the DX11 shortcut in the gmae folder if you want to use that one as I believe the game defaults to DX12 if it detects a DX12 card in your system.

Nope, game always runs DX11, unless you actually manually choose the DX12 executable from the Steam launch menu. (or changed a bunch of launch options).

Otherwise it always launches the DX11 version.

[Nats]

Yes well my game crashed again yesterday and I realised when the message came up about the graphics driver that yes it was in fact running in Directx11 mode by default. I think I must have chosen that option when I first got the game. If you add the launch instruction -dx12 to the Steam program it will ask you whether you want to start up in dx12 mode.

So I am now trying the Directx12 version. See if that works better. After changing I didnt have any more crashes yesterday but have to try it a lot more yet. Didnt notice any appreciable differences between DX11 and DX12 mind.

I know it crashed pretty quickly in DX11 mode once I set the AA to 8x and the graphics to 'ultra', and crashed after a while even at 4xAA and 'high', so I think I will try some high graphics settings in DX12 mode later today just to see if its more stable or not and how fast the fan works, but yesterday the fan seemed quieter in DX12 mode strangely.

[Nats]

Just an update - after changing to the DX12 version of the game my game seems stable now - no crashes at all over the last three days. So anyone getting crashes with the default DX11 version and getting the 'directx11 driver error' coming up try the DX12 version if youhave a DX12 card. Just put '-dx12' into the launch options in Steam properties for the game (without quotes) and select the DX12 version of the game if a box comes up asking which you want to run when you start the game.

Certainly it seems to have fixed my game thank god (it will probably crash tonight after saying that!)

[Martin]

Yep.. I wonder if the Amd compatiblity makes it run better for me in dx12 mode or if it's just chance. But I still get the random crash unless I reload saved games every 150 or so turns.

Tried everything you have listed as well as O/s reinstalls, only run basic windows and steam and just civ 6 and it still happens. This is with Win Def completely disabled and no addiutional av installed.

The game is just buggy.. the exit from menu crash is the worst part tho, esp since they managed to fix it for awhile.

[Nats]

Right I have done a load of testing today and this is how the game stands between Dx11 and Dx12 versions using many different settings. First of all what I said above about getting Dx12 to run was a load of rubbish. Doesnt matter what shortcut you choose Dx11 always runs. The only two ways to get Dx12 to run are:

1. Enter this line into the launch window in Steam properties itself (changed to suit your own steam directory location) :

"D:\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Binaries\Win64Steam\CivilizationVI_DX12.exe" %command%

2. Select the play button from inside Steam to launch the game, not a shortcut, in which case it asks whether you want to play the dx11 or dx12 version.

You can find out which version you are running by opening Task Manager during the game and that will tell you the versionthat is running.

So which version is best:

Well I tried Dx12 and noted that when zoomed out the GPU is running at 100% and the CPU at around 55% when my settings were 4xAA and High. When I zoomed in the GPU went down a bit (less animations showing I guess). BUT when I changed to Ultra settings and 8xAA and zoomed out my game changed to a crawl - its was really really bad!

So then I tried Dx11 and did the same. On both Ultra and High settings, 4xAA and 8xAA my game was smooth panning around and generally playing. The GPU was around 62% and the CPU around 48%. When zoomed in they went down again but there was less difference to the DX12 results when zoomed in.

Also when comparing the differnce between High and Ultra - well there was no appreciable difference to the graphics to be honest. The leader animations flicker a tiny bit more on High than Ultra but thats about it. Whereas 8xAA did make the map graphics a tiny tiny bit more sharp but again hardly noticeable at all.

So the result of all of this is that Dx11 is definitely better for a smoother game, the graphics are no different between the two versions and Dx11 allows you to put your settings higher as it spreads the load more between CPU and GPU rather than putting too much load on the GPU (for me).

So I am going to try the game at Dx11 from now on, probably with 8xAA and High settings which seems to be the best compromise between good graphics and smooth gameplay.

Finally the freezing/crashes - how the heck did my game stop crashing if I was still using Dx11 all the time and not Dx12?

Well I think it has simply come down to one thing - refresh rate. The only thing I changed between having the crashesand not having crashes with Dx11 was that I changed my refresh rate up from 60Mhz to 99 Mhz. That one thing seems to have prevented any more freezing or crashes (none for four days now). I have noticed in other games my computer seems to have problems with 60Mhz refresh rate. I have no idea why this is but it seems to work.

So there you go. Hopefully this has helped someone, sorry its long winded!

[CoupedeGrace]

Hello, I have a similar issue where around turn 75+ I get a message stating that civilization 6 dx is not responding. It Grey's the game screen out and last for a 10 to 30 seconds. I've ran civ 6 on 3 different computers, the latest has a GTX 1060 GPU. I figured it was a throttling issue, but this PC should be able to handle it fine.

[piway]

same issue, so unplayable!!!
I'm playing with a friend and at every game, it's become unplayable after 1h of game : DX.. is not responding (i try with DX11 and DX12).
I build my computer in january with all last components and it's the ONLY game i have an issue!