"GPU device instance has been suspended" Error

[jnjmitch]

90% of the time the game runs perfectly. But I get an occasional error of "GPU device instance has been suspended", crashing the game. Seems like it occurs a lot more often on the Death Star missions (specifically B-Wing historical missions 5 and 6).

I'm running the following specs:

Windows 10
Geoforce 9400 GT Video card
Processor Intel Core i3 CPU 540 @ 3.07GHz, 3067 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
8GM RAM

I've read several recommendations that say to underclock my video card by 10-20 mhz. Any suggestions on that?

Please help. Love this game and want to get back to it.

Also, will all of the X-Wing games in the bundle that I purchased from Steam run on these specs?

[J-Omega]

I believe the suite of X-Wing games should run if X-Wing runs. In regards to your graphics issues - do you have problems with any other games on that OS? As I'm sure you're aware, the 9400GT is a few families behind and my first suspicion would be a driver compatibility issue between the card, the OS, and the necessary backwards compatibility finagling required by both to get the game running properly. Don't get me wrong - I ran two 9800GT's in SLI for years up to late 2016 and they still ran fine. Hell, I'm still on a Phenom II 980 BE circa 2011 and it still handles the vast majority of games without a hiccup so kudos to you for keeping legacy going. However, given the age of the card with the OS and the antiquity of the game, I would poke around for FX card driver updates or maybe even a rollback to some legacy ones.

In regards to underclocking the card - yeah why not give it a whirl just to see? To do so either download MSI afterburner (I use it for my GTX 960 and it works without issues) or just download the overclocking tool for your FX card's manufacturer. I usually run with EVGA Nvidia cards and I know EVGA has a specific program called Precision that is used for OCing. It's free and I believe it's even in the Steam store. If for some reason you can't locate your manufacturer's OC tools, I would try MSI Afterburner. It's always worked well on my Nvidia FX cards regardless of who manufactured it. Good luck!

[jnjmitch]

Thank you J-Omega! I'm really only playing older generation games on this PC- Age of Empires III, Civ V and now X-Wing. No real problems on those others.

I got MSI afterburner. I set the core clock to 530 Mhz (initial was 550). Do I do anything with the Memory clock (currently at 499 mhz)?

[J-Omega]

No problem. You can underclock the memory too if you want to try and see if it helps but generally the biggest swings in performance will come from adjusting the core clock speed. I never have had to really underclock so I can't provide much guidance but when you overclock you increase the core speed by smaller amounts, say 5 MHz at a time whereas memory clock speeds are adjusted in 25-50MHz increments. I would imagine underclocking would follow the same principle. When adjusting GPU speeds it's really just trial and error so if it doesn't work with the first settings, keeping adjusting in the increments mentioned and try again. I would just research whether or not underclocking can damage the card at a certain point and then go to town with it. Good luck!

[jnjmitch]

So I've underclocked my video card to various degrees. Updated DirextX. Video card drivers are current. Still get the same error. :( Any other suggestions? I REALLY? want to play this game.

[J-Omega]

Not really man - google will be your best guide at this point. If I were in your shoes and I wanted to play this (admittedly amazing) game, I would:

A) Find the oldest available drivers for your FX card and rollback to those
B) Reinstall the game and then try both FX drivers starting with the oldest
C) Reformat my PC and reinstall the game with the oldest drivers you found without installing (borderline) anything else to prevent potential compatibility issues
D) Just buy the game on GOG. It's cheap enough. You may want to skip to this if you value your time over the few bucks it will cost to buy again.

*Note: change your fan speed around in MSI afterburner to confirm it's actually controlling your card. Just push it to 100% for a few seconds and if the fan goes bananas, you know it's working.

That's all I got man. Good luck!

[jnjmitch]

Thanks J. What's GOG? I'd be willing to buy a copy if it's more likely to work.

[J-Omega]

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