Help! The game keeps freezing my computer.

[Bluehairedgirl]

I'm not sure why but Heart of Iron 4 causes my computer screen to freeze up at random times while I am playing, sometimes it can go for hours without freezing and other times it will only play for a couple minutes before freezing up. I have tried simply letting the computer sit to see if that helps but it doesn't and the only way to get the computer working again is to shut the computer off and restart it. I love Hearts of Iron 4 and have managed to log in a some pretty good play time but this issue makes the game almost unplayable and I am growing increasingly concerned that having to restart my computer like that could cause damage to it. Is there is anywho who is having a similar problem to my own? I have tried without any luck to get onto the Paradox support forum and have had no luck. I really don't know what to do next.

[Benzin]

Can you ATL+TAB out of the game to shut it off, or is the PC locked up completely? what about audio? does the music still play or does it gets stuck in a loop?

If the whole computer gets locked down, cant alt tab out, mouse not responding, etc. Then im sorry to say there is a 90% chance you have a hardware issue. Like bad ram or something.

There are some free tools to check the memory IO systems on your PC, like most USB bootable linux distributions, i suggest you download one and try it, just to make sure.

hth

[BlackSmoke 🏴‍☠]

When computer freezes try this: press spacebar key to pause the game and wait, sometimes even for 2-5 min. It's the game unfreezed after this lapse of time?

This could happen when opening the production tab in example? If so everytime you need to enter there press spacebar key to pause the game and then enter production... until fixed.

[Bluehairedgirl]

Thank you very much for you response Benzin. And I cannot alt-tab out of the game and the music justs get stuck on one sound creating a decidedly annoying buzz so yeah, the songs don't complete. Which means if your that its most likely a hardware issue.

Which is a bit surprising to me considering that this doesn't happen with any of my other games but I guess it is certainly possible. One thing that I think might be the issue is that the Nividia graphics driver on my computer hasn't been updating recently, its a couple months behind and I suspect that might have something to do with it but I will certainly try that tools you recomended. Thank you again

[Bluehairedgirl]

Thank you BlackSmoke, I don't think that will help but I will certainly try it next time. Maybe, I'll get lucky.

[BlackSmoke 🏴‍☠]

Originally posted by Bluehairedgirl:

Thank you BlackSmoke, I don't think that will help but I will certainly try it next time. Maybe, I'll get lucky.

It happened to me in production tab and while in air mode. When freezes the system is not really hanged. This happens under certain circumstances when the year is advanced and you have a lot of production lines. In my case by presing pause and waiting unfreezed the system. In my case we are talking about of 1000+/1200+ factories more than 30-40-50 production lines etc.

[Benzin]

Originally posted by Bluehairedgirl:

Thank you very much for you response Benzin. And I cannot alt-tab out of the game and the music justs get stuck on one sound creating a decidedly annoying buzz so yeah, the songs don't complete. Which means if your that its most likely a hardware issue.

Which is a bit surprising to me considering that this doesn't happen with any of my other games but I guess it is certainly possible. One thing that I think might be the issue is that the Nividia graphics driver on my computer hasn't been updating recently, its a couple months behind and I suspect that might have something to do with it but I will certainly try that tools you recomended. Thank you again

Youre welcome.
I wish i could give more optimistic opinions, but for what you describe, it does sound like a HW issue.
My previous video card, nvidia would work perfectly fine with all my games, untill i attempted to play far cry 4. Then it would sometimes lock up the pc just as you describe.
I Replaced it with the nvidia gtx 750ti i have now, and the problem dissapeared.

Try upgrading your video drivers, with any luck its a driver issue. If that doesnt work, one thing you can do is, if you feel comfortable with hardware, remove your video card and try the game using your PCs built in video system (i assume it has one). Game will probably run like crap, but see if the freezing stops.

BTW, if it is in fact a video issue, be it hardware or driver, the tool i mentioned earlier (to test memory) wont work.

good luck!

[Bluehairedgirl]

Alright Benzin, I'm going to take my computer in to get it looked at by a professional because I am not very good with technology so I really shouldn't be muching around inside that. Hopefully they will be able to help me figure out exactly what is wrong with it.

Thank you so much, both of you for your advise. It really did help.

[Sleeper Agent]

I had this problem too. It must be pretty rare because you are literally the only other person I've seen who has this problem too. Try typing in -opengl (exactly like that) in the advanced launch options. That fixed the problem for me. Sorry for posting so late, but if you're still having the problem and are still interested in fixing it that may work for you too.

[lukas]

Originally posted by Vlad Pooty:

I had this problem too. It must be pretty rare because you are literally the only other person I've seen who has this problem too. Try typing in -opengl (exactly like that) in the advanced launch options. That fixed the problem for me. Sorry for posting so late, but if you're still having the problem and are still interested in fixing it that may work for you too.

Since the performance will suffer when you use OpenGL I'd consider contacting Paradox' support[www.paradoxplaza.com] to sort this out.

[Oleg Mongol]

Originally posted by Vlad Pooty:

I had this problem too. It must be pretty rare because you are literally the only other person I've seen who has this problem too. Try typing in -opengl (exactly like that) in the advanced launch options. That fixed the problem for me. Sorry for posting so late, but if you're still having the problem and are still interested in fixing it that may work for you too.

This fixed crashing for me too. Try it, OP.

[showares1]

Originally posted by Zhivets:

Originally posted by Vlad Pooty:

I had this problem too. It must be pretty rare because you are literally the only other person I've seen who has this problem too. Try typing in -opengl (exactly like that) in the advanced launch options. That fixed the problem for me. Sorry for posting so late, but if you're still having the problem and are still interested in fixing it that may work for you too.

This fixed crashing for me too. Try it, OP.

I'll try that with my game now, I hope it works!!