Random crashes and freezes workaround-fix - official thread

[hexaae]

(This discussion thread is about fixes for both Bioshock Remastered and Bioshock 2 Remastered)
Please test this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1659202156

[Napper]

Thanks but it didn't work for me. Tried 3 different saves near the start of the game. Played for less than a minute each time and it crashed.

[hexaae]

Please, check it's actually running on 2 cores (+2 logic cores if you have hyperthreading enabled) only. Keep Task Manager in background and log CPU activity then quit and verify cores activity.
What's your CPU exactly?

[Trapped in Purgatory]

Originally posted by hexaae:

Please test this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1659202156

They gave us the original too so that works fine.

[hexaae]

If you have the fix you don't need to play old downgraded version.

[TyrannoWright]

Is this suppose to be a Intel exclusive issue? Because I haven't got any crashing issues with the game on my side; using a Ryzen 5 1600 overclocked.

[hexaae]

Originally posted by TyrannoWright:

Is this suppose to be a Intel exclusive issue? Because I haven't got any crashing issues with the game on my side; using a Ryzen 5 1600 overclocked.

No, it happens also with AMD Ryzen + AMD gpus... the random crashes are just so randomic you can play it for days flawlessly, then all of a sudden it just crashes while playing like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O5EUOcZXrU (at 21:55)

But the good news is that my fix above seem to be effective.

[relikro]

its not working for me

[hexaae]

Originally posted by relikro:

its not working for me

Check it's actually running on 2 cores only, please. I've tested it on 3 different PCs (4/6/8 cores) and it works fine there without a single crash, finally.
Open Task Manager and keep it in background, play 3 minutes and quit back to desktop. From Task Manager only 2cores (+logical subunits) must have high graphs usage.

What's your CPU exactly?

EDIT:
Got no reply from those few just saying "it's not working" for them. Fake reports...?

[Napper]

Originally posted by hexaae:

Originally posted by relikro:

its not working for me

Check it's actually running on 2 cores only, please. I've tested it on 3 different PCs (4/6/8 cores) and it works fine there without a single crash, finally.
Open Task Manager and keep it in background, play 3 minutes and quit back to desktop. From Task Manager only 2cores (+logical subunits) must have high graphs usage.

What's your CPU exactly?

EDIT:
Got no reply from those few just saying "it's not working" for them. Fake reports...?

I've limited the CPU cores to 2 many times before on the Task Manager. And i assure you it still crashes on my system without fail. Some people just don't encounter the bug is all. Theres nothing special or new about this finding. People have suggested limiting CPU cores before and for some people it may work but its definitely not a "fix" for all

780SC GTX
Intel i5-2500K@4.4GHZ
Windows 10
16GB RAM

[hexaae]

The difference is that with my method you launch the task on 2 cores only, instead of forcing 2 cores later on (and I have no idea how internal MS Windows scheduler really works at this point).
There was nobody that could play from the beginning to the end this game without a single crash, don't believe those who say "Never crashed for me" (or maybe they had just 2 cores ;)).

But the point is that before this fix the game was crashing quite often for me too, but after this patch, simply... never again (I'm currently past 12h without a single crash, see my recent gameplay hours on my profile). Judging by the number of visits, downloads (with no negative comments), and favorites it seem to work fine also for others...

Since this game is so sensitive to cpu cores activity I won't be surprised it is also sensitive to OCed CPUs (your Intel i5-2500K is overclocked and should be max 3.7GHz in Turbo mode[ark.intel.com]).

If you tried to reduce cores AFTER the game was running from Task Manager, please try instead my workaround and START the game with limited cores, then if it doesn't work try to remove OC... Last thing: try with 2 or 1 cores only, maybe that will work in your special case. From prompt use this command for 1 core 2 threads only:

start /AFFINITY 0x03 Bioshock2HD.exe

(assuming Bioshock2HD.exe is the original game exe and not the fix replacement)

I defend my fix just because I was in the same situation, believe me, and this was the only solution that actually worked. As you can read in the (few) comments it also worked for others:

dokbanks 18 feb, ore 18:40
So far, so good, I'm at least past the boss fight in Sirens Alley now, where it was at a point where the game CTD regardless of whatever other fix I did. This is definitely progress! Thank you!!

[gabi_h]

My game just crashed after 4 hours of gameplay.

Windows 7 x64
Phenom II 960t (not overclocked)
RX 560D
8 GB RAM

[hexaae]

Originally posted by gabi_h:

My game just crashed after 4 hours of gameplay.

Windows 7 x64
Phenom II 960t (not overclocked)
RX 560D
8 GB RAM

Did it crash while playing or on launch/pressing Spacebar to start the game?
My workaround is just for in-game sudden crashes.

It's a 4 cores already (my workaround-fix won't have effect)....mmmh, please try reducing to 2 cores starting the game with

start /affinity 0x03 Bioshock2HD.exe

(assuming Bioshock2HD.exe is the original game exe and not the fix replacement).
Verify with Task Manager open on the desktop that the game is actually using limited cores.

Please, as a last chance try also these:

• delete %APPDATA%\BioshockHD\Bioshock2\Bioshock2SP.ini
  
• delete %USERPROFILE%\BioshockHD\BioShock2\SaveGames\*.* (recent savings first)
  
• delete ...\Steam\steamapps\common\BioShock 2 Remastered\ShaderCache
  
• reinstall DX using https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=35
  

[twitch.tv/Apryed]

I've played from start to end with only 3 crashes.

I adjust the CFG to use 4 cores instead of just 2.

Edit this file : %APPDATA%\BioshockHD\Bioshock2\Bioshock2SP.ini

Search for "HavokNumThreads=" under [Havok] and modify it to 4 (If you have 4 or more CPU Cores ).

Make sure "UseMultithreading" value is set to True

Also change "TextureStreamingMemoryLimit" to something inside you GPU RAM amout.

I got a GTX 650Ti Boost 2GB , so I set it to 2048. ( Probably I should have it a bit lower but It worked )

Set "TextureStreamingDistanceLimit" to 30K ( 30000 - If you GPU is good enought... )

And that should work. Good luck and Have fun.

[hexaae]

No, that is placebo: any change to the INI about threads has no effect on game stability. Idem for texture memory limit. This has been already investigated for years and conclusions are clear. They do nothing in the end and the game will still randomly crash.

You have to try with my fix.

[Random Hero - Allkeyshop]

How is the .exe a couple of KBs while the original .exe is 27 MBs? It doesn't even launch the game.