Game crashing & shutting down PC

[Taris]

There's a whole bunch of posts on this topic, and I've read many dismissive answers like "upgrade your potato" or "user error", and other unhelpful BS. So I did some digging to see where this problem might originate.

Identifying the Error

First of all I went into my own Crash Logs at

c:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Hogwarts Legacy\Saved\Crashes

to find the

CrashUserData.json

files. These files contain details about the crashes and can help ascertain the reason.

In my case, the ErrorMessage property read the following:

LowLevelFatalError [File:Unknown] [Line: 197] 
Ran out of memory allocating 12587008 bytes with alignment 0

Okay, so a case of running out of memory while trying to allocate (reserve a chunk of memory), and the call originated in an unknown file (meaning, the crash logger had no access to the filename property). This indicates, with high degree of probability, that the code which issued the memory allocation is custom-written, outside of the standard game engine framework. Alternatively, because the line number is known, it could be contained within an anonymous function (still a part of custom code, frameworks don't do this) which is why the filename is "Unknown" but line number is.

Learning more about the error

Because Hogwarts Legacy runs on Unreal Engine (UE), I focused my search on UE resources, specifically UE Reddit and UE Developers Forum on EPIC. And quite easily I could find a number of developer posts that describe this very same problem. They're running into the "Ran out of memory allocating x bytes with alignment code 0" error, and it causes a number of critical problems,

This error happens at specific times; in my case it's when loading a specific cutscene animation - the flying coach attacked by a dragon, right after the studio's credits. Others may encounter it at different moments. That's because each of these scenes is being rendered on-the-fly in UE, they're not pre-rendered videos. As such, they should (note I say "should") be subject to ingame video preferences such as raytracing, detail level, AA etc.

Having filtered out a number of not quite related "out of memory" posts, I found several others that may be closely tied to the problem I am experiencing. Without bothering you too much with technical details or lengthy quotes of development gobbledygook (fun fact: all programmers speak fluent Gobbledygook, did you know?), I'll list just a few possibilities that match the symptoms.

Possible Causes Matching the Symptoms

1. Attempting to read/write a property of an object before declaration of component variables or before said object is defined, or on an object that has no holder and gets trashed by GarbageCollector. This is by far the most likely cause, and the most frequent problem on UE discussions.
   
2. Similar to above, attempting to read/write a property of an object that is undefined because internal project structure has changed and the resources were not properly re-linked. Essentially the same as "empty/undefined object" but with a specific cause.
   
3. Attempting to allocate empty data.
   
4. Attempting to load unreasonably large resource in one go, e.g. an extra high-res 3d model or a texturepack. Neither ought to be happening because the engine should be subject to video preferences (e.g. Medium res textures instead of Ultra).

And these are only a few that I would consider "hot candidates". I'm sure there's a lot more possibilities.

Conclusion

Regardless of which one it is, here's the answer: The game crashing and invoking system exceptions is very likely caused by the game itself.

The above statement is supported by additional evidence, namely the fact that vast majority of people who are experiencing this problem in Feb/18 patch were perfectly able to play the game before. That patch has changed something which is causing this issue, it's not a hardware problem and it's not a drivers/environment problem.

Naturally, newer drivers and system updates may bring additional optimizations, throwing money at your computer may increase your FPS and lower ugly stuttering, but neither can fix the problem within Hogwarts Legacy's implementation. That's entirely on the game's developers.

[Taris]

I'd just ask everyone to entirely ignore trolls and instead just hit the "Report this post" and "Block". This topic is about information gathered from factual research, not for feeding someone's sad ego.

[DeMo]

This Mr. Potato responds enthusiastically to every game crash article

don't take offense

[Taris]

Originally posted by DeMo:

This Mr. Potato is very enthusiastic to reply to every article about the collapse of the game

don't take offense

Oh I've seen that root vegetable rolling around. :) I think it might be a bit moldy.
It'd take a much smarter person, and I'm using the term "person" very freely, to offend me. ;)

[DeMo]

Thanks for the way I can see what went wrong

I'm not familiar with computer knowledge, I can only show you my wrong

1 ,"SessionId": "062B78EA4FC71FD5A129C4B178E74C66",
"ErrorMessage": "Aftermath GPU Crash dump Triggered",
"NumStackFramesToIgnore": "4",
"EngineVersion": "4.27.2",
"ConfigName": "Shipping",
"GameName": "Phoenix",
"Branch": "//stream/Main_TeamCity_Code",
"Changelist": "1121649",
"ComputerName": "DESKTOP-KFSHQ81",
"UserName": "user",
"ConsoleId": "",
"PlatformModel": "Intel(R)_Core(TM)_i7-4790_CPU_@_3.60GHz",
"GPUModel": "NVIDIA_GeForce_GTX_980",
"PlatformName": "Steam",
"CrashType": "GPUCrash",
"CrashDumpType": "steamcrashdump",
"Mode": "Client",
"FATSymbolServerUrls": "",
"ProcessId": "5716",
"HydraURI": "https://phoenix-api.wbagora.com",
"HydraAPIKey": "d7283c4777f944538ea2005cf7695b5d",
"HydraForceCrashSlug": "",
"RuntimeHash": "TVNz/5tpkKaVQKpiLaQHqw==",
"IPAddress": "",
"PlatformType": "Steam",
"BuildNumber": "1121649"}

2, "ErrorMessage": "LowLevelFatalError [File:Unknown] [Line: 772]
3, "ErrorMessage": "LowLevelFatalError [File:Unknown] [Line: 192]

Most of them are "Aftermath GPU Crash dump Triggered" errors
followed by 772 192

[Taris]

Originally posted by DeMo:

"ErrorMessage": "Aftermath GPU Crash dump Triggered"

Aftermath (nVidia Nsight Aftermath) is nVidia's crash dump recorder - a piece of software that records additional details when a crash happens. That's what it refers to here, as in "Crash Dump (was) Triggered". Typically the condition that triggers this is "Timeout Detection & Recovery" (TDR). TDR is a feature in Windows that detects response problems from a graphics card, and recovers to a functional desktop by resetting the card.

Have you ever seen your desktop go black for a moment, then flicker, and come back after the Windows toolbar and icons seemed to have refreshed? That's what happens when TDR kicks in - it releases hung-up video drivers and reloads them.

Usually it's a sign that something went wrong and the drivers got stuck on it. With Unreal Engine and other 3D intensive apps it's probably a signal that the card is trying to perform above its normal use (not my words, a UE developer's).

The Aftermath should record a file containing more details about what happened, maybe you could learn more from that. Unfortunately I don't know where it's located; also it should be a developer tool, not a tool for the common user. It's supposed to help the developer debug issues.

Wish I could help more.

[cswiger]

Originally posted by Taris:

LowLevelFatalError [File:Unknown] [Line: 197] 
Ran out of memory allocating 12587008 bytes with alignment 0

Okay, so a case of running out of memory while trying to allocate (reserve a chunk of memory), and the call originated in an unknown file (meaning, the crash logger had no access to the filename property). This indicates, with high degree of probability, that the code which issued the memory allocation is custom-written, outside of the standard game engine framework.

No, what it means is that the executable was stripped of debugging symbols which describe the source file. This is done for pretty much every game, to reduce the install size and to make reverse-engineering the code more difficult. The developers keep the unstripped version handy, which allows them to perform full debugging of crash dumps from users.

The solution is simple: have enough memory and swap space. If you have a machine with 16 GB of RAM, you need to enable at least 32 GB of swap, or allow Windows to manage the pagefile size itself and make sure the drive(s) it is using have enough free space.

[DeMo]

Thanks that means even if I limit the memory usage of the graphics card and limit the FPS

This game is still using up or even overloading my graphics card ?

[DeMo]

Originally posted by cswiger:

Originally posted by Taris:

LowLevelFatalError [File:Unknown] [Line: 197] 
Ran out of memory allocating 12587008 bytes with alignment 0

Okay, so a case of running out of memory while trying to allocate (reserve a chunk of memory), and the call originated in an unknown file (meaning, the crash logger had no access to the filename property). This indicates, with high degree of probability, that the code which issued the memory allocation is custom-written, outside of the standard game engine framework.

No, what it means is that the executable was stripped of debugging symbols which describe the source file. This is done for pretty much every game, to reduce the install size and to make reverse-engineering the code more difficult. The developers keep the unstripped version handy, which allows them to perform full debugging of crash dumps from users.

The solution is simple: have enough memory and swap space. If you have a machine with 16 GB of RAM, you need to enable at least 32 GB of swap, or allow Windows to manage the pagefile size itself and make sure the drive(s) it is using have enough free space.

thanks , looks like 16GB-RAM is my main problem

[Taris]

Originally posted by cswiger:

The solution is simple: have enough memory and swap space. If you have a machine with 16 GB of RAM, you need to enable at least 32 GB of swap, or allow Windows to manage the pagefile size itself and make sure the drive(s) it is using have enough free space.

That's the fun part - I have more than enough memory. 48GB , and Windows manages the pagefile (around 120GB), and 1.52TB free space on the drive with pagefile.

Good point about stripping the debug symbols.

[Taris]

Originally posted by DeMo:

Thanks that means even if I limit the memory usage of the graphics card and limit the FPS

This game is still using up or even overloading my graphics card ?

That would be my guess as to what's happening. How much can the game get optimized (and how much will the developers care), hard to say.

[Crashed]

Originally posted by Weird Potato:

Originally posted by Taris:

That's the fun part - I have more than enough memory. 48GB , and Windows manages the pagefile (around 120GB), and 1.52TB free space on the drive with pagefile.

Good point about stripping the debug symbols.

48gb?? Dude, you aren't even in dual channel. There is no config of dims that results in dual channel with 48gb of ram. You are losing performance the way you have it.

My last motherboard was 2x16 and 2x8 on a Kaby Lake platform.

[cswiger]

Originally posted by Taris:

Originally posted by cswiger:

The solution is simple: have enough memory and swap space. If you have a machine with 16 GB of RAM, you need to enable at least 32 GB of swap, or allow Windows to manage the pagefile size itself and make sure the drive(s) it is using have enough free space.

That's the fun part - I have more than enough memory. 48GB , and Windows manages the pagefile (around 120GB), and 1.52TB free space on the drive with pagefile.

Something else may be going on, then-- perhaps a driver or game bug resulting in excessive memory allocations?

In my case, with 16 GB RAM and a 1080 Ti with 11 GB of VRAM, I saw the crash in the intro when the dragon attacked with my initial settings which only allowed 16 GB of swap. I increased that to 24 GB of swap allowed, and I made it until the end of the sorting ceremony when I got another OOM after choosing my house.

Increasing swap to 32 GB allowed resulted in a stable game which I've played through the endgame. Nothing else I've run into has needed so much virtual memory as this game, but someone playing at higher resolution or settings than I do-- 2560x1440, ray tracing off-- might need more VM swap available than 32 GB.

[Weird Potato]

Messing with the page file shouldn't even do anything. Think about it. If you are hitting the swap file you will get horrible stutter. Increasing HOW MUCH page file you have won't ....do anything.
Leave the page file alone.

[Crashed]

Originally posted by Weird Potato:

Originally posted by Crashed:

My last motherboard was 2x16 and 2x8 on a Kaby Lake platform.

Ok? That's still not a proper config.

Still activated Dual Channel to the best of my knowledge. Each kit was installed in a dual channel pair. Activating XMP slightly overclocked one of the pairs, but the system ran totally solid for years.

[Crashed]

Originally posted by Weird Potato:

Messing with the page file shouldn't even do anything. Think about it. If you are hitting the swap file you will get horrible stutter. Increasing HOW MUCH page file you have won't ....do anything.

In a sense the system RAM is like a pagefile for the GPU. Most stutter I've seen in recent games has been from overflowing the GPU memory and causing the driver to swap between VRAM and system RAM.