Burnout Paradise PC-Problem

[Tobi-DS92]

My problem is that the game freezes after running a few minutes. The music still sounds, but it is very halting.
After that the screen freezes as well and the game crashes while I can only stop it with the task manager if i'm lucky.
But this doesnt always work, also minimizing the window is not possible, the computer wouldn't then respond at all.
Re-installing the game wouldn't work as well, the problem also appears on lowest graphical settings.

My system features:
Hp pavilion 9660eg
nVidea 8400M GS
1,9 Ghz amd *2
2Gb ram
Windows XP

Apart from that, the game runs completly fluent with felt 60fps.

[imeem]

My game freezes too but when it freezes, some animations is not frozen (the nitro bar, pressing c to change views, looking back, pressing esc). Just wondering, how do u get 60 fps on low settings? I have nvidia geforce 8800 GS and i running on low settings and 800x600 and my max fps is like 25

[CameO73]

Originally Posted by imeem

Just wondering, how do u get 60 fps on low settings? I have nvidia geforce 8800 GS and i running on low settings and 800x600 and my max fps is like 25

What?! That's not right! You should be able to run the game fine ... 25fps @ 800x600 for an 8800 GS shows you have a problem with your system.

Could you give us some more detailed specs? What operating system are you using? What video driver? What is your CPU? How much memory?

It could be very well that your freezing problems are actually related to an incorrectly installed video driver or background software (think antivirus) that's taking away resources.

About the video driver: the latest one is 182.06 and can be downloaded from NVidia.

To make sure your old driver isn't messing things up:

• Install Driver Sweeper
• Uninstall the old video drivers (using Control Panel ->Uninstall NVidia drivers)
• Reboot in Safe Mode (press F8 before boot -> select Safe Mode)
• Use Driver Sweeper to get rid of the last driver remnants
• Reboot and install the new video driver

Good luck!

[imeem]

Originally Posted by CameO73

What?! That's not right! You should be able to run the game fine ... 25fps @ 800x600 for an 8800 GS shows you have a problem with your system.

Could you give us some more detailed specs? What operating system are you using? What video driver? What is your CPU? How much memory?

It could be very well that your freezing problems are actually related to an incorrectly installed video driver or background software (think antivirus) that's taking away resources.

About the video driver: the latest one is 182.06 and can be downloaded from NVidia.

To make sure your old driver isn't messing things up:

• Install Driver Sweeper
• Uninstall the old video drivers (using Control Panel ->Uninstall NVidia drivers)
• Reboot in Safe Mode (press F8 before boot -> select Safe Mode)
• Use Driver Sweeper to get rid of the last driver remnants
• Reboot and install the new video driver

Good luck!

I have version 182.06, Intel(R) Celeron(R) D CPU 3.33GHz, Nvidia Geforce 8800 GS, 1 GB of RAM, Windows Xp Media Center Edition service pack 3.

will getting more RAM stop my game from freezing and/or crashing?

[CameO73]

I don't know if it'll stop your game from freezing or crashing, but adding 1GB to your memory will definitely have a positive impact on your PC performance!

Your processor might also be a bottleneck. You could check this using the Task Manager -> Performance tab. The CPU usage graphs can tell you if your system is maxed out (i.e. a CPU usage of 100% when running Burnout Paradise).

In your case the first thing I would do is add another GB of RAM.

[imeem]

Originally Posted by CameO73

I don't know if it'll stop your game from freezing or crashing, but adding 1GB to your memory will definitely have a positive impact on your PC performance!

Your processor might also be a bottleneck. You could check this using the Task Manager -> Performance tab. The CPU usage graphs can tell you if your system is maxed out (i.e. a CPU usage of 100% when running Burnout Paradise).

In your case the first thing I would do is add another GB of RAM.

Ok i did what u told me to do before, i removed my nvidia driver and installed the new one again and cleaned it with driver sweeper. I still get slow frame rates.

Willl getting a better and newer processor (maybe intel core 2 duo) have a better impact than getting more ram (1GBx2)?

[07patty]

Originally Posted by imeem

Ok i did what u told me to do before, i removed my nvidia driver and installed the new one again and cleaned it with driver sweeper. I still get slow frame rates.

Willl getting a better and newer processor (maybe intel core 2 duo) have a better impact than getting more ram (1GBx2)?

We really need to see what error your getting to determine if you need to get new parts for your system, or just simply wait for a patch.
So:
1) Open Burnout Paradise and wait for it to crash.
2) If you can get out of it without turning the power of then go to Step 4, If you can't hold the power button on your computer for 5 seconds. (Don't pull the power, this can damage the computer.)
3) Restart your computer.
4) Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer.
5) Click on "System" in the Submenu.
6) Look for the time it crashed, on the left hand side you will see something saying ERROR. Click on this.
7) Copy and paste the whole thing into this thread.

Hopefully we can help you from here.

[imeem]

Originally Posted by 07patty

We really need to see what error your getting to determine if you need to get new parts for your system, or just simply wait for a patch.
So:
1) Open Burnout Paradise and wait for it to crash.
2) If you can get out of it without turning the power of then go to Step 4, If you can't hold the power button on your computer for 5 seconds. (Don't pull the power, this can damage the computer.)
3) Restart your computer.
4) Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer.
5) Click on "System" in the Submenu.
6) Look for the time it crashed, on the left hand side you will see something saying ERROR. Click on this.
7) Copy and paste the whole thing into this thread.

Hopefully we can help you from here.

Like it doesn't always cralalalala usually crashes when i'm in a event and has lots of cars and stuff

[CameO73]

New parts for your computer are normally not necessary to prevent crashes or freezes (unless something is defective). The most common cases for crashes/freezes are software conflicts or overheating issues. If you have a Windows installation that has been through a lot (installing/uninstalling software, various drivers, replaced hardware etc.), a reinstallation can do a lot for better performance.

My suggestions (memory/CPU) will give you better performance, but it's not sure if it'll solve your problems. It's possible that a stressed CPU can cause system instability, which can be solved by upgrading.

If a CPU upgrade (and going from a Celeron to a Core2Duo will absolutely be noticable) is better than a memory upgrade depends on your computer usage. Try to determine the limiting factor in your system by taking a good look at the Task Manager (performance tab).

Answer the following questions for yourself:

• how much (physical!) memory is used after a clean boot?
• how much (physical!) memory is used when you've started the program(s) you want to use?
• what is the CPU usage in those cases?

A CPU upgrade can help you out if you see 90%-100% usage in those cases (e.g. playing a movie, playing a game etc.) A memory upgrade can help you out if you're maximizing your physical memory usage.

Also decide for yourself if you really want to spend the money on your system. Is it only for one game (Burnout Paradise)? Or do you do other stuff on that machine (e.g. watching videos, encoding movies, 3D modeling etc.)?

In my experience 2GB is absolutely worth it, unless the only thing you do with your PC is going on the internet, e-mailing and playing some music.

One last tip: to check your system stability, some very good tools are MemTest86 (checks your memory for errors), HyperPI (checks your CPU stability), BurnInTest (test overall stability).

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask!

[07patty]

Originally Posted by CameO73

New parts for your computer are normally not necessary to prevent crashes or freezes (unless something is defective). The most common cases for crashes/freezes are software conflicts or overheating issues. If you have a Windows installation that has been through a lot (installing/uninstalling software, various drivers, replaced hardware etc.), a reinstallation can do a lot for better performance.

My suggestions (memory/CPU) will give you better performance, but it's not sure if it'll solve your problems. It's possible that a stressed CPU can cause system instability, which can be solved by upgrading.

If a CPU upgrade (and going from a Celeron to a Core2Duo will absolutely be noticable) is better than a memory upgrade depends on your computer usage. Try to determine the limiting factor in your system by taking a good look at the Task Manager (performance tab).

Answer the following questions for yourself:

• how much (physical!) memory is used after a clean boot?
• how much (physical!) memory is used when you've started the program(s) you want to use?
• what is the CPU usage in those cases?

A CPU upgrade can help you out if you see 90%-100% usage in those cases (e.g. playing a movie, playing a game etc.) A memory upgrade can help you out if you're maximizing your physical memory usage.

Also decide for yourself if you really want to spend the money on your system. Is it only for one game (Burnout Paradise)? Or do you do other stuff on that machine (e.g. watching videos, encoding movies, 3D modeling etc.)?

In my experience 2GB is absolutely worth it, unless the only thing you do with your PC is going on the internet, e-mailing and playing some music.

One last tip: to check your system stability, some very good tools are MemTest86 (checks your memory for errors), HyperPI (checks your CPU stability), BurnInTest (test overall stability).

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask!

Very helpful!

[buggyharry]

Dont you realize its all the same problem.

Stop trying to search for a hardware or driver error. It has nothing to do with it, it is a Problem with the game!

I mean its nice you all try to help, but there is nothing to help, me and thousands of other people has tried almost everything you can imagine. Its badly coded or whatever.

What we've found out so far is:

- Crash often happens with 8600 GT cards, even though other Nvidia and ATI Cards seem to have problems too

- My Card is getting very very hot compared to other games (68° in Burnout, 65° max with ALL other games)

- Driver Versions doesnt matter (i tried many Versions, with or without Physx), if you feel it doesnt happen that often anmymore, its pure coincidence i am very sure. Many people seem to report it happens when its getting frantic, i've made the experience that it doesnt really matter. Sometimes it doesnt happen for over an hour, sometimes it happens right after the first few minutes. Maybe its a Memory problem (but again: that doesnt mean your memory is broken).

- Even Monitor doesnt show up any error, System works fine, you maybe even can play, its just you cant see anything anymore.

[CameO73]

Just one thing: 68°C is not very hot. Very hot would be over 80°C.

[imeem]

I think i'll just wait for the next patch to see does it fix the crashing and freezing. if it doesn't, I'll just buy Burnout Paradise for the ps3

[Brlogenshfegle]

Originally Posted by buggyharry

Dont you realize its all the same problem.

Stop trying to search for a hardware or driver error. It has nothing to do with it, it is a Problem with the game!

I guess youre right. I tried loads of different drivers, two Geforce cards (9600GT and 9800GTX+) a Radeon HD4670, different BIOS settings, disableing several processes. My rig is strong enough to run nearly every game fluent and stable (except GTA4 maybe). BP is the only game (or let's say application) that's able to crash my Computer at all.

Same old story again, they take the money for letting you participate the beta phase.

[The_B]

Originally Posted by buggyharry

Dont you realize its all the same problem.

But surely if it was, Criterion would be able to replicate it and fix it promptly? There are hundreds of thousands of different combinations. For example, I've never had a problem with the game running at all whatsoever, since launch, and I've got a 8800GTX with 756mb Video RAM, 2GB of RAM and 2.4Ghz Quad Core Processor and 64bit Vista. It's a fairly similar rig to a few of the people's systems that I've read had problems, yet with me the worst issue I've ever had was the Criterion Games Network not being able to connect.

Now of course, it would be incredibly niave of me to say that no one should have problems because I don't, or that all the people having problems aren't doing something right, but to say it's one problem across the entire range of possible hardware combinations that PCs can have is frankly is without merit. When I was helping in the launch of another game a few years ago I spent a lot of my time in the Troubleshooting forums helping people get their copies of the game working, I would say at least 60-70% of the issues were all down to the user not having something that they were either adamant they did have or that wasn't immediately obvious as to something they should have as PC gamers, due to the process not being as transparent as console gaming, but with a little time and patience can be remembered to help get a lot of PC games working, and not just that one title.

I mean, fair enough that sometimes it can be badly coded no matter what the rig, but to be quite fair, from a broader prospective, Paradise issues are not such a huge thing as say, GTA4's release on PC was/is - although it can look that way when you've got the problem. Just my thought there.

[whatisapersona]

3GHz Dual Core with XFX 8800GS 320MB running 1680*1050 at high with no AA and framerate is not an issue (no idea what it is though)
XP SP3

[TYR0N3]

i think i had a similar problem here, my burnout starts nicely but when it reach the start screen the game hang there for 1 or 2 minutes then it show a box says that my driver has stop working

what can i do with it ? update driver ?

computer specs:

intel core 2 duo E6420 2.13 Ghz
Ati 4670 512mb
3 GB ram
window xp sp2

[Brlogenshfegle]

Hi again, I have to apologise for what I posted above. My crash/freeze problems are solved. It was just my RAM modules getting to hot. From the day I removed 2 of the 4 modules, my system is 100% stable again.

What still makes me wonder is the fact that the RAMs only overheated when playing BP, but no other game. Whatever....

[shinjo_yomitako]

I've recently bought the game as well, and I've noticed that same problem, will freeze after a short period of playing (has happened to me on an intermittent basis, but anywhere between 2-15 minutes)

Here's my current setup

Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26 GHz)
4GB DDR3-1066 RAM (2x 2gb SODIMM)
nVidia GeForce 9800m GTS (512 MB)
Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit

I've tried running it with 3 different nVidia Drivers (176.15 - Original Gateway nVidia Driver, 179.48 Updated from nVidia Website, 180.70 Updated from guru3d) to no avail.

I initially thought it may have been something hardware related as the laptop is getting pretty warm, but the freezeups did not occur in other games, such as Farcry 2 or Left 4 Dead. I also ran a Prime95 torture test just to see if I could really put the pressure on the CPU/GPU, but with 4 threads, Barts Hard Drive Test and the High Res 3d demo at maximum settings, the laptop bounced everything off its chest, like bullets to Superman.

I also came across the 1.0.0.1 patch for the game, but that too, seems to have not resolved the issue (though it did increase the gameplay time by a few minutes before it locked up again. I also tried running it directly attached to the modem (no router involved), with the wireless turned off, and my F-Secure antivirus completely disabled, but to no avail.

So I'm pretty certain that this is something game related, but I figured I'd throw my hat into this ring to see if anyone else has come across any ideas. There was one forum thread I found on a different site that mentioned something about pulling a certain file from the game folder, but that only caused the game to not start up at all. (Can't remember what the file name is, sorry)

Overall, I love this game to pieces, when it's working, but rather disappointed at the lack of fixing for issues like this. Hopefully they'll be quick to start releasing updates to the public for these kinds of issues, although if anyone else has ideas, I'm certainly opening to try them. Hopefully I didn't forget anything in all the information I've provided.

[DSRoyall]

I can tell that I need to watch this thread because I have a similar problem. My current laptop is a Dell E6500 with a 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 Gigs of RAM, and a Nvidia NVS160M. The latter is a bit lightweight, but 800x600 should be no sweat. So why do I get frequent freezing, especially at transitions. The laptop doesn't freeze (Vista 32-bit Ultimate), just the game.

As others have said, this game is "skittish, real skittish."

[07patty]

Originally Posted by DSRoyall

I can tell that I need to watch this thread because I have a similar problem. My current laptop is a Dell E6500 with a 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 Gigs of RAM, and a Nvidia NVS160M. The latter is a bit lightweight, but 800x600 should be no sweat. So why do I get frequent freezing, especially at transitions. The laptop doesn't freeze (Vista 32-bit Ultimate), just the game.

As others have said, this game is "skittish, real skittish."

that is odd, very odd. especially at 800x600.
i would say the graphics card and processor are a bit weak, yes, they are probably slightly too weak, but at that resolution they should be fine