Mass Effect - Technical difficulties

Dereth · Post by **Dereth** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:15 pm

So after having bought and installed Mass Effect the other day I've encountered numerous technical issues. I can rarely play for more than an hour and a half before it locks up. Either it crashes, causes a black screen(in which I have to pull the plug) or a rendering problem which crashes the game to desktop.

I've spent some time on google looking around, but I have yet to find any solutions to either of these problems.

I'd be very appreciative if someone here who knows a thing or two would bother to help me out, as I'd very much like to invest some more hours into this fantastic game.

My specs are:
CPU: Intel Pentium 2.99GHz
GFX: Foxconn GeForce 8800 GT
RAM: 4x 512Mbit DDR
HDD: 2x 233gig SATA discs.

(P.S Had a look at CPU useage and the temperature when running Mass Effect, the CPU is constantly at 95-100% while the temperature can hit as much as 50Celsius. Even though it's a fairly heavy game and my specs aren't that high, this is a bit much, isn't it?)

drazac · Post by **drazac** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 3:30 pm

Install the latest patch, update your GFX drivers... try moving the slider to Basic Acceleration in Sounds and Audio Devices

Your temps are fine

Dereth · Post by **Dereth** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:22 pm

I've updated just about every driver I can update and downloaded the 1.01 patch (which didn't really make a difference). I did however, come across this site TweakGuides.com - Mass Effect Tweak Guide which I've spent the last hour reading. Perhaps altering some stuff in the ini files will help me.

(I might try reverting back to some older GFX drivers as the newer ones seemed to increase the amount of crashes/GPF's I got.)

Thanks for the reply mate.

Kipi · Post by **Kipi** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:14 pm

The problems you mentioned in your first post does indeed point to the possibility of hardware overheating. Does any other game have similiar problems and has nearly equal system requirements.

In case it's overheating problem (high temperature suggest that), then it's basically two possibilities: first one is that the cooler fan doesn't work correctly, usually due dirt, and thus doesn't cool the CPU as much it should be. This should be rather easy to fix, if you use desktop computer and not laptop, as usually just cleaning the fan should solve the problem.

Second possibility is that the hardware itself is going to stop working. That's more tricky, as usually to be able to fix that means changing the components.

Dereth · Post by **Dereth** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 8:36 pm

I'm guessing it is overheating, I did clean out my computer a few hours ago, I also did a clean re-install of Mass Effect. I've been monitoring my CPU's temperature and it's usually at 33*, however when I start the game it quickly hits 45-50*. I'm guessing the black screens and the crashing comes from overheating while the General Protection Failure is something completely different. Then again I may be wrong, I usually am when it comes to these things.

Thanks for the help

Kipi · Post by **Kipi** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 3:23 am

Is Mass Effect the only game that cause those temperatures to your CPU? And in what area of temperature is your CPU when playing other games?

Dereth · Post by **Dereth** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 7:58 am

Hm. I think so, I'll have to check it out, haven't really paid notice to my CPU when playing other games as I haven't really had any problems with them.

Right, the only games I can really test this with would be either Oblivion:SI or UT3, so I tried both.

Oblivion with 1280x1024, 4x AA, Distant Rendering, Bloom, Large Texture Detail, High water texture etc. runs at 35%'ish CPU useage and the temperature was at 40* (Which I reckon would have been lower had I waited a little longer, as I've just been playing Mass Effect for the past hour). While UT3 with max texture detail and low world detail runs at 70%'ish CPU useage and the temperature at 45*.

None of these games crashes by the way.

drazac · Post by **drazac** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 8:22 am

Your temps are fine
When high temps occur, the system will halt or freeze, it wont crash it wont restart

EDIT: this is the case only for CPU... if memory is the one who is overheating or it has bad memory chip on it, PC will restart (if the problem is more severe: like extreme temps or high unstable OC) or the application will crash to desktop, it wont freeze

You said you have both, freezes and crashes

If you wanna test your pc, try running some other game and play it for an hour.. or, if you want to make 100% sure your PC is fine, install and run PRIME95 torture test... if it is something wrong with your system, the program will detect it soon... leave the program running at least 6 hours... if no error occurs, your PC is fine, and the crashes you have are caused by the game

Did you used crack or you activated the game via net?

Dereth · Post by **Dereth** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 8:32 am

Hm. When you put it like that I guess the game doesn't really crash unless it's that Rendering failure box popping up. It freezes, like you said, the screen freezes and I can still hear the music going in the background. It's not a cracked version.

To sum it all up: Rendering Failure Box (Usually popping up after an hour and a half'ish), black screen and freeze screen. If it's the rendering box crashing the game I usually have to reboot in order to start the game up again as if I don't I'll get another box on launch saying "General Protection Failure".

drazac · Post by **drazac** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:15 am

In my first playthrough i havent had any problems, not a single crash nor freeze, however in second playthrough my game has frozen in cutscenes (when you first meet that alien, is it Dax or something, who is arguing with Csec officer.. i had freeze there... or during conversations when i quickly choose desired sentences (or choices) without waiting for character to end his line.. same thing there, game froze), there was an error msg, but it didnt poped out so i had to alt tab to c it... i dont remember what kind of msg was, but i think it was the same as yours

I solved it this way: in conversations i didn't rushed to end it quickly, instead i waited for character to end his line and then choose which sentence i will say

For cutscences, i used the crack that removes securom... it seems it did the trick

Dereth · Post by **Dereth** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:35 am

Mhm. I'm playing it real safe though, doing as you recommended, making backup saves all the time and if the game lags for a second I don't start bashing keys. Anyways, I'm going to stop playing methinks, this just isn't worth it. If I get to play for more than an hour straight it's because I'm lucky. And even then it's only a few minutes extra. It's a great game and I really wish it wasn't like this. Thanks for the help guys.

Dereth · Post by **Dereth** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 3:11 pm

As a last try I reverted back to the 169.21 forceware drivers from Nvidia, and guess what, I've been playing Mass Effect for the past two three hours or so! Only downside is the loading sequences takes a bit more time. Small price to pay though.

Kipi · Post by **Kipi** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 3:45 pm

Dereth wrote:As a last try I reverted back to the 169.21 forceware drivers from Nvidia, and guess what, I've been playing Mass Effect for the past two three hours or so! Only downside is the loading sequences takes a bit more time. Small price to pay though.

Good to hear that. Luckily it was about the drivers and not some serious hardware problems.

Oh, and by the way, made a bit research eearlier today, CPU temperature around 48-50 degree should be more or less normal, though someone with more knowledge about this kind of stuff could tell you better.