Straight Foward Tips and Explanations for GPU-Related Crashes

[themanclaw]

I've been running games on my gaming laptop for a few years now. It has adequate stats (1024mb nvidia 285m, 6gb ram, 2.6GHz CPU), and it can run games like Crysis 2, Mass Effect 3, Half-Life 2, and many others without problems

However, there are some games my GPU just does not want to work with, which include Diablo 3, STALKER, and Skyrim. Although these games aren't technically demanding as something like Crysis 2, they will still crash

 

Usually, when I get these crashes, I will be alerted about a video card driver failure, which either falls under the category of LiveKernelEvent (as is the case in Skyrim), or and OpenGl error.

 

Unfortunately, I have found no permanent solution to my problems. It is a conflict between the games and my GPU I have been unable to pinpoint. However, I have managed to make these games playable, and would think that they would often apply to others, even if they're not getting the same errors as I have seen them on many other tech support and game discussion boards. Note that I'm not sure if there is even such a thing as a true "fix" for these crashes, as, in my case, they only seem to stall the problem. Nevertheless, with these tips, I've managed to change Skyrim so that it no longer crashes every two minutes, but instead every hour.

 

First and foremost, make sure you're GPU isn't overheating. For desktops, during gameplay, your GPU should not be hotter than 75-80*c. For laptops, anything over 90*c.

ALSO, if you are experiencing GPU-related crashes, uninstall all graphical enhancement mods and remove their files. PERIOD.

 

General Tips (in possible effectiveness order)

 

1. Turn off the v-synch in both the skyrimpref.ini file AND on your GPU control panel

2. In the GPU control panel, under the application settings for skyrim, change the power settings to "prefer maximum performance"

3. Turn off any unnecessary background programs and set game process priority to high in-game by CNTL+ALT+DEL to bring up the task manager. The game should be under the processes tab. Right-click it to change priority. Running the game as administrator may also help (NOTE: That there is a program called "Gameboost" that will automatically do all of this this for you).

4. Defrag

 

Display-Altering Tips (also in possible effectiveness order)

 

1. Turn off AA in the launch options.

2. Turn resolution down to something like 1280x1024 in the same menu.

3. In those options, when asked about graphics quality, go to the advanced settings, then set shadows to low.

 

One thing I have found useful installing a mod called "skyboost", enhances performance without messing up display quality. Although this did not help for me, there is a patch for Kkyrim that sets the ram usage to 4gb that has helped some.

Edited July 13, 2012 by themanclaw

[Cipherthe3vil]

First and foremost, make sure you're GPU isn't overheating. For desktops, during gameplay, your GPU should not be hotter than 75-80*c. For laptops, anything over 90*c.

ALSO, if you are experiencing GPU-related crashes, uninstall all graphical enhancement mods and remove their files. PERIOD.

I wouldn't really know anything about that :/

General Tips (in possible effectiveness order)

 

1. Turn off the v-synch in both the skyrimpref.ini file AND on your GPU control panel

What is this, and how do I do it?

2. Turn resolution down to something like 1280x1024 in the same menu.

Mine is at 1020x620 or something. Is that better or worse?

One thing I have found useful installing a mod called "skyboost", enhances performance without messing up display quality. Although this did not help for me, there is a patch for Kkyrim that sets the ram usage to 4gb that has helped some.

I looked at that and was under the impression it didn't work for Skyrim 1.6.

[themanclaw]

I wouldn't really know anything about that

download a program like HWmonitor. It allows you to check your system's heat. Just exit out after a little bit of play (or if it crashes) and run the program and it should tell you about that.

 

What is this, and how do I do it?

the v-synch is basically is supposed to make smoother transitions between refreshrates of the system and of the monitor. You will not notice a difference. The way you disable it is going into your directory (c:/program files(x86)/The Elder Scrolls V/skyrim) ...your program files may not have an x86 next to it. Anyways, once you're there, there will a file called skyrimprefs.ini. It will open with a notepad. Add a line at the bottom of the section that reads [Display] and paste "iPresentInterval=0" there (without the quotes). You may also have to do it under a similar file in documents/my games/skyrim. Also make sure it's disabled in the control panel (if you have nvidia, should just been a little icon in the programs running in the bottom left of the taskbar), and then select the skyrim application under "manage 3d settings", and there should be a line called v-sync. Switch it to off.

 

Mine is at 1020x620 or something. Is that better or worse?

Better.

[Staind716]

Skyboost has been dead for a very long time now and is totally useless at this point. It will be quite a while before a new version is released if ever.

 

And Skyrim has been flagged for 4gb for a very long time also. So no help there either.