[MooD]

Hey Guys!
I have bought Alan Wake via steam last night, and i have a big problem.
Randomly the game crash my pc, black screen and i cant do anything. I have updated my video card on 12.1. I have CPUID-Monitor, and i saw the temperature but it's "only" 67-72 when i play Alan Wake. Should i try on windowed mode with lower resolution?

My system is:
Core 2 Duo E5200 2.50 GHz
Ati HD 4670 512 MB supported with 12.1 driver
4GB RAM
And i attached my DxDiag too.

Please help me.

[MarkusRMD]

Edit. Nevermind, failed reading date Still looking for a reproducible case at Remedy...

[MooD]

Markus do you have any idea what cause this problem? i tested other games like: BF3 and GTA4. they are working properly

[MarkusRMD]

@MooD unfortunately no. Can you run the game with -verbose command line option and see if your c:\users\<userid>\documents\remedy\alanwake folder would contain a verbose_<yourpcname>.txt file - send it over via PM? That could contain more details for us.

[MooD]

Sorry, but no. the game crash now immediately, so i cant do it

[MooD]

Markus do you have any idea that you can patch the problem or what should i do, because it seems that is a waste of money

[MarkusRMD]

We are doing our best to investigate the issue.

[Icarus]

Same problem here. These are my pc specs:

Intel Core 2 e6300@2,1Ghz
4 gb DDR2
Radeon HD 5670 512 MB

I've reinstalled the video drivers (catalyst 12.1 + CAP3) after using driver sweeper but nothing changed. My VGA temps are fine (they do not go over 60 degrees). Oddly enough, black screens seem more frequent in indoor locations (for example the diner at the beginning and the cabin after meeting Stucky). Sometimes after a black screen the image returns and I can continue playing, but most of the times I have to reset my PC. Sound effects seem unaffected by black screens (except for those related to Alan's movements), they continue playing as if nothing happened. I've attached a dxdiag.

[Morry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MooD

Sorry, but no. the game crash now immediately, so i cant do it

Right-click on the game in the Steam library, and click Properties, then the Set Launch Options button.
Type in -verbose, then try running the game.

[MooD]

Markus, i have tried to launch the game -verbose, as you asked, and i can attach the file to you.

Here is the file:

[Icarus]

I'd like to also update my situation. Now I can say that crashes occur only in specific areas, and only in indoor ambients. This morning I've played for at least an hour with no black screens at all, then I entered a shack (the one with "the taken are filled with darkness" written on the side) and after 30 seconds a system crash occured. I've tried to reproduce the situation for four times and in all cases I got the same crash at the same place after the same amount of time. Launching the game in windowed mode and lowering all graphics settings didn't solve the problem. I've tried to verify the game files through steam and all files successfully validated. I attached my verbose file hoping it can help you in investigating the problem.

P.S.: Sorry for my bad english...

[MarkusRMD]

Icarus or MooD, the verbose files unfortunately did not reveal anything useful.

Do you have a crash dump in c:\users\<userid>\documents\remedy\alanwake folder or in C:\Users\<userid>\AppData\Local\CrashDumps - those could help.

[MooD]

No i havent got any Crash Dumps neither in documents nor in App Data

[Icarus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkusRMD

Icarus or MooD, the verbose files unfortunately did not reveal anything useful.

Do you have a crash dump in c:\users\<userid>\documents\remedy\alanwake folder or in C:\Users\<userid>\AppData\Local\CrashDumps - those could help.

I didn't find any of those files. This is the report of one of the last crashes:

Quote:

Descrizione
Si è verificato un problema dell'hardware video che impedisce il corretto funzionamento di Windows.

Firma del problema
Nome evento problema: LiveKernelEvent
Versione SO: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
ID impostazioni locali: 1040

File che aiutano a descrivere il problema
WD-20120222-1215.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml

Visualizza una copia temporanea di questi file
AVVISO: Se il problema è stato provocato da un virus o da altri rischi di sicurezza, l'apertura di una copia dei file potrebbe danneggiare il computer.

Ulteriori informazioni sul problema
BCCode: 117
BCP1: FFFFFA800494A4E0
BCP2: FFFFF880041058F0
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1

I also attached the files related to this error. I've tried to reproduce the crash two more times, the first time I got another system crash, the second time only a crash to desktop, and the attached verbose file is related to the latter. I also noticed that before the game crashes there is occasinal tearing and shadows flickering. I hope this can help you.

[Icarus]

Sorry, I noticed that I didn't attach the files. Here they are:

[MooD]

AHHH New Patch. Is it solve our problem?

[MarkusRMD]

Most likely it won't solve the problem, unfortunately, because we haven't been able to find and reproduce the problem here.

Icarus, Alan Wake's crash dump should be named something like AlanWake*.dmp - the one you attached is not from Alan Wake.

[Icarus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkusRMD

Most likely it won't solve the problem, unfortunately, because we haven't been able to find and reproduce the problem here.

Icarus, Alan Wake's crash dump should be named something like AlanWake*.dmp - the one you attached is not from Alan Wake.

Sorry, but I haven't that file. But I tried to play the game after the patch, I wandered for ten minutes at the point where it used to crash and this time nothing happened. Maybe it's a bit too early to cry victory, because I only tried once, but at the moment the patch seems to have solved the problem for me.

[MooD]

i try it too Markus, i hope it will solve it

[Icarus]

Unfortunately the problem is still here. It always crashes when I'm near or inside buildings. Sometimes after the screen goes black the video driver succeeds in restoring itself and the image returns, most of the times the pc freezes or reboots. It isn't related with temperatures or how long the game is running, but only with the situation described above. Reinstalling directx, running the game as administrator, disabling desktop composition and visual themes didn't help at all. Now I'm trying redownloading the game and making another fresh install of the vga drivers, if something changes I will let you know.

[Icarus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icarus

Unfortunately the problem is still here. It always crashes when I'm near or inside buildings. Sometimes after the screen goes black the video driver succeeds in restoring itself and the image returns, most of the times the pc freezes or reboots. It isn't related with temperatures or how long the game is running, but only with the situation described above. Reinstalling directx, running the game as administrator, disabling desktop composition and visual themes didn't help at all. Now I'm trying redownloading the game and making another fresh install of the vga drivers, if something changes I will let you know.

Nothing of all this worked. I've also tried compatibility options, setting steam offline and changing some parameters in the catalyst control center, but nothing changed. With v-sync on the game crashes almost instantly. I don't know what to do

[zeropride]

ive had the same issue but it turns out the game didnt like the factory overclock on my gpu. Can play the game now and i must say this game is one of the best ive played in a long time. Thanks for the fine game Remedy!!

[MarkusRMD]

@zeropride good to hear that it works for you!

@Icarus - any chance you could try "downclocking"?

[Icarus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkusRMD

@Icarus - any chance you could try "downclocking"?

My hd5670 is not factory overclocked, it runs at default speed (775/1000). I had a slight overclock on the CPU (from 1,86 to 2,10 Ghz), but even with the CPU at default speed crashes persist. I have problems only with Alan Wake, other demanding games such as The Witcher 2 run flawlessly.

[MarkusRMD]

@Icarus, well, BCCode:117 is a "video hardware error", but it's really hard to find anything else related to that.

I can try to see if the WD*.dmp file gives any more information tomorrow but analysing these is not that easy, and it's a driver crash, and not a crash inside our game...

[MarkusRMD]

@Icarus, Ok, did some digging with the WD-*.dmp file you sent. This is a timeout inside AMD graphics driver. Nothing really Remedy can do, but I have sent the crash dump for analysis to AMD. The odd thing is how it's happening that you are seeing this but other AMD users aren't.


Probably caused by : atikmpag.sys ( atikmpag+78f0 )

1: kd> !analyze -v
VIDEO_TDR_TIMEOUT_DETECTED (117)
The display driver failed to respond in timely fashion.
Arguments:
Arg1: fffffa800494a4e0, Optional pointer to internal TDR recovery context (TDR_RECOVERY_CONTEXT).
Arg2: fffff880041058f0, The pointer into responsible device driver module (e.g owner tag).
Arg3: 0000000000000000, The secondary driver specific bucketing key.
Arg4: 0000000000000000, Optional internal context dependent data.

[Icarus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkusRMD

@Icarus, Ok, did some digging with the WD-*.dmp file you sent. This is a timeout inside AMD graphics driver. Nothing really Remedy can do, but I have sent the crash dump for analysis to AMD. The odd thing is how it's happening that you are seeing this but other AMD users aren't.


Probably caused by : atikmpag.sys ( atikmpag+78f0 )

1: kd> !analyze -v
VIDEO_TDR_TIMEOUT_DETECTED (117)
The display driver failed to respond in timely fashion.
Arguments:
Arg1: fffffa800494a4e0, Optional pointer to internal TDR recovery context (TDR_RECOVERY_CONTEXT).
Arg2: fffff880041058f0, The pointer into responsible device driver module (e.g owner tag).
Arg3: 0000000000000000, The secondary driver specific bucketing key.
Arg4: 0000000000000000, Optional internal context dependent data.

At first I was reluctant about downclocking my VGA, since it run at default speed, but after I changed the memory clock from the default 1000 MHz to 900 MHz Alan Wake is not crashing anymore. I've played chapter 2 from the beginning and not a single crash occured. All the stuttering I previously experienced seems to be gone too. I must say that it isn't a really satisfying solution, but since I can change the VGA memory clock on the fly I can live with that. I really thank you for your help, it's such a rare thing to see a technical support so present and willing to solve every single problem. I hope that in the future you or AMD can find a definitive solution to this problem, but since I can now play your game this is not such a urgent issue to fix anymore, at least for me.