Blue Screen of Death

[Another Thief 0]

Hi everyone, my first post here. I've been playing this game for a long time, and I'd like to start by thanking you all for your amazing work.

 

After years of problem free TDM gaming, I recently upgraded to a new PC. I was really looking forward to playing some of my favourite missions on a better rig. Unfortunately, I encountered a problem. I start the game, select a mission and press start. When the loading bar finishes, and it says 'mission loaded, please wait', I get a blue screen of death and the PC resets. My PC works normally otherwise, and other games run fine.

 

I tried out a few different missions, and I also tried some different graphics settings, but the problem is the same. I looked in the FAQ but couldn't find anything relevant to my issue; I tried a search too with the same results. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

My PC's specs are:

 

Windows 7 N 64-bit SP1

Intel Core i3 4370 @ 3.80GHz

8.00GB RAM

MSI H81M-E33 motherboard

2GB NVIDA GeForce 610

 

The error message from event viewer was:

 

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x00000116 (0xfffffa8008d08010, 0xfffff8800f3b793c, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000002). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: .

 

Unfortunately, I cannot find the .dmp file.

[nbohr1more 2163]

Is your darkmod directory set to "Read Only"?

 

Do you have the latest drivers for your motherboard chipset and GPU?

 

What TDM version are you trying to launch?

 

Have you tried running tdm_updater to see if it repairs\replaces corrupt files?

 

Please post your Darkmod.cfg

[freyk 475]

..The bugcheck was: 0x00000116..

0x00000116 are graphic driver problems.

Please update your NVIDA GeForce driver.

[Another Thief 0]

Is your darkmod directory set to "Read Only"?

Do you have the latest drivers for your motherboard chipset and GPU?

What TDM version are you trying to launch?

Have you tried running tdm_updater to see if it repairs\replaces corrupt files?

Please post your Darkmod.cfg

 

 

My folder was set to read only. I changed that and I got a different error. An Open GL error. I tried a different mission and it went back to the blue screen. I have tried a couple more times and it's just blue screen again. Something odd happens: I uncheck the read only part, but when I click again, it's back on read only. I changed the permissions on the folder to give myself full control, but the problem persists. I tried the solution on the Microsoft website to remove read only and make it a system folder, but that didn't make any difference. I am the owner of the file.

 

I guess it's a graphics card issue, which is odd because my old GPU was inferior to this one.

 

I am running TDM 2.03. I have the latest motherboard drivers. However, I am using version 340.52 drivers that came with my GPU because the latest drivers (and other more recent ones) caused serious issues with my PC.

 

I ran TDM update. It just downloaded the mirror files.

 

I cannot post the CFG file.

[nbohr1more 2163]

Copy your Darkmod.cfg to the desktop and give it a txt extension, then you should be able to upload it using the "More Reply Options" button.

 

Make sure your Driver setting is set for Single Display, Maximum Power (profile), and that Threading Optimizations and Vsync are disabled.

 

Have you tried running The Dark Mod in Windows XP compatibility mode?

[Another Thief 0]

OK. That worked. Thanks.

 

The Darkmod.cfg file.

 

I will try your other suggestions now.

Darkmod.txt

Edited July 6, 2016 by Another Thief

[Bikerdude 3741]

Are you sure your getting a BSOD and not a CTD (crash to desktop) thats casing the BSOD..?

[Another Thief 0]

Copy your Darkmod.cfg to the desktop and give it a txt extension, then you should be able to upload it using the "More Reply Options" button.

 

Make sure your Driver setting is set for Single Display, Maximum Power (profile), and that Threading Optimizations and Vsync are disabled.

 

Have you tried running The Dark Mod in Windows XP compatibility mode?

 

OK. I tried all of those. Unfortunately, the problem remains.

 

 

 

Are you sure your getting a BSOD and not a CTD (crash to desktop) thats casing the BSOD..?

 

That's a good question. It goes straight from the game loading screen to the BSOD. It did crash to desktop once and gave me an open GL error message. I think it's same problem, but I cannot claim any great expertise on these matters.

Edited July 6, 2016 by Another Thief

[freyk 475]

An Open GL error.

That hints also to your video driver.

Please update it.

 

For the file permissions, right-click on the tdm folder, select properties, tab security, give yourself (or everybody) full control.

(Solved this issue also in the new version of my tdm-installer)

 

I would also Like to see the content of darkmod.log.

Edited July 6, 2016 by freyk

[nbohr1more 2163]

Sometimes drivers have problems with non-standard resolutions.

 

See if these changes\additions to Darkmod.cfg allow the game to boot:

 

seta r_customHeight "480"
seta r_customWidth "640"
seta r_useSoftParticles "0"
seta image_downSizeSpecular "1"
seta image_downSizeBump "1"

[Bikerdude 3741]

Have you uninstalled the gfx driver, then rand a driver cleaner ~(I recommend Driver Sweeper 3.2.0), then reinstall the latest driver for that card...?

[Another Thief 0]

That hints also to your video driver.

Please update it.

 

For the file permissions, right-click on the tdm folder, select properties, tab security, give yourself (or everybody) full control.

(Solved this issue also in the new version of my tdm-installer)

 

I would also Like to see the content of darkmod.log.

 

Hi Freyk. As I said above, installing more recent drivers caused serious issues with my PC. To be honest, I'd just left it alone, but I may have to find a real solution to that issue to play TDM at good resolutions.

 

I did the file permissions previously, but it didn't seem to make any difference.

 

I have attached the log file if you wish to take a look.Darkmodlog.txt

 

Sometimes drivers have problems with non-standard resolutions.

 

See if these changes\additions to Darkmod.cfg allow the game to boot:

 

seta r_customHeight "480"

seta r_customWidth "640"

seta r_useSoftParticles "0"

seta image_downSizeSpecular "1"

seta image_downSizeBump "1"

 

That worked. Thank you very much. I'll play around with different settings.

[Another Thief 0]

Have you uninstalled the gfx driver, then rand a driver cleaner ~(I recommend Driver Sweeper 3.2.0), then reinstall the latest driver for that card...?

 

Yes, I spent a very long time (almost a whole day) trying to sort out my graphic card issue. It only worked when I installed the drivers that came with the card itself and would not work with any later version; Windows would not even load. I am not sure exactly what the problem is, but I know others have experienced similar issues. I think I will need to resolve it in the near future.

[nbohr1more 2163]

 

 

That worked. Thank you very much. I'll play around with different settings.

 

 

r_useSoftParticles is new in 2.03 and it may be using parts of OpenGL that don't work so well in older drivers.

To see if it's not a resolution problem, leave the resolution at 640x480 and re-enable:

seta r_useSoftParticles "1"

 

If you don't have a crash there, then (again) if it's not your custom resolution, try setting:

 

seta image_downSizeSpecular "0"
seta image_downSizeBump "0"

 

to remove the texture downsize behavior. If this crashes TDM at 640x480, then your GPU doesn't have enough

RAM allocated to load the textures. You can set those back to 1 and then change the value in:

 

image_downSizeBumpLimit

 

from 128 to 256 to 512 to 1024 until you hit a crash

 

and then also experiment with setting

 

seta image_downSize "1"
seta image_downSizeLimit "256"

 

or "512" or "1024" in comparison\relation to your Bump settings.

 

Most folks are can easily sacrifice normal map quality but degrading regular textures is a bigger visual problem

but this depends on the mission and your personal taste. Some textures are basically a flat color and all the detail

is in the bump\normalmap while others have no or almost no bump details and all the visual complexity comes from

the base texture.

 

Just a few options to test.

[Another Thief 0]

That's great. Thanks very much for all your help.

[freyk 475]

To help you any futher, Could you please post a console-log?

1. Open your run command-window, pushing the buttoncombination on your keyboard: the windows-keyboard-key + r
2. In the Run window, click on browse, navigate to your tdm-folder, select the "thedarkmod.exe" and press "open"
3. You return automaticly to the run window. Add to the open-line: +condump myconsolelog.txt
   (your open command will be something like, for example: c:\games\darkmod\thedarkmod.exe +condump myconsolelog.txt)
4. Click "ok" to start TDM.
5. Close TDM.
6. Navigate to your tdm folder and post your myconsolelog.txt to this topic.

Edited July 6, 2016 by freyk