Far Cry destroying my PC?

Discussion in 'Software' started by HunterKiller_, Jul 19, 2007.

  1. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    I've recently reinstalled Far Cry to play once again. Unfortunately, my experience was ruined by a rather big problem.

    It's kind of a long story, so I'll write it all down briefly in bullet points.

    - Reinstalled Far Cry on my PC, which has stable function.
    - When trying to loading saved games from one certain stage (Pier), the PC would restart itself.

    - This problem occurred before while on XP 32bit, but I could start at a different save point and avoid the problem.
    - Attempted the same solution this time, but it didn't work and then Windows stopped loading on reboot. It would get as far as the wallpaper and then stop.

    - Fortunately, I was tinkering with UXTheme that day and had made restore points, which I reverted to. At first this didn't solve the problem, it was only when I uninstalled Far Cry that my PC started functioning normally again.

    Notes: When the game crashed and rebooted on 32bit, a pop-up on reboot would say something along the lines of "this program caused a serious fatal error."
    On 64bit it didn't say anything on reboot, but just before this problem occurred, while playing the Pier stage, the game crashed to desktop with a pop-up about a memory error.

    If you're still with me, thanks.
    I would still very much like to continue playing Far Cry as I've yet to complete it, but now with a fresh windows install (registry cleaning yesterday screwed things over so I just decided to format) I'm afraid to try Far Cry again, even with a fresh install, I don't actually know what was causing that problem, and it may, most likely, happen again.
    I've searched around and found nothing like what I've experienced.

    Thanks reading if you're still here, what a long post.
    I would very much appreciate it if anybody could help a fellow gamer out here.

    My current specs and relevant info.
    XP 64bit (was on SP2 when the problem occurred.)
    P4 3.0
    1GB Corsair value RAM
    Radeon x1950 pro 512mb - Driver version 7.6 (latest release)
    Running Avast Anti-virus. I've heard anti-virus software can create memory conflicts.
     
  2. Valhallis

    Valhallis Private First Class

    At least with a fresh install, you can try the game and see if it runs. If it does, with no issues, chances are something was buggered previously (likely software-wise). If it crashes, well, it's either the game (maybe it needs a patch, scratched CD, etc) or more likely some hardware issue. I'd recommend running some h/w diags like Memtest86 and your HDD manufacturers test. Could be video card or heat related as well but I'd start with memory and HDD. Have fun!
     
  3. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Memtest86 is only for 32bit only, but I've found a 64bit burn-in utility, so I'm going to give that a try.
    Now that I think about it, it may very well be my video card... I've played Far Cry on an older nVidia Quadro card and never had any problems.
     
  4. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    I ran a system burn-in and then only RAM and 3D, both for 15 minutes (that was limit for this shareware program).
    Zero errors in both tests.

    I guess now the only thing that I can do is try the game again.
     
  5. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Here's an update on the progress.

    Good news is that I've found a part of what caused the problem.
    I didn't believe it, but it is in fact UXTheme that's stopping Windows from loading at start up.
    Bad news is, I may have to format. Again.

    If you don't use UXTheme multipatcher, here's the deal.
    It seems microsh1t took further measures to try stop people from customizing the OS by putting in backup copies of the uxtheme.dll file in the SP2 installation, so that when the UXTheme multipatcher swaps the uxtheme.dll file, Windows will immediately fix it up with the original copy, thus stopping any Visual Style customization.

    In order to make UXTheme multipatcher work, one has to tinker with the uxtheme.dll files, by changing the names of the backup copies, Windows can longer find them to fix the altered dll file.
    And this seems to be where the problem sprung - the altering of the dll files.

    I still don't know what causes Far Cry to crash, though.

    UXTheme multipatcher still works on XP64 SP1 flawlessly.
    What exactly does SP2 update? If it's nothing important then I would rather stay on SP1 and keep using other skins, because XP defaults are hideous.
     
  6. Colemanguy

    Colemanguy MajorGeek

    Well if you consider getting security updates, then yes sp2 is. If you don't mind not havin gyour updates then your fine with out sp2.
     
  7. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Cool, thanks Colemanguy.

    Well, it appears that Windows decided to work again - along with UXTheme multipatcher. >.<

    I rebooted in safe mode, changed the altered dll files back to their original names. While I was doing that, I found a file created by UXTheme multipatcher that was in the Prefetch, I don't know much about PCs but if I recall correctly, the prefetch is what gets loaded first when Windows starts.
    Anyway, I got rid of that file, rebooted, and now Windows is working and custom Visual Styles work fine, too.
    Now all I have to do is try Far Cry again.
     
  8. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Actually, forget everything I said in the above post.
    Turns out SP2 doesn't want to play with UXTheme multipatcher, so I've formatted and gone back SP1.
    Now to test Far Cry.
     
  9. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    Just replace the file yourself.

    *shrug*
     
  10. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Bad news. It still crashes on the same level.
    I don't get it this. I can play the first three stages with no problems, then as soon as I get to this stage, things start going wrong.

    I also got the error message again. When Windows reboots, a pop-up says "Windows has recovered from a serious error."
     
  11. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    I've been able to avoid the problem again by going back a few save games.
    I think it's just something wrong with the files related to that stage, because at the end of stage, it lagged crazily, but once that stage was over everything was back to normal.

    I'll consider it problem solved. :)
     
  12. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Ok guys, I'm back again.
    I spoke too soon, tried to load up my game on the new stage today, and it crashed again. :(

    All is not lost, however. I took note of the details of the error from the pop-up on the reboot.
    Behold.

    C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER7a55.dir00\Mini072207-01.dmp
    C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER7a55.dir00\sysdata.xml

    BCCode : 1e BCP1 : FFFFFFFFC0000094 BCP2 : FFFFFADFE304DBB4
    BCP3 : 0000000000000000 BCP4 : 000000000002CFFF OSVer : 5_2_3790
    SP : 1_0 Product : 256_1

    I did a search for 'sysdata.xml' and got good results. It turns out that many people have this similar problem, with other applications and games.
    I've looked for said files on my PC, but apparently, they don't exist.

    I did not find a solid solution, but 'faulty RAM' and 'video card driver' were brought up many times.
    My PC never crashes normally, even when using other memory intensive applications, so I really doubt it's got anything to do with it.
    Video card driver sounds like the best bet to me, because as I've already mentioned, I didn't have this problem with my previous nVidia card and driver.
    If it is the driver, then there isn't really anything I can do until my next upgrade, haha.
    I said this when I first bought this card and I'll say it again, definitely never buying ATi again, never had problems until I bought it.
     
  13. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    You are barking up the wrong tree. The reason why so amny people report problems with sysdata.xml, is that is generated during a crash for error reporting. So when someone crashes...you get the idea.

    Do you have any memory dumps in your C:\windows\minidump folder?
     
  14. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Yes, there is one called 'Mini072207-01.dmp', 156KB in size.
    The date on it is today's, so I'm guessing this is an error report for the Far Cry crash?
     
  15. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    Probably. Zip it up and post it here.
     
  16. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    ^ Don't these files contain personal information such as CD keys?
     
  17. Colemanguy

    Colemanguy MajorGeek

    Have you done any game patches between your save games and reinstalling the game? Often timexs patch notes say it may cause issues with saved games. Something to also check.
     
  18. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Patches were installed immediately after installation of the game.
    I can't play it without installing the X64 patches anyway.
     
  19. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest


    Um, no? Would you use Windows if it left keys lying all over the place when your machine crashed? I wouldn't.

    LOL

    You dont have to upload it, if you are feeling paranoid.
    http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35246
     
  20. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Ok, here you go.
    I hope this will reveal the source of my woes.
    Thank you.
     

    Attached Files:

  21. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    One dump doesn't make it inconclusive, but this particular crash was caused by RTKHDA64.SYS.

    Thats your realtek sound driver.
     
  22. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Oh wow, thanks a lot.
    That does make sense to me, because on the stage where the problems started, the sound gets a bit buggy. I thought absolutely nothing of this ofcourse.
    Didn't know sound could cause so much trouble.

    I guess I'll have to look for driver update. Also, the Far Cry sound settings has a 'compatible mode', for issues with sound, I should give that a try.
     
  23. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    See if there is a software audio option too. That tends to more often than not be more stable. Of course, that may be the compat mode you are speaking of.
     
  24. HunterKiller_

    HunterKiller_ Private E-2

    Compatible mode fixed it!
    There isn't any noticeable performance loss, so I'm happy with it.

    Thanks much for the help. <3
     
  25. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    Glad we could shed some light on the issue :)
     

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