7900 GTX on Vista 32-bit here. Getting the random freezes with the same error message and some weird sound issues. The video freezes occur sometimes 15-30 minutes apart...sometimes I'll get two or three right after another though. Also running the latest video drivers form Nvidia (not Beta drivers though). Just updated them tonight. The sound thing only seems to occur when I set ANY of the graphics settings to Highest. It will be fine, then I'll get this fuzzy, digital distortion which goes away after around a minute or two. Both errors are VERY annoying.

I am having the same problem running on core2duo/2x 8800gts 640mb's via SLI/4GB Corsair XMS/10,000rpm wd hdd(everything well cooled) i realize its probably the conflict of the nvidia software but maybe those specs will enlighten someone. it never goes more than 1 minuite into the game without crashing, vista says the program has encountered an error or change or something. just putting in my delema. i love the game, ran through the tutorial and just cant play the game. take care.

i installed the beta nvidia drivers to no change. i sure hope its fixed soon

Well I also have an nvidia card (GeForce 8800 GTS) and have been experiencing the crashes however I had no problems with crashes in the final beta ... what did Stardock change that could have caused these crashes? (:( 

tantalizing.

same problem as the above, using Vista 32 bit, all drivers i have tried so far have had the same problem (Nvidia 7800 GTX)

I'm having the exact same issues as the above poster (Vista 32 Ultimate, 7800 GTX). Even though it's painful to sit there and wait I notice that eventually the driver recovers and I'm able to play again. When I quit out of the game I get the little nvlddmkm has crashed and burned error.

Same problem here. 7950gt with Vista Ultimate 32bit. will play gine for a while then it freezes for about 10-15 sec then recovers. happens sporadicaly afterwards. I have latest drivers. kinda annoying

Well... I decided I'd give the game a try on my laptop and the same stuff happens except it looks like it freezes completely. On my lappy I've got an NVidia 8600 gt and vista 32 ultimate. Frustrating.

I am having a similar problem (game freezes 10+ seconds once in a while), but I have a AMD/ATI 2900 XT with the latest drivers (8.1). I haven't alt-tabbed out so I don't know if any error message is displayed. I'm running Vista x64.

To clarify, supposedly its the Beta drivers for the 64bit Vista. The 32 bit Beta drivers dont fix anything, in fact they only exist to aid in Crysis' performance afaik.

I decided to try the beta drivers (Vista 32x) and the problem continues, although it is better in this respect: Before, the entire OS would crash and I would get the blue screen of death. Now, it freezes for a bit, then goes black for a bit, and then comes back. At least now I can play the game, but here's hoping for a fix before too long.

I solved the problem by editing the setting for hardware usage of the soundcard in the user settings file manualy from FALSE to TRUE.

E6600 @ 3.0ghz
4gb Ram
2x 8800 GTX
Vista 64 Bit
Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty
-----------------

Game is crashing after 30 minutes of play since Monday. I've paid 40 dollars for this and i havent played it once because I simply can't. Stardock wanna fix the problem instead of worrying about posting messages telling us to spam the game on other websites?

I was wondering if people who are having this problem could post what anti-virus software they're using... if any. I'm using Kaspersky 7.0 and I'm doubting that it's the problem but I'd like to make sure.

I'm guessing it has to do with nvidia cards but I've got a couple friends with nvidia cards and they've reported no problems.

just a FYI but I am having the crashes as well but they only happen in online play not on network or just my computer. How did you change those settings in the sound file finalvinyl

Hey there, my freeze based problem goes like this.

If I am zoomed in (has not happened when my view is out), the game suddenly stops working, but I can move my mouse for about 5 seconds. After that time period my mouse stops working, and I still see everything on the screen, just frozen. Then the moniter goes black and pops the message about not detecting imput. This lasts for only a moment or two before the screen and game is restored, once again moving.

The previous occurred on a 7800GT w/ current Vista 64-bit drivers. I have no sound card, so that fix will not do anything for me. Also I will not get the beta drivers quite yet, but may do so if needed. I plan to test the game out with the same card on Windows XP, so if the problem persists I will post to that effect.

i put all my graphics on high and i am still getting the same freeze. and today for the first time i got a blue screen. normally i would suspect my graphic card but for all other games its working fine.

i get the same thing in a few games. Thought it was just my Vista 64 that had these problems. Seems to happen more in Sins than other games though.

is there another sollution? maybe it has to do with another option in the effects options and not just the detail level.

Oh thank God it's not just me, I guess. Misery loves company.

Alienware laptop, 32 bit vista, 2 nVidia GeForce 7950 GTXs, drivers up to date. I get what appears to be a freeze but it's not; the program is STILL RUNNING, it's just a graphics freeze. If I'm patient holding down ctrl/alt/del I can get back out to open task manager, and have verified the game is running. Not only that, I can then alt tab back in and everything will be working again. Until the problem repeats itself.

I'll turn down the planet setting to high from highest when I get home, and maybe scale back everything else a notch as well. I did not notice this problem manifesting itself either in the tutorials or on small maps--is everyone else experience this problem also on a medium or large map?--and I don't think the problem has anything to do with what's actually on the screen at the time. Someone mentioned in a prior response that the game has frozen without looking at a planet or anything else--that's happened to me, too.

I hypothesize from the way the problem manifests itself that the game is loading textures and tracking things you'll be able to see soon (ie, you're phase jumping into a new system, or something's phase jumping into you) so that the textures aren't still loading by the time you can actually see them. That could just be a bullshit guess, but it freezes on me more frequently the more planets I could potentially zoom in to see--even if I'm zoomed all the way out and can only see the iconic representation of planets and ships. It also freezes right as a scout ship phase jumps to a new system (later in the game when there are more ships and facilities around, it freezes more and more frequently) and also right before a pirate armada phase jumps into one of my systems. Oh, and when I accepted an AI's diplomatic offer to share ship sight and planet sight? Game over. The program was still running, and I think there was still sound, but I couldn't hear it over my nVidia drivers' screaming.

my problem is that the game totally crashes! i mean the whole computer stucks and i have to reboot, also i am running with windows xp sp2

To add to the pile, I run XP SP2 with an 8800GTS as well.

I originally had all my settings on high with the 'extras' (or whichever the middle graphic option is for both ship and planets) set to highest, and Sins ran fine. I figured I was using a good card and that, although a little light on RAM (1 gig,) I would try out highest - and hit an immediate wall. It seemed a lot like the game was stuttering to load all the textures (especially from a loaded save game that had a lot of activity,) because it would chug harder and harder as I zoomed in, or if I clicked the research screen. Two or three of these chugs and it would reliably hard lock my computer (hard reboot was my only option.)

In any event, I set every option back to high minus the previously mentioned extras one and the game runs fine. It's weird in that once it gets over this 'hump' of loading a saved game after I've zoomed around everywhere or the first time I open research in a new/loaded game (aka the hard lock baits on highest,) it runs smooth.. I'm assuming that just means it finished moving everything into my RAM/page file, but why would that lock the game up on highest?

a bit of official answer as to these problems would be nice and if we are to except a fix along with the coming patch

sorry for my misleading post above. I have done too many changes at the same time.

my problem: freezing in the main menue
my solution (strange but works):
start the game in windowed mode after editing the settings file manualy.
go to the options menue and change back to fullscreen.
play and have fun (no freezing anymore).
before quitting the game change back to windowed mode so that the game starts in windowed mode next time.