Sins and Windows 7 RC 64bit problem

in my beastie a q6600 oced to 2.8ghz stock votages 8gb ddr2 800 ram 3 500gb hdds ati4850 w 9.6 driversI have had 18 hour gaming without any problems

harpo

Okay, if you're about an hour into the match, you could easily be running out of RAM.  There's two possible problems I can think of (could happen together, or independently):

1) How much RAM do you have?  If it's less than 3 GB, you could simply be running out.  Windows might be crashing then.

2) I know you said it happens with or without mods, but does the problem occur faster with a mod?  In a long game Sins can run close to the 2 GB per-process limit that all 32 bit software has (yeah, even in 64 bit Windows).  If you have any mods going, your RAM usage will almost certainly go higher.

Either way, I'd open the Task Manager or something similar before you start Sins.  You can watch the RAM/CPU usage as the game goes and look at the recent history, if a crash occurs.

I know neither of these address Windows 7 problem specifically, but they're the best suspects I have.  I've been running Sins using Win7 Beta and RC for both 64 bit and 32 bit over the past few months, and unless I run into a problem early on in the game (on startup), it's usually RAM or a mod that causes a problem.

Edit: As I mention below, I have the same problem now.

Heres my system: q9550 quadcore oc'd to 3.85ghz 1.25v (1.2v stock), 4gb corsair dominator @ 1081mhz, ati 4870 1gb oc'd to 800 core, 955memory, p5e deluxe x48 mobo, auzen x-fi forte 7.1 sound card, corsair 750w psu, antec 900 case w/ aftermarket, high cfm fans and playing on a 24" moniter @ 1900-1200.

I stress tested my entire system for 24hours w/ prime 95 small fft (cpu) and later blend. Ran memtest for my memory settings. I dont believe its my hardware, atleast hopenot. I thought id go atleast a year since building this thing before i need a upgrade/addition. sucks that my memory sticks @ newegg went up in price by $20 or so and my budget wont let me budge atm.

@ JSW. cpu was barely touched @ 25%. I know sins is a ram hog and gets close to the 2gb limit but not quite there. perhaps its possibly due to me having Catalyst Control Center AA set to 24x, 16x AF. Ive never had issues with those settings and sins before though, even with huge mods w/ 10x stars, 300 planets and pirates, 10x total players.

You are not alone by a longshot. I've got Windows 7 RC 64-bit too. I've had the same issues as you. No minidump log files to be found.

Where as you guys are running Intel chips with ATI graphics cards, I have an AMD chip and Nvidia cards. We can rule out any sort of hardware issues here. Try running SoaSE in compatibility mode (Windows XP SP3). Wouldn't hurt to see. Just in case you want all my specifications, they are below.

AMD Phenom II 940 (3.0 Ghz)
M3N-HT Deluxe Motherboard
4 GB of OCZ Gold RAM
Two EVGA 9800 GTX+ in SLI
320 GB Western Digital
Antec 650 Watt PSU
Antec 900 Case

EDIT: Compatibility mode does not stop the crashing. This time however, I got to see the actual error message and it said there was a runtime error because the executable (SoaSE) wanted to terminate in an unusual way.

I'm getting the same sort of crash while running Win7 RC.  I really hope a fix for this comes out soon, because I'm really starting to get back into the swing of things online, and this is kinda annoying.

I don't think it's my hardware either:

Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P mobo

AMD Phenom II 720BE (OC'd at 3.6 GHz)

4 GB Corsair DDR3 ram

ATI Radeon 4870

More than enough to handle the game.

Well. after trying everything i again redownloaded the CCC Suite package from ATI, even though ive done this numerous times. I uninstalled the display driver and CCC with the Suite, rebooted into safe mode and used driver sweeper to clean out any stray files from previously. Then rebooted normally and installed CCC and the display driver. Ever since, 0 minidumps and no compatability mode. Must have been using driver sweeper to clean out the driver files that made the difference, other than that i also used the latest driver package.

I'll have to try what you said, though I think I've found a fix of my own. Just on a limb, I decided to format a 2gig thumbdrive to use ReadyBoost.  Since then, I haven't dropped once (knock on wood).  If I start having problems again, I'll definately sweep up my drivers.

    Hey I'm running win 7 64bit rc1 and yes I'm having the same issues. Running at 1920x1200, about and hour or so into the match it will crash to desktop quickly without minidump, even quicker if using a mod like requiem.  The event monitor usually lists is as appcrash.  I feel like it's an issue with RC1 as my saved games can be continued on another comp with vista 64 bit, without crashing.  This isn't the only game I've experienced issues with.  Was wondering if ms's application compatibility toolkit can be used to create a quick fix.  Pretty sure it's not my hardware: Evga classified, i7 920, gtx 260's in sli, 6gb gskill ddr3@1600.  Only advice I've been getting is wait a few months for official release of win 7.   Any info given to stardock comes back with the reply we haven't begun to patch the game for win 7.

Tried using 2gb readyboost doesn't work.

Try doing what Heinekus posted, if you haven't already; that sounds like something that would be a better fix, though I have yet to try myself.

@ SennKS:

  I have done everything.  Tried compatibility modes, turned down aa to 2x and off, just delays the crashes in normal games, seems almost no difference when running mods.  I had read from other forums about the same thing, turn down aa and set some effects to high or medium from very high.   But I've still experienced crashing,  and frankly I'd rather not play the game with everything turned on low.  Especially when my laptop can play everything on high no probs.  Anyways thnx for the responses, think we might just have to wait for stardock to support this and/or wait until official os release.

Well, I'm having the same issues with NVIDIA cards. I don't think that the ATI drivers were the culprit. (Remeber, same problem different hardware.) Even a 16 gig USB drive with ReadyBoost doesn't help. I'm out of ideas now. Although, maybe an e-mail to [email protected] might shed some light on the situation.

Back again. I just received an actual e-mail from the Stardock Support. The outlook is grim as they won't post a fix.

We won't be beginning our Win7 compatibility testing until much closer to or even after the official release date. Based on our Vista experience, it's not an effective strategy to start it earlier because it turned out many of our problems were caused by incomplete drivers and various other external factors that were outside our control.

I would recommend dual booting into XP or Vista to play Sins for the time being.

Sincerely,

Josie
Technical Support
Ironclad Games

I'll be blunt.  You are running beta/RC OSes.  You can't expect Stardock/IC to be 'fixing' a game for an OS that isn't even stable yet.  Sounds reasonable, yes?  Besides, I assume you are dual booting 7 with Vista or XP, right?  Just play it on them until 7 is released.  If you aren't dual booting and are running 7 as your primary OS, then thems the brakes of being on the bleeding edge.

@Varek

  As always there is prob a price to pay.  I wouldn't care that much if Sins didn't work on the os altogether.  Unfortunately, Sins worked well on the beta, as did many other games for me.  Since reformatting and installing rc1 the story is different.  That's why I expect there to be a solution out there and many others are as frustrated as me.  As for dual booting, yes I know that is the easy solution, however I'd rather not shell out for any other of ms's crap (xp not included).  Makes me wonder if they deliberately left something out so people wouldn't just stick with rc (if it was possible to hack and avoid the auto shut down next year.)

I have the full retail version of windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit with dual nvidia 9800 gtx+ vid cards and 4 gigs of ram. Running just Sins without entrenchment I can get about 30 mins into a game before it simply freezes. No crashing no dumpfiles just freezes up. When running on entrenchment I get about 2 mins into the game. Maybe even less and then it freezes also with no crash, no dumpfile. Any ideas? I have all my drivers up to date and sins/entrench are up to date so I am just at a total loss now.

i was having the same problem till i opened it up in windows mode while watching the task manager. If you see a "wmpnetwork" going on using up memeory then select it then end process. after i did that i have had no more problems.

My rig:

Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit (not RC, production release)
Asus Striker Extreme, BIOS 1901
Twin PNY 8800GTS XLR8 640Mb Video Cards
2.4Ghz Core 2 Quad 6600
4GB Crucial/Ballistix memory
ToughPower 1000w PSU

Also:

1.  I'm running everything with no mods
2.  I have tried turning AA down to 2x and off
3.  I'm running the latest (196.21) nVidia/WHQL drivers
4.  I have run into this with SLI on and off (and also physically removed the 2nd card)
5.  I'm running at 1920x1200
6.  Apart from MS Office 2010 beta, I'm only running Quickbooks 2009, Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0.5002.333 on this rig
8.  All applicable updates have been downloaded and installed

I first ran into the issue after a clean build of Windows 7.  The first time it happened was 60-90 minutes into a solo game.  However, I was playing a rather large system, and now crashes occur within 5-10 minutes with LARGE amounts of Sh*t going on everywhere, so perhaps it's a memory issue?  I am doubling the memory this weekend to 8gb...will see if that's important or not.

SoaSE ran silky smooth on the slothy behemoth that was Vista 32-bit (same hardware).  Not sure what I can do, though I am replacing the video cards anyway.  Is there any other information I can provide?  I think I *did* get a minidump or two--would information from these be helpful?  I could post this elsewhere, but didn't see any similar threads.

SalladDazed

Okay, I've started running into the same (or very similar) problem.  I'm guessing I just hadn't played it enough recently to notice when I first posted. [Edit: It could also have been a Beta-to-release of Win7 peoblem.  As I said back then, I don't think I had problems with the Win7 Beta.]  Of course, I've updated, lowered the graphics, and taken off all mods.  Nothing else running other than Task Manager (to try to catch the problem).

As said in the other replies, there's no minidump or crash or anything.  Sins, Windows 7, and all other programs just freeze.

Computer Details:

Windows 7 Home 64 Bit
GIGABYTE Intel P35 + ICH9 Chipset
Intel Core 2 Duo (I forget the speed)
4GB (DDR2) Corsair -6400C5DHX Memory
VGA EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR 9800GTX RT

The freezes happen on either single player or local LAN.  It's annoying on single player, but it's incredibly frustrating on multiplayer because it screws the other people up, too.  We've stopped playing many times right after it happens.

Edit2: Forgot to mention:  I've run into this problem after each of the following steps:

1. Removing mods
2. Reinstalling Sins
3. Updating my drivers
4. Reinstalling Windows 7
5. Updating my drivers again

Still ran into the same problem for each.  Of course, that took forever since it takes Sins ~1-1.5 hours to hang, and I've yet to find anyway to speed the process or see the problem coming. 

Unfortunately, NONE of the following seem to have any bearing on the occurance of the problem:

1. What I'm doing in Sins (I usually notice when I give a command, but it's not the same one)
2. How big the galaxy is
3. How many ships exist
4. Number of players
5. Whether I'm in battle (it's happend in battle and out of battle before)

Ironclad, I love you.  Please help me love my game again.

3 weeks gone and still no sign of getting this fixed?

I don't think they've figured out what exactly is going on.  Judging by another thread, the problem may somehow be related to sound drivers. 

Oddly enough, it seems to only be a problem for Windows7 64-bit.  Both the full retail version and RC seem to have the issue (I know I've run into it on both).  I never remember seeing it on the beta, but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't there.

i had the same problem with th 32 bit ver of windows 7 ultimate and the game was running worse then it had ever run and on vista it only crashed once and a while to the end of a long game with pirates that have been alive the whole game by that point they have more of a fleet than all of one player can support

When everybody refers to RC (Release Candidiate) does this mean that you were all running the Win 7 Beta, BEFORE release date, and then upgraded to full versions?

Because I'll be getting Windows 7 Professional Edition (Full Version), to Boot Camp on my MacBook, to run Sins. (Got it for $75, under student discount) Does this mean I'm still at risk for this crashing problem as all of you? Because it's 64 bit as well, and I will use that, since my MacBook is compatible with it.

AFAIK, the problem was not reported in the Beta.  However the problem showed up in the RC (release candidate - debatably the second beta, released around July).  It is also in the full-blown version of Windows 7. 

So yes, this problem probably concerns you as well.

Well would it be possible to maybe avoid the problem, if you ran Sins through the Virtual PC for Windows XP, in Windows XP Compatibility Mode?

Or is it still considered Windows 7, since XP is just a virtualization?