Help me make BF3 work, duders

Fandyien

So I just got my hands on BF3, and after five hours of patching and one successfully multiplayer patch, it started crashing like crazy. i can't get past the first scene after the train in single player, and I can't do much more then spawn and run a few feet before a crash in multi. it's super frustrating and from what i can tell it's a problem a lot of people have, but nothing i've tried has helped (i'm not super good at troubleshooting, though)

this is absolutely fucking killing me. here's some relevant information in case anyone can give me a hand before i destroy the very earth itself

the error (i stole the picture from a thread on the EA forums where someone else has the exact same issue so i know it's not unique to me)


my dxdiag results in screenshot form, to be followed by the full text



and here's the dxdiag

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System Information

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Time of this report: 12/29/2011, 22:19:48
Machine name: MUADDIB
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.111025-1503)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc
System Model: XPS 630i
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3326MB RAM
Page File: 1557MB used, 5091MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

---

DxDiag Notes

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Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Sound Tab 3: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.

---

DirectX Debug Levels

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Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---

Display Devices

---

Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x9442)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9442&SUBSYS_05021028&REV_00
Display Memory: 1912 MB
Dedicated Memory: 505 MB
Shared Memory: 1406 MB
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: HP w1907
Monitor Id: HWP26A3
Native Mode: 1440 x 900(p) (59.887Hz)
Output Type: DVI
Driver Name: aticfx32.dll,aticfx32.dll,aticfx32.dll,atiumdag.dll,atidxx32.dll,atiumdva.cap
Driver File Version: 8.17.0010.1091 (English)
Driver Version: 8.881.0.0
DDI Version: 10.1
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 7/28/2011 16:40:44, 726528 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-D702-11CF-DB77-0825BEC2C535}
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x9442
SubSys ID: 0x05021028
Revision ID: 0x0000
Driver Strong Name: oem9.inf:ATI.Mfg.NTx86.6.0:ati2mtag_RV7X:8.881.0.0:pci\ven_1002&dev_9442
Rank Of Driver: 00E62001
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C
Deinterlace Caps: {6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY
{5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=
{3C5323C1-6FB7-44F5-9081-056BF2EE449D}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{552C0DAD-CCBC-420B-83C8-74943CF9F1A6}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY
{5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(IMC1,UNKNOWN) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=
{5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(IMC2,UNKNOWN) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=
{5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(IMC3,UNKNOWN) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=
{5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(IMC4,UNKNOWN) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=
{5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(S340,UNKNOWN) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=
{5A54A0C9-C7EC-4BD9-8EDE-F3C75DC4393B}: Format(In/Out)=(S342,UNKNOWN) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=
D3D9 Overlay: Not Supported
DXVA-HD: Not Supported
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled

---

Sound Devices

---

Description: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0888&SUBSYS_10280249&REV_1001
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 65535
Type: WDM
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7600.16385 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 7/13/2009 18:51:47, 304128 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Microsoft
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

Description: Digital Audio (HDMI) (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0888&SUBSYS_10280249&REV_1001
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 65535
Type: WDM
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7600.16385 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 7/13/2009 18:51:47, 304128 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Microsoft
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

Description: Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0888&SUBSYS_10280249&REV_1001
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 65535
Type: WDM
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7600.16385 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 7/13/2009 18:51:47, 304128 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Microsoft
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

Ruckus

Update your graphics drivers, or alternatively, roll back your graphics drivers. That first error you posted specifically mentions Graphics Driver crash as a probably cause. You could be using an old version that hasn't been updated to work with BF3.

Fandyien

i've been having similiar issues with shogun so I updated my drivers like two days ago, i know they're current

i just did some fiddling and set it's vram way higher and the single player seems to be running without crashes now, only it's a terrible slideshow that runs at ~2fps, if that. i know my rig meets the reccomended specs.

[edit] yeah, multiplayer is now an unplayable slideshow that lasts a little while before it crashes

the weirdest thing here is that when i first booted it up it ran fine for an entire match, then i quit and tried running it with gamebooster and fiddled with the settings, and all this started

Ruckus

You could try and find a way to run it in DirectX 10 mode and see if that helps.

Probably either a selection in the Graphics settings or a launch option.

Tasteticle

Fandyien wrote:

i've been having similiar issues with shogun so I updated my drivers like two days ago, i know they're current

i just did some fiddling and set it's vram way higher and the single player seems to be running without crashes now, only it's a terrible slideshow that runs at ~2fps, if that. i know my rig meets the reccomended specs.

[edit] yeah, multiplayer is now an unplayable slideshow that lasts a little while before it crashes

the weirdest thing here is that when i first booted it up it ran fine for an entire match, then i quit and tried running it with gamebooster and fiddled with the settings, and all this started

Have you tried rolling back your system to a time before you did anything with game booster, then re-installing BF3/the latest drivers?

I tend to shy away from 'performance optimizing apps' because they tend to alter some pretty fundamental shit that could fuck up your system royally

Granted this was a few years ago but I very much doubt they have gotten any better in that regard

Fandyien

yeah, I reckon I have to try something like that

because looking at my computers specs I ought to be able to run bf3 just fine on high, but its absolutely unplayable. just a horrible slideshow. am i bottlenecking somewhere or is it a software issue like i suspect?

kaliyama

Fandyien wrote:

yeah, I reckon I have to try something like that

because looking at my computers specs I ought to be able to run bf3 just fine on high, but its absolutely unplayable. just a horrible slideshow. am i bottlenecking somewhere or is it a software issue like i suspect?

1) Everything works fine.
2) You fiddle with gamebooster.
3) Everything doesn't work fine.

Might running gamebooster have something to do with this? Why don't you uninstall gamebooster, uninstall bf3, then reinstall bf3?

Fandyien

kaliyama wrote:

Fandyien wrote:

yeah, I reckon I have to try something like that

because looking at my computers specs I ought to be able to run bf3 just fine on high, but its absolutely unplayable. just a horrible slideshow. am i bottlenecking somewhere or is it a software issue like i suspect?

1) Everything works fine.
2) You fiddle with gamebooster.
3) Everything doesn't work fine.

Might running gamebooster have something to do with this? Why don't you uninstall gamebooster, uninstall bf3, then reinstall bf3?

mostly because I don't want to endure the long patching process and horrible stuff again, but obvs i will if another solution can't be found

i'm probably going to try reinstalling it, but is there any chance that changing the vram settings could have fucked it more, somehow? specifically increasing the vram it uses

or am i just expecting too much from my computer in general here

[edit] i just tried a little experiment and set every possible setting to it's lowest and got roughly the same amount of lag, and the same weird first-person gun-arm bugs i was getting at high settings, where it looked like not farts

so the conclusion i am drawing from this is that the game itself is being affected in some weird way and that my computer can probably handle this reasonably well with it's hardware

so i guess i should uninstall BF3, uninstall gamebooster, run a virus scan, then reinstall it and hope that does something?

TychoCelchuuu

Changing the VRAM settings? What specifically did you do?

Fandyien

i did what this guy reccomended, it fixed my crashin' problems

i'll just quote this from the battlelog forum because i'm not sure how linking there works

"* In Windows 7/Vista go to Start menu. Go to Accessories. Locate the command prompt shortcut and hover mouse over it. Right Click on the shortcut then select Run as Administrator.
* In the command prompt type this exactly:
bcdedit /set increaseuserva 2500
Then hit enter.
* Make sure you get a message back confirming the change was made. To verify the entry is there you can type just bcdedit, hit enter, and you should see the entry now listed.
* Then close the command prompt. You just told Vista to increase user virtual address (userva) space to 2500MB.
* Changes take effect on reboot.
Now reboot the PC because Windows needs to set the userva at 2500 which only happens after startup.
If you skip any step it will not work. When you have rebooted you should be good to go. Run the game as normal with the original game shortcut.
TO UNDO THE CHANGES
Open command prompt as administrator and type: bcdedit /deletevalue increaseuserva. That deletes the entry.
Reboot and you are back to normal. "

kaliyama

Fandyien wrote:

i did what this guy reccomended, it fixed my crashin' problems

i'll just quote this from the battlelog forum because i'm not sure how linking there works

"* In Windows 7/Vista go to Start menu. Go to Accessories. Locate the command prompt shortcut and hover mouse over it. Right Click on the shortcut then select Run as Administrator.
* In the command prompt type this exactly:
bcdedit /set increaseuserva 2500
Then hit enter.
* Make sure you get a message back confirming the change was made. To verify the entry is there you can type just bcdedit, hit enter, and you should see the entry now listed.
* Then close the command prompt. You just told Vista to increase user virtual address (userva) space to 2500MB.
* Changes take effect on reboot.
Now reboot the PC because Windows needs to set the userva at 2500 which only happens after startup.
If you skip any step it will not work. When you have rebooted you should be good to go. Run the game as normal with the original game shortcut.
TO UNDO THE CHANGES
Open command prompt as administrator and type: bcdedit /deletevalue increaseuserva. That deletes the entry.
Reboot and you are back to normal. "

Glad you could fix it w/o the reinstall nightmare! Hopefully people will be able to find your detailed instructions if they encounter the same issue. What do you think the issue was?

Fandyien

those totally aren't my instructions, i got them off the battlefield 3 game forums. i have no idea why it fixed the issue, really, i just know video ram is good and my crashes had something to do with it

i'm currently wondering why it runs at an absolutely horrible, buggy pace no matter what settings i have it on

Tasteticle

Your specs are a-ok for BF3, and basically it seems things shit the bed after you used game booster

Uninstalling game booster may not be enough

A lot of these optimizing aps alter the core functionality of certain areas of your computer - or at least, back in the XP days they did - so you will most likely need to roll back your system to a time before you even used game booster

Then make sure game booster is uninstalled

Uninstall/re-install BF3, its patches, and any related drivers for your card

Bonus points for running a defrag/spyware scan/malware scan just for kicks

Then I think your problem should be solved

Essee

I'm 80% sure Gamebooster doesn't make any permanent changes to your system, I think it just temporarily quits things when you run it. My fiance just started using it for Skyrim and I made him carefully go through the settings to make sure it wouldn't do anything dumb (and also see what the point of the dang thing was because I disable all sorts of extraneous things when I fiddle with our computers), so I would certainly hope it didn't do anything else sneaky in the background. I don't think it does anything permanent to your system, or if it does it's clearly laid-out in the settings 'cause I think I notice that stuff. But if Gamebooster is running every time you're trying to play BF3, certainly there's a possibility that it's temporarily shutting down something it shouldn't and messing things up. Have you looked at what it's told to do in the settings when you run it? I mean, uninstalling Gamebooster should, I think, guarantee it's no longer doing anything to interfere, but you could take a look in the settings to see if it's been doing something dumb in case you still want to use it.

Edit: I just remembered... There's an option in Gamebooster to increase the priority of the game process. I personally recommended my fiance not enable that option because I remembered from previous experience it has a chance to cause instability instead of just making the program run better. That's probably one of the first options you should try disabling if it's enabled.