Screen Stutters and game crashes

[Chalenge]

You can also get to the services app by clicking on the start button and typing "services.msc" in the search window and then hitting enter.

[TequilaChaser]

and by using the "services.msc" you have more information at your disposal to decide what you need, what you don't need as well as the choice of Automatic, Manual and Disabled(Stopped)

you do not get these (3) choices by accessing the processes via Task Manager,  especially in windows 7 where you can access both the processes and the services, you are only able to stop or start the Services

by using the "Services.msc"   route, you can view what other resources/services are dependent on that particular service and what other resources/services that particular service is dependent on itself you are wanting to set up...... as well as it will also tell you what processes that service is launching / using......

I recommend using caution while adjusting your services & processes......

I also recommend to NOT go in and adjust any services &/or processes by way of "msconfig" , this will change your boot up sequence from it's regular normal/default boot up ( start up )

also, some websites which get tossed around this forum religiously are:  www.blackviper.com ( works for both WinXP, WinVista & Win 7 )   and www.processlibrary.com ----> which will tell you what a particular process is, does and if it is critical, not critical, etc.....

hope this helps

[Coronado]

Do you have to redo all the process turn-offs with every reboot?

Yes i do , probably about 12 or so, but Rolex told me about a program that will keep them dormant.(i think)

[Ardy123]

Also, before you turn off the service that reports TDRs, see if the screen stutters were caused by TDRs.

more on TDRs,
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/wddm_timeout.mspx

[TequilaChaser]

Do you have to redo all the process turn-offs with every reboot?

Yes i do , probably about 12 or so, but Rolex told me about a program that will keep them dormant.(i think)

not necessarily.... you can tweak your OS via services.msc like Challenge mentioned and I followed up on, or you can go the route  like was mentioned by Rolex which is probably  "AlacrityPC"

setting a service from automatic to manual, will most times only start the service( & processes ) once you open that program / software / etc....... and once the memory flushes, the service /process will close once you are finished using said program/software....... for all the extra added(bloat/un needed) services/processes that one has determined as not being needed, those services/porcesses can be permanently disabled......

hope this helps

[Skuzzy]

There appears to be numerous people (myself included) who have reported issues with AH on Vista x64 and win7 x64 setups. I suspect there is an issue with the game and x64 versions of windows. Some suspect its a driver issue, it could also be the way the game is interacting with the driver as other games don't suffer from the same (ROF doesn't for example).

here are some previous threads. (some of them by me)
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,304138.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,304714.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,304714.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,298989.0.html

Thats one of the challenges of PC games is that there is not one setup but almost an infinite number of different hardware/software combinations that some of which can lead to troubles.

You can suspect it is the game all day long.  The crashes are occurring in the Windows 7 kernel.  No application can nor should be able to cause that type of crash.  Drivers can.

If it was the game, we could do something about it.  Unless Microsoft wants to give us access to the kernel code, there is not much more we can do.  The fact the 32 bit version of the operating system is having zero problems is a big red flag that the 64 bit version has a problem, be it drivers, or operating system is unknown.

[Ardy123]

You can suspect it is the game all day long.  The crashes are occurring in the Windows 7 kernel.  No application can nor should be able to cause that type of crash.  Drivers can.

If it was the game, we could do something about it.  Unless Microsoft wants to give us access to the kernel code, there is not much more we can do.  The fact the 32 bit version of the operating system is having zero problems is a big red flag that the 64 bit version has a problem, be it drivers, or operating system is unknown.

Is there some indication of what system calls or what sequence of system calls lead to this crash such that the bug can be worked around?

OS bugs in Windows are nothing new, and have been hampering Win32 developers forever.

[Chalenge]

I have to take a wild guess and blame it on poorly executed DRM because despite having taken my system apart more than a dozen times to remove hardware and so on I have not figured out a common device causing crashes. And why not DRM its probably the worst idea MS has ever had and they have had some really bad ones!

 

[TOMCAT21]

Belial, I have had the same issues although not as much since I made the switch to W7. I had game booster but my issues seem to get worse. Everytime I play Aces, I shut down the processes I do not need, leaving me with around 55. I am, however, flying on a laptop so I am already fighting a uphill battle.