Guild Wars 2

Edit: Title changed to show the focus of this thread: constant sudden black screens.

On past weeks I have been constantly getting random disconnects, no lag and all but out of nowhere my screen goes black and my only resort is closing the client. Curiously I can open Options window but not else, no Log Out or anything else.

And just now I got even more angry. I have constantly been unable to complete Mark Golem as I kept being disconnected right when the even finished. For twice in a row I have lost credit completely, with no chest due this kitten disconnect. A few days ago I was playing it fine but so soon it reached 2%, poof I went. When I came back I was put in a different server instance and then no chest at all. I’m not sure it’s my connection only as everything else is fine (no skill lag or unresponsiveness, in-game ping looking usual).

And today (to help with the frustration we just had a patch pending) so soon the golem spawned my skills got unresponsive. And to my amusement even though I had golem clearly selected as target my Combat log kept showing I was hitting a Scale Drake >.< And then, out of nowhere (at least from my view) the completion song played and people in chat talked as it was done, but I got NO event credit, not even that ground chest. And to add the cherry on top, just after that… poof, black screen and then game started patching.

Luckily, I got a second chance today at least… After the game patched I logged in back and I was put in a map with the event still running (I was luck to not die as I was standing almost in the middle on it) and at 50%. At least I could complete it on this second chance and got some reward. But guess what? Around 2 min after it was completed, poof I went again with that kitten black screen….

Again, I don’t think it’s on my side only. I had been fine on these events before the patch before this last. There must be something wrong somewhere.

So? Can I have some attention here? The issue is still going on :S

Also to add, when that happens I’m also able to bring up that “Log Out” panel by hitting a hotkey, but the only options are “Log Out” and “Cancel” but “Log Out” does nothing.

Has anything else changed with your system recently? Did you upgrade to Windows 10, or install new GPU drivers?

If you’ve not updated drivers recently, try the latest version for your GPU. Otherwise, more info is needed. What operating system, CPU, GPU do you have? What antivirus/firewall software is installed?

No, not much has changed and the issue started even before Windows 10 was officially released. My graphic cards were up-to-date and and have recently updated them again, the issue persists. I don’t think it has anything to do with graphics as it feels more like a disconnect.

The game doesn’t stop responding as you can see I still can open Options and Log Out panel. Just what I can say is that nothing changed between before and after the issue, except a patch for the game. I run Windows 7 64 bits with a GeForce GTX 650.

It does look like a disconnect, since the game isn’t actually crashing. I’ve seen DCs like that before, but still got a connection error popup. The game just never loaded the char select screen after the DC, staying on a black screen.

The easiest thing you can try would be to set up exceptions/allow rules for the game in whatever firewall you’re using. You can also try a traceroute to the game server. Preferably during the event, since that’s when the problem occurs.

How to do that:
Windows Key + R
Type in “cmd.exe” and hit enter
In the command prompt type “/tracert” followed by the game server IP, then enter
You can get the current server IP by using the /IP command ingame

If the traceroute shows any big spikes in latency, or intermittent loss (you can usually ignore anything that always times out), it would likely be the cause.. Any problems there beyond your router (the first hop) should be reported to your ISP.

You can post a screenshot of the tracert here, but I’d recommend using paint/etc to block out the IP/resolved URLs of the first few hops for your own privacy.

Yay for missing a whole post due forum logging me off :S Here we go writing it again…

Yeah, at first I thought it was my connection but it doesn’t give me any signals like lag or skill failure, it just goes black all suddenly. Also it doesn’t happen at events only, I have had it happening even while standing still or just chatting even at low crowded areas. I used that event fact in OP because it was when it drove me nuts and made me very angry and kittened off, I was having these issues even before that. And yeah, it’s weird as it doesn’t give me any popup about connection issues, it just goes black.

Thanks for the instructions about traceroute and stuff. Although I’m very aware about that commands it can be useful to someone else too. When I read your post I recalled that I had recently installed a new firewall (it came shipped with an antivirus) and I went to check it, but it was already disabled then it couldn’t be causing the issue.

I have never had these issues before, even though my connection isn’t that great, but it started after a specific date possibly when that patch I mentioned in OP came out.

I haven’t tried traceroute but I tested ping. I have attached a screenshot just when it happened while doing a ping test. Even though it can look high it’s just the normal for me and I hardly have had issues with that value. I was just standing still while checking inventory when it happened. I also have attached one showing the Log Out panel after it happened too and another about a moment where the game even stopped responding while simply restarting an activity (round had just finished and new one were starting).

It’s interesting that the game did stop responding during that reload, but I think I’ve seen similar behavior before after a black-screen disconnect.

More importantly, the options menu over the black screen shows your ping ingame as 0. That’s another sign of a disconnet, and the game losing contact with the server. Which is a bit odd seeing that you are actively pinging it at the same time. Your latency isn’t amazing, but that it still low enough that it shouldn’t cause any connection problems.

With your security software’s firewall disabled, windows firewall could be re-enabled. It shouldn’t cause any problems since the game doesn’t need to be accepting incoming connections, but it’s still possible that it could prevent recovery from a hiccup and drop the connection entirely.

Aside from Windows firewall, the only thing that comes to mind (and this is a stretch) is a web filter component of the antivirus. But this would most likely only apply if you’ve changed your game client port to 80, 443, or another common HTTP/HTTPS port. Changing the antivirus to monitor every port could also cause that filtering to be active/monitoring the game connection on it’s default port. I’m not aware of any that have that behavior by default, so if you’ve not changed it or don’t have that much control over it, it would only be a potential issue if you changed the game’s client port.

The other likely local culprit would be your router or modem. But that shouldn’t be suddenly causing an issue without settings being changed or firmware being updated. Some routers do have automatic firmware updates, so it’s possible there was a change you aren’t aware of if you have a router with that feature. Also, if you’re using a wireless connection to your router, try a wired one if possible. If that’s not feasible, try changing the wireless channel.

My guess would be that it’s probably not something with your PC, but that’s just the easiest set of potential problems to rule out. I do still recommend a traceroute, since that can show network issues that ping will not.

Sorry for the late reply. Yes, I thought it weird it was showing 0 but as you can see it was “after” the disconnect (that caused the black screen) so not so surprised there. My latency isn’t great as you even said but that’s what has been the normal for me and it never caused too much trouble before, usually it would become unplayable if it exceeds 400 or more for me.

About Windows Firewall, yes it must be enabled but again it was never an issue before, it hardly bothers me with anything.

I haven’t changed the game client port so I don’t think any web filter could be playing a role here. My AV settings is usually the same as before, I haven’t changed anything in it so unless they (AV manufacturer) changed something in it it shouldn’t be causing trobles like you explained.

About my router, its firmware is up-to-date but it doesn’t have an auto-update. Also, the firmware is exactly the same from months before the issue started and I haven’t messed with it in a while, then not sure if it could have any part in the issue either. By the way, it’s a wired connection between router and my computer.

Lastly, I have done a traceroute test to the IP showed in my screenshot and here is how it went (I have masked a few address related to my ISP connection):

>tracert 206.127.159.201

Tracing route to 206-127-159-201.ncsoft.com [206.127.159.201]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     2 ms     1 ms     1 ms  (*My router address*)
  2     3 ms     2 ms     2 ms  (*My local ISP node 1*)
  3    13 ms     4 ms     3 ms  (*My local ISP node 2*)
  4     6 ms     7 ms    41 ms  (*My local ISP node 3*)
  5    15 ms     8 ms     8 ms  (*My local ISP node 4*)
  6    27 ms    21 ms    26 ms  (*My local ISP partner provider node 1*)
  7    45 ms    25 ms    31 ms  (*My local ISP partner provider node 2*)
  8    23 ms    70 ms    24 ms  embratel-G4-3-gacc01.rpo.embratel.net.br [200.245.157.5]
  9    23 ms    16 ms    27 ms  ebt-G1-0-0-dist04.rpo.embratel.net.br [200.230.245.193]
 10    38 ms    44 ms    39 ms  ebt-T0-5-2-0-tcore02.bhe.embratel.net.br [200.244.160.50]
 11   173 ms   166 ms   163 ms  ebt-P0-3-0-0-intl02.nyk.embratel.net.br [200.230.220.98]
 12   177 ms   172 ms   177 ms  ae1.nyc24.ip4.gtt.net [216.221.156.77]
 13   263 ms   252 ms   287 ms  xe-4-1-5.fra23.ip4.gtt.net [89.149.129.57]
 14   255 ms   276 ms   275 ms  89.149.164.42
 15   274 ms   256 ms   245 ms  206-127-157-86.ncsoft.com [206.127.157.86]
 16   429 ms   259 ms   261 ms  206-127-157-102.ncsoft.com [206.127.157.102]
 17   272 ms   266 ms   250 ms  206-127-159-201.ncsoft.com [206.127.159.201]

Trace complete.

As you can see, nothing so different for what would be normal for me. I have seen this test to be even worse on past. I really don’t know what could it be and I believe the problem lies on something far from my reach :S Btw, thanks for your help so far.

And the DCs and sudden black screens are still happening :S

You’re likely right that it’s something beyond your control. The only real option available (aside from the security software/router ones already pretty much ruled out) on the player’s side is the /clientport argument. I know various ISPs have been known to throttled game traffic along with P2P traffic, whether intentionally or just careless filtering. It’s more likely to cause increased latency than disconnects, but it is possible. Some have had luck using ports 80 or 443 for the game.

The only other local thing I can think of would be the network card drivers/settings. Updating drivers, or even trying older versions might help. And Checksum Offloading has been known to cause some problems/additional latency with some network adapters(like Realtek/Marvell chips that are commony built into motherboards). If the settings are available, they’d be in the advanced settings tab for the network adapter in device manager. Disable the options if they’re on, and try enabling if they’re already disabled. They can actually help performance on some of the higher end adapters. I’ve seen a few reports that Intel’s do well with it enabled, and I have it on with mine(Intel 82579V)

Yay for forums not notifying about threads (nop). Anyway, sorry for coming back only now, I forgot to check this thread and forum Subscribe doesn’t work :S

Well, thanks again for the suggestions. I’ll give it a try and see if it improves something, I’m still having the black screen issues btw. :/

since last 2 weeks after latest big update ive been having same issue mostly during or after fractals.. lately ill be fine run a fractal it messes up at boss fights or right after the fractal has finished. sent in a report and still no reply on a fix.. u know how bad it suxs to do a scale 36 fractal and get a black screen right at the last hit so no bonus reward and ur lvl dont increase

For the past 2-3 weeks now I have been having a black screen issue. Its happens a lot in the fractals, “Fire Shaman”, “Ice Ele”, and some of the others. Screen goes black for 4-8 seconds and then recovers. I have tried repairing the game several times now. I tried clean installs of every available driver from Nvidia for my GTX750ti. I have this problem on Windows 7 and Windows 10 although the problem started after/since upgrading to Windows10. (I reinstalled 7 just to see if that would fix it but no luck.) I am posting here in hopes there is a fix that works that I haven’t come across yet. Please help, thanks.

Tazor.3675:

Screen goes black for 4-8 seconds and then recovers.

It wouldn’t be a big thing if it was merely a glitch for me, but in my case it doesn’t come back, my only option is to relog :S

It loves to happen during boss fights the most but doesn’t restrict itself. However, it didn’t happen at Teq last night and I almost lagged out. This is perplexing, it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with load, fps, settings, drivers, OS or temperature. I was thinking Particle effects, AA, or maybe a setting to low?

Ok after all this time I can have some clue about why this black screen and sudden disconnect has been happening…

I have finally tried the command switch -log just for curiosity’s sake to see what had been going on and here it seems what’s wrong:

During all the gameplay the log registered things like..

01033634: Debug: Disconnected from server 206.127.159.107:6112
…
01033676: Debug: Login server connection lost
…
01035969: Debug: Connecting to auth server 206.127.159.108:6112…
…
01036292: Debug: Connected to auth server 206.127.159.108:6112
…
01038584: Debug: Auth server returned response 0
01038584: Debug: Account login transaction result 0

…and everything kept “normal” (not actually normal as the log shows several errors or warnings but the game kept running), and occasionally for several times registered…

Debug: Auth server returned response 0

…and the game didn’t crash at these points.

However… the last moments on log when a black screen happened…

04508334: Debug: Disconnected from server 206.127.146.74:6112
..
04508357: Debug: Login server connection lost
04508357: Debug: Connecting to auth server 206.127.146.73:6112…
…
04508638: Debug: Connected to auth server 206.127.146.73:6112
…
04509954: Debug: Auth server returned response 14
04510016: Debug: Disconnected from server 206.127.159.210:6112
04510293: Debug: Disconnected from server 206.127.146.73:6112
…
04514392: Debug: Audio thread shutting down…
04514539: Debug: Audio thread shutdown succeeded.
04514563: Perf: Counter; 30d.1m.socket inet fragments processed; 42
04514563: Perf: Counter; 30d.1m.socket inet incompletes (total); 1
04514563: Perf: Counter; 30d.1m.socket inet msgs processed; 1,053
04514563: Perf: Counter; 30d.1m.socket inet msgs processed (ms); 79
04514563: Perf: Counter; 30d.1m.socket inet msgs sent; 595
04514563: Perf: Counter; 30d.1m.transactions (peak); 10
04514563: Perf: Counter; 30d.1m.transactions (total); 397
04514563: Perf: Counter; 30d.1m.trans timeouts; 3
04514563: Perf: Counter; 30d.1m.unsent msgs (peak); 1
04514563: Perf: Counter; 30d.1m.unsent msgs (total); 2
[end of log]

Not sure what such “Auth server returned response 14” could mean but I hope it could give some clue about what’s going on.

Yup, it seems like there is a pattern here. Once again after a black screen the last items in the log shows “Auth server returned response 14”, differently from the whole log that now and then shows “Auth server returned response 0”.

So? Has any dev or someone looked into this? It seems I should send a support ticket then… this issue is very frustrating and annoying, I have lost credit and rewards from several events due this.. I’m not going even to make the math…

Just came back in this game for 3 days and I got exactly the same probleme… I found some people on Internet who got the same pb too from 2012!!!!!
No answer, no fix, no solution from ncsoft or arena… nothing??

Please help! Say something….

Montalto.9312:

Just came back in this game for 3 days and I got exactly the same probleme… I found some people on Internet who got the same pb too from 2012!!!!!
No answer, no fix, no solution from ncsoft or arena… nothing??

Please help! Say something….

Contact Support directly by creating a support ticket. They’ll do what they can to help you out.

All these forms on this issue and still no response

Bump Same issue, is there a fix? Any dev response?

Luna.1839:

Bump Same issue, is there a fix? Any dev response?

Nop, nothing so far. Still annoying :/ Got it even while within SAB.

What did support say in response to your ticket?

Hmm, curiously I have just realized the issue seems to be less frequent now, although it happened once this week. Also I haven’t filled any support ticket as I said a while back, been lazy about it :P

Well, on past weeks I have been working with Support trying to track down what’s wrong and my lack of response here was because we haven’t found a cause yet.

I have been suggested to update graphic card drivers, to add the game to anti-virus exclusion list.. even to reinstall the game from scratch.. none of them has helped so far. I have also sent them some logs (generated with the -log parameter) but no concrete solution yet.

My last task I was asked to do was to run an utility while playing to test my connection and things seems to point out that’s mostly the cause is connection related (not at my end but something between me and game servers). Also, at a point when a black screen happened I checked the log before closing the game, the last entries was:

01332704: Debug: Disconnected from server 206.127.159.77:6112
01332718: Debug: Gc::GcAuthCmdNotif

I’ll still work with them and let’s hope a cause is found. I’m going to post back here if we get some idea or solution.

P.S.: I hope mods won’t lock this thread down, 2 months isn’t that old and the issue is still valid. It would be a waste and counterproductive to start over a new thread about the exact same issue. Starting new threads over and over just because it becomes “old” just makes the broken search issue worse.

Locking this up to avoid further necroposting