Guild Wars 2

Hello Community,

I have had a good friend that has been having problems with the Guildwars 2 client randomly crashing due to a BSOD. Upon examination of the player’s crash dump file, I discovered that the Gw2 program was overdrawing resources after several recent optimization patches.

The primary cause of these BSOD crashes was a windows out of resources error. It is important to note that Gw2 does become very heavy on resource draw (especially for instances of WvW). Windows XP and some versions of Vista (home edition) have a set RAM limitation of 2GB per processes.

Sometimes the Gw2 program will attempt to allocate a memory amount that is in excess of this limitation. When Gw2 attempts to draw resources beyond this amount it causes the Windows kernell to crash and BSODs the system.

Fortunately, for individuals with these operating systems that are suffering from constant crashes, there may be a fix!

NOTE: (This is a fix for 32-bit platforms as Caedmon pointed out)

Windows contains a 3GB flag that can be added to the boot.ini file that will allow Gw2 to draw resources up to the absolute max of 3GB.

This can prevent Gw2 from crashing on systems with XP limitations. In order to activate the switch please see this guide:

REFERENCE LINK:
http://dwf.blogs.com/beyond_the_paper/2009/04/enabling-3gb-switch-on-windows-vista.html

After my friend activated this switch, he no longer suffers from BSODs on his game. I figured I would post this information to help the many people on older platforms suffering from the crash and perhaps help the developers pinpoint problems associated with backwards compatibility of the game with older operating systems.

Please note that this is a self fix and ensure you do proper research on your personal system and have a strong understanding of .ini file modification before you attempt this fix (although the instructions are pretty straight forward).

Good luck to those crashing, I hope this solves your problems and happy holidays.

-Helmos

You should mention that this is only for people with 32bit,not for 64bit users.

Caedmon is right and remember to back up an image of your system and work before messing with the boot.ini file. Messing with the boot file without using the proper syntax or making mistakes can cause your system not to start.

Running out of Virtual Address space will crash the application, not the operating system.

On the other hand, Where Windows XP is concerned, a bug exists where the OS does not determine the required page pool sizes at startup correctly which would cause BSODS when the system runs out of these pools. 8E pool header corrupt or otherwise are a good indication of this being the case.

I’am having trouble with bsod at startup so I tried this “switch” and it fixed the bsod at startup, unfortunately it crashes after 5 min ingame

I’m sorry, if you have to go to these measures to get this game to work properly, I think a refund is in order.

this game should never have been sold to 32bit windows users, or for that matter XP users……when anet tell people they should run 64bit windows for a 32bit game thats sold as supporting windows xp…thats just a crock….

Imagine had anet been smart and just made the game 64bit properly threaded and dx11(with profiles for dx9 and 10 devices)…….it would have not only fixed alot of our problems, it would have prevented situations like this……

Necrobile.1276:

I’m sorry, if you have to go to these measures to get this game to work properly, I think a refund is in order.

Or, you need a more updated system. In-theory, this would happen to any other game and application with similar resource usage as GW2.

If you have more than 3GB of RAM anyway (especially if you have a graphics card with dedicated memory) you should be using a x64 copy of Windows, or else expect issues. Usually 4GB would be a good amount of system memory, but some chipsets handle memory mapping strangely (in a negative way) on 32-bit OS’s past 2GB of RAM. If the OEM computer you purchased meets such specs, but only has a x86 (32-bit) OS, then you should go complain to the OEM for not knowing what they’re doing, or just update your machine yourself.

Edit: I would like to know the specific error code of the BSoD too. Windows usually only BSoD’s with a hardware issue. I know there are exceptions to this, but memory usage should “not” be an issue, unless your RAM is bad. The app itself should simply crash with something in regards to “out of memory”.

XP however can be different I guess since it has a different (worse) memory management system, but if your still running XP, does the rest of your hardware even meet the requirements for GW2?

And as a final note, AutoDesk does mention use of this switch being a solution to out-of-memory issues with their software, but also mentions that it could cause instability, and that you should (of course) upgrade to a x64 system if you find yourself needing this command.

I will admit, my computer is a few years old. I built it when Age of Conan came out, so it’s aged quite a bit. But she’s still a good computer, and plays every game I want to, with decent frame rates, and great graphics.

I only have 2Gb of RAM, using WinXP, but my PC is above minimum specs, even though it’s not quite recommended. I know I need a new PC, but money is tight, and that won’t happen for awhile.

But still, I stand by what I said earlier. If anyone has to go through ridiculous measures to get a game working, it may not be worth playing at all. I can play all sorts of games for any amount of time, without a problem. To test my machine last night, I played some Darksiders II. After 15 minutes, not a problem. So I tried Saints Row the Third. Played for 30 minutes, no problem.

I’ve played Aion, DC Universe, Champion’s Online, LoTRo, and many other MMO’s with very nice graphics, and I don’t crash like I do in GW2. So this tells me it’s Guild Wars 2, not my machine. If you’ve got an old car, and the tires pop because I’m trying to race down a road covered in glass, you don’t blame the old car for the popped tires. Sure, maybe a newer car could’ve made it to the end faster, and had nicer tires that wouldn’t pop, but in the end, it’s still that road that caused the problem in the first place.

I know, bad analogy, but it’s 5am, and I haven’t had my coffee. But the point still stands.

Another alternate (possibly safer) fix is to disable LAA on Gw2.exe, and thus prevent it from ever going past 2GB usage. Keeps overall system integrity, and if GW2 runs out of memory, it should just crash itself, and not the entire system.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112556 can do it (point it to Gw2.exe, uncheck the flag). Unrelated to this situation, but it can also be used to set LAA to apps/games that don’t have it set, improving performance in some cases.

http://puu.sh/28FJW.jpg

Do note though that this is a 3rd-party modification, ANet doesn’t endorse it most likely, I can’t be held responsible for whatever happens, other generic liability notes, etc.

On another note, regarding everything people to do get this game running, my g/f DOES have a new computer. It’s only a year old. Meets the recommended specs. Her PC is having the same problem mine is regarding the BSoD. I’ve also spent yesterday afternoon completely researching the problem, and everything that can be done to get it working. Many people, with many different configurations, are having this problem. Granted, not everyone, but a large enough base, for a long enough time, to show me it’s definitely Arenanet’s problem.

I’m sorry, I haven’t had to work this hard to get a game working in a long time, if even ever. Tera runs beautifully on my machine, high settings, with a frame-rate I’m satisfied with. I see no reason why my PC couldn’t handle GW2. :\

Necrobile.1276:

On another note, regarding everything people to do get this game running, my g/f DOES have a new computer. It’s only a year old…

If that computer meets the specifications that I mentioned above (2GB+ RAM using XP or Vista, or any 32-bit OS), then you should also blame the OEM.

Been going back and for with arenanet for a 2 months now.. They don’t know how to fix this prob..Too bad it was a good game while it lasted whats next guys?

I have a 32bit windows 7 machine which exceeds the minimum requirements.
It can play most games with the highest graphics settings.
Yet GW2 crashes all the time (on the lowest dam settings) and I can usually tell when it’s going to happen. When I open my map the graphics glitch out on me and it’s a guarantee when I zone to somewhere else that it will crash. Sometimes I will crash standing where I was. The map doesn’t always do this, it’s usually after I’ve been playing for 30 mins or so.

This is a huge issue because each time I’ve tried WvW I’m crashing and I fear that dungeons will do the same. So I’ve had to stay away from them.

So, what am I supposed to do?
Just go out and buy a better OS? Forget that!

Why isn’t ANET doing anything about this?? It’s been a problem since day 1!! And I’m guessing a problem during the beta as well.

I know they are working hard to fix things but seriously, this should have been a priority to fix. Expecting customers to upgrade their OS is a slap in the face.

Espionage.3685:

Necrobile.1276:

On another note, regarding everything people to do get this game running, my g/f DOES have a new computer. It’s only a year old…

If that computer meets the specifications that I mentioned above (2GB+ RAM using XP or Vista, or any 32-bit OS), then you should also blame the OEM.

No, I’m sorry, I won’t blame the OEM. That’s like telling someone who loves italian food and tried a new restaurant, that he got sick off of their lasagne because his body just can’t handle the spices, when in fact, he eats italian food all the time, and never gets sick.

Besides, she’s got 4Gb RAM, Win7 64-bit, with a G-Force 440 GT.

Espionage.3685:

Necrobile.1276:

I’m sorry, if you have to go to these measures to get this game to work properly, I think a refund is in order.

Or, you need a more updated system. In-theory, this would happen to any other game and application with similar resource usage as GW2.

anet shouldnt be selling a 32bit game with min specs of xp 32bit if the game cant run properly on 32bit xp…….that would seem to be common sense….

If you have more than 3GB of RAM anyway (especially if you have a graphics card with dedicated memory) you should be using a x64 copy of Windows, or else expect issues. Usually 4GB would be a good amount of system memory, but some chipsets handle memory mapping strangely (in a negative way) on 32-bit OS’s past 2GB of RAM. If the OEM computer you purchased meets such specs, but only has a x86 (32-bit) OS, then you should go complain to the OEM for not knowing what they’re doing, or just update your machine yourself.

protip: dont buy prebuilt computers if you want to be a gamer…..or want a quality machien period.

as to how windows deals with memory, 32bit windows includes video ram in that caculation, if you have for example 1gb vram, and 3gb system ram, your already hitting the limit of 32bit windows memory mapping.

add to that the fact that with dx9 everything in vram has to be mirrored in system ram and you run into issues with to little free memory for a 32bit app.

Edit: I would like to know the specific error code of the BSoD too. Windows usually only BSoD’s with a hardware issue. I know there are exceptions to this, but memory usage should “not” be an issue, unless your RAM is bad. The app itself should simply crash with something in regards to “out of memory”.

agreed on this, could be something as simple as the user needing to update dx9 and video drivers manually(windows update dosnt update dx9 and the video drivers it installs are crap)

XP however can be different I guess since it has a different (worse) memory management system, but if your still running XP, does the rest of your hardware even meet the requirements for GW2?

what worrys me more is he says he built the system for AoC, a dx10 game(its big selling point back then) and he went with XP, and 2gb ram…an os that is dx9 at best…..and so little ram that even back then it was bare minimum for gaming.

and you cant go by the min specs for gw2, gw2 dosnt scale with hardware, changing gfx settings only works when the videocards a serious POS…..(even my 5770 didnt gain much if anything going from maxed out to low settings)

And as a final note, AutoDesk does mention use of this switch being a solution to out-of-memory issues with their software, but also mentions that it could cause instability, and that you should (of course) upgrade to a x64 system if you find yourself needing this command.

ah but, gw2 is marketed at xp users, 99%+ of xp users are on 32bit xp, if anet cant ensure the games reliable and stable on 32bit xp they shouldnt be targeting xp users for sales……but they do….

look at the situation, anets selling to a market who enlarge wont be able to run the game in a playable fashion if at all, even with min specs or well above min specs……in my book thats just asking for trouble, and its kinda a kitten move to boot.

aPutridCorpse.8792:

I have a 32bit windows 7 machine which exceeds the minimum requirements.
It can play most games with the highest graphics settings.
Yet GW2 crashes all the time (on the lowest dam settings) and I can usually tell when it’s going to happen. When I open my map the graphics glitch out on me and it’s a guarantee when I zone to somewhere else that it will crash. Sometimes I will crash standing where I was. The map doesn’t always do this, it’s usually after I’ve been playing for 30 mins or so.

This is a huge issue because each time I’ve tried WvW I’m crashing and I fear that dungeons will do the same. So I’ve had to stay away from them.

So, what am I supposed to do?
Just go out and buy a better OS? Forget that!

install 64bit 7, the same key will work, if its an OEM system use opatool to activate (installs the oem key and cert for you, and yes its perfectly legal, its the same way oem’s activate windows, just does it point and click rather then by command line)

Why isn’t ANET doing anything about this?? It’s been a problem since day 1!! And I’m guessing a problem during the beta as well.

didnt see any reports if this during beta, but also anet dont do anything about it for the same reason they dont fix the perf of the game, they cant see its costing them money, or enough money to justify them fixing it……

I know they are working hard to fix things but seriously, this should have been a priority to fix. Expecting customers to upgrade their OS is a slap in the face.

clearly you havent read the fps issues threads, anets not working hard to fix anything thats not costing them money, they are working hard on stuff like quagan backpacks for the gem store though, after all…..thats where the money is, so thats whats important.

Necrobile.1276:

Besides, she’s got 4Gb RAM, Win7 64-bit, with a G-Force 440 GT.

440gt is not a gaming card, anything below 50 for nvidia and anything below *70 for amd is not a gaming card….

update dx9 and video drivers yourself, update audio drivers as well…if you cant do this yourself grab drivermax and have itupdate the drivers for you.