Guild Wars 2

Hello,

I have been getting the Black Screen Crashing issue since the 3 day Head Start event and all this time I had thought that it was a Driver/Video Card/settings issue. This crash only happens in GW2, as I have 2 other games in my PC that I have no problems playing on max settings (The original GW and Assassins Creed). I had tried using the latest Beta Drivers (I have an NVIDIA GTX 670), changing my graphics settings to the lowest and working my way up, and re-installing the GW2 client 4 times with no fix whatsoever.

One day on a forum I stumbled upon a reply where he said going straight through the modem eliminated the Black Screen crashes for him. I have tried it and it worked! I no longer get black screen crashes when my PC is hooked up directly to the modem. The problem is that there are 2 more PCs in the household that also need internet access, which is why we bought the router in the first place.

I have tried making a static IP address and port forwarding the required ports (80,443,6112,6600) and I still get the Black Screen. So far, the only way for me to play the game without any crashing is to hook my PC directly into the modem.

Has this been a known issue with the game not being compatible with some routers?

My specs are as follows:
Windows 7 Professional 64bit SP1
i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
16Gb RAM
NVIDIA GTX 670 vid card (not overclocked)
CISCO cable modem
Dlink DIR-601 wireless N 150 Home router

Please help! I REALLY don’t want to play the game at the expense of my family’s internet access!!!

I’m dubious, that just seems coincidental to me…extremely coincidental of course, but yeah…that makes absolutely zero sense lol.

This move was like a last-resort deal for me, since I exhausted all my non-$$$ money spending options up to that point. But if it worked for me, perhaps it will work for a few others. Im really not a Tech/PC savvy guy so I don’t know why it worked and I do agree that it sounds very coincidental, and it does make zero sense, but it consistently works without the router in the picture. Perhaps its just the Dlink DIR-601 that is the issue and not all routers? I’d like to keep the router and see if there is a work around to it; perhaps maybe try a different brand alltogether, because going straight through the modem is not a good option for me… (need internet for the whole family ^.)

About the only thing I can think of is that the game is waiting for some data to sync or if information is being streamed to the client prior to rendering the scene and the router is stopping that from happening.

But I literally just pulled that possible explanation out of my butt, it’s just as likely to be leprechauns or solar flares.

As I said, I am dubious lol.

I’ve been having black screens and on a whim tried running my PC directly to the modem and I just finished my fifth sPvP match without a black screen. Before I got about 2 minutes in before I would black screen.

It makes absolutely no sense, but it does work. And it should be noted I also have a DIR-601.

Only like 80% dubious now, wow.

Well I really hope its not leprechauns; they creep the hell outa me :P

Especially ones that cause solar flares.

Yea, I’ve never encountered a game crash that was resolved by bypassing the router. It makes no sense at all, but if it works. I can enjoy my PvP for the few days before the family gets back from vacation!

Ok, i made a topic about this but it got buried very quickly so I will just add on to this one. Have the same problem as OP, tried everything short of setting up a static ip address (just because I don’t know how to). I too do not receive black screens when connected directly to the modem, and I know for a fact that my computer/game is not the problem because I played it at my cousins house and it worked perfectly there as well. The problem does indeed lie with the router and I am a bit suspicious that it is D-Link routers that are having issues because mine is a D-Link DIR 632 and I connected through a router at my cousins house (cannot remember the brand or model, know it is not D-Link though)

The only factor that changed for me from BWE3 and Retail was my router. Went from some random Linksys to a D-Link DIR-601 and was getting constant black screens while playing until I finally tried switching out the router to a Netgear N600. Black screens instantly went away. Tried another router, a Cisco M10, and this one works fine as well. I posted this on Reddit and someone else PMed me saying they also fixed their black screen issue by switching out their routers.

GW2 degrades very ungracefully when network issues occur. Not sure if it’s packet loss and I honestly don’t care enough to figure out. Simple fact is, if you’re getting black screens while in the middle of playing try connecting directly to your modem. If that fixes it, get a different router.

I had the same problem – crashing like crazy and it was very frustrating !

I reset my router and it solved this (at least for now ?).

Ceallach.8740:

I had the same problem – crashing like crazy and it was very frustrating !

I reset my router and it solved this (at least for now ?).

Is your router a Dlink DIR-601 or similar series??? I tried obtaining the newest firmware for my router but turns out I already had it.. Still getting the black screen with the router in the loop…. I think its time for me to buy a new router… or try to kill that elusive solar flare inducing leprechaun…

^ It was an older Belkin N150 Wireless N Router. I already had the latest firmware, too. Since, I’ve seen that it has horrible reviews for dropping connections, but I’ve never had trouble with it before – previously I’d only had issues when my ISP was.

Networking isn’t my thing, but they’re both “N 150”, so perhaps there is an issue with these, or at least older ones ?

I’m not sure GW2 was my only problem, I’ve recently changed our router password since I was getting some unidentifiable clients that seemed to correspond with bandwidth loss. It got so bad I was transferring bits per second – which I think is why I was having outrageous lag in GW2 + disconnects.

I really have no idea what’s going on.

Oh wow, I can’t believe this is a Router issue. I’ve been having the exact same problem since the start of the head start, and what do you know I also have a D-Link DIR-601 Wirless N Router. There is no way this is a coincidence.

I actually had connection problems in Beta Weekend 2, constantly being disconnected from the server (come to think of it about as often as I’m getting the black screen issue), but it didn’t occur to me that the two issues could be related, or that the black screen issue was a networking issue. The only way I resolved the issue was to remove the router from my network. Though oddly in Beta Weekend 3, I was able to play just fine even with the router so I figured the problem was resolved. I have no idea why it’s causing problems again.

I hope this problem does get resolved though, because removing my router from my network doesn’t really work for me as a long term solution.

I was having the same problems since release. I just looked at my router… DIR-601 :/ Time for a new router again. Third one this year.

I want to make sure I have this right before I get all excited but were talking about the black screen where your cursor is still there and sound is still playing, and the game can be minimized and closed.
because thats my specific issue, and I am also using a DIR-601 O_O >_> could it be GW2 hates that specific model…

EDIT: Gonna give my old router an EBR-2310 a shot, will post back with my findings
EDIT: No black screens so far, pretty certain its the DIR-601 thats causing this issue, GG people problem solved

Okay, I found a solution on another forum to get the D-Link router to work without disconnecting. Basically, on the router web client, you need to go to Advanced>Firewall Settings and set the following:
-UDP Endpoint Filtering set to Endpoint Independent
-TCP Endpoint Filtering set to Endpoint Independent
-Uncheck the box labeled “Enable SPI”

After I set this up, I played for about 2-3 hours without a black screen. It’s still a bit soon to call it fixed, but it’s good news so far. I’ll post back with an update once I’ve had enough time to determine if this bug was fixed, but I figured you guys might want to know right away if there’s even a possibility of a fix.

Edit: Looks like the image is down, so I’ll remove the link to it.

I’m having a similar issue. I upgraded my routers firmware, and had a whole day without issue. However, today it’s back to normal, with black screens every 10-30 minutes. I have a netgear router, WGR614v9. No firewall options that I can see.

I managed to fix the issue just by disabling SPI

I haven’t had a black screen in two days, so this problem seems to be fixed. It would be nice if ArenaNet could see this thread, see what the issue is, and find a way to resolve it on their end though. At the very least add it to their frequently asked questions, so people encountering the problem can quickly resolve it.

Unplugging my router got rid of my black screen error also

But also i think disabling your router firewall ( SPI ) stops the black screen

Same here after reading these posts I removed my router (Linksys WRT54G) and played all weekend with only 1 DC at peak playing times. As a futher check on Sunday I hooked the router back up and sure enough with in about 10mins of play I was DC’d, took it back out of the loop and played the rest of the day with no problems. I tried setting my PC up in the DMZ of the router but that had no effect for me.

I was hoping this worked for me, even though other people use the internet at the house, but it didn’t.

This is the only game on my PC out of 100’s that I’ve ever had this much problem playing. Its a fun game, but I feel like I wasted 60 bucks. I can’t play the game for more than 45 minutes without a crash, but usually its every 5 minutes.

I hope they patch this.

It seems odd to me that SPI would cause these issues, since SPI is passive. Unless there is something in some of these routers’ firmware that is acting on the contents of certain packets associated with GW2. Which isn’t necessarily a problem with the router, but rather its configuration (or, possibly, in default settings chosen by the manufacturer).

For the record, I use a router (Asus RT-N16) with no issues whatsoever. And there are many devices connected to it, including a 16-port gigabit Ethernet switch with several devices connected to it as well. And another RT-N16 in WDS mode.

uhg. have this same problem …. only my router netgear n600 doesnt seem to have an option to disable spi or any firewalls ,tryed disabling NAT filtering , SIP ALG, and port scan/ DoS protection .

nothing seems to work, so annoying in WvW because then i cant even get back to where i was………..

Anyone know what to do with netgear n600 router???? <3

Deitus.1609:

Okay, I found a solution on another forum to get the D-Link router to work without disconnecting. Basically, on the router web client, you need to go to Advanced>Firewall Settings and set the following:
-UDP Endpoint Filtering set to Endpoint Independent
-TCP Endpoint Filtering set to Endpoint Independent
-Uncheck the box labeled “Enable SPI”

After I set this up, I played for about 2-3 hours without a black screen. It’s still a bit soon to call it fixed, but it’s good news so far. I’ll post back with an update once I’ve had enough time to determine if this bug was fixed, but I figured you guys might want to know right away if there’s even a possibility of a fix.

Edit: Looks like the image is down, so I’ll remove the link to it.

Oh my god. I have been having the same issues since I had started Guild Wars 2 over a month ago. I have the same exact model router. I have been told it was the video card, heating, repairs, nothing worked. I have done literally every thing else and not once have I suspected the router.

I am going to try this tonight and pray that it works, because if it does, I am going to be so excited.

(Sorry/Not sorry for necroing, but this might actually be an answer to my issue! _)

Just popping back in here for a moment.

It is extremely hard to believe, but my black screen crashing has been fixed due to some changes in the router. I was able to play for a good four hours yesterday without interruption. It is absolutely unbelieveable that a simple change to the router was all that was needed. A month of issues and Deitus was able to help me!

So, to anyone else who may stumble across this and having black screen crashing problems but no problems with any other game? Check your router.

-UDP Endpoint Filtering set to Endpoint Independent
-TCP Endpoint Filtering set to Endpoint Independent
-Uncheck the box labeled “Enable SPI”

Did you try each one independently before getting a good result? I can see SPI getting in the way (Due to TCP/UDP timeout settings in their SPI Engine), but the endpoint filtering that should only affect bad known sites. If D-Link isn’t white listing then they need to be made aware of this and supply a firmware update to fix this.

And for the rest of you guys, if you are having issues with SPI and your routers manufacture does not want to supply a fix, take a look over at dd-wrt.com

http://dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database

Enter your router’s Model number and revision number and see if they have a supported firmware version, then use their wiki for upgrade directions. I have never had the black screen issue using their firmware. And they have the option to disable the SPI engine.