quote:

Originally posted by vanish0815:
In response to sortakinda:

I just tested ac with my gpu fans at 80% (so everything nice and cool) and with the firewall blocking the internet access of ac.
I just loaded the last savegame and went away, so I did not even move Altair. 5 minutes later the blue artifacts came and the well known nvlddmkm.sys BSOD.

Unplayable...

So lets wait for a patch...

Edit:
Steam people are haveing the crashes as well.
Just found a second screenshot of how it looks:
http://www.tehupload.com/10310310532.jpg

(dx10, vista sp1, msi8800gts-oc, 4gb, q6600@stock)

Ah, you did remind me of a couple of things, so thanks, vanish0815! First off, I added my OS in my sig, secondly, I'm running the DX9 version, even though DX10 DOES look a bit better. It doesn't hog quite as many resources, and since this game is leaking resources like a stuck pig, I am trying to stem the flow as much as possible! Artifacting is almost always a heat issue, which can be a problem in games like this that don't release their resources properly (in this case, it appears it could be system memory, video memory, AND CPU clock cycles!). All of this extra work keeps generating excess heat or causes a resource to be unavailable when needed.

That being said, five minutes to artifacting is pretty extreme, and I have to wonder just how hot your system is when it's not under load? I know the 8800GTS's CAN get pretty hot, generally speaking, even with the fan high, so it might just be an issue of increasing airflow out of the case, or around the video card. I'm experimenting with my RAM currently on a slight timing OC of 5-4-3-5 over the base 5-5-5-15. The memory diagnostic found no errors, but we'll see just how fast and hard the game crashes when it invariably does...

I guess we'll just hang in there until Ubisoft figures out where the leaks are coming from... Oh, and here's to hoping for some support of Vista x64, even if it's an unofficial "it should work, but we're not officially supporting x64".

i have the same problem with my 8800GT but it only appears when i'm overcloking the card. when the clock's are set to stock
gpu 600
shader 1500
memory 1800

then there's no problem with the game...

downclock your card's fellows

*sorry for my bad english*

@:sortakinda

I totally agree - my first thought was heat as well.
My system is pretty OK (4 fans), gpu at ~58°C idle and never exceeds ~85°C (thats well in range for a 8800gts). And as stated somewhere before I had an overnight run of a 3dmark loop to heat up the gpu - no artifacts, no bluescreen.

Still, i underclocked to the reference settings (my gpu is factory oc'ed) and set the fan to 100% - and it worked for ~30mins now. Propaply the first time, that I exited ac without crash/BSOD :-).
So I'm still testing and hoping for a patch

edit:
Just ran another 30 mins flawless with fan at stock (automatic control) and gpu speed underclocked (to nvidia reference settings).
temps were a bit lower of course: max 79°C under load.

edit2:
now I tried it again with the factory clock speed - fup, it crashed 1 minute after arriving in damascus (temp was still low, 73°C).
Something is seriously wrong here.
As +/- every other game works nicely (incl. crysis at 1680x1050 all maxed) I don't believe its the hardware - but I'm running out of arguments...

So as zaodrze244 already stated, downclocking to the nvidia reference speed at least works/improves.

edit3:
If ac runs (for me only 'underclocked') it looks great! (1680x1050, all maxed, 16xanisotropic filtering, with in game vsync, on average ~40fps)

hope this helps...

(dx10, vista sp1, msi8800gts-oc, 4gb, q6600@stock, asus maximus formula)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vanish0815,

I was having this problem also.
For me the solution was disabling AA and AF in Nvidia's Control Panel.
Also, instead of clicking on continue while IN the animus (which always gives me a CTD) I hover over the latest DNA structure and continue from there.
Enabling the in game AA and AF works fine.
It sounds silly, I was also about ready to toss the game, but this works for me.

Asus M2N mobo
AMD Athlon64 X2 4000
DX 9
2 gig ddr2 800 Corsair RAM
XFX 8500 GT (256mb gddr2)
Windows XP Pro

I play almost all of my games at 1024x768 with 2xAA.
EDIT: Sorry, I'm using Nvidia BETA driver 174.74

@Portugese: Yes, more memory would most definitely help, but you're hitting the limits of that system in a few different ways. If money is tight, memory would probably be the cheapest way to go.

@vanish0815: My last test with tighter RAM timings worked well, with a play time of about 2 hours, maybe a bit more, but the crash was a BSOD. I'm not sure how to avoid those consistently, though, as I got them once in awhile, even with a very basic OC (3.2GHz) and normal RAM timings. I don't OC my graphics cards beyond stock, although stock they are overclocked a bit. If you haven't already, and if there's room, any way you can increase airflow inside the case is probably going to benefit you a bunch. If the card is throwing off a lot of heat and it's just sitting in the case, it's going to cut down on your play time a bit. Still, 30 minutes is a good start, and I am sure you can improve it from there if you focus on heat reduction! Congratulations!

Good work on all the timings and overclocking researh.

However, I'm not yet willing to believe in any hardware related issues as it is right now.

Firstly, the game didnt even install properly unless you have some extra drives lying around and a lot of patience. To top that off, it refuses to recognize 3 different retail disks as original (i work at a retailer so i had the resources to test this). All that because their safedisk went wonky.

After that got sorted, the game simply crashes at random for any and no reasons. Its complete monkeysnot for me atm...

Once i have that stabilized, i have to walk for 2 hours through the yellow wall of grassy doom with another hour of crashing thrown in haphazardly.

Then we find that the gae is trying to perform "callback" funtions to Ubi's servers, causing even more instability, forcing us to disable lan's and godknows what else.

Im pinning this firmly in Ubi's lap untill such time they can sufficiently prove that every ATI and Nvidia card made in the last 6 months is complete rubbishbinbags.

Should i switch over to all the sound problems yet?
No sale on hardware and "its all the user's fault" to me yet.

@wheunis: Sorry the game is running so poorly for you. As you didn't post your system specs, I'm not quite sure what to suggest at this point, but I can summarize what seems to be helping as follows:

1) Do not let the game access the Internet. I'm not convinced this is a watchdog "feature," but it definitely crashes the game constantly if you let it access the Internet. The most painless way to fix this is to use Windows Firewall and remove both the DX9 and DX10 executables and the launcher from your exceptions list (make sure the boxes next to those are NOT checked).

2) If you're an aggressive overclocker and are not using some high end cooling - in other words, you're relying on airflow, then monitor your heat closely and modify your overclock so it is "tame" in terms of heat output. That's going to vary greatly for each of us, but if you're overclocking your system, then I am going to assume you know how to "tone it down" a bit if your system is running hotter than normal. Also, use nTune or RivaTuner to speed up your GFX fan a bit. I run mine at 60% when I play.

3) Everyone's system is different, but the less stress you can put on your system in terms of graphical bells n' whistles, the less heat you'll generate, and the less video memory you'll use. This will all translate into longer gaming time w/o crashing and no artifacting (or much less). While the DX9 engine uses less resources than the DX10, I haven't seen any difference in performance between DX9 and 10 in my testing. Both will crash randomly, but normally after a good bit of time, and DX10 looks quite a bit better, so if you can run DX10, chances are good it's going to run the same with similar settings.

Here are my settings for a single 8800GT (my other one was bad and is currently being replaced. Can't wait, two more days!) from the Assassin.ini file. Hopefully it will help you set up your game, as well if you have a similar configuration:

DisplayWidth=1680
DisplayHeight=1050
RefreshRate=60
ShadowDistance=4
ShadowMapSize=1024
SkipMips=0
Multisampling=0
DistanceLOD=0
MaxNPCLODLevel=5
SmallObjectsCullDistanceModifier=1
MediumObjectsCullDistanceModifier=1
MaxSearchTimePerFrame=10000
VSynch=0
Fullscreen=1
PostFX=1
Particle=1
LODBlend=1
Clutter=1
Layers=1
Anisotropic=1
AlphaTest=1
DistanceLODEnabled=0
ProcessBoneModifiers=1
AdvancedDynamicLighting=1
[Performance]
MaxNumNPCs=105

With these settings, I feel the game looks good in DX9, and very good in DX10. With my current system settings, I ran the game for about two hours with no crashing (yes, I actually exited voluntarily!) in DX10.

Hope that info helps you all sort out whatever issues you're having (and no, I've never had any artifacting).

Still haven't had a crash since i pumped the video fan speed on manual up to 100%

Firstly, the majority of people in this thread AREN'T suffering from heat related crashes. I know this because half of them are only suffering issues in Assassin's Creed.

It has been said time and time again but I can run UT3, Crysis, Oblivion and countless other games at a level far surpassing that of Assassin's Creed without any issues what-so-ever. I don't suffer any heat issues in any game I have and AC doesn't push the heat anywhere near crash temperatures and whilst UbiSoft may have us believe it is Nvidia and ATI that have caused the error, I don't and will nto buy it.

UbiSoft - you screwed up. You sold a game that you probably knew had issues (as from what I Can tell, this isn't limited and the majority of people are suffering from issues). It's your fault, you fix it. Nvidia and ATI aren't to blame here ;-)

i agree 100%

game works 100% on my pc using a 8800GT so its not a nvidia problem as for cooling not being a problem I have seen atleast one person say they get above 70 I only get about 43 under max load using air cooling. my cpu also never goes above 30c my bet is it has something to do with the heat being produced as if you run the chips that hot they will die alot faster as the hotter the chip gets the more resistance it add's to the circuit basiclay in the long run slowing it down.

Got to agree with Indelible. I am running a Q6600@ 3GHz,6GB (cheapo) memory and a PNY 8800GT not o/c
and I get random crashes where the screen just stops, I touch a button and I am back at the desktop. No artefacting or any other probs.like everyone else. So I blame Ubisoft quick enough to take my money so how about fixing it.

Forgot:running Vista Home Premium 64

Yea, I'd agree with indelible. There are no hardware issues here, q6600 @1066, x1950 Pro and 2GB Adata Extreme ram. Yet, it crashes randomly, and if I force exit and restart again, it crashes instantly. When I am able to play, the only unrandom crash is when I try and enter Masayaf after (spoilers) killing the Merchant King, it crashes there every time. I desperately want to play this, but sadly can't waste my time on it. Shame on Ubi for letting this happen, we need a patch!

I'm getting the same problem as everyone else. Computer locks up, artifacts all over the screen after about 10-20 mins of play on AC. I have a BFG 8800GT OC2 (factory overclocked) and I am starting to get sick of this problem. I have had the display driver error as well in other games as well (F.E.A.R). That game crashes with Red artifacts as well. I’m wondering if there’s a fix for this problem or will I have to get a new graphics card?

Thats interesting, F.E.A.R (Perseus) is the second game that gave me the artifacts - albeit fare more seldom.

Yeah, i'm gettin the same problems of getting artifacts all over the place, but mine are green instead of red or blue, but it looks the same regardless. I've tried the safemode driver things and i'm about to try the disconnect from the internet thing but i really doubt doing something that small is the problem everyone is facing.

Anyone know of an announcment for patches or anything for this being released since it seems to be a very big issue for a lot of people with really legit computers and actual legit store-bought versions of the game?

Fixed this on my machine (Vista 32bit) by opening the game folder and right clicking the .exe from and selecting "run as administrator". No more frustating BSOD Still though, Ubisoft should never have released this game in this state in the first place! Hopes this helps some of you.

I've posted this elsewhere, but will explain in a bit more detail. Find and open the Ubisoft folder that you installed the game to then open the Assassins Creed folder. Go to the "AssassinsCreed_Game" line and right click. Choose "run as an administrator". Has run for hours now with no crashes. As for you XP users email Ubisoft and give them grief to get a patch out. I did!!

Sadly, running ac as administrator didn't help me...

As I'm mostly not playing AC now I had time to google around a bit. Not a solution, but you still might find the following report interesting:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/04/14/a...-ui-bad-drm-bad-port

just got off the phone with tech support, basically they said its a constantly reoccuring problem mostly with the gf8800 series and most likely only something that can be fixed with a patch? lul? so until then, find something else to do until someone finds a perm solution to the artifacts issue.

happy hunting.