Random Black Screen/Device Unplugged

[Legacy_BluLightSpecial]

               First off, I have never played NWN before. I always mistook it for another game and never gave it a chance. I recently discovered I missed out on a great game, and me and some buds grabbed some of the last copies in the city to play online with each other. So I have very little technical knowledge of the game other than what I've been able to recently round up from old forums and this one.

I'll state my specs first as to eliminate the standard questions (updated graphics driver, etc.). I'm running 3-SLI 285's, fully updated in Windows7 x64. I have the Diamond edition and I have patched it, as the Win7 installation thread instructed, to 1.69. I don't run it in compatibility mode or with any extra funky settings, though the game does require admin approval to run. But I don't think these things are contributing to the problem. I'm not exactly sure what is.

My problem occurs in both single and multiplayer. I can run the game perfectly, with no graphical bugs or anything of the sort for at least 30 minutes upon first startup. Then, at a random time (I can be paused, just clicking on a chest, running, not doing anything, etc.) the screen goes black and my monitor gives the device not found/unplugged message. I have tried connecting to a different monitor at this time to no avail, so it's obviously the computer. I then cannot regain a connection between my monitor and PC, yet my PC still appears to be running fine (doesn't appear to freeze up, no weird noises, etc.). It's almost as if my graphics cards over-heat and shut down, but I highly doubt that is the reason considering I have the HAF case and an external fan blowing on the intake as well as the fact that this game running by itself should not be too hard on these cards. Also, similarily I ran into this almost exact problem while previously trying to run the original Dungeon Siege. It only happened once, and the problem seemed to have been resolved after messing with the config to accept my graphics card. It should also be noted that I have only had this problem with NWN (around 6 times) and the one time with Dungeon Siege. No other game or program has caused this to happen.

I would love to be able to play this game without having to reboot my system every 30 minutes or so, as it really distracts from the immersion factor. Any help would be much, much, much appreciated as I have begun to run out of options, and if you have any more questions/need any more info, please ask. Sorry for such a long post, but I feel that the more information I give you, the easier it is for you to determine what the problem may be.

Thanks in advance,
Kmart
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN DM]

               Any chance your monitor is going into power-saver mode somehow?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_BluLightSpecial]

               Well, I'm a firm believer that anything is possible. But I think it's highly unlikely considering I attempt all sorts of combos after the black screen (alt+tab, ctrl+alt+del, etc.) which should wake it up if that were the case. In addition to that, the changing of monitors should also have woken it up if it were under a power saving mode. Thanks very much for the input, though. I'll mess with those settings just to make sure and post back if I get any different results. In the mean time, any other suggestions?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               Hmmm I run a 295 GTX on win 7 pro 64 bit.  Are you running in windowed or full screen mode?  I also suggest running it in XP compatibility mode as an administrator, to see if it has any effect (it probably won't affect anything).



Your problem does sound unique... how many monitors do you have?  2?  If you unplug one before you start the game, does the issue still happen?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_BluLightSpecial]

               

Calvinthesneak wrote...

Hmmm I run a 295 GTX on win 7 pro 64 bit. Are you running in windowed or full screen mode? I also suggest running it in XP compatibility mode as an administrator, to see if it has any effect (it probably won't affect anything).

Your problem does sound unique... how many monitors do you have? 2? If you unplug one before you start the game, does the issue still happen?

I'm running full screen on one monitor. I'll give XP compat and admin a try, thanks for the advice.

Also, just a fyi, changing screensaver and monitor power-saver mode to off didn't cure the problem. It happened to me again this night.

Thanks again for the input, keep it coming.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_BluLightSpecial]

               To update, I tried running it in XP Pack 3 under Admin and ran into the same problem. This time it happened within the first 10-15 minutes. I then switched back to no compat or Admin and it black screened within 15-20 minutes. So neither of these solve the problem. I guess I will continue to try different compat modes until it fixes, I run out of modes, or I am given something new to try. I'll post back with update if it fixes or if I run out of options. As always, any contribution would be greatly appreciated.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               Trying running NWN in a window.



In your \\NWN directory there is a file called nwn.ini



Find a section that looks like this:

......
[Display Options]
Width=1600
Height=1024
BitsPerPixels=32
RefreshRate=60
TexturePack=3
SafeMovie=0
AllowWindowedMode=1
FullScreen=0
UseLargeFont=1
........

Now that's pulled from my own, the resolution might not be suitable for you. It HAS to be less than your actual desktop reso.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_BluLightSpecial]

               Just out of curiousity, why does the game have to have a lesser resolution than what my desktop is set to? They are both currently set to 1920x1200. I will try to set the game resolution to 1080 and see what happens. Thanks for the input.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               Only for a windowed mode.  You can't match or exceed the native desktop resolution to run in a window.  Probably can't exceed the native resolution to run in full screen either for that matter.  What I'm suspecting is that your video card is doing something funky and trying to switch monitors to look for a signal or some such after a while.  Running in windowed mode should prevent it from thinking it's lost it's signal (I hope).  If that doesn't work, I don't know if you have a hotkey to switch output sources on your keyboard.



The fact it plays well for a while then just sort of shuts itself down is the troubling part to me, and makes me suspect an interface problem more than a driven or hardware problem.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_BluLightSpecial]

               

Calvinthesneak wrote...

Only for a windowed mode. You can't match or exceed the native desktop resolution to run in a window. Probably can't exceed the native resolution to run in full screen either for that matter. What I'm suspecting is that your video card is doing something funky and trying to switch monitors to look for a signal or some such after a while. Running in windowed mode should prevent it from thinking it's lost it's signal (I hope). If that doesn't work, I don't know if you have a hotkey to switch output sources on your keyboard.

The fact it plays well for a while then just sort of shuts itself down is the troubling part to me, and makes me suspect an interface problem more than a driven or hardware problem.

Ah, ok. I misunderstood you.

Ok, so after messing around with everything for a few days, I've gathered up some more useful information. First off, it's not just a minor display problem. I didn't really think to look into it before, but whenever the screen goes to black, whoever is in my game gets booted from my server. This means that something happens somewhere between my game crashing and my computer crashing. And considering I cannot regain control of my PC afterwards, I think it's probably the latter.

Also, my girlfriend has a PC that is almost completely different from mine (OS, motherboard, RAM, HD, monitor, etc.), but we have the same graphics cards (she has two 285's). And, her computer encounters the same exact problem. So, my guess is an incompatibility with these graphics cards. The fact that I had the same problem with Dungeon Siege until I changed it's settings to acknowledge my card seems to apply to this theory as well. Only problem is I'm unaware of a direct solution for such a problem with this game as there was with Dungeon Siege. So, I hope this information helps to find one. Any ideas?