RivaTuner and Battlefield 2142 PunkBuster

Discussion in 'Rivatuner Statistics Server (RTSS) Forum' started by benniebeeker, Jun 3, 2007.

  1. benniebeeker

    benniebeeker Member

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    i looked around the forums and couldn't find anything on this topic...

    maybe you guys can give me some insight...

    after many many moons of blaming EA games and nvidia for my BSOD while playing bf2142, i have finally found out that the problem has been rivatuner all along... which saddens me because i LOVE rivatuner and what its capable of... (im using xp32 by the way)

    i would be playing bf2142 and EVERY TIME it would crash... it could crash after 20 seconds or it could crash after a half hour... i have tried every single set of drivers on the market for my 8800gts and it would do the same thing... it would NOT crash in ANY other game but 2142...

    after dealing with support on the EA side and the nvidia side i got tired of them blaming each other for the problem...

    i finally got fed up and decided to gut the whole computer... i took out all of my hard drives except for one... i formated it with boot n nuke 5 times to completely wipe over any data that was there (yeah i know a bit overkill)

    so after the first initial fresh install, this is what i had running on my machine:

    windows xp pro sp2
    158.22 video drivers
    x-fi drivers
    nvidia 680i chipset and network drivers
    bf2142

    i was able to play for HOURS on end with no problems, no crashes, no slowdowns, no nothing... i slowly started installing programs to see what caused the trouble... when i got to rivatuner, bam... the problems came... apparently when you are using rivatuner to manage your fan speeds, (i think it may be related to background monitoring) it causes the video driver to act up and crash bf2142!!! i removed rivatuner from my machine and bam the problems went away...

    on a side note, i am in a gaming clan (yeah i know big dork) and there are 3 of us using 8800 cards AND rivetuner...

    my rig 680i gts 640
    rig #2 650i GTX
    rig #3 965X gts 640

    all blue screens with rivatuner... all blue screens stop with rivatuner removed.... none blue screen on anyother game... just 2142...

    is there a work around for this???

    Added by Unwinder:

    Problem background:

    Playing Battlefield 2142 v1.25 multiplayer may cause your system to freeze then crash (under Windows XP) or cause display driver restart (under Windows Vista) if RivaTuner or any other hardware tuning related tool is residing in memory.

    Problem reason:

    The problem is not specific to RivaTuner and it is caused by the recent update of Battlefield 2142 PunkBuster anti-cheat system, which is trying to perform aggressive memory scanning and may cause graphics hardware to stall due to unauthorized access to hardware I/O port mapped memory range. The situation may take place on both ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards when any tool providing direct access to hardware is residing in memory. The following tools are currently known to be affected by PunkBuster’s memory scanning besides RivaTuner:

    ATITool
    PowerStrip
    HIS iTurbo
    ATI Tray Tools

    Problem solution:

    If you’re experiencing similar problems and your hardware is freezing and crashing in Battlefield 2142 multiplayer, first try to unload ANY tools working with hardware directly, because all of them have equal chances to suffer from PunkBuster’s memory scanning, then see if it fixes your problem. If it doesn’t help, you may stop reading this text. If it helps, you may try to follow PunkBuster’s own recommendation from their online FAQ to alter PunkBuster’s memory scanning mode:

    The link below explains how to set “pb_system 1” in Battlefield 2142 by editing configuration files:

    http://www.conflict2142.com/forums/showthread.php?p=313492

    If that didn’t work for you, the only solution for you is playing Battlefield 2142 with all tweaking tools completely unloaded from memory. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done in such tools to prevent PunkBuster from freezing hardware. Fix can be done from PunkBuster’s side only.

    Note

    After months of waiting for problem fix from Evenbalance side and seeing like they silently clone the problem in other games like BF2 instead of redesigning their unsafe scanner, I gave up waiting and launched new version of RivaTuner, which is now protected against unsafe virus-styled PunkBuster memory scanner. Details are available in this thread:

    http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=236043

     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2007
  2. Kakaru2

    Kakaru2 Master Guru

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    Hmm, and you say you've used search? Why don't I believe it?
     
  3. benniebeeker

    benniebeeker Member

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    i saw nothing with relevance to this problem under this rivetuner thread... is there something i am missing elsewhere??? in fact i have searched over google and could find no problem as specific as mine... don't hold out on me...
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2007
  4. Tipton

    Tipton Banned

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    You have to be kidding me right????

    Look here:
    http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=226286
    Good luck! And don't be offended if this thread gets locked. Also beware....U H A F E!
     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2007

  5. benniebeeker

    benniebeeker Member

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    ok again.... this doesn't appear to be the same problem i am having... im not running the osd... all i have is background monitoring checked... i don't care about frames per second or monitoring anything... i just want my fans to adjust at certain temps... thats it... from what i gathered is that you were having problems with 2142 registering stats on your osd... NOT bsod's from background monitoring the fan speeds and temps...

    regardless, when i did a search, no threads show up but mine...

    what i have been doing is just setting my fans to 100% and closing rivatuner during the duration of my game play in 2142... its a bit of a pain, but i would rather take a few seconds to turn it off and on rather than have to go through the process of a blue screen...
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2007
  6. Tipton

    Tipton Banned

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    Last edited: Jun 4, 2007
  7. benniebeeker

    benniebeeker Member

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    that was exactly the information i was looking for... thanks tipton...

    like i said, i have resorted to turning my fan to 100%, exiting rivatuner, and reloading rivatuner when i am done with bf2142...
     
  8. Unwinder

    Unwinder Ancient Guru Staff Member

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    One more BF related report. At least this one sounds a bit more realistic.
    If you're claiming that just exiting RT before playing BF fixes the problem and thay you're using nothing but background monitoing, first try to play with disabled monitoring module and see if it helps. If it helps, try to kill monitoring graphs one by one trying to see which of them is causing the problem. If not, we'll try to shut RT's startup actions one by one to see if some of them is affecting the system somehow.
     
  9. Unwinder

    Unwinder Ancient Guru Staff Member

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    [ignore mode off]
    It won't be closed while I see that poster is acting adequately. And if you're aged man, you should understand that we're responsible for each public statement we're making. Especially, if we're making statements about the things, which are not related to area of your professional experience.
    [ignore mode on]
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2007
  10. benniebeeker

    benniebeeker Member

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    i tried to dissable background monitoring (the little red record button on the bottom left of the hardware monitoring screen) and bf2142 still crashes...

    i have core temperature, fan duty cycle, and frames per second active in the back ground... are you suggesting that i remove these one at a time to see which one it is that is causing 2142 to crash???

    also, im going to try to run the game without fps and the statistics server running... maybe that will help...

    but yes, i can confirm that simply cranking my fan up to 100% with rivatuner and then closing the program prevents blue screens... there is no reason to uninstall it completely...
     

  11. Unwinder

    Unwinder Ancient Guru Staff Member

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    Just to confirm that the monitoring was disabled completely: have you also closed monitoring window after disabling background monitoring mode? If yes, then it is really good and we can exclude hardware monitoring related stuff from further checking.

    Good idea, I was udner impression that you're not using the server from your initial report. If it resides in memory, it should be checked too.

    No, you've already disabled all of them by disabling background monitoring. Disabling graphs one by one would have physical sense only if the problem exist with enabled background monitoring and disappear as soon as you disable it.

    That's really good and maxes the chances to replicate the problem source. If hardware monitoring is not a reason, I would first check if closing the server helps, then continue probing possible reasons depending on the result. If it won't help, we'll start cutting RT's actions performed at startup one by one.
     
  12. mR Yellow

    mR Yellow Ancient Guru

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    I just want to confirm that i have experienced the same problem.
    Exactly like benniebeeker said. The only way i can play BF2142 is to exit RT.
    All other games work fine. Go figure? I have only started expereriencing this problem in the newest build of rivaturner. Unwinder, maybe u can check what u have changed since version 2 to 2.1?

    BTW. I also have a 680i chipset....maybe that narrows it down. Check sig for full specs
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2007
  13. Unwinder

    Unwinder Ancient Guru Staff Member

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    Can you define the actions causing the problem in details? Just installing RT? Starting RT? Starting the server? Both?
     
  14. Unwinder

    Unwinder Ancient Guru Staff Member

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    That's exactly what I did by asking a question about disabling background monitoring in post #8. The major changes are done in this module. But as I can see it is not the case and the problem appears even when this module is disabled.
    Other seriously changed thing is a server, but topic starter have not yet confirmed if diabling the server solves the problem for him or not.
     
  15. mR Yellow

    mR Yellow Ancient Guru

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    I just ready all the post made by previous peeps including the threads that were closed. I feel for u unwinder. BF2142 is about the only game i play...crap game single player but alot of fun online.

    Anyways. I have RT installed and game doesn't crash. It only crashes when i have it running in the tray.

    I said earlier that it might be the newer version...but it might also be the EA's new patch causing the problem. I'm leaning more to BF2142 coders (Dice btw) right such poor code for all the problems. All my other games work 100% with RT.

    BTW I experienced the problems in XP. I will test this in vista and report back.

    Unwinder, don't let these BF2142 issues get you down. We ALL love your app!
    Best app out there...and its for free!
     

  16. mR Yellow

    mR Yellow Ancient Guru

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    Where do i disable server?
     
  17. Unwinder

    Unwinder Ancient Guru Staff Member

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    Server = separate RivaTunerStatisticsServer application, which is bundled with RivaTuner. It is responsible for framerate monitoring and OSD rendering.
    If you've used any of these functions - you must also have the server residing in memory as a separate process.
     
  18. Unwinder

    Unwinder Ancient Guru Staff Member

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    What is RT doing on your system when you have it running in the tray? What features are enabled on your system? Or does it happen with completely clean install of RT without altering any settings in it?

    You can try to export all RT's own settings via regedit (HKLM\Software\Unwinder\RivaTuner) then reset the settings completely via "RivaTuner.exe /u" command line switch. It will return RT to fresh post-install state and help to understand if BF doesn't like some settings or whole tool in general.
     
  19. mR Yellow

    mR Yellow Ancient Guru

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    I have HW monitoring on. With temps for GPU and CPU (Core2Duo) showing in the tray. I also use fan speed change to 100% in the hardware low level section. I don't use the OSD functionality.
     
  20. Unwinder

    Unwinder Ancient Guru Staff Member

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    Can you try that?

    You can try to export all RT's own settings via regedit (HKLM\Software\Unwinder\RivaTuner) then reset the settings completely via "RivaTuner.exe /u" command line switch. It will return RT to fresh post-install state and will help to understand if BF doesn't like some settings or whole tool in general.
     

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