Game Causing PC to restart...

[ItalyJay]

This began after I purchased and then updated the Overlord expansion.

I'll be playing and then randomly the game causes my PC to restart. I've check several times now to see if perhaps the issue is maybe the CPU or the GPU is overheating. Neither is happening. Although I do get high temps (59C) on my CPU Package temp that's about it.

I'm running a an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X CPU with 32GB of ram and a AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT.

Over the years I've racked up almost 3000 hours of play time and I've seen all the old and common bugs like the CHUG CHUG CHUG hang up/slow downs that happen late in the game or the last one which froze the game every 2nd of every month. I've seen the bug which caused the game to crash when playing in Fullscreen mode, etc., etc. etc.

This one though is new to me. I've never seen this before.

I've tried going to Windowed, Borderless Windowed, Full Screen, switching to DirectX 11 (Beta), and even played with the refresh rate. And still NO JOY the PC keeps crashing randomly. If the is something specific that is causing it to restart I've not picked up on what it is.

I've also checked the integrity of the files through Steam.

Anyone got any ideas about what could be causing this or a fix for it?

 

[AndrewT]

Although I do get high temps (59C) on my CPU Package temp that's about it.

That's normal, problems start up towards 80c or so.

When did this first start? A particular game patch perhaps?


DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log .

 

[ItalyJay]

That's normal, problems start up towards 80c or so.

When did this first start? A particular game patch perhaps?


DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log .

So, this problem began immediately after I upgraded and updated to Overlord expansion. I'm not sure if it was the expansion or the 3.4 update because I initially did the 3.4 update, then bought the expansion which then did a short update to the game. I did not play 3.4 updated from the Overlord expansion.

 

[AndrewT]

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log , exceptions.log

And, are there ERROR or WARNING entries in the Windows Event Viewer in the few minutes leading up to these reboots?

 

[ItalyJay]

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log , exceptions.log

And, are there ERROR or WARNING entries in the Windows Event Viewer in the few minutes leading up to these reboots?

There was no "exceptions.log" document in that folder. There are some ERROR and WARNING entries in the Windows Event Viewer a few minutes leading up to these reboots. I'm not sure which you need. For the record, the PC only reboots like this while playing Stellaris. All other games I play I have no issues. I have no issues using other apps, browsing, etc., etc.,

 

[AndrewT]

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .

. There are some ERROR and WARNING entries in the Windows Event Viewer a few minutes leading up to these reboots. I'm not sure which you need.

Any would be nice!

 

[Snaffie]

Hi AndrewT and ItalyJay - I am facing the same problem (unexpected computer restarts while playing the game) apart from the fact that I have not bought the Overlord expansion - have updated to v3.4.5 though


I've been tracking GPU temps and am sure that the GPU did not go anywhere near 80c, and the restarts are happening even when I am only running Stellaris so I'm pretty sure its the update that's the problem

I've attached all the files Andrew has asked from ItalyJay - wondering if you can help too?

 

[AndrewT]

I've been tracking GPU temps and am sure that the GPU did not go anywhere near 80c,

How about the CPU temps?


Lots of mods in use there - does this happen in a galaxy that's never had any mods used in it?

 

[Snaffie]

How about the CPU temps?


Lots of mods in use there - does this happen in a galaxy that's never had any mods used in it?

Hi AndrewT - thanks for getting back so fast!

I'll find a way to track CPU Temps in real time when I get a chance to attempt the game again. Seems like I need addition third-party software to do so (used the Geforce performance overlay for GPU temps).

The mods I've pretty much had since the Federation expansion and didn't have any issues with them. I can try removing/disabling some of them in another attempt after I've checked for my CPU temp.

I'm guessing those log files yielded no potential leads for the cause of the issue?

 

[Snaffie]

Not sure how helpful this is - so I turned on Stellaris and left it running for a few minutes (between the red and green highlighted vertical lines that I drew on this screenshot) and got this plot of temperatures:
Light Green line - CPU Core temperature as detected from the motherboard (i think? It says Nuvoton NCT6793D)
Blue line - CPU Package temperature of the Intel Core i7
Gold line - GPU Core temperature for NVIDA Geforce
Red line - Temperature of the SSD Hard Drive

The above is with the mods still enabled.

 

[ItalyJay]

Just seeing all this activity here. I believe that the issue I was facing was overheating of my CPU. I've since started playing the game in Windowed mode only and turned down the graphics settings. I've got the the multisample level at 2, graphics quality at Medium, Bloom Quality is Off as is Lens Flare. Since doing this my game doesn't randomly shut down.

I have to be hones though, with my PC build and with all the games I play on it which are FAR MORE demanding on the PC than Stellaris, I have to think that the game is actually at fault and not my PC. This was only happening with Stellaris and no other game was causing my PC to shutdown randomly. But, I'm not an expert here so take my thoughts for what they're worth. It's just sad that I can run high end games at their highest settings with no issues at all but with Stellaris I need to dial back the graphics to be able to enjoy it. Bizarre.

 

[Snaffie]

Just seeing all this activity here. I believe that the issue I was facing was overheating of my CPU. I've since started playing the game in Windowed mode only and turned down the graphics settings. I've got the the multisample level at 2, graphics quality at Medium, Bloom Quality is Off as is Lens Flare. Since doing this my game doesn't randomly shut down.

I have to be hones though, with my PC build and with all the games I play on it which are FAR MORE demanding on the PC than Stellaris, I have to think that the game is actually at fault and not my PC. This was only happening with Stellaris and no other game was causing my PC to shutdown randomly. But, I'm not an expert here so take my thoughts for what they're worth. It's just sad that I can run high end games at their highest settings with no issues at all but with Stellaris I need to dial back the graphics to be able to enjoy it. Bizarre.

Hi ItalyJay!

Thank you so much for providing an update for your problem! Yeah it is indeed strange because I've never pegged Stellaris as being "graphically intense" (not to say that it is not a visually beautiful game, cos it is whenever you pause and zoom in!) but I'm pretty much used to playing the game fully zoomed out so not really focusing on the details of the ships/systems/planets..

Like you, I'm not an expert when it comes to all of this... but given that I've never had problems with the game (and the mods i've installed) right up to v3.4.5 - I'm also inclined to believe that this is the cause, especially since the restart issue only happens even when I'm just solely running Stellaris and nothing else on my PC,

I'm not leaning towards buying any new hardware just to deal with this problem, so I would definitely follow your lead and just dial down on the graphics setting to lowest just so I can focus on actually playing, rather than constantly checking the temperatures of my pc components and holding my breath for fear that my computer might restart just after I've spent a considerable amount of time micromanaging my colonies and navies (its happened a lot on this playthrough!).

Cheers again for taking the time to share your approach!

 

[AndrewT]

So we get up to 70c or so, but never as high as 80c, is that what you are seeing? I fo it doesn't seem likely that's the problem, which is unexpected to be honest.

What fps are you seeing in the game, anything much over 60?

I think there are newer AMD video drivers than yours from March, please update if so

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

 

[AndrewT]

Just seeing all this activity here. I believe that the issue I was facing was overheating of my CPU. I've since started playing the game in Windowed mode only and turned down the graphics settings. I've got the the multisample level at 2, graphics quality at Medium, Bloom Quality is Off as is Lens Flare. Since doing this my game doesn't randomly shut down.

I have to be hones though, with my PC build and with all the games I play on it which are FAR MORE demanding on the PC than Stellaris, I have to think that the game is actually at fault and not my PC. This was only happening with Stellaris and no other game was causing my PC to shutdown randomly. But, I'm not an expert here so take my thoughts for what they're worth. It's just sad that I can run high end games at their highest settings with no issues at all but with Stellaris I need to dial back the graphics to be able to enjoy it. Bizarre.

But the OP here is not seeing CPU overheating, top temp appears to be 70c. And reducing the graphics settings shouldn't affect the CPU anyway, unless you are running on an integrated (non-GPU) video system.

 

[ItalyJay]

But the OP here is not seeing CPU overheating, top temp appears to be 70c. And reducing the graphics settings shouldn't affect the CPU anyway, unless you are running on an integrated (non-GPU) video system.

Well, reducing the graphics settings did reduce the loading on my CPU and I'm not using an integrated CPU-GPU. I know this because I've watched my CPU temps and they're down by as much as 10 degrees C or more. I also have the most up to date drivers for my GPU. When I'm running Stellaris on full settings I was often above 70C. Now, with the lower settings and being in Windowed mode I'm, at most, pushing high 50s or low 60s. I'm absolutely certain the issue is with the game and not my system. My frames were never an issue at the highest settings but I never really measured them. I run high end games on my PC at the highest settings and frequently get over 60fps.

I'm not trying to slate the game nor be negative but Paradox, at least with respect to my experience with Stellaris, is HORRIBLE about fixing game breaking bugs. How many years has the bug that causes the game to hang once a month been in the game? Prior to the Overlord update the game would hang while processing on the 2nd of every month. Since Overlord it now does it on like the 9th of every month. Prior to that it would bog down so badly it was unplayable late in the game without being driven to tears of boredom. I love the game but I think Paradox should show their patrons a bit more respect and spend more time and money on fixing these types of bug rather than pushing new content for money. I've bough EVERY single expansion the least they could do is finally fix the game, no?

 

[Snaffie]

So we get up to 70c or so, but never as high as 80c, is that what you are seeing? I fo it doesn't seem likely that's the problem, which is unexpected to be honest.

What fps are you seeing in the game, anything much over 60?

I think there are newer AMD video drivers than yours from March, please update if so

Heya AndrewT - FPS is ard the 60 mark. Also - I'm using a Geforce card and have updated it (the restarts were happening both before and after i updated my drivers).

CPU and GPU temperatures - apart from the sudden spikes in temperature for the CPU when loading up and at certain points of the game - remain consistent around the 60 deg mark.

I also tried disabling all my mods and going to the lowest graphics setting like ItalyJay (the game does look terrible with that setting), but alas the restarts are still happening.

The last time I had issues like this I just left the game well alone for a few months until the next update... so I guess I'll do that and let the issue resolve itself. At this stage I'm pretty sure its the update and really nothing to do with my hardware now... I can play other games in the meantime.

Thanks everyone for your time!

 

[AndrewT]

I'm using a Geforce card and have updated it

Sorry, I must have been looking at some other dxdiag.

I also tried disabling all my mods and going to the lowest graphics setting like ItalyJay (the game does look terrible with that setting), but alas the restarts are still happening.

So probably not a video issue then. But you could try changing the display from DirectX 9 to 11 in the game's settings menu.


Are there entries in the Windows Event Viewer around these restarts?

 

[AndrewT]

Well, reducing the graphics settings did reduce the loading on my CPU and I'm not using an integrated CPU-GPU. I know this because I've watched my CPU temps and they're down by as much as 10 degrees C or more. I also have the most up to date drivers for my GPU. When I'm running Stellaris on full settings I was often above 70C. Now, with the lower settings and being in Windowed mode I'm, at most, pushing high 50s or low 60s. I'm absolutely certain the issue is with the game and not my system. My frames were never an issue at the highest settings but I never really measured them. I run high end games on my PC at the highest settings and frequently get over 60fps.

Reducing the graphics settings did not help @Snaffie , so it seems you two actually have a different problem!

 

[ItalyJay]

Reducing the graphics settings did not help @Snaffie , so it seems you two actually have a different problem!

Yep. Probably right.