Game freezes shortly after launch, when it resumes the GUI is corrupt - Fixed by graphics driver reinstall

[kgkosio]

I was playing X4 from shortly after launch until about a month or so ago without a problem. Now, shortly after loading the save game, the game will freeze for several minutes. After the game resumes, the GUI for the maps screen isn't normal. None of the options at the top middle of the screen are available.

The files are available in my dropbox, I just need to know who to share them with. The files include a screen shot of the map GUI, DxDiag report, the latest save game and a X4dumpFile.txt from one of my attempts to leave the game.

My last attempt to exit the game to the desk top wasn't successful until I stopped the process tree for the Steam overlay.

An update to the NVIDIA drivers was performed prior to the start of the problems. Multiple updates to the drivers have been made since the problem started, using the express install

[Alan Phipps]

Just post links here to the DropBox files. (Don't forget to include the Vulkaninfo file link please.)

[kgkosio]

Screen shot of the map screen: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4k06ffas8d3r ... 1.jpg?dl=0
DxDiag: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgxa29yp6i4vd ... g.txt?dl=0
Save: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4c8iw143wz0bl ... ml.gz?dl=0
Vulkaninfo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wzu2y0bqmielp ... o.txt?dl=0
Dumpfile: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xebb7n1k9wbkc ... e.txt?dl=0

The dump file was from a few days before the rest of the files.
X4 version: 2.20
No mods

[Alan Phipps]

Thanks. You say you had a pause in playing until recently and that period probably included a game update. Have you verified the Steam X4 gamefiles cache since you restarted playing (if from Steam obviously). The integrity of your game installation after update would be at the top of my suspect list given your range of issues.

Your DxDiag has a slightly odd showing for your graphics memory:
Display Memory: 3696 MB
Dedicated Memory: 3981 MB
Shared Memory: 3810 MB
Normally the first figure is the sum of the other two. I'm not sure if there is an actual problem there but it is very unusual to see it given as less than either of the contributing figures below it. I don't know if it could somehow be related to any graphics hardware contribution to your issue(s).

I know you were playing the game OK before but that SB X-Fi non-WHQL for Win7 x64 sound driver from 2012 will not be helping. It might be worth seeing if you can get a newer and WHQL-approved one. Alternatively try using your onboard Sound chipset with an updated driver, or even your Nvidia graphics suite's HD sound output instead. You can disable the SB X-Fi device in Device Manager - even if only temporarily as an elimination check.

Unfortunately Win7 doesn't give Windows Error Reports in the DxDiag and so I cannot help further in that respect.

Good luck.

[kgkosio]

It wasn't me pausing, it was the game freezing. I have played X4 multiple times per week since its release, even with the problems I reported, which are now FIXED. Details below.

I was able to find a sound card driver update for Windows 10, but not Windows 7. I had already verified the game files.

Since the game was working fine with the current sound driver, I decided to investigate the video drivers. I uninstalled all of the NVIDIA drivers, it made for one ugly screen. I did a custom install of the drivers, just the video drivers and the physics drivers. This didn't fix the memory report in the DxDiag report, but it did fix the performance issues and GUI corruption.

I had the problem through multiple NVIDIA driver updates, which is why I decided to post the problem. It wasn't until your response that I thought to uninstall the drivers.

Thank you for your help.