[SOLVED] X4 crashing at random within ~15 minutes (AMD Radeon 7900XTX) - Improved after undervolting / PSU replacement

[x30n]

Hi

I've recently built a new rig with a Radeon 7900XTX GPU and a 7950X AMD CPU

X4 seems to be a bit unhappy with that setup as it randomly crashes withing about 15 minutes of gameplay. The screen just freezes, goes black and that's it.

Most crashes happen near stations. But that could be coincidence.

I created a debug log that looks like this:

Code: Select all

Logfile started, time Thu Jun 12 16:02:58 2025
[General] 0.00 'AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX' AMD v2.0.342 (Vulkan 1.4.308) check=1
[General] 0.00 'AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics' AMD v2.0.342 (Vulkan 1.4.308) check=1
[Init   ] 0.00 Entering startmenu in 7.60 (562021)
[Init   ] 0.00 Loading saved game 'save_001', first pass
[Init   ] 0.00 - Saved in 7.60 (562021), game time = 0d 00h 05m, gamestart 'x4ep1_gamestart_tutorial' started in 7.60 (562021)
[Init   ] 313.46 Loading saved game 'save_001', second pass
[Init   ] 0.00 Loading saved game 'quicksave', first pass
[Init   ] 0.00 - Saved in 7.60 (562021), game time = 0d 00h 16m, gamestart 'x4ep1_gamestart_tutorial' started in 7.60 (562021)
[Init   ] 1002.39 Loading saved game 'quicksave', second pass
[General] 1130.30 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 1130.30 Vulkan::Queue(0) failed with err -4
[General] 1130.30 ======================================
[General] 1130.30 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 1130.30 VideoBaseClass::BE_ThreadedRenderStart() Queue failed!
[General] 1130.30 ======================================
[General] 1130.30 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 1130.30 Vulkan::Queue(0) failed with err -4
[General] 1130.30 ======================================
[General] 1130.30 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 1130.30 VideoBaseClass::GetMainCB() Queue failed!
[General] 1130.30 ======================================

The setup is all new with the latest AMD drivers on Windows 10 pro and X4 7.60

I've disabled all addons (all vanillia) and left only Foundations in place. Doesn't make a difference.

Any ideas on how to debug/fix the issue?
Are there known issues related to AMD GPUs?

cu
x30n

[Alan Phipps]

Have a look at the information that would help us to help you in the sticky thread at the top of the forum. A link to a current DxDiag output would likely help a lot.

[x30n]

Apologies for not doing this earlier. I missed this location in the list completely being in it's own detached box

Here's the data you requested.

dxdiag output:
https://cloud.geber.io/s/Qd3Tt7C4wbSgBJk

vulkaninfo output:
https://cloud.geber.io/s/oSw7GYkmAe5SSA5

Additional info: I haven't overclocked anything, nor used any additional tools like Lossless scaling, etc. All is vanillia. Another Vulkan heavy app - X-Plane 12 - seems to run stable.

Happy to provide more data if possible.

cu
x30n

[Alan Phipps]

Thanks for the DxDiag. From that I can see these issues:

Your Realtek USB Audio onboard sound chipset driver has a generic Microsoft driver from 2019 and well outdated. I would get a WHQL Realtek USB Audio driver from the Realtek update site (I use RtUsbA64.sys 6.3.9600.2342 15/09/2022), or disable that device and driver if you don't use them.

You don't have WHQL checking enabled in your DxDiag and so I cannot see if your drivers are release versions.

Your Windows Error Reporting includes several LiveKernelEvents. These are typically driver or system hardware issues exposed by system loading from such as X4; game code cannot directly cause these errors as the OS prevents it. The one report that identifies X4 as the running application actually reports it as a Vulkan issue so, taken along with the other LiveKernelEvent issues, I would suggest a clean reinstallation of your graphics driver and seeing if that helps.

Good luck.

[x30n]

Hi

Thanks for these suggestions. I upgraded everything I could find. The audio driver, network, chipsets, even a slightly newer GPU driver with factory reset enabled.

The game however isn't impressed in any way and keeps crashing. This time the crash happened without any special objects in the area. Just floating in space in the suit after jumping around, docking and undocking here and there. But at the end the game just CDTed.

At least however the debug log is a whole lot longer.

The new dxdiag output is here:
https://cloud.geber.io/s/m92tjyTD6LKGx2S

The X4 debug log is here:
https://cloud.geber.io/s/5jjEYrWE23r9Ddn

Maybe something useful in there?

cu

[Alan Phipps]

Thanks. The continuing new D3DDRED2 and LiveKernelEvent 141 issues still point towards a driver/hardware discomfort issue. Sometimes this has been linked to specific display/monitor issues with drivers or set resolution and/or scaling, and you do have one LosslessScaling.exe AppHang listed too. That might be a lead worth following up.

I did find this query and reply that is a bit old now, but it might give some further ideas as the reply is pretty comprehensive.

BTW, that second DxDiag still shows your Realtek USB HD Audio sound chipset active and with an old generic Microsoft driver.

[x30n]

Hello

Thanks for your response once again.

I've made sure that the realtek driver is gone and upgraded. It was indeed not upgraded checking the device manager. Got rid of it there and upgraded. However neither when it's disabled and deleted nor when it's updated the problem goes away.

I've read the linked thread on the MS forums. I couldn't see any applicable issues. Power, etc. is oversized for the system. No overclocking or profile changes are applied. No mods, nothing. I did de-crap windows during installation but that also applies to my previous build which didn't have any issues with X4.

I've gone through X4's settings menues resetting everything to default. No change, the game still crashes every time within minutes, sometimes even while loading.

The AMD Adrenaline tool shows a bug rerport request after the crash. Sent one ... but don't expect anything coming out of this.

The report package it produced is linked here:
https://cloud.geber.io/s/w7dTbseSrkjG3Mj

The debug logs didn't change much. Here's the latest anyway:
https://cloud.geber.io/s/gaNrPtzcajpX9KR

Changed the exe settings to run as admin + disable any fullscreen optimization.

The BIOS was upgraded as the original state was from 2024. No effect.

Lossless Scaling isn't running while running X4. I didn't remove it as I don't think it matters.

I didn't change displays yet.

The latest dxdiag output is here:
https://cloud.geber.io/s/F2nt9jLmybTw6fc

cu

[x30n]

I think I disregarded the PSU too quickly.

Your remark about power made me dig further and I found this:
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/thre ... ly.326228/

The PSU in this build is a 1000W be!quiet model. I consider them to be quite high quality and never had issues with them. However, the thing only has two native outlets for PCIe power. So one cable is simply supplying two connectors of the three on the card.

I went ahead and tried to undervolt the card in adrenaline for X4 and since then ... no crash.

Seems to really be the PSU having the occasional outage triggering the loss of connection to the card.

Two fixes:

1. Undervolt the card in Adrenaline (one click solution, painless)
2. Change the PSU. I will change to a model with a) more wattage and b) three or more PCIe connectors.

Hopefully this will permanently fix the issue without having to do anything to the card like undervolting, etc.

Thanks a lot for you help and dropping many suggestions! It was certainly an educational experience.

cu
x30n

[x30n]

Quick followup. I replaced the PSU with a more capable one and removed the undervolting.

X4 is now running rocksolid.

For those curious, the previous PSU was a bequiet 1000W Pure Power. I replaced it with a bequiet BlackPower Pro 13 that's labeled at 1300W. I don't think the wattage is needed here but this PSU sports three dedicated pci-e plugs which are now connected to the 7900XTX GPU. This I think is what the old PSU struggled the most with.

Again, huge thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

cu
x30n

[CBJ]

Glad to hear it's definitely sorted, and thanks for reporting back.