Thread: video driver crashes, game doesn't, black screen

Vista 32bit with all updates, nvidia 9800 gtx with the very latest official driver. (updated today and still had the problem afterwords)

So I'm having a problem where every couple/few hours while playing the game, the video card driver crashes. The screen goes black for a second, and when the display comes back up, the game is still running but it just has a black screen. The normal audio is still playing and the game is responsive to keyboard and mouse. I can hit shift-esc to log out and when I restart the client, everything is normal.

I had upped the graphics settings from the default, and was getting a beautiful game at about 30 fps. I am currently testing with the "advanced graphics" panel set back to the default settings and so far no crashes. I did not have the textures set to "Ultra High", as I saw the warning and kicked it back down to "High". Still had the crashes at "High"

I this a known bug? Is there just one setting I can set lower to avoid this without making the game look this bad?

as an update, the game just did it again, with "advanced graphics" set to default. The game is not playable like this. Please help. Nothing like this happens to me with any other game.

Just to rule out monitor problems the next time it happens unplug (power off) your monitor for about 2 minutes then plug it back in. Leave everything else running.
You might also try a different monitor cable if you have a spare.

I get this same issue from time to time, though my graphics settings are lower than yours. Vista 32bit. NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT. Updated drivers very recently. Hmm...

It doesn't seem like it would be a monitor issue because then nothing would be showing. I play the game in windowed mode. I can minimize the game and my desktop and everything else is visible, only the game screen is black.

yes, to be clear, only the game window is black. The windows desktop is just fine. And yes, I also run windowed mode.

Originally Posted by Lazlo_Hollyfeld

yes, to be clear, only the game window is black. The windows desktop is just fine. And yes, I also run windowed mode.

Try the settings test I recommended here.

So I've been successfully playing the game with no vid-card crashes at lower-than-default settings. I'll report back when I find the exact offending setting.
Tho I have a good feeling it's one or more of the following:
1) Object draw distance
2) model detail
3) landscape draw distance
4) frill distance

yeah dude, im running xp pro with an nvidia 9800GTX and when i put mine on high (i can run them on medium all day long) and it crashes within like 20mins-2hours of playing...SO ANNOYING I JUST WANNA PLAY MY GAME ON HIGH GRAPHICS.

Im having the exact problem also, its not on our end...before the patch never had a problem...i've played successfully for maybe 2 hours today in a 15 hour window trying to figure out how to fix it and restarting my computer. Trying the lower graphics now. hope it works...

did it work for you guys? if not, did you fix it and how did you do it.

so played with my settings and found the post on "sticking also" and did exactly what it says on there

visual on very low
audio muted
troubleshooting low or very low w/e the lowest setting is

screen is on the smallest it can go windowed mode also...so i have a tiny box that you can brealy damn well see...and the game is still having driver issues... everything is up to date and WAS working fine up to installing the patch.

running a Gateway P-6860FX

1.8GHz Duo cpu
4gig ram
Nvidia Gforce 8800M GTS
Windows Vista Buisness

thats what i have....and again no problems untill today.

Id be happy just to finish my book quest...

just to be safe running everything on very low...and windowed mode 1400x900 but DirectX 9 and no problems been on about 2+ hours in and out of all places, over 20 load screens and not a problem. worked for me so hope it does for yall...quick fix..want my graphics back though lol

good luck everyone

BritishDevil
Brandywine

I am having a similar issue. I have never had an issue with my screen going completely black until Turbine uploaded the new F2P. Ever since then I have had issues. At first it was after a few hours of play, then it got progressively shorter and now, even after uninstalling and reinstalling the game, I can't even load my character. I get all the way in, I'm able to select the player, then it goes black as soon as I try to log the character in. The background music works just fine and I'm able to move the mouse and switch to the desktop without any issues. I have the most updated nVidia driver software for the GeForce 8400M GS. I have also tried playing a movie on my computer and it ran just fine. Someone please help!

EDIT: I have also lowered my graphics settings to the lowest possible ones.

Originally Posted by Elanor_22

I am having a similar issue. I have never had an issue with my screen going completely black until Turbine uploaded the new F2P. Ever since then I have had issues. At first it was after a few hours of play, then it got progressively shorter and now, even after uninstalling and reinstalling the game, I can't even load my character. I get all the way in, I'm able to select the player, then it goes black as soon as I try to log the character in. The background music works just fine and I'm able to move the mouse and switch to the desktop without any issues. I have the most updated nVidia driver software for the GeForce 8400M GS. I have also tried playing a movie on my computer and it ran just fine. Someone please help!

EDIT: I have also lowered my graphics settings to the lowest possible ones.

I'm having the same problem. Like others, I'll get a black screen. The light on my monitor goes amber--as though the monitor isn't getting a signal. The background music/sounds will continue to play in the background, sometimes looping. The computer locks up, and I'll need to manually turn the machine off and restart it. Unlike others, I haven't found that playing in a window, rather than fullscreen, has any effect on the problem. Even if I'm playing in a window, I'll get a black screen and will have to manually restart m computer.

I had this problem happen a few times earlier this summer but then it went away. The problem has returned, though, with the new F2P. It's also gotten much worse. Before, I could play the game for anywhere between 20 minutes to several hours without getting a crash. But since the move to F2P the time between crashes has gotten much shorter, and now the screen goes black as I try to log a character in.

I thought it might be my video card overheating, but I've opened up my machine, cleaned it out several times, and put several extra fans on it. The game still crashes. I updated the drivers. I also tried lowering the graphics quality. No effect. Given how suddenly this problem came on, starting immediately after the move to F2P, I have to think it's something on Turbine's end causing it. I hope a fix comes soon. I'm not the type to ragequit, but, given all of the other problems hat have hampered the move to F2P, this could be the last straw the leads me to give up on this game.

I am having the same problem on a PC and laptop. In both cases I never had a problem before the F2P update. The PC is a Q8200 with Win 7 64 bit and HD4850. The laptop has an 8800GTM GPU and I could always zoom through on high or very high settings before.

After looking inside I don't see dust buildup or any other signs of hardware problems. I have updated the drivers on both. It can't be just an ATI or Nvidia problem. I just set my laptop at the lowest possible graphics settings as instructed in one of the forums, and the video driver stopped responding as soon as I logged in my character.

21st hall seems worst but I have had this happen elsewhere. It has now gotten to the point that I can't even get into the game at all, I keep getting the same error every time I try to load it up.

Seems to me like something's wrong with the F2P update.

Originally Posted by blacksorcerer

I am having the same problem on a PC and laptop. In both cases I never had a problem before the F2P update. The PC is a Q8200 with Win 7 64 bit and HD4850. The laptop has an 8800GTM GPU and I could always zoom through on high or very high settings before.

After looking inside I don't see dust buildup or any other signs of hardware problems. I have updated the drivers on both. It can't be just an ATI or Nvidia problem. I just set my laptop at the lowest possible graphics settings as instructed in one of the forums, and the video driver stopped responding as soon as I logged in my character.

21st hall seems worst but I have had this happen elsewhere. It has now gotten to the point that I can't even get into the game at all, I keep getting the same error every time I try to load it up.

Seems to me like something's wrong with the F2P update.

Ditto for me. I also have 8800GTM card but Vista 32 bit as OS.
Never had any game crash issues whatsoever with this game up until now (I've played since Beta).
With the F2P patch, game crashes frequently especially if a location/area transition is required.
And, with the patch they just rolled out today, I go right to the "Black Screen" once in the game world (I get through all the log on screens just fine).
So, this latest patch has definitely made matters worse for me.


EDIT 09/18/2010 - Hmm, I tried 4 times to play the game on 9/16/2010 and got the "Black Screen" every time.
Tried today and had no problems. I have not made any changes to my system or to LOTRO settings since 09/18/2010.
Strange.

I have started having this issue today as well, also the game has suddenly started to cause my computer overheat. Sometimes I get the black screen with game still working error and sometimes my computer just turns off completely. I have been playing the game just fine for hours on end, it is just today that this problem has started.

I have a Nvidia 8800M GTS. It seems that all the people having this problem have Nvidia cards, as my friend had the same issue until he switched his Nvidia card out for integrated graphics. We both have updated to the latest version and the problem still persists. Perhaps there was something in a recent patch that doesn't like Nvidia cards.

Are people still having this problem? I also was able to play yesterday without crashing. It was the first time since the move to F2P that I'd been able to play without getting a black screen. I thought it might be because of a change I made to one of the performance settings, but if other people are no longer having this problem (as per Whisper's post) than perhaps it's because of a change on Turbine's end. (If so, thanks, Turbine!)

I'd be curious if everyone who is posting about this problem was running direct x10? I used to run x10 before f2p with no problems. I got the black screen once f2p went live. I found the information in the sticky about factory overclocked video cards so I dropped back to x9, still running very high graphics, and haven't had the issue since. I'm tempted to switch back to x10 since the last update and see if things are working better again.

So I'm using a laptop with an NVidia 8800M GTS graphics card.

In my case, I solved the problem by switching from using DX 10 back to DX 9.

This also just started for me after the F2Play update. I'd go to black screen in windowed or in full screen mode randomly, but especially at load screens. The game would load after the black screen and would be "playing" but no video of the game.

Since I've switched to using DX9 again, I've had no problems whatsoever, in either windowed or full screen mode. I can have video streaming in another screen and vent on and search the web, etc. etc. etc. at the same time and not have the video driver crash.

I think there was something in the update to DX10 that caused this issue.

Well, I don't know what is going on. Since my edit of my first post a couple of days ago, I have not had the "Black Screen" problem. I have not made any changes to my system or to LotRO settings (I still have DX10 enabled).
I tried several location/area changes with no incident.

I can only assume Turbine has made some server side changes to solve my issue but I have no evidence one way or the other.
The only thing that is somewhat different now from when I was having the "Black Screen" issue is that I have moved on to the "Second Stage" of the Mirkwood area. Maybe my issues were related to the initial Mirkwood stage?

EDIT 09/21/2010 09:43PM
WOW! Right after I made this post, I tried logging in to LotRO and went to the "Black Screen". This kind of **** made me quit PC gaming a few years ago and now looks like I may be doing the same.
I don't have the patience for this ****!!!

EDIT 09/21/2010 10:15PM
LOL, of course I tried again and played for 30 mins. with no problem. Color me clueless!
I can't believe they censor the word cr*p!

I am having the same issue as everyone here and like many of the others I have the Nvidia 8800M GTS. Game just randomly black screens and I have no choice but to cut the power on my computer. Several times I have even had it just kill power to my laptop completely. I have the latest drivers from Nvidia and they have not helped.

I got so annoyed with it that I reformatted and dropped down to Vista (was using Win 7) to see if that was an issue, but it has not helped any and may even have made it worse. I tried dropping to Direct X 9 with medium settings and still had it happen, so I am going to now try dropping it down even further to see if that fixes it. I played this game before it went Free to play at high/Ultra high with no issues whatsoever so I am not sure what has changed. I also have played other more graphically intense games such as Crysis and Age of Conan with no problems.

I have noticed that most if not all of the people experiencing this issues are using Nvidia cards which implies that there is some kind of conflict with the game and Nvidia cards. My friend who has a desktop nvidia card was experiencing the exact same problem. until he switched to his integrated graphics which ran the game fine.

Edit: As an update I just ran the game in ultra low, barely has graphics at all mode and still got it after about 30 mins. It didnt get as hot as normal but it still black screened. Also I am using Vista 32 bit since I forgot to mention that. I'm going to try installing older drivers, seems like an idea so stupid it might actually work.

Lets try to keep this thread alive if we can because clearly there is something wrong either with the game or Nvidias drivers.

Originally Posted by Hafnium

I'd be curious if everyone who is posting about this problem was running direct x10? I used to run x10 before f2p with no problems. I got the black screen once f2p went live. I found the information in the sticky about factory overclocked video cards so I dropped back to x9, still running very high graphics, and haven't had the issue since. I'm tempted to switch back to x10 since the last update and see if things are working better again.

I was running direct x9 and still getting the blackscreens. The problem went away for a while, although I got my first blackscreen crash in several days last night. Overall, though, the game seems to be a lot more stable over the past few days.

Just to keep this alive:

I am also having this problem.
Seems that some days are worse than others:
Vista 32bit, DX10

I really wish we could find out exactly what new graphics features Turbine added/changed as a part of the F2P update. I see that the Nvidia control panel lets you set many of its card's features per application. If we just knew what was added/changed, we may could tweak the settings for LotRO.

I am still getting this error, I had switched to windowed mode direct x 10 and the problem stopped for awhile, but now it is back in even the windowed mode. There is no consistency to this problem at all, sometimes it happens, others it doesn't. I have not had this problem with any other game though and my video card is not overheating. This is a really annoying problem.

Some thoughts:

If you have this problem, please post if you have VSynch turned on and what its setting is.

Post your OS version, Service Pack level, and whether or not you've installed the June 2010 DirectX update.

Post your video card model and the driver version

I've seen this on one machine only, but not on the others for which I provide in-person game support. We think we fixed it by turning VSynch on at 60Hz to match the LCD monitor's refresh rate and applying the above updates. Since this is a random bug and hard to reproduce - only time will tell if the problems really been solved. I will say that so far that machine has been able to run for two hours at ultra high graphics on DX10 without hitting the black screen. I checked the other machines and all of them already had VSynch turned on, only the one that crashed had not yet been set that way.

The build that crashed:
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit w/all current critical patches.
NVidia GeForce GTX 260 896MB
Driver = 258.96 64-bit
Updated from the Feb 2010 DirectX after crash to June 2010 DirectX.

I am having this same issue. Just started happening since the F2P update. I am running XP SP3 on a 2.8GHz nVidia 7600 GS, Dx 9. Never had an issue prior. Was able to surf the web while crafting and watch Youtube also. Since the update I crash intermittantly. Always the same; monitor goes into power save mode though I can hear the game sound still. I have to do a hard boot. At first I thought it might be the driver so I made sure I had the latest driver. Then I thought it might be the temp of the card but this is fine also. Then I thought it might be my sound card driver. After I updated I was able to play for a day and a half. After the first crash tonight I turned off EAX and went to software mode. I still crashed.
It's not my card because I have had no issues prior to the update. It would be nice to have someone from Turbine in here to comment.
Cheers,
Chris

hmm, I know everyone will think this is strange but I have not had the "Black Screen" issue since my last post (September 24). I also have not checked this LotRO Forum thread since then.
Today I checked this thread and then tried logging into the game and got the "Black Screen". This is exactly what happened the last time I had the "Black Screen" issue. I checked this forum thread then tried logging into the game.
I use FireFox to view this forum thread.
Coincidence?
BTW, don't know if people do this but when I get the "Black Screen" I hit the enter key and type /exit.
That gets me out of the game without having to reboot or do the three finger salute.

EDIT 10/06/2010 8:04 PM EST - Tried logging into the game 4 times after I made this post and got the "Black Screen" every time. That has never happened before. The only other item to note is I did not play yesterday but there were 3 Microsoft patches I installed yesterday. Don't know if that means anything but I'm done with LotRO for today. On to SCII! (which I have no issues with).

EDIT 10/06/2010 9:34 PM EST - Played SCII for an hour then couldn't resist. Tried LotRO again and logged in and played for half an hour with no issues. Just plain weird.

I have also had short periods (1 to 2 days) without a Black Screen incident.
These were after slight (1 variable) changes. I decided to wait for a few days before reporting any success.
Unfortunately, the Black Screen seems to always come back.
Like Whisper.. I have found quick ways to recover, but it is still a major PITA.

If I recall correctly, if you're running an SLI nVidia card of any kind that has greater than x MB memory on the card (where X is a value I can't remember anymore....256 maybe?) the video kernel crashes and 30 sec. later the 'game recovers' you'll no longer notice any visual elements to the game, but rather just hear the sounds while your character continues to play without you seeing what he/she is doing.

The real test is play the game in windowed mode and when it crashes, if you're running vista or win 7, the aero effect will kick back on (it turns off for me while I play the game in windowed mode).

I THINK that's what I recall reading somewhere on the internetz when I first started encountering the problem. Some people have simply reverted back to an earlier driver in an attempt to get the kernel to stop crashing randomly.

Again, I think I remember reading that it has something to do with how much memory LOTRO allots to the game and if you've got >X amount of memory, it actually causes a massive DECREASE in performance instead of an INcrease in performance for having that SLI card memory and thus results in sporadic crashing.

Do a search in google for LOTRO, SLI, nvidia, kernel and crash maybe? Don't recall exactly.

Ah, twas strange and was a coincidence. Re: my last post, I tried several times to read this forum thread then launch LotRO. I was able to with no "Black Screen".

@jnmoriginpoint - I do have an SLI nVidia card and I do get a message regarding "faulting module nvwgf2um.dll" has caused lotroclient.exe to crash. I think that is the video kernel crashing. Supposedly, the driver has recovered but "recovering" results in the "Black Screen".

I do run LotRO in windowed mode but I'm not sure how to check if "aero effects" are on or off.

When I run LotRO i get a message that windows had to revert back to a basic color scheme so I assume that is related to "aero effects".

I will try doing a search with your terms to see what that comes up with.

I have some good news to report about this issue. (BTW, I first noticed this problem after F2P patch. Participated in F2P Beta and did not experience it.)

It looks like I have solved it. /cross fingers /knockwood

First I tried cleaning out the dust. It amazes me how much dust can build up in a computer box in a year. Someone needs to invent lungs for computers.
Well, that did nothing.

Then I remembered that I kept getting an error message when recovering from the Black Screen.
I don't remember the exact wording: something about video "something" failed and has recovered.
Vista 32bit. Nvidia 9800
I went in search of a video driver update.
Found a new driver with a July 2010 date.

Installed and have not seen a Black Screen for 4 gaming sessions. One of them about 10 hrs long.

Good luck folks.

I would have chimed in earlier but I thought F2P players couldn't post anything. Never thought to log in.

Anyway, I've been having the same problem, and I haven't found any newer drivers for my NVIDEA card than the one I'm using now. As suggested in some other threads, I've dumbed-down my graphics setting and dropped back to DX9, but nothing has eliminated the problem.

I haven't seen anyone else mention my #1 symptom: I get the black screen only when porting to a way stone, resurrecting after dying, or leaving an establishment. Seriously - it never happens going into a shop or instance or otherwise "small" area, but dies frequently when leaving the crafting hall, jailhouse, or other buildings in Bree. It must be something about loading up the full environment, but I don't believe loading or overheating of the graphics card is a very likely root cause. I think about 2 times in 50 it'll crash going into the game initially, or while out in the open. Although the Old Forest area must be a terrific load on the card (very bad frame rate), the graphics have never crashed in there. This PC has never crashed on any other game, including WOW, several shooters, and Oblivion.

I didn't have the problem when I was on the 10-day free trial last February or March. I get it several times a session now, if I'm patient enough to restart that many times. I actually camp out at the open-air crafting area in Brockenborings (sp?) in the Shire just so I can avoid the Bree crafting hall. I almost never port back to town, and endure the long run instead. It's really affecting how I play the game. I'm reluctant to join Fellowships for instances and skirmishes, because I figure I'll let the team down when I crash.

Update: another day has gone by.
Yesterday: about 4 hours of game play. No Black Screen.

Originally Posted by Boraxxe

I have some good news to report about this issue. (BTW, I first noticed this problem after F2P patch. Participated in F2P Beta and did not experience it.)

It looks like I have solved it. /cross fingers /knockwood

First I tried cleaning out the dust. It amazes me how much dust can build up in a computer box in a year. Someone needs to invent lungs for computers.
Well, that did nothing.

Then I remembered that I kept getting an error message when recovering from the Black Screen.
I don't remember the exact wording: something about video "something" failed and has recovered.
Vista 32bit. Nvidia 9800
I went in search of a video driver update.
Found a new driver with a July 2010 date.

Installed and have not seen a Black Screen for 4 gaming sessions. One of them about 10 hrs long.

Good luck folks.

Update:
Another 2-hr game session and no Black screen.

@Boraxxe - Where did you find the driver update? Do you have a desktop or laptop? The issue I am running into with obtaining the "latest drivers" is that I have a laptop with a 8800M (M=Mobile) Nvidia card. When I go to Nvidia's site looking to update my drivers, they tell me I should go to my laptop manufacturer's site to obtain the latest drivers. Unfortunately, my laptop manufacturer has not updated drivers for years now.

@LoopTuna - Have you not been able to find any newer drives for the issue I mention above?
And, in my first post on this issue back on Sep 16 2010, I mentioned that I have this issue "especially if a location/area transition is required". I now notice that the issue is most prevalent when the location/area transition involves entering the world/full environment. That is, if I enter an inn for example, no issue. When I leave the inn, 90% of the time I get the "Black Screen".

So I agree it must be something about loading up the full environment. And I am losing patience and reluctant to join Fellowships/Instances as well because I'm sure I'll get the "Black Screen" if I have to leave the instance. I pretty much try to stay in the full environment with no area transitions for as long as possible. When I do have to transition back to the full environment and I get the "Black Screen", that's the end of my play time for the day lol.

To Whisper: I found the driver update at the Nvidia site. Sorry.

About "when" the Black Screen occurred for me: Yes, it was when I was transitioning out of a "local" environment into the "open" environment. Out of the AH for instance, but never when going into it.
It never just happened out of the blue like just riding down the road or when in a combat situation.

(hoping I can continue to speak if this in the past tense.../finger-cross)

It definitely sounds like I'm on the right thread for people with exactly my problem. When I try to update my drivers (using the automatic search option), I get the message "The best driver for your device is already installed. Windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date. NVIDIA GeForce 9300GE". My only other option may be to distrust this claim, and go out manually searching for other drivers.

The current driver for my 9300GE is from 10/15/2008, version 7.15.11.7578.

Let's see what NVIDIA.com has to offer: version 258.96, date 7/19/2010. Thank you SOOO much, Windows Vista, for your thorough search.

I'm downloading this driver, I'll go check it out, and try to report back later. I'm optimistic about this discovery, though. Thanks, folks, for the persistence on this thread.

EDIT: I am happy to report my last session went flawlessly with the new drivers. Moral of the story: do not believe it when Microsoft tells you the latest drivers have been installed. Go find them manually. "Install the latest drivers" is one of the standard actions recommended by LOTRO's technical help sticky, but it may be hard to follow through on this suggestion without diligence.

well its happening for me - actually its gotten worse. ive never had problems with Lotro (lifetime subscriber), but since the F2P started, i cannot play the game without black screen.

ive up dated my drivers to the most recent - updated directx - all my windows stuff is updated.

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090804-1435)
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 3582MB RAM
Page File: 389MB used, 5075MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

display

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 9800 GTX+
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0613&SUB SYS_C8903842&REV_A2
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0012.6089 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 10/8/2010 04:30:00, 6358784 bytes


i really hate to think my lifetime sub has been wasted, but at this point i cannot play the game.

Originally Posted by MistressStar

well its happening for me - actually its gotten worse. ive never had problems with Lotro (lifetime subscriber), but since the F2P started, i cannot play the game without black screen.

ive up dated my drivers to the most recent - updated directx - all my windows stuff is updated.

.....

i really hate to think my lifetime sub has been wasted, but at this point i cannot play the game.

Try a download here. It looks like you have a more current date than what this site has available, but this is where I downloaded a driver that works.

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

The date you show (10/8/2010) I cannot find at the above site.