System reboot at starting location select.

[Merit]

Hey guys,

Got the game over the weekend, I'm able to play however if I spend longer than 5-10 seconds at the initial map where you select your starting location my whole system crashes and reboots.  And while I enjoy the rng nature of "Random starting location" sometimes I'd like to make the choice.

Things I've tried so far. (steam install)

1. Reg Clearner
2. Reinstall
3. Nuked the config files in appdata
4. Created a new windows profile and reinstalled
5. Disabled all background programs.
6. Switched HD's
7. Running in windowed mode

Sysinfo:
MB: Gigabyte ga-z97x-ud3h
Memory: 16gb Corsair
Video: GTX 980
OS: Windows 10 Home 64

All latest updates, heck even the bios firmware just for giggles.  Been a long time since I had something crash on me, so trying to recall other needed info.  Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!



[attachment deleted by admin due to age]

[nccvoyager]

Note for all concerned parties: I will likely be unable to render further assistance for several days.
If you may be able to help the OP, please attempt to do so.

In order to expedite attempts to help you, could you please provide a copy of the output_log file that is created in the main RimWorld "data" folder?

Now, as for the issue in question, I do have a theoretical cause.
The 3D-rendered world sphere in A16 uses more GPU power than pretty much any other part of RimWorld.
This could, depending on the system settings, be causing an issue that I have seen happen for a few people.
The theoretical fix?
Disable all power-saving options regarding the GPU.
The most common causes I have seen for this type of issue, with both NVidia and ATI cards, has to do with the new "zero power" or "power saving" systems included with the cards.
In theory, these options provide power saving features by lowering the power usage of the GPU to almost nothing while it is not actively being used.
Unfortunately, in practice, this can sometimes lead to certain programs causing crashes if the GPU switches from this low-power state to a high-power state very quickly.
This can lead to a voltage surge in the GPU, triggering the card to shut off and prompting a STOP error.
This causes no permanent damage to the card or the rest of the system, though it can be quite annoying.
(From what I understand, this is caused by the system requesting the resources the GPU says are available, the GPU overcompensating for the [truly minuscule] delay, and pushing the GPU momentarily to 100% usage and maximum voltage.)

(As it happens, I had a similar issue with my GTX 650Ti BOOST. In my case though, the power supply I had could not provide enough power for the system and the GPU at full power. I ended up having to under clock the GPU to keep using the computer.)

You will need to disable the low power use settings in the NVidia control panel, any other graphics control panel, and (depending upon the driver and manufacturer) you may need to edit a specific registry entry, which is different dependent on the driver version.
(For some reason they keep moving it, it seems. Almost like the manufacturers don't want the power saving features disabled...)

There are other possible causes as well, though I am unable to provide any information regarding those at this time.

Best of luck, and I apologize that I will likely be unable to render further assistance myself.

[Merit]

*In order to expedite attempts to help you, could you please provide a copy of the output_log file that is created in the main RimWorld "data" folder?*
This was included with my initial post.

As for the power issue..   Well perhaps with more time the optimization of the client will resolve this issue.

I will attempt the Nvidia setting edit, and see if this has any effect.  Thank you for the suggestion.

[Merit]

nccvoyager,

It appears that editing power management mode to "Prefer Maximum Performance" has actually resolved the issue! 

I thank you whole heartedly for the guidance.

I'd also recommend somehow they resolve this issue as it will turn away many people from this amazingly fun game.  But so far so good.  cheers

[milon]

It's not something RimWorld can fix - it's an Nvidia problem that Nvidia would have to fix (I think).

[nccvoyager]

@Merit; Glad it worked!
Enjoy the digital suffering! 

@milon; Yeah, it's a stupid issue that got left in the newer video cards with the "low power" or "Zero power" technology.
It's almost like they never actually tested prototypes under quickly changing conditions...

In any case, if I had to guess, this is an issue with on-GPU firmware, and may only be able to be fixed with subsequent iterations of video cards, and not likely with a driver update.

Otherwise, this would probably have been patched out already, since I have seen some threads online that are at least six months old.