DanielYetman DanielYetman

DeskScape Massive Crash!

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DeskScape Massive Crash!

from Stardock Forums

Okay, so I run Win7 x64 on an nVidia 8800GTS with 320Mb and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor running at 5600+.  I love DeskScapes - I have for years.

But my issue is pretty lethal:  When DeskScapes is running, there is a 100% chance of it suddenly going absolutely Bat-****-crazy and completely buggering up my display within an hour, typically less.  When running 3D applications, the errors seemed to occur very quickly, and were always the massive crashes. 

Usually, it blackened my screen and just completely stopped all processing, but the first couple of times this happened, it created display errors.  Pretty definitive ones, too.

Active windows had whole swathes of geometry go black, leaving random triangles visible, the taskbar had this bizarre 'tracking' effect (rather similar to old TV when you tried to access a channel that wasn't quite there). 

None of these effects take place when my wallpaper is set to a normal background.

And when I had just DeskScapes running, things seemed to work well enough, but I'd leave my computer and come back some time later to find that it had locked up, as detailed first.

deskscapes
17,219 views 47 replies
Reply #26 from Stardock Forums Top

I had that service running, but no more. :) Not sure when I'll feel like testing whether that fixes this issue, though. (Screen lockups are kinda scary.)

Reply #27 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Shirley, reply 21
 

Snow is also a filter for dreams.  Make sure this is not on.
End of Shirley's quote

Interesting, didn't know that was an effect.

 

But no, I mean I'm still intentionally seeing flakes because I'm stuck using "Winter Snow"--it's one of the only working dreams for me. I tend to switch backgrounds (well now preferably, dreams) with the seasons.

Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #28 from Stardock Forums Top

What's working vs. not?  Specifically, do the Desktop Earth and Planktonic dreams work?

Reply #29 from Stardock Forums Top

I think it's the "video based dreams" that eventually lock me up, based on this quote from Neil: "Does the same thing happen if you use a non video based dream such as Vintage dream or winter snow?"

 

I believe Desktop Earth does work fine (I can try that for a day to see), I've only had problems with the looping video dreams such as waterfall loops and such.  It's a little hard to test well since sometimes like others reported it takes a few hours before it locks up (usually less).

Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Same for me: Several different mpeg based dreams all caused the same problem, "Vintage Dream" on the other hand works fine. Since its finally springtime I cannot convince myself to try "Winter Snow". Are there any other fully procedural dreams out there?

Reply #31 from Stardock Forums Top

Hehe, try Desktop Earth.  I've decided to switch to that one for now since well, it's hot out.  :)

DE is working fine for me, for over a day.  But I do believe that's a 'programmatic' dream rather than video-based.

So now we just need to figure out why video-based dreams are blowing up.

Reply #32 from Stardock Forums Top

DE is working fine for me, for over a day. But I do believe that's a 'programmatic' dream rather than video-based.
End of quote

This is true.  What specifically happens when trying to play video dreams?

Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Shirley, reply 32

What specifically happens when trying to play video dreams?
End of Shirley's quote

As I said:

Quoting pinkall, reply 15
I had crashes since several weeks at random intervals (10 minutes to a few hours) when using DeskScape . Either the screen freezes or even the monitor signal is lost completely. ... What is particularly strange is that the crashes both happened when DeskScape was running and also when I was doing a full screen game ...
End of pinkall's quote

Sometimes when a sound was playing at the instance of the crash I also got an endlessly repeating stuttering. I think this means that even if the graphics card might have caused the crash it took the whole system with it.

Reply #34 from Stardock Forums Top

pinkall's description of the problem is identical to my own, minus the sound stuttering issue, but I suspect that'd happen too based on the 'stuttery' behavior of the mouse cursor.

Something else I notice often when this happens is that it's a slow death.  Sometimes the screen will just blank out suddenly, but I've seen the PC *massively* lag (even the mouse cursor movement lags, and that almost never happens when a simple application is blowing up) and it gets progressively worse for a few seconds until a total screen lock up sets in.

Should we try checking for updated drivers?  Part of the reason I'm hesitant is reports of new problems with 'the latest' drivers.

Reply #35 from Stardock Forums Top

Should we try checking for updated drivers? Part of the reason I'm hesitant is reports of new problems with 'the latest' drivers.
End of quote

Checking to make sure your drivers are up to date is always a good idea. 

Reply #36 from Stardock Forums Top

Okay, I figured it out.  Strangely enough, it was a driver issue.  BUT it wasn't due to a WRONG driver - it turns out that NVIDIA's latest driver for my series of GPU (the GeForce 8800 GTS 320) is buggered up.  I actually found the answer when playing NeverWinter Nights 2 gave me bad textures/textures not loading/geometry issues.  The 196.75, 197.13, and 197.45 drivers all have texture-mapping bugs.  So I rolled back to the 196.21 and that fixed NWN2, so then I figured, "Hey!  What if...?", and it was.

Go bloody figure.  Where's the love, NVIDIA?

 

EDIT:  Bugger, bugger, bugger!  Now I get a DIFFERENT crash!  The screen turns freezes, or it turns black and THEN freezes!  Jesus bloody christ, I'm done with deskscapes.

Reply #37 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about this problem as it is being caused by your video hardware / drivers and not Deskscapes itself.  It appears the nvidia 8800 series drivers may be unstable for video dreams.

We have not had reports of anything similar with any other type of video card.

Reply #38 from Stardock Forums Top

Well I have the same problem. I installed the nvidia update for my 8800 gtx and descapes does not work.  Right now I have parts of two deskscapes visible on my desktop.  I'm also getting freezing with, at times flashing on my monitor.  I did roll back, but it did not solve the problem.

Reply #39 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting msummerone, reply 38
Well I have the same problem. I installed the nvidia update for my 8800 gtx and descapes does not work.  Right now I have parts of two deskscapes visible on my desktop.  I'm also getting freezing with, at times flashing on my monitor.  I did roll back, but it did not solve the problem.
End of msummerone's quote

Did the problem start after installing the nvidia update?

Reply #40 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting DanielYetman, reply 36


EDIT:  Bugger, bugger, bugger!  Now I get a DIFFERENT crash!  The screen turns freezes, or it turns black and THEN freezes!
End of DanielYetman's quote

 

Bugger indeed.  Now it sounds completely identical to my symptoms using driver 195.62.  (Except for the 'done with Deskscapes' part, I'll wait for a hardware upgrade, driver patch (har), or just get by with non-video dreams for now.)  Apparently there's little reason to try updating since 197.45 is the latest still... especially with NWN2 issues in those latest drivers... bleh.

Reply #41 from Stardock Forums Top

Is this same issue present with the latest DeskScapes release for you?

Reply #42 from Stardock Forums Top

Checking now...

btw, if DeskScapes is supposed to use the GPU instead of your CPU, why would I be seeing 10-15% usage on one of my cores when running something like a waterfall-loop?  Shouldn't it be almost 0?

Reply #43 from Stardock Forums Top

No good, still get a total lock up including mouse cursor after < an hour.

Reply #44 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting ansury, reply 43
No good, still get a total lock up including mouse cursor after < an hour.
End of ansury's quote

Which is no shock as the issue appears to be with the nvidia drivers.

We have reported it to them, but I cannot promise they will fix it.

Reply #45 from Stardock Forums Top

Yeah, wasn't expecting miracles here either.  I'll prob be getting a new gfx card soon anyways.  :)

Reply #46 from Stardock Forums Top

So anyway.... the new card is here.... GTX 480.  (Apparently, I guess, I went for the current 'best' (?) card without 100% realizing it, ah well!)  DS is running nice so far after about 2 days.  Nvidia can take their old 8800 drivers and stick it!

Reply #47 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi,

I am one of your fans, great dreams. Currently I can not open new dreams without them being distored on the screne.

It previews but in a close up view and unable to see correctly. Any suggestions?

Chris

I Have a new video card which I do not think is the issue.