Mysterious crash on Iraq Map

[Tomcatter87]

Dear community, 

I experience crashes that I can not explain. Until now, they only occured on the Iraq Map - not with every airframe, but mostly over urban areas, if some new objects come in sight. I removed all of my mods, lowered my settings, I cleaned the Metashaders2 / fxo folders, I even removed and re-installed my GPU drivers using DDU. I ran a repair with the Steam function. 

On other maps like Sinai or Syria, I can fly above urban areas without any problems, even with higher settings.

I attached a crash log file - please, if anyone who knows more about this stuff could take a look at it? 

dcs.20250121-113333.log dcs.20250121-113333.trk dxdiag.txt hash dcs.20250121-113333.crash dcs.20250121-113333.dmp

[Harley]

There are multiple threads about this. Is it solved for you? Maybe they should be merged into one topic...

[sleighzy]

DCS log analyser says this crash is a GPU issue:

There is a GPU-related error

(Re-)install the latest GPU drivers. Don't overclock your GPU or RAM.

You've already mentioned you DDU and reinstalled the drivers. If you're overclocking it then remove it. Sometimes they have a factory overclock, believe you can confirm with MSI Afterburner. Looking at your DxDiag.txt report it also contains a number of LiveKernelEvent errors with code 141. This is also indicative of a GPU issue.

Edited January 30 by sleighzy

[Harley]

Progress. Someone that can decode this stuff. Thank you!

[Tomcatter87]

Thanks, @sleighzy ! I'll take a look if I find some overclocking, because for my part I didn't do anything like that. Sometimes I also get a driver timeout error warning from my GPU software - so I guess the GPU is the problem. How is it possible to remove a factory overclock?

[Harley]

11 hours ago, Tomcatter87 said:

Thanks, @sleighzy ! I'll take a look if I find some overclocking, because for my part I didn't do anything like that. Sometimes I also get a driver timeout error warning from my GPU software - so I guess the GPU is the problem. How is it possible to remove a factory overclock?

I think perhaps setting the clock manually within the driver, or if there's a preset, set it to the power saving option. It's going to be a try and test hassle to me at this point, unless someone can decode exactly what some of the error codes mean, but it does look like we're already off to a good start.

Nothing like going into debt to upgrade hardware that otherwise seems to work just fine, eh?

[Harley]

I'm going to hunt down the crash log and post it in here to see if someone can decipher this Rosetta Stone. I see so many entries on it that looks like some driver timeout, but not an answer for why. The last thing of any importance is something about reworking the F-18 texture or something of that nature.

dcs.20250201-040316.crash dcs.20250201-040316.dmp dcs.20250201-040316.log dcs.20250201-040316.trk dxdiag.txt hash

Edited February 1 by Harley
upload crash log

[Harley]

Welp, I've tried several things, all with no real improvement, although I saw some differences.

Un-installed AMD adrenaline software. For you Nvidia users, likely no surprise that it didn't help. Installed instead, the last pro version, first driver only, and then the whole feature set. With the driver only, I did get further into Baghdad than before, but crashed. Almost certainly a driver issue. Still using the pro version, because the blue accents are a welcome difference, although the driver itself is supposed to be more stable/reliable, it also makes me feel I can trust it more. I think I will try just the standard driver only option next.

Un-installed ReShade, just incase the "structured buffer" issue and ReShade created some sort of conflict. Nothing. Low altitude, high altitude, still a CTD over Baghdad. If anyone is having any success navigating through Baghdad, I would love to know their hardware specs.

I did see the GPU finally load up past 10GB of used memory, which was pretty neat for me. I've not had a GPU with more than 8GB in many years. This map will use some hefty amounts of VRAM, so expect stutters if your particular GPU has less than 12. Surely this map is going to use plenty of resources.

I wonder if it is working for anyone. I've looked some, but still not seen much for videos of Baghdad city being explored in detail, which begs the question: I wonder if many folks are able to yet. There could be missing files/textures/something that the GPU is being called to do and just isn't available or finished yet. I don't know a lot about programming language or what else to conclude at this point. It seems that this region is in need of optimizations or something else that just hasn't been addressed yet, although the errors some of us get are fairly common, historically.

Interesting if nothing else. Any input? Ideas?

[Harley]

typical video of someone departing Baghdad. It looks like it really pushes the hardware pretty hard with the framerate seen here. Maybe it is just something not optimized yet, and we're all working on something that isn't going to work yet.

 

 

[sleighzy]

4 hours ago, Harley said:

I'm going to hunt down the crash log and post it in here to see if someone can decipher this Rosetta Stone. I see so many entries on it that looks like some driver timeout, but not an answer for why. The last thing of any importance is something about reworking the F-18 texture or something of that nature.

dcs.20250201-040316.crash 1.48 kB · 0 downloads dcs.20250201-040316.dmp 658.36 kB · 0 downloads dcs.20250201-040316.log 603.69 kB · 1 download dcs.20250201-040316.trk 308.36 kB · 0 downloads dxdiag.txt 90.67 kB · 0 downloads hash 32 B · 0 downloads

Based on the DCS log analyzer the same applies to you as the original poster, so my advice would be the same. You also have LiveKernelEvent errors with 141 code in your DxDiag report, so once again likely a GPU issue.

There is a GPU-related error

• Remove any overclocking from your GPU.
• Uninstall your GPU driver with DDU and install a clean one.

You also mentioned an F18 texture problem in the log. You have the TopGun F18 mod installed, I don't know if related. Remove the custom mod and run a slow repair of the game.

Edited February 1 by sleighzy

[Harley]

9 hours ago, sleighzy said:

Based on the DCS log analyzer the same applies to you as the original poster, so my advice would be the same. You also have LiveKernelEvent errors with 141 code in your DxDiag report, so once again likely a GPU issue.

There is a GPU-related error

• Remove any overclocking from your GPU.
• Uninstall your GPU driver with DDU and install a clean one.

You also mentioned an F18 texture problem in the log. You have the TopGun F18 mod installed, I don't know if related. Remove the custom mod and run a slow repair of the game.

Thank you for looking into that. The top gun mod is a loading screen image set, and music. Likely not the cause, but I will remove it for testing.

Also, this was happening with a different GPU and a newer one I just installed. They are both similar in age, but it almost seems to be a driver issue. I will remove all AMD drivers and retest.

Thank you for your help. It's definitely a challenge to figure out what is happening here.

[sleighzy]

1 hour ago, Harley said:

Thank you for looking into that. The top gun mod is a loading screen image set, and music. Likely not the cause, but I will remove it for testing.

Also, this was happening with a different GPU and a newer one I just installed. They are both similar in age, but it almost seems to be a driver issue. I will remove all AMD drivers and retest.

Thank you for your help. It's definitely a challenge to figure out what is happening here.

You can get a lot of this initial information by dropping the log file or crash zip file into the #dcs-log-analyzer channel in the Eagle Dynamics Discord server …. The rest is just experience over time. 

[Harley]

2 hours ago, sleighzy said:

You can get a lot of this initial information by dropping the log file or crash zip file into the #dcs-log-analyzer channel in the Eagle Dynamics Discord server …. The rest is just experience over time. 

I tried that the other day. I'm not familiar enough with the discord interface to figure everything out. Working on that. I was having issues logging in and what not. My password didn't work, and I was frustrated with that. Seems like I found the right area to do that, and something else didn't work right. Thanks again.

[Harley]

Well, after some homework and testing was done, and even posted the crash log into the help room and the crash log analyzer in the DCS discord server, some direction was made, although ineffective overall. If I fly over Baghdad, especially leaving from the airport in Baghdad, DCS crashes. Sometimes also over Cairo on the Sinai map, but that's not even consistent enough to test for yet. I think that the solution lies with making Baghdad a success, the rest of these issues go away also.

So, I manually throttled back on the memory and core overclock that the AMD driver automatically adjusts within the driver, disabled/Un-installed ReShade, ran the slow repair on DCS, deleted unnecessary files with it, and added the tweak to the windows registry that another forum post said may work, and all net no change.

So, I flew over Afghanistan, released at a similar time, for testing, and I can fly over Khandahar all day. Difference is all the buildings, developed areas, and perhaps some other properties and differences that I don't know about. The F-18 flew over the air base in a circle until it ran out of fuel and augered in. So, it's not the developer of the map, but maybe some of the populated areas that are using some textures or something else that DX11 handles poorly with this GPU.

Interesting bit: the discord help tells me that the critical error causing the crash is DX11 related, that it's constantly removing the GPU. So, I don't know what to make of that. It seems that there is no real consistency as of yet. Users from either GPU camp seem to be having these issues, and apparently, it's popular enough that a quick Google search has many posts about this "dreaded" issue, and there are no answers as of yet. I'll post the part showing what someone pointed out is the critical issue.

``` 

2025-02-11 20:39:34.800 ERROR DX11BACKEND (14108): DX device removed. Reason: 0x887A0006

2025-02-11 20:39:34.815 ERROR DX11BACKEND (14108): Can't map structured buffer.

2025-02-11 20:39:34.815 ERROR DX11BACKEND (14108): Failed assert `0`

```

[Harley]

Perhaps someone else can chime in if they are seeing the same or very similar issues. I'm not sure if it's because Iraq and Sinai are supposedly still in an "early release" phase of development, and if optimizations will be made, but many videos over Baghdad show heavy demand on resources and low frame rates. It seems there may be some more work done, but no word yet.

[Czar66]

19 minutes ago, Harley said:

Perhaps someone else can chime in if they are seeing the same or very similar issues. I'm not sure if it's because Iraq and Sinai are supposedly still in an "early release" phase of development, and if optimizations will be made, but many videos over Baghdad show heavy demand on resources and low frame rates. It seems there may be some more work done, but no word yet.

I fly every two days in the Iraq map since 4 days after its release and I had zero crashes in it.

Researching about your GPU didn't get me promising results on its rendering power and your crash log indicates an issue towards the GPU side.

2025-02-01 04:02:55.913 ERROR   DX11BACKEND (9984): Failed assert `false && "failed to create vertex buffer"`
2025-02-01 04:02:55.913 ERROR   DX11BACKEND (9984): failed to create index buffer. Reason: DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED
2025-02-01 04:02:55.915 ERROR   DX11BACKEND (9984): Failed to create shader resource view for /textures/asphalt_6l_color.png.dds. Reason: The GPU device instance has been suspended. Use GetDeviceRemovedReason to determine the appropriate action.
2025-02-01 04:02:55.915 ERROR   DX11BACKEND (9984): failed to create vertex buffer. Reason: DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED
2025-02-01 04:02:55.915 ERROR   DX11BACKEND (9984): Failed assert `false && "failed to create vertex buffer"`

Sure, above Baghdad it does need quite a bit of GPU power because of the autogen but here is more than manageable with only a 3060.

I dislike to bring it up but, maybe is it time for some components upgrade?

Cheers, best of luck to you.

Edited February 12 by Czar66
brief log section.

[Harley]

1 hour ago, Czar66 said:

I fly every two days in the Iraq map since 4 days after its release and I had zero crashes in it.

Researching about your GPU didn't get me promising results on its rendering power and your crash log indicates an issue towards the GPU side.

2025-02-01 04:02:55.913 ERROR   DX11BACKEND (9984): Failed assert `false && "failed to create vertex buffer"`
2025-02-01 04:02:55.913 ERROR   DX11BACKEND (9984): failed to create index buffer. Reason: DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED
2025-02-01 04:02:55.915 ERROR   DX11BACKEND (9984): Failed to create shader resource view for /textures/asphalt_6l_color.png.dds. Reason: The GPU device instance has been suspended. Use GetDeviceRemovedReason to determine the appropriate action.
2025-02-01 04:02:55.915 ERROR   DX11BACKEND (9984): failed to create vertex buffer. Reason: DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED
2025-02-01 04:02:55.915 ERROR   DX11BACKEND (9984): Failed assert `false && "failed to create vertex buffer"`

Sure, above Baghdad it does need quite a bit of GPU power because of the autogen but here is more than manageable with only a 3060.

I dislike to bring it up but, maybe is it time for some components upgrade?

Cheers, best of luck to you.

I don't mind upgrades, it just seems that either 1 or 2 conditions exist: I don't understand the game engine or their more recent developments, or that their more recent developments require something that my components just can't do, or aren't being allowed to do.

I am only lacking the South America and KOLA maps. Otherwise, only Baghdad and sometimes Cairo give me problems. It handles all other areas I have without issue. Steady and smooth 60fps all the time. Scenery up at decent levels, also. It just doesn't seem logical, even if it is the case that upgrades are in order. Why only those 2 cities, and only one consistently? The whole rest of the Iraq map seems to play nice, and not draining resources. But, Baghdad reliably crashes as soon as I go wheels up, or fly over it. No drops in fps, nothing. Not the slightest indicator that a problem is coming, just a crash.

[Tomcatter87]

1 hour ago, Harley said:

I don't mind upgrades, it just seems that either 1 or 2 conditions exist: I don't understand the game engine or their more recent developments, or that their more recent developments require something that my components just can't do, or aren't being allowed to do.

I am only lacking the South America and KOLA maps. Otherwise, only Baghdad and sometimes Cairo give me problems. It handles all other areas I have without issue. Steady and smooth 60fps all the time. Scenery up at decent levels, also. It just doesn't seem logical, even if it is the case that upgrades are in order. Why only those 2 cities, and only one consistently? The whole rest of the Iraq map seems to play nice, and not draining resources. But, Baghdad reliably crashes as soon as I go wheels up, or fly over it. No drops in fps, nothing. Not the slightest indicator that a problem is coming, just a crash.

Sounds like we're having a similar problem. Cairo works fine for me, but all the bigger cities in Iraq cause an instant CTD as soon as they come in sight. Kirkuk for example. While the Kola Map or even some areas of Caucasus can cause the fps to lower, it doesn't happen here. 

Edited February 12 by Tomcatter87

[Czar66]

7 hours ago, Harley said:

I don't mind upgrades, it just seems that either 1 or 2 conditions exist: I don't understand the game engine or their more recent developments, or that their more recent developments require something that my components just can't do, or aren't being allowed to do.

I am only lacking the South America and KOLA maps. Otherwise, only Baghdad and sometimes Cairo give me problems. It handles all other areas I have without issue. Steady and smooth 60fps all the time. Scenery up at decent levels, also. It just doesn't seem logical, even if it is the case that upgrades are in order. Why only those 2 cities, and only one consistently? The whole rest of the Iraq map seems to play nice, and not draining resources. But, Baghdad reliably crashes as soon as I go wheels up, or fly over it. No drops in fps, nothing. Not the slightest indicator that a problem is coming, just a crash.

It puzzles me as well. It is not the first time I see your posts in the forum.

The best I can offer is:

• Check your memory health with memory tests (If everything else fails, because this can be bothersome and a lengthy task. Put it at the end of the list).
• Reduce or remove overclocks back to factory defaults.
• Disable ingame SSAO (it causes stutters on my end on some heavy scenes without GPU load reaching 100% for some odd reason. I guess is saturation or something).
• Use 'flat terrain shadows'. You have it on 'default' which is a MASSIVE hog on performance with autogen in view. If you haven't used 'default' before it may be a good experience. It removes cast shadows from external objects such as hangars on the cockpit,  though :(.
• Visibility Range to 'Ultra' instead of 'Extreme'. Especially on Baghdad, the performance will be MUCH better. Same as SSAO. No 100% usage on nothing but a significant degradation of performance.
• Disable any RGB managing software running in the background. (some folks were having weird CTDs a while back that were caused by them).
• Make an exception of the whole DCS rootfolder on your anti virus especially windows defender. (Anti viruses usually monitors files being read from the storage drive and that can cause crashes):

Usual path for files and folder exclusion management (windows 11 in english):

1.     Search for "windows security" in the search bar
2.     Virus & Threat Protection
3.     At 'Virus & Threat Protection Settings', click on 'manage settings'
4.     Bottom of the page click on 'add or remove exclusions'
5.     Add the whole DCS root Folder.

Hope it helps.

SSAO OFF and Visibility Range to 'Ultra' can be good. Don't worry about aircraft spotting with visibility range settings. It only adjusts city autogen at distance. Ground units visibility range will be unchanged as well.

Edited February 12 by Czar66

[Czar66]

On 2/1/2025 at 4:06 AM, Harley said:

typical video of someone departing Baghdad. It looks like it really pushes the hardware pretty hard with the framerate seen here. Maybe it is just something not optimized yet, and we're all working on something that isn't going to work yet.

 

 

The performance you're getting is pretty rough. 

This is the Performance I get over Baghdad. Timestamped 5:16.

 

[Harley]

4 hours ago, Czar66 said:

The performance you're getting is pretty rough. 

This is the Performance I get over Baghdad. Timestamped 5:16.

 

Looks great! Just for clarification, that wasn't my video. It was one I found that helped me understand that there's something going on.

I get very smooth performance everywhere, even in in the areas around Baghdad, but I can Not takeoff from there, nor can I fly over the city.

I will throttle settings and see if that affects anything. Maybe I am just pushing the detail too hard over Baghdad.

[Czar66]

2 hours ago, Harley said:

Just for clarification, that wasn't my video. It was one I found that helped me understand that there's something going on.

Ahh, apologies. Hmmm, perhaps a few performance passes on the map are incoming. The details of the autogen are higher than in other maps, so is good to keep that in mind.

2 hours ago, Harley said:

I will throttle settings and see if that affects anything. Maybe I am just pushing the detail too hard over Baghdad.

I think you'll have good results with Visibility Range in 'Ultra', SSAO to 'OFF' and ground objects shadows to 'Flat'.

Edited February 12 by Czar66

[Harley]

1 hour ago, Czar66 said:

Ahh, apologies. Hmmm, perhaps a few performance passes on the map are incoming. The details of the autogen are higher than in other maps, so is good to keep that in mind.

I think you'll have good results with Visibility Range in 'Ultra', SSAO to 'OFF' and ground objects shadows to 'Flat'.

Ok. Did some work this morning.

Set settings to the default "low" preset, and had the AMD adrenaline monitor open under the performance>tuning tab. Started DCS, set at the runway at the airport in Baghdad (don't remember the name) and saw in the temp monitoring that the GPU Hotspot temperature was at 95° while sitting on the runway. Took off and flew around Baghdad for the first time, but it was very bare. But that was after taking the ol radeon vii apart this morning and cleaning/reapplying new compound to the contact areas. That's likely the issue. Throttling while it's running the sim, and timing out as reported by the driver. It's definitely hot, even though the design specs do say that this temp can get to over 105°, but there's surely not much headroom before it hits that, and changing the fan settings definitely rival the sound of the jet when set to the outside view. It's working really hard trying to do something. I will focus my attention there, although it may only end up with me taking out a 2nd mortgage to buy a new GPU. The price point is definitely out of control.

So, who's trying to watercool a radeon vii in 2025? This guy.

Edited February 12 by Harley
Fat thumb typo

[Harley]

1 hour ago, Czar66 said:

Ahh, apologies. Hmmm, perhaps a few performance passes on the map are incoming. The details of the autogen are higher than in other maps, so is good to keep that in mind.

I think you'll have good results with Visibility Range in 'Ultra', SSAO to 'OFF' and ground objects shadows to 'Flat'.

I will try this next. I suppose it's just a matter of throttling settings for this particular map if I want to bomb the garbage out of Baghdad.

[Harley]

Man, the scalpers getting ahold of all the newer generation GPUs should be a dang crime. Can't get ahold of anything short of +50% or more of MSRP, if at all. I'm ready for a new GPU, like a 7900xt, or even a 7800xt, but nothing available anywhere. Frustrating. 4 figures for a GPU is intolerable.