Random FFXI crashes on my new machine

Hi! I'm out of my league when trying to figure out this problem and was hoping to get a bit of help. FFXI randomly crashes for me. A little frustrating after PS2 and 3 other computers had no unsolvable problems over the years. Any help would be appreciated as this problem has been going on for a little over 3 years (since FFXI was installed on my new machine.)

Details & Steps:
Random is just that: at any time. No location specifics, no action specifics, nothing. The rarest occurrence would be watching the moogle spin in the moghouse. Most commonly is just my character running from place to place. A fresh start gets me the most amount of time before a crash, but that's not a rule as I can crash within 5 minutes of logging in. When it quits, it just quits. No POL, no message, just back to desktop. Most frequently is in Nyzul Isle trying to farm tokens. (crashing makes it not go well..)

Date & Time & Frequency:
Occurs daily. Often multiple times a day. I'll log out and reset to try and stave off a crash if I'm doing anything important (linkshell events etc..)

Platform & Operating System:
PC- Windows 10 or 7 (other Harddrive has the old Win 7 but still works if I care to load it)

PC Manufacturer & Model Number:
“Homebuilt Computer”

Graphics Card:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980.

ISP & Type of Internet Connection:
Pogozone. Local provider via Microwave dish. latency runs near 62ms on avg.

Other info from error report:

Description
Faulting Application Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\pol.exe

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: pol.exe
Application Version: 1.18.13.0
Application Timestamp: 4e3bcddc
Fault Module Name: d3d8.dll
Fault Module Version: 10.0.19041.1
Fault Module Timestamp: 3346b54f
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00049ea7
OS Version: 10.0.19042.2.0.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: dcb7
Additional Information 2: dcb72d981a37aeef430b5f6b8d0ec999
Additional Information 3: e4ca
Additional Information 4: e4ca91aa8524dc659228a1346efe2352

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 5dde3158f87cc7d1b483b0083e11c1a3 (1478218652155232675)


I've tried compatibility mode, lowered the screen resolution, turned off any and all graphic bells and whistles, and attempted to replace and reinstall directx and the d3d8.dll based on a recommendation. I've upgraded and tried other video card drivers as well, and I'm at a complete loss. If you could help me decipher the problem I'd appreciate it a lot. I miss being able to play the game without crashes. Thank you for any help/advice you can give.

D3D8.dll is a directx 8 module related to 3d settings. While this doesn't entirely fix the issue, as i get d3d8.dll crashes sometimes as well (2-3 times a year), try doing the following either way in case it helps (note some of these can have different names as i translate to english from my native language and different control panel versions can vary as well):

1. Go to your Nvidia control panel (right click on desktop > nvidia-control panel).
2. On Nvidia control panel go to 3D-settings -> 3D-settings control -> program settings tab on page.
3. Click add program and locate your pol.exe wherever you have it installed, usually on C:/program files.
4. This will add pol.exe (which runs the ffxi game) into nvidia 3d settings list. On my nvidia control panel it reads as "All Play-On-Line Games (pol.exe)".
5. Now on pol.exe 3D-settings on that same Nvidia control panel program settings tab. Set pol.exe "Energy saving" option to prefer Maximum performance.
6. Disabling anisotropic filtering may also affect the crashing to some extent. Had this disabled for a long time with ffxi myself but despite enabling it recently it doesn't seem to cause any crashing.

While this may or may not work for your particular case. For me at least, this fixed all sort of crashing issues, especially in Vagary where i used to experience the d3d8.dll crash every single run at least once.

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll try it out^^ Hoping that fixes it. My dread is that in the end it's gonna be a hardware issue. I'll post back if it does or not - (may take a few days.. Real life vs game time <sigh> )



EDIT:: Haven't had as much time as I'd like to test it out, but I have noticeably not crashed so far. There's been some minor slow down or stutter at points (usually where I'd expect to crash) but the game kept running and played as normal after. Thank you for your help.