Unplayable (and no support) - catharsis

My game is currently unplayable with a GTX 460 and the now infamous DirectX Device not found crash/freeze.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/41311-GTX680-And-Losing-DirectX-Device?p=627312&highlight=directx+device#post627312

It is weird that I played FFXIV for more than an year with no issues and stopped at the start of the paying cycle. I decided to reactivate my account three days ago and nothing works anymore. Already tried a lot of drivers, with or without AO and/or DoF and nothing. The support seens not to read my messages, they read only the subject field (I suppose), the answers are ridiculous.

I've been a follower and a defensor of Square for many years but I need to confess here that I'm so tired. I don't know how to describe it but I feel like an Olympic athlete trying to solve Bugs and trying to contact game's support.

I started reading the forum about the DirectX problem and after some hours of frustrated tries, I couldn't send my computer config due to some bizarre "form error". So, I went to the forum again, but due to my inactive time superior than 30 days, I was unable to post.

At certain point, I was looking at Google, trying to figure it out how to post, to discover how to solve the form error to be able to post for a DirectX problem and send a support request. Oh my God.

Yes my friends, you may be laughing now (like I am), but it is very sad. I can post now (after three days of reactivation) but my game is unplayable. I logged with my 4 years old MacBook (Square, how is this possible?) just to free my access to the forum (the Mac gets hot like hell).

I'm very disappointed to discover that after all of the launching problems and all polemics about the game, Square still has a lot to learn about customer relations and technical support. It is inconceavable for me continue playing this game in the 2.0 version if I can't even play the current version. How can I still pay monthly for a game that is not working in my computer (that loaded that game so many times before)? I will cancel my account in the next days if the issue continues and I will be not happy for that because I like Final Fantasy XIV but I'm just loosing that fight at the momment that this beautiful game turns into an annoyance.

Sorry to hear about your problems, friend.

Can you describe where the error is occuring? can you get to the character login screen? or is it right at boot?

It would be helpful if you could post the exact error for the 'form error' word for word. a Screen shot would help.

Many of us would love to help you, but you need to give us a little more. 90% of your post is complaints, and there's not a lot of actual information we can use to try to help you out.

You are right, I forgot to specify the crash point. That is because it was already debated a lot in the link that I posted. A lot of people has this problem at this momment but unfortunately, they prefer simply not play anymore.
Here it goes:
Just after the start screen, in the character selection screen, it freezes or the computer crashes, giving the "DirectX Device not found, please restart the FFXIV game". Sometimes I can hear Limsa's Background music and it crashes without entering the world.
I didn't mention the form error anymore because I figured it out that the clipboard config was too long, it is weird, because it is generated inside Square's software, but after some tries I was able to send it (cutting by the half lol).
Sorry for the complaints, but I think it is very important for square if they knew about the effort that some players have to do simply to play their game.
Thanks for your concern, I truly appreciate that!

I'm going to guess english is not your first language. I'll try to speak in simpler terms to help you out.

I am going to guess your video card is at fault. Why this is, I am not yet sure.

1) clean your card. you should be able to buy a can of compressed air and blow out any dust from your video card.

2) If you can, please screen shot the error for the form error. I am not sure what you are refering to here and I do not want to make any assumptions

3) are you running in full screen or windowed mode? if fullscreen, switch to windowed and see if this helps the problem.

4) Try making a new character and see if this one will load.

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complaints are understandable. However tech support usually operates in 3 tiers. Tier 1 is low level support. which is what most of us interact with. Tier 2, is a little more involved and they can trouble shoot to a degree. Tier 3 is typically where problems are actually solved. Tier 3 support, to my understanding in this case, will be in Japan only. this is where the developers are. for rarer problems such as this, tier 1 and tier 2 support will not be able to provide much support. please be patient.

Your problem is either server related or hardware related. Right now I am guessing hardware.

English is not my first language (I worked some years in USA), but I think the text was very comprehensible. As a second language, is considered fluent. I can speak portuguese, mandarin and some spanish, but I feeel more confortable with english ;)

1 and 3) Already did (and the problem happens only with FF XIV);
2) Onisake, the print screen would be simply a black screen with a windows box with the message that I already wrote;
4) Good idea, I'll try it.

No, it is not a rare issue. Please, read the thread that I already posted. If you do that research we can walk forward ;)

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ice#post627312

That error is fully explained there and most of the people had it with a brand new video card. It is almost sure that Square did something wrong concerning nvidia drivers, that would be a software issue. I don't want to discuss who is guilt here, Square or Nvidia, but I can assure you that a lot of people have that problem today (Nvidia forum has a lot of posts about it). I did a lot of research before complain and this problem requires some action from one of them (Square or nvidia), I can still try but they need to address this problem.

Unfortunately I would not consider this a common error. the thread has been active since march and is only 13 pages long and has 127 posts. because of discussion, maybe 1/4 of these are people with a real problem. so that's 30 instances reported. even if all 127 posts were unique instances, in order for it to be 5% of the population you're looking at only 2500 players world wide. we have considerably more than that. so this is a rare occurance.

It's likely driver related, but SE does not release recommended drivers. (which is a fault of SE)

Even more unfortunate it is really up to the user to make sure they have compatible hardware. the 460 card is fairly low end for this game. you may need to wait for the launch of 2.0 to see any results, when the new engine is released to help alleviate the need for top tier equipment.

I personally run two 480s in SLI and have minimal issues as long as i keep standard settings.if you can, i would recomend upgrading to at least a 480. as it is a significant upgrade from the 460. the 500 series is not a significant boost from the 480, so if you want to go higher than that i would recommend a 680 as the next jump.

anyway, let me know if you can start a fresh character. it helps narrow down the issue

I politely disagree about your maths, but i think the main point here is not about statistics, mainly if we are talking about a game that has serious problems concerning the number of players (very low).
Like I said, the game worked very well in the same machine for almost 1 year and a half.
Thanks for your time and I'll let you know about the new character.

Reading this thread hurt my head. Let me help.

It seems like your graphics card is at fault. Not se, not nvidia. I would say, your graphics card is overheating. From what you are saying, as soon as you login and you attempt to put a load onto your graphics card, it fails. The directx error is common for issuez like this and would arise regardless of game, if your graphics card is too hot.

Now im saying this....if indeed everything else you say is correct.

If i was having the issue, firstly i would install the latest drivers (and perform a clean install), then id google direct x runtime and download the latest direct x files. If you do both of those and you are still experiencing the same issues, you have a hardware issue.

At this point there could be two potential things causing your problem. First, as mentioned above is an overheating issue, or perhaps it is your power supply. You no way, shape or form are experiencing the same issues that the others are having with their 680's. Their issue has to deal with the drivers for that particular series (the 600 series) not performing optimally and due to be of a different architecture, arent playing nice with the drivers.....so lets hop off that bandwagon.

If i was you, id download gpu-z and monitor your graphics cards' temperature to see if thats the case....if it is, itz easy as cleaning out the heatsink or adding few more fans to your case for better air circulation inside your computer case. If that doesnt help or if tempertlatures are normal, id say either your power supply isnt providing enough juice for your card (or is on its last leg) or your card is fried. You know, its not uncommon for hardware to fail, and yes that includes video cards.


About what someone else said about the 460 being low end for this game.....that 460 isnt a bad card for this game. I played with a 460 for over a year with basic settings ao and dof off and standard textures and never had any issues.

You gave me an insight regarding the differences between 460 and the current 680 problem (it can be a different problem, you are right about that). As I said, I played this game with the 460 with no issues for more than one year. I'll clean up everything this weekend. Thanks.

I'm back to the game, it was overheating! I cleaned the video card today, and changed the thermal compound. It was not very dirty but the compound was pretty old.
Happy with that, but still disappointed with Square's support and the difficult to reach them. Everything is very complicated with SE from the subscription process to support and game config. They should be able to help us, not their customers (only). The support is their work, at least I expect from them a direction to look for, not automatic and generic responses.
I learned a lot of lessons with this thread, thank you very much masters, you are great, both of you.

Very glad to hear you got it working! I'm always happy to help with tech/hardware issues.