PC locks up and Crashes in game.

[Kingsnake661]

I'm getting this recurring problem where the game freezes, the screens go black, the sound starts to glitch out, then either the computer resets itself, or I have to reset it hard myself... Most times, little white dots run across my screen when it happens. I've only seen 1 or 2 error messages that say something like a DX error. It started, maybe a week ago, out of the blue.

I've done all the stuff I can think of so far. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the game and graphics drivers a few times. I've tried different settings, windowed mode, full screen, frame limiting to 60 fps, and turned GSync on and off... Check all my connections are good and snug and make sure my fans are spinning and the temps look good. I even tried reinstalling DX from the MS website, and it said I was all up to date. The only thing I haven't tried yet is a factory reset... which I'd like to avoid if possible.

This isn't very pleasant. I use FFXIV to destress and chill after work, do my dailies, and watch some youtube or Netflix, which, I've read, could also be the problem, but by god, it wasn't for years now, so what changed? Any help would be greatly apprenticed, and if you need more info, I may need instructions on how to provide it. I've tried looking at the events viewer but can't make heads or tails of that thing.

[Arrhin]

I'm getting this recurring problem where the game freezes, the screens go black, the sound starts to glitch out, then either the computer resets itself, or I have to reset it hard myself... Most times, little white dots run across my screen when it happens. I've only seen 1 or 2 error messages that say something like a DX error. It started, maybe a week ago, out of the blue.

I've done all the stuff I can think of so far. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the game and graphics drivers a few times. I've tried different settings, windowed mode, full screen, frame limiting to 60 fps, and turned GSync on and off... Check all my connections are good and snug and make sure my fans are spinning and the temps look good. I even tried reinstalling DX from the MS website, and it said I was all up to date. The only thing I haven't tried yet is a factory reset... which I'd like to avoid if possible.

This isn't very pleasant. I use FFXIV to destress and chill after work, do my dailies, and watch some youtube or Netflix, which, I've read, could also be the problem, but by god, it wasn't for years now, so what changed? Any help would be greatly apprenticed, and if you need more info, I may need instructions on how to provide it. I've tried looking at the events viewer but can't make heads or tails of that thing.

The fact you are seeing artifacting during the crash indicates this -could- be a hardware issue. GPU memory overclocks can also cause this type of artifacting, so if you have any kind of a GPU/VRAM overclock return to OEM settings to troubleshoot. This could still be a software issue but the artifacts are concerning.

[Kingsnake661]

hardware, are we thinking GPU? I shouldn't be overclocked, but i can check and see. After that, a GPU swap, which I do have an older GPU in an older PC I don't use anymore to test that...

[Arrhin]

hardware, are we thinking GPU? I shouldn't be overclocked, but i can check and see. After that, a GPU swap, which I do have an older GPU in an older PC I don't use anymore to test that...

It's just that artifacting isn't often seen with software issues, and if you have a spare GPU it's easily tested. Also PSU, although the typical failure mode is simply a hard shutdown and restart, if it's on the edge it theoretically could cause some visual artifacts I guess. Without knowing more about the system it's hard to say. I'd also consider heat for the GPU, VRM's and memory modules are sometimes insufficiently cooled even on good cards. I once had a GPU (Gigabyte Radeon 7870 Ghz Edition) that would black screen and shut down, RMA'd it but they said nothing was wrong. The issue persisted after receiving it back so I tore the card down and discovered the protective film was still on the underside of the cooler xD. Peeled it off, cleaned up the OEM thermal goop and put some new stuff on and away it went. I have a relative still using that card lol. Be methodical in your diagnosis, change only one thing at a time and write down what you did/found. That way if you need to consult these or other forums you have information at hand.

[DNSDies]

It's not the GPU, it's the game, and the Dev's refusal to acknowledge this wide-spread problem. There are literally DOZENS of threads about DX11 errors and crashes with artifacts on AMD cards.
The best I can tell you is this:
1) Lock your monitor to 60hz
2) Downgrade your GPU drivers to 21.8.2 (this was the last stable version before DX11 errors became common)
3) Disable shadow cascading and set shadow resolution to Low - 512p

If this were a GPU problem, it would happen in EVERY game, not just FFXIV.