Prey freezes+Soundcrash

[willy1234x1]

well thats fantastic I'm going to have to spend another 300-500$ to buy a card or wait till dx10 enabled cards come out.

[willy1234x1]

oh and another thing is that multiprey runs fine but only single player crashes

[tedrouse]

Same here. I have a 2.6 GHz P4/HT, Radeon x1300, 1 GB PC3200, onboard sound. O.S. is XP Pro. Regardless of audio, video, performance settings (and I've been through 'em all), I get random lockups with stuttering sound. I have Catalyst 6.6 and all the latest MoBo drivers, etc. I can ctrl-alt-del and shut down the prey.exe process to get the system back but that's it, other than a HW reset. I have yet to exit the game by choice! There is something rotten here and it's not my system! Quake 4 runs fine, along with Doom 3.

tedrouse,
Whatever is causing your problem is different than the previously mentioned Radeon XPress 200 issue. If you run the game in a window, do you still get freezes? Also, go to Control Panel->System->Advanced->Error Reporting and make sure "Enable error reporting" is selected, with both "Windows operating system" and "Programs" checked, and make sure the list under "Choose Programs..." is empty. Once you've verified that, let us know if you get any usable crash report data from Prey while running windowed, or if you still get lockups. Running windowed is the important part, as it will verify that focus problems or exception windows are not the cause.

Thanks,
Rich

[tedrouse]

Rich:

Yesterday, I had enough response to send a report to Microsoft from Windows but only twice. Both error flags are turned on. It'll crash in both a Normal Window or Maximized. I've just had two lockps while setting game options in a Normal Window and a Maximized.

tedrouse,
If you can get that Microsoft error report window to come up again, click the "click here" link near the bottom of the window, and tell me what it says for the offset and module name in that next window that comes up. I can use those things to find the source of the crash.

Thanks,
Rich

[tedrouse]

Rich:

How's this....:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Application Error
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1000
Date: 7/26/2006
Time: 4:09:11 PM
User: N/A
Computer: HOME
Description:
Faulting application prey.exe, version 1.0.0.1, faulting module gamex86.dll, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x0027fb23.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74 Applicat
0008: 69 6f 6e 20 46 61 69 6c ion Fail
0010: 75 72 65 20 20 70 72 65 ure pre
0018: 79 2e 65 78 65 20 31 2e y.exe 1.
0020: 30 2e 30 2e 31 20 69 6e 0.0.1 in
0028: 20 67 61 6d 65 78 38 36 gamex86
0030: 2e 64 6c 6c 20 30 2e 30 .dll 0.0
0038: 2e 30 2e 30 20 61 74 20 .0.0 at
0040: 6f 66 66 73 65 74 20 30 offset 0
0048: 30 32 37 66 62 32 33 0d 027fb23.
0050: 0a .

[tedrouse]

And here is Dr. Watson's take:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: DrWatson
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4097
Date: 7/26/2006
Time: 4:14:24 PM
User: N/A
Computer: HOME
Description:
The application, C:\Program Files\Prey\prey.exe, generated an application error The error occurred on 07/26/2006 @ 16:14:24.234 The exception generated was c0000005 at address 1094FB23 (gamex86)

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

on one of the last crashes.

tedrouse,
Thanks, that information helps (mainly the first one, I would need the base address of the gamex86 module in process space to look the address in the second one up). Are you using the retail or Triton version of Prey?

Thanks,
Rich

[tedrouse]

Retail CD

Here's the whole works in the file 97dc_appcompat.txt sent along with the error report of yet another crash in "Downward Spiral" just sent to Msoft.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
<DATABASE>
<EXE NAME="prey.exe" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_PRIVACY">
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="prey.exe" SIZE="9248768" CHECKSUM="0x45BDD630" BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.0.0.1" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.0.0.1" PRODUCT_VERSION="1, 0, 0, 1" FILE_DESCRIPTION="PREY" COMPANY_NAME="Human Head Studios" PRODUCT_NAME="PREY" FILE_VERSION="1, 0, 0, 1" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="Prey.EXE" INTERNAL_NAME="PREY" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright (C) 2006 Human Head Studios, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x4" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x5FCA89" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.0.0.1" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.0.0.1" LINK_DATE="06/10/2006 05:44:26" UPTO_LINK_DATE="06/10/2006 05:44:26" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="base\gamex86.dll" SIZE="4046848" CHECKSUM="0x84818552" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x3EA3F3" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" LINK_DATE="06/10/2006 05:42:13" UPTO_LINK_DATE="06/10/2006 05:42:13" />
</EXE>
<EXE NAME="gamex86.dll" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_THISFILEONLY">
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="gamex86.dll" SIZE="4046848" CHECKSUM="0x84818552" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x3EA3F3" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" LINK_DATE="06/10/2006 05:42:13" UPTO_LINK_DATE="06/10/2006 05:42:13" />
</EXE>
<EXE NAME="kernel32.dll" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_THISFILEONLY">
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="kernel32.dll" SIZE="983552" CHECKSUM="0x4CE79457" BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180" PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180" FILE_DESCRIPTION="Windows NT BASE API Client DLL" COMPANY_NAME="Microsoft Corporation" PRODUCT_NAME="Microsoft® Windows® Operating System" FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="kernel32" INTERNAL_NAME="kernel32" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x2" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0xFF848" LINKER_VERSION="0x50001" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.2180" LINK_DATE="08/04/2004 07:56:36" UPTO_LINK_DATE="08/04/2004 07:56:36" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
</EXE>
</DATABASE>

tedrouse

[Incinerator]

ok so i am having the same probloms as all of you. except mine also messes up in quake 4. same exact thing that happens to prey. im going to try and move the ram around i hope that does the trick. ill keep you updated

[Incinerator]

ok switched around the ram still nothing. ill try taking one out tomorow. but this is really really annoying. how do you change your overclocking rates? because i havent tryed that

[Incinerator]

mmmmkay. so i FORMATTED MY ENTIRE HARDDRIVE to get this working i installed windows then my drivers then before anything the first program i installed was prey. Guess what? yep same problem. so i dont know what to think...it has got to be a hardware problem right? except my computer is only a month old and runs all other games except for Q4 amazingly. i havent posted my specs yet so here... I have tryed EVERYTHING that has helped other people. I really hope that the patch works.

AMD 64 3200+
Nvida gforce 7800 GTX
2 gigs of ram
300 gig hardrive


anyone please i just wanna play prey the game which all my friends have and are playing beautifly. I really hope that the patch comes out soon and works.

thanks a bunch
-Incinerator

[willy1234x1]

well thanks alot for not helping me out rich. no I'm just kidding I just wanted to know why its only single player that crashes and not multi

I wouldn't know for sure, since I don't have the hardware to test it out on. I'd have to guess that there is some shader in singleplayer that the drivers don't handle properly, and that shader isn't used in multiplayer. But that is pure speculation. As to which Catalyst versions support that hardware as well, ATi's web site seems terribly vague, since I can't find anything solid on it. You might consider calling their tech support and forcing them to walk you through making sure you have everything up to date (but still keep in mind that the hardware is not officially supported by Prey, so you may or may not meet with success).

Thanks,
Rich

I had the EXACT same problem. 5-15 minutes and it would freeze.
My system: ASUS P5P800, P4 3.4Ghz, ASUS 6600GT

I simply took out my video card and cleaned the crud out of the heatsink – nearly burned myself when I first touched it…

The amount of time it took to freeze was dependent on the ambient temp of the room and how hard the video card was working. My CPU heatsink wasn’t much better but P4s throttle down if they overheat.

Been working like a charm ever since!

Clean your video card heatsinks!

[tedrouse]

This is a general RAM question for anyone having crash or lockup problems during Prey gameplay in FPS (single player) mode. What is your RAM CONFIGURATION ie. 512GBx2 (two 512MB sticks), 1GBx1, 256MBx3, etc. DDR or SDR SDRAMs or something else. Or an odd set like a GIG stick in slot 1 and a 256MB stick in slot 2, etc.

yea same problem here. i tried reinstalling windows fresh on my drive, all latest drivers, bios etc. moved ram around, nothing helps. i play 5min and get frozen gamescreen and soundloop that cuts out eventually. sucks to buy a game and not be able to play it.

windows xp sp2
pentium 4 2.8ghz
asus p5p800
6600 GT graphics card
audigy 2 soundcard
(2) 512mb ramsticks ddr400 3200

i actually tried installing a "streamlined" "gameing" version of windows and the game ran great and sometimes would hesitate for a second or two like it was gonna freeze but then kept playing. but the windows version was all screwy and all sorts of things were jacked up so i had to reinstall real windows and the game crashes again just like before.

ps. im really surprised at the lack of support, very frustrating.

Prey Crashes:

A cutomer of mine plays alot of FPS games and had not had any problems with his 2 1/2 year old sytem, until he bought the game Prey. He play all the way to Accent,
then started having problems with Freezing and lockups and sound looping. I updated all the normall drivers, video, sound, ect. No help same problem, So I went to Driver Agent for a free system scan. The inif files for the USB controller were out of date. Installed new ones. and the games is full on and smooth as glass. So I don't believe
the issue is video or sound as so many of your post in the forums talk about.

System I was working on

MB MSI 865PE neo2-P (MS 6728 Ver2)
Video BFG GeForce 6800 ultra
Sound Sound Blaster Live 24bit
Ram 1 GB Matched pair
OS Windows XP Pro SP2
Bios AMI V3.A
CPU P4 3.0 GHz

Good Luck
Lee

[willy1234x1]

well I have to ask if there is a patch in the works because I really want to play through this game

[retro]

Woho, my problem was definitely a heat problem, opened up my computer took a vacuum cleaner and got rid of all dust, WARNING!! this is NOT a recomended method though, you might ruin your computer.
Oh well, works like a charm now..no more soundloops and crashes.

*edit* Problem fixed, looks like Corsair memory doesn't run at CL2 as it should, but only on 2.5 on my S939 systems

[naddie]

*edited*

[Kusie]

Hi all,

sorry to bump this very old topic but i ran into the same problem some days ago.... has this every been solved?

The strange thing is that (my retail version of) Prey worked flawlessly in the past and i played the game two times from beginning to end with no crash whatsoever when it was released... but that was some years ago and now a few years and several XP patches and a new graphics card later i wanted to replay the game once more on the same machine it freezes randomly after 5-10 minutes of playing. It also does that in MP mode. The screen freezes and sound goes on. I must then switch to the task manager and end the not reacting prey task. Then i can continue to work nomally and even start Prey again...

The only hardware changes i made to my PC is to add two additional RAM modules (had 2x512 MB before, added 2x1GB) and i replaced my ATi X800GTO with an Asus HD4650 graphics card. And i added a few USB devices like a Webcam and so on...

I was just about to do a complete XP reinstall when i found this thread, and it shocks me to read that a fresh reinstall does not help at all..... so i gave up on that plan for now and decided to do a little more research on this problem and if it was been solved.

What i WILL do is to do a complete reinstall of Prey with the latest 1.4 patch, but i doubt that this will help.

My system:
Gigabyte GA-K8NF9 Ultra (Rev 1.x) Board with Nforce4
AMD Athlon64 3700+
3 GB of RAM (2x512 and 2x 1GB MDT Modules)
AsusTek HD 4650 PCIe graphics card
Soundblaster Live 1024 soundcard (PCI version)
4x HDD (3x pata, 1x sata)
Win XP Pro up-to-date with patches
Graphics drivers: latest Ati catalyst 9.7
Sound drivers: Sb live XP drivers (from 2003, nothing newer exists)
DX9.0c is up-to date dxdiag shows no problems

Thanks for any help!
Kusie