City of Heroes has stopped working: A program has caused City of Heroes to stop working properly.

[ColdHeart]

This is beginning to get under my skin now. I have tried everything. I thought it was Tequila at first so I switched to the HC launcher, doesn't solve anything.
Some days the game works swimmingly other days it works like dog shit, like today. I can't even play for 2 mins without it going haywire. What does it do?: I'll be playing the game normally, it freezes, cuts to a black screen with the music looping, then it kicks me out of the game to a white screen with a pop window that says: City of Heroes has stopped working a program has caused the game to stop working properly. Windows is checking for a solution.
Does anyone else have this problem and how would I fix it? Maybe it's the drivers? Updated. I ran the file as admin and changed the compatibility. I have no idea what is causing can anyone help me figure this out??? This game is unplayable like this!

[SuggestorK]

Well by the description the most probable are 2 reasons:

 

1. Problem with the GPU either drivers or its overheating/dieing so a complete fresh install of drivers could help and monitoring the heat with a program like MSI Afterburner

2. 3rd Party Software of any kind interfering, make a list what is running in task manager while program is running smooth and then compare it when its not working

[ColdHeart]

But how is overheating an issue? Some days it works fine. In fact when I try to play the game it changes my background from an Asus look to a more windows 7i-sh look after it clears itself up. The reason being is that when I turn the PC on for the first time during the day and open the game it gives me that issue. All I do is browse the web.

I am having a second issue in game and I have no idea how to fix it. It's this:  I have no idea how to fix it.

 

Edited May 23, 2022 by ColdHeart

[ColdHeart]

It may be the driver though so i will try that.

 

[SuggestorK]

You have opened just to many power trays, just rightclick on the number 1 of the loose ones (not the 3 at right bottom) and then use option "close tray".

 

Well Fans could be dusty or the room has different temperatures to start with, overheating is always possible if something is not working right, especially if it works for short time and then goes haywire as u described.

[ColdHeart]

Thank you I appreciate it. I think it could be my drivers so i will try uninstalling and doing a fresh install. I update them all the time is there on in particular I need for this game?

[SuggestorK]

well Open Gl Drivers for the GPU, but normally if not Onboard Intel GPU they should be included.

[UltraAlt]

On 5/22/2022 at 12:38 PM, ColdHeart said:

This game is unplayable like this!

 

I don't know how old your computer is or what version of windows you may be running (if you are running windows at all)

Have you run all your Windows updates?

if you are using the hard drive launcher click on the ... in the window for the server  you are launching and click on verify.

Have you done a full hard drive scan for viruses?

If you virus checker can do it, I would have it run a registry cleaner.

Clear all the cookies from your browsers.

Gave you run a check on your hard drive to check for damage sectors?

 

On 5/23/2022 at 6:13 PM, ColdHeart said:

I am having a second issue in game and I have no idea how to fix it. It's this:  I have no idea how to fix it.

 

Right click on the number in one of the extra trays. Click on close tray. Continue doing this until all the extra trays are closed.

 

Are you viewing the game on a television?

if so, you may have to go in and change the frame size, because it looks like to me that you are not seeing the whole screen image. It looks like the Hit Point bar is off the top of the screen on the right. 

 

Try typing /menu to get into the option and set everything to default and see if that helps.

 

[ColdHeart]

9 hours ago, SuggestorK said:

well Open Gl Drivers for the GPU, but normally if not Onboard Intel GPU they should be included.

I have to figure out how to do this as I am not PC savvy but I know I have an AMD processor not INTEL.

[ColdHeart]

8 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

I don't know how old your computer is or what version of windows you may be running (if you are running windows at all)

Have you run all your Windows updates?

if you are using the hard drive launcher click on the ... in the window for the server  you are launching and click on verify.

Have you done a full hard drive scan for viruses?

If you virus checker can do it, I would have it run a registry cleaner.

Clear all the cookies from your browsers.

Gave you run a check on your hard drive to check for damage sectors?

 

 

Right click on the number in one of the extra trays. Click on close tray. Continue doing this until all the extra trays are closed.

 

Are you viewing the game on a television?

if so, you may have to go in and change the frame size, because it looks like to me that you are not seeing the whole screen image. It looks like the Hit Point bar is off the top of the screen on the right. 

 

Try typing /menu to get into the option and set everything to default and see if that helps.

 

There's a lot here to unpack so i will take it one step at a time: I got the 2nd issue solved with the trays so thank you SuggestorK!
I am viewing the game on a monitor not a tv. I thought that HP bar being at the top right is normal but it is a monitor.

As per how old my PC is I'd say it is really old around....2014ish I can show you the specs if need be? No I have not run all the updates but the issue I have is this: Display driver Nvidia windows kernel mode driver version 47304 has stopped working. And I just uninstalled and reinstalled and the game was working swimmingly yesterday all day...Anyway here are the specs: (If this helps)

[ColdHeart]

9 hours ago, SuggestorK said:

well Open Gl Drivers for the GPU, but normally if not Onboard Intel GPU they should be included.

I do get this problem: Display driver Nvidia windows kernel mode driver version 47304 has stopped working

[ColdHeart]

8 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

I don't know how old your computer is or what version of windows you may be running (if you are running windows at all)

Have you run all your Windows updates?

if you are using the hard drive launcher click on the ... in the window for the server  you are launching and click on verify.

Have you done a full hard drive scan for viruses?

If you virus checker can do it, I would have it run a registry cleaner.

Clear all the cookies from your browsers.

Gave you run a check on your hard drive to check for damage sectors?

 

 

Right click on the number in one of the extra trays. Click on close tray. Continue doing this until all the extra trays are closed.

 

Are you viewing the game on a television?

if so, you may have to go in and change the frame size, because it looks like to me that you are not seeing the whole screen image. It looks like the Hit Point bar is off the top of the screen on the right. 

 

Try typing /menu to get into the option and set everything to default and see if that helps.

 

Truth be told my PC has always worked fine throughout the years and I never saw an issue to replace it. Normally unless something breaks or dies I would replace and I have not done that here. The only games that have given me an issue similar to this one are: CoH, WoW, and ESO. Gw2, LoL, RIFT, FF14 have run swimmingly...
Also no not all updates are available this latest one had an error and could not do it. 
Hard drive launcher...I clicked it from an icon on the desktop background. I will try that.
Full scan for viruses I have Microsoft Security Essentials do a scan and it seems fine.
I may have to clear all cookies and do a hard drive scan.
Check for damage sectors? Not sure how to do that I can Google it.

All really helpful, thank you.

Edited May 25, 2022 by ColdHeart

[DoctorDitko]

If you go into "My PC" or "My Computer", you should see your C:\ drive (not a shortcut to same).

Right-click on the C:\ drive and choose "Properties" from the menu. The Tools tab has an option to check the filesystem for errors.

 

CoH doesn't use the registry or your browser, so I wouldn't mess with either.

You may want to launch HC, click the "..." below and to the right of the big green Ready button, and choose "Verify Files."

Let it do its thing.

 

Then click the ... menu again and select "Settings". The 3rd tab down, Homecoming, should have an option to "Reset graphics settings on next run". You want to check that box, quit out, and try again.

 

Since you mentioned a failed update, you might have a broken whatever-it-was-you-tried-to-update. The fix for that is usually to uninstall it, then try to update again. If it fails again, post the error here and I'll try to help. You best bet might be to reinstall your old version, and avoid that update. With Win7, you're likely going to have to get used to missing out on updates.

 

Good luck, and I hope to see you in-game soon!

[UltraAlt]

11 hours ago, ColdHeart said:

I thought that HP bar being at the top right is normal but it is a monitor.

 

In your screenshot, it appears that the HP baris off the top of the screen along with other things that would be normally visible if you were taking a screenshot versus some clipped image of the screen. It obviously isn't showing the full viewing area.

 

11 hours ago, ColdHeart said:

Display driver Nvidia windows kernel mode driver version 47304 has stopped working.

 

Yeah, you may need to rollback to legacy drivers.

My laptop that is from even the early  2010's has to use the legacy drivers.

 

11 hours ago, ColdHeart said:

And I just uninstalled and reinstalled and the game was working swimmingly yesterday all day.

 

Good. 

Sounds like it is fixed for you.

Have fun.

[UltraAlt]

1 hour ago, DoctorDitko said:

CoH doesn't use the registry or your browser, so I wouldn't mess with either.

 

Yeah, so they say, but I know it has resolved issues for me in the past regardless of what the professionals say.

Maybe it's just my way to activate the tech gremlins to attach the glitches.

 

Clearing the cookies isn't going to cause problems on your computer.

If you use the default settings on a registry cleaner, you are generally going to be good. I turn off the options to clear any Windows stuff because sometimes Windows depends on it in future updates. As long as you aren't over cleaning you registries, it shouldn't cause any issues.

I run the Optimizer on Webroot probaby once a week and it clears all the cookies in all the browsers as well as cleaning the registries.

 

[SuggestorK]

I play on a win 7 comp that was build 2011 so its not the hardware per se.. but it is  the nvidia driver that is failing, i got that same error on browser game/coh and was wondering what is happening, then i found out, even browser games (if u use many of em) use so much graphical ram that my nvidia 660 with 2 GB Graphic Ram  was not able to sustain it anymore.. so i upgrade my comp with a newer Graphics Card (a 1050s) one with 4 GB ram, since then all is smooth (that was about 3 Months ago).

 

Under Win 7 i use this Program to watch my Grapic Cards usage "GPU Observer" from Orbmu2k u can have it permanently shown on desktop as sidebar, as u can see i use 3,3 GB Ram of it and thats just with Browser Gaming in Background .

https://orbmu2k.de/sidebar-gadgets/gpu-observer-sidebar-gadget

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by SuggestorK

[lemming]

Oh yea.  My 2011 laptop was having issues because the new NVidia driver would not work with my card, so had to downgrade my driver.  This was on Linux.

[ColdHeart]

@DoctorDitko 

Yeah I hope to see you in game as well but I have a lot more questions and a plethora more issues at hand now -_-

 

[ColdHeart]

@SuggestorK
If that is the case why does it say a program caused it to fail?

[SeraphimKensai]

Also if this is a laptop especially, sometimes the thermal compound can dry out, get flakey and crack. At that point the GPU isn't being properly cooled. If you're technically savvy, you can open up the internal components and wipe away the old thermal compound and replace it with a  new one.

 

That can definitely help if you're overheating, however you have to be careful when doing the procedure to make sure you don't mess any thing else up.

[SuggestorK]

Cause Operating System only stating what happening and not the cause/reason of it, its like how they are programmed and honestly if a OS could do that i would start worrying that "skynet" would be lurking around the corner to replace humanity.

 

It needs intelligence to recognize the reason for something that's why a simple OS/Software cant do that, until we get Artificial Intelligence running that is, but in that case we get other Problems 🙂 .

 

As in my Case i also just could have stopped browser gaming at same time as running CoH, but i didn't want to do that, so the other solution was upgrading.

[Ago]

I guess I can offer up another list of "hey, try this next" for troubleshooting advice.  All of this is generalized, from the posts above, there doesn't seem to be a clear path of what's wrong software wise.

#1 -- Hardware Failure
 

Spoiler

Like SuggestorK said -- heat and dust are the enemy.  If hardware faults are happening, you have three big possibilities.

  -- Thermal Failure: dead fan, new thermal compound needed, motherboard issue.
  -- Power Supply Failure: insufficient current reaching the video card (especially important on cards that take external power supply connectors up top.  May not apply for your GTX 1050 as I believe that was a selling point of the card that no PCI-Ex Power connector was needed past the card slot.)  Even without them a Power Supply Voltage Test can be done at a PC Repair shop or you can get a tester for $15-30 online.  If the Power Supply is hiccuping your video card will suffer first.

  -- Dust.  If it's been years plural since your cleaned the inside of your system, it might be a good idea to remove the cover, grab your favorite canned duster or tech-vac (don't use a canister or floor vac -- Static discharge kills!) and just dust.  If you have pets, smokers, or live somewhere with a lot of dust, do it more frequently than annually.  Dust can short connections, slow or stop fans entirely, and cause weird errors... but it takes a long time to get that bad.

A fourth, less hardware and more software thing, but still Hardware rel-- oh, fine: Bad Driver or glitch.  Self-explanatory, either install an updated version, or use Driver Rollback (which has been around since XP) to revert the driver installed to a prior version and see if that clears it up.  If Rollback doesn't work or isn't available, recall the last time it worked and download a legacy driver (old version) and see if the errors clear up.

 

I know this may be a non-starter but considering an upgrade to a different system may be prudent at this time.  I can't speak for the other titles you play but you don't need to drop $1K on a laptop to keep rolling if you don't play AAA-Gaming titles (Overwatch 2, Cyberpunk, etc.) and it sounds like you're in that camp.  A Ryzen 3 with built-in graphics may do the job for under $400.  If software fixes do nothing and the issue is consistent this may be the only answer left.  If that's not an option, read on...

#2 -- The Battle against Slog. 
 

Spoiler

A system with lots of apps installed and uninstalled over the years has 'leftovers' that take up RAM.  Some of them eat up RAM or boot on startup to do basically nothing.  There's not a lot of headroom to keep clear to play the game on 4 GB.  (COH will run fine with 4GB, but multiboxing is out of the question.  Multitasking would need to be carefully done for High RAM apps like Google Chrome, Discord, or Spotify.)

  -- Try to combat DLL Hell.  Run MSCONFIG, visit Startup tab, then "Hide all Microsoft Services".  Uncheck EVERYTHING and reboot.  If your system plays COH normally, you're on the right track. Go back and check 2-3 items at a time and reboot until the issue returns.  A little process of elimination and you might find what is causing the game to stop working.  (If not, go ahead and recheck what you want back on.  If Microsoft didn't make the startup item, nothing left unchecked will stop your system from booting.  Even NVidia/AMD helper apps.)
  -- Following Brian Krebs' Three Laws of Online Safety, but skipping to #3.  "If you don't use an app anymore, remove it."  Audit the programs installed and uninstall old apps you've only used once and never again.  Or apps that come up so situational that you can just do something else instead.  (As an example: Most web browsers open PDFs just fine these days.  FoxIt, Adobe and other free "Reader" apps can be dropped.  Also anything like Flash Players, Java JREs older than 7.0 or any version of Silverlight as examples.)

  -- WinDirStat.  It's an app that visualizes your hard drive space.  For Windows 7, you need at least enough space free to cover two times your swap file and about 60-100GB for system updates. Give it a run, find large files, and consider either moving them off to removable storage or deleting them.  https://windirstat.net/  See if freeing up 20% of Hard Drive space changes your fortune. 

(I used to recommend CCleaner before Avast bought them but I also stopped recommending CCleaner for the same reason as most places do these days -- Registry entries don't really slow down Windows all that much anymore in the SSD/NVMe era, and CCleaner's most aggressive options can make parts of Windows less usable.  If you have a platter hard drive still, Bleachbit is open source and does the same thing as CCleaner minus the bloat and spyware.)

#3 -- Laptops Only:
 

Spoiler

-- Power management is king.  Only play City of Heroes and MMOs with an AC Cord plugged in, and make sure your power profile in the Power Control Panel is NOT set to ECO or Power Savings.  (Balanced should be fine, as long as it is a Windows "Balanced" and not an OEM version of it.)  The first thing Power Savings modes do is gut GPU/Graphics power to save on energy consumption.  There is no tradeoff, you can game acceptably well, or save energy. Not both.  When you pull the AC Cord, turn Eco mode on then, and avoid starting CoH and other 3D graphic gaming titles until you're back on the plug.

  -- Dust Revisited: Also laptops with exhaust fans: resting them on the carpet means you have turned the machine into a vacuum cleaner.  Laptops are harder to clean as most are designed not to have you open them but a canned duster with a straw attachment can unjam a fan from the outside if needed.

And I know you're probably on Windows 7 for a reason, but it needs to be said at least once, consider using Windows 10.  7 has had end of life for three years now and there are patches being issued over the last three years for fixes that your system isn't getting anymore (your games are patching with these glitches and fixes in mind, even if your OS and Graphics Driver is not.)  Microsoft 'ended' their upgrade program from Windows 7 to Windows 10, but it still works anyway.  Punch in your OEM or Full Copy Windows 7 key into Windows 10 for activation, and you can upgrade it free of charge.  If it doesn't, odds are you can run the installer a 2nd time to "Upgrade" and it'll work anyway.

 

Generic advice delivered.  Fingers crossed one of those touches a root cause for you!

Edited April 29, 2023 by Tock
typo