Just Cause 3 instant shutdown

[tippytipper]

Hi, on quite a few occassions I have experienced an instant shutdown while playing Just Cause 3.

It often happens when a lot of explosions etc are going on so I suspect something is getting pushed to hard eg. CPU/GPU.

 

I have plenty of other games which push the system but they will just give me frame drops, nothing else has caused the instant shutdown.

 

I have a Zotac GTX970,  Intel Core i7-6700K overlocked to 4.4GHz, Corsair CX600 PSU, running Windows 10 1803.

 

I was wondering if anyone has an idea as to why this happening; I suspect it is GPU/CPU but perhaps not?

 

And if it is, does anyone know of any good (free) tools I can use to stress test either components, assuming this is the best thing to try?

[The_Stig]

How much installed RAM do you have? In my experience, JC3 needs about 12GB. Otherwise, switch to different GPU drivers.

[tippytipper]

Just now, The_Stig said:

How much installed RAM do you have? In my experience, JC3 needs about 12GB. Otherwise, switch to different GPU drivers.

Hi, thanks, I have 16GB; I've had the same shutdown on several versions of the Nvidia driver.

[The_Stig]

2 minutes ago, tippytipper said:

Hi, thanks, I have 16GB; I've had the same shutdown on several versions of the Nvidia driver.

Check GPU thermals, I remember that they could get wonky when JC3 was first released. Otherwise lower textures settings bc the 970 doesn't have much VRAM

[tippytipper]

1 hour ago, The_Stig said:

Check GPU thermals, I remember that they could get wonky when JC3 was first released. Otherwise lower textures settings bc the 970 doesn't have much VRAM

Thanks I'll give that a go.

 

Update: that seems to have done the trick; thanks very much.

Edited December 16, 2018 by tippytipper
Update

[Paul Rudd]

2 hours ago, tippytipper said:

I was wondering if anyone has an idea as to why this happening

How long are you able to play the game before the shutdown?

What is the resolution and refresh rate of your monitor?

 

What do you have all these current JC3 graphics settings set to? Make sure you list exactly what they are set to.

 

Fullscreen

Vertical Sync

Anisotropic Level

Resolution

Anti Aliasing

Texture Quality

Water Detail

Water Tessellation

LOD Factor

Shadow Quality

SSAO

Motion Blur

Edge Fade

Global Illumination

 

Also, do you monitor your temps and usages while gaming? If so, try to post a screenshot while gaming for about 5 minutes.

[tippytipper]

2 minutes ago, A Random Dude said:

How long are you able to play the game before the shutdown?

What is the resolution and refresh rate of your monitor?

 

What do you have all these current JC3 graphics settings set to? Make sure you list exactly what they are set to.

 

Fullscreen

Vertical Sync

Anisotropic Level

Resolution

Anti Aliasing

Texture Quality

Water Detail

Water Tessellation

LOD Factor

Shadow Quality

SSAO

Motion Blur

Edge Fade

Global Illumination

 

Also, do you monitor your temps and usages while gaming? If so, try to post a screenshot while gaming for about 5 minutes.

Hi, thanks very much for helping; so far The_Stig's advice seems to have done the trick; I had the texture set to Very High, dropping that down to High seems to have sorted it.

 

I was playing Fullscreen, 1920x1080, V-Sync On, 16x Anisotropic, FXAA, Texture High (now), Water Detail High, Shadow Quality High, LOD Factor High and everything else On.

 

I don't monitor temps while gaming but that sounds interesting is there a tool/method for that?

[Paul Rudd]

30 minutes ago, tippytipper said:

I don't monitor temps while gaming but that sounds interesting is there a tool/method for that?

MSI Afterburner. I don't game without it. That's what I figured was the issues, your graphic settings. Not sure how many hertz your monitor is but you're gonna want to turn OFF Global Illumination, SSAO and Screen Space Reflections. Major performance boost when doing so and it will take some usage off your GPU/CPU to lower your temps. Water Quality is another setting that is very demanding and lowering it will give you an insane fps boost.

 

It shouldn't be the Texture Quality setting that is causing this issue, you can leave that at Very High...

For a complete JC3 graphics settings guide, you can visit the official NVidia GeForce JC3 Graphics Guide.

 

I recommend Global Illumination, Screen Space Reflections and SSAO to all be set to OFF. Setting Water Quality to Medium instead of High will give you a 10 fps boost as well. It's all about the amount of hertz your monitor is. If your monitor is 60Hz, set Water to High. If your monitor is higher than 60Hz, set it to Medium because you will need that extra 10 fps since you game with v-sync ON.

[The_Stig]

18 hours ago, A Random Dude said:

snip

That's difference in texture settings with a card that has enough VRAM to run it at max. It's different when the card literally can't run it

[tippytipper]

17 hours ago, A Random Dude said:

MSI Afterburner. I don't game without it. That's what I figured was the issues, your graphic settings. Not sure how many hertz your monitor is but you're gonna want to turn OFF Global Illumination, SSAO and Screen Space Reflections. Major performance boost when doing so and it will take some usage off your GPU/CPU to lower your temps. Water Quality is another setting that is very demanding and lowering it will give you an insane fps boost.

 

It shouldn't be the Texture Quality setting that is causing this issue, you can leave that at Very High...

 

For a complete JC3 graphics settings guide, you can visit the official NVidia GeForce JC3 Graphics Guide.

 

I recommend Global Illumination, Screen Space Reflections and SSAO to all be set to OFF. Setting Water Quality to Medium instead of High will give you a 10 fps boost as well. It's all about the amount of hertz your monitor is. If your monitor is 60Hz, set Water to High. If your monitor is higher than 60Hz, set it to Medium because you will need that extra 10 fps since you game with v-sync ON.

Thanks very much for the tips; loads of stuff to fiddle with.
I have a 60Hz monitor, so as long as I hit 60fps I'm happy.

 

[Paul Rudd]

5 hours ago, The_Stig said:

That's difference in texture settings with a card that has enough VRAM to run it at max. It's different when the card literally can't run it

That's the case in certain games. In Just Cause 3, it isn't the case. The Zotac GTX 970 has 4GB of VRAM. Provided Global Illumination, Screen Space Reflections and SSAO are all OFF, Texture Quality can be set to Very High without any VRAM issue.

5 hours ago, tippytipper said:

Thanks very much for the tips; loads of stuff to fiddle with.
I have a 60Hz monitor, so as long as I hit 60fps I'm happy.

Welcome. You should get a stable 60 fps easy provided you follow those settings above. You can keep Water Quality at High. Just monitor all of your specs and be sure to include VRAM on there. If it's nowhere near 4GB, I would recommend turning on just Screen Space Reflections and see if everything is still stable and not at max usage so you can keep those temps down. All Screen Space Reflections do is make reflections on water look good. When it is off, you won't see mountains and what not reflect on the water(I don't care for this, but you might). I much rather prefer the 20+ fps and less strain on PC parts with it set to OFF.

[tippytipper]

On 12/17/2018 at 11:00 PM, A Random Dude said:

That's the case in certain games. In Just Cause 3, it isn't the case. The Zotac GTX 970 has 4GB of VRAM. Provided Global Illumination, Screen Space Reflections and SSAO are all OFF, Texture Quality can be set to Very High without any VRAM issue.

Welcome. You should get a stable 60 fps easy provided you follow those settings above. You can keep Water Quality at High. Just monitor all of your specs and be sure to include VRAM on there. If it's nowhere near 4GB, I would recommend turning on just Screen Space Reflections and see if everything is still stable and not at max usage so you can keep those temps down. All Screen Space Reflections do is make reflections on water look good. When it is off, you won't see mountains and what not reflect on the water(I don't care for this, but you might). I much rather prefer the 20+ fps and less strain on PC parts with it set to OFF.

Thanks again for the details.

 

The card has 4GB VRAM. The High textures look good enough so I'll stick with that.

I might fiddle with screen space reflections as I do get the odd frame dip in the low 50s, thanks.

I'd like to get a FreeSync/GSync display one day an hopefully avoid some of the messing around.

 

 

[Paul Rudd]

6 hours ago, tippytipper said:

The card has 4GB VRAM. The High textures look good enough so I'll stick with that.

Suit yourself. But they can be set to Very High without issue on performance.

6 hours ago, tippytipper said:

I might fiddle with screen space reflections as I do get the odd frame dip in the low 50s, thanks.

Then just set them to OFF.

6 hours ago, tippytipper said:

I'd like to get a FreeSync/GSync display one day an hopefully avoid some of the messing around.

I thought GSync was more than what it actually is. FreeSync and GSync are two of the greatest gimmicks in the history of selling PC gaming monitors. Sure they work better than VSync but you can mimic exactly what they do with MSI Afterburner. Once you open up MSI Afterburner, right click on the little icon with the number 60 on it in the bottom right of your screen next to the plane. Once it opens, look on the right side for a framerate limit. Just enter any framerate you wish to lock your fps at. Voila. You have a free GSync/FreeSync. This also lets you turn VSync OFF. Which is what I do.

6 hours ago, tippytipper said:

Thanks again for the details.

My pleasure. Anytime.

[JZStudios]

Myeah, I'm thinking I'll skip this in the sale even with my free money. Probably wouldn't run too well on my 960.

[JZStudios]

10 hours ago, A Random Dude said:

I thought GSync was more than what it actually is. FreeSync and GSync are two of the greatest gimmicks in the history of selling PC gaming monitors. Sure they work better than VSync but you can mimic exactly what they do with MSI Afterburner. Once you open up MSI Afterburner, right click on the little icon with the number 60 on it in the bottom right of your screen next to the plane. Once it opens, look on the right side for a framerate limit. Just enter any framerate you wish to lock your fps at. Voila. You have a free GSync/FreeSync. This also lets you turn VSync OFF. Which is what I do.

That's not really the same thing. Gsync and Freesync match the framerate that's being pushed out so there's no tearing. Setting a framerate cap helps, but it's not the same.

[Paul Rudd]

46 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

Myeah, I'm thinking I'll skip this in the sale even with my free money. Probably wouldn't run too well on my 960.

I dunno, depends on what resolution you plan to run it in and how much fps you wish to achieve. I gotta tell ya', higher fps in JC3 is a bit of an important priority, especially when you are in the air doing pretty much anything. Maybe try 900p if 1080p is too much. 900p is a nice sweet spot between 720p and 1080p. What's your CPU? A 960 should handle 1080p in JC3.

44 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

That's not really the same thing. Gsync and Freesync match the framerate that's being pushed out so there's no tearing. Setting a framerate cap helps, but it's not the same.

To get rid of tearing, just turn v-sync ON or a variable v-sync. Tearing depends on the game really. 8 out of 10 games don't have much tearing going on.

 

Here's a video that might help you...

I only watched the beginning of this video but it seems all this guy has to do is turn down certain graphic settings to get his game to work better. He has screen tearing like crazy. He just needs to turn v-sync ON and turn off Screen Space Reflections and Bokeh Depth of Field. Water Tesselation off might free up 4-5 fps as well. He could also like I said, go down to 900p. 900p is a better resolution to game in than people might think.

 

Depends on if you have the 2GB or 4GB 960. Your CPU and RAM speed also matters.