Warning: Major Crash Bug

[Edymnion]

Already submitted a bug to phab for this, but its big enough I thought I'd give a warning to everybody else.

I've been working on a build that requires me to tab back and forth between Starmade and my design sheet. Short of the matter is that after tabbing back and forth enough times, when tabbing back in to Starmade my entire system just... dies.

As in it shuts down completely, powers off. No bluescreen, no shutdown sequence, just "tab back into Starmade, now my computer is shut off".

Its happened enough times I've learned to save my progress to blueprint before tabbing out due to repeatedly losing work.

 

[Tsnonak]

Might be "the" OS or system specific, or the install, I also "alt tab" lots and this has not happened to me yet...

 

[Edymnion]

Maybe its just me, but it just happened again and corrupted my install. Having to reinstall now.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Provided you're running a PC with Windows, you might want to take a look at your event viewer.

One possible cause of a random shutdown is an overheating CPU/motherboard. The PC will halt by freezing, shutting itself off, or resetting in an attempt to prevent/minimize system damage.

You might want to consider downloading and running a system temperature monitor such as Hardware Monitor / HWMonitor64. Take a look at the different temperature readings it gives. If you see some abnormally high values on your CPU like 200 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, you may be looking at a bad CPU fan or degrading thermal grease.

 

[Crusade]

Also, try running the game in borderless window mode instead of exclusive fullscreen.
This makes alt-tabbing less taxing on your system.

 

[MacThule]

I tab around a lot while playing and it doesn't crash me for it, but... I have had a few random overheat shutdowns recently and that was never an issue before. I was wondering if somehow my new HDD was causing a problem (which seemed unlikely), but hearing that you're getting heat shutdowns too makes me think it's something in the way they've re-optimized the code. It could simply be that the heat dissipation systems on these rigs aren't actually engineered to handle heat from a CPU block multi-threading hard over an extended period. Which is why I always play StarMade with my box open and my room fan pointed at it anyway. Still overheats sometimes though...

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I tab around a lot while playing and it doesn't crash me for it, but... I have had a few random overheat shutdowns recently and that was never an issue before. I was wondering if somehow my new HDD was causing a problem (which seemed unlikely), but hearing that you're getting heat shutdowns too makes me think it's something in the way they've re-optimized the code. It could simply be that the heat dissipation systems on these rigs aren't actually engineered to handle heat from a CPU block multi-threading hard over an extended period. Which is why I always play StarMade with my box open and my room fan pointed at it anyway. Still overheats sometimes though...

No...

Short of malware specifically designed to override your system's thermal output (often at the BIOS level), no software will cause an overheat shutdown unless you're running a budget rate CPU fan or a damaged CPU/motherboard. Barring existing system damage, your system will either handle the software as is or it will run it slower with less frame rate and greater lag.

Do yourself a favor; spend the 40-50 bucks on a better CPU fan and some thermal grease and call it a day. You'll extend the life of your CPU and potentially, motherboard by dropping the system temperature by as much as 50%.

YouTube the installation if you're unfamiliar with this kind of operation.

 

[nulitor]

No...

Short of malware specifically designed to override your system's thermal output (often at the BIOS level), no software will cause an overheat shutdown unless you're running a budget rate CPU fan or a damaged CPU/motherboard. Barring existing system damage, your system will either handle the software as is or it will run it slower with less frame rate and greater lag.

Do yourself a favor; spend the 40-50 bucks on a better CPU fan and some thermal grease and call it a day. You'll extend the life of your CPU and potentially, motherboard by dropping the system temperature by as much as 50%.

YouTube the installation if you're unfamiliar with this kind of operation.

Depending on the local heat the computer might reach overheating easier: if the temperature around is 20 degree higher the processor can reach temperatures 20 degree higher because there is less heat differential to lose heat.
However you need a computer that is quite near to the heat limit for that to make a difference.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Depending on the local heat the computer might reach overheating easier: if the temperature around is 20 degree higher the processor can reach temperatures 20 degree higher because there is less heat differential to lose heat.
However you need a computer that is quite near to the heat limit for that to make a difference.

True. And because of this, he's not doing himself any favors by leaving the case open; as doing so reduces internal airflow/cooling efficiency.

His best option is to check the temperature of his system and swap that CPU fan/heat-sink assembly if the temperature is high.

 

[Edymnion]

Yeah, there may or may not have been more lint buildup on the actual CPU fan than I thought. -_-

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Yeah, there may or may not have been more lint buildup on the actual CPU fan than I thought. -_-

Yeah; that would do it.

With my PCs I was never so lucky. An old AMD3200 of mine running XP had thermal grease degradation and a worn fan. On the next one (a Pentium 4) the cheap fan that came with the CPU started to work itself free from the board. On my first I7 machine, the processor was limiting my max speed due to weak cooling.

I learned my lesson after that and started installing Zalman Coolers; a mid sized fan with thick copper piping and a massive heat sink, the size of a full roll of toilet paper... Now, when the Sh!t hits the fan, my CPU averages below human body temperature! XD