PC - General protection fault / wrap_oal.dll_unloaded [ Edited ]

[Dalmatia92]

Hey there. First of all, english is not my native language, so please excuse any faults.

I have this huge and annoying general protection fault while playing ME1.

The problem always occurs when trying to land on specific planets (Amaranthine & Socrum). First, I had a Visual C++ Library Runtime Error at this point and fixed it with the proper redistributable package. But now I get the GPF instead of the above runtime error. And the Windows Event Viewer shows it is the wrap_oal.dll causing the problem.

Things I already tried:

- several clean re-installs of the game (CCleaner used as suggested by the support)

- disabled origin ingame stuff

- clean boot of windows

- cleared origin cache

- run as admin + windows xp compatibility mode

- deleted the bioengine.ini

- re-installed PhysX driver

- renamed wrap_oal.dll to OpenAL32.dll trick

- updatet OpenAL

- replaced openal32.dll/wrap_oal.dll in the game folder with ones from syswow64 and system32

- the bugged citadel quest with the drugs and medicine center is not open.

- re-installed newest audio driver

My PC-specs:

Processor: Intel(R) Core (TM) i5-3350 CPU @ 3.10GHz

Physical Memory: 15,9GB

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, driver version 350,12

Windows 7 Professional 64bit

DirectX Version 10.0

Monitor Resolution 1920x1080

"General protection fault!

History:RaiseException()Address = 0x74e7c42d (filename not found)[in C:\Windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll]

CxxThrowException() Address = 0x77388e89 (filename not found) [in C:\Windows\WinSxs\x86_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.6195_none_d09154e044272b9a\MSVCR80.dll]

GMatrix2D::Swap() Address = 0x114ef609 (filename not found) [in D:\EA Origin Games\Mass Effect\Binaries\MassEffect.exe]

.. and so on"

EA Support couldn't help me so far and I have no idea left what I could do. Anyone an idea? And please do not hate on the graphics card. All solutions i found around the internet are suggestioning drivers that aren't compatible with my card, because they are only for the 500 series and lower.

I hope there is a PC genius here who can help me.

[Fred_vdp]

I know three causes for General Protection Fault:

- Unsupported graphics card (but your card is more than good enough for this game)

- Bad video drivers

- A specific sidemission on the Citadel

I recommend you download the latest Geforce drivers and do a clean installation of those. If the new drivers keep giving you issues, download an older driver instead.

[Dalmatia92]

I updated to the newest driver yesterday, but it didn't helped. I'm currently re-installing my whole windows, because I kinda have the feeling something screwed up. Maybe it will work when I'm done with all the updates - hope never dies.

But I also contacted the EA Support. They couldn't help me and they passed my case on to a specialist team and well let's see if they can find the problem. It will take at least 3-4 days until I can expect an answer from their side.

I don't know but could it also be that the savegame is corrupted? Haven't had the time yet to start a new one to test it.

[Fred_vdp]

If you still have your savefile somwehere, upload it and I'll test it for you.

I've seen a couple of mentiones of GPF errors this week. It could be that Nvidia's latest drivers are not compatible with ME1. I've had issues with Geforce drivers on ME1 before, and recent Nvidia drivers cause all kinds of glitches in Dragon Age 2.

[Dalmatia92]

Well I made a new savegame and have found a new planet that causes the GPF. I saw a few other people having the same issue while landing on planets too.

Going back to an older driver didn't help, but I'm going to test a few other drivers.

Since so many people seem to have the same problem, I don't think any longer it's due to a corrupted savefile.

Edit: Just got the answer from the 'specialist team' the case was sent to. They can not help, because the studio no longer works on ME1. So great, people like me, with this issue and no workaround helps, are screwed.

[sssssssssss43214]

I think the General protection fault in KERNELBASE.dll was caused by you renaming wrap_oal.dll to OpenAL32.dll, so try changing it back.

I believe the wrap_oal.dll_unloaded error is related to having hardware audio enabled, so try either of the following:

• Disable the "Hardware Audio" setting in the game's sound settings. Note that you won't get surround sound if you do this.
• Use IndirectSound (follow the instructions for Mass Effect), which lets you keep hardware audio on and therefore have surround sound.

See my reply in the "Mass Effect PC (Steam) - General Protection Fault" thread for more details.