Mass Effect 1 keeps crashing in fullscreen mode (DisplayPort) [ Edited ]

[Kaidan_Shut-up]

I'm using a Dell PC that came with a few DisplayPort inputs and HDMI (a monster rig) but lacks DVI-D & VGA. The monitor can support DVI, DisplayPort, and HDMI it's a 144 Hz, 2K monitor. My old Plasma TV will take the HDMI part just fine, however the monitor can't handle it, just blinks whenever HDMI is plugged. The refresh rate on my 2K monitor is simply too high for HDMI so I use DisplayPort.

No blinking with DisplayPort except for when I play ME1 in fullscreen it will blink during load checkpoints. Reminds me of white TV noise with this blank screen stuff. So the question becomes is there a fix for ME1 where I can play the game in fullscreen? Without it blinking in and out? Let me know if you guys need my specs to further diagnose my issue I can retrieve the diagnostics data on my machine.

[Kaidan_Shut-up · Accepted solution]

The thing is though everything here is brand new cables and all. This PC is fresh off the shelf from Best Buy and worked for a few weeks, eventually it broke and had to be serviced. After the repair it broke again, so Geeksquad gave me another brand new computer. What I'm trying to say here is I could see the second time around something going wrong with the GPU or something in the PC because they repaired it using refurbished parts and it still failed. But the first and 3rd time (especially the 3rd time when they finally got it right) I am using a brand new GPU so I'll be very surprised to learn it was that. Unless you're saying this particular GPU wasn't built with this monitor in mind?

The drivers that could be what's at issue. I have no idea what type of drivers the PC & monitor takes nor how to install them. As for the HDMI cables I've tried three different ones no issues with other sources such as Xbox One and my older PC the monitor will run those flawlessly. It's just that when this new PC is connected it becomes allergic to HDMI. A friend of mine suggested HDMI 1.4 MIGHT work but no guarantee. Anyway here is the DxDiag hopefully this should provide context so that you can point me in the right direction. Btw looking at the DxDiag it reads "current mode 2560 x 1440 (32 bit) (60Hz)" would I need to find the setting to turn up the refresh rate in all modes?

As always, appreciate the help

EDIT: Just bought Overwatch for PC and the blinking occurs there too (in fullscreen haven't tried Windowed Mode). It's all connected, if I can find a solution to this ME1 problem it may resolve other games blanking in and out as well.

FINAL EDIT: After careful analysis I've determined the solution. I'm using a FreeSync monitor which synchronizes the refresh rates with the GPU however in some cases creates certain weaknesses. The Fix: Turns out switching FreeSync off in AMD Settings fixed the blinking issue. To anyone else who's suffering the same troubles try these fixes from your AMD Display settings.

A.) Disable FreeSync (this one worked for me).

B.) Reduce Color depth to 6bpc

C) Turn on scaling,

[holger1405]

@Kaidan_Shut-up

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Kaidan_Shut-up wrote:

My old Plasma TV will take the HDMI part just fine, however the monitor can't handle it, just blinks whenever HDMI is plugged. The refresh rate on my 2K monitor is simply too high for HDMI so I use DisplayPort.

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While it is true that HDMI does not support 144hz, the Monitor should still function if it is connected via HDMI. (Just not whit the full refresh rate)

So that could be a Monitor, cable, GPU, or GPU driver problem that also could be responsible for the ME1 problem at DisplayPort. (Except the cable of course)

Please create a DxDiag in text file format and post it with your next reply. You can do that with the "Choose file" button at the bottom right corner of the reply window.

[Kaidan_Shut-up · Accepted solution]

The thing is though everything here is brand new cables and all. This PC is fresh off the shelf from Best Buy and worked for a few weeks, eventually it broke and had to be serviced. After the repair it broke again, so Geeksquad gave me another brand new computer. What I'm trying to say here is I could see the second time around something going wrong with the GPU or something in the PC because they repaired it using refurbished parts and it still failed. But the first and 3rd time (especially the 3rd time when they finally got it right) I am using a brand new GPU so I'll be very surprised to learn it was that. Unless you're saying this particular GPU wasn't built with this monitor in mind?

The drivers that could be what's at issue. I have no idea what type of drivers the PC & monitor takes nor how to install them. As for the HDMI cables I've tried three different ones no issues with other sources such as Xbox One and my older PC the monitor will run those flawlessly. It's just that when this new PC is connected it becomes allergic to HDMI. A friend of mine suggested HDMI 1.4 MIGHT work but no guarantee. Anyway here is the DxDiag hopefully this should provide context so that you can point me in the right direction. Btw looking at the DxDiag it reads "current mode 2560 x 1440 (32 bit) (60Hz)" would I need to find the setting to turn up the refresh rate in all modes?

As always, appreciate the help

EDIT: Just bought Overwatch for PC and the blinking occurs there too (in fullscreen haven't tried Windowed Mode). It's all connected, if I can find a solution to this ME1 problem it may resolve other games blanking in and out as well.

FINAL EDIT: After careful analysis I've determined the solution. I'm using a FreeSync monitor which synchronizes the refresh rates with the GPU however in some cases creates certain weaknesses. The Fix: Turns out switching FreeSync off in AMD Settings fixed the blinking issue. To anyone else who's suffering the same troubles try these fixes from your AMD Display settings.

A.) Disable FreeSync (this one worked for me).

B.) Reduce Color depth to 6bpc

C) Turn on scaling,

[Kaidan_Shut-up]

Issue was resolved thanks for the help.

It was my AMD settings had to switch FreeSync off.

Also, I may have accidentally reported my own post in this topic (facepalm) mods please ignore that report and restore my previous post if you don't mind. It was late, I must of accidentally hit report on my post then when I saw the message about spam I thought someone else did it then in a blind fit I hit the bottom option (report) before reading. This was definitely one of my off nights. My bad.

[holger1405]

@Kaidan_Shut-up

Good to hear.

And don't worry about the report mistake.