Crashing since last update [ Edited ]

[UnicornTails2]

I'm having issues with my game crashing since the most recent update. I hadn't played for while so manually updated my game last week and also updated my mods(MCCC and UI cheats). I didn't get chance to play after updating but my sister played the following day and said the game crashed on her whilst in CAS. I tried it the following day, spent a couple of hours building and then playing when suddenly the game crashed and forced my PC to restart. I got my husband to check the computer over, everything seemed fine, he played on Cyberpunk for an hour with no issues.
I tried repairing the game in Origin but still getting the crashing with forced restart or just the game freezing and then crashing with no restart. I tried removing all mods and CC and repairing again and this time the game wouldn't even open. So I uninstalled, reinstalled with no mods and started a brand new save and it's still crashing after 20-30 minutes of playing. I have run a DxDiag which showed no problems.

Any ideas on next steps?

Edited to add: Running Windows 10 on a desktop, EP's Get together, Get famous, Cats and dogs, Seasons, Snowy escape; GP's Dine out; SP's Bowling night, Fitness, Kid's room, Moschino, Vintage glamour. My computer knowledge is basic.

[puzzlezaddict]

@UnicornTails2  Please attach that dxdiag to a post: the full .txt file you get after clicking "Save all information."  The range of problems a dxdiag will flag directly is very narrow, but it contains a lot of other useful information as well.

[UnicornTails2]

I think I've attached it to this post.

[puzzlezaddict]

@UnicornTails2  Your dxdiag lists a number of errors related to your graphics driver, and the BlueScreens could also be related to the driver, although there's not enough info in the dxdiag to be sure.  So the first step is to try installing a new driver; this is the latest one from Nvidia:

https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/171474/en-us

Restart your computer after installing it and before trying to play.  If you still see the same issues, it's worth doing a clean uninstall and reinstall:

Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:

https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3450

Next, take your computer completely offline—disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cord—and double-click the DDU.exe.  Take note of where the file will land, and click Extract.  If it's easier, you can copy the path and then paste it into the address bar in a File Explorer window.  Open the folder and then launch Display Driver Uninstaller.exe, and you'll get a message that you're not in Safe Mode.  Click OK, then go to Options and enable Safe Mode dialog.  Here's a screenshot of what your options should look like; make sure the box in red is checked:

Close options, and the DDU, and then open the DDU.exe again.  For launch options, choose "Safe Mode (Recommended)," and then click Reboot to Safe Mode (you'll need your password, so find it before rebooting).  Once you login, you'll see this:

In the blue box, choose GPU, then Nvidia if it's not already showing.  Then click Clean and Restart (red box).

Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, run the driver install .exe in custom mode.  Select "perform a clean installation" and install ONLY the GPU driver and the PHYSX software.

Reboot again, go back online, and see whether the game works normally.  If not, let me know.

[UnicornTails2]

So, I tried installing the new graphics driver and still the same. Someone suggested to my husband checking to see if XMP was turned on as they'd had a similar issue, it was on so he turned it off and I played for around 2 hours last night with no crashing. Apparently it's something to do with our RAM being an older type and not liking being overclocked? This is all very new to me, I went over to console gaming when bustin' out was released and have only recently started gaming on PC again so I'm trying to learn. Is it still worth doing the uninstall and reinstall of the graphics drivers or is this likely a permanent fix now?

[puzzlezaddict]

@UnicornTails2  It does sound like the XMP is the issue here.  Without knowing the specs of your RAM, I can't search for any documentation, but overclocking memory can definitely cause system-wide issues, including crashes.

If you were using the motherboard's standard XMP setting, then your RAM itself should have been stable: memory is rated to run at the listed speeds, and the XMP at most will boost the RAM to that speed.  (Boards have a standard speed based on Memory can be further overclocked with custom settings, but you wouldn't have done this without knowing it.

One possibility is that your RAM is slightly defective, stable at the board's default speed (I'm guessing 2133 MHz) but not the RAM's own advertised speed.  Another is that you're using RAM that isn't supported by the board, or perhaps not supported at its max speed; you can find the list here:

https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/GA-Z170-Gaming-K3-rev-10/support#support-doc

It's also possible that your board supports your memory but not at its fastest speed; again, I can't tell without knowing what modules you have.  But regardless of the underlying cause, it sounds like you've identified the immediate problem.

If it makes you feel better, overclocking RAM is only likely to produce a very small benefit for systems with Intel processors.  It makes a larger difference with AMD CPUs, but in your case, you might never notice the difference unless you ran benchmark tests.