Editor crashes with black screen, video drivers restart

Hello,

I'm having an issue with the editor it crashes after a minute or two with the black screen. Well actually this happens in this order: the display drivers crash then the editor sometimes resulting in me having to do a hard reset here's the info I've gathered so far:

Specs:

  • Nvidia 660M
  • 8gb Ram
  • I'm using 2 monitors
  • Windows 10 enterprise x64
  • Visual Studio 2015 (Which crashes while loading the editor as well)

what I've tried:

Since I used UE4 on this PC previously while having windows 8.1 and I believe windows 7 as well with no issues, I decided to put all the executables in compatibility mode (tried Windows 8 and 7) with no luck

Tested with different projects, Basic code with no starter content and scalable is the most basic setup which resulted in giving me more time before it crashes again.

Also Updated the display drivers.

Downloaded UE4.4 and tried that same result

Tried to run the Editor using d3d10, same result

link:DxDiag

in the event registry:

  1. Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.(x2)
    2) Faulting application name: EpicGamesLauncher.exe, version: 2.12.16.0, time stamp: 0x583ecc97
    Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.14393.479, time stamp: 0x582588e6
    Exception code: 0x00000001
    Fault offset: 0x0000000000017788
    Faulting process id: 0x16e8
    Faulting application start time: 0x01d267e5d1c8e965
    Faulting application path: D:\games\Epic Games\Launcher\Portal\Binaries\Win64\EpicGamesLauncher.exe
    Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\KERNELBASE.dll
    Report Id: ad0bef9e-f107-47e1-bed7-c43bbf692874
    Faulting package full name:
    Faulting package-relative application ID:

3) Faulting application name: UnrealCEFSubProcess.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x583eca4b
Faulting module name: libcef.dll, version: 3.2623.1395.0, time stamp: 0x57630999
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000002ca7a02
Faulting process id: 0x428
Faulting application start time: 0x01d267e5e4655b7d
Faulting application path: D:\games\Epic Games\Launcher\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UnrealCEFSubProcess.exe
Faulting module path: D:\games\Epic Games\Launcher\Engine\Binaries\ThirdParty\CEF3\Win64\libcef.dll
Report Id: d6a35898-e922-4c01-90bf-cae32ddc826f
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

in advance!

Hi BirkoffHimura,

When you say “Downloaded UE4.4 and tried that same result” do you mean that you don’t get the crash on 4.4?

Also I need to see your callstack, if you get a crash window could you submit it and post the machine ID and callstack here.

!

Ed

MachineId:

Fatal error: [File:D:\Build++UE4+Release-4.14+Compile\Sync\Engine\Source\Runtime\Windows\D3D11RHI\Private\D3D11Util.cpp] [Line: 176]
Unreal Engine is exiting due to D3D device being lost. (Error: 0x887A0007 - ‘RESET’)

UE4Editor_Core!FDebug::AssertFailed() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\core\private\misc\assertionmacros.cpp:332]
UE4Editor_D3D11RHI!TerminateOnDeviceRemoved() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\windows\d3d11rhi\private\d3d11util.cpp:176]
UE4Editor_D3D11RHI!VerifyD3D11Result() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\windows\d3d11rhi\private\d3d11util.cpp:225]
UE4Editor_D3D11RHI!FD3D11Viewport::PresentChecked() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\windows\d3d11rhi\private\d3d11viewport.cpp:275]
UE4Editor_D3D11RHI!FD3D11Viewport::Present() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\windows\d3d11rhi\private\d3d11viewport.cpp:458]
UE4Editor_D3D11RHI!FD3D11DynamicRHI::RHIEndDrawingViewport() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\windows\d3d11rhi\private\d3d11viewport.cpp:562]
UE4Editor_RHI!FRHICommandList::EndDrawingViewport() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\rhi\private\rhicommandlist.cpp:1347]
UE4Editor_SlateRHIRenderer!FSlateRHIRenderer::DrawWindow_RenderThread() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\slaterhirenderer\private\slaterhirenderer.cpp:486]
UE4Editor_SlateRHIRenderer!TGraphTask<FSlateRHIRenderer::DrawWindows_Private'::35’::EURCMacro_SlateDrawWindowsCommand>::ExecuteTask() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\core\public\async\taskgraphinterfaces.h:868]

UE4Editor_Core!FNamedTaskThread::ProcessTasksNamedThread() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\core\private\async\taskgraph.cpp:932]
UE4Editor_Core!FNamedTaskThread::ProcessTasksUntilQuit() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\core\private\async\taskgraph.cpp:679]
UE4Editor_RenderCore!RenderingThreadMain() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\rendercore\private\renderingthread.cpp:320]
UE4Editor_RenderCore!FRenderingThread::Run() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\rendercore\private\renderingthread.cpp:454]
UE4Editor_Core!FRunnableThreadWin::Run() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.14+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\core\private\windows\windowsrunnablethread.cpp:74]

I installed an older version and had the same issue, I even downgraded the display drivers to an older version(this got me an extra 30-40 minutes before it crashes),

I’ve got windows 10 version 1607 build 14393.693

I’ve read that this version has caused issues with various software, it seems that to me is only limited to UE4.

After looking at your callstack I’ve determined you are experiencing one of our major crash issues that we attempted to patch out.

Could you please provide a detailed list of steps that reproduces the issue starting in a template or blank project.

!

I could just build the project and sit and wait for it to crash, so this happens just by having the editor running.

I’ve basically created every kind of project there is, the editor still crashes. I checked the performance on the pc while I have the editor running and not much ram is being used and CPU load peaks at 60% the most.

The only thing I noticed that the hard drive is being used at its fullest read/write while running the editor takes a lot longer on that drive I UE4.

I have tried other versions of UE4(4.0.2, 4.4.3, etc) the editor still crashes on windows 10. so far I’ve read that the latest version of windows 10 is causing many issues like the display driver resetting which is what is happening in this case.

you have an option so that when the editor loses access to the display device it should prompt before trying to acquire it again.

Hi BirkoffHimura,

Thank you for all the information. We have a ticket in for this crash and will continue investigating the crash. You can find it here: Unreal Engine Issues and Bug Tracker (UE-40773)

We have several D3D ‘HUNG’ crashes with different callstacks and yours match the report I linked above. Feel free to track the ticket as we continue to investigate and review this issue. Keep in mind that we don’t have a time frame on when this will be addressed so don’t rely on a fix to be made quickly if it is crucial to development.

!

Hey!

There is a possible workaround that we are investigating. The GPU crash may be related to microsoft’s Timeout Detection & Recovery(TDR) feature. You can find out more about it here: Timeout detection and recovery (TDR) - Windows drivers | Microsoft Learn

Basically, it detects if your GPU is hung up and if it passes a certain amount of time Windows will automatically reset the GPU resulting in the crash. This is done to prevent a freeze forcing a hard reboot of the system.

Sometimes you need to add a little more time for your GPU to process before Windows causes the reset. To do this you need to change the TDR delay.

I have two suggestion on how to do this you can do it manually yourself OR you can download a tool that will do it for you. However, I haven’t used the tool that much myself but it does appear to work. (Use at your own risk)

Method 1 (manually):

  • Go to the this link:
    Testing and debugging TDR during driver development - Windows drivers | Microsoft Learn

  • There you will find a section called TdrDelay it gives you all the information you need to create a registry key that will change the delay time

  • To open your registry open your start menu and type “run” once the window is open type “regedit” and hit OK

  • Now you should have Registry Editor open this is where you will use the info at the website I just linked.

  • First navigate the key path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers

  • Right click on GraphicsDrivers and go to new> DWORD (32 bit) value

  • You will see a new key appear make sure to name it “TdrDelay”

  • Right click it and select “modify”

  • Under Value data enter 10 (this is the number of seconds to delay) make sure you have Decimal selected as the base

  • Hit okay and restart your system

Method 2

, I will try this.

again for taking the time to research this.

A user(IronicParadox) suggested that going into the content browser pane > click the little eye that says “View Options” and uncheck “Real-Time Thumbnails.” made the engine much more stable.

Would you mind trying this as well and seeing if this helps?

This did not work, the issue just happened recently without UE4 being used, so this confirms to me that this is related to one of the latest windows 10 updates. I’ve also seen people having issues playing games in full screen due to the new gameDVR thing in win10, though the game screen doesn’t pop up in UE4 when pressing winKey+g.

Thank you for that information. I’ll include that in our internal notes. I’ll also update this post if any notable information is found.

This worked for me.

Was having issues with 4.15 bundled with Unreal Tournament(as of 1/23/2017 - 0.1.7) every time you hovered over a material or try to add a material to a object it crashed the engine.

Running Win 10, i5 2500K with a GTX 560 and latest drivers

Was this issue resolved? I’m experiencing the same thing. It seems to happen completely randomly. It also randomly started yesterday – never had it before.
Disabling realtime thumbnails did not seem to help.