Sacred 2 Gold Edition freezes after ~50 mins of gameplay.

[sadixovy 1]

Hello everyone! As the title says - I have a common problem with Sacred 2, it always freezes after alike 1 hour of playing, I can turn it off only via logging out or waiting it to close after crashing, hovewer, sounds of monsters, music etc remain, only my screen freezes.


My computer:
OS: Windows 10, 64 bit
Intel i5 6300 HQ,
8 GB RAM,
2 graphic cards: one is the integrated Intel within the processor, second one is nVidia GeForce GTX 960M with 4 GB memory.

I was searching across the whole Internet to find a solution, even thought about looking in darknet (lol), but here is a list of what I did to try to make Sacred work well:


1. Renamed files LaptopGaming_vista.dll and LaptopGaming_xp.dll to LaptopGaming_vista.dll.BACKUP and LaptopGaming_xp.dll.BACKUP.

2. Used 4gb patcher on executive files sacred2.exe and s2gs.exe.

3. Set compability modes of executive files sacred2.exe and s2gs.exe to Windows XP Service Pack 3.

4. On my HDD/Users/PatrickS/AppData/Local/Ascaron Entertaiment/Sacred 2/options.txt

edited:
maxFps = 0, to maxFps = 60, (thought, that I don't really need some additional FPS, 60 is just fine, and the Sacred will use lesser memory), additionaly, set:

}

end

if not manager then

manager = {

animMem = 0,

grannyMem = 0,

pmsMem = 0,

secMem = 0,

sptMem = 0,

texMem = 0,

}

5. Within properties of "My Computer", in advanced options I set system to work at maximum efficiency.

6. On properties of shortcut of sacred2.exe on my desktop I added lines -skipopenal -nocpubinding, this file is running with administrator permissions and it is opened with maximized fullscreen.

7. Using "Memory Cleaner" software program. Sacred almost never reaches 1,2 GB of memory, it is strongly held at ~800 MB limit.

8. Updated OpenAL, nVidia drives, physX drivers to the latest editions.

9. Did a defragmentation of all partitions on my HDD.

10. Graphic settings in-game are all set to medium, Antialiasing, V-sync and physX are disabled. Trying to use basic textures, but game somehow always changes textures to these better ones (everyone calls it elite textures, I have Sacred 2 with polish language version, so I can literally translate it to minimalistic textures and better textures).

11. Make my laptop (lenovo y700) to work at perfect condition, it was never overheated (maximum temperature my software noticed was 72 Celsius degrees, with witcher 3).

12. When trying to play Sacred 2, disabling every useless application, fe. chrome, file explorers, aimp, etc. etc.

Almost 13. - trying to install community patch, however, I don't know if it will work on polish language version.

[Androdion 899]

Well I can tell you one thing, as blunt as it may sound: you're overthinking it. The fact of the matter is that Sacred 2 Gold crashes and freezes randomly; sometimes after an hour, sometimes after two or sometimes after 20 minutes. It just does, it crashes here and there. You can set compatibility options to help a bit, and you really need to have Physx disabled in order to have a smooth gameplay experience, but in the end the best recommendation is to save regularly.

 

Oh, one more thing. CM Patch helps a lot with stability issues and fixes a ton of problems, as well as introducing lots and lots of content (items, quests). I'm not really sure about the language compatibility though, but I believe Flix or Gogo should be able to tell you more about that.

[Veracious 267]

I keep a separate os of XP specifically for old games. No need for compatibility options and I've never had a crash. Ever. I play sacred underworld and sacred 2 gold with the expansion and community patch. Sometimes old games just don't work with new os's

[Dorimil 224]

saving often? doesn't the game saving your char everytime you port over the map or entering/leaving a dungeon?

 

probably have a look at GoG.com for Sacred 2 Gold...I am using this version including the CM-Patch and don't have got issues with freezing or crashing.

[Androdion 899]

Yes, but if you quick save (F7) and the game crashes the next time you load it you'll be at the same spot instead of the last resurrection monolith.

[12DuneLord34 15]

There is - at least for me - a simple solution: play in windowed mode.

In full screen mode, the game crashes randomly, windowed I can play for hours without any issue on windows 10. this also worked for me with windows 7 and windows 8.

[Androdion 899]

There is - at least for me - a simple solution: play in windowed mode.

In full screen mode, the game crashes randomly, windowed I can play for hours without any issue on windows 10. this also worked for me with windows 7 and windows 8.

Is it hard to play it windowed? As in, is there any command line necessary or you have the option on the game menu? Also, can you change the ratio of the window as to make its borders as close to the desktop size as possible?

[Androdion 899]

Eh, I answered my own question. Tried the game in windowed mode with Physx turned on and got a few things to report:

 

- Game runs more fluid, though doing a Shadow Step beyond the border of the visible screen still causes a "pause".

- Every time I have a loading screen those tutorial images appear, when they never did before. Usually when one of those images would appear the game would crash afterwards.

- Got myself to the Blood Forest and as soon as I reached the edge of the green part into the red tinted ground the game crashed.

 

It seems that once again this isn't an all-around fix, sadly.

[King Angel 69]

I Play with this settings and crash over 2h

This is my settings for Windows 10:

1. Right click on "Troubleshoot Compatibility" ---> "Try Recommanded Settings" ---> "Test The Program" --->"Yes, save this settings for this program" ---> "Close"

And:

2. Right Click on shortcut "Properties" ---> "Compatibility" check "Run as administrator and Windows Vista" ---> "Security" ---> "Edit" and there select for each Group select "Allow"

3. Right Click on shortcut and add this to "Target" ---> "-skipopenal -nocpubinding"