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Random crashing with no error message

By Hardware and 1 collaborators

This guide is intended to help all players affected by the 0x80000003 TDR crashing issue that occurs in HITMAN 2 mostly with a Turing card (GeForce 16 series and RTX series) and DirectX 11.

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Created by

Tharon
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Hardware
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Category: Modding or Configuration

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

12 Jan, 2020 @ 3:30am

12 Jul, 2020 @ 6:14am

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67	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

How can I know if I am affected by this particular issue ?

Disclaimer

How can I fix these crashes ?

The game won't start / crashes at start-up

More informations

Comments

How can I know if I am affected by this particular issue ?

Type Windows + R > Powershell, and copy/paste all the following lines in the terminal :

Get-EventLog -LogName System -EntryType Warning -Source "Display" | ? { $_.EventID -eq 4101 } | ? { $_.Message -like "*nvlddmkm*" } | ft -AutoSize -Wrap | Out-File "$($env:PUBLIC)\hitman2_system.log" -Force | Get-EventLog -LogName Application -EntryType Error -Source "Application Error" | ? { $_.EventID -eq 1000 } | ? { $_.Message -like "*hitman2.exe*" } | ? { $_.Message -like "*0x80000003*" } | ft -AutoSize -Wrap | Out-File "$($env:PUBLIC)\hitman2_app.log" -Force; ii $env:PUBLIC

After executing this command (takes a few seconds), you will find two log files in your explorer containing all the errors encountered during HITMAN 2 execution.

In hitman2_app.log, look for "0x80000003" error code.
in hitman2_system.log look for "display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding" message.

If you find both of these errors, you are affected by this issue.

Example of both files but in French because I don't have an English Windows build..

Disclaimer

Some informations about TDR and the nvlddmkm error can be found on GeForce forum.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/discover/54045/the-nvlddmkm-error-what-is-it-an-fyi-for-those-seeing-this-issue/

It's important to note that it can affect both Nvidia and AMD cards. A TDR crash can be caused by many different things so it’s difficult to pin down. Lots of people have seen these errors with HITMAN 2 DirectX 11 and latest Nvidia Turing cards, but keep in mind that it's not necessarily the only reason.

The generic error people visit this guide for is :

Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and was recovered.

Common issues that can cause a TDR :

Incorrect memory timings or voltages
Insufficient / problematic PSU
Corrupt driver install
Overheating
Unstable overclocks (GPU or CPU)
Incorrect MB voltages (generally NB/SB)
Faulty graphics card
A badly written driver or piece of software
...

Most of these issues are not covered in this guide.

How can I fix these crashes ?

These steps are independent and are the result of multiple feedbacks from the community. After each one, try to play and if it doesn't work, go to the next step.

1. First, try to start the game in DirectX 12 mode (available in launcher settings). This is the official solution recommended by IOI for people using a Nvidia Turing card.

Notes :

- DirectX 12 requires a recent and updated Windows 10 build with all drivers update to date and compatible hardware.
2. Underclock your RAM by disabling any XMP (Intel Extreme Memory Profile) or AMP (AMD Memory Profile) profile in your BIOS/UEFI interface.
3. Use the Nvidia reference clock speeds for your GPU. If your GPU has been factory overclocked by the manufacturer or if you have applied a custom overclocking, underclock your core clock using MSI Afterburner or an equivalent tool.
4. Use HITMAN Vulkan Enabler[www.nexusmods.com]. This mod can allows you to get rid of this issue if you can't use DirectX 12 (you're not using Windows 10 for example) but it has some downsides about performances, especially with big resolutions like 2K / 4K.

Notes : The game will be very laggy at the start, because it needs to recalculate and cache all the shaders in real time on each map. Once this step is done, the game will be stable with no stutter.

The game won't start / crashes at start-up

https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2008635027

More informations

Latest official IO Interactive Patchnote[www.ioi.dk].

14 Comments

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Yass Rif 19 Jul, 2021 @ 7:00pm

Salut j'ai le même souci sur Hitman 2016 avec une GTX 670, j'aimerais si possible jouer en DirectX11 pour un minimum de FPS, tu me conseilles de faire quoi ? Merci d'avance !

ELEdKEHo 16 Jul, 2021 @ 8:18am

And yes, I'm already using DX12, on a 1080 Ti.

ELEdKEHo 16 Jul, 2021 @ 8:14am

So...I purposely applied an XMP profile so that my RAM would run at the speed that I purchased it for (2400 MHz--instead of being underclocked at 2133), expecting a (tiny) bit of improved performance. Yet, ironically, Hitman 2 doesn't like it... Sad--other games aren't impacted...

thejmangamer85 25 Oct, 2020 @ 7:35pm

my game crashes now am not good at doing these copy paste can anyone tell me step by step i have a 2070 and i5 9600k

Folletto 18 Oct, 2020 @ 12:03am

Yep, tried pretty much all the steps and no luck. Almost every component that I have is brand new, running on windows 10 w/ a RTX 3080.Guess I'll have to uninstall it now. Thanks for writing the guide though.

Hardware [author] 20 Jul, 2020 @ 5:48am

@Matt The Banana : Maybe with HITMAN 3, HITMAN 2 no longer receiving updates. Atm, DX12 is recommended by Hitman's developers for all Turing cards (GeForce 16 series and RTX series). If you can't use DX12 because you're still on Windows 7/8.1, then DXVK is the "unofficial" solution, and if you can't make it work, you're screwed. HITMAN 2 works much better in all fronts with Windows 10 and DX12.

Matt The Banana 17 Jul, 2020 @ 12:41pm

Shouldn't IOI fix this?

Eggs on Toast 15 Jul, 2020 @ 5:26pm

Works a charm. I couldn't play this game for months until I read this. Thanks a bunch!

Kuba_Q 30 Apr, 2020 @ 8:42am

I switched to DX12 and I was able to finish the mission (Another Life) with no crashes. Previously it was crashing all the time. Thanks.

DEREK IS OP 19 Apr, 2020 @ 2:17pm

For those who are having "game won't start / crashes at start-up" issue, try this fix too. Although it said at the beginning of the post that this guide doesn't apply, but it did work for my case.

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