Blue screen of death on Windows 7 x64

[solas]

I purchased the game through steam yesterday, and am getting frequent BSOD. Didn't even know they still existed!

System details:
- Windows 7 x64 Professional
- Latest build from Steam
- .NET framework 4.0
- Visual C++ redistributable 2010 x64

Anything else I can provide?

[Matt2k]

I'm getting them too. Not frequently, but often enough.

The first one was when I clicked the button "Click here to purchase the full game" :)
The second was after a few hours of playing the full game. It was 4AM so I took it as a sign to stop for the night!

The errors were in atigktxx.dll, so I assume is something to do with the Radeon card.

FWIW, I was running in a window.

[solas]

Ya, I have an ATI card as well.

[Matt2k]

It happened again, 3rd time in 8 hours. I had just gotten the game over screen and hit F9 to retry. Once again during a "transition" if that helps.
So -- not super frequently at any rate.

I said atigktxx.dll in my initial post, but the latest crash most definitely was atipakmg.dll ? Something like that. I forgot to write it down. I might have gotten atigktxx.dll mixed up with another troubleshooting post I was reading.

I think I've just about got the campaign beaten for the first time so it's not a huge issue, but if there's any info I can provide (Like a minidump?) that would help for future players, I'd be more than happy to help.

[Matt2k]

Also .. Fun game! I don't know if I'll keep at it after the campaign is done with such a huge backlog of other stuff I need to complete.. But what a pleasant surprise . Didn't expect to get 10+ hours out of it! Keep up the good work Mr. Blendo Co.

[solas]

I think you're right, I remember seeing the same DLL pop-up. I tried deleting the dll from the data folder, but it actually crashed more frequently!

[seithon]

I'm having almost the same issue.

ATI 5850, with latest drivers.

only when playing this game, I will get BSOD's with the following details >

ATIKMPAG.SYS Error code ending in 3B

Seems like something in Zombie is using the driver improperly triggering this behaviour :(

[Brendon]

Can you please copy & paste the exact error message? When the error window appears, press ctrl+c to copy it, and ctrl+v to paste it here.

[Seithon]

It's not an error window, its a full on Blue screen of Death.

I posted all the information I had, and I do have the .dmp files but I don't have permission to do things with them and I'm not entirely sure they would be all that helpful.

If it occures again however (and I've not tried launching the game yet) I will let you know what details it says.
The error code I gave was I think a memory address... like 0000 003B
A google search implied it had to do with reading memory (Vram or Ram)

[CP`]

I'm also having this exact same problem. Every once and awhile I blue screen with ATIMPAK or something along those lines as the reason for the BSoD. I have an ATi radeon 5850 and win7 x64.

[Brendon]

Can you please try this:

1. Download http://blendogames.com/dev/atom_net.exe
2. Place the file into your atomzombiesmasher/data folder.
3. Run atom_net.exe

[Gaoul]

Hello,
I saw that you left the same atom_net.exe instructions on the steam users forum as well as this one, so i tried it.
I'm running Win7x64 with an ATI 6870. Since the last AZS update i've been getting BSOD's like other people in these threads.

Anyway, the point of my post is that i tried this version of atom_net.exe and went through the whole demo* without any problems whatsoever.

*:seems weird that it thinks it's a demo with that new file. I'm just assuming it's supposed to happen that way for now :P i was quite sad when it stopped me from continuing hehe.

Hope this helps :)

[Seithon]

I thought I'd let you know, I deleted the ATI file in the install folder of AZS, wouldn't load but steam redownloaded the file and since then the game has been working without any BSOD's :)

[CP`]

I tried the new exe and AZS was working fine right up until a few minutes ago when I had the exact same BSoD that I'd been having before with the ATIKMPAG.sys.

I'm going to try Seithon's trick but I'm really hoping for a patch soon that fixes this because I've been loving AZS apart from crashing my comp.

[Brendon]

Can anyone with the blue-screen crash try this:

1. Verify the game cache.
(right-click AZS > Properties > Local Files > Verity Integrity of Game Cache)
2. Go to the folder that AZS is installed in.
(default: C:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\atomzombiesmasher\data)
3. Delete atomzombiesmasher.exe
4. Rename atom_net.exe to atomzombiesmasher.exe
5. Run the game from Steam.

[Mrk]

I tried those 5 steps and went from bsod (system service exception - atikmpag.sys) after 15 - 45 minutes of gameplay to instant bsod the second I start the game 100% of the time.

[Brendon]

@Mrk -

1. Can you try updating your video card?
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

2. Please uninstall the game from Steam, reinstall, and retry the above steps.
(right-click AZS > Delete Local Content)

3. If that does not work, can you try deleting atigktxx.dll from C:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\atomzombiesmasher\data and try running the game again?

[Mkr]

Followed the first 2 steps and then the 5 previous ones. I no longer get a bsod when starting the game so I'll play it for a bit and see if that solved it, and try deleting atigktxx.dll from the game folder if I get any mid game bsod.
I get a profile error when I try to play my old profile but I was only an hour into the game so I'll just start a new one.

[Mrk or Mkr who knows]

That seems to have solved it. I finished an entire campaign without any trouble (except for beeing soundly beaten by the zombies), really enjoyable game.

Thanks a lot for the help.

[Eon]

(Copying my post from the steam forums)
My problems are thus;
BSOD. There is no excuse, ever, for a game company not fixing a problem in their programming that causes ram/memory to crash a system. Period. If other companies can afford it, then so should they. If they cannot, it speaks volumes about their skill or lack thereof. I am severely disappointed because I thoroughly enjoyed the game a month or two ago before the crashes started. Damn shame they're so insistent that it can't be fixed; Obviously, their game is just so well done that nothing can be done to fix it! This isn't a driver incompatibility, this isn't a hardware incompatibility; this is their programming, causing the system to bork up/overload/loop it's memory...and CRASH. That is Shoddy....no, that is ****TY programming, and the fact that they believe it can't be fixed shows how little they know about bug fixing. Why haven't any other indie devs run into 'unfixable bugs' or BSOD issues?

My helicoptor was bugged the little bit I DID get to play before a crash. I'd click near the bottom of the map...and my helicoptor would move past the edge, go off screen, and slowly fire...while the circle sat at the edge of the map. It was very confusing, and every time I started to move it to a map edge, the circle moved slower towards the destination while the helicoptor covered more distance, resulting in a situation where at the edge it'd be something like this
O = the 'circle' around the helicotpr
X = the helicotpr
| and _ = the map
__________
|*********|
|******O**|
|*****O*O*| X
|******O**|
|*********|
|_________|
Now obviously, not to scale, but it gets my point across. I could not aim nor move accurately, and it never seemed to fire at them...and then, again...the BSODs. Tempted to load a save file for a minute or two that'll unlock just that achievement if possible; I NEVER consider doing that for games/achievements....but if the game's going to give me BSOD, I may just...Or I may say 'screw it', uninstall the game, and never give the company a second look (again, not something I ever really do. I hate forever locking myself out of a new game/new IP from a dev/publisher). It's a damn shame they seem so insistent on implying they can't fix their own programming issues, and it's a damn shame I can't enjoy the game I've purchased, but ah well....

EDIT - would like to say I tried all their 'fixes'....which would be this;

1. Verify the game cache.
(right-click AZS > Properties > Local Files > Verity Integrity of Game Cache)
2. Go to the folder that AZS is installed in.
(default: C:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\atomzombiesmasher\dat a)
3. Delete atomzombiesmasher.exe
4. Rename atom_net.exe to atomzombiesmasher.exe
5. Run the game from Steam.

and this;

1. Can you try updating your video card?
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

2. Please uninstall the game from Steam, reinstall, and retry the above steps.
(right-click AZS > Delete Local Content)

3. If that does not work, can you try deleting atigktxx.dll from C:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\atomzombiesmasher\dat a and try running the game again?

and guess what? The game starts....no BSOD, no nothing....but no game. Steam thinks im in game. The EXE is running....but the game window is nowhere to be found. Niiiiice. Afraid to verify cache in case it sets me back to square one (tested a verify after this happened the first time, just out of curiosity before I tried all the steps again....Obviously, '3 files failed to be verified')....And I'm tired of the BSOD; also afraid it'll break my bloody PC. I'm gonna go play something less buggy...and better bug tested....