TrinityRebel Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 (edited) Search for Solution I have been a SWTOR subscriber since 5/19/2012 and have not experienced the crash to desktop (CTD) issue until December 2014. Like most people have already expressed, it was an annoyance, but it did not stop them from playing. The inconvenience of play stoppage due to the CTD was not acceptable to me; so I began my research into the issue. I first looked in the SWTOR forum to see if there was a solution to this issue. There was none, so I expanded my search to the internet. There were none there either; that I thought viable. The SWTOR game was not the only game that was experiencing this problem. There were many individuals expressing extreme consternation over this issue that were looking for a solution. Some individuals suggested changing Window's registry entries, which I concluded did not work after making the modifications. Some solutions were much too complicated to even attempt. There was one individual who actually had a good idea that might fix the problem. I implemented the software parameter change in hopes that it would work; it did not but I kept the modifications because it made sense to me - this is part of the fix. After three weeks of research, memory checks, full virus scans, disk clean up, disk defragmenting, hardware driver updates, uninstalling software and disabling start services ; the CTD issue persisted. I thought I would have to live with the play stoppage on my desktop computer but I could still play with no encumbrance on my laptop computer which runs under Windows 8. While I was somewhat resigned to playing SWTOR on my laptop, I did not give up hope for a solution on my Windows 7 computer, so I would occasionally power up my desktop to run Dream Aquarium screen saver. The screen saver was executed from a short cut on my desk top because I permanently disabled the screen saver within Windows 7 to play SWTOR. A short time after, I noticed the screen saver was not running after about 5 minutes from the time I had started it. It appeared the screen saver was exhibiting the same CTD issues as SWTOR. It became abundantly clear that the CTD issue was being caused by some incompatibility between Windows 7 and SWTOR, but what was it. I still had no idea or solution. I did remember that there were several Windows 7 updates about the same time Bioware released SWTOR version 3.0. I began modifying the SWTOR Graphics Quality Preset and Resolution parameters in the Preference window thinking the changes might make a difference. Once again, failure. Then I noticed the Full Screen Exclusive mode drop down in the Graphics Preference window. It has three options Fullscreen (which mine was set to), Windowed, and Fullscreen (Windowed) . I selected the last option and ran SWTOR. To my surprise, it worked. I stayed up all night to test this change to determine if it would crash. It did not. Today I played none stop for 6 hours with no CTD issues. Still not satisfied, I enabled Dream Aquarium as a screen saver in Windows; no CTD issues. Ran the screen saver again as an app from the desktop and it crashed in 5 minutes. In conclusion, it is my supposition, based on what I have found to be an issue with Windows 7 not being able to recognize programs unless they are somehow identified as a windows application. Recommendations and Steps to Fix CTD issue in Windows 7 1. Update to most recent hardware drivers. 2. Perform full virus scan. (Should take about 1 hour.) 3. Perform memory check. 4. Uninstall programs that are not used. 5. Perform Dish Cleanup. 6. Defrag the CP drives. 7. Disable any System Configuration Startup programs that are not used. 8. Disable any System Configuration Services that are not needed. 9. Reset any register changes you made. (Hope you have a copy of your modifications.) 10. Modify the following two Application files by altering the file's properties to enable compatible with Windows 7. a. .../.../Electronic Arts/BioWare/Star Wars - The Old Republic/launcher b. .../.../Electronic Arts/BioWare/Star Wars - The Old Republic/swtor/retailclient/swtor • Right mouse click on file name and select Properties • Select Compatibility tab • Check "Run this program in compatibility mode for :" • Select "Windows 7" from the drop down. • Click OK button 11. Go to SWTOR Preference window 12. Select Graphics 13. Under the Full Screen Exclusive mode drop down, select Fullscreen (Windowed) if you prefer a full screen; otherwise select Windowed if you would like to adjust the SWTOR window while playing; they both work. 14. Click OK button. 15. You are finished. 16. Have fun and enjoy the game. Request If the solution I have described works for you, let me know. My email address is PMSaia@Yahoo.com or look me up on SWTOR and say hello. I am a member of the Imperial Exiles Guild on the "The Shadowlands" server and the two Imperials I play are "Azurla" and "Zee-voy". Edited February 23, 2015 by TrinityRebel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RushinYa Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 (edited) Didn't work., Ive decided to give this gam the middle finger. i shouldn't have to go through al lthe hastle to fix there product when i have 60 other games in library with no problems. Edited February 6, 2015 by RushinYa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenBrooks Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Just thought I would post it appears RushinYa has sorted his issue http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=795218&page=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrinityRebel Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 Thanks OwenBrooks, Happy to hear RushinYa solved his issue with CTD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrinityRebel Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 It looks as though Microsoft has fixed this type of CTD with its recent update. I no longer have an issue with the screen saver executing as an app. All is good in computer heaven. I hope the CTD issue you are having is now resolved. See you in the warzones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts