[SOLVED] When launching Unreal Engine Games, my computer resets

[ninjafighter7]

Okay so this has been a weird issue that has plagued me since I started my new build (around November of 2020) I thought that my ageing 980ti was failing, so I wasn't too worried about it. It took me a long time to finally get an upgrade (6600xt). My issue persists. Here are the details:

Issue:

Some games (especially Unreal Engine 4 titles such as Hell Let Loose and Insurgency Sandstorm) reset/crash my computer. This happens in the short window of time between launching the game and the main menu rendering. This happens on both my 980ti and the new 6600XT. note: Both of these games feature 3D rendered characters in the main menu

A few other games have also crashed (Walkabout Minigolf VR, HL: Alyx, and probably a few other that I'm forgetting.) However, these games can at least make it passed the main menu before doing so. Also, I was able to play through both of these games as the crashing/resetting was pretty rare. With the UE4 titles the crashing is persistent and I've never made it to gameplay.

Specs:

OS: Windows 10 Pro 19042.1165
CPU: Ryzen 5600X
GPU: EVGA 980ti / Gigabyte RX 6600XT
RAM: G.Skill 32GB DDR4 PC4-28800 3600MHz Ripjaws V
MOBO: ASUS ROG Strix B550-F
SSD: Crucial P5 1TB 3D NAND NVMe SSD
PSU: Seasonic FOCUS 850W Gold PSU

Attempted Remedies:

I've ran stress tests via Prime95 (blend) memory and cpu seem stable, I've reinstalled the games, I've reinstalled the GPU drivers, I'm not sure what else to do.

 

[ninjafighter7]

Update:

Well I just reseated my memory and now I am able to boot into Hell Let Loose pretty consistently. I've got Insurgency set to download overnight, so I'll try it out in the morning to see if it works...

Weird that the memory worked every other time, but not for these games? Maybe it was static build up that only showed itself during UE games?

I'll keep updating. Hopefully I can get my beloved 980ti back in working order and sell/return the 6600xt. Would rather wait for a proper upgrade maybe in the next generation

 

[ninjafighter7]

Update:

So this morning I was able to try out Insurgency Sandstorm and it is still crashing/resetting my PC. I tried Hell Let Loose again and it worked flawlessly (for the 5 minutes I was messing with it before work.)

When I get home later I'm going to try each RAM stick one at a time to see if I:S will launch with any configuration. If it does not, perhaps the RAM isn't the issue.

I think at this point the GPU and PSU are probably not the issue, as I've tried two seperate GPUs and this doesn't seem like a PSU issue.

Wondering where to look next if the RAM is not the issue, MOBO or CPU?

Edit: forgot to mention, every time that I:S crashes, Steam will attempt to make me reinstall the game before I can try again. It'll detect existing files and then allow me to play. Weird quirk but maybe useful in solving this mess.

 

[ninjafighter7]

Update:

Can't seem to get Insurgency Sandstorm to work no matter what memory configuration I use. The game immediately crashes and after a few seconds the Windows login screen appears.

If anyone thinks they could help I could post a video of the system. At this point I'm thinking about flashing the BIOS to see if that does anything. I'm not sure what else to try short of buying a new CPU and trying that.

I guess I could also try a fresh install of Windows and see what happens.

Edit: So something that I forgot to mention, apparently the computer will only boot when ram is in one of these configurations: single stick 2nd slot, single stick 4th slot, dual stick 2/4 slots, dual stick 1/2 slot, dual stick 3/4 slot.

In other words, the first (closest to CPU) and third slot only work in some configurations. I assume this is normal? When the computer does boot it always detects the correct amount of ram.

 

[ninjafighter7]

Resolution:

Okay so after all this time I've finally figured out what is wrong with my computer. In case anyone has a similar issue, I'll keep my post up.

So it turns out that Unreal Engine was not the issue. It just so happens that the two UE games I have both use Easy Anti Cheat. This was the actual culprit behind the crashes!

So the reason why EAC was causing crashes like this is because my motherboard was using an older BIOS. The solution was simple, I just had to update my motherboard's BIOS. This was something I had done initially when I built the system, didn't imagine that I'd have to update it again.

Anyways with that done the computer booted the game perfectly, and I was able to launch into a match.