I wasn't using the drivers that came with the CD. I downloaded the newest version a couple days ago. When I had it installed (yes, had it installed... still too nervous to do it myself) the drivers were updated then as well.

I really don't think it's overheating since the computer isn't putting out very much heat at all.

And I can't say whether the extra power supply wire was connected since, as I just mentioned, it wasn't installed by me.

*Edit* Regarding the power supply, it's more than enough for a 9600 GT. It requires a 400-watt or greater, and I just upgraded to a Corsair 450.

You need to check the temps even if you don't think it's generating a lot of heat. You can't tell otherwise. Actually if you don't feel a lot of warm air coming out that's not necessarily a good thing. You want warm air to come out, and that tells you that the heat is being taken off your hardware and moved out of the machine. If it's not moving warm air sometimes that's a sign that the cooling system isn't doing a good enough job of removing the heat. Your hardware is generating it whether or not it's moving is the question.Make sure to take note of the maximum temps generated after prolonged game play. You also need to make sure it has a direct connection, but that power supply is a good one. I hear you that you weren't the one to install it initially, but since whoever did it didn't bother to install the newest to begin with, I would still reccomend fully uninstalling and then reinstalling instead of just updating.

Let us know when you've run through these things and what you've found.

Try reinstalling/updating your motherboard drivers (chipset)

Uninstall + Drive-cleaning Software + Newest Drivers = Crash

Uninstall + Drive-cleaning Software + Older Drivers = Crash

Uninstall + Drive-cleaning Software + Omega Drivers = Hardware Incompatibility

:doh :disagree:

Regarding the other suggestions- the card temps are fine, I'm quite sure it's installed properly, and my chipset drivers are up-to-date.

I guess all there is left to try is disabling pixel shaders. I didn't want it to come to that.

So when you opened the case and looked you saw that the card had a direct connection? Can I ask what were your temps after you were playing the game for a while?

http://www.pchelpforum.com/windows-...-bsod-here.html
I would check that out if all else fails

Yes, I personally checked inside and the card is directly connected to the power supply. The current card temps are about 50°C and they didn't rise more than eight above that during the game (fifteen minutes or so into it).

I'll consider posting at that PC Help forum, but I'm guessing we've already exhausted all the options.

*Edit* NVidia just posted a third driver, dated February 26. I'm gonna go test that out right now...

We haven't. If you follow the instructions and post your dump log then they can tell you if it's a driver/software issue, and specifically which one at that.. I dunno what's wrong with my copy of windows but it won't let me view the logs.

Alright, I've got my dump file ready. I'll submit it to them if this third driver doesn't solve the issues. (I'll be testing it shortly.)

*Edit* No, of course the driver didn't work. It just couldn't be that simple, could it? Lol. And as it turns out, it had "kernel memory dump" selected instead of mini dump, so I'll have to reproduce the blue screen crash again. ...This just never ends.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.................... The simplest option would be useshaders off...and wait till a driver sorts the crashing!

Oh my well.. let us know when they tell you what it is that's causing it. I'm curious to know.

TingTong: Their card is compatible with TS2. There is something else going on. I know many people who play the game with this card and no BSOD.

Here's a shot in the dark PP, if you have a Creative sound card then make sure it's in the slot farthest away from the PCI-E slot.
A BSOD is usually a hardware thang.
Just a hunch

Oh, the irony... After several hours of testing, I've been unable to produce any blue screens. It's crashed of course (six times), but all of them have been the typical "this application has crashed; this application will now terminate." Come to think of it, I really only experienced one BSOD, and it was a couple days ago. I just figured it was linked with the other crashes and there'd be more. Do you think they could possibly be unrelated?

I'll explore this issue more tomorrow. Right now, I'm burnt out.

Thanks everyone for your help thus far. And Buzz, I have no idea who made the card, but I'll check it out if nothing else works. My computer's side panel was tough to put back on last time, so I'm a little wary of opening it up again.

Direct X reinstall maybe?
Speaking of which XP or Vista DX9 DX10?

Wow, I didn't realize it had been that long since I responded. I was doing a lot of testing, and other things in life were tying me up as well.

I'm glad to say that I seem to have finally fixed the problem, although I do feel a little stupid now for not trying this first. My hunch was correct in that the blue screen and regular crashes were two separate issues and that the video card had nothing to do with the bulk of my problems. Instead, I can blame it on one little package file that slipped into my downloads folder around the time I switched cards. It's named a bunch of random numbers and letters and doesn't appear to do anything. Although it suspiciously contains a long list of information tied to several bodyshop accessory/clothing/etc. meshes, so perhaps it was overriding them. I have no idea how it got into my game, but I'll definitely keep a tighter reign on files imported through the Clean Installer from now on.

Since removing it, I have not experienced any random crashing, and the game plays very smoothly. It did crash once during a save, however, but so far it's been an isolated incident. ...I'm just hoping it stays that way. I still have no idea as to what caused the BSOD, but I'm wondering if that was just a fluke as well. In any case, if it's as rare as it has been, I don't mind tolerating it once in a while.

Thank you all for your helpful responses, and I apologize for wasting your time with this last problem. I should have just tested all content first (and just for the record, I did test my hacks), but the blue screen was misleading and sent me into a whole different direction.

Here are a couple screenshots of the graphics (cropped, but unresized): portrait, landscape. (Sorry for spamming this family so much. )

yea yea and the peasants rejoiced PP did it lol
Nice screenies I thought you got sucked into the BSOD triangle and would never be heard from again...
How come I got no emicons???

I'm glad you figured out what was crashing your game. Really the BSOD is not something you should just tolerate.. I still recommend posting your dump log on that forum. I know you were waiting for the BSOD to repeat itself so if it has you really should take advantage of it. If it really only happened that one time and never again maybe it was just a system hiccup or combination of things that have resolved itself in other ways.

Yeah, it was just the once. I always just assumed more would be on the way and that all the crashes were blue-screen-related. If I do get it again, though, and it becomes a problem, I'll definitely post my dump log at the pc forum.