ARMA 2 Black Screen on start uo? Please help.

Dear all,

After much searching and reading multiple threads, trying out numerous previous fixes and changing every setting imaginable, I am stuck in a situation where every time I load up ARMA 2 the game goes to a black screen after 5 seconds where you can still hear the music in the back ground but the graphics driver seems to crash. I have seen this problem in a bunch of threads on this and other forums though no suggestions from those threads have helped at all. Below I will list my rig spec and the setting I am running on as well as post the arma2.cfg file. I will also list the suggestions I have tried so far and setting changes I have tried, but if anyone has any insight in to what might be causing this issue I would greatly appreciate your input.

My Rig:

Intel® Core™ i7-3770 (3.40GHz)

Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 Socket 1155

EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5

16GB Corsair DDR3 1600MHz Vengeance Memory

120GB Sandisk SSD system drive

1TD Seagate Barracuda Media Drive

Windows 7 home Prem 64bit

Currently using a Sony Bravia KDL32CX520 32inch at 1920 by 1080p at 50Hz refresh

Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead have been installed, the uninstalled, additional files deleted, re installed, and patched (Arma 2 Update 111. and Arma2OACORFT_update_160).

I'm also running Evga Precision X 3.0.1

Display driver 306.23

Bios: 80.04.19.00.70

Here's my Arma 2.cfg

language="English";

adapter=-1;

3D_Performance=93750;

Resolution_Bpp=32;

Windowed=0;

Resolution_W=1920;

Resolution_H=1080;

refresh=50;

winX=299;

winY=180;

winW=800;

winH=600;

winDefW=800;

winDefH=600;

Render_W=1440;

Render_H=900;

FSAA=2;

postFX=2;

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1000;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=7;

HDRPrecision=8;

lastDeviceId="";

localVRAM=2091581440;

nonlocalVRAM=2147479552;

My current Nvidia configuration for Arma 2 has been restored to the original settings which the game is shipped.

The fixes I've tried so far include: Running Arma as Administrator from the desktop icon as well as from the .exe in the installation folder.

Running the game in windowed mode.

I have matched the frame rate and refresh rate of my monitor at 50Hz in both the Arma2.cfg and the Nvidia settings as well as through Evga Precision X.

I have tried running with the Nvidia settings all maxed, as well as running with all of the Nvidia settings turned off.

Under all of these circumstances we have encountered the exact same fault reoccurring, with the game crashing to a black screen just as the aircraft carrier cof the opening scene comes into view after the Bohemia splash screen.

Then I have to CTRL-ALT-DEL and end the task at which point I see a message on the taskbar indicating that the Graphics Driver has recovered from an error.

Anyway, if you've had the patience to read through this, thank you. As you can probably tell, this is my first gaming rig, which I have just built, so I wasn't expecting it to spaz out so quickly.

Considering the spec and knowing what it's capable of, I'm sure that there is just some small tweaking or downloading that need to be done in order to fix it, so all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for your attention and feel free to PM me any ideas.

Kind regards,

Hardy.

please upload your rpt Hardy

patch the game to latest update (1.62), maybe even try latest beta patch.

set your renderer (3d resolution) to match your display resolution.

winx=299 and winy=180 seems a bit strange also, should be 16/32.

With those specs, I dont see how you have a problem, but a couple of things off the top of my head with Evga Precision X which i also have

check the temps to make sure your not running to high, also dont overclock if you are.

Long time since I went into the game from the arma 2 side always now arrowhead, still these are my arma 2 game config if its any use. Can't see why it should do what it does for you but the 3D settings are quite different. Although in arrowhead my 3D setting is 100000...

language="English";

adapter=-1;

3D_Performance=48387;

Resolution_Bpp=32;

Windowed=0;

Resolution_W=1920;

Resolution_H=1080;

refresh=60;

winX=16;

winY=32;

winW=800;

winH=600;

winDefW=800;

winDefH=600;

Render_W=1440;

Render_H=900;

FSAA=2;

postFX=2;

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1000;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=2;

HDRPrecision=8;

lastDeviceId="";

localVRAM=2135367680;

nonlocalVRAM=1877766144;

Sorry can't help otherwise.

Hope you get it sorted..

please upload your rpt Hardy

*Edit. I've installed the most recent patches also. I'm pretty much at a loss at this point and considering paying someone to look at it.

Thanks for your responses guys. Here are my two most recent crash reports:

=====================================================================
== C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2.exe
== "C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2.exe" 
=====================================================================
Exe timestamp: 2012/09/16 09:38:20
Current time:  2012/09/16 10:01:57

Version 1.11.86734
graphics:  D3D9, Device: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670, Driver:nvd3dum.dll 9.18.13.623
resolution:  1536x864x32
Addons:
 CAAir2_C130J in ca\air2\c130j\, CAAir2_UH1Y in ca\air2\uh1y\
 CA_Animals2_Cow in ca\animals2\cow\, CABuildings2 in ca\buildings2\
 CAStructures_IndPipe1_todo_delete in ca\buildings2\ind_pipeline\indpipe1\
 Ind_SiloVelke in ca\buildings2\ind_cementworks\ind_silovelke\
 Chernarus in ca\chernarus\, CA_Dubbing in ca\dubbing\
 CA_Modules_DynO in ca\modules\dyno\, CASounds_Missions in ca\soundmissions\
 CAStructuresHouse_A_Office02 in ca\structures\house\a_office02\
 CAStructures_Proxy_BuildingParts in ca\structures\proxy_buildingparts\
 CAStructuresHouse_Church_02 in ca\structures\house\church_02\
 CAWeapons_2b14_82mm_Mortar in ca\weapons\podnos_2b14_82mm\
 CAWheeled2_HMMWV_BASE in ca\wheeled2\hmmwv\, CA_AIR2_Su25 in ca\air2\su25\
 CABuildingParts in ca\buildings2\buildingparts\
 CA_Missions_SecOps in ca\missions\som\
 CA_Missions_FirstAidSystem in ca\modules\fa\, CA_Modules_ZoRA in ca\modules\zora\
 pond_test in ca\structures\pond\
 CAStructuresLand_Nav_Boathouse in ca\structures\nav_boathouse\
 CAStructuresHouse_Church_03 in ca\structures\house\church_03\
 CAStructuresHouse_Church_05R in ca\structures\house\church_05r\
 CAWater2_LHD in ca\water2\lhd\, CAWheeled2_GAZ39371 in ca\wheeled2\gaz39371\
 CAWheeled2_Ikarus in ca\wheeled2\ikarus\
 CAHouseBlock_A in ca\buildings2\houseblocks\houseblock_a\
 Ind_Pec in ca\buildings2\ind_cementworks\ind_pec\
 CAMisc_fix_Ch2 in ca\misc_fix\ch2\
 CA_Missions_BattlefieldClearance in ca\modules\bc\
 CA_Missions_GarbageCollector in ca\modules\garbage_collector\
 CA_Modules_Marta in ca\modules\marta\
 CAStructuresHouse_A_FuelStation in ca\structures\house\a_fuelstation\
 CAStructures_Rail in ca\structures\rail\
 CAStructuresHouse_A_Hospital in ca\structures\house\a_hospital\
 CAWeapons_AmmoBoxes in ca\weapons\ammoboxes\
 CAWeapons2_HuntingRifle in ca\weapons2\huntingrifle\
 CAWheeled_Pickup in ca\wheeled\datsun_armed\
 CAWheeled2_M998A2_Avenger in ca\wheeled2\hmmwv\m998a2_avenger\
 CAWheeled2_MTVR in ca\wheeled2\mtvr\
 CA_Animals2_Dogs_Pastor in ca\animals2\dogs\pastor\
 CAHouseBlock_B in ca\buildings2\houseblocks\houseblock_b\
 Farm_WTower in ca\buildings2\farm_wtower\, CARoads2Dam in ca\roads2\dam\
 CASounds in ca\sounds\, CAStructures_Proxy_Ruins in ca\structures\proxy_ruins\
 CAStructures_Mil in ca\structures\mil\
 CAStructuresHouse_HouseV2 in ca\structures\house\housev2\
 CAStructuresHouse_Shed_Ind in ca\structures\shed_ind\
 Ind_SawMill in ca\structures\ind_sawmill\
 CAStructuresLand_Ind_Stack_Big in ca\structures\ind\
 CATracked2_T90 in ca\tracked2\t90\, CAWeapons_SPG9 in ca\weapons\spg9\
 CAWeapons_VSS_vintorez in ca\weapons\vss_vintorez\
 CAWeapons_ZU23 in ca\weapons\zu23\
 CAWeapons_Metis_AT_13 in ca\weapons\metis_at_13\
 CAWeapons_bizon in ca\weapons\bizon\
 CAWeapons_Warfare_weapons in ca\weapons\static\
 CAWheeled2_LADA in ca\wheeled2\lada\, CAWheeled2_BTR90 in ca\wheeled2\btr90\
 CA_Animals2_Rabbit in ca\animals2\rabbit\
 CA_Animals2_Anim_Config in ca\animals2\animconfig\
 Rail_House_01 in ca\buildings2\rail_house_01\
 CAHouseBlock_C in ca\buildings2\houseblocks\houseblock_c\
 Ind_Workshop01 in ca\buildings2\ind_workshop01\, CACharacters2 in ca\characters2\
 CA_Modules_Coin in ca\modules\coin\, CARoads2Bridge in ca\roads2\bridge\
 CASigns2 in ca\signs2\, CAStructures_A_BuildingWIP in ca\structures\a_buildingwip\
 CAStructuresLand_A_MunicipalOffice in ca\structures\a_municipaloffice\
 CAStructures_Castle in ca\structures\castle\
 CATracked2_2S6M_Tunguska in ca\tracked2\2s6m_tunguska\
 CATracked2_T34 in ca\tracked2\t34\, CAWater2_Fregata in ca\water2\fregata\
 CAWheeled in ca\wheeled\, Arma2_Ka52 in ca\air2\ka52\
 CAAir2_ChukarTarget in ca\air2\chukar\
 CAHouseBlock_D in ca\buildings2\houseblocks\houseblock_d\
 Barn_Metal in ca\buildings2\barn_metal\
 CA_Missions_Armory2 in ca\missions\armory\, CA_Missions in ca\missions\
 missions_ew in ca\missions_ew\
 CAStructures_IndPipe1 in ca\structures\ind_pipeline\indpipe1\
 CAStructuresHouse_a_stationhouse in ca\structures\house\a_stationhouse\
 CAStructuresInd_Quarry in ca\structures\ind_quarry\
 CAweapons_m107 in ca\weapons\m107\, CAWeapons_M1014 in ca\weapons\m1014\
 CAWheeled2_LAV25 in ca\wheeled2\lav25\, CAWheeled2_Kamaz in ca\wheeled2\kamaz\
 CAWheeled3_TT650 in ca\wheeled3\tt650\, CAAir in ca\air\, HALO_Test in ca\air2\halo\
 CA_Anims in ca\anims\, Ind_Tank in ca\buildings2\ind_tank\
 Farm_Cowshed in ca\buildings2\farm_cowshed\
 Shed_wooden in ca\buildings2\shed_wooden\
 ind_silomale in ca\buildings2\ind_cementworks\ind_silomale\
 Ind_Dopravnik in ca\buildings2\ind_cementworks\ind_dopravnik\
 CA_Heads in ca\characters\heads\, CALanguage_missions in ca\languagemissions\
 CAMisc_fix_A2FREE in ca\misc_fix\a2free\, CAMisc_fix_Str in ca\misc_fix\str\
 BI_SRRS in ca\modules\srrs\, CA_Modules_UAV in ca\modules\uav\
 CA_Missions_AlternativeInjurySimulation in ca\modules\ais\
 CAStructuresHouse_rail_station_big in ca\structures\rail\rail_station_big\
 CAStructures in ca\structures\, CATracked2_BMP3 in ca\tracked2\bmp3\
 Warfare2 in ca\warfare2\, CAWater2_seafox in ca\water2\seafox\
 CAWheeled2_VWGolf in ca\wheeled2\vwgolf\, CAWheeled2_MMT in ca\wheeled2\mmt\
 CAAnimals in ca\animals\, CA_Animals2_Dogs_Fin in ca\animals2\dogs\fin\
 Misc_WaterStation in ca\buildings2\misc_waterstation\
 CATEC in ca\buildings2\buildingparts\signs\tec\
 A_GeneralStore_01 in ca\buildings2\a_generalstore_01\, CA_Editor in ca\editor\
 CA_Missions_Templates_SecOps in ca\missions\templates\secops.west\
 CA_Modules_Silvie in ca\modules\silvie\, CARocks2 in ca\rocks2\
 CAStructuresShed_Small in ca\structures\shed\shed_small\
 CAStructuresHouse_HouseBT in ca\structures\house\housebt\, CAUI in ca\ui\
 Utes in ca\utes\, CAWeapons in ca\weapons\, CAWeapons2 in ca\weapons2\
 CAAir2 in ca\air2\, CAAir3_Su34 in ca\air3\su34\
 CA_Anims_Wmn in ca\anims\characters\config\wmn\
 A_Crane_02 in ca\buildings2\a_crane_02\
 CABuildings2_Misc_Cargo in ca\buildings2\misc_cargo\
 CACharacters in ca\characters\
 CAStructuresHouse_HouseV in ca\structures\house\housev\, CAFonts in ca\uifonts\
 CAWheeled2_V3S in ca\wheeled2\v3s\, CAWheeled3_M1030 in ca\wheeled3\m1030\
 CAAir2_MV22 in ca\air2\mv22\, CAAir3 in ca\air3\
 CA_Animals2_Chicken in ca\animals2\birds\chicken\, CA_Animals2 in ca\animals2\
 CA_Anims_Sdr in ca\anims\characters\config\sdr\
 Misc_PowerStation in ca\buildings2\misc_powerstation\
 CABuildingParts_Signs in ca\buildings2\buildingparts\signs\
 IndPipe2 in ca\buildings2\ind_pipeline\indpipe2\
 Ind_Expedice in ca\buildings2\ind_cementworks\ind_expedice\
 Ind_Vysypka in ca\buildings2\ind_cementworks\ind_vysypka\, CAMisc in ca\misc\
 CAMisc_fix_air in ca\misc_fix\air\, CA_Modules_clouds in ca\modules\clouds\
 CA_Modules_Alice in ca\modules\alice\, CA_Modules_Animals in ca\modules\animals\
 CAWheeled_Offroad in ca\wheeled\hilux_armed\, CAAir2_F35B in ca\air2\f35b\
 CAAir2_Pchela1T in ca\air2\pchela1t\, CA_Animals2_Sheep in ca\animals2\sheep\
 CA_Animals2_Dogs in ca\animals2\dogs\, Ind_Garage01 in ca\buildings2\ind_garage01\
 CAData in Ca\, CA_Dubbing_Counterattack in ca\dubbing\counterattack\
 CALanguage in ca\language\, CA_Modules_ARTY in ca\modules\arty\
 CARoads2 in ca\roads2\, A_TVTower in ca\structures\a_tvtower\
 CAStructuresHouse in ca\structures\house\, CAWater in ca\water\
 CAWater2_Destroyer in ca\water2\destroyer\, CAWater2 in ca\water2\
 CAWeapons2_SMAW in ca\weapons2\smaw\
 CA_Animals2_WildBoar in ca\animals2\wildboar\
 CA_Anims_Char in ca\anims\characters\config\
 Shed_small in ca\buildings2\shed_small\
 CABuildings2_A_Pub in ca\buildings2\a_pub\, WarfareBuildings in ca\misc3\wf\
 CA_Modules_Functions in ca\modules\functions\
 CAStructuresBarn_W in ca\structures\barn_w\
 CAStructures_Wall in ca\structures\wall\
 CAStructures_Railway in ca\structures\rail\railway\, CATracked in ca\tracked\
 CAWeapons_Saiga12K in ca\weapons\saiga12k\
 CAWheeled2_HMMWV_Ambulance in ca\wheeled2\hmmwv\m997a2_ambulance\
 CAA10 in ca\a10\, CAAir2_MQ9PredatorB in ca\air2\mq9predatorb\
 A_statue in ca\buildings2\a_statue\
 Ind_Mlyn in ca\buildings2\ind_cementworks\ind_mlyn\
 CAData_ParticleEffects in Ca\data\particleeffects\, CAMisc2 in ca\misc2\
 CA_HighCommand in ca\modules\hc\, CA_Modules in ca\modules\
 CA_Missions_AmbientCombat in ca\modules\ambient_combat\
 CAStructures_Nav_pier in ca\structures\nav_pier\
 CAStructures_Ruins in ca\structures\ruins\
 CATracked2_us_m270mlrs in ca\tracked2\us_m270mlrs\, CATracked2 in ca\tracked2\
 Warfare2Vehicles in ca\warfare2vehicles\, CAweapons_ksvk in ca\weapons\ksvk\
 CAWeapons2_RPG18 in ca\weapons2\rpg18\, CAWheeled2 in ca\wheeled2\
 CAWheeled2_M1114_Armored in ca\wheeled2\hmmwv\m1114_armored\
 CAWheeled2_TowingTractor in ca\wheeled2\towingtractor\, CA_AH64D in ca\ah64\
 Church_01 in ca\buildings2\church_01\, HouseRuins in ca\buildings2\houseruins\
 Ind_Shed_01 in ca\buildings2\ind_shed_01\
 Ind_MalyKomin in ca\buildings2\ind_cementworks\ind_malykomin\
 CAMisc3 in ca\misc3\, CAMisc_fix in ca\misc_fix\
 CAMisc_fix_Weap in ca\misc_fix\weap\, CA_HC_Sounds in ca\missions\data\sounds\
 CAMusic in ca\music\
 CAStructures_Misc_Powerlines in ca\structures\misc_powerlines\
 CAStructures_Nav in ca\structures\nav\
 CAWater2_fishing_boat in ca\water2\fishing_boat\
 CAWeapons_M252_81mm_Mortar in ca\weapons\m252_81mm_mortar\
 CAWeapons_Kord in ca\weapons\kord\, CAWeapons_Colt1911 in ca\weapons\colt1911\
 CAWheeled3 in ca\wheeled3\, CA_CruiseMissile in ca\air2\cruisemissile\
 CA_Animals2_Goat in ca\animals2\goat\, CABuildings in ca\buildings\
 Ind_Shed_02 in ca\buildings2\ind_shed_02\
 CA_Modules_StratLayer in ca\modules\strat_layer\
 CAStructures_A_CraneCon in ca\structures\a_cranecon\
 CAStructuresHouse_A_Office01 in ca\structures\house\a_office01\
 CATracked2_AAV in ca\tracked2\aav\, CAWater2_smallboat_1 in ca\water2\small_boat\
 CAWeapons_DMR in ca\weapons\dmr\, CAWeapons_AK in ca\weapons\ak\
Mods: CA
Distribution: 1466
Warning: looped for animation: ca\wheeled\data\anim\uaz_cargo01_v0.rtm differs (looped now 0)! MoveName: kia_uaz_cargo02
Warning: looped for animation: ca\wheeled\data\anim\uaz_cargo01_v0.rtm differs (looped now 1)! MoveName: uaz_cargo02


And from Operation Arrowhead: 



=====================================================================
== C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2OA.exe
== "C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2OA.exe" 
=====================================================================
Exe timestamp: 2012/09/14 14:04:17
Current time:  2012/09/14 14:14:28

Version 1.59.79385
Item str_disp_server_control listed twice
Warning: looped for animation: ca\wheeled\data\anim\uaz_cargo01_v0.rtm differs (looped now 0)! MoveName: kia_uaz_cargo02
Warning: looped for animation: ca\wheeled\data\anim\uaz_cargo01_v0.rtm differs (looped now 1)! MoveName: uaz_cargo02


=====================================================================
== C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2OA.exe
== "C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2OA.exe" 
=====================================================================
Exe timestamp: 2012/09/14 17:28:29
Current time:  2012/09/14 23:17:55

Version 1.60.87580
Warning: no type entry inside class RscLoadScreenCustom/controls/Title1 
Warning: no type entry inside class RscLoadScreenCustom/controlsBackground/Loading_BG 
Warning: no type entry inside class RscLoadScreenCustom/controlsBackground/Loading_CE2 

Thanks again for your help everyone.

Regards,

Hardy

Hi again HardyBuck,

Thanks for posting your RPT, just for future references for the forums, when posting something such as an RPT which can be long,

all depends, as a suggestion go to advanced at the bottom right of the post and choose either a spoiler once in advanced, or use the # for code,

this way the RPT will be put into a box that can be scrolled.

Why?, makes it easier to read as it condenses the post, just a thought.

anyways,

a few questions from viewing your RPT.

1. For arma2OA you have Version 1.60, theres a new patch get it here,

the patch fixes alot of stuff, and other things, def recommended.

2. When you play, how do you play, campaigns, scenarios, custom missions in the editor?

3. I honestly dont see any issues with the game other then Arma2OA version being out of date.

4.

I see a message on the taskbar indicating that the Graphics Driver has recovered from an error.

From your first post, it seems that the problem you having stems from the Graphics card/driver.

my question for you here is what are your temperatures for your graphics card, are they normal or high?

5. Have you tried to roll back to a previous driver for the card?

6. Do you have any programs that can scan your computer for any errors, or registry problems, or fragmentation?

If you can answer those, then I/ we can further help figure out what possibly is going wrong.

Just a quick note so as not to confuse. I am mates with HardyBuck, and built the rig he is using to play Arma 2 on. To clarify, this rig was built last weekend for the express and sole purpose of playing Arma 2 so that might help a little bit with some of the answers to the following questions. Also a huge thanks to everyone who has posted in this thread so far. This is a very helpful community and was glad to see people willing to lend their experience. Now lets see if I can help with any of this and get some of these questions answered.

Hi again HardyBuck,

1. For arma2OA you have Version 1.60, theres a new patch get it

the patch fixes alot of stuff, and other things, def recommended.

Last night Hardy was uploading new patches, I am hoping he will drop online later to spell out exactly which ones have been applied to date. Hopefully this most recent patch will solve the problems, but I will have to wait till he is on line to check as we don't live close to each other.

2. When you play, how do you play, campaigns, scenarios, custom missions in the editor?

Funny thing is that he hasn't been able to play the game yet, as every single time the game is launched it fails to a black screen at exactly the same point give or take a few seconds. Hence the serious amounts of frustration on Hardy's part as he forked out for this rig, came over to mine and we built it, then spent three days straight trying to get it even to load up to an options menu.

3. I honestly dont see any issues with the game other then Arma2OA version being out of date.

Again hopefully the most recent patch will have sorted this out, but to me it seems that the issue is something in the Arma 2 set up causing the graphics driver to crash. Günter can you confirm what any of the warnings from bottoms of the RPT files mean? The thing is everything else in relation to the rig seems to be running fine. We downloaded Deus X 2 from Steam (it was only a fiver) just to make sure that the graphics card could run another game and it handled it perfect well though I know the specs needed for that game must pale in comparison to Arma 2 running at full clip.

4.

From your first post, it seems that the problem you having stems from the Graphics card/driver.

my question for you here is what are your temperatures for your graphics card, are they normal or high?

I will have to get Hardy to post the temps from the EVGA precision X, but from what I could see from when we had the machine here it looked to be running at nominal temps , even when pushing the card with the benchmarks test in the EVGA sorfware it was coping well.

5. Have you tried to roll back to a previous driver for the card?

Again will have to wait and see Hardy's answer to this, as we updated every driver to the most recent versions when we were here, but since he took the rig back to his house I know he tried to uninstall the graphics driver in order to roll it back, but in the end I don't think that went so smoothly.

6. Do you have any programs that can scan your computer for any errors, or registry problems, or fragmentation?

Again this is literally a completely fresh install of everything, windows, direct x, all the graphics drivers and software, though the game itself was installed once then uninstalled then reinstalled then multiple patches applied. Can you suggest a good program for doing what you are suggesting here?

If you can answer those, then I/ we can further help figure out what possibly is going wrong.

Please feel free to put forth any ideas you might have. Hopefully Hardy will get on here soon and update thing more thoroughly but I'm also helping this might have shed a little light on the situation. Cheers and all the best and thanks again for the help lads.

---------- Post added at 21:40 ---------- Previous post was at 21:31 ----------

Sorry forgot to clear up just two other point.

First, the graphics card is not being overclocked at all.

Secondly in relation the part in the first post where Hardy said " I see a message on the taskbar indicating that the Graphics Driver has recovered from an error. ":

This is what happens after the game goes to a black screen and you Ctrl, Alt Delete to bring up task manager then stop the process for Arma 2 running and then from the task bar that notification pops up. Again I took this to mean that it was obvious that Arma 2 was causing the graphics driver to crash most like due to a faulty setting of some sort in either the NVidia settings or in the Arma2.CFG.

Hope that helps clear it up a little.

Quote Originally Posted by Günter Severloh V

6. Do you have any programs that can scan your computer for any errors, or registry problems, or fragmentation?

Again this is literally a completely fresh install of everything, windows, direct x, all the graphics drivers and software, though the game itself

was installed once then uninstalled then reinstalled then multiple patches applied.

Can you suggest a good program for doing what you are suggesting here?

yes i can suggest using and or trying System Mechanic, I use it myself regularly as it will scan for errors, , defrag, and many other things.

Just some other thoughts, you have Windows 7 home Prem 64bit, so run the game as administrator.

also

what was said here:

set your renderer (3d resolution) to match your display resolution.

winx=299 and winy=180 seems a bit strange also, should be 16/32.

also considering its your video card that is giving you the issue

review this page and apply accordingly:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?76908-NVIDIA-video-card%28s%29-owners-read-here!&highlight=black+screen

Lastly if the game is crashing heres something you can do too:

Got game crash? Do this

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?110823-Got-game-crash-Do-this

Hey Everyone, thanks once more for your help.

I have since been in touch with both the Arma 2 tech support and also emailed Evga as well as one of the developers on this site.

Only Arma 2 tech support have responded to me and this is what they've said:

Your PC is well above the minimum requirements for playing Arma2 however we may not be able to make the game run, as it was never conceived for such a high-end system. My first suggestion is to try a right click on Arma2's executable, which is normally found on Windows 7 64-bit in Program Files (x86). This is where older, 32-bit programs are stored. You would see ArmA2's folder here and the executable file. If you right click on this, you can choose to run in a compatibility mode for Windows XP, which is the operating system for which ArmA 2 was designed.

It was good of you to send us your diagnostic files, though. That you have sometimes a driver error on launch may indicate a problem with the video drivers and I answer your question about how to check if your graphics card is overclocked (as per your previous email).

Normally when you install a full driver set for your nVidia graphics card (yours is the GTX 670) you get advanced 3D properties in a control panel which should live next to your Windows clock. It depends on the drivers you have as the name differs (your drivers are dated 4/4/2012) but the overclocking program is normally in here and it should give default clock settings and tell you the settings of your card. I personally tend to leave these settings alone, as overclocking is something which enthusiasts do and any change to default settings can invalidate your warranty.

I have experienced crashing to desktop on a brand new computer when I try to play an older game; it's not automatic that an older game can play on a PC which is massively over the spec of the original game and sometimes the only way to play an older game is to try an old Windows emulator such as dosbox (obtainable on gamers' sites on the internet).

Your drivers though, being dated 4/4/2012, may be beta style drivers and it's possible that an update to the very latest nVidia drivers may help. nVidia should be able to tell you about the latest, fully digitally-signed drivers as opposed to beta (experimental) ones and how to uninstall the old ones, possibly remove any driver file traces and then install the new. This is not something we can do, particularly on a system which was not possible at the time when Arma2 was designed.

We do not actually support Arma: Operation Arrowhead as this is done by www.bistudios.com.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen I at 505 Games Support

I already installed the latest driver update and I know the card isn't over-clocked so I'm really out of ideas at this point, being told by the official tech support that 'Your machine is too good for this game', seems mildly retarded to me and a slightly lazy answer considering that i sent them so much data (msinfo, dxdiag, .rpt) . Anyway, it's been 5 consecutive days of this so excuse me if I'm a little grumpy about it at this point.

I also tried updating the Motherboard bios and still nothing. The updated Nvidia driver was only released on the 13th and is still crashing just the same as the previous version, I havent been able to find an earlier driver that is compatible with my card which might run better with the game.

Hi HardyBuck,

back again late reply, I had no internet for the past week, but I had mentioned your issue with a associate friend of mine at work

who builds, and knows alot about computers, and I had mentioned to him that you have 16gb of ram, and i was thinking that maybe you

could remove a few sticks to run about only 2-4 gigs only to start, as he had agreed with me, he suggested to make sure your

ram sticks are inserted correctly, and that to run less ram to start and then go from there.

Just a thought, try it out and see if it does anything.

There is a quick solution about it , it happened to me once . You just need to set the desktop resolution to be exactly the same with that of the game , then the game will open in fullscreen with video and sound so you will be able to exit normally and reset your desktop resolution to the original , the game will run fine after that.

Hope it helps.

Looks as if hes already running the same resolution as his monitor, as seen on the first page:

Currently using a Sony Bravia KDL32CX520 32inch at 1920 by 1080p at 50Hz refresh

Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead have been installed, the uninstalled, additional files deleted, re installed,

and patched (Arma 2 Update 111. and Arma2OACORFT_update_160).

I'm also running Evga Precision X 3.0.1

Display driver 306.23

Bios: 80.04.19.00.70

Here's my Arma 2.cfg

language="English";

adapter=-1;

3D_Performance=93750;

Resolution_Bpp=32;

Windowed=0;

Resolution_W=1920;

Resolution_H=1080;

Good point though, I'd like to see what he figured out or has done anything.

dont touch nothing on startup press control alt enter i have this problem everytime i load arma 2 oa

Hey everyone. Thanks again for your replies and attention.

Cheers for your input again Gunter, I tried removing one of the chip sets (I have 2 8GB ones) and I encountered the same issue.

Ive figured out nothing, basically. Other than the engine Arma runs in is slightly retarded.

Arma is still sitting in it's box after I've uninstalled it for the 5th or so time and I've found the stoners at tech support for Arma 2 (505games.co.uk) to be piss poor.

Apparently this forum is the official tech support for OA.

I've ran a few other games on my new rig at this point, all of them on their highest settings, and encountered no problems whatsoever.

Because my graphics card is relatively new, I cant roll back my drivers too far. I couldn't be bothered re-installing windows, because frankly I dont think that it would work, given that I have tried almost everything else possible.

I also downloaded the OA Demo from Steam and again, it spazzed out in the same manner as Arma 2 and OA did.

There's a "cheat" code that allows you to somehow recover from the black screen, that's the "flush" command (http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA:_Cheats), but it won't solve the problem, because i suppose it will happen again after the flush. You could also try to open a support ticket on BIStore to see what it gives (they are very helpful, but as you didn't buy the game there, i dunno).

Finally you can try to play with memory allocators : http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA_2:_Custom_Memory_Allocator

had the same problem

the cause was turning up the making items larger or smaller page in the resolution page of right click desktop menu of windows 7