Need for Speed Shift black screen crash.

[iowahawkeye5]

I recently purchased Need for Speed Shift on Steam and I downloaded and installed the game with no problem but when I started the game up it should the initial Need for Speed Shift logo with a yellow loading bar below it and about 2 seconds later every time the game screen turns black and freezes up.

I then contact EA chat support who was of no help.

I then went online looking for solutions and was able to get the game running in compatibility mode through Windows 98/ME and that is good in all but in compatibility mode the game will only run on one core and I have a quad core processor and frankly the game is unplayable.

I came here looking for anyone who could help me with this problem and any help would be appreciated.

Specs:
Windows 7 64 bit
AMD Phenom IIX4 955 BE @ 3.6 Ghz
Sapphire 6850 1GB Toxic Edition - Driver version 10.10
4 GB Ram @ 1333 Mhz

[SirFork]

I am having this problem as well. As are many people who own this game. There is no apparent fix other than disabling all cores but 1 for people who have this issue. From my searching this issue has persisted for over a year. I would say that all software parties involved have swept this problem under the rug, and all future inquiries regarding this issue will be ignored. I'm just so glad i paid money for a crippled game!

[macdaddyjoshua]

Same here--it crashes after intro movie. I have Win7 64-bit, 8GB RAM, quad-core Core i7 proc, AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1GB VRAM. This reminds me of a problem I had with Colin McRae Dirt that was caused by the game not being able to handle the way a quad-core processor does hyperthreading. I wonder if this situation is similar??

[crysisfreak]

weird, antivirus turned off?

[El_Cappatain]

Mine just gets to the loading bar (yellow) and locks up.

[Max_R]

Same for me

[Videodr0me]

For me not even limiting shift to one core with or without all possible combinations of compatibility (Win95/98/XP//Vista SPX) works. The game crashes right after the title video - which plays after the ea logo and the safety screen. Tried everything from the various post on the ea forums and this forum. Among them:
- Turning off Hyperthreading in the Bios
- limiting shift to one and two cores
- deleting graphicsconfig.xml
- editing graphicsconfig.xml in all conceivable ways, even replacing it with versions from the net
- trying all possible combinations of videocard options (Aliasing/Crossfire/Surface Optmizition etc.)
- trying different screen resolutions and aspect ratios
- replacing physx with the one provided with the shift install and trying the most recent beta (114) from nvidia
- Removing all other processes/virusscanners etc.
- turning off steam overlay in the game
- updating directx and videocard drivers (currently catalyst 11.4)
- and more than i care to remember

First game ever to have this sort of problem on my machine (Win7 x64, AMD 5970, 12 GB RAM, 980x). Wasted already countless hours on this ♥♥♥♥.. eh shift. I will wait a couple of more days for somebody to come up with a solution or for a patch to be released. If not i will ask steam for a refund. Luckily i am in europe.

[Afinda]

You guys might as well try to apply the community patch 1.05 or OverhaulMOD 2.0 (both can be applied to the steam version as far as i know) which fix various bugs and remove the intro videos.

Can't tell you if this'll work - but if you've tried about everything there is then you may as well give it a shot.

Community Patch 1.05:
http://www.virtualr.net/need-for-speed-shift-community-patch-1-05-released/

Overhaul MOD:
http://www.virtualr.net/need-for-speed-shift-overhaul-mod-2-0-released/


Com Patch 1.05 keeps the stock driving feeling of Shift and includes bug fixes.

Overhaul aims to push the game more towards sim racing adding quite lots of improvements for wheel users while also adding bug fixes.

*edit* You won't be able to play online or submit any record times to friends while playing with one of these mods ;/

[K3ke]

I have the same issues. The game will not start at all. It crashes immediately after starting. I do not have any problems with other Steam games. This is really annoying :(

[ged_geck]

I had a problem with game freezes after loading bar.
I'm not sure what exactly helps to me but here are steps that I did:
1. Verify integrity of game cache (it was OK, so I assume you could skip that step);
2. Install community patch 1.05 (links were posted above);
3. Find a folder where NFS Shift was installed (<Steam Folder>\steamapps\common\need for speed shift);
4. Right click on executable (SHIFT.exe);
5. Go to Properties->Compatibility;
6. Add checkbox to use compatibility mode and select Windows 98/ME here;
7. Add checkbox to run executable as administrator.

And after that steps Shift is working. IMHO setting to run as administrator was right move for me. Hope it helps somebody.

[BSzabad]

I've been having the freeze during the intro splash as well. I just launch from the .exe in the app folder as an admin and half of the time it works. If it freezes I just bring up the task manager, kill the process and restart. Not the greatest fix but as long as it launches part of the time it doesn't matter to me.

[Videodr0me]

Tried the patch to 1.05, but unfortunately the game still crashes. It probably does not with the 980x period. Even if you limit cpu affinity to one core - be it with process lasso, radeon pro or setting compability to win95 or win98 - it just does not work here. Two other 980x users have the same problem. Is there any 980x user here where the game works under win7 x64?

Also restarting the shift countless times as and admin yielded no one succesfull lauch of the game. It just always crashes after the intro screen (1.02) or at the loading screen after the safety warning (v1.05) .


I had a problem with game freezes after loading bar.
I'm not sure what exactly helps to me but here are steps that I did:
1. Verify integrity of game cache (it was OK, so I assume you could skip that step);
2. Install community patch 1.05 (links were posted above);
3. Find a folder where NFS Shift was installed (<Steam Folder>\steamapps\common\need for speed shift);
4. Right click on executable (SHIFT.exe);
5. Go to Properties->Compatibility;
6. Add checkbox to use compatibility mode and select Windows 98/ME here;
7. Add checkbox to run executable as administrator.

And after that steps Shift is working. IMHO setting to run as administrator was right move for me. Hope it helps somebody.

[Afinda]

If you keep restarting Shift via Steam, you might as well also run Steam as administrator (i do that all the time due to various problems i've encounterd b4 with other games). Dunno if that'll help though.

[Naeryan]

For those who are with windows xp try to install the sp3 it worked for me(sorry for my english) .Hope this will help.

Pour ceux qui sont sous windows xp essayez d'installer le service pack 3 ça a marché pour moi.

[Videodr0me]

Tried running steam and/or shift in administrator mode - but the game still crashes. I also reinstalled vcredist 2005,2008 and 2010 for both x64 and x86.... but also no luck, game still crashes. Tried installing the newest openal as this dll is referenced in the main shift exe file, game still crashes. I am about to give up....


If you keep restarting Shift via Steam, you might as well also run Steam as administrator (i do that all the time due to various problems i've encounterd b4 with other games). Dunno if that'll help though.

[Afinda]

Tried running steam and/or shift in administrator mode - but the game still crashes. I also reinstalled vcredist 2005,2008 and 2010 for both x64 and x86.... but also no luck, game still crashes. Tried installing the newest openal as this dll is referenced in the main shift exe file, game still crashes. I am about to give up....

CD Key of SHIFT can be found here:

Win 64:

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Electronic Arts\Electronic Arts\Need for Speed Shift\ergc

or Win 32:

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Electronic Arts\Electronic Arts\Need for Speed Shift\ergc



Thanks to HeXd! for this information.(Confirmed for Win 7 x64!)

Try to activate it on activate.ea.com and download the game through EADLM.

May this will help you guys :(

[Videodr0me]

Used the key to download over eadlm, but that version crashes at the exact same spot. Thanks for the find, though. Was worth a try.

CD Key of SHIFT can be found here:

Win 64:

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Electronic Arts\Electronic Arts\Need for Speed Shift\ergc

or Win 32:

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Electronic Arts\Electronic Arts\Need for Speed Shift\ergc



Thanks to HeXd! for this information.(Confirmed for Win 7 x64!)

Try to activate it on activate.ea.com and download the game through EADLM.

May this will help you guys :(

[NePaS]

Go into your shift folder,then Movies and rename Attract.bik to .bak and do the same with E3_profile_points.bik

[Broward]

That just makes it crash before the intro video as opposed to after for me. I hope someone can find a work around that works. I'm playing on a 2011 Macbook Pro through bootcamp in Win 7 64x, with the 6750m.

[nickjf20]

Hey,

I have a mbp as well with a 2.66Ghz i7 w/4GB ram and a gt330m w/512mb VRAM

Had the crash after intro video so tried the compatibly and run as admin modes but still no luck. Also deleted the graphics settings file in my documents, still no avail.
Got latest 270 nvidia official drivers and win7 x64 SP1. Still no luck

After looking around, it seems like NFS S doesn't like overclocked CPUs, since my CPU and also the CPU in the post above both have on the fly "turbo boost" overclocking, could this be the problem ? maybe the hyperthreading?

I'm not sure how to disable the turbo boost ATM to test my theory.

[Videodr0me]

I tried all this. Specifically:
- deleting and renaming intro movie
- turn hyperthreading off in bios
- turbo boost on/off
- compared library usage with dependency walker to a friend where the game works (no difference)
- all compatibility modes and run as admin
- copying to a not protected directory (as you need special privileges in the programs directories)
- underclocking the cpu/memory/qpi, normal clocking and even overclocking
- see my previous posts in this thread

Bottom line, nothing works! Best hypotheses why it crashes:
- its the controllers (i have a xbox360 controller and a usb keyboard trackpad combo)
- its the processors with the aes instructions (980x and all newer cpus by intel)
- its some component that some people have and that the game does not install by itself (even though i already tried all vcredists from 2005 upwards and the newest directx, catalyst, audio-driver etc.)

Is there anybody with a 980x or the newer core i cpu (with the aes instructions) where shift actually works?


Hey,

I have a mbp as well with a 2.66Ghz i7 w/4GB ram and a gt330m w/512mb VRAM

Had the crash after intro video so tried the compatibly and run as admin modes but still no luck. Also deleted the graphics settings file in my documents, still no avail.
Got latest 270 nvidia official drivers and win7 x64 SP1. Still no luck

After looking around, it seems like NFS S doesn't like overclocked CPUs, since my CPU and also the CPU in the post above both have on the fly "turbo boost" overclocking, could this be the problem ? maybe the hyperthreading?

I'm not sure how to disable the turbo boost ATM to test my theory.

[Hasney]

I've got an AMD x2 2Ghz and an NVidia 560ti, also getting the black screen after loading bar and trying all suggestions...

[Hasney]

I've found that deleting all the .pf files in C:\Windows\Prefetch\ makes it boot for me, work for about 3 races then lock-up and not be able to start the game again until I reboot.

[Hasney]

Right, I can get it to boot everytime now. Found a YouTube vid that says to max everything out bar filtering (leave that on TriLinear, but everything else on High and 8xAA). Now all it does is lock after 2 races or 1 race on a big track. But hey, progress I guess...

EDIT: Ignore this. Still happens now and again and needs a reboot before it starts.

[Tsug]

hi.

You can play with EADM. (Electronic Arts Download Manager)
Go to register your steam copy on EADM and update yours games.

[Videodr0me]

Tried this already, no luck. Game still crashes. Read my previous posts in this thread for the stuff I already tried. You can add the following unsuccessful tries to the list:
- play via EADM
- update to catalyst 11.3, 11.4, 11.5 and 11.5a
- (de)activate ATI HDMI AUDIO and/or (de)activate on board Realtek audio
- (de)activate second gigabit lan controller
- move game via soft link to/from sdd to/from normal hd
- 640x480/800x600/1024x768/1280x720/1920x1080 Desktop/Game Resolution at 50/59.94/60 Hz
- etc.

hi.

You can play with EADM. (Electronic Arts Download Manager)
Go to register your steam copy on EADM and update yours games.

[Videodr0me]

I gave up! Even tried limiting the system to one core via msconfig ... absolutely nothing works with this game. Thats it, wasted enough hours already on making shift work.

Tried this already, no luck. Game still crashes. Read my previous posts in this thread for the stuff I already tried. You can add the following unsuccessful tries to the list:
- play via EADM
- update to catalyst 11.3, 11.4, 11.5 and 11.5a
- (de)activate ATI HDMI AUDIO and/or (de)activate on board Realtek audio
- (de)activate second gigabit lan controller
- move game via soft link to/from sdd to/from normal hd
- 640x480/800x600/1024x768/1280x720/1920x1080 Desktop/Game Resolution at 50/59.94/60 Hz
- etc.

[Tsug]

Did you check local files in game properties ?
Perhaps some of them have missed during download.

Did you do a Dxdiag ?

[Videodr0me]

Believe me I did _everything_! Verified the Download with the Steam client, redownloaded it twice, tried it over eadlm (a complete seperate download), moved it to another directory, reinstalled directx, checked directx via dxdiag etc. etc. etc. All other games - some by ea - work absolutely fine on my system. There are also a number of threads on the ea support forums. The bottom line is, for a lot of people the game just does not work! The root cause is nothing obvious - please reread this complete thread to get a glimpse of what i already tried. On certain configurations the game just crashes - it is unknown what the cause of this is.

Did you check local files in game properties ?
Perhaps some of them have missed during download.

Did you do a Dxdiag ?

[torchess]

GUYSSSSS... I FOUND THE ISSUE, IS QUITE DUMB THOUGH...I FELT LIKE AN #@%!@$... JUST DISABLE THE AERO SKIN, AND USE BASIC LAYOUT OR WINDOWS CLASSIC. TRY THAT AND TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS :P

[Videodr0me]

Tried all that (disabling aero and/or basic layout) - and it did not work. I already mentioned that in one of my previous posts in this thread. But I am glad it worked for you.

GUYSSSSS... I FOUND THE ISSUE, IS QUITE DUMB THOUGH...I FELT LIKE AN #@%!@$... JUST DISABLE THE AERO SKIN, AND USE BASIC LAYOUT OR WINDOWS CLASSIC. TRY THAT AND TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS :P

[Frankocon]

Same symptoms and success as everyone else. I'm now trying to delete NFS Shift from my hard disk. Given EA's lack of support, guess who's totally disinterested in Shift 2 now?

Nice own goal, EA.

[hudfer]

People,

I'm solved my problem on a simple config. I configured a long time ago and I forget to disable overclock option and the game not work on this option. Check your configuration and set to factory default to play this game. I'm tested a various others tricks and no success. I made a video showing this game working with default configuration. Disable ALL overclock or change if you made in your hardware. Probably the game engine detect the model of hardware and compare with real clock or others features or compare the processor clock detected on Windows with BIOS. Sorry my poor english. Hope that helps.

My video:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/W-ssM2x4srw