Launching PSO2 freezes computer

[Karen Erra]

Hello everyone, I hope someone around here can help me.

A friend of mine has a huge problem when launching PSO2.
Whenever she tries to start PSO2, the game is freezing the PC, leaving no other choice then CTRL+ALT+DEL it and either log off Windows or in the worst case, restart the whole computer. I thought maybe the PSO2 tweaker is responsible for the issue, but even with the normal game launcher, this problem is happening.
There is also always a gameguard error occuring at the start of the game, I don't know if that is related?
My friend is currently connected via VPN to me, because of her own ISP, she's not able to play the game at all, ever since the awesome DDoS... -.-
I don't think the VPN is the reason, because I had other people connecting it and trying to launch PSO2 and for them it's perfectly fine.

Also offering some system specs here (sorry I don't have the exact specs atm):
Intel Core i5 Socket 1150 CPU
8 GB RAM DDR3
Nvidia GTX650 1GB DDR5
1 TB Hard Drive
Windows 8 64 Bit

I'm fresh out of ideas why this is happening.

If anyone knows a solution or something we could try, please let me know!

Thanks in advance for any advice and help.

[Lumpen Thingy]

try any registry cleaners like ccleaner and such? I had people that had similar problems and that seemed to help for whatever reason.

[Karen Erra]

I don't think she tried that already. Might try that out later. It's just such a random error and only with PSO2. Can't quite see any reasoning behind it.

[Helvetica Standard]

1. gameguard is shit. It has a problem with nearly everything, including your antivirus. You'll have to learn to live with it.
2. Gameguard might be having issues with an app on your friend's PC or it might have malware (hence why Lumpen suggested cleaning your system.)
Do this as well, just to be safe:
open command prompt
type: sfc /scannow

[Karen Erra]

1. gameguard is shit. It has a problem with nearly everything, including your antivirus. You'll have to learn to live with it.
2. Gameguard might be having issues with an app on your friend's PC or it might have malware (hence why Lumpen suggested cleaning your system.)
Do this as well, just to be safe:
open command prompt
type: sfc /scannow

Yeah I know, GG is a piece of crap. Do you think it would be worth a try to disable the AV for once? I think she uses Norton or something.
She also deleted the complete gameguard folder to redownload it but that did not help at all..
I thought about the sfc command too, but since this only happens when launching PSO2, I didn't think it would do much. But yeah I'm glad for any advice, gonna try it.

[Sp-24]

This is definitely an issue with nPro. I haven't been able to run PSO2 on my laptop with Win7 at all after one of the Gameguard updates over a year ago, and then another one made it unplayable on XP as well.

No idea if there is any fix for that. I had to start playing on my PC since then.

[Karen Erra]

Hmm I wonder if it would help to replace the original GG files with the files from a working computer like mine? I guess would be worth a try. Man but why has Gameguard to be so bad -.-

[Karen Erra]

We basically tried everything to get it to work again. Redownloading gameguard, checking files, even reinstalling and repatching the game. And I'm really really out of ideas what to do.

Additional info on the error:My friend is able to connect to the PSO2.jp website with my VPN - but when she starts the game she gets a server timeout error and the game freezes together with the computer.

Does anybody else have any idea what else we could do? :/

[Chdata]

Not just GG is shit, Norton's a pretty bad antivirus too. At least I've had lotsa compatibility issues with it before.

[Stealthcmc1974]

Not just GG is shit, Norton's a pretty bad antivirus too. At least I've had lotsa compatibility issues with it before.

I use Avast. Much better alternative to Norton and plays nice with PSO2 and GG, at least for me. Even if Norton isn't what is causing it, I'd still swap Norton for Avast.

Also, has your friend tried using the Proxy Server to connect instead of VPN?

[wefwq]

We basically tried everything to get it to work again. Redownloading gameguard, checking files, even reinstalling and repatching the game. And I'm really really out of ideas what to do.

Additional info on the error:My friend is able to connect to the PSO2.jp website with my VPN - but when she starts the game she gets a server timeout error and the game freezes together with the computer.

Does anybody else have any idea what else we could do? :/
>Server timeout

Are you trying to connect to game server with pso2proxy+tweaker?
If so, did you enable "Translate Item" option from tweaker menu?

[Karen Erra]

Nope she has a private vpn to me. nothing like PSO2proxy etc.
Alternatively, she tried using the Amazon VPN which causes the same error tho.

[wefwq]

Nope she has a private vpn to me. nothing like PSO2proxy etc.
Alternatively, she tried using the Amazon VPN which causes the same error tho.
Maybe you should try to stop any unnecessary background service or try to temporarily uninstall antivirus and see if its working or not.

[SuKKrl]

I use Avast. Much better alternative to Norton and plays nice with PSO2 and GG, at least for me. Even if Norton isn't what is causing it, I'd still swap Norton for Avast.

Also, has your friend tried using the Proxy Server to connect instead of VPN?

I had to uninstall Avast back in 2012 as it was making PSO2 freeze (random crashes or black screen at start with Gameguard crashing) due to Gameguard not liking it. I actually wonder if any antivirus hasn't had problems with Gameguard before.

[Enforcer MKV]

I had to uninstall Avast back in 2012 as it was making PSO2 freeze (random crashes or black screen at start with Gameguard crashing) due to Gameguard not liking it. I actually wonder if any antivirus hasn't had problems with Gameguard before.

SUKKRL! *glomps*

ALSO, I now have Avast! on my computer with PSO2...and it works. Dunno if it'll work for others, though.

[SuKKrl]

SUKKRL! *glomps*

ALSO, I now have Avast! on my computer with PSO2...and it works. Dunno if it'll work for others, though.

EN! Its been a while! I guess no shooting back this time. :D *glomps back*

Btw, I might try Avast again then as it seems to be working again with the game. Also, when I had that problem I tried almost all the solutions here except the ones that involves registry (ccleaner and such), so I really recommend going for the antivirus first.

Another thing that came to mind now, is your friend using any kind of overlay? I remember reading about Gameguard not liking Evolve that much although I doubt it is the cause.

[Hobu]

Norton, causing problems for everyone since forever. Though a friend of mine uses Norton on his laptop and PSO2 runs fine.

1. Disable/uninstall AV and replace it with something else.
2. Remove unneccessary background processes.
3. Defrag your hard drives.
4. I'm not sure if PSO2 is compatible with Win8, but it should be. Most people find this as their number 1 culprit.

[Zellith]

We basically tried everything to get it to work again. Redownloading gameguard, checking files, even reinstalling and repatching the game. And I'm really really out of ideas what to do.

Additional info on the error:My friend is able to connect to the PSO2.jp website with my VPN - but when she starts the game she gets a server timeout error and the game freezes together with the computer.

Does anybody else have any idea what else we could do? :/

I'm guessing since you encounter "server timeout error" it's probably a case with your ISP but with the computer freezing at the same time it makes me think that the PCs RAM is being used up somewhere whilst playing, I suggest using Razer Cortex(previously known as Razer Game Booster) to clear up some RAM for the game.

http://i.imgur.com/9mAZniC.png

[XbikXBd]

had the same issue with windows 8.1 you need to make sure you run as admin all the time otherwise you'll get bsod or emergency restart.

[Zellith]

4. I'm not sure if PSO2 is compatible with Win8, but it should be. Most people find this as their number 1 culprit.

it's compatible with both 8 and 8.1
I'm playing on 8 and it works fine for me.

[Stealthcmc1974]

had the same issue with windows 8.1 you need to make sure you run as admin all the time otherwise you'll get bsod or emergency restart.

Ya know, I've always wondered, assuming its a computer you own and its the only account on it, why the hell you'd still have to run things as admin. Seems like you automatically run everything as admin if it's the only account.
Why Microsoft?

[Karen Erra]

I'm guessing since you encounter "server timeout error" it's probably a case with your ISP but with the computer freezing at the same time it makes me think that the PCs RAM is being used up somewhere whilst playing, I suggest using Razer Cortex(previously known as Razer Game Booster) to clear up some RAM for the game.

I don't think my ISP is having any trouble. Since I can play the game just fine and she is just VPN-connected to me. But I may try the RAM thing you said. Maybe that is going to help.

also @XbikXBd
I'm not sure if she's running the game as Administrator. Would be worth a try as well. It's just very random that it worked without that setting before. it's a really sudden change without any reason.

@Stealthcmc1974
This is because you are only a user in the user group "Administrators" but not the allmighty user Administrator itself. For my understanding, the Administrator is deactivated for security purposes, but some programs require the higher user rights of the Administrator. So there's an option for that. If it's not about that, then idk what Microsoft thought when they made up this concept.