The gaming laptop faces issues with modern games' cutscenes despite smooth performance
The gaming laptop faces issues with modern games' cutscenes despite smooth performance
Hi. I'm new to laptops overall, but have spent my whole life on a desktop. I recently purchased a gaming laptop and wanted to experience some of the latest titles it supports. I'm careful not to adjust any graphics settings, avoid 4K, or experiment with software or hardware configurations that aren't recommended. Interestingly, most modern games push my machine to its limits. They usually trigger a cutscene for about 30 seconds, followed by a freeze, stutter, and eventually a GPU error. Each title has its own unique issue, but they're all related to the graphics card (unless I'm mistaken). If I skip those cutscenes, I get smooth performance that a laptop of this type should provide. The next time I start a cutscene, the same problems appear.
Games that have caused problems for me:
Alan Wake 2
Horizon Forbidden West
Far Cry 6
Resident Evil 7
Resident Evil 2 Remake
A Plague Tale Requiem
Senua's Saga Hellblade II
I successfully finished Alan Wake 2 by skipping the cutscenes. I haven't experienced any game crashes. Completing Horizon Forbidden West was similar—watching the cutscenes didn't crash the game, but they caused continuous stuttering and freezing without any failure. The overall experience remains smooth. For Far Cry 6 and Resident Evil titles, I can't even make it past the opening cutscene.
Here are some error messages I've encountered:
"...d:\\reengine\\reengine\\gitroot\\runtime\\modules\\render\\os\\renderdevicedx11.cpp 3873 mapresource. HRESULT=0x887a0005.."
I'm not bothering if just one game is poorly optimized, as many people point out the same issue online. It's been too many times to dismiss the possibility that my laptop is the problem. I just don't know exactly what's going on.
Laptop model: MSI Katana 17 B12V.
Specifications:
Processor: 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-12450H
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU
Video Card #2
Intel® UHD Graphics
Operating System: Windows 10
RAM: 16 GB
Nvidia driver version: 566.36 (the issue has persisted for over half a year now, and I've been actively updating the nvidia driver)
What I've tried so far:
- Switching from DirectX 11 to DirectX 12
- Enabling/Disabling Windows Game Mode
- Checking if my VRAM overflows during cutscenes (results in 100% usage during the crash)
- Disabling Shadow Cache
- Adjusting GPU settings to 144 Hz and then to 60 Hz
- Turning VSync On and Off
- Reducing screen brightness to the lowest setting, which allowed me to pass the opening cutscene of Alan Wake 2 but that's just not ideal
P.S.: Sorry for the long post, or if I'm mistaken and someone else has already resolved this. If that's the case, please guide me correctly.
Launch Task Manager or Resource Monitor to assess laptop performance.
Operate both tools simultaneously but maintain only one active at a time.
Initialize the laptop by waiting until it stabilizes into a consistent state while doing nothing.
Next, launch an application or game recognized for causing issues.
Observe any alterations or events during the occurrence of problems.
Some system resources are depleting – identify which process is consuming excessive amounts and potentially affecting other tasks.
= = = =
Alternatively, examine Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for any error codes, warnings, or informational logs recorded just before or during the incidents.
For instance: RAM or disk space usage.
Both the Task Manager and Resource Monitor aren't providing the details I need. I've been checking for memory spikes or overflows, but nothing unusual is occurring. The Event Viewer is showing the same critical error about nvlddmkm, with EventData formatted like this:
Device\Video8
Error occurred on GPUID: 100
00000000020030000000000099000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Event ID is 153. I'm not sure what else to investigate after that.
Little update: have tried many different nvidia drivers from various dates including Oct. 2023. The issue persists except this time i'm getting an Event ID of 0.
Currently attempting to fix this while playing Resident Evil 2 Remake and after downgrading my nvidia driver to 537.58 i can get through the entire opening cutscene but as soon as i even touch my mouse when i get control of the character it's an instant crash. The newest driver 566.36 couldn't even get me through half of the opening cutscene.
Because I couldn't find the right solution, I've come up with a temporary fix. The problem is that my laptop struggles with cutscenes due to idle time, which keeps the game running in standby mode and causes crashes. The workaround is just moving the mouse continuously while watching the cutscenes. I was able to finish several games with this method without any issues. This post is just for anyone who might face the same problem and needs help.