Anyone know a console command to reset the video in TF2?

[One_Medic_Army]

I've been running on Win7 since I started playing TF2, so it's not just a vista thing.

[bluntspoon]

This explains what is going on.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows ... 87368.aspx

It's the video driver. Windows is detecting something amiss, stopping the driver and restarting it.

Here is the relevant section.

The following registry keys are documented for testing purposes only. These registry keys should not be manipulated by any applications outside targeted testing or debugging.

The TDR-related registry keys are located under HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers.
TdrLevel: REG_DWORD. The initial level of recovery. The possible values are:
TdrLevelOff (0). – Detection disabled.
TdrLevelBugcheck (1) – Bug check on detected timeout, for example, no recovery.
TdrLevelRecoverVGA (2) – Recover to VGA (not implemented).
TdrLevelRecover(3) – Recover on timeout. This is the default value.

If you use the TdrLevelOff (0) it "MAY" solve your problem.

I had a similar issue that I fixed last year, but I can't remember exactly how I did it atm. Let me delve into the deep dark slow as molasses parts of my brain that hold all information older than last week and I will ponder some more.

Edit:

1. Are you running a browser in the background whilst playing? If so, try playing without and see if that helps.
2. Uninstall hotfix KB952287

[The Spanish Inquisition]

I get this "video driver has stopped working" sometimes when I'm using firefox. I think the error message is a result of a false positive 'hang' detection because really nothing it going on, just browsing, and no video, audio or errant javascript in the background. Sometimes I'm scrolling when it happens.

I also have a 460gtx.

In Skyrim, when I alt-tab, I have to do it twice to get back in and then click on the taskbar for the skyrim app. If you have your windows taskbar to autohide then maybe this is what is stopping you from fully entering the game. The symptoms are black screen, but sounds and activity is apparent until you click on the tab in the taskbar.

[bluntspoon]

Disabling Aero has helped for some also.

[Clay Pigeon]

I don't run aero. I use the windows classic theme.

[black_and_blue]

If you use the TdrLevelOff (0) it "MAY" solve your problem.

Well, I tried this and the result is that when the problem happens it completely freezes my entire computer, and I have to hit reset, so I'm changing the setting back to what it was before.

It's possible that it might have reduced the frequency of the problem occurring, as it only happened twice in the last three days, but I'm not sure.

[Zork Nemesis]

I'm bringing this topic back to life with a few things.

First up, this seems to be becoming more common with no reason as to why. I'm wondering if anyone's found anything out about this.

Second, it's clear that TF2 is the problem program. Everything i've read up on about this issue has pertained to nVidia cards and TF2 not agreeing with each other somewhere, but that somewhere hasn't been determined.

Third, this is aparently a much more documented issue than I thought, I found a 65-page SPUF thread dating back to last year that's still circulating. I've tried combing it for useful information but all I've seen is that nVidia believes they have it solved with their upcoming next-gen drivers.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... ?t=1774666

What I have found in that thread, there is a workaround, but it's probably not a desired option: running the game with DirectX 8 or 8.1 does not cause the crash. This can be done by adding -dxlevel 81 (for DX8.1) to the launch parameters, but from what I understand it makes the game underperform quite a bit.

Someone on the SPUF thread mentioned that they installed nVidia's beta drivers for version 301.24 a few days ago and hasn't reported any crashes since, so that may be a good sign that nVidia has the issue taken care of, even if Valve does not.