[koala]

From http://www.examiner.com/x-50604-Phi...2-overheating-video-cards-Blizzard-issues-fix

Some StarCraft 2 players are having their play sessions cut short when the new RTS destroys their video cards.

The problem stems from a very unlikely place; the game's menu system. These screens are not framerate locked. Since there is no action occurring, leaving the video card with nothing to do, the game renders the menu at an alarming rate. Since there is no cap on the framerate the video card will render the frame until it destroys itself.

Blizzard has issued a simple fix which does not even require downloading a patch. Simply go to "Documents\StarCraftII\variables.txt" and open the file. Once opened add the lines "frameratecapglue=30" and "frameratecap=60" to the file. This will add a framerate cap to the menu system and prevent the overheating issue.

There is no word from Blizzard regarding a fix via patch but it seems unlikely that the company will not issue a download in the near future. The only remaining issue is if Blizzard plans on compensating those who have already lost a video card the game's bug.

 

[jonny992]

Oh dear, this is bad.

 

[ebackhus]

Kinda glad I didn't get it yet.

 

[koala]

** The installer allows multiple copies of the game to be installed

Unlike previous Blizzard installers, this one will always let you install another copy of the game. It does not check for previous installations so be careful of how many folders you end up making.

** Compatibility Modes will not work properly

Attempting to run StarCraft 2 on a compatibility mode (Windows XP SP3 from Windows 7, for example) will make it crash. Please run the game normally.

** Certain screens make your hardware work pretty hard

Screens that are light on detail may make your system overheat if cooling is overall insufficient. This is because the game has nothing to do so it is primarily just working on drawing the screen very quickly. A temporary workaround is to go to your Documents\StarCraft II Beta\variables.txt file and add these lines:

frameratecapglue=30

frameratecap=60

You may replace these numbers if you want to.

** User report – Security program flagging the beta downloader as a trojan

We had some reports where a security program might flag the beta downloader as a trojan. It is a false positive.

** Black Screens

There have been multiple reports of black screen issues being related to the use of a Quick Cam webcam.

In some cases exiting out of the software has resolved the issue but others have reported a need to uninstall the software for the camera in order to resolve the problem.

There are also reports where some security programs like Comodo firewall can cause the game to start and stay on a black screen.

 

[McNinja]

I see this only happening with systems that have poor cooling. Really it can't be more be consuming than Crysis?

 

[Aus_Karlos]

It cant be compared to Crysis, these are two different scenarios. Crysis is graphically intense and uses complex shaders that put the GPU under a lot of stress hence the heat.
This Starcraft issue is because your card tries to render as much frames as it can every second (Only on the Menu). Its just like running the ATI Tool to find artefacts(+999fps).

Question Kola (getting SC2 tomorrow) could this issue be also solved by forcing V-Sync in the Nvidia/ATI control panel?

 

[koala]

I was going to mention VSync in the first post as this limits the framerates to match the refresh rate of the monitor (60fps/60Hz), but I'm not sure what the frameratecapglue=30 line does. Better to use the recommended solution until Blizzard release a patch.

If you want to try VSync, make sure you set it to 'Forced' rather than 'Enabled' in the graphics control panel to make sure the game's settings don't over-ride the control panel's settings.

btw, the latest ATI 10.7a beta driver now allows antialiasing for ATI cards.

 

[Tiber Septim]

To be fair, an uncapped framerate is no reason to fry a GPU.
If it's overheating simply because it is running at full load than your issue is inadequate cooling as you'd run into the same problem by running things like 3DMark or Furmark.

VSync and a FPS cap will help temporarily but it won't fix the real issue.

Blizzard themselves said:

Screens that are light on detail may make your system overheat if cooling is overall insufficient.

 

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

Im sure if you can run furmark for a hour without overheating that this will hurt your system.
That line caps the frames at 30 fps.
Be careful about changing anything about starcraft blizzard is being ban happy with this game.