Freezing/Crashing to Desktop

I am not sure what is going on, but it is only happening with R34 QA server (including 395) and not with R33 or prior versions.

I did notice that GPU memory and GPU usage are far less in R33 compared to R34 at same graphic quality settings (when I could get R34 to work). This graph was done at video quality: low resolution, shadow distance = none, quality level fastest.



Basically, SOTA freezes for a few seconds and then the program window turns black (or sometimes white), my fans kick into max RPM, and after a few minutes, a microscoft window pops up that says the program is not responding, would I like to continue or terminate the program.

It has happened only in zones and not on the overworld. It has occurred inside at least 3 separate zones, and when entering at least 2 zones.

This is making the QA server unplayable for me
Maybe a memory leak or incompatibility with the unity version?

To start, I had my screen resolution @ max resolution, shadow distance max, and beautiful. I looked in the windows 7 action center, and there are 2 problems that are listed each time this happens
1) Video hardware error (details below):

Description - A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.
Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 117
BCP1: FFFFFA8012170010
BCP2: FFFFF88004A0CCAC
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1
Bucket ID: X64_0x117_Tdr:2_IMAGE_atikmpag.sys
Server information: beea7c6f-cba9-4df5-b0dd-ea9b988189a7​

2) Shroud of the Avatar stopped responding and was closed

Description
A problem caused this program to stop interacting with Windows.
Faulting Application Path: C:\Users\Jeff\AppData\Local\Programs\Portalarium\Shroud of the Avatar(QA)\Shroud of the Avatar.exe

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: AppHangB1
Application Name: Shroud of the Avatar.exe
Application Version: 5.4.1.60163
Application Timestamp: 57d885ed
Hang Signature: 5145
Hang Type: 0
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Hang Signature 1: 5145a8f860b487ed858e8c2f1b355f45
Additional Hang Signature 2: a63c
Additional Hang Signature 3: a63c114b3ae608ae01fc2e940d662c73
Additional Hang Signature 4: 5145
Additional Hang Signature 5: 5145a8f860b487ed858e8c2f1b355f45
Additional Hang Signature 6: a63c
Additional Hang Signature 7: a63c114b3ae608ae01fc2e940d662c73
​

===================================

I tried again after setting my video quality: lower screen resolution, shadow distance = none, quality level fastest. This reduced the video card memory usage. This time I was able to play slightly longer. I logged into game directly into nightshade pass, and when i tried to leave, I got the same freeze. I could not check video card memory since this freezes me out of the desktop and I could not switch focus to other programs.

I looked in the windows 7 action center again, and there are 2 problems that are listed again.
1) Video hardware error (details below):

Description
A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033

Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 117
BCP1: FFFFFA80153FD010
BCP2: FFFFF88004A0CCAC
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1
Bucket ID: X64_0x117_Tdr:2_IMAGE_atikmpag.sys
Server information: 334005fb-d1d3-4bd7-bd2a-6d971426f7dd
​

2) Shroud of the Avatar stopped responding and was closed

Description
A problem caused this program to stop interacting with Windows.
Faulting Application Path: C:\Users\Jeff\AppData\Local\Programs\Portalarium\Shroud of the Avatar(QA)\Shroud of the Avatar.exe

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: AppHangB1
Application Name: Shroud of the Avatar.exe
Application Version: 5.4.1.60163
Application Timestamp: 57d885ed
Hang Signature: 1d42
Hang Type: 0
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Hang Signature 1: 1d422ca02715490e2d8c35b9aaa743ee
Additional Hang Signature 2: c7cd
Additional Hang Signature 3: c7cd32c7499c2ddbbc76d03362e66f07
Additional Hang Signature 4: 1d42
Additional Hang Signature 5: 1d422ca02715490e2d8c35b9aaa743ee
Additional Hang Signature 6: c7cd
Additional Hang Signature 7: c7cd32c7499c2ddbbc76d03362e66f07

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 50
​

================================

User Specs:
OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (6.1.7601) 64bit
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz (8) System RAM: 12279
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series GPU RAM: 1006
Video card driver = version 15.200.1062.1004 (most recent version, which was released 8/3/15)
Computer Dell Studio XPS 9100

 

Issue still present in 396 - seems worse, cannot play longer than about 1 minute before it crashes. Still do not have problems with R33.

Addendum for 397:
Issue still present in 397. It occurred almost immediately when I had resolution high & quality beautiful. If I put quality to fastest and dropped the resolution, I was able to play for a while, but as soon as I exited Hilt exterior and went into hilt interior, the game froze again. This time I was able to see that the GPU usage rapidly spiked from ~ 75% to almost 100% (GPU memory use stayed about 75%), just as the freeze happened, and then GPU usage prompt dropped to about 5% as the white/unresponsive game window appeared. Although the game window turned white, the SOTA music was still playing.

The same issue occurred again at fastest quality , and this time GPU usage spiked only to 83% before the freeze., with GPU memory 75% used, then GPU usage and memory immediately dropped at time of freeze.

Is there nay more info I can provide that would be helpful?
It sure would suck if a solution cannot be found. if R34 still has this issue when released, I will not be able to play