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Constantly crashing

B

ben firth

Landlubber
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/modding.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":modding" border="0" alt="modding.gif" />
When I try to leave sailing mode, and go back to the sea map, the game tends to crash. Not all the time, but it is probly around 50%.
I have reinstalled it, but it continues
I get a blue screen with an announcement that my computer is preforming a memory dump, at which point it resets itself. Though sometimes it's just blue, with no writing.
I'm running a laptop with 3.2 GHz pentium 4, 512 RAM, and a Radeon 9700 graphics card.
I read the FAQ, but the links don't work...
I'm just using the stock game, without any mods...
Please could you help me
Thank you so much for having this site... I looked everywhere for a patch, and was about to give up before I saw this.
Ben
 
It happens with the unmodded game? Now that is odd. Open up engine.ini and set debug mode to 1. Then run the game again. When the game crashes again, show the system.log, compile.log and error.log here. Maybe those will give a clue about what is wrong.
 
debuginfo was already set to 1 (that was the only debug I saw, so I assume that's what you mean). Do I need to turn "runtimelog" on? It is currently set to 0.
Where do I find these logs? Do you mean game logs or windows... Windows doesn't offer much, but here's some of it:
"Error code 10000050, parameter1 e2e0ba40, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 bfab2f8f, parameter4 00000001."

AND

"The SymWMI Service service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s)."
(this was a past event, I'm pretty sure it's from the game stopping)

Those were under system events

Under application events were:
"Faulting application engine.exe, version 1.0.0.1, faulting module dx8render.dll, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x00008d68."

That was the only error.. but there were logs around the right times, but I'm not certain it's anything to do with the game...

"The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( EvtEng ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: Service started."

There were others like that, the only thing changing being the "source(...)"

Thanks so much for being willing to help.
 
debuginfo is the right one. When you start the game and it crashes, there should be some files in your main PotC folder: system.log, compile.log and (sometimes) error.log. These files can be opened in Notepad and might give a clue about what is wrong. Please post them here.
 
No I'm afraid they don't show up anywhere that I can see... I've looked in just about every file I could and they're no where to be found...
Is it possible I have to enable the logs somewhere in the engine?
Thanks again for your patience.
 
If you enable the logs in engine.ini, the files will be generated in your main PotC folder. The only reason I can think of for the files not showing up is that the game crashes before the game gets the chance to generate any files. But if you start the game, compile.log and system.log WILL be generated. Do you use any of the modpacks? If you use Build 12, you can use a program in the tools folder "PotCModHelper.exe" which you ca use to set error logging on as well.
 
No I haven't got any of the mods.
Is there a chance that using them would make a difference?
The game crashes a split second after the loading map screen appears, if that helps at all.
Thanks
 
You can install them and see what happens. Build 12.1 fixes several bugs. Not sure about this one, but it's worth a try. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
I'm currently downloading it... I'll tell you how it works out.
I'm using Windows XP pro, and I've been considering reinstalling with XP home (since I only have the home disc) for various reasons... Do you think that would resolve this?
Thanks
 
The mod is installed... I went in and out of sea a few times with no problem, but then it happened again.
I have checked, and the error log is enabled, but I found no logs.
Also, all sound has gone (or I have lost my hearing) since I downloaded the mod. It's set on in the options... any ideas?
It seems I am quite the troublemaker.
Thanks
 
Problem #54
It would seem that if I exit PotC of my own free will (which has only happened maybe 4 times) and later attempt to restart, there is no video, but audio still works... I have to turn my computer off between uses.
This of course pales in comparison to the random crashing, but if this is a common problem, do you happen to know of a solution...
If anyone who has looked at this has any ideas how to stop the game from crashing, please feel free to post it.

BTW, the windows website says that the error that occurs is a Kernel crash... That's nice and comforting.

Thanks
 
WOW! This is getting weirder and weirder. I never heard of the problems you reported before, so I don't have a clear-cut solution. Maybe there is some program running in the background that's causing a problem? Maybe there is a hardware problem with your video card drivers? You can try reinstalling Windows as a last resort. The first time I installed PotC, it wouldn't run either. After formatting the PC, it has always worked since. Unless I added some stupid bugs to the game that crashed it.

Please use tools\PotCModHelper.exe to turn on error logging (debug mode). Start the game, then quit it and open your main PotC folder. Are there any error logs? If not, something's seriously wrong. System.log and compile.log should alway be generated, even if there are no errors to report.
 
Well it says error reports are on, but I can't find any errors... except in the protocol of PotCmodhelper... It says:
Set current working directory to :
.\
Error: PotC engine (engine.exe) not found

Please select the PotC directory manually
Menue: File -> Select PotC directory

Initialisation finished

I have no idea if this means anything, but I figured you would

There is a program that tends to run, that has no name on it, just a symbol on the taskbar. It's the symbol for automatic updates, the little computer with the antenna on top and a few little signals coming off of it. But I have windows updates off, and my antivirus liveupdate is switched off, so I don't know what it is exactly.
I can turn my wireless off and it still runs, and the only way to turn it off is to select it on the task bar, and press alt-f4. When I select it nothing pops up. And if I press alt-tab to switch between programs, the symbol is there, but no name.

I'm not certain that this is the cause of the problems, since I can't see if it's trying to run while I'm in the game. But it does seem to be linked to it.

It seems strange though that whatever this program is would only mess up PotC when I'm leaving sailing mode.

Does this help you at all?

Thanks
 
As for the first thing you mention: Point the program to your PotC directory. Click File -> Select PotC directory, then browse to the right folder. After that, try setting the logs on again.

About the program running in the background: That is VERY weird. Sounds like some sort of virus-like code or something. Have you performed a virus scan recently? Doesn't sound like a good thing... <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" />

Using the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen, "processes" tab (the second), you see all processes currently active. One of these has to be the strange background-program. You can try closing some that you think are suspicious; as soon as the program disappears, you know you just closed it. Remember what the name was of the program that you closed, then search for it on the internet. Maybe you'll get a clue what it is.
 
Well I finally have logs... You'll have to tell me how much of the error log you want... It's quite substantial
And I'm also not sure if the top or the bottom is the last thing it wrote... So heres a bit from the top:

RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 415
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
function 'NativeFindCharacter' stack error
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
integer function return reference value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 432
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 435
missed attribute: group
RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 435
null ap
RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 435
no rAP data
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
function 'NativeFindCharacter' stack error
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
integer function return reference value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: nations\nations.c; line: 72
Array conversation not supported
RUNTIME ERROR - file: nations\nations.c; line: 72
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: nations\nations.c; line: 72
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
function 'NativeFindCharacter' stack error
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
integer function return reference value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 437
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
function 'NativeFindCharacter' stack error

And here is a bit from the bottom:

RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 432
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 435
missed attribute: group
RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 435
null ap
RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 435
no rAP data
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
function 'NativeFindCharacter' stack error
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
integer function return reference value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: nations\nations.c; line: 72
Array conversation not supported
RUNTIME ERROR - file: nations\nations.c; line: 72
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: nations\nations.c; line: 72
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
function 'NativeFindCharacter' stack error
RUNTIME ERROR - file: globals.c; line: 93
integer function return reference value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: battle_interface\BattleInterface.c; line: 437
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: dialogs\Usurer_Dialog.c; line: 66
missed attribute: redmond
RUNTIME ERROR - file: dialogs\Usurer_Dialog.c; line: 66
null ap
RUNTIME ERROR - file: dialogs\Usurer_Dialog.c; line: 66
no rAP data

I don't know if that helps, but here's hoping.

I managed to play for quite a while... but as these things go, I forgot to save ONCE before I left an island. The only time all evening I think... And once again the blue screen strikes.

Well thanks again for your help... at least we've made some progress.
 
The crashes are much less often now, but they still happen... usually if I forget to save...
I'm not certain... but it seems to me that after every crash, when my computer boots up again, that mystery program is running again. So my guess is it's linked.
I tried shutting it down with task manager up, but there's like 100 tasks running, well 67 at least, so it's pretty hard to see which one shuts off. I'll try guessing proccesses next time.
The error log didn't have as much in it this time. So here it is:

RUNTIME ERROR - file: seadogs.c; line: 535
Save - ARef to non existing attributes branch
RUNTIME ERROR - file: interface\kam_articles.c; line: 16
func not found eror
RUNTIME ERROR - file: seadogs.c; line: 535
Save - ARef to non existing attributes branch
RUNTIME ERROR - file: interface\kam_articles.c; line: 16
func not found eror
RUNTIME ERROR - file: characters\characterUtilite.c; line: 844
missed attribute: index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: characters\characterUtilite.c; line: 844
no rAP data
RUNTIME ERROR - file: characters\characterUtilite.c; line: 846
missed attribute: index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: characters\characterUtilite.c; line: 846
no rAP data

Thanks
 
The phantom program is XPFix.exe
Some people seem to think it's spyware, but others say it's essential fo wifi.
I'm not sure yet whether I should get rid of it or not... I'd rather not kill my wireless. And I still can't be certain if it's this program running that makes the game crash.
Any ideas?
 
Update on situation: XPFix was part of my old wireless driver, but I have internal now, and the driver doesn't have it... So I removed the old driver. So XPFix is gone...
I'll keep you updated as to whether the game still crashes or not.
Thanks for all the help.
 
Bad news... The game still crashes... Although it seems not to be so often.
I was playing for quite a while, and there were a few times when it froze for a second or two just as the loading map screen faded in, which is usually followed by the blue screen. But it continued to load and was fine... So I was thinking the problem was dealt with... But no. It has smitten me again.
So I'd say the problem is in the loading files for the sea map...
I have found that if it consistently crashes in one place, when I load and try again, if I use sail to, go somewhere else, and then try loading the map, it tends to work.
It can happen after sea battles, or when leaving a port.
I think that's about as detailed a description as I could give really.
Thanks again.
 
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