[EM 2.928] CTD in 11 seconds (Windows XP). *FIXED*

[matchbox2022]

Hi there first of all,
Thank you for making such a fantastic game. It really is, well the bit I've got to try, if it can get working I will likely end up buying the full thing.
However I'm getting a constant crash to desktop, no matter what things I've varied so far.

I do not have direct3doverride or rivatuner and my drivers are fairly old (yet can still run most things I throw at them). WinXP 32 bit chipset. 4gb ram. 84.69 drivers

The crash to desktop will happen every time the game has finished loading, whether tutorial or normal mode, and even with reduced graphics to the bare minimum I can choose.
System appears to be fine on ram usage and I have played around with having certain things open / close so it can choose different block of ram.

The KEY PART, once the game has loaded, it begins just fine, everything looks fantastic, I begin to hear the tutorial voice overs, though the mouse was lagging quite a bit, and EXACTLY 11 seconds into the game, complete lockup and crash to desktop with no error messages at all. Though, the game did make a text file with 0 bytes regarding it in it's own folder.

I've done a re-install, and reduced every setting imaginable to minimums. I'll keep trying things....however I'm at wits end and have tried everything I can personally think of, and really want to get this game, it looks incredible and runs on my hardware so how could it be drivers?!

Is that the only solution or is there something else out there where someone has also experienced this?
Already uploaded my sys config.

http://www.filedropper.com/winxpcore2du ... dx9drv8469

[Vice]

As per our e-mail exchange... It appears to be display related, so I’d focus the troubleshooting efforts on that aspect. First, in your e-mail you mentioned that you do have RivaTuner running, so if you have RivaTuner active, temporarily disable/uninstall it, then launch and test the game for changes. If the same behavior occurs, I’d suggest updating the drivers for your 7950. They are indeed old from 2005 and predate the D3D modules used for the game. The 179.48 set from 2009 should be a better choice and is available here from Nvidia: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverRe ... 8969/en-us

Another step you could try is switching the screen mode in the Options menu to ‘Locked (FS)’, then exit and restart the game to test for changes. If it continues, there must still be something interfering with or exhausting display/memory resources and it may require turning off all background tasks, then turning then on one at a time to determine which one may have been causing the interference.

Another possible factor... Although your system has 4 GB of installed memory, you are running a 32-bit version of Windows XP, so only about half of it can be accessed by your system. It would be pretty easy to deplete what's left to levels below what the game needs to run. So checking other programs running in the background might be another good step to check.

[matchbox2022]

I have tried a few things hence forth and at the least it is running now, it does not "always" want to crash.

If I can get this sorted I am 110% buying this thing, it is AMAZING, well freaking done, and thanks for the response so fast!
Plus it runs AMAZING too on the old hardware (overclocked to hell), it's just like, wow.
So I'd really like to get past these little issues.

I will give those drivers a shot, I got rid of rivatuner, and I have no idea what's going on now.

I had the runtime error 500 sound codec issue as well, but managed to clear that up from looking through your old posts here.

In short,
The game runs now.
BUT
Now it is crashing to desktop with no error during the tutorial as it engages the warp jump...or just finishing rather.
I tried getting rid of any memory hog I had, switching off programs logging data to the hard drive, lowering resolution and textures and finally switching planets to be pre-cached on the harddrive. That let the game run.

However the crash at warp jump is still happening....so could it be the display drivers still?
Could it be bad ram ? (The ram is very old too).
And if it were a lack of memory....the issue I have is installing a 64 bit operating system is fine, but my chipset is....32 bit only.
Would the 64 bit OS make any difference in the slightest then?

In the meantime, I'll do what you asked and will try the full screen method, then the other drivers, then finally some newer ram. Can't be installing a whole new OS today.
Any suggestions are super appreciated.

Thanks again! You are super prompt / amazing / I give you some serious kudos.

[matchbox2022]

Also, on the memory note.
Is there any way to free up more ram?
Such as basically telling the O/S to use less as system cache?
Or a paging file from maybe a fast SD card?<--likely desperate solution.
I've tried doing so with boot switches before, only to BSOD on boot.

[Vice]

It continues to sound like you are near the margin of a memory limit. Probably not display related, especially if you update the drivers to the 179.X version at the link I posted above. A 64-bit OS would indeed allow your system to access more of the 4 GB you have installed, rather than only about 2 GB of it total (which the OS and other programs will use portions of). So background programs/tasks eating away at memory wouldn't be such a significant issue under those conditions. The crash at a jump drive event suggests that the memory confine is probably at/near the 1-1.2 GB mark and the game is not able to load the media it needs for the location you are jumping to (which involves some rather large texture files). This results in a quiet CTD with no error message when the memory isn't available.

No, I don't think bad memory would be a factor. You'd likely see other symptoms if that were the case. You might be able to eek out a few more MB of available memory with various options, but I'm not sure how effective it might be. I'd be interested in the specifics of the setting you have selected in the Options menu. There might be something else there to try as well.

[matchbox2022]

Haha think I spoke too soon.
It's gone back to 110% crashing to desktop within 11 seconds of starting the actual 3D engine. Hear the tutorial, get a few seconds while things seem to be still loading then pop, it freezes, crashes, sad face.

As a heads up to you and others,
So far, I tried adding a placeholder in the ram to see if maybe it was an issue or the amount.
I added a huge block of firefox browsing that took up about 800mb.
Then proceeded to try the game as before.
It loaded fine, then crashed 11 seconds later, just like each time before.
Weird. I would've expected a lack of ram to make it just stop loading partway like I've seen in other games, also while watching task manager, xp seemed to be adjusting the system cache to make up for the lack of available I had, but there was still almost 1 gb leftover while the game ran and initialized the 3d engine, much less than before, and yet still there was a crash.
I'll be trying the drivers next.

Trying the locked Screen option as you told me to made it worse than before, in fact that's where the crashing started happening again.

FINALLY..cahem
One crash did seem to generate an error log after all in the game directory.
[COMMON]
PathToEXE=C:\\Program Files\\EvochronMercenary\\CrashOn_11_13_15.txt
[CEXE]
m_dwRuntimeErrorDWORD=Internal Code:11001
m_dwRuntimeErrorLineDWORD=84805

[Edited on 11-13-2015 by matchbox2022]

[Edited on 11-13-2015 by matchbox2022]

[Edited on 11-13-2015 by matchbox2022]

[Edited on 11-13-2015 by matchbox2022]

[Marvin]

Have you tried the 4GB patch?

[matchbox2022]

Haven't heard a thing about that.
What is it?...

http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php

This thing?
Seems wonky to let it screw with someone elses work.
If it's like CFF Explorer, I found that post and went that root but it seems that the program was already configured to not need that fix this build.

[Edited on 11-13-2015 by matchbox2022]

[Edited on 11-13-2015 by matchbox2022]

[Vice]

Correct, you do not need to apply any 4 GB patch as the game is already equipped for LAA. Plus, since you are on a 32-bit system, a LAA setting wouldn't help much when only 2 GB is available to a program anyway. Edit: this limitation is known as the '3 GB barrier' on x86 systems and is why your system has about 2 GB flat of memory available at idle with the OS loaded along with its running tasks. More information on this is available here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_GB_barrier

The line pointer to 84805 indicates the station building section, so it's definitely an issue of being short on memory, either unavailable or some other factor affecting memory stability/availability.

Have you tried reversing your overclock(s) to see if that changes the behavior (ie something misaligned between core, memory, etc)? You also aren't running an overclocked GPU on top of all of this, correct?

[Edited on 11-14-2015 by Vice]

[matchbox2022]

I did indeed over clock the crap out of it. Only way crysis plays barely worthwhile;).
I will try stock clocks but I've never had an issue there with any application.
I guess I need to try drivers...memory and if it all doesn't work must be memory limits? I thought ppl were playing this on 32 bit xp. I'll switch over if it makes the difference.
Plz keep in mind I rammed graphics to very low levels thinking system memory for textures was the issue and I..... still got crashing...
Then shortly it " was ' running fine in full graphics using more memory just b4 I attempted the warp jump....was a pretty sweet way to crash though. More like warp jump to desktop . Do u know of anything that it might else be? Anyway to find out? Like a service blocking hard drive or ram access? I've done the force close any application that won't break windows. But are there xp services that may interfere? I already uninstalled antivirus

[Vice]

It most likely a memory confine of some kind, but unfortunately, there can be many causes for that, both software and hardware limitations/settings. So it can be tricky to pin down. Probably best to go through the free/easy options that don't involve radical changes to your system first and test for changes as you go. Drivers, background tasks, overclock settings, settings, etc, are all good first steps to try. Using drivers from 2005 that predate the D3D modules used by the game probably wouldn't be advisable anyway.

[PaulB]

On Win Xp 4gb ram, barring someting you have running inthe background using memory, you should have around 2.8gb to 2.92Gb ram available.
If you have anything installed like antivirus or such making less memory than that available - I'd uninstall it.
I was running EM on a 2Gb laptop before I upgraded it to 4Gb.
The actual amount of mem available depends on the amount of video ram your nvidia card has. I'm not talking about shared ram or anything like that. Its all related to the upper address range where all video mapping and such is alloted address slots.
My nvidia fx350m only has 256Mb dedicated memory sl my availavle RAM is about 2.91Gb via Task Manager.
If you have a video card with say 1Gb or 2Gb dedicated ram the the amout fo availalbe WIndows mem may be something less than 2.9Gb but I think more than 2.6Gb.
You can google Windows XP availble memory and find some articles talking about the effect Video card memory has onthe amount of Windows XP available memory.
But if i could run EM with 2Gb system memory you should surely be able to run it also unless you have driver issues or something else using memory or overclocking issues.
Make sure you have DirectX 9.0c install (which think is the highest version available for XP).
Also, check your Page file size and make sure it at least 1.5 X greater than your memory.
Try setting your Page file size to 8Gb unless you have it set for Windows to autlmatically manage the Page file size which is the default setting - but I prefer to have a dedicated allocation of diskspace for the page file myself to avoid fragmention of the Page file.

[Marvin]

I thought ppl were playing this on 32 bit xp.

I've been running this game on a 32bit XP machine since the get-go ... both the original game and the expanded version. Even with the intrusive Charter antivirus operating in the background, EM runs just fine, full up ... with a few minor mods to boot. Granted, I did use the 4GB patch ... it probably didn't help but it certainly didn't hurt.

[matchbox2022]

Okay dokie, some some things to try for sure, I'll do them and get back on the forum to report, might be a little while, have real life to do

[matchbox2022]

Okay. For anyone having this issue.

If you know your RAM is fine *mine is, xp is doing a great job still with managing it's own cache compared to what's needed, I almost always have 3gb at a game's disposal.*

And you applied the 4GB ram patch. As I did.

And configured the game for pre-rendered planets.

And you fixed the sound issue bug runtime error 3002 (that plagued me pretty hard, and I am now using a very old version but it is working currently). Through the codecs' registry and the driver install and files themselves.

AND you are running any drivers pre-2009.

THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM.

I am running (since they allow software Overclocks still till I flash permanent ones) cleaned drivers 156.55 xp 32bit on a dx9 only card.
And now the game is in fact working.
I have so far done some fighting, planetary landing (kind of), and warp jumping, all on maximum graphics, and am pretty confident the game now works.



Thank you very much guys for your help, I'll be buying it soon as an xmas present to me or hinting to my sigother .

So far it is "can I buy a vowel f_cking" awesome. It runs like butter on my overclocked to hell old equipment, and looks so damn good. Def'n want to give multiplayer a go too.

If there's any surprises I'll be sure to repost, but this is a sharp contrast to how it was working before.

PS. A personal shoutout to Vice for his incredible customer support and being the life of the party of his single person party endeavor to make this game. It is pretty incredible work out of one person. Recommended to anyone / everyone for a very awesome affordable experience.


[Edited on 12-7-2015 by matchbox2022]

[Edited on 12-12-2015 by matchbox2022]

[Keitarooo]

Great ! Thank you for the feedback.

Hope to see you flying with us online soon