Unexplained EM crashes ***SOLVED***

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:49 pm

EM has been repeatedly crashing for me all day. Sometimes it will load all the way and I can fly for about 5 minutes before the crash occurs, and other times it crashes during initial game loading.

The message I get just says:
"Evochron Mercenray has Stopped Working"
"A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available"

Here are the corrective steps I have tried so far:
- Restarted the computer
- Ran a virus scan
- reloaded the game
- completely unloaded, then reloaded the game
- ran the program as an administrator
- ran windows update
- reloaded the driver for my video card
- I have also browsed the FAQs and other threads but haven't found a similar problem.

The only recent change to my computer is that a few days ago I upped my RAM from 4GB to 8GB. I have however played EM since then with no issues. This is a new problem today.

I appreciate any ideas you may have.

[Edited on 12-29-2011 by Dave S]

[Edited on 12-30-2011 by Dave S]

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:55 pm

I don't know a lot about computers, but I'll just share what crosses my mind anyway:

Since you upgraded your RAM, could it be that you (or the computer automatically) made some changes to the virtual memory settings which caused to little memory to be available for EM?...
Like I said, I don't know. But I'm pretty sure that too little RAM would cause a program to stop working, and since that's the only thing that got changed on your computer, consider it an educated guess.

Good luck solving it anyway mate.

~ Viper.

Flash · Post by **Flash** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:59 pm

You could try re-seating the RAM. Or returning it to the original RAM setup to see if it solves the problem. You could have gotten bad RAM.

Post by **Vice** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:10 pm

Yeah, it could be defective memory. The game usually just exits back to the desktop when no more memory is available, but if something is defective with the memory itself, that kind of behavior might occur. I'd also suggest testing with the new memory removed and reseating it.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:27 pm

I reseated the memory with no luck. The next step I took was changing the amount of virtual memory. The game has loaded and I am going to let it run for a while to see if the crash occurs and I will report back. I'm crossing my fingers that this is just a simple fix. Thanks for all of the quick responses.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:35 pm

It just crashed again, but this time I got a new message that reads:

"Display driver stopped working and has recovered"
"Display driver Intel Graphic accelerator Drivers for Windows XP(R) stopped responding and has successfully recovered."

Post by **Vice** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:48 pm

May or may not be related. Something could have happened to the 3D card. Next step for that would be to roll back the display drive to the one you were using earlier and was working just to see if it makes any difference. Hopefully, the 3D card is ok. Were you properly grounded when you installed the memory?

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:50 pm

Eeek. I so hope you didn't fry your vid card...

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 10:18 pm

I did ensure that I was grounded when I changed out the RAM. I am trying to figure out how to "roll back the display drive". Are graphics cards even interchangeable on a laptop? (i.e. can I buy a replacement without major computer surgery?).

Post by **Vice** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 10:21 pm

In newer versions of Windows, there is a roll back button for drivers that's lets you go back to the last driver you had installed, but I don't think this is the case with XP. It may require manually uninstalling the driver and installing the old one. I wouldn't worry about the hardware just yet until you've had a chance to try the other driver and make sure it's not just some new quirk it introduced.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 10:28 pm

Ok. I am running a complete system restore and rolling everything back by 48 hours. We'll see...

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:27 pm

OK, so I have rolled everything back (including graphics driver) and the program wouldn't open at all. So I updated the graphics driver back to its latest version. Now I get the error message (see below) when I hit 34% loading in the universe.

"Runtime Error 7018- Could not load 3D object at line 65680"

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:31 pm

Funny, I just had the exact same error message myself, while I have never had one hick up ever before with EM... I'm guessing it's RAM related though.

I don't know, computers... lol.

Post by **Vice** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 12:02 am

Maybe it's related to something MS updated recently. That error does indicate the system blocked the game from being allowed to load that object into memory. Does the behavior change if you change the planet detail setting to Low?

Flash · Post by **Flash** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 12:06 am

You do have your original ram set up right?

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 12:28 am

From post: 122109, Topic: tid=8260, author=Vice wrote: Maybe it's related to something MS updated recently. That error does indicate the system blocked the game from being allowed to load that object into memory. Does the behavior change if you change the planet detail setting to Low?

I changed the planet detail to low and it launched, but went back to the same crash as before.

Next I will try putting my old RAM back in to see if that fixes it.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 1:14 am

Update:

Now I am REALLY confused... I put my old RAM back in (back to 4GB) and the game will load and play if I keep it with Low planetary detail. anything higher and I get the error:
"Runtime Error 7018- Could not load 3D object at line 65680"

It used to play with all settings at their highest.

[Edited on 12-30-2011 by Dave S]

Post by **Vice** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 1:37 am

The error 7018 is just a limited memory issue, probably unrelated to the prior problem. That's something you can probably tune a tweak with background programs and settings. Since changing the memory allowed it to work, it suggests bad ram was the cause of the original problem.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 2:25 am

OK. Thank you for all the help. Have a Happy New Year.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 4:34 am

From post: 122116, Topic: tid=8260, author=Vice wrote: The error 7018 is just a limited memory issue, probably unrelated to the prior problem. That's something you can probably tune a tweak with background programs and settings. Since changing the memory allowed it to work, it suggests bad ram was the cause of the original problem.

Any tips on how to go about tuning and tweaking background programs and settings so I can have my graphics back?

Post by **Vice** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 5:19 am

Yes, here: http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2431 (background tasks section, the MSCONFIG option)

Then in this thread: http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6595 Download the memory test program and run it to see where you stand with available consecutive memory. This will help you gauge your progress as you turn off background tasks. Once your system can reliably pass test 1 and possibly 2, then your system should be ready to run the game will full details.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 5:36 am

ALL IS SOLVED.

I got on the USS Server (with all of my graphics turned down) so I could at least play, and fellow pilot DRIAK (who happens to be an IT genie) took care of me and got it all solved. In the end it was a driver issue that was the cause of all of my headaches. Apparently Toshiba is good about making the driver updates, but bad about letting the customer know that they have a drive that needs updating.

Again, thanks to everyone for helping me through the crisis. This is the best online community I have ever belonged to.

StarWraith 3D Games Forum

Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

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Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

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Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED

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Unexplained EM crashes SOLVED