Well, I have narrowed it down, both the graphics and planetary detail must be set on low; and then I am able to join multiplayer servers without crashing.
Is there a fix for this in the works, by chance? It's a little upsetting to have invested in a gaming machine and be forced to play on minimal settings..
The only effective fix for it would be to make the low detail levels standard or required to reduce the memory needed, which wouldn't be a good solution for those with systems that can handle the higher graphics details and the memory requirements that go along with them.
The good news is that it's almost always fixable as long as you have enough installed memory to make room for the graphics the game is trying to load. What is required is to locate exactly what it is on your system that is blocking the game from loading that media into memory. It's almost always something else running in the background (often security related) that is blocking consecutive available memory.
You can sometimes gauge where the interference is occuring by how far into the loading phase the game is getting (can vary based on settings and in-game location):
0-30% Image loading sequence - > ~300-400 MB
30-50% Building universe sequence - > ~400-600 MB
50-80% "" - > ~600-700 MB
80-90% Loading ship data sequence - > ~700-800 MB
90-100% Cockpit and Initializing - > 800-900 MB
If your system can make it to the 80-100% range before an error is displayed, you may be close enough that details such as Planet and Graphics can be changed to lower settings that allow the loading phase to finish. If it stops before then, the interference will need to be stopped before the game will be able to load. So if your system reaches the upper region of the loading phase, finding the source of intereference and stopping it will generally let you load and play the game with full details.
and it seems that there's a good portion of people affected by this.
It is pretty surprising just how many PC's are limited by software running on them. Some gamers aren't even aware there is a potential problem until they try to play a high resource game like this one. But reviewing Windows error logs and seeing long lists of faulting apps, crashing games, and other system stability issues/entries illustrates the problems can effect a lot more than just a game or two.
If you'd like me to review your system for possible causes, just follow the steps here:
http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/faq.htm#8
