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Crash to desktop on start of game on Win XP

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Sergeant
Oct 20, 2001
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user.it.uu.se
EU2 works just fine on my PIII/Win2k desktop but that gets a CTD every time I try to start a game on my new P4/Win XP laptop.

The intro movie plays just fine, the shield screen for loading comes up and runs to completion, the menu comes up, I can select a single player game or tutorial, select options, etc.

But when it is time to start showing the map and get the game started for real, it crashes to desktop. I have tried running different scenarios, turning down the acceleration of my graphics hardware, changing screen resolutions (both the resolution of EU2 and the desktop resolution before starting the game). Music on and off makes no difference. No other applications running in the background. Patch 1.05 applied.

System config:
Dell Inspiron 640 laptop.
P4/2200 Mhz
512 MB DDR SDRAM
40 GB 5400 rpm harddrive
CD/CD-R/DVD combo drive in removable bay
ATI Radeon 7500C 32MB graphics card
1400x1050 14" screen
USB mouse, touchpad, and little IBM-style joystick all attached
Windows XP, patched with all updates (as of Dec 20th)

Since it is a laptop, I cannot update the graphics drivers using ATIs latest. They require custom drivers from Dell.

This is a bit stumping, I have never seen such a persistent crashing in EU2 before.
 
Firstly rename the AVI dir to something else like AVI_OLD, reboot and try it again.

If that doesn't help run DXDIAG in start-run and go to each page and run each test they give you there, see if any errors pop up.
 
Yup. Renaming the AVI folder will probably do it. I've seen a couple instances where it doesn't seem to release the graphics card quite right.

You might want to try unpluging that joystick just in case it's giving off some unexpected signals.

Let us know how it goes.
 
Originally posted by fepp
I will try the graphics movie trick.

The little joystick cannot be unplugged: its integrated on the keyboard, just like on IBM ThinkPads.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Ah I see. I'd misunderstood. I didn't know that this series of Dell used both.

When you did the XP update did you include this one?
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=327979
If not, you should definitely do so as this resolves many problems similar to yours.
 
It worked, thanks

Disabling the video did the trick.

To complete the system report, I have DirectX 8.1 installed, dxdiag reports no errors.

The update mentioned above has been installed: all "recommended updates" have been installed, and the files given in the Microsoft description are present on my computer, in the correct versions. Thus that is not sufficient to resolve this problem, the video player is still doing something funny.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Every bit of data we can pass along to Paradox may help them to find ways to fix it in future patches...not to mention that it helps us support types resolve other people's problems all the more rapidly. :)
 
I work with maintaining & programming software myself and know the difficulty of finding rare crashes...

My guess is that it is something with my videocard: the drivers have a rather big set of facilities (screen mirroring/multimonitor support/powersaving/...), and strange things sometimes happen.

Even so, EU2 was started on a machine that had been rebooted since the last time an external screen was attached, and no other strange events took place.

Another game, "Lego Stunt Rally", will sometimes crash to desktop and leave the graphics system in a strange mode where the text would disappear when the game was restarted before a reboot. Something strange is going on, but it is not "serious".

Also, the screen has a tendency to flicker a bit when resuming from standby mode.
 
Not 100 % sure that it is the same problem, but I have noted problems with the ATI task bar causing crashes. Simply quiting the ATI launchpad removed my problem.
 
That's a very interesting observation. I gather from your comment that it doesn't guarantee a crash but that you feel the odds go up significantly, and that when you aren't running the ATI launchpad you have virtually no problems?
 
Originally posted by MrT
That's a very interesting observation. I gather from your comment that it doesn't guarantee a crash but that you feel the odds go up significantly, and that when you aren't running the ATI launchpad you have virtually no problems?
Click to expand...

Actually it does guarantee a crash, and I otherwise have no problems at all...
 
Originally posted by satan
Actually it does guarantee a crash, and I otherwise have no problems at all...
Click to expand...
Excellent! Thanks very much for the info. I'll add it to my list. :)
 
Originally posted by satan
Actually it does guarantee a crash, and I otherwise have no problems at all...
Click to expand...

Well, I have the ATI Taskbar running, and can at least play EU2 for hours on end without getting crashes.

As far as I can tell, the version of the ATI software I am using (display properties dialog, settings tab, advanced button, "ATI Options" tab): "packaging version 7.69.8-020508a-003906C-Dell"
 
Even more interesting...

I usually have mine deactivated but when I activated it to check this I have the same problem on one of my computers that satan has. I asked Castellon about it last night and he said that he runs with it on his taskbar and he has no problems. Go figure. Mind you, we have different cards...mine's a RAGE MOBILITY 2 card in a Compaq 17XL262 laptop and the driver's a little on the old side (new new updates) so usually I disable the ATI driver and use the native Windows XP driver instead.
 
Hmm One thing we forgot to discuss was the operating system, I am on WinME so it maybe a WinXP thing.
 
Good point!

Of course fepp is on XP and I'm on XP...I have ATI taskbar problems and he doesn't. :confused:

satan (if you're still reading) what OS are you using and would you mind taking a second to give me some detailed configuration specs on your system? (motherboard, cards, etc.) I'll try to keep track of them and see if I can build enough of a database sample to suggest commonality of problems.
 
I'm running Windows XP Professional, and have an ATI Radeon 8500DV My dirvers are relatively up to date, maybe a couple of months old. I think at one point (maybe 6 months or so ago) I wasn't seeing this problem though.

The driver is version 6.13.10.6200, dated October 12, '02. Not sure what version the launch pad is though.
 
Thanks...extra questions...

What sound card? Video card?
 
Thought I mentioned the sound card, an ATI Radeon 8500DV.

The sound card is an old SoundBlaster Live!, not one of the newer 6.1 ones.
 
I think you did mention it i another thread but I didn't see it in this one on a quick scan.

Thanks :)
 
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