CTD when events made impossible

[unmerged(17972)]

OK... I think I've done all the due diligence I can (checked both the tech support and 10 pages of bug threads... also ran searches).

Game Version & Patch (incl. publisher): Patched to v1.06, SSI
OS & build/SP: Windows XP Home
Computer, CPU & speed: Dell Dimension 8200, P4, 1.8 gig
RAM: 512 mb
Free HDD space: ~10 gigs
Video (brand, model, driver, memory): GeForce 3 Ti200 driver version 6.13, 64 meg
Sound (brand, model, driver): SoundMax Integrated Digital audio
DirectX Version: 9.0a

I'm finding a lot of CTDs when I do something that prevents certain 'events' from happening - i.e., fundamental changes to the timeline.

For example - playing 1936 as Soviet Union - conquered Japan before US Oil Embargo. CTD when I reach the point where the embargo would normally happen....

I've had similar issues playing as Germany (going after France/England right away.... and being successful before Polish independence guarantee, for example), Japan (putting China aside, going after the US in 1937), etc.

Sometimes, through frequent saves, and several attemps going back further and further, taking different actions, I can crawl through the timespan in question... (conquering the actors/players involved in said events works well!).

Am I simply playing 'out of bounds'?

 

[jdrou]

You should upgrade DirectX to 9.0b but I don't think it should be the problem here. What events are happening immediately before your crashes? In your SU conquering Japan example, are you seeing the USA "Oil Embargo against Japan" event? It could be because that event directly triggers a JAP event and it may crash in that case if JAP doesn't exist. If that's the problem it could be fixed by adding "exists = JAP" to triggers for the USA event. Quite likely other events could have this same issue.

 

[unmerged(17972)]

You should upgrade DirectX to 9.0b but I don't think it should be the problem here. What events are happening immediately before your crashes? In your SU conquering Japan example, are you seeing the USA "Oil Embargo against Japan" event? It could be because that event directly triggers a JAP event and it may crash in that case if JAP doesn't exist. If that's the problem it could be fixed by adding "exists = JAP" to triggers for the USA event. Quite likely other events could have this same issue.

No - No, event pop-up.... I should also say that I'm assuming this as the root cause simply because the Embargo gets passed in January of 1940.

Also - and please forgive the ignorance - I'm guessing I need to modify the USA file in the events folder, right? If so - this would be my first time modifying one of these files.... Can you give me a little assist in this - or point me to a thread that does?

Looks like a simple loop - I'm pretty sure that I should be adding the exist statement as a new entry separate from the existing traps?


Thanks for both the assist - and in advance for any additional help!

 

[jdrou]

For the oil embargo edit event 3701 in db\events\usa.txt. Add "exists = JAP" immediately above the "atwar = JAP" line so the trigger looks like this:

	trigger = {
		NOT = {
			OR = {
				war = { country = USA country = JAP }
				alliance = { country = JAP country = ENG }
				alliance = { country = JAP country = FRA }
			}
		}
		exists = JAP
		atwar = JAP
		government = democratic
		random = 10
	}

If my theory is correct then without this fix I would expect that if you played as the USA from Jan 1940 you would see the pop up for this event and it would crash when you clicked choice A.
What dates were you getting crashes in your other 'alternate history' games?

 

[unmerged(17972)]

Thanks much -

I have a sheepish confession to make -- however.....

I had to do a system restore on my pc a few months back - and the restore had moved me back to unpatched date - so I had to re-patch.

My apologies - and thanks again - for your time.

The crashes were caused by some illiegal/unexpected 'movement' lines in the saved file (other nations, not me).

I deleted these lines from the save file - and was able to get the saved to proceed past Jan 31 (the crashes had always happened at some point in January -- starting from a Jan 1 autosave, they could appear at any time in the month -- but always before Jan 31. I had done some fairly extensive incremental saving to confirm this).

In any case - certainly good to know should I experience any future issues with events.... I tend to wreak havoc with the timeline and events - a firm believer in the get 'em early doctrine..... so if there any problems in the event logic - I'm sure to stumble onto them sooner or later!

 

[jdrou]

Glad you fixed it since I couldn't reproduce the crash last night. Were the saves created before 1.03b? From the 1.03b readme:

- Unit arrival dates are now saved correctly (invalidates old saves.)