Runtime problem

[Scipio Aemilius]

Hi, I have had a problem recently : I can launch the game and play it, but after a while, I get a :
"This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the applications support team for more information"
Followed by a CTD.

I was able to play for a long period of time before it happened the first time, and it happened more and more often, and especially during autosave times, but sometimes I'll get through the autosave without problem... so it's not a "crash on a specific date" thing, although I modified my save game (change the "noreligion" to something, completely removed the "enabled=noreligion", there was no "noculture" references to remove/change). After that, I managed to play for a while before the game crashed again. I rechecked on the autosave file and found out there was 3 or 4 new "noreligion" references...

I'm not sure it is related though, since I've read the "noreligion" doesn't seem to create problems. Is it a normal game instability, a corrupted save, a missing file required by the game? Any idea on what I can do to solve this?

By the way, I'm running Vae Victis 2.2 (Checksum : FOJK). Many thanks!

 

[AndrewT]

I'm running Vae Victis 2.2

Then I suggest you apply the current patch , 2.32c. Just hit "Check for updates" in the launcher.

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

Is it compatible with saved games? Because that's my main concern : I'd like to finish this one that I started instead of restarting a whole campaign!

EDIT : Nevermind that, I installed it anyways... but I had to manually install the patch and it came up with many errors. It turns out most of the files changed were locked, so I had to run the installer alongside a window displaying the content of EUR folder and manually unlock before and relock after each file change... Is that normal?

And I'll see if this fixes my problem and come back to report.

Now it's version 2.32c (New checksum : SWBL)

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

It didn't solve the problem

 

[Dannevirke]

Try uninstalling, then reinstalling the whole shebang. And check the stickies in here for anything you might need to update.

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

I thought about that one, but sadly it is impossible to do in the near future : my install cd is halfway across the world right now (but I bought VV on gamersgate).

 

[AndrewT]

Your access error are probably caused by you running Vista or Win7 and not being admin. But we'll deal with that later.

That checksum is now correct. Are you having this problem with new games or only old ones carried over from the previous patch? If new:

Please run DXDIAG, Save All Info, and post dxdiag.txt here (first delete everything after the Sound Devices section so it will fit). Also post your Rome/settings.txt and Rome/logs/system.log files. Note that if you use Vista/Win7 and have installed the game in the suggested folder c:\Program Files\Paradox Interactive\Rome\, the active versions of these last two files will have been redirected by Vista/win7 to a non-system directory, like c:\Users\[name]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis - Rome\, where [name] is your Vista/Win7 user name. You may have to search your C: drive for them.

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

Your access error are probably caused by you running Vista or Win7 and not being admin. But we'll deal with that later.

That checksum is now correct. Are you having this problem with new games or only old ones carried over from the previous patch?

I didn't run the game under Win 7 or Vista, but Win XP.

I played with my saved games until it wasn't playable anymore (receiving empty demands with no text whatsoever, clicking on stuff that gave no response [provinces, characters], blank map, etc). Über-corrupted save... I trashed them (autosave, oldautosave and manual save : the game was crashing every two years!). I started another game, played a while with and without autosave and, I must say, so far so good. *touches wood*

If I have a problem, I'll get back to you with as much info as I can muster. And even though I'm sad I lost a fairly advanced game, the one I just started looks even more promising... that is, if I don't screw it all up!

Thanks for the help, people!

 

[AndrewT]

In that case your access problems are probably caused by your anti-virus application; to answer your question no, it is absolutely not normal.

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

In that case your access problems are probably caused by your anti-virus application; to answer your question no, it is absolutely not normal.

Ok, so I have unlocked each of those files just to make sure it wasn't at fault.

I was able to play a few decades of the game without any problem, with and without autosave and reloading from time to time. After maybe a century, the problem reappears and crashes my game every second or third year, exactly at the autosave moment... This is getting weirder and weirder... Why would the game consistently crash at every second autosave???

I do remember I had a similar problem back when VV came out. I had to finish my campaign without autosave... I'll see if it still crashes now, without the autosave feature.

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

Update : Even with the autosave turned off, the game just becomes more and more corrupt : I'll get blank notifications, one, then a few and then more and more often, until one comes up without the actual buttons to make a choice, at which point the game will crash... I've looked into my saved games, found no "noculture" references, but about a dozen of "noreligion" once again... there is even an "enable=noreligion" with a "noreligion=0.123"! Could it be the culprit? What else could cause a game to go from perfectly working to buggy to unplayable?

There MUST be a value somewhere that just grows and grows until it breaks something or diminishes and diminishes until it vanishes and the game crashes while looking for it!

 

[AndrewT]

Others are not getting this issue. If it's still impossible to do a reinstall for you, then all I can do is ask again for the files I requested in post #7.

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

Others are not getting this issue. If it's still impossible to do a reinstall for you, then all I can do is ask again for the files I requested in post #7.

Indeed, you are right, the problem is on my end. So, I just reloaded my last saved game and played until it crashed. Here are the results :

First, this is the settings.txt

gui=
{
language=l_english
}
graphics=
{
size=
{
	x=1024
	y=768
}

refreshRate=60
fullScreen=yes
shadows=no
shadowSize=1024
multi_sampling=0
anisotropic_filtering=0
gamma=50.000000
}
sound_fx_volume=100.000000
music_volume=100.000000
scroll_speed=100.000000
camera_rotation_speed=50.000000
zoom_speed=50.000000
mouse_speed=50.000000
master_volume=100.000000
ambient_volume=50.000000
mapRenderingOptions=
{
renderTrees=yes
}
lastplayer="Mr Human"
lasthost=""
serveradress="diplomacy.valkyrienet.com"
autosave="YEARLY"
difficulty="NORMAL"
outliner=
{
9 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 }

And now, here's the system.log

Kernel Release[systemsettings.cpp:158]: System memory:   2048MB
Kernel Release[systemsettings.cpp:160]: CPU speed:       2520MHz
Kernel Release[systemsettings.cpp:167]: Number of processors: 2
Kernel Release[systemsettings.cpp:180]: CPU type: x86
Kernel Release[systemsettings.cpp:212]: OS: Windows XP Service Pack 3    Build: 2600
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:130]: Graphic Adapters: 
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:135]: 	0: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:152]: Checking for multi-sampling support:
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:178]: Using Adapter [0]:
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:184]: Succeeded to create a device [D3DCREATE_HARDWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING].
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:226]: Graphics device: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:227]: Graphics driver: nv4_disp.dll
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:232]:  Driver version: 9745
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:249]: 


Dumping all gfx info:
DeviceIdentifier:	{AEB2CDD4-6E41-43EA-941C-8361CC760781}
VendorId:	4318
DeviceId:	1068
SubSysId:	0
Revision:	0
DriverVersion.HighPart:	393231
DriverVersion.LowPart:	730641


Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:299]: Instancing supported.
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:317]: Video memory amount: 268MB
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:320]: Support for T&L found.
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:323]: MaxSimultaneousTextures: 8
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:324]: MaxVertexBlendMatrices: 4
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:325]: MaxVertexBlendMatrixIndex: 0
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:327]: MaxSimultaneousTextures: 8
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:328]: MaxTextureBlendStages: 8
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:329]: Support for Anisotropic filtering found.
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:332]: 	Max Anisotropic filtering: 16
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:333]: 	Anisotropic filtering set to: 0
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:337]: Vertex Shader version: 3.0
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:342]: Pixel Shader version: 3.0
Kernel Release[main.cpp:208]: Rome Version Jul  9 2010 : 15:27:10
Kernel Release[internationalizedtext.cpp:1231]: Create table
Kernel Release[internationalizedtext.cpp:1233]: Create text database
Kernel Release[dxmusic.cpp:39]: Init Music
Kernel Release[dxmusic.cpp:45]: Graph done 0
Kernel Release[dxmusic.cpp:51]: Control done 0
Kernel Release[dxmusic.cpp:57]: Seeking done 0
Kernel Release[dxmusic.cpp:62]: Event done 0
Kernel Release[dxmusic.cpp:67]: Music done 0
Kernel Release[DirectSound.cpp:36]: Init DirectSound
Kernel Release[DirectSound.cpp:54]: Sound initialised with result 0
Kernel Release[DirectSound.cpp:64]: Coop Level Set. Result: 0
Kernel Release[DirectSound.cpp:86]: Sound Init Done
Kernel Release[graphics.cpp:145]: Direct3D Created
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:651]: Usable res: 1440 900 60
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:651]: Usable res: 1024 768 60
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:651]: Usable res: 1280 800 60
Kernel Release[graphicssettings.cpp:651]: Usable res: 1344 840 60
Kernel Release[graphics.cpp:240]: Not using multisampling.
Kernel Release[graphics.cpp:260]: Creating device with: D3DCREATE_HARDWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING
	Fullscreen=yes
	RefreshRate=60
	Resolution=1024x768
Kernel Release[graphics.cpp:340]: Done creating device.

As for the DXDIAG.txt, I can assure you my drivers are up to date. Thanks for the help AndrewT!

 

[AndrewT]

Just to be sure, your latest video driver is from January this year http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-266.58-whql-driver.html , I think your 9745 version is actually consideraly older than that.

That aside I see no issues there. My guess is your issues with the patch installtion has meant you have some bad or old files that didn't update.

As a stab in the dark you could try editing settings.txt to fullScreen=no and master_volume=-1 (that's minus one) to disable all sound.

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

That aside I see no issues there. My guess is your issues with the patch installtion has meant you have some bad or old files that didn't update.

That might very well be, or maybe my previous install was corrupted and the patch didn't cover a corrupted file. I'll try to reinstall the patch.

As a stab in the dark you could try editing settings.txt to fullScreen=no and master_volume=-1 (that's minus one) to disable all sound.

I will also try this, just to be on the safe side.

Thanks again AndrewT!

EDIT : You sir are a genius! Your "shot in the dark" solved my problem! I don't know if reinstalling the patch did the trick or if it was the modifications to my settings.txt, but I've been able to play more than a few decades without crash, using a saved game that crashed every two years! I do suspect it was the patch that did not install properly, so I'll remodify the settings.txt to test and I'll be back to you with the answer!

Many many thanks AndrewT! I'd kiss you if you weren't in Australia!

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

Well, after some testing, it seems I was wrong : the game will not crash *only* if it is *both* windowed AND soundless...

Now, windowed mode is something I can live with, but playing EUR without sound does feel very wrong. I'll further investigate to find out why, but if it gives you a hint of my problem, please share!

 

[AndrewT]

Sound issues are always either the sound card driver, or a codec problem. Check for updates with the sound card vendor, if they don't help or don't exist we'll look into codec issues. The k-lite codec pack is highly recommended, but we might have to look into what codecs you have that are problematic with codec detection utilities like Sherlock - there are lots of them out there.

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

Alright, I'll look into that! As always, thanks AndrewT!

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

Sad news, after further testing, it seems I'm back to square one : I was able to play windowed and soundless for a few decades, and then the game started crashing again... I'll try installing k-lite codec pack to see if it improves anything, and if not, and if you're out of ideas, I'll just wait until next summer to get my hands back on my cd and reinstall it all.

 

[Scipio Aemilius]

Sadder news, the codecs / drivers didn't fix it. As it is now, I'm looking into Visual Basic C++ to see if the problem rises from there...

EDIT : The problem doesn't lie there... but I *think* it is related to graphics, because when the game crashes (other than during autosave), it is because of the character sheet or character tooltips (showing attributes) : if the display isn't right, I know the game will crash almost right away.