Frequent crashes

from GalCiv2 Forums
It's started crashing all of a sudden. I can be going along and suddenly it just dies. If I try to reload the game I was playing, it crashes out just when it starts to load. If I start a new game, it'll work until the first crash, then I can't reload that game again.

I've been playing it constantly for nearly two weeks and these crashes have *just* started to happen. Nothing new added to my computer in that time.

Video drivers are as updated as they can be.

My normal screen res is 1600 x 1200 @ 32 bits. I had the game at 1280 x 1024 and changed it to 1024 x 768 after all these crashes. No help

My vid card was overclocked, so I turned off all the overclocking and rebooted. No help

I was using the cheat parameter (I wanted to watch the other civs fight the dread lords). I stopped and played a normal game and that crashed too.

Help.... please???

EDIT: I've installed the smart exception thing from Stardock and have it running in the systray, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. Is there some special trick to using it?
Debug Message: Version v1.0X.1 last updated on: Mon Mar 6 13:57:14 2006
Debug Message: Could not find a TGN Serial No.
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 3/22/2006, 11:06:31
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: SWIMH
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: ECS
System Model: K7S5A
BIOS: Version 1.00
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP Processor, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.0GHz
Physical Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 173MB used, 2800MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce FX 5700
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0342&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A1
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1600 x 1200 (32 bit) (85Hz)
Monitor Name: Philips 201B4
Monitor Max Resolution: 1920,1440
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.8198
Driver Date: 12/10/2005 03:06:00
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes



Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: SiS 7012 Wave
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_7012&SUBSYS_030013F6&REV_A0
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: sis7012.sys
Provider: Silicon Integrated Systems Corp.(1.12.06)
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.6120
Driver Date: 11/3/2004 14:14:00
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 3
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0



Debug Message: *********END dxdiag info.*********
Debug Message: Entering WinMain
Debug Message: ******* Starting Game Shell *******
Debug Message: Going Fullscreen
Debug Message: Preparing to change display settings.
Debug Message: Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_NONMASKABLE
Debug Message: Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message: Running fullscreen.
Debug Message: HAL (sw vp): NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700
Debug Message: D3DPRESENT_INTERVAL_DEFAULT
Debug Message: Refresh rate: 85
Debug Message: Bit Depth: 32 bit.
Debug Message: *********Checking D3DDevice Caps***********************
Debug Message: A full-color cursor is supported in hardware at high resolution modes.
Debug Message: RGB in format 6:6:6, Masks reported as ff0000:ff00:ff
Debug Message: Now Fullscreen
Debug Message: Shell initialization complete
Debug Message: ***** Initializing Game *****
Debug Message: Timer Frequency is 0 369e99
Debug Message: Initializing sound card.
Debug Message: initailizing bink
Debug Message: Create setup screens.
Debug Message: Clear galaxy settings.
Debug Message: Clear influence.
Debug Message: Clear up laws.
Debug Message: Clear first time events.
Debug Message: Clear wonders and trade goods.
Debug Message: Clear sector mapper.
Debug Message: Set mouse.
Debug Message: Set update timer.
Debug Message: Clear data definitions.
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Mike\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\*.StarSystems
*DEBUG ERROR: ***Unable to find required tech ImpossibleTech for PirateShip. ***
*DEBUG ERROR: ***Unable to find required tech ImpossibleTech for Starbase. ***
Debug Message: Reading Star Names
Debug Message: Reading Star Names... Done
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Mike\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Dread Lords Campaign\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Mike\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Logos\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Mike\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Metaverse\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Mike\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Mike\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Portraits\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Mike\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Mike\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\temp\*.sav
Debug Message: Killing threads.
Debug Message: Kiling civs.
Debug Message: Killing ships.
Debug Message: Killing rallypoints.
Debug Message: Killing misc objects.
Debug Message: Killing stars.
Debug Message: Killing anomalies.
Debug Message: Killing space resources.
Debug Message: Killing colonies and planets.
Debug Message: killing scenario.
Debug Message: Clear galaxy settings.
Debug Message: Clear influence.
Debug Message: Clear up laws.
Debug Message: Clear first time events.
Debug Message: Clear wonders and trade goods.
Debug Message: Clear sector mapper.
Debug Message: Loading Custom Map
Debug Message: Loading Data Defs
Debug Message: Data Defs block size: 1147333
Debug Message: Clear data definitions.
Debug Message: Loading TechDefs
Debug Message: Max num techs: 248
Debug Message: Loading ImprovementDB
Debug Message: Loading Component Defs
Debug Message: Loading ShipTypes
Debug Message: Loading ShipConfigs
Debug Message: Loading AnomalyTypes
Debug Message: Loading RandomEvents
Debug Message: Loading UPIssues
Debug Message: Loading ResourceTypes
Debug Message: Loading InvasionTactics
Debug Message: Loading SBmodules
Debug Message: Loading PoliticalParties
Debug Message: Loading Planet Types
Debug Message: Loading Star Types
Debug Message: Loading Game
Debug Message: Loading Galaxy
Debug Message: Loading FOW Map
Debug Message: Loading ZOC Map
Debug Message: Loading Planets
Debug Message: Loading Stars
Debug Message: Loading Anomalies
Debug Message: Loading Resources
Debug Message: Loading Civs
Debug Message: Loading Colonies
Debug Message: Loading RallyPoints
Debug Message: Loading Ships
Debug Message: Loading Fleets
Debug Message: Loading Influence
Debug Message: Loading ENDGALAXYDATA
Debug Message: Updating ZOC.
Debug Message: UIBeginGame called with g_ulLocalPlayerID = 0
Debug Message: setting size 16 x 0
Debug Message: setting size 16 x 0
Debug Message: setting size 16 x 0
6,069 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Try reinstalling the game.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You could always try updating the drivers... again.

Cheers.
Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I had a very similar problem recently - couldn't load a game without starting a new game first - CTD every time.

Eventually tracked it down to a corrupted DLL in my sound card drivers.

There is a new nVidia driver released last Friday - which looks to me to be a lot better than the v81.x drivers. There is also a 2005 SiS driver available for your sound card. I'd suggest updating both of those, and disabling audio hardware acceleration through dxdiag if the problem persists.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I didn't know about the new video drivers (too busy playing the game!). I'm downloading that now.

I really, REALLY hate to mess with my sound drivers. I went through BSOD/reboot/BSOD hell the last time I updated them (Windows Update misidentified the sound card). I'll do that as a last resort, if nothing else fixes this.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
That didn't help, at least not with my latest save game. Maybe it's corrupted. I'll play a new game and see what happens.
FYI, here is what Windows shows me when the error reporting thing comes up. I don't know if it helps anything:
http://www.mikehealan.com/stuff/errordump.txt
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
w00t!

Reinstalled the game and now it'll reload save files. And I think I know the cause of the crash, if not the reason that cause exists.

*DEBUG ERROR: ***Unable to find required tech ImpossibleTech for PirateShip. ***
*DEBUG ERROR: ***Unable to find required tech ImpossibleTech for Starbase. ***


I had (thankfully) an autosave made just one turn before that last crash. When I reloaded it just now, there was a prison riot on Mars and it causes pirates to roam around blasting my starbases. For whatever reason, something must have corrupted or removed the files for pirates and that caused my crashes.