This last build is not testable.

from Stardock Forums
What little I was able to test on this build was very possitive.
Many of the problems were obviously fixed.

But the crashes and sudden unexplained terminations have stopped all
of my progress in testing. I am going to wait for the next build before
I do any more testing. It just isn't worth it.

Cheers,
Jack
191 views 14 replies
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
I think tomorrow I will try an uninstall and install of GalCiv, see if that cures it. I could sure use
a good CRC checker and CRC values for the downloads.

Cheers,
Jack
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Did you look in your debug.err to make sure some file isn't missing?
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
The debug.err in the GalCiv folder shows no signs of a missing file. There is a file in the data->gc1 folder called gc1.xml that
seems to describe the files that should be in the GalCiv folder. After comparing these I will post here again.

Cheers,
Jack
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Brad,
If the gc1.xml file is accurate it looks like I have all the files I should and they are all the correct size.
This does not mean that there wasn't some bit dropout in transmition. I could really use a good CRC checker and
the correspoonding CRC values. I am now going to do an uninstall of GalCiv
and reinstall it.

Cheers,
Jack
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Ok. Just keep an eye on what is the last line in the debug.err.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
uninstall and reinstall seems to be uneventful. My ISP didn't even cause me any apparent problems
(however, bit dropout is not impossible). I played a tiny galaxy and only got about 80 turns and it
terminated as before - no indication of problems on screen or in the debug file. Nothing common in
play order that I can see (techs being researched, ships built, ships on autopilot, etc.).

See also the tread with subject title "crash, but no diagnostics". I probibly should have put this all
under one title but I wanted to emphasis how dire the problem I am having is. (:( (:( (:(

Configuration:
OS name Microsoft Windows
Version 4.90.3000 build 3000

System manufacturer IBM
System type 228455U (a NETVISTA model A40i)
Processor AMD Athlon --- 1002 MHZ

Sound device: SoundMAS integrated digital audio by Analog Devices, inc.

Drives: Swapper drive has 10+ gig available.

Display: NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS (IBM) at resolution 1280*1024*32bit

Let me know if there is something I can check or try to find a resolution to
this problem.

Cheers,
Jack
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
I have the same problem at the moment. Every single game (and I tried at least 10 times over the weekend) crashes to the desktop after a while. It always seems to occur when the game begins to get interesting and I start targetting enemy ships and destroying them. Within a few turns of the first battle this occurs.
There is usually no information in the debug file relating to the crash. One of the games did give this information though.

Debug Message: Destroying ship Torian Republic ColonyShip 60. Orbiting: 0
Debug Message: Cancel Destination for Torian Republic ColonyShip 60 because dead.
Debug Message: Attempt to play unregistered file
Debug Message: Cancel Destination for USS Star Fighter 5714 because target is dead.
Debug Message: Destination canceled for USS Star Fighter 5714 in Update because a starship on manual control was blocked.
Debug Message: Cancel Destination for USS StarFighter 6314 because selected by right-click.
Debug Message: Cancel Destination for USS StarFighter 6314 because reached its destination
Debug Message: Attempt to play unregistered file
Debug Message: Cancel Destination for USS StarFighter 6314 because selected by right-click.
Debug Message: Cancel Destination for USS Star Fighter 5714 because selected by right-click.
Debug Message: Attempt to play unregistered file
Debug Message: Attempt to play unregistered file
Debug Message: Make Ship Leave Orbit: Brad Version
Debug Message: Attempt to play unregistered file

Not sure is this was related to the crash though, but it was certainly the turn beforehand.

Paul.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Solitair: do you have a sound card, and were there any error messages at the beginning of the debug.err file relating to sound?
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
I have had some consistent errors as to finding Music/*.mp3 files. Thought it was me putting the mp3's that was posted a couple of weeks ago in the wrong directory, but now I've tried moving them around - and even to make a directory called "Music".

Where are those critters supposed to go?
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Cari,
I am running on two different machines one at home and one at work. Both are currently running windows 2000, but can boot to 98 as well. They both have the same crash problem though.
The current machine (work) does not have a sound device and has the following errors in the debug.err
Debug Message: Initializing sound card.
*DEBUG ERROR: *** Error creating DirectSound object ***
Debug Message: No Music\*.mp3 files in current directory.
Debug Message: No Event Music\*.mp3 files in current directory.
Debug Message: Game Initialization completed.

My machine at home does have a soundcard (I'll send the data later when I get home)

Paul.
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
With this build I have now played a gigantic galaxy for 10+ hours sithout a crash. I was trying to
see if any tech other than Nano Frequency Electronics might cause it to crash, but I had to give up.
Too bad the game save/load features are not ready.

Cheers,
Jack
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
Solitair: Ok, I think that the "attempt to play unregistererd sound" is because that machine doesn't have a sound card, but that's probably not the source of the crash if you're having problems on both machines.

The lines

Debug Message: No Music\*.mp3 files in current directory.
Debug Message: No Event Music\*.mp3 files in current directory.

Should be ok. Brad hasn't given any of you either of the Music or Event Music directories because there are only test files in there currently. One of our goals for this week is to change that.
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Cari,
just to confirm that my computer at home has a Creative Audio PCI sound card and gives the following dta in debug.

Debug Message: Initializing sound card.
Debug Message: No Music\*.mp3 files in current directory.
Debug Message: No Event Music\*.mp3 files in current directory.

Not that then. I think Jack is correct with the Nano Frequency Electronics. It's totally repeatable. Crashes every thime this is researched.