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Bilbo
High Emperor
Joined: 12 Mar 2002
Posts: 1620
Location: New York |
| Problem with game crashing |
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I'm having problems with game crashing under two conditions. Happens regardless of where I am in game.
1) If I go to inventory screen to pause game, leave for a while and come back, picture goes back to world view but I can't resume.
2) If I play for several hours straight, and I get into long combat, eventually game freezes up.
Both issues seem sound related, as the sound gets screwed up at those points.
Anybody else having this problem? Any suggestions for solutions?
_________________
The world itself shifts and changes and fades to mist like the strings of a minstrel's harp, and mayhap the dreams we forge are more enduring than the works of kings and gods.-Robert E. Howard
=Member of the RPGDot Shadows, The Nonflamers' Guild, and The Alliance of Middle Earth= |
Sun Apr 21, 2002 7:57 pm |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
No, this game was perfectly stabel on my PC.
Do you have latest patch?
If yes, post specs. |
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Sun Apr 21, 2002 8:37 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
There were rumors of a memory leak that would catch up to you after several hours of playing. I don't know if this was ever confirmed. I had similar crash/freeze issues a while back, particularly in Arnika. I turned off the footstep sounds and that helped. I upgraded from 128 RAM to 256, which helped. I also manually set my windows swap file to something around 1G, which helped. I got into the habit of saving often in case bad things happened. After I applied the 12-23 patch, I had far fewer issues. Once I won the game, I removed the game from the HD. When I decided to start again, I reloaded. I haven't had a single problem since. I did a few things between games that might have made it better, but I never did figure out exactly what did the trick. Try a few things, and let us know if you have success. I'll be happy to dig deeper into what I changed that might have worked if you require. |
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Mon Apr 22, 2002 1:15 am |
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Bilbo
High Emperor
Joined: 12 Mar 2002
Posts: 1620
Location: New York |
Yes, I'm running the latest patch, and have been since the day after it was released. I got my copy of game in November, but I can't remember if problem existed before latest patch.
One thing I know is true: Wizardry8 is a memory hog. While it will sometimes work, I don't recommend running any other programs simultaneously. A sure-fire way to crash the game is to pause it, and then switch over to browse the internet for a while. (You can do both short-term, say under 15 minutes on my system.)
System specs: HP Pavilion 8565C, 128 MB, Pentium 3 at 500 MHz, Riptide sound card, letting Windows 98 manage my virtual memory file (no limit).
I am running with all sounds on, but my DSL connection OFF. In the system tray I have Nortons Personal Firewall, Microsoft Personal Web Server, my display and CD-ROM shortcuts, and a backweb updater from HP. Since my DSL is kept off, Nortons & HP Backweb shouldn't be a cause.
I agree - SAVE OFTEN. I currently have 55 save game files at various points. Ever since it happened the first time, I always save before I do an extended pause. To anyone else reading this, I suggest you do the same!
What lead to this post was what happened to me last night. I was in combat in Rapax Rift and just found the structural support beam. I saved game, not sure of what would happen. Crossed fallen rocks, and got into a fight with 27 assorted Rapax at one time! Of course, the combat took forever. I kicked butt, and was down to about 3 initiates left when the crash struck. I did NOT pause the game before the crash this time.
On a footnote, today I got well past this point and had to do an extended pause (saving first of course). 4 hours later, game resumed fine. Obviously the problem is not consistent.
_________________
The world itself shifts and changes and fades to mist like the strings of a minstrel's harp, and mayhap the dreams we forge are more enduring than the works of kings and gods.-Robert E. Howard
=Member of the RPGDot Shadows, The Nonflamers' Guild, and The Alliance of Middle Earth= |
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Mon Apr 22, 2002 2:42 am |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
OK, here's a few other things I did that may or may not have helped. This time through, I've got the game running at the same video setting as my desktop (1024x768 IIRC)- last time I had the game running at 800x600. Hercules came out with new drivers for my GeForce2MX which I fired up. I did find that unplugging my cable modem helped back then, although turning off the "autoupdate" feature of a couple programs seemed more important. Seems some programs go looking for the connection even if it's not there and Wizardry didn't play nice with others...
You've probably already checked this, but what video card did HP stick you with, and have you done the driver dance for it? |
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Mon Apr 22, 2002 6:36 pm |
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Bilbo
High Emperor
Joined: 12 Mar 2002
Posts: 1620
Location: New York |
NVIDIA RIVA TNT is my video card, per the control panel.
You brought up an interesting issue I forgot about. My desktop is set for 1024 x 768 true color. I had trouble getting Wiz8 to run in that resolution so I did reduce the game to 800 x 600 keeping the desktop at the higher resolution, and then game would run.
Yes, I did a driver check a while ago. Maybe I'll do it again later tonight just to make sure.
Only program I know that I'm running that uses an auto-update is the backweb from HP.
Now today the bug took an even stranger turn! I'm through the Rapax courtyard onto the main level. I get surprised by 34 Rapax, and apparently in the courtyard some of defensive spells expired without me noticing.  So long battle ensues. I manage to survive the encounter with 3 of 6 characters alive, and I do a new save to a new file. I ressurect the dead and pick up the loot, then re-save. Before I can drink any magic nectar, I'm surprised by another 8 beserkers, 3 warlocks, and 4 generic Rapax (warmages?). I kill the 1 beserker nearby, and have 1 warlock in the room with me (everyone else is in the corridor to the left). Then all monsters disappear per the top of the main screen except the warlocks!?  So I close into sword range, and see all the monsters still in the corridor but standing still (except the warlocks still move and cast spells). All right, so I figured I'll just hack my way through. No one fights back except the warlocks! After killing a few more guys, the sound starts acting up, game freezes for about 30 seconds, and then it shuts down and goes back to the desktop.
Now I'm holding off playing again while I try to figure out what's going on.
_________________
The world itself shifts and changes and fades to mist like the strings of a minstrel's harp, and mayhap the dreams we forge are more enduring than the works of kings and gods.-Robert E. Howard
=Member of the RPGDot Shadows, The Nonflamers' Guild, and The Alliance of Middle Earth= |
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Wed Apr 24, 2002 2:25 am |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Hmm. The plot thickens. I've had better luck now running at 1024x768x32 (same as desktop) then I did 800x600x16. Doesn't make much sense, but it could be some of the other things I changed that really cleared up the problems.
I would probably give you two directions- first, get another stick of RAM. Going from 128 to 256 made a noticeable difference in everything I ran, not just Wiz8. You can probably get a stick for around $25. Second, it might not hurt to reinstall the game. Move your saves to a temporary folder. It's not necessary in this case, but it's a good habit.
Hope this helps! |
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Wed Apr 24, 2002 5:03 pm |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
Try to visit official page and go to Tech Support section. They have there very nice and large database of known problems and their solutions. |
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Wed Apr 24, 2002 8:11 pm |
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Bilbo
High Emperor
Joined: 12 Mar 2002
Posts: 1620
Location: New York |
I've checked out Wizardry8.com (how I got to this forum to being with  ) and I go back every day to check for updates. Nothing there seems to cover this particular situation. I was planning on upgrade my memory anyway, but may not get to do this for a while.
On the subject of drivers, after I posted yesterday, I looked again for updated sound & video drivers. Oddly enough, there was just an update for my video driver posted yesterday. Haven't installed it yet, but I will soon.
_________________
The world itself shifts and changes and fades to mist like the strings of a minstrel's harp, and mayhap the dreams we forge are more enduring than the works of kings and gods.-Robert E. Howard
=Member of the RPGDot Shadows, The Nonflamers' Guild, and The Alliance of Middle Earth= |
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Wed Apr 24, 2002 11:48 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
I wish you luck. Having gone through the same situation, I know how you feel. Fighting a long, bloody battle and having the game crash for no apparent reason caused me to say not-nice-words once or twice. Good thing it's such a good game that I stuck with it. Give your ideas a spin. The fact that you're seeing the most trouble when the game is keeping track of the most stuff points me toward memory. How long does it take for you to load up an automap? Upgrading memory cut that wait in half for me, so if you're having long loads (like 1 minute or more for the Arnika/Trynton Road or over 30sec for some smaller areas) there, that might be another pointer toward upping your RAM. If you're still having trouble let us know! |
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Thu Apr 25, 2002 12:28 am |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
Bilbo,
it is sad that you have problems with this game. Because I didnt meet so stable game for long long time.
I was for example plaiyng it for 8 hours. During this time I wrote e-mails, surfed web, wrote in word, did some graphic editind, everything just with alt+tab. And now crashes. |
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Thu Apr 25, 2002 6:00 am |
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Bilbo
High Emperor
Joined: 12 Mar 2002
Posts: 1620
Location: New York |
I just took about a 24 hour break. I'm back playing it. It worked fine yesterday, even with about an 1 1/2 hour pause in the middle of combat.
All automaps load in under 30 seconds, most in under 15.
Being a former programmer, I can tell you from observation and experience one thing that Sir-Tech did in terms of memory handling. They use the same memory areas to store the screens for the automap and the options page for things like save/load. If you're in an area and call up an automap for the first time, it takes time to load. Check the map later, and it will come up much quicker. BUT if you save the game in between checks, you will have the longer delay again.
While that seems to be just some useless trivia, it does lead me to one other thought. If your automaps are taking a long time to load, it may be a function of disk fragmentation. Try defragging and see if it speeds up.
_________________
The world itself shifts and changes and fades to mist like the strings of a minstrel's harp, and mayhap the dreams we forge are more enduring than the works of kings and gods.-Robert E. Howard
=Member of the RPGDot Shadows, The Nonflamers' Guild, and The Alliance of Middle Earth= |
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Thu Apr 25, 2002 12:51 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
MY map loads are the same as yours now. Before I upgraded to 256 RAM, the wait got pretty bad. Beyond the reinstall, I'm afraid I'm about out of advice. Hope you manage to get it stable- it's a fabulous game. |
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Thu Apr 25, 2002 6:58 pm |
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Sir Markus
Counselor of the King
Joined: 11 Jan 2002
Posts: 369
Location: Columbus, Ohio USA |
Just another possible suggestion. When I built my current machine, I had all manner of lockups/error messages when playing games; everything under the sun. Well once I actually looked at the box for my motherboard, I realized I had a VIA based chipset, and when I installed the drivers for that, my problems almost completely disappeared. You might want to find out if you have this type of motherboard and download the VIA 4 in 1 drivers. That's one possible solution.
The only other thing that comes to mind is defective/failing RAM chips. But I didn't have the game crash one single time, in fact I don't recall a modern game being so stable for so many people, it's really remarkable in my opinion.
But don't feel too bad, I was exploring Ascension Peak, getting near solving the game, and I had a viscious power surge that completely fried my hard drive, so I lost my saves and have to start over (when I get my replacement drive, that is)  .
In any case, keep trying, you'll be happy when you get this game working; it really is something special. |
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Tue Apr 30, 2002 7:49 am |
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Bilbo
High Emperor
Joined: 12 Mar 2002
Posts: 1620
Location: New York |
Agreed, this is a great game! I think I'm closing in on endgame for first time, and looking forward to replaying it from start.
Now, the crash plot thickens more. I haven't played the game for a couple of days, so no new crashes to report. My DSL service is down, so I'm using dial-up for now. Programs like Quickbooks that didn't try to auto-update via DSL are trying to update via the regular modem! (Thank you Norton's firewall picking this one up for me!) I will keep monitoring this situation and try to eliminate all of these background updates to see if this happens.
_________________
The world itself shifts and changes and fades to mist like the strings of a minstrel's harp, and mayhap the dreams we forge are more enduring than the works of kings and gods.-Robert E. Howard
=Member of the RPGDot Shadows, The Nonflamers' Guild, and The Alliance of Middle Earth= |
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Wed May 01, 2002 8:19 am |
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