PC Games CD version of SPWAW crashes to WIN desktop

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PC Games CD version of SPWAW crashes to WIN desktop

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PC Games CD version of SPWAW crashes to WIN desktop - 9/15/2000 1:10:00 AM

NOVA350

Posts: 16
Joined: 9/14/2000
Status: offline

Hello, and my compliments on what seems to be a truly revolutionary way of releasing a PC game! Anyway, I purchased the Oct 2000 issue of PC gamer magazine, with the SPWAW game contained on one of the cover disks. Install went ok, (I installed it on my D: Drive- my primary windows partition is only 1 GiG), but I am unable to play the game... I can view the encyclopedia (GREAT!!), and everthing else, but when I pick a scenario and try to play it, it will go to the map, then I will move the mouse cursor to see the lay of the land, and BOOM- back to the windows desktop. It also does this when the computer is moving it's machinery around and the screen is moving to show what and where the opponent is moving! I have an AMDk62500, ATi Rage Fury Pro 32mb, 128mb RAM, Aureal Vortex soundcard and Soyo motherboard. I would sure like to be able to enjoy this game, but really can't download it because the top speed for my dial-up connection is 33.6, hence the reason I bought the magazine. ANy suggestions? Thanks for any Responses!

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- 9/15/2000 1:34:00 AM

3rd Recon

Posts: 44
Joined: 5/8/2000
From: ypsilanti, MI, USA
Status: offline

I have the download, and when I play the scenarios, it has crashed to my desk top after a few turns. I have a penII 400mhz 64 megs ram, voodoo3 2000, sb pci card. When I play a campaign, it works fine and Ive played about 15 battles without a problem. One took about 4 hours. Not sure if its a bug or not. Nova350...you should get someone on the other posts to send you a CD. wish I could help, don't have a burner. 3rd Recon

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- 9/15/2000 2:39:00 AM

Schrullenhaft

Posts: 24
Joined: 4/24/2000
From: Provo, UT , USA
Status: offline

Nova350 - What operating system are you using (i.e. - Windows 98 2nd Ed., etc.) ? When the game crashes to the desktop are any units trying to move or are you just scrolling the screen around (and not selecting something to move) ? If a unit is moving and you crash then you may want to disable sound in your preferences and see if that helps. Do you know if your video card is sharing an IRQ with any other devices (like your sound card for example) ? If it is, that is a possible culprit. I'm not sure what version has come out on the PC Gamer CD. I'm guessing that it is one of the version 3 betas. If that is the case, then you may want to consider downloading the patch to make it version 4. There are probably only a few differences between the v. 3.x and 4, but there have been a couple of bugs addressed since the version that was made available for the CD. Unfortunately you're looking at a 135Mb download, unless someone is still offering some CD-Rs (in another thread on this forum).

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- 9/15/2000 4:34:00 AM

NOVA350

Posts: 16
Joined: 9/14/2000
Status: offline

I am using Win98se. I tried to run a campaign as suggested, and all was well until it was time to take a turn..Then- Crash to the desktop! I also checked for IRQ sharing, and there doesn't seem to be any DEVICES sharing, but the sound card and video card share their IRQ w/ PCI steering. I think that that is pretty common. I also deleted steel.prf, as suggested in another post of this type. It worked great the first try after this, so I quit the game to restart it to see if it was fixed- unfortunately, same result as earlier. As for the CD, it is indeed a "b" version of the game (I assume BETA). I really wanted to learn how to play and enjoy a game of this type. I get solid performance from my computer in Q3A demo and other "arcade" types of games, but sometimes those type of game get a little monotonous after a while. I read something on this site about patches, but I am afraid the only patch that I could use is the 135 mb one.

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- 9/15/2000 5:44:00 AM

Schrullenhaft

Posts: 24
Joined: 4/24/2000
From: Provo, UT , USA
Status: offline

The "PCI Steering" is completely normal (and mandatory within Win9x). So much for that theory... Either Fabio Prado's Tank site or Tankhead's had a list of beta improvements across each release. Though it looks as if they may have taken them down. I'd suggest making sure anything else that is running in the background be shutdown. That includes some of the System Tray applets, etc. Shutdown/disable any anti-virus programs or any other system monitoring utilities. I think the patches you may have heard about are the ones that are forthcoming for 4.0. No absolute date on them yet, though I don't think that it would address your problem (to my knowledge). You may want to experiment with SPWAW's preferences (sound, video, movement, effects, etc.) to see if that helps at all. Do you have the latest drivers for your video and audio ? Sometimes the latest beta driver for either can help things (and sometimes it becomes worse). It seems to me that SPWAW has more problems/conflicts with audio than it does with video. You may want to adjust a DirectX setting: Run > C:\PROGRAM FILES\DIRECTX\SETUP\DXDIAG > go to the Sound tab > adjust the "Hardware Sound Acceleration Level" slider to the left. On occasion something like this can help. These are some drivers for the Aureal cards (you'll have to know which Vortex chipset you have): http://support.a3d.com/downloads/index.htm [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited September 14, 2000).]

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- 9/15/2000 7:48:00 AM

NOVA350

Posts: 16
Joined: 9/14/2000
Status: offline

I sure appreciate the GREAT help Schrullenhaft! I will do as you say and look around for sites stating what updates do what. Incidentally, I suspected audio drivers also, so I installed the 2048 vortex drivers- Eax, a3d! Wow, are they are better than the CD drivers- possibly the last release of drivers from Aureal- I think they are out of Business- what a shame :^(( But, alas, tried SPWAW, and no dice.. I'll have a look at any errant programs running in the BG, hogging resources. I just wish that I had a DSL connection- that probably would be the best solution. I will try updating the ATi drivers with either the VIA specific (SOYO MB) or the new CD21 beta...when I can muster up the courage!!

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