Strange, Intermittent Crash

[Steve Schacher]

I've been very hesitant to post this because I've always thought that this was something that was conflicting with my PC, but now I'm not so sure. I'd like to know if others are experiencing this crash also.

I get a strange GPF crash that I think is related to setting the FPD target when in Autopilot mode. When in battle with hostile (red) targets, I often take manual control of the BC. I will target the hostile and set the FPD (by pressing the F key). This goes fine. I maneuver, fire, etc., no problems. But sometimes (not always), if I then turn on the autopilot (AI or Direct), the game crashes.

Also, this can happen just by ordering the BC to ATTACK the hostile when in Autopilot. From the TLM, I select BC->ORDERS->ATTACK->ENEMY->target, and when I click it I get the crash.

The thing that leads me to believe it is related to the FPD is the first case above. A variant of the situation is when the BC is already in Autopilot and is flying to a destination. If a hostile suddenly appears in the region, I will clear the FPD and target the hostile (still in Autopilot). When I press F to set the FPD, the game crashes. This is the converse to the first situation where I set the FPD in manual mode and then press A to activate the Autopilot. It crashes then, also.

My latest frustration is that I went to explore the Debris Field in the Earth region. I found a bunch of cargo pods and two mines. I order the BC to hold and save the game. Now I order the BC (in autopilot mode) to MINESWEEP. As it is orienting towards the first mine, the game crashes. I have the saved game, and every time I start it, it does the same thing: it rotates clockwise to align with the verticle crosshair in the tac scanner, it then pitches upward to center on the mine, and as soon as the mine passes the inner-most tic mark on the crosshair, the game crashes.

System specs:

Gateway Performance Pentium 3 550 mhz

128 meg of ram

Voodoo3 3000 AGP video card

about 600k of conventional memory

Config.sys and desktop icon memory settings to FAQ.

Anybody else seeing this? Any ideas? This is what's keeping me from getting involved in fleets, since I can't get a stable setup yet.

[Supreme Cmdr]

LOL!, whats the stability of your setup (especially those obscure issues you post) got to do with fleets?

btw, I'm surprised MINESWEEP is even in the BC orders menu. It is an order for fighters, not the BC. Since the BC won't auto-arm its weapon systems, its pointless giving it this order.

update: Just tried the above. Works fine here.

[This message has been edited by Supreme Cmdr (edited 02-29-2000).]

[Steve Schacher]

quote:

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whats the stability of your setup (especially those obscure issues you post) got to do with fleets?

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Just that I don't want any multi-player commitments if I keep crashing when I play. I'm hoping that these problems go away with BC:M.

quote:

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I'm surprised MINESWEEP is even in the BC orders menu. It is an order for fighters, not the BC. Since the BC won't auto-arm its weapon systems, its pointless giving it this order.

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Actually, the BC still targets the mines with the PTA's and blows them up.

quote:

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update: Just tried the above. Works fine here.

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I know, that's why I said it is intermittent. I don't know if it has anything to do with my savegame, or if it is an internal conflict on my PC. I can play for hours without a problem, and then all of a sudden this starts happening. I spent the past weekend updating every driver on my system (including the bios), and my savegame still crashes.

I can't figure it out. I'm *desperately* trying to make it work consistently. The true test for me will be when I can let it run overnight without crashing.

I don't know what else to do...

[This message has been edited by Steve Schacher (edited 02-29-2000).]

[Steve Schacher]

Man o' man... I just had a hecka session with my battlecruiser. I captured Idan and boy, do those raiders want it back! Wave after wave of attacks. And, you know what?!? No Crashes!!!

Seriously, I've been doing some more tweaking -- I put in Cacheman to better manage VCache, I found a mouse tweak that boosts it up from 40hz to 200hz (I'm running it at about 85hz). But mostly, I installed the 3dfx beta version of their new drivers (I know, I know...) but I also put your glide2x.ovl in my C:/BC3000AD directory. That might have made the difference (for now). Without your version of glide2x.ovl, the game ran fine until I saved, and then when I clicked on Continue, it locked up. With your version it runs smoothly.

The main reason that I went with the beta version is that they dropped all attempts to maintain compatibility with the Banshee card and wrote a whole new driver for the Voodoo3 alone. However, they admit that it hasn't been fully tested yet (it's all spelled out on the www.3dfx.com site).

But I'm happy (for now).

[Supreme Cmdr]

As long as you are using my glide2x.ovl, the Beta drivers are not used by the game and it doesn't care about them. They will only be used by other games and not BC3K.

Anyway, told you so