Crash to Desktop: Support and Debug

[BleckLord]

stormslayer,

I haven't been getting that error on my machine. I'm not a windows developer, but that looks like a MFC (Microsoft Foundation Class) component. If that's the case, then any software could be causing the event. Does the event happen before you installed Civ4? Does the frequency of the event increase after you installed Civ 4?

You might want to try a repair installation if you have a WinXP64 cd.

[stormslayer]

Blecklord:

I was getting exactly the same error as you under the "application" part of event viewer. If you go to the "system" part, there are probabaly other errors on your machine that occur at the same time.

I just posted a new thread -- I think I've fixed the problem (at least on my machine). Since the application errors we've all been getting don't reference anything, there's more info on the system errors. They cite two files, one uses xml and the other is the logitech mouse driver on my machine.

So, I'm no longer getting crash errors or freezes. I suspect one of two changes I've made solved the problem:

1) remove your mouse driver and just use the system mouse

2) I went back to nvidia 71.84

No more crashes / freezes in 2 hours of testing on huge maps.

Thanks Blecklord for the idea of looking at the event viewer.
sd

[stormslayer]

"ANY" software isn't causing it. I get the events at the exact second that Civ crashes / freezes my machine.

sd

[BleckLord]

stormslayer,

I don't have that error in the System log. The only one I have is an error for a service that I blasted out of existance (ie deleted) that windows is still trying to start.

Your error event is probably linked to the crash, but perhaps is a different failure machanism than mine, or a sympathetic error caused by the same failure.

If its bad XML code, we're just going to have to wait for a patch. If its a problem with MFC on your machine: A. I don't know how to fix it & B. it might cause the game to crash after a patch. Hopefully this will all be resolved soon.

[cucu hara]

I have messages in other logs, but no errors as far as I can tell. The audio.log looks like this:
-------------------
[17321.812] Audio Manager: Loading Audio Defines file XML\Audio\AudioDefines.xml...
[17321.984] Audio Manager: Successfully loaded Audio Defines file XML\Audio\AudioDefines.xml.
[17321.984] Audio Manager: Loading 2D Scripts file XML\Audio\Audio2DScripts.xml...
[17322.187] Audio Manager: Successfully loaded 2D scripts file XML\Audio\Audio2DScripts.xml.
[17322.203] Audio Manager: Loading 3D Scripts file XML\Audio\Audio3DScripts.xml...
[17322.390] Audio Manager: Successfully loaded 3D scripts file XML\Audio\Audio3DScripts.xml.
[17322.406] Audio Manager: Successfully loaded Soundscape scripts file XML\Audio\AudioSoundscapeScripts.xml.
[17322.406] Audio Manager: Initializing
[17322.406] Audio Manager: Attempting to initialize the audio system.
[17322.406] Audio System: Initializing Miles Audio System...
[17322.406] Audio System: redistribution directory: .\Miles\win32
[17322.406] Audio System: Starting Miles.
[17322.421] Audio System: Opening the sound driver.
[17322.421] Audio System: CAPS: Total HW Bytes: 0
[17322.421] Audio System: CAPS: Max Contiguous Free HW Bytes: 0
[17322.421] Audio System: CAPS: Total HW 3D Buffers: 48
[17322.421] Audio System: CAPS: Static HW 3D Buffers: 48
[17322.421] Audio System: CAPS: Streaming HW 3D Buffers: 48
[17322.421] Audio System: CAPS: Total Mixing HW 3D Buffers: 52
[17322.421] Audio System: CAPS: Static Mixing HW 3D Buffers: 52
[17322.421] Audio System: CAPS: Streaming Mixing HW 3D Buffers: 52
[17322.421] Audio System: SPEAKER CONFIG:
[17322.421] Stereo
[17322.421] Audio System: Initializing base audio system...
[17322.421] Audio System: Calculating and distributing voices.
[17322.421] Audio System: VOICES: Total: 128
[17322.421] Audio System: VOICES: Streams: 10
[17322.421] Audio System: VOICES: 2D: 54
[17322.421] Audio System: VOICES: 3D: 64
[17322.437] Audio System: Initializing 2D samples...
[17322.437] Audio System: Successfully initialized 2D samples.
[17322.437] Audio System: Initializing 3D samples...
[17322.437] Audio System: Successfully initialized 3D samples.
[17322.437] Audio System: Successfully initialized base audio system.
[17322.437] Audio System: Successfully initialized Miles Audio System.
[17322.437] AudioManager: Successfully initialized the audio system.
[17322.437] AudioManager: Successfully initialized the audio manager.


Also, my legacy.log contains a number of these messages:
--------------------
[Jason] Using old cut tree: Art/Terrain/Routes/Rivers/River02g.nif_clone
[Jason] Using old cut tree: Art/Terrain/Routes/Rivers/River05c.nif_clone
[Jason] Using old cut tree: (null)
[Jason] Using old cut tree: (null)
[Jason] Using old contour: (null)

(BTW, who the heck is Jason ? ;-)

Finally, I alway run the standard map, never huge. The only 'nonstandard' thing I recall doing was unchecking the option to install the game for all users on my PC (I have three accounts).

[Silencer]

Hi guys - I'm new here and I have the same problems as you - crashes at maps large and huge, once got blue screen...

Spechs

Athlon 2800+ (747 s.) @ 2.2GHz
1GB Ram
9550 Radeon @ 320/530
XP with SP2

the game is badly coded.. I have 20FPS in all kind of graphic lvl (1024 - high all and AAx4) and same at 1024 - low all AA- off).

[Blackship]

Just an observation on the CTD issue. I have RAM Idle running on my system, with 1GB of sysram. Before the CTD RAM Idle reports 220Mb of free ram... after the CTD free ram goes up to 880Mb!

What on earth is using up 660Mb of ram?

[BleckLord]

I have messages in other logs, but no errors as far as I can tell. The audio.log looks like this:

Damn, I was hoping to have a solid lead on pinning this down. I just ran without sound and I still had the game crash to the desktop. Also no errors in the audio.log.

The only game logs with errors are LSystem, Legacy, and resmgr. I'm guessing that Jason was programming 'Legacy', and the LSystem and Legacy are indeed linked to the same system.

The log files are pretty verbose. I have a sinking feeling that the game wasn't near ready for launch. 2K shouldn't have rushed the release. I could have waited (what am I saying, I am still waiting).

As far as ram goes, I've checked in task manager. Civ 4 uses about 250MB of system memory and about 370MB of virtual memory on my system (running windowed anyway)

[Neil81]

Blecklord,

I can play Doom 3, HL2, Far Cry, Thief 3, and FEAR Demo with no issues. These "shards" seem to be increasing and happening more and more frequently now!

Originally it was all reboots but now I am just getting CTDs and these visual artifacts.

[Neil81]

When I CTD I get:

The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: 7. (or event 6)

In the application event viewer.

When I blue screen/reboot my system event viewer shows stop code 0x1000007F.

Has anyone else gotten this stop code? It shows up as a "Save Dump" under the "Source" column in the system event viewer.

[cucu hara]

I thought I finally DISCOVERED what is causing these crashes, but it looks like another ghost hunt. Nevertheless, here is the info, even though it's more puzzling than revealing to me.

First, I had an autosave that CONSISTENTLY produced CTD within three clicks of a mouse, always in the same place. I could even reboot my PC, reload the autosaved game, click, click, click and CTD was here.

In one of the posts, someone mentioned that switching from Logitech mouse drivers to the basic system mouse drivers seemed to help. That caught my eye, since I have a Logitech Trackman wheel and a Logitech mouse attached to my PC. I checked the existing drivers first, and they were:
2/3/2003
ver 9.76.0.0 (Logitech)

Next, I downloaded new drivers from Logitech, installed them and rebooted. I could still duplicate CTD from my saved game. The new drivers were:
11/7/2003
ver 9.79.0.0 (Logitech)

Next, I decided to rollback mouse drivers to whatever Windows XP offers. Since Windows didn't ask me to reboot after the rollback, I went ahead and started Civ4 and loaded the autosave and voila! The game did NOT crash!! I was dancing around my PC, made another few clicks just in case and still no crash. I thought I found the problem was caused by Logitech mouse drivers and switching back to plain vanilla drivers would do the trick. These are:
7/1/2001
ver 5.1.2600.0 (Microsoft)

But that's not the end of the story. Next, I decided to reload the new Logitech drivers because I wanted them for other work. Of course, the curious me couldn't resist and run Civ4 with the new Logitech drivers (that previously CTD'ed) just to see if something didn't change. And to my surprise the autosaved game did NOT crash this time.

Again, I am not sure what to make of this. I used the same autosaved game as before (verified by date/time stamp). The crash was easily and consistently duplicated until I rolled back to the Microsoft mouse drivers. After that point the autosaved game did not crash, even if I reinstalled the latest drivers from Logitech. Perhaps someone could try the same steps and see what results it brings.

--------------
Sadly, the game started crashing a couple of turns later. It seems that during my testing the "crash-point" was merely reset and postponed. The underlying cause is still unknown...

[archermoo]

I was having similar problems to those described here, i.e. CTD on huge maps after expanding my knowledge of the world. Downgrading from the nVidia 81.85 drivers I'd been using to the previous 78.01 drivers seems to have solved the problem. After installing them I went back to a saved game that had been crashing every 10-15 minutes and played 3 or so hours without a hitch, even after trading for basically the entire world map.

Don't know if it is problem code in CIV or the newer driver, or both, but rolling back to the older driver seems to have fixed the problem.

[Neil81]

BlackLord,

I just got a CTD that looks a lot like yours...

[Blackship]

Strange, that's the driver I'm using and I CTD every hour or so...

[Civfreak1970]

Just stop trying!

The game is buggy guys! Its not you! I can run it on Large and Huge maps until 1600-1900AD and it will dump to desktop for scrolling the world mini-map! Seriously has bugs. Settlers sometimes sit in your cities on strike unless you manualy move them and do the work yourself and then you can put them on Automate..lol!

Civfreak1970