Crash to Desktop: Support and Debug

[BleckLord]

I started a new game. Sure enough, I didn't have a crash all day; then after sailing accross the sea and geting some world maps, I had a CTD. I hope someone from Firaxis gets this figured out soon.

Neil, try your save again. If it fails again, I'd like to get a copy of the save game to try.

[seebs]

I just got a CTD scrolling the mini-map on a huge world... And come to think of it, most of my crashes have been under at least similar circumstances. I have done all the things people suggest (change sound settings, etc), to no avail.

[Neil81]

Here's the map I've been playing BlackLord... It crashes every turn or two now.

[BleckLord]

Neil,

Thanks for the save. I can't get it to crash on my machine the way it crashes on yours. I wonder if the error is injected into the Civ4 cache as you play? If you cleared the cache it might prevent the problem. You start the game w/o cache, the game regens the cache from the save file & saved seed w/o errors.

Large maps with high unit counts cause more possibly corupt cache writes, thus the frequency of crashes is greater. So theoretically we could statistically map the cache use to the crash frequency, even down to the particular functions and try to correlate it down to a single routine. Unfortunately, that requires the code and a good knowledge of it and a great deal more time spent doing Firaxis' job than I care to invest.

Also, I'm just running at the mouth here, there really is no way for us to know what is causing this crash. Its just fun to sit here and speculate while waiting for Firaxis to patch the game.

[DocMWood]

I'm having much the same problem as others here -- runs fine (albeit with some audio stutters) until ~ 1600-1900 AD, at which point I get consistant crashes to desktop. Per the 2Kgames site, here's the type of info that they wanted on my system:
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 11/2/2005, 21:11:41
Machine name: MEDIONM3
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: MEDIONPC
System Model: MS-7046
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 333MB used, 592MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: The file nv4_disp.dll is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Sound Tab 3: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce PCX 5300
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_00FC&SUBSYS_96811462&REV_A2
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.8187 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 10/21/2005 18:35:00, 3922304 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: No
WHQL Date Stamp: None
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys
Mini VDD Date: 10/21/2005 18:35:00, 3530944 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-43BC-11CF-2968-8BB603C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x00FC
SubSys ID: 0x96811462
Revision ID: 0x00A2
Revision ID: 0x00A2

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: C-Media Rear Panel Audio
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_434D&DEV_4980&SUBSYS_70461462&REV_0904
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: cmudax.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0007 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Debug
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 7/28/2004 07:06:54, 1258432 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: C-Media Electronics Inc.
HW Accel Level: Full
Cap Flags: 0xF5F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 192000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 17, 16
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 17, 16
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): Yes
Registry: OK
Sound Test Result: Not run
Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives
------------------------
Drive: C:
Free Space: 139.0 GB
Total Space: 183.4 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: ST3200822AS

Drive: D:
Free Space: 3.7 GB
Total Space: 7.3 GB
File System: FAT32
Model: ST3200822AS

Drive: E:
Model: DVD RW DVR-MCC
Driver: c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 5.01.2600.2180 (English), 8/4/2004 05:00:00, 49536 bytes

Drive: F:
Model: SONY DVD-ROM DDU1613
Driver: c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 5.01.2600.2180 (English), 8/4/2004 05:00:00, 49536 bytes

There's more, of course, but that should give the general idea.

[tiger00]

@ Blecklord, Neil81,

I'm getting a screen that looks just like both of yours with an ATI card - here are my stats:

Pentium M 2.0 Ghz
1 GB ram
Mobile Radeon 9700
Catalyst 5.08 drivers
WinXP Pro w/SP2

My crashes general happen after 3 hours or so, but a couple of times after only a handful of turns.

I will post the screen and error logs next time it happens.

[Eyemaze]

I delete cache before I start every time. Still crash on worker actions now...

this is the message for every crash in the application event viewer

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.



This is from the same timestamp in the system event viewer

The WMI Performance Adapter service entered the stopped state.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.




this has a time stamp earlier than the crashes (I think this matches when I start up Civ not when the game crashes)
It is from the civ resource manager log

RESMGR: Texture PlayerColor01.tga failed to load
RESMGR: Texture PlayerColor02.tga failed to load




Note I have no video corruption or other obvious issues except these cdts

[seebs]

I have an interesting quirk. I am also having no video problems except CTDs. But here's something neat: If I click around on the mini map a bunch, the game almost always crashes.

Another thing I noticed is that the behavior of tooltips appears to vary with whether the map recently recentered or not.

Hypothesis: Something to do with mouseovers allows for, in some cases, the game to try to do tooltips for terrain outside the borders of the map, or something comparable.

[CivNonFreak]

Mine crashes from time to time, maybe every 4-5 turns in the 1900s, less often before that and not at all untill the late 1700s. Of course, I am playing on HUGE maps (playing a 8 player hub map, didn't crash until 1850 or so). The screen redraws get slower and panning the screen can take a long time as I get further along. There are times the screen gets a black polygon shape across most of it but that goes away on the re-draw.

Specs:

Nvidia nforce MB
AMD 2800+ Athlon XP
Nvida Geforce 5200, 128 MB
1 GB RAM
built in sound (yes, I get stuttering movies)

That said, the game rocks. Yes It's locking up on huge maps (haven't tried it on large yet) but I am pushing the limits of the game, which is pushing the limits of the PC. And they can't test for all the different PC configs... its not like PCs are MACs, for Gods sake.

I expect the patch will solve my issues; until then play on best I can. Could be worse... DAOC and WOW had huge problems on release (though I think CIV4 players are more whiney) and I've seen worse on other non-MMORP games, so overall, as long as they patch it inthe next couple weeks, I good.

[CivNonFreak]

Originally posted by seebs
I have an interesting quirk. I am also having no video problems except CTDs. But here's something neat: If I click around on the mini map a bunch, the game almost always crashes.

Another thing I noticed is that the behavior of tooltips appears to vary with whether the map recently recentered or not.

Hypothesis: Something to do with mouseovers allows for, in some cases, the game to try to do tooltips for terrain outside the borders of the map, or something comparable.

Yeah I noticed this also. Mini-map clicks on the suddenly exposed map (Sat tech) and it crashed. Also had it crash repeatedly on panning the screen past the map limits.

[Eyemaze]

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.

I had a save that crashed every single time I tried to spread religion with a missionary.

After a coupel of days (no changing of drivers or anything) I decided to give it a try again and it does not crash now.

Only thing I did was delete my cache and my autosave folder.

When I first had the problem back a couple days ago, deleting the cahce did not help and nor did restarting the computer.

[seebs]

Interesting that I'm not the only person with a save that crashes on spread-religion. I wonder! Maybe some of the generic CTDs happen on the same circumstances, when a religion randomly spreads, which they sometimes do.

[clem]

CTD's here also on huge map (the Earth one included with the game) with 8 civs. First CTD later on in the game, now with the map almost completely covered with cities / units etc. I get a CTD almost EVERY TURN. I'm pressing [shift - F5] everytime I give a build order or move a unit now

Specs:
AMD XP3000+ / 1GB Ram / GeForce 6600GT 128 MB.
No problems with other games...

[Dos_slayer]

I have experience a CTD, a blue screen which promptly restarted my computer and even the graphic issue when closing the game and returning to the desktop.

My game was fine for about 3 or 4 days, then I had a CTD twice and finally today, it gave a blue screen error , which flashed so quickly, I was not able to catch anything. This promptly restarted my computer.

I have a AMD 64 3000+ 1GB Corsair Ram in dual channel mode on my DFI LANPARTY NF4 DR motherboard. I have a ATI x700 256MB PR0 video card and a SATA WD Caviar 80GB HD.

I would like a patch soon to at least address the CTD and restart errors. I can live with the graphical error, although the graphical bug may be related to why the computer restarts.

Dos Slayer

[Akaoz]

I've got the same thing. CTDs with curropt display (horizontal bars) in the late (1800->) game.

I've also got some graphic corruption that appears in the late game. A few "long shadows" and some huge artifacts appearing over some cities.

System:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
1GB RAM
Radeon x800 PCI-Express (256MB)
Audigy 2 ZS Audio

Oh... and a Logitech mouse with the default drivers.