What can cause a SMEDS application error?

[Ecthy]

It occurs when I start diplomatic action, try talking to other Civs... then the diplomacy screen is not loaded and I get all the dialogue options as windows right there on the map without the diplomacy background... what might be the reason for this? Any ideas for a cure? And before someone asks - I have diplomatic screen enabled.

Thank you

[Scouse Gits]

Sounds like "system dangerously low on resources!"

I had something similar and it transpired the system was about to crash - i seemed to have four instances of Outlook running simultaneously - check what else you have running at the time - probably too much - remember Civ is a DOS program in a rather inadequate 32 bit wrapper - it gobbles resources even more than GateSh*t!!!

[Ecthy]

no, this happens right after rebooting and with 90%+ resources as well

I think it has to d owith some f*cked up labels.txt ... a wrong number or line length here and there and it is lost

[Scouse Gits]

What version?
Let me know and I can attach a zipped clean labels.txt for you ...

[Ecthy]

FW, 2.78

but then I use a German version, so a labels.txt from you would produce a less than satisfying atmosphere in the game

but thanks a lot for the offer, it shows initiative

[Dr. Nick]

i think there is an option 'diplomacy screen' in some of the options menus (graphical, i think) which disables it and makes the dialog box appear only.

it does not make an error message appear, though...

btw, i'm HsFB...

[Scouse Gits]

Zu Befehl, mein Herr ...

FW 2.7.8 labels.ger zipped and attached ...

I really do have every version of this silly game I can get my hands on.

[Ecthy]

hey cool, thanks!!

BTW, I realized the error really only occurs when I try to get in contact with others... and for some reason I think that the messed up file is not the labels.txt but the tiles.dll

Mr S Gits, would you be so kind as to send us your tiles.dll?

But then again, the error occurs in every version... in FW and in MGE as well, although I have separate installations of those... that is very odd, I think it has to do with the registration, or maybe it is something completely different...

[Ecthy]

the error message says it's an error in the file port.cpp in the 'smeds' folder in the 'source' folder... I did a windows search for said file and those folders do not exist on my machine so I suppose they are in some damn archive in Civ2... possibly in tiles.dll, who knows.... but I think the error is not in the file itself but in some registry thing, because it says 'resource not found', so it might be something outside of the relevant file as well...

[Ecthy]

Erstens kommt es anders, zweitens als man denkt.

Update: the error does not occur in my MGE versions (Patch 2 and 3), but only in FW. So it must be about one of the files in the same folder... trying that labels.ger now

edit: I'm unable to unzip that file. it's the same with all files I download at Apolyton nowadays.

And it's also the reason why I don't play Civ3 anymore. red mountaisn suck and as logn as I can't download the rocky not red mountains user patch from this site I'm not going to touch that game again

[Shadowstrike]

Have you tried a clean re-install? Getting the scenario collection back would be a hassle, but its worth it.

[Ecthy]

yes I did it... but I didn't run the programm afterwards to check. Instead I completely overwrote all ger and gif files with my customized ones.

during the installation there was an error about installing the tiles.dll. It said the file was in use... I think it is all about the tiles.dll

[Ecthy]

oh, and when installing with sound files, the installation dies at unpacking the mk.dll.... but never mind that, installing without sound files rusn fine, and I still have the sound files from my original 1996 installation

[Scouse Gits]

Sorry - even zipped tiles.dll is over a Meg in size - are you sure your unzip utility is OK?

[Mercator]

I think the problem must be with the mk.dll. That's the fie that holds the diplomacy screen backgrounds and the leader portraits. The tiles.dll holds the background images (for the tax and advisor screens, the credits and the overall background).
What sizes are your tiles.dll and mk.dll files? And do you have GifX? Maybe you can open these two with GifX and see if all the images look normal...
And you said MGE worked just fine? You could simply try copying the MGE mk.dll and tiles.dll files to your FW folder. I think they're the same.