Experiences with MOO3 crashing?

[ChristopherC]

Would anyone like please to share with me their experience of crashes with this game? I had gotten to turn 650 playing the biggest galaxy set-up with three other races then crrrraasssshhhhhh!

Well, I will share mine in case it is of interest. I had noticed that my CD player had started labouring in playing the game disk. Then the CD sort of got stuck in a groove and then I experienced the crash.

I am wondering whether I experienced one of these bugs about which I have heard which crashes the game or whether it might be a problem with my CD player (although at this moment as I write this I am playing a music CD on it without any problems).

I should say that my 'puter is over twice the spec required for the game though, maybe, the simulated galaxy just got too big to handle?

Crashes always 'age' me! I actually had to switch the 'puter off at the mains and then switch it back on to reboot! Not something which Microsoft recommends, of course, but I had no choice! That was a long minute watching Scandisk look for any errors before rebooting!

Now the 64,000 dollar question. Do I feel lucky and try to carry on from where I left off? I hope to see a few replies here before I consider what to do. (Well, there is always 'Galactic Civilisations'. I hope that isnt crash-prone?)

Thanks in advance for any comments or sharing of experiences.

Live long and prosper.

[Stormhound]

Yeah, crashes tend to give me the jitters too.

I'd give it another go, myself...I've only had once the game did a hard crash on me, and since then I've quit running as many things at once and it's been okay except for the occasional Direct X surface error (from alt-tabbing or having something pop up and steal focus from the game). I'll grant you that my system is rather more on the stable side overall than most I hear about (all the more unusual, I'm running ME).

[Doomed]

Transfer the music files from the play disc to the hard drive, then there will be no disk access while playing. This will remove one potential reason for your crash.

[ChristopherC]

'Doomed', thank you for your reply and your idea sounds like a good one but how do I do that? Transfer the music files across in such a way that the play disk will still work as normal. What files do I transfer where?

I hope you read this thread to advise me. In spite of its flaws, I do like this game. Well, I reached 650 plus turns with it!

Live long and prosper.

[ChristopherC]

Thanks for your advice, 'Stormhound'. I had heard of this 'Direct X' error but, touch wood, have never experienced it myself. This was, as I say, some problem with the play disk playing on my player. 'Doomed' has an interesting idea and I hope that he will reply to let me know how I go about transferring the music files across. I dont know what to transfer where.

I didnt understand the bit about your not having so many things active? When I play the game on my system, Windows 98SE, it takes over the whole system. I make sure beforehand, of course, that no other optional program is running.

I suppose it could be a problem with my CD player as I noticed from the start that the CD player seems to be in high gear, so to speak, with the disk. We shall see.

What I dont understand is why the ALT-CTRL-DELETE command never works when you need it. I have had this experience before, though thankfully infrequently. If the ALT-CTRL-DELETE command was worth a dam it would reset your computer to Windows in a situation like this. But it doesnt!

I do feel nerrrvous now about starting to play the game. I guess the question is, as I said before, do I feel lucky?

Live long and prosper.

[Stormhound]

So far as the music transfer...

Put all of the files from the Play CD's \Music folder into a folder called:
C:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Master of Orion 3\GameDataSets\Classic_01\GameAssets\Common\Music

(You'll have to create this folder yourself, and I'm assuming you installed the game in the default location. If not, adjust accordingly.)

I generally have multiple programs going at once...the multi-tasking thing. Some games don't deal well with that, MOO3 being one of them.

[ChristopherC]

Many thanks, 'Stormhound'.

Another idea I have had is possibly to just switch off the music, if that is an option.

Live long and prosper.

[ChristopherC]

'Stormhound', I have just realised I need to ask more questions.

Which CD, One or Two, has the music?

I know how to create a new folder but how do I transfer the files? Do I use Windows Explorer to access and copy the files on the relevant CD, (CD one or CD two, CD 2 is the play disk. Incidentally, the manual says the play disk is CD one whereas it is actually CD 2. A HUGE misprint!)

Live long and prosper.

[Stormhound]

CD2 is the one you want. BTW, you'll need to match the directory structure as on the CD, so you'll want to copy whole subfolders of \Music on the CD to the \Music folder on your hard drive.

Yes, I always just use Windows Explorer. Create \Music on the hard drive as above, open \Music on the CD, highlight everything in that folder, and click and drag to \Music on the hard drive and it should handle things with a minimum of fuss.

[ChristopherC]

'Stormhound', you're a bloody genius! God bless you!

You must have been online within the last half hour? I saw your reply, copied it, asked you the query and then when I went offline I decided to try and work it out for myself. The end result is I did manage to copy the music files over from CD2 into the new Hard Drive folder you recommended and my CD player now has a nice nap after initially enabling the game to play. Hopefully, this will take care of the problem? Touch wood!

So, if anyone else out there has a 'labouring' CD player while playing, Stormhound's advice is worth considering.

Now back to dealing with the perfidious Zdarelek, game turn 655!

Live long and prosper.

[Stormhound]

Actually, I can't take credit...other folks have explained how to do this in various places since shortly after the game came out; I just remembered (and verified) how and told you. But yes, it'll save a lot of wear and tear on the ol' CD.

[ChristopherC]

Well, it works! And you took the time and trouble to inform me about it, which is what this forum is all about, many thanks, Stormhound!

I would have had to give up the game otherwise the problem was so serious!

I have started a new thread, in case you are interested, again about what the manual doesnt tell you. 'More things the manual doesnt explain... '

Live long and prosper.

[Grumbold]

Im surprised that the CD access would become increasingly laboured, but the music copy certainly stops it.

MoO3 has been one of the most stable of my recent game purchases.

[wizowebstr]

Macs

I have never, ever, ever had the game crash on me. BTW, the music copy trick works on the Mac as well.

[ChristopherC]

Just to happily to confirm I have now been playing the game for several days now with the music copied over and no more problems. Many, many thanks again, Stormhound!

Yes, Grumbold, my CD player got noisier and noisier until it sounded in real pain and finally the music got stuck presumably because the CD player got stuck. When the music got stuck, the game got stuck too and crrrrassssshhhh!

This mustnt have been a problem just for me, as Stormhound's saving suggestion came, he said, from some other thread.

Live long and prosper.