Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => The Theory of Everything => Topic started by: yagey on October 28, 2014, 10:18:41 PM

Title: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: yagey on October 28, 2014, 10:18:41 PM

My friend always raved about SMAC and currently my only working PC currently is an older laptop - I thought a perfect time to explore the game!

Having a lot of fun with my first game, but it keeps crashing at the end of my current turn :(  I have now read how to patch and install the unofficial path, so I hope that will help with future games, but could someone please help me "unstick" my current game?  I've tried using the scenario editor to find 'unusual' pieces, I assume this is needlejet-crash related - but I can't seem to find and delete a piece that helps it succeed.

Please find attached my save, and go easy on the mocking - it's my first attempt!  I do have an island to myself which I guess it good.

Thanks in advance :)

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: Yitzi on October 28, 2014, 10:39:15 PM

As far as I can tell, it does not seem to crash under my unofficial patch or Kyrub's; I don't think it will crash under Scient's as well.  So install Scient's, and that should prevent the crash (if it doesn't, use Kyrub's, or mine if there haven't been any ecodamage or major atrocities (i.e. the ones that make everyone declare war) yet), and that should solve your problem without having to delete anything and without causing problems from starting in the middle of the game.

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: yagey on October 29, 2014, 09:39:37 PM

thank you for the fast reply!

I have tried many times to resume this game, it always freezes at the end of this turn.
I'm pretty sure I've patched everything correctly, is there a way to tell for sure?  I've got further in a newer game with no problem.

I tried to capture with FRAPS, but this laptop is too old to support it!

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: Yitzi on October 29, 2014, 10:24:58 PM

Quote from: yagey on October 29, 2014, 09:39:37 PM

thank you for the fast reply!

I have tried many times to resume this game, it always freezes at the end of this turn.
I'm pretty sure I've patched everything correctly, is there a way to tell for sure?  I've got further in a newer game with no problem.

I tried to capture with FRAPS, but this laptop is too old to support it!

You can check game menu->Help->Show version number to check if you've got the patched version.

Other than that, I'm not sure what it might be, as it works for me.

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: yagey on October 29, 2014, 11:00:16 PM

My version says:
V: release 5
8/July/2002

doesn't sound very patched, but I don't know what I should expect either  ???

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: Yitzi on October 29, 2014, 11:16:20 PM

Quote from: yagey on October 29, 2014, 11:00:16 PM

My version says:
V: release 5
8/July/2002

doesn't sound very patched, but I don't know what I should expect either  ???

That means you're not using my patched version.

Next question: Take a game and change production in a base to what it's currently producing (use a base that has been producing the same thing for a few turns).  Does that make it lose some minerals?

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: yagey on October 29, 2014, 11:48:06 PM

Will try the base change when I can.

Meanwhile, I used these instructions - do they install your patched version?  I've compared the timestamps and CRC of the exe files in the zip, they match what I'm launching.  The timestamp is 5/7/2010.

http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1437.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1437.0)

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: Yitzi on October 30, 2014, 12:02:55 AM

Quote from: yagey on October 29, 2014, 11:48:06 PM

Will try the base change when I can.

Meanwhile, I used these instructions - do they install your patched version?  I've compared the timestamps and CRC of the exe files in the zip, they match what I'm launching.  The timestamp is 5/7/2010.

http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1437.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1437.0)

No, those instructions are for a multiplayer system.  What you want are the patches from resources->downloads on this website; one says Kyrub's SMAX patch or something like that and should fix your problem and a lot of other bugs, but adds at least one new bug.  And another bunch say Yitzi's patch; you want the latest one, which fixes the bug from Kyrub's patch and a bunch of others, but (as a result of having to count certain things differently to fix certain bugs) can mess up the game's ecodamage-related counts if there's been ecodamage or major atrocities.

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: yagey on October 30, 2014, 04:07:25 AM

aha! good to know - I'm now running:
version Yitzi patch 3.3 - 20/oct/2014

However, it still crashes - albeit a little further into the turn.   I there a way I can provide more information about the crash?

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 30, 2014, 04:18:07 AM

Post a save from immediately as possible before the crash, w/ instructions on how to trigger it.

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: Yitzi on October 30, 2014, 01:19:11 PM

Quote from: BUncle on October 30, 2014, 04:18:07 AM

Post a save from immediately as possible before the crash, w/ instructions on how to trigger it.

This.  If I can reproduce the crash, I can almost certainly fix it, but without the ability to reproduce it there's very little I can do.

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: yagey on October 30, 2014, 03:30:32 PM

thank you folks, I understand completely.  The save I posted is from the turn before the freeze.  The last message is 'Morgan scrambles defenses' which I believe I've seen listed as a known bug.

I was able to get a screen recorder working, video showing freeze and options I chose (mostly just shift+a and return on all dialogs):

http://youtu.be/9zzmagRgEQc (http://youtu.be/9zzmagRgEQc)

reattached the save just in case.

Title: Re: Crash help please? First time player!
Post by: Yitzi on October 30, 2014, 04:02:14 PM

It may be that because I didn't do exactly the same things as you, that's why I got a different result.  Please provide a savegame from as close to the freeze as you can, with exact step-by-step instructions as to what you did from loading the save onward. 

Also, be warned that freezes are a lot harder to debug than crashes, so it's very possible I won't be able to help anyway.