Re: New error message
 

I've seen various games run quite a bit slower with a virus checker running in the background, enough that, for example, music tracks have a noticeably slower tempo. I turn off my virus checker whenever I play a game offline.

------------------
Cap'n Q

Re: New error message
 

SE4 is the only software I've had any problem with since I got this computer a year ago.

I can't help but wonder if I somehow got a bad CD.

Does anyone know what causes a message like: Access violation at address 00000038. Read of address FFFFFFFF or Access violation at address 0045A6E3 in module "SE4.EXE". Read of address 72617521?

Re: New error message
 

Ok, first off, its the p133 with windows95 that runs the game (error free, so far). The 'new' computer (packard bell, 300cyrix? with tonnes of memory)is the one that crashes constantly. In the times I actually get Se4 to work the one thing I can count on is that if I use the ministers (complete AI) the game will crash, Dr.Watson will say that the game tried to access memory that 'wasn't there'. Thought I had a bad cd myself, but so far (about a month+) the game has worked fine on the p133. My friends laugh and say the fact that the computer is a 'packard bell' is the problem right there (radio shack). Don't know myself. Havn't had the $ to take it into a store to see what is really wrong. Gonna try removing half the ram (drop to 32 from 64) to see if I somehow got a bad ram batch. Other than that.....time for a new computer http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon9.gif

------------------
"The Empress took your name away," said Chance.
Owen smiled coldly. "It wasn't hers to take. I'm a Deathstalker until I die. And we never forget a slight or an enemy." -Owen Deathstalker.

Re: New error message
 

The one thing I forgot to mention (after re-reading the forum) is that I only encountered these problems after playing 80+turns, every game b4 that was fine but I would usually restart due to lack of 'interest' in a particular game. Been reading this forum for a while and the other people who complain about these type of errors are from games that have run awhile too. Coincidence?? (never actually finished a game myself).

Re: New error message
 

I haven't run into these errors yet, and I've played a couple games out beyond 100 turns. I also switch between multiple computers while playing (play a couple turns at work when I have time, then play a few at home, etc.). Of course, I'm using the standard game (no modpack, no downloaded races; only change is some tweaking of the population bonuses in Settings.txt and using the expanded system names file because I like galaxies with 200+ systems).

The one thing I've noticed about the system error-related complaints is they always come from people with high-speed CPU's and lots of RAM. I'm using a three-year-old P-233 with 64M RAM, and SE4 has yet to cause problems. I have trouble with Netscape sometimes, and occasionally problems with MS Excel, plus some things running in the background that I can't completely turn off, but SE4 has not caused any problems yet.

Re: New error message
 

I have this problem sometimes also.
I have WinMe, P4 1.5 with 256 meg memory. It happens when I am in a battle. I have already sent the files off to MM and gave them my system parms. I have no moded files on this system. I do the modding on my NT station with no problems. and my p3 400 win 98 runs it fine so far.
{I have a Packard Bell p100 overdriven, that has given me no problems at all with any software /win95, I have a gateway P3 400m that has given me no problems with this game w/win98. I have a P3
GB w/ NT 850m(this one uses scud Drive) that has given me no problems with this game. I have a GB K6 300m that does have problems with most games.
My newest is a P4 1.5g gateway that every now and then I get a range check error during battles.

I also have a p133 but I have not tryed anything on it in a long time. (thinking about using it as a game host.)}



[This message has been edited by Dracus (edited 12 April 2001).]

Re: New error message
 

The overheating suggestion is a good one- even if that's not the casue it wouldn't hurt to open it up and remove any dust. Also, make sure you aren't blocking any ventilation holes, and your machine isn't situated by a sunny window / above a radiator / behind the fridge / in the oven etc.

A duff memory chip is another possibility I suppose. If you can get hold of similar chips (from a similar computer, maybe) swap them over and see if the problem goes away.

I don't think it happens on modern motherBoards / gfc cards but some older Boards had jumper settings to tell the computer how much memory was fitted. If those jumpers were wrong the computeer might try to use memory that wasn't there.

Just FYI - my machine is also a P133 (40meg ram, Voodoo 3/16meg), but it's my main computer, not my spare.
It does everything I ask it to just fine.

------------------
There is an exception to every rule. Including this one.

Re: New error message
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>My friends laugh and say the fact that the computer is a 'packard bell' is the problem right there<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>They could be right. Back when I was researching which computer to buy before I picked my current one, Packard Bell came in dead Last in a _PC World_ customer survey in almost every Category. That was three years ago, though, and ISTR hearing that PB has improved somewhat since then.

------------------
Cap'n Q

Re: New error message
 

I've gotten this error too in our simultaneous game. We tried having 2 other players try to execute as host on their PCs and the game still errored out, so I don't think this is a hardware problem or antivirus problem at all.

the error I got was:
"Access violation at address 004DECA4 in module 'se4.exe'. Read of address 000001F4." We are using 1.30 and TDM 1.70.

Re: New error message
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Samurai:
Does anyone know what causes a message like: Access violation at address 00000038. Read of address FFFFFFFF or Access violation at address 0045A6E3 in module "SE4.EXE". Read of address 72617521?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Access violations are generally a programmer error, although they can be caused by hardware. It simply means that the program in question tried to access a place in memory that the operating system did not give it permission to access. #1 cause is a mis-indexed array.