Need Advice on Game Crash
 

I just downloaded WinSPMBT and am eager to play it. Unfortunately, the game crashes to desktop after being in a battle for only a few mins. It happens every time. I have the latest patches to v2.51 and my computer's drivers etc are all up to date. Sometimes it even crashes when I am trying to set up a campaign. I uninstalled the game twice and reinstalled it on a defraged drive...can anyone offer an opinion on what is going wrong. I loved the old DOS version of the game, and am willing to buy the CD version...but needless to say, I won't if I can't get it to work.

Thanks in advance

Re: Need Advice on Game Crash
 

Did you turn the screensaver off?

Re: Need Advice on Game Crash
 

Hi,

You may try to play the game by turning off the sound (from preferences menu) and in windowed mode.

But, first read these threads:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...o=&fpart=1

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...o=&fpart=1

cheers,

Re: Need Advice on Game Crash
 

As Pyros says by following those threads, you should be able to figure out where your problem lies.

But my best guess is a sound card that cannot handle multiple MP3 streams, or a CODEC that is messing with MP3.

First:
Turn off the game mouse click sound, on the game Options misc tab (Mouse interface click to OFF).
Now enter the main game screen and go to the PREFERENCES screen and deselect BOTH sound options (battle FX and sound FX).

Now, if your problems have gone away, your problem is sound related. Either a sound card that cannot hack multiple MP3 sound streams at once, or a CODEC problem.

If this is so - there is a link to a set of the battle sounds in WAV format somewhere on this site, and also Don's instructions as to how to convert the MP3 to WAV format using goldwave. Using WAV format helps some people whose sound card has these problems (at the expense of larger disk footprint for the WAV files).

After the conversion, you will need to convert the sounds.ini file (our game does not use embedded code, so changing sound files is a matter of editing an INI file only). There may be a copy of sounds.ini for WAV, but all you really need do is open sounds.ini in a text editor and replace all .mp3 items in the INI with .wav, basically.

I think the messages for that process are in one of those threads Pyros mentioned.

(And of course - if your problems have not gone away - it may be something else, like not having a graphics card that is powerful enough, or having out of date drivers etc).

Cheers
Andy

Re: Need Advice on Game Crash
 

Yes - a search on "goldwave" found Don's article on that.

Goldwave Link

Cheers
Andy

Re: Need Advice on Game Crash
 

Thanks for all of the advice. I found the problem. In my case, the crashes to desktop were caused by a 3rd party video codex pack I had installed on my machine in order to be able to view a wider range of avi and mpg videos. After I removed that video codex pack, the game became stable and runs properly now.

Thanks ever so much for the help.

Re: Need Advice on Game Startup
 

When I download game and click the Play SPMBT button the introductory screen pops up upside down.then when scenario screen comes up theres a delay before theres any response to what i select.Finally when i hit the start button to begin scenario,nothing happens except for a sound loop of battle sounds.The game worked fine on my Windows 98 OS but i have been having this problem since i upgraded to Windows XP OS.Any help would be appreciated as i really love this game.Thanks

Re: Need Advice on Game Startup
 

If you upgraded to XP after installing the game try re-installing the game

Don

Re: Need Advice on Game Startup
 

I did reinstall the game after i changed to xp several times in fact. the same thing happens every time.i hit the start button to begin scenario and nothing happens.

Re: Need Advice on Game Startup
 

1st: Do you have the latest DirectX version and WinXP service Pack 2? Are your hardware drivers up to date and correct? Have you installed any third party video or sound codecs?

2nd: Did you install WinXP ontop the old Win98 installation? If so that may be part of your problem. Although upgrade is possible from a 98 windows, it is strongly recomended to install XP on a clean formated hard drive.

Re: Need Advice on Game Startup
 

I strongly agree with Nox's comments re upgrading.

I am going to gues that your problem is driver related, possibly video (though if you get to the main screen and can select scenarios etc, probably not).

The likely culprit is your sound card in windows XP, especially if you did not install the latest drivers from the manufacturer's website.

(This is exactly the same advice given in the sticky thread on game crashes in XP above.)

1) On the game options programme, go to misc tab and turn mouse interface click to off.

2) Start the main game programme from the Game Options launch programme, and go into Preferences. Here, turn both Sound FX and Battle FX options to OFF.

3) Exit the game (to enure the preferences are writen to the INI file in case of crash - you do not want to have to re-do) and then restart the game again.
If your crash problems have now gone away then the poblem is related to your sound card. Various options are discussed in the sticky thread, e.g. converting your sound files to WAV instead of MP3 if your card cannot handle multiple MP3 streams, and the first check is to go to your sound card manufacturer's support web site and try downloading latest XP compatible driver set (if such a beast exists).

Cheers
Andy

Re: Need Advice on Game Startup
 

I followed Mobhacks advice about Mouse inter face & sond & battle FX but it was a no go.Yes i have DirectX 9 And Service Pack 2 & i did install the xp over the 98.I am also having the same problem with winspww2 that ijust downloaded & installed

Re: Need Advice on Game Startup
 

I would suspect the upgrade from 98 to XP then.

If the intro splash screen is being played upside down then you have a severe problem with DirectPlay. That is the system used to play sounds, and show video (or a still picture, as the intro is), and DirectPlay dates from way before DirectX 8.

You may well find problems with other DirectPlay programmes(like video utilities).

Or maybe some third-party application which installed non-standard DirectPlay CODECS has been installed. We had this problem with someone in MBT, and the only way to fix it is to remove the faulty CODECS and revert to Microsoft default.

[edit - this is the MBT forum - I got confused! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif]
Try the following thread link for details on sound problems, and codecs. The option to convert your sound files from MP3 as issued, to WAV should be adressed in there too (but with upside down splash screens, you are possibly completely messed with your DirectPlay files in the "upgrade" is my guess http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif )

I take it you have visited www.windowsupdate.com and upgraded xp?.

Have you also visited the manufacturer's site for your sound and video cards (and any other peripherals, like CD drive, modem etc) and upgraded the drivers to the latest XP models?

Personaly - I just buy a new PC these days if I need the latest M$ operating system. I did try a windows 95 upgrade of a Windows 3 system once, and that was a total disaster. I installed a new disk drive and installed a full 95 install (not upgrade version!) onto the virgin drive in the end, and then converted the jumpers on the old drive and installed that as a slave D: drive and read the data files I needed from there. Once that was done, I formatted it and used it as a data drive. After that experience - new OS=new PC, for me.


Cheers
Andy