Need Help- load error

[DS]

I'm having a problem loading saved games these past few days. I'm playing a game using patch 1.35 and have installed some of the mods and new races: TDM, Borg, SE4Federation, Dominion and Shadows. The game ran well until after turn 114, at which time all further save games produce "access violations" and will not load.
Does anyone have a solution to this? Please don't just tell me to go search post topics, I've already done this.

[Possum]

Bro, as much as their authors will scream at me for saying this, anytime you use any of the mods, you risk squirreliness like this

Try bailing on all the mods and stuff, and playing a stock game. I think you'll find the game is as stable as a rock.

My guess that any one of the mods will probably be pretty stable, too. But when you start combining them, anything can happen

[This message has been edited by Possum (edited 04 June 2001).]

[Suicide Junkie]

When does the access violation occur?

If it occurs during an AI's turn, try setting them to human control and just passing the turn. Once you get past the obstacle it should be OK, and you can turn the AI back on.

[Marty Ward]

Did you save the game then try to reload it at a later time without quitting SE4? This is a problem that will corrupt your save games.

[DS]

quote:

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Originally posted by Marty Ward:
Did you save the game then try to reload it at a later time without quitting SE4? This is a problem that will corrupt your save games.

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I have done that a few times. I have small children and get interrupted at times, then come back to it. Sometimes I'll forget what I was going to do only to discover the lapse of memory after hitting the End Turn button, so I have developed a routine of saving the game, then if I find out I've forgotten something later I can just reload. Are you saying that in order to avoid corrupting the savegame file I have to completely quit the game, then restart and load the savegame? I also often repeatedly save a game to the same file name over and over. Is that a problem too?
Mind you I've played through a couple of games already and I didn't have this problem before, though the way I save games hasn't changed.
Fortunately I do have an uncorrupted savegame to go back to and see if your hypothesis is correct.
Just one more thought. I'm a big fan of the Civilization genre. The Call to Power Version had a similar problem to that you're suggesting- repeatedly saving to the same position would cause the game to crash. The other Versions of Civilization never had this problem. I wonder what the difference is in the coding of the game that causes this problem in one game but not another?

Possum- you could be right, but it would be a shame to forgo the possibility of fighting the Borg, Dominion, Shadows and Rage all in one game.



[This message has been edited by DS (edited 05 June 2001).]

[Marty Ward]

Yes, there is some sort of error that can occur if you save a game, play, save again then try to reload the original save game without quitting SE4. I forget all the particulars though.
Do a search of the forum for save game problems. There was a very detailed explanation posted about 4-6 weeks ago, right after patch 1.35 came out I think.

I think this is the link to the thread. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/For...ML/002477.html


[This message has been edited by Marty Ward (edited 05 June 2001).]

[DS]

Odd, when I did a search of "save game" earlier today that thread didn't appear.

I did see the thread about planned fixes for future patches, and there was no mention of fixing this problem. Perhaps someone should remind them of this bug. It might also be nice if it were mentioned in Dubious' strategy guide.

[Dubious]

Point noted.

While I don't think the Strategy Guide is the place for listing bugs or exploits based upon bugs, this seems like something we should warn the new player about until it gets fixed. I'll stick a warning in the next revision.

[DS]

Thanks! Problem solved.

[Dr Strangelove]

How about a short list of the most important quirks of the game like the 10 warp point max/system, no reloading after saving and etc?