Damm Range Check Errors

Jmenschenfresser · #1 May 17th, 2002, 09:09 PM

Found I a RCE I haven't read about on the forum before...a modded error though.

Just as there is a max number of systems that is safe, so there is a minimum also. I'm not sure what it is though. I set it to five, three and one. Got RCE on all. Although I was able to start several games on 3 and 5 that didn't get the error.

go figure

mac5732 · #2 May 17th, 2002, 09:13 PM

It could be both, systems and/or software hardware problems. It just seems to me when a number of gamers posted RCE's, index errors, etc, more so before the latest patches, it appeared they were mostly of the same type of operating system. Possibly a poll of say the different operating systems, graphics card, etc, in order to see if there possibly is some type of connection. The patches have cleared up a lot of those from before but they still do appear tho less frequently, but again more so in specific systems.. hmm

Gandalph, your offer is much appreciated and I'm sure will be well received if you want to post. Especially from those of us who are computer illieterate and don't understand or know a Bios from a tigga's tail...

just some ideas mac

Gandalph · #3 May 17th, 2002, 09:25 PM

Another consideration would be brand of system. Many off-the-shelf type systems (ie: Compaq, HP, Emachine, etc.) care more about self promotion than they do about PC optimization. I have seen these types of systems come out of the box with less than 50% resources free due to brand specific garbage being loaded at system start up. Personally I find that extremely annoying, although profitable when those systems take a dive a year later when the consumer adds the latest 3D game to their system and it all comes tumbling down.

About the tweaks, I will post them with a disclaimer and include them in my sig, or perhaps a new thread (not sure how to proceed with that).

EDIT - Damn typo's, and I even previewed this one!

[ May 17, 2002, 20:27: Message edited by: Gandalph ]

DirectorTsaarx · #4 May 17th, 2002, 11:46 PM

There was a thread a few months ago where some RCE's were traced directly to a series of Dell laptops, so there are definitely some hardware (& possibly OS) issues out there...

Derek · #5 May 18th, 2002, 12:05 AM

Hmm, interesting. Why would the hardware matter? I mean, my programming skills are C and Basic (not VBasic, just Commodore 64 Basic...

) so I can't really say, but as I understand the Windows enviroment, you don't write directly to the hardware, but rather to the OS. If this is true then the hardware shouldn't matter at all. Of course, this is assuming the programming is done correctly. If shortcuts are taken, and the game is writing directly to the hardware, then all bets are off. This could, of course, explain why there is no wheel mouse support...

Derek

Quote:

Originally posted by DirectorTsaarx:
There was a thread a few months ago where some RCE's were traced directly to a series of Dell laptops, so there are definitely some hardware (& possibly OS) issues out there...

Gandalph · #6 May 18th, 2002, 12:23 AM

[quote]Originally posted by Derek:
<snip>Why would the hardware matter?<snip>

That is a question that a lowly PC Tech like me cannot answer, I only know for sure that it does. As an example, I had a system go haywire on me that took me 3 weeks to figure out that Macafee AV and the LS 120 Superdrive could not get along in the same system.

Having built 1,000's of new and used systems, I can definitely tell you that some hardware/software configurations just don't get along, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason for it. I would suspect the way the Windows HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) communicates between the hardware and the software's API(Application Programming Interface, IIRC), but alas, I am not an Engineer. They get paid WAY more to screw the things up that I get to fix.

Phoenix-D · #7 May 18th, 2002, 12:30 AM

"I can't really say, but as I understand the Windows enviroment, you don't write directly to the hardware, but rather to the OS. If this is true then the hardware shouldn't matter at all."

This assumes the hardware plays nicely together in the first place. Not always.. sometimes components don't like each other, but only show it in taking up more resourses, crashing at odd times, etc.

Case in point: Mechcommander 2. I think someone tried to get a little too tight with their code on that one, and didn't leave much room for error. The end result is that if your system is even SLIGHTLY off what MC2 expects it to do, it'll run like crap. The game was running better on some people's PII 400s than their new machines, better and higher (HIGHER) resolution on some machines, etc.

Phoenix-D