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Post by finlander on Aug 27, 2014 10:48:08 GMT 1
Hi One solution for a annoying "freezing map" problem is if this accures in one specific point of the map and without a memory error message. When loading the map and before the freeze appears, i put the game on PAUSE and slowed the game frame rate to minimum(-10). Then gave STOP command to every unit in the map! Then just slowly passed the point where the freeze appeared and then business as usual.
Dont know if this works in every case but in this situation it did!
FIN
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atlas555
General
I know not what course others may take. As for me, give me liberty or give me death.
Posts: 1,069
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Post by atlas555 on Aug 27, 2014 13:50:44 GMT 1
The only way I beat the freeze(lock up) is to save often. The problem is I never know until suddenly no sound from anyone or anything or music on the board, then in seconds it locks up. There is no predicting when it will occur. I can perform the same moves after reloading and the game runs fine. It is a real mood killer and I wish there was some answer to correct it.
Finlander, I really never get an early warning as to when it will happen. It is not always at a specific spot of the map or mission or move I make-bugs the heck out of me.
Glad you brought this subject up-allows me to vent.
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Post by Major Pain on Aug 27, 2014 14:33:25 GMT 1
This has been a long standing issue.
It is usually caused by issues on the map. These can be called SOFT-SPOTS.
I should point out that a freeze can either be a form of a crash or a dynamic error where the game cannot execute a error code. When a freeze occurs, it is unlikely that the game can recover and continue. Think of a endless loop that cannot be interrupted. There is no way to 'break' the loop and the system interpreter is prevented from overriding the cycle by executing on either [ALT]+[TAB] or [CONTROL]+[ALT]+[DELETE]. TASKMAN cannot be called to End the Program.
Usually, the only way to solve the condition is a soft or hard restart of the system. Soft Restart is executed if the computer has a Restart Button. A Hard Restart is a total Power Down (turning off the computer) followed by Power Up.
One type of soft-spot is a MAP LOCATION that has a function associated with it, but the function could have an error in it. If the location lays on the edge of the map, and it's borders are defined outside of the maps boundaries, a freeze can occur.
If a reinforcement group also has a location defined for it, (like a trigger), and that location lays on the map edge, it can cause a freeze if the location boundary lays partially outside of the map boundary, especially if a function is associated with the reinforcement group.
One of the most common Locations that cause the issue are the OUT locations for aircraft... the call aviation functions can sometimes have an issue if the location boundaries lay beyond the boundaries of the map. This is common if there are several planes.
From my testing, there is about a 1 in 5 chance that an error will occur during play when a unit travels through this type of location. Such movement forces the game to focus on the location for a possible conflict or related function. If a function works as a trigger when unit passes through a location, and the location is defined beyond the boundaries of the map, then a freeze may occur.
When defining locations, care must be taken as where they cover on the map. The most common type of location definition that cause the freeze is the radius of a circle, that also intersects or lays inside of another location. If part of the circle radius lays outside of the map, then a freeze can occur when a unit travels into the location.
Aircraft cause most of the issues if they also travel outside of the map borders over a location that also is defined outside of the map boundaries.
The game cannot access the coordinates outside of the map, except in values of -x,-y and +x,+y. This can be a negative value lower than 0x,0y or positive values higher than either the (Max)x or (Max)y values of the map. The internal function that tracks the coordinates for each unit, cannot always calculate an accurate track or path if the unit is outside of the defined map boundary, and a crash can occur when the unit tries to reenter the map boundary. If a map location also exist in the same area, the issue is compounded.
This was a common issue on TDA Maps.
Be sure to check for log file updates and always check your map passibility for errors.
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atlas555
General
I know not what course others may take. As for me, give me liberty or give me death.
Posts: 1,069
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Post by atlas555 on Aug 27, 2014 18:02:11 GMT 1
Thank you Major for this detailed explanation. Aside from the aircraft problem, you have clearly explained in the first few paragraphs what I usually have experienced. Always have to do a hard restart.
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Post by Major Pain on Aug 27, 2014 18:58:15 GMT 1
On some machines, you can program a Reset button...
If you have a button that is un-used next to your Power [ON] button, you can usually program this to Reset your computer.
Some users Program the Power [ON] Button to serve two functions; Turn On and Reset.
Another Option
Go to the Control Panel
Select "Power Options"
Click the "Advanced Tab"
Look at: "When I press the power button on my computer"
Select: "Ask me what to do"
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Post by finlander on Aug 27, 2014 20:29:15 GMT 1
There are also different kinds of "freezes" going around,as i have discoverd in my few years with this game.. 1. total freeze:no sound no movement.. 2. partial freeze:slow partial movement with sudden stops but game continues..(usually this is frame rate problem) 3. map freezes but the sound will go on as Major mentioned:as endless loop. But as i mentioned there is a way to avoid this total freeze Thank god..beacuse restart didnt do it in my case..
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Post by Major Pain on Aug 28, 2014 3:41:20 GMT 1
If your soundcard is still playing a sound, music or ambient sound, your in the worst kind of a freeze and loop. That will likely require a hard start. Some times a soft restart will not clear all of the buffers and stack. It just depends on your system.
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atlas555
General
I know not what course others may take. As for me, give me liberty or give me death.
Posts: 1,069
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Post by atlas555 on Aug 28, 2014 14:45:57 GMT 1
I must have an older machine. My choices on power option are: do nothing hibernate sleep turn off
Sadly no restart option.
Thanks Major for all your answers. At least after all these years, I have a better understanding of the issues.
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Post by Major Johnson on Dec 26, 2014 18:51:53 GMT 1
Well, it has been a long time since I've been here, and I have to say I'm surprised this thread is so current! I thought for sure I was going to be raising the dead!
Anyway, my question is concerning the expansion game "The Great Battles Of WWII: Stalingrad". Like finlander pointed out, my issue is the 3rd option. Map freezes but sound keeps on looping. Although sometimes I can use the arrow keys to navigate the map, but that's it. For the original game I just used to set the affinity of the CPU to use only one core of my dual core processor. And I do have the Dual Core Patch that was put out years ago. From what I can remember that pretty much fixed the problem for me. But with this expansion, I've run into a mission where there is no real rhyme or reason to the map freeze. I've been unable to pin point a trigger, and I was hoping that by now there would have been there would have been a solution. I've also messed with the hardware acceleration setting for the sound, seeing how there is a sound loop, but so far that hasn't helped either. But if I do come across a solution I'll be sure to post it here.
Cheers!!
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Post by Major Johnson on Dec 27, 2014 14:57:44 GMT 1
So I was having a devil of a time in the beginning of I think the 7th or 8th mission of the German campaign in Stalingrad. It was freezing like crazy. Russian mortars were wreaking havoc on my force, and the Russian observation plane must have been bullet proof, as my AA couldn't touch it! It kept giving target co-ordinates back to the mortar squads. So seeing how the artillery ranges in this game have been increased, there is no safe place on the map. Also the long range mortars don't give a location on the map when they are being used. I've taken to trying to take the artillery out before beginning an attack, or at least hurt it some. In this instance I only had a Ju-88 bomber and the time between being available seemed like forever, so after trying to hide my force under the cover of trees I was just waiting for my Ju-88 to become available so I could strike various spots on the map that looked like possible locations for the mortars. It was during this waiting time where the screen was freezing up. The only thing I was doing was moving the cursor around the map. It didn't take long for the game to freeze. Well I decided to attack, and don't you know I only had one freeze for the rest of the mission? And as a side note, the mortars were the last thing I found, at a spot a never would have suspected!!
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Post by Major Pain on Dec 27, 2014 15:01:26 GMT 1
Good report!
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Post by Major Johnson on Jan 19, 2015 15:42:18 GMT 1
So, I'm in the middle of the Stalingrad expansion game, playing a map where I have to take a railway station within a 30 minute time frame. The first two or three tries, in which I failed miserably, the game worked perfectly, not a single freeze! Then, I finally get a decent battle plan together, and start implementing it and making progress, the game starts freezing within minutes of me loading the SAVE. WTF?? I know it's my dual core AMD CPU, but it's such a mood killer!!! When it did finally let me play, I was almost at the point of completing the last objective and FREEZE!! And the game did it's job, it got me so immersed I forgot to save after other milestones were reached. I'm tempted to migrate my files to a Win7 pc I have with a dual core Intel processor. I just hate that process though.
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Post by Major Johnson on Jan 21, 2015 16:51:05 GMT 1
An interesting side note: In this current mission, that is giving me fits now that I have a successful strategy, again I was just about at the point of completing the last objective and the screen freezes, meaning that the cursor no longer controls the scrolling, but you can still order units to do things and they'll do it, and you can scroll the screen with the arrow keys. The one thing that does go bat-shit crazy is the sound looping. Being so close, I decided to try to ride it out, and see if the game would still finish. After what seemed an eternity, but in reality was probably a minute or so, the game just shut itself off!! Right to the desktop! It appears the sound looping is too much for the game engine to handle. So, no, the mission didn't get completed. I'll have to try again another night!
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Post by Quintaxel on Jan 21, 2015 17:38:14 GMT 1
I can imagine the frustration Just a suggestion. Why not put your BK installation on an thumbdrive, pendrive, USB stick? I have been running BK from a USB since years on different machines with different Windows installations and I'm sure other members do the same thing. The portable installation even runs under Linux Ubuntu using Wine. A portable version will not solve the problem of freezing maps but it would give you more felxibility to migrate the game to another computer. Please note that BK is not truly portable or at least not stealth as it still leaves traces in the window registry but this is not an issue.
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Post by Scyooff on Jan 21, 2015 19:16:13 GMT 1
I'm sure other members do the same thing. You're right Quintaxel, i'm using an external hard disc where all my BK games are stored for several years now.
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