Constant Crashing (not minidumps)

from Sins Forums

Hey,

I'm running Sins Diplomacy Beta 3 in LAN multiplayer, and every so often the game just completely disappears, and I am back at the Windows desktop.  This can happen after pretty much any length of gameplay; the longest I can remember it going without crashing was about an hour, today it crashed within a minute.  Needless to say, even with frequent saving, this makes the game nearly unplayable.  I have a brand-new, high-end computer (Core i7, 64-bit, 9GB RAM, GTX 260) and the game runs flawlessly on maxed settings.  There is no lag, skipping, graphical glitches, or any indication that the game is struggling prior to the crash.  It happens out of a clear blue sky, and with no apparent common denominator.

Any suggestions as to why this is happening, and/or how to fix it?  Has anyone else encountered this problem?

- Phil

P.S.  Before anyone reminds me that this kind of thing often happens with betas, there is no indication on these forums of a widespread bug in Diplomacy that causes constant crashing.  Not to mention, I have been having this problem, with increasing severity, since Beta 1.  It seems more likely that the problem is something specific to a certain configuration.

technical
6,786 views 7 replies
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

I have pretty much identical specs as your PC (i7 920, 64-bit, GTX 260), and my brother does too. We have been experiencing this crashing without minidumps since Entrenchment, and it continues on with Diplomacy. I tried my best to get the problem solved with support a few months ago, but with no minidumps to provide, they could do absolutely nothing for me. At this point, all I can do is change the autosave frequency so it happens much more often, and just reload the saved games. No other games I have do this. I wouldn't put up with it at all if I didn't love this game so much. All drivers are up to date, no problems with background processes or internet connections (we have a direct crossover cable between the PC's) etc. Pretty sad, really.

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

I suggest enable logging. When it does crash send the log file, computer specs, what settings your running, and what your doing ingame around the time of the crash. Send them mmason@stardock.com

 

To enable logging:
Windows Vista/Windows 7:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting
or
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting

Open the user.setting file (using Notepad, Wordpad or any text editor) and scroll down to the bottom 7 lines from the bottom is the line:
LogOutput FALSE
Change FALSE to TRUE
LogOutput TRUE

and from then on any Log files will be saved to the debug folder:
Windows Vista/Windows 7:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug
or
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting -Ue_Carbon, reply 3
I suggest enable logging. When it does crash send the log file, computer specs, what settings your running, and what your doing ingame around the time of the crash. Send them mmason@stardock.com
End of -Ue_Carbon's quote

OK, I'll do that.

Quoting Beric01, reply 2
I have pretty much identical specs as your PC (i7 920, 64-bit, GTX 260), and my brother does too. We have been experiencing this crashing without minidumps since Entrenchment, and it continues on with Diplomacy. I tried my best to get the problem solved with support a few months ago, but with no minidumps to provide, they could do absolutely nothing for me. At this point, all I can do is change the autosave frequency so it happens much more often, and just reload the saved games. No other games I have do this. I wouldn't put up with it at all if I didn't love this game so much. All drivers are up to date, no problems with background processes or internet connections (we have a direct crossover cable between the PC's) etc. Pretty sad, really.
End of Beric01's quote

The strangest thing is that this exact same problem was happening on my old computer.  I thought that having the game on the newer system would fix it.  BTW, how do you increase the autosave frequency?  I've been trying to figure that out for months!

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

C:Documents and SettingsuserLocal SettingsApplication DataIronclad GamesSins of a Solar EmpireSetting

 

Autosave tick frequency (number of seconds) can be lowered as much as you want.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

OK, I greatly increased the autosave frequency and that has helped a lot.  I want to send a crash log to Ironclad/Stardock, but I can't find how to enable logging...?

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting -Ue_Carbon, reply 3

 

To enable logging:
Windows Vista/Windows 7:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting
or
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting

Open the user.setting file (using Notepad, Wordpad or any text editor) and scroll down to the bottom 7 lines from the bottom is the line:
LogOutput FALSE
Change FALSE to TRUE
LogOutput TRUE

and from then on any Log files will be saved to the debug folder:
Windows Vista/Windows 7:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug
or
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug
End of -Ue_Carbon's quote