Crash during multitasking

[Dreamer]

Hi gang,

I have no errors and no crashes with SHIII until I try to task switch out of it. I immediately get a kernel.dll error and the game crashes, causing the computer to go deep into thought for a few minutes, halting all other programs. This happens with stock SHIII, with the 1.4b upgrade, and with GWX. I have all versions installed individually and it's consistent.

Help!

Thanks

Martin

[Jimbuna]

Welcome aboard kaleun dreamer :arrgh!:

Posting your system specs would help people to give the appropriate advice :up:

[Dreamer]

Thanks, Jim

My specs are:

P4 2.4 ghz
1gb ram
ATI X1650 Pro 512mb

This is apparently only an issue with SH3 as the rest of my programs and games multi-task fine without crashing.

Martin

[Jimbuna]

Your specs look fine :yep: SH3 is a big hog when it comes to resources, is there anything you could switch off :hmm:

You might want to try this:

http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/dlllibrary/kernel/

[CptGrayWolf]

Errr...how about trying not to multitask when playing a game?
When I play a resource heavy game not only to I not multitask but I close everything else (anti-virus, firewall, internet, winamp whatever).
You can't expect your computer to do a bunch a things at the same time and be surprised if it crashes.

[Dreamer]

Generally I don't task-switch out of games like this, but there are times when it can't be helped and/or something else takes priority and auto task-switches. It's those times that I loathe for I don't see them coming. Something will happen like the windows auto-updater bringing up an invisible (in the game) popup over the clock on the desktop to inform me that I can click to perform the update. I casually click on what I think is the depth gauge but the invisible window takes priority. If I need to do other stuff, I'll generally do a save and exit but that's not such a good idea when you're waiting on a few ships to sink from torpedo hits.

That being said, I've seen reference from a few others on this forum to alt-tabbing out of SHIII with computer specs equal to or less than mine.

Jim, thanks for the link. I'll take a look around there and write down the specifics of the error the next time it happens.

Martin

[P_Funk]

Its interesting really. I have a much inferior system than yours and I can alt-tab easily.

I have 2.4 Ghz processor, an ATI x1600 256 (a sorry replacement for my 9800 that burned out), and a measly 512 RAM. I am currently having issues getting GWX to run in a playable way (I'm getting greedy and wanting 16k and other stuff that won't work with little ram) but even if the game is excrutiatingly slow, I can still pause and alt-tab and open my taskmanager. Hell it says my page file is 1.5 gigs! But it can still minimize and then go back to SH3 without a hitch.

[Jimbuna]

Generally I don't task-switch out of games like this, but there are times when it can't be helped and/or something else takes priority and auto task-switches. It's those times that I loathe for I don't see them coming. Something will happen like the windows auto-updater bringing up an invisible (in the game) popup over the clock on the desktop to inform me that I can click to perform the update. I casually click on what I think is the depth gauge but the invisible window takes priority. If I need to do other stuff, I'll generally do a save and exit but that's not such a good idea when you're waiting on a few ships to sink from torpedo hits.

That being said, I've seen reference from a few others on this forum to alt-tabbing out of SHIII with computer specs equal to or less than mine.

Jim, thanks for the link. I'll take a look around there and write down the specifics of the error the next time it happens.



Martin

Okay matey :arrgh!:

[Dreamer]

As a point of interest, I just tried alt-tabbing out of SH4 and I get an error just as quickly though this time it's a msvcr.dll error.

Martin

[P_Funk]

I think then that the secret is to not minimize eh? Myself, I never need to do it unless I'm testing to see how slow my computer runs with SH3.

Oh and adding to my earlier remarks about GWX being all hoggish and slow, it turns out that the thing that was making it excrutiatingly slow was that massive skin pack that you can get that is enabled via SH3 Commander. I dopped it and suddenly all was playable again.

Its too bad since those skins are fantastic. But I fugure its better to have GWX without them than have no GWX at all.:-?

Ta

[Puster Bill]

Personally, the only time I get a chance to play is when I am doing other things. I've almost never had it crash when doing that (maybe just once or twice in the year I've had it). The only problem I ever see is the UZO and periscope screens going white. I clear it up by saving and exiting, then going back in.