GWX 3.0, plus other mods, running problems

[overlord0108]

Hi Guys,

First time I've posted on here, even though I've used the site a lot to try and get my GWX and mods running smoothly, but I've finally cracked under the torture of CTD's.

I know it's probably come up before, but I would love it if an expert could do their best to let me know where I'm going wrong with my SH3 loadout.

I'm running SH3 with the 1.4b patch, GWX 3.0 gold, SH3 Commander 3.2, the config files for GWX and SH3 commander, along with the following mods enabled via JSGME 2.6, in this order:

GWX 3 Wilhelmshaven, St Naz, Schluese & xtra ships V6
GWX 16km atmosphere
GWX enhanced damage effects
GWX integrated orders
GWX open hatch mod
Torpedo damage final ver2.0
Wooden lifeboats mod 1.1
Pascal Port People
Q Ship mod GWX 3.0
Torpedo HAHD 1024 GWX
Thomsen's No Instant Deathscreen Mod 1.3
B25 Das Boot Green
Waterstream Exhaust Combi V2.3 for GWX3
" " single exhaust for type II

plus I use 2 MP3 files of the Das Boot soundtrack that I have inserted myself into the gramophone folder.

Following suggestions in other threads, I've installed my SH3 directory into the C drive instead of to program files, along with SH3 commander.

I know that my computer can manage graphically, as when I start a career for the first time the patrol works perfectly, with everything loaded up, (apart from a career i started from Kiel when the sky remained permanently dark), however, on the second patrol it loads up until the very end before having a CTD, when the compass dials are vaguely visible with the NOT SO LONG AGO screen.

I run Vista 32 bit with 3 GB of RAM with a 9200 NVIDIA GeForce



Any help would be appreciated, so thanks in advance to anyone who could take the trouble to have a look at my problem and sorry if my issues have already been resolved elsewhere.

It's good to finally join SubSim

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD! :sunny:

I'm not sure what the problem could be. I looked through your list and can't see anything wrong. But then I'm not the best one in the world for that.

Hang in there. Someone will get it sorted out for you.

[Madox58]

You say you are patched to 1.4b?
So you still have the old version with StarForce then?
I'd spend the 7 bucks or so and order the Starforce free version if this is true.
(The Reloaded fix is not a great help and introduces other problems)
You'll have less headaches in many areas with a newer version!
(And less down time!)

Also you'll need to do the BCDEdit thingy to have SH3 use more then 2 gigs on Vista 32 bit.

[irish1958]

I don't think the open hatch mod and integrated orders are compatible. This may not be your problem but I would deactivate them and see what happens.

[Tinman764]

Intergrated Orders, in my experiance does not play well with others - that would be my 1st suspect.

[overlord0108]

Hi guys, thanks for the quick responses.

I have just done a full uninstall and reinstall, except for all my mods, and GWX 3.0 and SH3 commander are so far running fine.

I wondered if you could tell me how I do a BCDedit privateer, sorry, but I've never heard of that before and it would be very helpful if I could use more than the 2GB of RAM, just to make sure that that's not the problem before I start disabling any mods that are struggling because of my system memory.

Thanks :)

[irish1958]

See: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=184717, post count #9.

[Bakkels]

Intergrated Orders, in my experiance does not play well with others - that would be my 1st suspect.

I always play with Integrated Orders and a loooong list of other mods. There are a lot of mods that will interfere with the menu_en.cfg file, and that can cause problems, but only in-game (some orders won't be carried out / can't be clicked). To my knowledge it can't cause a CTD.
I use Winmerge to keep my menu_en.cfg compatible, with any new mod that will change that file.

It also can't be a memory issue imo, since you're using only a few mods, none none of them are a heavy load on your memory. Accept maybe the Wilhelmshaven, Schluese & St. Naz mod. But I'm running way more mods on 2 Gig's of memory and am having no problems.

Maybe it's the GWX Open Hatch. I never use that one but Open Hatch mods seem to cause some problems on a regular basis.
What is the B25 Das Boot Green mod btw?

[overlord0108]

Finally solved the problem, so thanks for the help everyone :) turns out it was the system only using 2GB of RAM and needing to switch to 3GB, so I altered the BCDedit as advised.

Really can't thank you guys enough!

And to Bakkels, it's a mod that turns the Atlantic alone to a green colour, it says it conflicts with the GWX 16km environment mod, but it works fine for me.

[Jimbuna]

I presume you've installed the above list of mods.

In future addons only try one additional mod at a time and try loading the game before adding anything further.

This method can save you a lot of time and trouble.

[Fish In The Water]

Finally solved the problem, so thanks for the help everyone :) turns out it was the system only using 2GB of RAM and needing to switch to 3GB, so I altered the BCDedit as advised.

Great to hear you're sorted and welcome aboard! :sunny:

[overlord0108]

Right, so it was working perfectly fine, with GWX and SH3 Commander.

I installed all the mods and it ran perfectly for a patrol, I sank 17,000 tons of shipping, saved and then exited the patrol. Went to my next patrol where it began to load up before it had another CTD, this time not even reaching the NOT SO LONG AGO screen.

I've used BCDedit to make Vista run with 3GB of memory and I've also tried running it without the integrated orders and open hatch mod being enabled, as suggested, but it still has a CTD.

If there is anything else that I could try it would be greatly appreciated, in the meanwhile I'm going to check my mods one by one as Jimbuna has suggested.

Thanks in advance guys.

[Fish In The Water]

...in the meanwhile I'm going to check my mods one by one as Jimbuna has suggested.

Oops, looks like I spoke too soon...

If you're going to start checking them individually, I'd start by disabling:

'GWX 3 Wilhelmshaven, St Naz, Schluese & xtra ships V6'

It's the most memory intensive from your list and has the greatest potential for possible conflicts and other (ill-desired) side effects. Good luck! :yep:

[Jimbuna]

Oops, looks like I spoke too soon...

If you're going to start checking them individually, I'd start by disabling:

'GWX 3 Wilhelmshaven, St Naz, Schluese & xtra ships V6'

It's the most memory intensive from your list and has the greatest potential for possible conflicts and other (ill-desired) side effects. Good luck! :yep:

No leave that in (I speak from experience).

Add all the mods that come with GWX and leave the mod BBW and I created.

I have personally ran the above and a boat load of others on 2GB RAM for quite a few years in the early days.

A PITA I know but I would uninstall everything including the SH3 folder in C\MyDocs, perform a registry clean with regvac (my choice) or crapcleaner then reinstall the SH3 game and GWX mod (installation advise available from the GWX website...click on my sig).

Enable the GWX mods plus the St Naz, Schluese & xtra ships V6 then ensure everything is stable and running fine.

After that, install one mod at a time and so on and so forth.

[overlord0108]

Thanks Jimbuna, that's the plan for tomorrow, fingers crossed it works.

[Jimbuna]

Thanks Jimbuna, that's the plan for tomorrow, fingers crossed it works.

Good Luck Kaleun http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

[overlord0108]

Right so I've finally sorted it, defragged the computer and checked the files one by one, I'm just annoyed that the mod that doesn't work is the Wilhelmshaven port St Naz and Schluese, xtra ships mod.

One day I'll grab me a computer that can run it, but ah well at least its working now and I got to see the great work before the crashes :)

Thanks for the help everyone, this Kaleun can get back to hunting again.

[Sailor Steve]

It's funny. I have XP 32-bit and run Wilhelmshaven with no trouble. What kills my game is the GWX Enhanced Damage Effects. Every time I sink a ship all that oil and smoke causes a crash. I'm not complaining, because everybody already knows this, and even Jim couldn't figure it out. I'm just pointing out the weirdness that causes one system to crash with one thing and another to fail on something completely different. :-?

[Bakkels]

My guess is that mods like Wilhelmshaven put more strain on your RAM, whilst effects like GWX Enhanced Damage or RBS_SH4 effects ask more from your GPU. I have only 2 Gigs, so the Wilhelmshaven mod for example is pushing my PC to the limit. But I can run visual effects mods without too much trouble since my graphics card is more up to date.

[Sailor Steve]

My guess is that mods like Wilhelmshaven put more strain on your RAM, whilst effects like GWX Enhanced Damage or RBS_SH4 effects ask more from your GPU. I have only 2 Gigs, so the Wilhelmshaven mod for example is pushing my PC to the limit. But I can run visual effects mods without too much trouble since my graphics card is more up to date.
That's a good point! I don't think I've tried GWX Enhanced Damage Effects since I upgraded to a 1-GB 4650. I'm off to test something! :sunny:

[Snestorm]

It's funny. I have XP 32-bit and run Wilhelmshaven with no trouble. What kills my game is the GWX Enhanced Damage Effects. Every time I sink a ship all that oil and smoke causes a crash. I'm not complaining, because everybody already knows this, and even Jim couldn't figure it out. I'm just pointing out the weirdness that causes one system to crash with one thing and another to fail on something completely different. :-?

You may want to try turning down the "Particle Density".
When I had problems with an earlier version, I turned it down to 15.
The lagging and crashing stopped.

[Fish In The Water]

Right so I've finally sorted it, defragged the computer and checked the files one by one, I'm just annoyed that the mod that doesn't work is the Wilhelmshaven port St Naz and Schluese, xtra ships mod.

Kind of thought it'd be that one... ;)

Let's hope you're sorted for good this time and happy hunting! :arrgh!:

[Jimbuna]

Right so I've finally sorted it, defragged the computer and checked the files one by one, I'm just annoyed that the mod that doesn't work is the Wilhelmshaven port St Naz and Schluese, xtra ships mod.

One day I'll grab me a computer that can run it, but ah well at least its working now and I got to see the great work before the crashes :)

Thanks for the help everyone, this Kaleun can get back to hunting again.

I must admit to being suprised because like Steve I ran it on a 32-bit system with 2GB RAM...and that was prior to release...in fact, IIRC one, perhaps two of the Grey Wolves testers only had 1GB RAM.

[Fish In The Water]

I must admit to being suprised...

No worries Jim, being surprised occasionally just means we're still alive. :03:

[Jimbuna]

No worries Jim, being surprised occasionally just means we're still alive. :03:

Aye that http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif