Technical Issue: Final patrol won't load
 

I'm in the midst of a spectacular final patrol in late June '45 but the file suddenly won't open. The splash screen shows it fully loading, then the "please wait" box comes up, then seems to time out after a minute or so, and disappears back to Windows. Rebooting makes no difference.



This is a 1.3 version I can't upgrade to 1.4 or 1.5 on this machine. I have 1.5 on another laptop but don't know if it will open if i transfer the career, however that's done, or if I will run into errors because of the number of officers aboard.


Any help would be appreciated. I'm really looking forward to the culmination of this patrol and the war, so this is very frustrating.

first, welcome to Subsim and SH4.
second, more than likely you are running into a lack of memory problem. what version of windows are you running and how much RAM does it have? this issue is fairly consistent for captains who attempt to reload missions with extensive sinkings on a machine with limited memory or if they are not using the Large Address Aware utility. if your machine has at least 3 gig of RAM you should enable SH4 with LAA and try to reload one more time.
if you don't have 3 gig RAM then you are probably S-O-L.
here is the link for the 32-bit LAA. i could not find the 64-bit version. if you are running a 64-bit OS, repost and someone will have a copy.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=3634


good luck.

Thanks for the assist. I'm over fifty sinkings on this patrol, so your comment is probably spot on.



I have 4 GB RAM on Win 10 64-bit.

do not despair. get a copy of large address aware and enable SH4 with it and try to re-load your mission. it.could.work.
:yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah:

I'll try it as soon as I find a reliable copy. Maybe someone will chime in here.

CapnScurvy's Windows10 Large Address Aware SH4 Install.
He has a link to the original thread where the fellow that wrote Large Address Aware (LAA) posted. It doesn't really matter though if the program used is 32-bit or 64-bit.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...35#post2452635

good luck!:salute:

i just received confirmation that either of the links that i posted will work.
LAA only comes as a 32-bit app so, no worries.

be sure to set SH3.exe Property Read-Only to OFF (unchecked).
then d/l LAA, run it in Beginner mode, browse to your install of SH4, set the indicator ON and save.
if you get to running multiple instances of SH4 be sure to run LAA for each instance.

I have SH4 installed in Steam's default directory. Would that make any difference?

it shouldnt.
store LAA in the same folder as SH4 and run it from there.

Thanks for your help - it's truly appreciated. Unfortunately, the patrol still won't load. I installed LAA and changed the .exe file as directed but nada. Read-only was already unchecked.



My inclination is to delete 1.5 from the new laptop, install 1.3 along with the career files and LAA, then upgrade to 1.4 and hope for the best.





It had been quite a patrol: fifty plus sinkings, including three entire convoys (one by gun; one by torps only) and I'd just refit for one last sweep before the end.

Version 1.3 of the game did have Save issues, similar to SH3's, as well as v1.2 and 1.1 of SH4... Version 1.4 did fix most of those issues, but you cannot apply the Ubisoft v1.4 to a Steam v1.3. The Steam game will not take it. With Steam games, you have to stay "Steam", which leaves you with the Uboat Missions add-on from them. If you have Steam v1.5 on your other computer, you can also load it onto this v1.3 laptop you are dealing with, and Steam will handle the licensing just fine. In other words, when you start the game on one of the computers, the other computer cannot then start the game. If you want to apply mods to the v1.5 of the game, you'll have to move it into a different Steam "Library" folder that you make outside of the Windows Program Files folders. SH4 v1.5 does "dynamic loading" - only loading 3D "assets" that are within your immediate area, which lessens the strain on older computers.

Unfortunately I can't install 1.5 on the 1.3 laptop because of serious storage issues. I guess I'll have to wait until it's time to decommission the old laptop to free up enough space to finish the game.



Even if I do, could I have any compatibility issues with my current crew? Almost everyone aboard is a petty officer or above and I've noticed 1.5 does not permit that.

Version 1.5 is not backward compatible with v1.3, so you would lose your career anyway. I cannot remember if I ever finished a career in v1.3 or not... :hmmm:

Oops, meant to thank you for saving me from trying that. You've all been so helpful - thanks to all.


At this point I wish I'd never heard of Steam.

Just lost another extremely successful patrol, this time in 1.5 with LAA and 16 GB of RAM. In this case, it immediately fails to load instead of keeping me waiting. I'd experienced the "hundreds of destroyers" issue again, south of Kyushu once more, and was trying to limp home as the system could not go past 1580 compression speed. Made it to the Banda Sea, where the game tempted me into one last convoy, all tankers...

Are you running any mods, or Stock? :salute:

Oops, meant to include that. I'm on the old laptop now, so going from memory:



I'm using most of Berbster's GFO mega-mod along with Cheap & Early Torpedoes and the Balao Midway mod. Possibly the elite crew mod too.

Keep in mind that any changes you make to the game with mods will affect the Save game folder. If you started with THEBERBSTER's basic mix of GFO and play the game, then decide that you want to add-in the Balao mod you speak of, you have to empty your C:\Users \UserName \Documents \SH4 folder each time you change the base game, then re-set all your play options, screen resolution, etc., just because of the fact that the game uses that Save folder to run the game from. A mod activation will overwrite files in the game's folder, but not in the Save folder, and the game will not overwrite a file in the Save folder, if it already exists. That can lead to what you describe. Throw in the fact that some mods overwrite some important parts of the mods previously activated, and you could be introducing even more trouble. I would either post in THEBERBSTER's thread, or send him a PM and ask him if he knows which of the mods you want to use are compatible with his mix. Just be sure you clear the save folder between mod changes. :salute:

I'll ping him about the compatibility issues, though I installed all the mods before beginning the career, of which the lost patrol was number 11.



I started to write that this was the first issue I had in 1.5 but then recalled one bizarre incident in patrol 9 or so. Two destroyers in camera view were cavorting from right to left, spinning along their keels, completely upside down at times. On another contact, a destroyer and a freighter had been...um, in flagrante delicto, apparently spawning a convoy of their own.

Curious, are you overwriting the same save game each time, or saving with a new name then later deleting the ones you no longer need?

One thing I found was overwriting a save game instead of deleting and then saving as new seemed to be a common cause of corruption, so I quit overwriting.

When playing a career I save as (for example) 1PAT1, 1PAT2. 1PAT3, and so on. Next patrol starts as 2PAT1, and when you save there's an option to delete saved games, so after saving 2PAT1 at the beginning of the second patrol, I'll delete all the odd numbers from the first patrol. By the time I get to the 4th patrol I'll delete all but one or two from the first and second patrols.

Main thing is if 5PAT14 is corrupted and crashes the game every time, I can load 5PAT13 and head back to base instead of losing the entire patrol.