Save game crash important discovery!

[brett25]

i know the save game crash is a plague apon us all, and i have taken it apon myself to troubleshoot this issue for along time now. I have put many hours testing each variable i could possibly come up with. Tonite I have located a cause that is definitive. This many not be the only cause, but in this particular case it was...and it is due to SH3 Commander. Now let me emphasize, its not SH3Commander itself thats the problem, of course, but rather, the data that was inside my particular install of Commander.

What I am recommending to people who are getting reapeated save game crashes is to point your Sh3 install to a fresh install of Commander. Over time i belive that Commander can get corrupted with bad data and should perodically be cleaned up. If anyone wants to verify this and let me know that would be helpful.. But like I say in this case im 100% certain that this was the issue.

The hint was that the corrupted save would only occur when a ship had been sunk...not a damaged ship on the surface but only after a ship had gone under the water...no save would load after that point...reintstalling Commander, this no longer occurs...

good luck and may we defeat this bastard once and for all

[Marko_Ramius]

Hi guys !

I'm a victim of the dreaded save game crash since i decided to play again this fantastic game.

This really drive me crazy cause in the past, it was not an issue (maybe one crash in two years of playing but not more than that).

I play GWX 3.0 on windows 7 x64 (not in program files..), SH3Cmdr, HSie V16B1, Stiebler4b addon, and several GWX mods.


So, i can confirm what Brett25 said : All my save games crash ( i don't save underwater, nor near warships or land, etc ..) BUT : a saved game made before sinking a ship will not crash !!

No matter where and when i save my game, if i have sunk some ships, saved games will crash ( i mean, always crash ! it's impossible to play the game anymore .. )

I tried without HSie patch, Stiebler4b addon but with no luck : same crashes ..

[Anvar1061]

SSS
Very important discovery!

[Marko_Ramius]

I tried to do what Brett25 said : Reinstalling SH3Commander, but my games still crash .. ( The saved games was a backup )

I tried to play without using Commander, using the GWX shortcut but with same fatal issue . .

I feel mad !

[brett25]

marco,
this is what i did, im not sure of the exact point things resolved so i will mention them all as it could be a combination of things:

Save your entire game folder somewhere else
uninstall sh3
do a registry scan and fix what it asks
reisntall sh3 to the default directory (this may be important)
reinstal GWX
completely reintstall commander (make sure there no old files in there)
then you can place your old install back into its place (or maybe just your MOD folder is needed)


point Commander to the location of your SH3 Install

now you will have to go back to the point before the ship sinks, luckily i had a save where i had already critically damaged the ship but it was still on surface and was the first attack of my patrol....

when i did this, once the ship sank i did a new save and i had no problems after that.

this fix will not allow you to resurrect you corrup save, but i believe once your bac kin your game and you have a new sinking it may be good from there

**you may not have to do all the reinstall SH3 steps, just try the Commander thing and get back into your game with a good save point and then let me know...

You see that fact that you can confirm that it is upon a ships sinking that this issue happens is good and helps to pinpoint the problem for others. So hopefully more people can confirm this and we can rid the world of this for ever. By the way, I have saved at 150 meters below the surface witha full depthcharging happening, and in every other concievable situation with no currupted save---only when the ship sinks.

Finally it may be a little early for me to say 100%, because I will need to sink more ships and see if itt happens again, but at least things can focus on the sinking ship as a cause

[rudewarrior]

Originally Posted by brett25

now you will have to go back to the point before the ship sinks

Ok, I was wondering about this. There is a methodology issue here. If you go back to the point before the ship sinks, then there is no conclusive proof that SH3 Commander is the problem.

During one particular mission, I kept having CTD's upon loading. I would engage a convoy sink a bunch of ships, get way out of range, and save the game. Upon loading, I got a CTD. This sequence occurred during three different saves. Two of the times, it was the "same" convoy, then the third was a different convoy. Each time I went to the save prior to engaging the convoy, so "before a ship sank." After the third, I wound up engaging another convoy and doing the same thing, but this time, after returning to the game, it loaded up just fine. I used SH3 Commander throughout the entire process.

To put it simply, you are introducing way too many factors into your control sample in order to truly verify that SH3 Commander is actually the problem.

Unfortunately, your methodology does not support SH3 Commander being the culprit, and I actually find it highly unlikely that this is the case.

[brett25]

hi rude,

well if you read my post, i only said that in my case it worked and that something related to Commander seems to have resolved it for me for certain, but of course the issue could be somewhere else. This was not an attemp at a rigerous scientific study, but a possiblilty that others would need to verify, in the hope of coming closer to a resolution. If there is one aspect that I feel is of real vaue its the crash due to a ship sinking

I dont pretent to uderstand this fully, but there is something related to ships, that much we know (and indeed this is a big step). Now we also know that the save generates a problem after a ship is sunk (what is the differece between a ship that is sunk (under the waves) and one that is not (still on surface) in terms of game data ? ( i dont know this) So...the save (which now includes a sunken ship) is having a conflict with the loading game data (the state of the world that the game exects to be in). Now what aspects of the game are related to this conflict (ie campaign files, ship files, Commander files (ship rosters)

but more people would have to verify this

I just dont see it as a memory or mod issue, for me at least , so im hopeful that what i am proposing may be along the right track

[rudewarrior]

Originally Posted by brett25

well if you read my post

Well, I did actually, and as I said, I don't think that SH3 Commander is the problem even in the case that you mentioned.

This isn't about scientific rigour, and in your case it didn't actually "work."

Let's assume that your "pre-sinking" save game would have loaded just fine before you did any of this, just to be clear.

All you have done in your sequence is taken a save game that is working, completely uninstalled and reinstalled the programs that were using it, and loaded it again. In between loading that save game and sinking the ship, any number of things could have happened that could corrupt the game you are playing.

No, it is more likely to be mods you are using or some other factor.

Here is a personal story to show just how cranky SH3 can be. I had a mod soup that was causing a CTD every time I reloaded after sinking a ship, every time. Well, one day, I took the save game that would CTD, and started disabling all the mods that would cause the problem, and for some reason it loaded. I traced it down to a particular mod, and disabled it. Started playing the game, thinking everything was fine. Started getting CTD's again. Did some research, and found that a particular mod that I was using was notorious for causing CTD's for certain people. I removed that mod, and since then CTD's upon loading reduced dramatically. The story that I told in my previous post about the 3 CTD's was definitely an exception. I usually get 1 CTD save game load about every 3 missions, (possibly even 4-5).

Bottom line is, I read all of your posts and your methodology, and there is nothing there that says you conclusively proved that SH3 Commander is the problem for you or anyone else.

Trust me, I would love for this to be true, but I understand enough about troubleshooting and (computer) science problem-solving to say, that unless there is information you haven't included in your previous posts, the statement:

...but in this particular case it was...and it is due to SH3 Commander.

is not true. Sorry.

[brett25]

not sure whats up with this confrontation,... anyway im not getting into a ridiculous argument with you which seems to be what your looking for.....good luck

great you proved my post is useless, and in the process showed how clever you are...you win...

in my ignorant and useless way im trying to help the community by posting some findings that may or may not be usefull...good day..

[rudewarrior]

Originally Posted by brett25

not sure whats up with this confrontation,... anyway im not getting into a ridiculous argument with you which seems to be what your looking for.....good luck

great you proved my post is useless, and in the process showed how clever you are...you win...

in my ignorant and useless way im trying to help the community by posting some findings that may or may not be usefull...good day..

I am not arguing with you. I am also not trying to take you down.

If you want to take it that way, then you are free to do so.

If you want to get upset about it, then you are free to do so.

If you can't accept a reasoned explanation for why your conclusion is incorrect, then maybe you should reconsider posting.

I can't change your mind, only you can. Good luck.

[brett25]

wow, you are being annoying..its almost perfect how you did that...please just go away

[Jimbuna]

Cool heads gentleman...we are all here to help one another.

[rudewarrior]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Cool heads gentleman...we are all here to help one another.

Agreed and thank you!

Out.

[brett25]

thanks jimbuna...aye aye captain

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by rudewarrior

Agreed and thank you!

Out.

Originally Posted by brett25

thanks jimbuna...aye aye captain

Resuming patrol