GAAAAH this is really frustrating - CTD again!

[irish1958]

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

Damn
So you still had lag in the same spot with only v6 enabled

Dont suppose you have tried to sail to AN34 without any mods installed and see if you get it ??

May be worth a reinstall as Jim posted above if you do get one there

If you do a reinstall, you must uninstall from the disc, delete the SH3 folder in your documents, and clean your registry before proceeding.
On my machine, I have had to delete the key in the InstallShield folder as it kept reinstalling it in the registry (when I had XP.) If you have vista/7, you need to delete the Ubisoft/ /SilentHunterIII folder in your application data also, after the uninstall.
Uninstall/reinstall is made much easier if you make a copy of a fresh SilentHunterIII vi.4 on DVD and use this for reinstall, in which case you only have to delete this folder and copy the fresh one back into your 'puter.
Things are a lot easier if you use the new disc for the game as they are StarFarce free and patched to v1.4. This is especially true if you upgrade to Vista/7.
I have found Windows7 a vast improvement over vista, and have never had a CTD unless I have done something stupid. You also can use the 4Gb patch and make full use of your RAM.

[frau kaleun]

Well after wondering why I didn't see any improvement in anything after installing the 4GB patch I doublechecked my boot.ini file and found that somehow I didn't save the changes I made when I (thought I) edited it. Maybe I saved the edited version as the backup file I intended to make, and actually saved the original back to the C drive. I dunno.

Anyway... I edited the boot.ini with the 3GB switch and restarted the computer and found it would not boot with the edited file. Fortunately this just bounced my computer into an automatic reboot with the option to start in Safe Mode, which allowed me to go back in and return the boot.ini file to its original state. Then I added a second boot option for the 3GB switch so I would have a choice on startup, and played around with different settings for the /userva switch. I went as low as 2250 which would at least be a small improvement on the default 2G for an application, but nothing worked.

After some more poking around online I found many references to problems with the switch on machines with higher memory video cards; mine's got 1Gb so apparently the 3GB switch isn't going to work for me anyway.

One good thing is I did follow one series of links on a "managing memory" search that led to instructions on how to optimize virtual memory paging file settings, which I've followed with no apparent ill effects so far. I don't know what that will do for me, if anything, but since the settings I had weren't even in line with Microsoft's posted recommendations I feel I may have accomplished something worthwhile even if it doesn't address my current SH3 issues.

FWIW I did start a career in an umodded "test install" that I had of GWX, and ran a patrol out of Willy in Oct 1939 - still got the lag in that same spot in AN34.

At any rate I've uninstalled all instances of SH3 & related files/folders from my computer and will start with a fresh install of the stock game to copy over for separate GWX installs. From there I'll just start enabling mods again one at a time to see what happens.

[schlechter pfennig]

I had a problem about a year and a half ago that, in the exact same place after leaving Trondheim I'd CTD. Didn't matter what I did, or which mod I had activated. If I hit that place within a certain day/date/time . . . *kaboom*!

You might also want to try a product called 'GameBooster'. It was recommended to me. It shuts down all uneccessary services to free up RAM for when you play a PC game. It also allows you to specifically choose and select a game to have all its game files defragmented.

I wish you luck. CTD's like you're experiencing make you want to scream.

Once you un-install and do all the other steps,
be sure to do a defrag then install.

Windows has a nasty habit of just re-nameing deleted files
instead of doing a new install of them.
Defraging will wipe those old files.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by schlechter pfennig

I had a problem about a year and a half ago that, in the exact same place after leaving Trondheim I'd CTD. Didn't matter what I did, or which mod I had activated. If I hit that place within a certain day/date/time . . . *kaboom*!

You might also want to try a product called 'GameBooster'. It was recommended to me. It shuts down all uneccessary services to free up RAM for when you play a PC game. It also allows you to specifically choose and select a game to have all its game files defragmented.

I wish you luck. CTD's like you're experiencing make you want to scream.

I had Gamebooster briefly and didn't see much of a difference when using it. Read some negative comments about it as well that made me decide to uninstall it.

And honestly I'm not convinced that it's a memory issue that was causing the freeze/crash problem, as I could run patrols fine with the exact same mod combo up until Oct 1939. I do though think it's a memory issue that makes the newer version of St Naz & Schluese problematic, at least without the LHT option enabled as well. But even with that combo and nothing else I still get a lag in the same problem spot so it doesn't look like using it in place of the older version is likely to solve whatever was causing the total freeze.

Oh and BTW I forgot to mention above that I started another career in that test install in Oct 1939, out of Willy again, and did NOT go through that SE corner of AN34, and did not see any lag at all when I passed through the western portion of the same grid.

Which of course does not mean that I wouldn't see the lag somewhere else on the map, or experience the freeze/crash in those other locations, if whatever's causing it is NOT just in that one spot. In fact I know I had the odd lag now and then on patrols prior to Oct 1939, but nothing that ever caused the game to freeze up completely.

So now I guess my question is, how and where do I look for whatever is causing that issue in SE AN34?

[Wreford-Brown]

Any chance it's a minefield? Lag as the mines are rendered then CTD when the mine is hit?
I used to suffer CTDs every time I hit a mine which was annoying but could be worked around.

Originally Posted by Wreford-Brown

Any chance it's a minefield? Lag as the mines are rendered then CTD when the mine is hit?
I used to suffer CTDs every time I hit a mine which was annoying but could be worked around.

No, because my old unmodded install used to do the same thing in the same place, with no active minefields. I'd have to conclude that it's not the mods either.
As is usualy the case, it looks like Jimbuna shed the best light on the subject. It's just a shame that she has to go through all that work again.

[frau kaleun]

Okay - I have reinstalled everything and done some more testing.

Started 4 patrols in a brand new spankin' clean install of GWX3, all in Aug/Sept/Oct 1939, all out of Willy with 2 Flotilla. No modding or any changes whatsoever made to the install (other than switching to German voices). Got the same lag in the SE corner of AN34 on all four patrols.

Exited the game and enabled the blank campaign files via JSGME and ran a fifth patrol starting in late Oct 1939, went through the same area in 128 TC as on the four previous attempts, and the same lag wasn't there - or if there was one it was too brief for me to see it as the seconds clicked by.

I really would like to figure out what causes the issue in that particular location, because after running two patrols with all my chosen mods enabled and having no problems with the game freezing/crashing, I'm still leaning toward the idea that it wasn't a mod overload but just the fact that I happened to pass through that area on the patrol that DID freeze up.

Obviously I could just avoid that area on all patrols, but if the same issue affects other locations, I can't avoid all of them because I don't know where they are.