CTD hitting "P" key and reaching around 21 feet. Solution?

[Tempest555]

I narrowed down an issue that is keeping me from playing Silent Hunter IV Gold (patched to 1.5) on my HP new computer. It's the only game on their now.
I hit the "P" Key and when I get to around 21 ft-I get a CTD.
Only mod is the 4 gig patch I got here (it CTD before I installed that.)
All my drivers are up to date. And I installed the game per instructions on the strings and cleaned my registry manually of Ubi SHIV entries when uninstall

I had SHIV on an XP machine before in the past and no problems with this command. But it wasn't patched to 1.5 like the disc.
CTD happens with and without disc in CD/DVD tray.

System specs.
HP p6-2120tIntel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G630 @ 2.70GHz
4 Gigs of RAM
Win 7 64 bit
AMD Radeon HD 7450

It's not a gaming rig but perfectly adequate for this game.
Any suggestions on fixing the "P" key issue?
Like I said -I did not see this issue come up in a past post-but no solution was offered.
It certainly didn't happen when I played it on XP years ago.

[doulos05]

Are you following the Windows 7 install instructions? Installing it in it's own folder in the C:/ drive (Like C:/SH4 or something like that).

[Hinrich Schwab]

The only thing I can think of is a corrupted install. Have you already tried reinstalling the game?

[Tempest555]

First thanks for getting back.

I had installed the game in C/Program/Ubisoft, C/Program (86)/Ubisoft and even C/Ubisoft and it was always the same crash at always the same P key stroke and 21 ft depth. Hmmm Didn't make sense-but I had a hunch it was a hardware problem. What my new computer doesn't have but my old legacy XP machine has is an after market sound card.
So I unchecked in Sound Options the 'Realistic Sound Travel Time' box. (I had always enabled that in many re-installations.)

No more crashes.

Fingers crossed and touch wood.

[Hylander_1314]

Not familiar with Win7, as I don't have it yet, but something I have been doing since the old XP days, and it has helped in the past, is to add all my game, 3D model programs, and art programs to the list in the Data Execution Prevention section in the Windows System Properties.

This is how I get there on Vista, so I don't know if it is the same for Win7.

To get there,

Right click on My Computer

The window that opens has 4 options on the upper left side. Click on Advanced Options

A System Properties window will open.

There Advanced tab across the top should be showing. There are 5 tabs, Advanced is in the middle, click on it if it isn't.

Under Performance, the first options, click the Settings button to the right.

Another sub window should open with Visual Effects, Advanced, and Data Execution Prevention.

At the top are 2 options,

Choose the one that says,

Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select:

In the window under the options, there are Add, and Remove buttons, click on add, and navigate to game .exe files or other programs. DEP has been a pain in the patoot since the XP days.

But it was discovered with XP, that you could go to the Windows boot.ini file, and shut it off permanently, but M$ left the option off Vista, and I'm sure they did the same with 7.

With DEP disabled, everything on the computer ran smoother, and it reduced crashes by 90+%.

But if you add the game .exe files to the list, it should help, and may let you restore your sound to where you wanted it. Even though I built this rig, back in '08 although, it has onboard sound, and hasn't given me a lick of trouble. I avoided getting a dedicated soundcard because there were issue with S-Blasters causing crashes so I waited, and honestly, I found I really didn't need one. I have Dolby 7.1 capabilities with this board, and Core2 Extreme quad processor, and 8 gigs of ram, with 2 way SLi, so I'm good.

Hope this helps some!

[Tempest555]

Okay this morning I did the changes in Win 7 per your instructions-not to hard to maneuver though slightly different from XP. But you can do what you suggested with DEP.

I still CTD to desktop at periscope depth when I checked in Sound Options the 'Realistic Sound Travel Time' box.
When I unchecked it no CTD occurred. I suppose if I had an aftermarket soundcard I could use this 'Realistic Sound Travel Time' . But disabling it isn't a showstopper.
But I did leave in place the changes you suggested in Win 7 and will apply them to my XP machine since I would have to agree with you disabling DEP in games on the computer. Thanks.

[WernherVonTrapp]

I don't know if this will help, but I'd look into rolling back, or updating your sound card drivers. I don't know if it's the same with Radeon, but NVIDIA automatically installs new 3D sound drivers every time I update my GPU drivers. I then have to go back into my sound "Properties" and reset everything to the way it was before.
Now, I do have a dedicated sound card which does free up some system resources, but personally, I don't see any reason why your integrated sound system shouldn't be able to handle SH4 with the "'Realistic Sound Travel Time" enabled. I think you simply have to look at your system sound properties/drivers.

[Tempest555]

Within the first hour of getting the HP computer I was in the system manager-telling the computer to update drivers BIOS, sound hahha mouse, keyboard etc etc -aside from the video card-nothing needed updating. Easiest updating I ever did. The desktop was straight from HP and must have been assembled a week before. In about a month I''ll be looking for an after market sound card then I'll play with that.

[Hylander_1314]

Oh man Tempest, that really sucks. Was hoping we might get you sorted out there.

If it's the sound that's doin' it, then I would agree, get a dedicated soundcard. Just outta curiosity, do you know what kind of on-board sound is used on your setup? As I can only think that it is something that is causing a conflict when you have 3D sound checked.

This is probably a longshot at best, but as a for instance, my motherboard came with a Realtek sound setup. It has options for stereo, quadraphonic, and 5.1, and 7.1 surround systems. I had my 5.1 speaker setup plugged in, and my games would crash from time to time, and just on whim, I checked the error crash report and got a lot sound conflict reasons, so I took the time to dig into it, and found that it had the speakers configured wrong, and had added some effects, when I first fired it up.

So I went through, and ran tests for about a week, configuring the speakers properly, and most important was to turn off every effect and run it dry.

Like I said, probably a longshot, but you never know.

Good luck just the same! Hope you get it figured out!

[Tempest555]

It's an AMD High Definition Audio Device-it's integrated sound. No stand alone board. Justa bare desktop now. Other stuff comes later. I held out as long as I could leaving XP. SH4 looks good with TMO and Living Breathing Ocean. Been years since I played it.

[Hylander_1314]

I can appreciate that! I bought SH4 but it was too demanding on my little lowly sible core P3. Waited 3 years until I could build something that was powerful enough to run it good with just about everything maxed out.

[Tempest555]

I bought a refurbished HP online from COMPUSA 5 years ago for next to nothing.
I made a decision to stay away from VISTA. That old HP machine is still keeps chugging along (added Nvidia card and sound card). Latest is an HP from a Memorial Day Sale. Bare bones and cheap -but I had to start getting familiar with Windows 7 since we will be getting it at work. And the barebones new machine is more powerful then my old one.

Time to get Win7 Hylander_1314.

[Hylander_1314]

Still looking for work, so once that is accomplished, I plan on it.

[WernherVonTrapp]

Originally Posted by Tempest555

Within the first hour of getting the HP computer I was in the system manager-telling the computer to update drivers BIOS, sound hahha mouse, keyboard etc etc -aside from the video card-nothing needed updating. Easiest updating I ever did. The desktop was straight from HP and must have been assembled a week before. In about a month I''ll be looking for an after market sound card then I'll play with that.

I was thinking more along the lines of checking your "Sound" properties through the Windows Control Panel. I have a serious "typing" deficiency, so I'm usually not as clear and concise as I'd like to be in my suggestions/descriptions, i.e., I like to keep it short. That aside, try using the Control Panel, click on "Sound" and when the menu window appears, you should see one or more devices associated with your system sound. Click on it (or each one) to highlight and then click on the "Properties" button. Another window menu will appear that will give you more specific info and allow for much more refined experimentation with your sound settings. That is where I go to make adjustments to my sound if I'm having a problem, and it's where I 've had the most success in solving any sound problems.

On a side note, I have two PCs, one running Vista and one running XP. Though there are a few things I like more about XP, Vista is a much better operating system, IMO. I have had SH4 installed and running on my Vista PC without so much as a hiccup for years now.