A Very depressing CTD

[suitednate]

So on a patrol, I was feasting on a convoy, sank 2 large merchants, a passenger/cargo (by accident), a medium tanker, and an auxiliary cruiser. Good enough for about 41k tons. After the latest attack and going towards the interior of the convoy, I get spotted and crash dive. After diving to about 40 meters I rise quickly back up to periscope depth to try to get an aft shot away on another ship before diving really deep, since the escort that spotted me is still far enough away to do all this.

As I'm raising the periscope the game freezes and I get the dreaded "silent hunter 3 has stopped working" message. Nooooo!!

Isn't there supposed to be an accompanying message kinda clueing me in on what exactly caused the crash? I thought I read that somewhere on these forums. I didn't see anything like that.

I used to run the TDW Depth charge Disturbance mod but it made my game crash so I removed it. Hadn't had any issues since then on multiple patrols until now. Although I did recently get a CTD when near Dunkirk during the late May/early June evacuation. So I had to reload and I stayed away from Dunkirk. Finished that patrol. This recent crash is on the very next patrol.


FYI I'm running GWX with sh3 commander.

Other mods include:
Conus widescreen
TDW ship plane fire damage
Randomized searchlights
Lifeboat and debris
Torpedo damage final
DepthChargeShake
MEP environment mod and MEP sensors
Hsie patch
Stiebler patch
4 gig patch as well


System specs:

HP ProBook 4540s
Windows 7 (32-bit operating system)
Intel core I5 @ 2.5 Ghz
4 GB RAM.(it says 2.88 GB usable?)
Intel HD graphics 4000


Anyone know what my issue might have been/be?

Going to play some more, hopefully it doesn't happen again.

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by suitednate

So on a patrol, I was feasting on a convoy, sank 2 large merchants, a passenger/cargo (by accident), a medium tanker, and an auxiliary cruiser. Good enough for about 41k tons. After the latest attack and going towards the interior of the convoy, I get spotted and crash dive. After diving to about 40 meters I rise quickly back up to periscope depth to try to get an aft shot away on another ship before diving really deep, since the escort that spotted me is still far enough away to do all this.

As I'm raising the periscope the game freezes and I get the dreaded "silent hunter 3 has stopped working" message. Nooooo!!

Isn't there supposed to be an accompanying message kinda clueing me in on what exactly caused the crash? I thought I read that somewhere on these forums. I didn't see anything like that.

I used to run the TDW Depth charge Disturbance mod but it made my game crash so I removed it. Hadn't had any issues since then on multiple patrols until now. Although I did recently get a CTD when near Dunkirk during the late May/early June evacuation. So I had to reload and I stayed away from Dunkirk. Finished that patrol. This recent crash is on the very next patrol.


FYI I'm running GWX with sh3 commander.

Other mods include:
Conus widescreen
TDW ship plane fire damage
Randomized searchlights
Lifeboat and debris
Torpedo damage final
DepthChargeShake
MEP environment mod and MEP sensors
Hsie patch
Stiebler patch
4 gig patch as well


System specs:

HP ProBook 4540s
Windows 7 (32-bit operating system)
Intel core I5 @ 2.5 Ghz
4 GB RAM.(it says 2.88 GB usable?)
Intel HD graphics 4000


Anyone know what my issue might have been/be?

Going to play some more, hopefully it doesn't happen again.

Two possibilities, both shots in the dark: Did you even change your active mods while on patrol? (Not necessarily just now, but ever in this career.) Did you ever change your active mods and forget to roll back SH3 Commander first? (Ever, ever.) If the answer to either of those questions is "Yes" then you may have corrupted your installation. If you kept a snapshot in SH3 Commander, you can check it to find out.

If you do have a corrupt installation, the only cure is a ground-up re-install. Remove all mods. Delete all mods (You did keep the zipped files you downloaded, didn't you?) Uninstall SH3 (or delete the whole entire game folder if it is a copy. Delete all saved game files. Run a good registry cleaner. (I like RegVac.) Install SH3 (or make a copy from your pristine, never-used-for-anything clean game folder). Install GWX. Unzip all your mods. Set up the h.sie and Stiebler supplement folders. It all sounds grim, but if you work slowly and carefully, you'll be up and running again at the end of a single evening. Treat yourself to a tall serving of your favorite beverage and get ready to start a new career in which you will remember to save the game early and often.

[suitednate]

Originally Posted by BigWalleye

Two possibilities, both shots in the dark: Did you even change your active mods while on patrol? (Not necessarily just now, but ever in this career.) Did you ever change your active mods and forget to roll back SH3 Commander first? (Ever, ever.) If the answer to either of those questions is "Yes" then you may have corrupted your installation. If you kept a snapshot in SH3 Commander, you can check it to find out.

If you do have a corrupt installation, the only cure is a ground-up re-install. Remove all mods. Delete all mods (You did keep the zipped files you downloaded, didn't you?) Uninstall SH3 (or delete the whole entire game folder if it is a copy. Delete all saved game files. Run a good registry cleaner. (I like RegVac.) Install SH3 (or make a copy from your pristine, never-used-for-anything clean game folder). Install GWX. Unzip all your mods. Set up the h.sie and Stiebler supplement folders. It all sounds grim, but if you work slowly and carefully, you'll be up and running again at the end of a single evening. Treat yourself to a tall serving of your favorite beverage and get ready to start a new career in which you will remember to save the game early and often.

Yes i may have changed mods before during a patrol. I have never not rolled back SH3 Commander before changing up mods. I use the auto rollback feature to help prevent this very thing from happening.

You referred to something called a snapshot.....what is that and how do you do that?

Also i usually do save early and often but i thought i read somewhere that saving in render range of ships and especially saving submerged can have adverse consequences. Is this true?

Thanks.....

[Von Tonner]

Originally Posted by suitednate

Yes i may have changed mods before during a patrol. I have never not rolled back SH3 Commander before changing up mods. I use the auto rollback feature to help prevent this very thing from happening.

You referred to something called a snapshot.....what is that and how do you do that?

Also i usually do save early and often but i thought i read somewhere that saving in render range of ships and especially saving submerged can have adverse consequences. Is this true?

Thanks.....

Hi Suitednate that is really a bummer if you cannot continue with all that tonnage!!

Regarding saving submerged. Yes according to the GWX manual they have the following to say:
Saved Games
• Restoring a game that you saved when your U-boat was submerged can lead to instability. This is a
stock Silent Hunter III issue that GWX is unable to address, other than to recommend most strongly
that you not save your game while your U-boat is submerged.

There are a number of other issues that can cause CTD which the mention in their manual.
Here is the link:

http://www.silenthunter.cz/tgw/Manual_V3.0_Final.pdf

Hope you come right!

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by suitednate

Yes i may have changed mods before during a patrol. I have never not rolled back SH3 Commander before changing up mods. I use the auto rollback feature to help prevent this very thing from happening.

You referred to something called a snapshot.....what is that and how do you do that?

Also i usually do save early and often but i thought i read somewhere that saving in render range of ships and especially saving submerged can have adverse consequences. Is this true?

Thanks.....

In my experience (and I have investigated this subject far more than I ever wanted to), there are three major causes of corrupted saves that CTD on reloading: The first two I mentioned already: Touching your mod list while on patrol, and touching your mod list without rolling back SH3 Commander. The third is saving a game over the top of a previous save. That is, when you reuse a save name without first deleting the old save. Silent Hunter does not like that! If you have a save called "MySave", do not just select that name and save again. Either delete MySave first and re-enter that name and then save, or call the next save something else.

But generally the result is a corrupt save that CTDs and can't be restored on loading. That's different than the mid-game CTDs that you are experiencing. Since your current career is messed up anyway, I think the fastest way to get back to a game that you can enjoy reliably would be a complete re-install.

The snapshot function is found on the Tasks menu in JSGME. The JSGME User Guide explains what it does and how to use it. It will tell you if you have a corrupt copy of the game and/or one or more mods. But it won't fix the problem. You will still have to re-install the corrupt software. But if the problem is in a mod or two, you will only have to re-install those, not the whole enchilada.

I have found that most of the conditions which the GWX manual lists as causing problems can not be reproduced in practice. I have saved submerged, in the middle of a depth charge attack, under a convoy, within 50 km of a port, and reloaded that save with no problems. But if you want to be ultra-safe, follow the GWX recommendations. YMMV.

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by BL!TZKR!EG

I stand corrected. I should have said: "...the whole weisswurst," of course.

[suitednate]

Originally Posted by BigWalleye

In my experience (and I have investigated this subject far more than I ever wanted to), there are three major causes of corrupted saves that CTD on reloading: The first two I mentioned already: Touching your mod list while on patrol, and touching your mod list without rolling back SH3 Commander. The third is saving a game over the top of a previous save. That is, when you reuse a save name without first deleting the old save. Silent Hunter does not like that! If you have a save called "MySave", do not just select that name and save again. Either delete MySave first and re-enter that name and then save, or call the next save something else.

But generally the result is a corrupt save that CTDs and can't be restored on loading. That's different than the mid-game CTDs that you are experiencing. Since your current career is messed up anyway, I think the fastest way to get back to a game that you can enjoy reliably would be a complete re-install.

The snapshot function is found on the Tasks menu in JSGME. The JSGME User Guide explains what it does and how to use it. It will tell you if you have a corrupt copy of the game and/or one or more mods. But it won't fix the problem. You will still have to re-install the corrupt software. But if the problem is in a mod or two, you will only have to re-install those, not the whole enchilada.

I have found that most of the conditions which the GWX manual lists as causing problems can not be reproduced in practice. I have saved submerged, in the middle of a depth charge attack, under a convoy, within 50 km of a port, and reloaded that save with no problems. But if you want to be ultra-safe, follow the GWX recommendations. YMMV.

Thanks for the insight guys.

Do you happen to use the Hsie randomized searchlight mod? I think he said something about if you save near a convoy and then you go into attack that they "act defenseless and it's basically a shooting gallery" or something to that effect?