UFO: ET game lockup

[BlueFox]

I can't seem to figure out why this game keeps locking up at random times during game play.

It never happens in Global View and I have yet to get far enough into the game for anything other than when I shoot down a UFO and send in a search party. I can usually get 3 or 4 search parties away and then the game locks up just after Alien movement.

I have set my Video Card to all sorts of different settings and still have issues.

Please help.

SYSTEM:

Intel P4 1.9Ghz
768 MB RAM (DDR 266Mhz)
Windows XP Pro SP2
ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB)
SB Live! (Old, yes I know)
DX Ver 9.0c(4.09.0000.0904)

Note: I do have an on board sound card which is not that bad, but have not tried using it yet since the SB should be much better. I have a SOYO P4I Fire Dragon with the 6 channel Sound Card. I guess maybe I should give that a whirl as well.

Thanks

[Erik Rutins]

First thing I'd try is updating your video and sound drivers, they are from 2006 and 2002, respectively. Good bet your sound drivers are part of the problem.

[BlueFox]

LOL, those dates ARE the latest versions. The hardware is older and I have been thinking about getting rid of the SB Live! card for some time now and throwing it back into the Pentium II machine it came out of.

All my drivers are up to date and the console messages do not show any kind of error. Also, my drives get defragmented at least once a month, so it can't be that issue either. No Virus that I know of and I keep a close watch on everything that comes and goes in and out of my machine (A+ & Network+ Tech since 2001).

I thought at first it might be the machine heating up, but my machine never gets any hotter than 40 degrees Celsius.

IF you can think of anything else, let me know and thanks for the quick response.

Fox

[Erik Rutins]

Hm - two more questions - are you running the latest update of UFO and do you have any mods installed?

[BlueFox]

Yes, I am running the latest Patch (that's Patch 2) and with no mods installed.

Thanks

Fox

[bman654]

I'd suggest the following:
 
1. unpacking your system.xbg using xbigtool (found at http://www.ufo-scene.com )  (just open system.xbg using xbigtool, then "save all items" to your ufoet\data folder)
2. Rename system.xbg to system_patch2.xbg so the game will not find it anymore and be forced to use the unpacked files.
3. Using notepad or some other text editor, open ufoet\data\config.xscr
4. At the top of the file are 6 lines like:
[blockquote]
int actions_debug = 0;
int combat_debug = 0;
int turn_debug = 0;
int sound_debug = 0;
int camera_debug = 0;
int ai_debug = 0;
[/blockquote]
5. Change all those 0's to 5's like so:
 
[blockquote]
int actions_debug = 5;
int combat_debug = 5;
int turn_debug = 5;
int sound_debug = 5;
int camera_debug = 5;
int ai_debug = 5;
[/blockquote]
6. Save the file.  Make sure notepad did not add a .txt to the end of the file!
7. Now play the game.
8. Next time it hangs, let it sit there for 5-10secs then quit the game.
9. Goto your UFOET folder and find console.txt file.  It should have alot of debugging information in it.
10. Upload it here and maybe it will show something useful.

[RasterOps]

Is the music playing and the mouse working? Can you access the game menu and reload a previous tactical/mission turn? If so, then you may be experiencing an AI infinite loop. Reload a previous turn and change your strategy, position and placement of your soldiers. This changes the AI tactics and allows the mission to continue.