Game stops responding

[Jim D Burns]

I just tried several times to load the FitE 5.0 scenario and the game stops responding every time during the Soviet supply check. I remember this problem was around with ACOW, too bad it hasn’t been fixed. [:-]

When I did design work back then, there used to be a command line switch I could use when running the exe to get it to work. Anyone have a list of all the old command line switches for ACOW?

My PC is a Pentium 2.3 ghz, 1 gig ram, NVIDIA Ti4600 video card, SoundBlaster Audigy sound card, so my specs should be just fine, but no love with the FitE 5.0 scenario. [:(]

Jim

[SMK-at-work]

I had this problem last night trying to play the intro scenario/tutorial "Annonymous Heroes" - the computer stopped responding before my 1st turn at various times - sometimes after teh Red turn was over, sometimes before REd had started. 
 
I tried restarting and shutting down various programmes running concurrently but couldn't get it to work at all....6 times!!

[nemo69]

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns
When I did design work back then, there used to be a command line switch I could use when running the exe to get it to work. Anyone have a list of all the old command line switches for ACOW?

From the TOAW CoW help file, Appendices>Unsupported Features for Power Users:

Command Line Switches

TOAW has a number of hidden features that can only be turned on by use of the command line. Most are only useful for scenario designers. Two: polog and toawlog, can be useful to players who might wish to “look under the hood” after a gaming session. The po_log.txt and toaw_log.txt files can be examined using any text editor that can load large files. It is not uncommon for the log files to exceed 10 MB in size.



To insert a command line parameter into a shortcut used to launch TOAW you will need to right click on the shortcut (details vary slightly depending upon which version of Windows you are using and how you have your shortcuts set up) and select “properties”. In the “target” field, enter a space after “exe”, followed by the command line switch you wish to use. Separate multiple switches by a space. If the target field appears within quotes, place your command line switch inside the quotes.



nodelay – Useful for debugging scenarios in computer vs. computer play mode, this option turns off many of the small timer controlled delays and animations in the game. The effect is most noticeable on faster machines.
noupdate - Useful for debugging scenarios in computer vs. computer play mode, this option turns off many of the screen updates in the game. The effect is most noticeable on slower machines. This option should not be used when playing the game, as some of the updates are necessary for normal play purposes. A combination of nodelay and noupdate can speed computer vs. computer scenario test dramatically.
nosound – Turn off all sound.
norandom – Turns off system time based initialization of the random number generator used in TOAW.
polog – Turns on the programmed opponent logging feature. This will generate a po_log.txt file in your game directory. The log file is a detailed record of programmed opponent decision making during a game.
toawlog – Turns on the general game logging feature. This will generate a toaw_log.txt file in your game directory. The log file is a detailed record of many game management functions, including loading and unloading of resources and combat resolution.
nointro – Turns the introductory cinematic off.
uberdude – Increases the amount of feedback from the event engine and other game functions for debug purposes. Many event engine actions that leave no trace in normal mode will fully document themselves in the news report if you use the uberdude switch. This can be used during normal play, but is really intended for scenario designer use. It has a tendency to clutter the news report and certain graphics areas with information that isn’t needed during normal play.

Hope it helps

Marc

[Jim D Burns]

Thanks Marc, alas the one I used isn't listed. I know Norm created it specifically for me during development when I had trouble with the supply phase in Overlord. Guess he took it out after the exe file was worked on and Overlord became playable for most/all users.

Wish I had hung onto it, but that was probably two computers ago for me, so nothing left from those days. Of course it was such an old build of the exe it probably wouldn't work anymore anyway.

Jim

[JAMiAM]

Jim,

Are you seeing "(not responding)" in the Window, or are you just going by the bar progress on the screen? Especially on the first few turns, it will probably take upwards of 15 minutes for the supply calcs to run for FitE.

[SMK-at-work]

In my case either:
 
1/ the screen goes blank then gets "no signal", the computer ceases responding to anything including ctrl-alt-del, OR
2/ the screen freezes except for the cursor, which can be moved but doesn't accept any input (mouse clicks) - again the computer doesn't respond to anything incl ctrl-alt-del.
 
I'm running Win 98 on a 2.8gHz P4 with 512mb ram and a 128mb ATI 9200SE video card
 

[wolflars]

I have had this happen a number of times with TOAW III--not responding at all (and yes it says "not responding), but ctrl-alt-del to terminate program.  It seems to happen in some of the larger scenarios FiTE and one of the Vietnam ones and once during a smaller one.  I also have a pretty decent comp so I don't know what is the cause[&:]

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: JAMiAM

Jim,

Are you seeing "(not responding)" in the Window, or are you just going by the bar progress on the screen? Especially on the first few turns, it will probably take upwards of 15 minutes for the supply calcs to run for FitE.

Says not responding on the blue title bar at the very top and I get several 'end now' pop-up prompts after clicking on the upper right hand x (to close the window) then the report to Microsoft error pop-up. I'm running Win XP Pro.

Jim

[Dr. Foo]

When playing larger games I get this too, if you leave it alone it will respond, in about 10-15 mins. [:@] [:D]

[wolflars]

nah, this is something else...I know well enough to let it be for awhile (especially for FitE), but sometimes it just doesnt come back at all, I've left it for hours at a time just to be sure...also, at least in the Vietnam scenario it froze during the PO movement, not just during the inbetween turn stuff...I have a sneaking suspiscion Jim Burns is suffering similar problems...I'm not saying its a bug but could be something else causing the conflict...

[JAMiAM]

Hi guys,

If you get a non-responding program, or Windows wants to close the program, try to get a screenshot of the error message details that will be in the error box. You can save it as a jpg in MS Paint, and attach it to the post (embedded is fine). It'll help us run down what the problem is. Thanks.

[ralphtricky]

ORIGINAL: JAMiAM

Hi guys,

If you get a non-responding program, or Windows wants to close the program, try to get a screenshot of the error message details that will be in the error box. You can save it as a jpg in MS Paint, and attach it to the post (embedded is fine). It'll help us run down what the problem is. Thanks.

If you can also grab a save game from right before it happens, that would help.

[LLv34_Snefens]

I can get the "not responding" showing as well, if I ctrl-alt-del during the calculations, but it doesn't really mean that it has crashed.
Back when I was on a 800MHz P3, it usually about an hour every time I had to do a new turn. With my current 3800+ it still takes 5-10 mins normally. Once it seemed to have stalled, I just let it running overnight. When I woke up it had completed.

To quote Ace Ventura: "If it's not back in five minutes... Just wait longer"

[SMK-at-work]

Very frustrating - managed to get 1 game of the Anonymous Heroes scenario done tonight, and it froze 6 times before and after!![:@][:@][:@]

Game generally freezes immediately after the supply check for both sides and before the map shows - but not always - had a look at Barbarossa and it allowed me to scoll hte map for about 10 seconds before freezing.  Tried to start Gallipoli and it went straight to a blank screen and "No video signal" immediately I pressed the tick button to play the scenario.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: JAMiAM

Hi guys,

If you get a non-responding program, or Windows wants to close the program, try to get a screenshot of the error message details that will be in the error box. You can save it as a jpg in MS Paint, and attach it to the post (embedded is fine). It'll help us run down what the problem is. Thanks.

Here's a screenshot of what I see:

[Jim D Burns]

Here's the Windows error report pop-up:



Not sure if this is what you wanted.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

Ok I think I may have figured it out. I tried to load the scenario again to see if I had the right windows error report for you guys and this time it loaded fine.

So I tried several more times and each time that it loaded, I had not moved or hit the mouse at all. But whenever I click a mouse button the program has stopped responding.

I then tried it with some smaller scenarios but hitting the mouse button during air and supply calculations had no effect at all on those, they always loaded fine no matter what. So it appears something is going on with very large scenarios and mouse clicks.

Perhaps simply making the mouse non-responsive or removing it all together while air and supply calculations are under way would do the trick.

Of course I've only done this a few times, so my hypothesis could be wrong, but so far every time I click the mouse the scenario has failed to load (6 or 7 times total so far). Three times it has loaded when I didn’t touch the mouse (took about 3 minutes to load). Not a scientific certainty by any means but a good start I think.

Jim

[JAMiAM]

Thanks for the feedback Jim. Every little bit helps. It may be a conflict with the input device drivers. We'll see what we can come up with.

[JAMiAM]

ORIGINAL: LLv34_Snefens
I can get the "not responding" showing as well, if I ctrl-alt-del during the calculations, but it doesn't really mean that it has crashed.

It's generally a bad idea to make the TOAW III window an inactive window during the supply calcs, and whenever there is a pop up box active on the screen. This behavior goes back at least to CoW.

[SMK-at-work]

Has anyone got any enlightenment at all about my problem??!!