east front DCG game crashes

[kaleidoscope]

I was playing a DCG and encountered a crash which I am
not able to work around. For my core force , I picked
a panzer battalion sized force in Army Group South and
refused all offers of promotions when they were offered.
I have the latest patch, 1.04 and the campaign
was started with a clean fresh install of the game and
1.04. The date is sometime
in the summer of 42 when the crash occurs. I'm using the new oob's and
not the old talonsoft ones in the hope the new ones
are "bug free". The crash occurs when I click the
"Begin next mission button". I should see a window
saying "generating organization information" but it never
appears and instead I get a
"East Front.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."


Im deeply discouraged as an identical crash
occured in a previous campaign using
the same settings, the only difference
being the previous campaign was fought using
the 1.03 patch.

Thusly 100+ battles have gone down the tubes.

Have these DCG's been tested? I know data/oob
problems were found and corrected but
was the DCG itself actually tested?
(As in playing a campaign from the start
of the war to the finish?)

I was thinking a potential way to debug the DCG's
would be to modify the game so that
it simply runs through the process of
generating battles throughout an entire DCG
without actually fighting them
out on the map. This way you could test a
whole campaign rapidly to track down when
the crashes occur and the likely upgrade/oob/organization
culprits behind the crashes.

I do believe you guys made a strong effort
to "fix" the DCG so that they would work
by implementing the new JCTS OOB's but in my
experience they are still broken.

Has ANY player EVER been able to actually
finish a DCG from the start of the war
to its conclusion on the East Front???

I have never been able to complete a DCG game
in any of the old talonsoft versions nor with
the current Matrix version.

I still have the files associated with this campaign
if anyone wants to take a look at them and figure
out why the game crashes.

Finally, I have a morbid curiosity as to what happens
when you finally win a DCG and the war comes to an end.
Do you get a simple text message saying the "Was is Over"
with perhaps a splash screen? I wouldnt know as I have
never completed a DCG due to crashes despite numerous tries
with various versions of the game on various computers over
the years.

[simovitch]

kaleidoscope, your experience is vexing and you are right to feel discouraged. I'm fairly certain that we fixed every problem associated with an inconsistent upgrade date. I have a feeling there is something else amiss. Are you running Vista?

Copy all 5 DCG (CPN, ORG, Map, ccd, ccx) files from your east front folder to a temporary folder. Delete all files EXCEPT the ccd file and fire it up again. You should have all your medals and campaign history. Let me know if you are able to continue on.

[kaleidoscope]

No, I do not have Vista. I have XP home edition with
service pack three.

I will follow your suggestion and see what outcome results.

[simovitch]

OK.
I was able to create a sequence that brought my battalion from Pz 38(t) in June 1941 to Pz V in May 1945 without crashing. I'll need to know the exact organization that you are playing to see what happens.

btw, here is the (somewhat anti-climactic) end screen for a Barbarossa DCG:

[kaleidoscope]

Is this the correct info that shows my core force organization?


ORGANIZATION INFORMATION
1 0 5 0 6487 6 410600 450500 21724 0 K0150206
XXIV. Panzer Corps -- MCS

0
2 0 5 5 9 6 410600 450500 21725 0 P01306
XXIV. Panzer Corps HQ
Corps HQ
0
2 0 5 0 1859 6 410600 450500 21727 0 D0140379
3. Panzer Division

0
3 0 4 4 10 6 410600 450500 21728 0 P01301
3. Panzer Division HQ
Div HQ
0
3 0 5 0 327 6 410600 450500 21731 0 R0120266
6. Panzer Regiment

0
4 0 3 3 9 6 410600 450500 21732 0 P01315
6. Panzer Regiment HQ
GP HQ (Rgt)
0
4 0 5 0 106 6 410600 450500 21734 0 B0110354
I. Panzer Battalion

0
5 1 5 5 1 7 0 0 25873 0 P01406
Alle
Alle
0
5 1 2 2 12 9 410600 450500 21735 1584 P01316
Panzer Battalion HQ
GP HQ (mot.)(Bn)
0
5 1 2 2 6 9 410600 450500 21737 2984 P01407
Major
Cdr 2 (mot.)
0
5 1 0 0 21 6 411200 420800 21740 0 C0100335
1. Light Panzer Company (IIF/IIIH)

3
XXXXXXX Upgrades XXXXXXXXXXXX
5 0 0 0 0 6 420900 430300 21741 0 C0100346
1. Light Panzer Company (IIF/IIIL)

5 0 0 0 0 6 430400 440100 21742 0 C0100354
1. Medium Panzer Company (IIF/IVH)

5 0 0 0 0 6 440200 450500 21743 0 C0100365
1. Medium Panzer Company (V)

That info came from the *.ccd file

===================
===================



Anyway, I tried your suggestion and encountered the same crash. I could not find any file with a cpn extension/name you told me to backup & delete. Instead, there is a recently modified ef.txt file which contains the info...-k 1 25873 1 -o Alle.cpn. Is this 'ef.txt' file what you meant when you told me to back up and then delete the "CPN" file?

I can only add that my initial starting forces had no PZ 38-t's. The initial medium tanks were all
a mixture of Pz III G's and Pz III H's.

Thanks for showing the end game info screen. Its the same as the Close Combat II ending .

[simovitch]

Yes, that will do. I'll try to see if that force upgrades through the war.

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: kaleidoscope
Is this 'ef.txt' file what you meant when you told me to back up and then delete the "CPN" file?

No not that one. Your CPN file is identical to a scenario file. I guess you never got far enough to generate a new mission so that's why it doesn't exist.

I ran all the way into 1943 successfully upgrading without crashing. email me your ccd file and I'll take a look.

simonitch<at>sbcglobal.net

[kaleidoscope]

Done. Thanks for looking at it.

[simovitch]

We had some successs here. The crash was not related to OOB files or upgrades. I noticed that k-scope's file was twice the size of a normal ccd file and for some unknown reason the ccd file had a sh*tpot full of blank spaces intertrwined in the file. I did a global delete of these in a text editor and the DCG is working again. No clue how this could happen.

fingers crossed.

[Warhorse]

Hey Richard, thanks for doing all this work with the DCG's, I play them alot and am really grateful you are delving into the mechanics of them, and able to troubleshoot!![&o] I have a DCG going with a mod I had made taking the place of the Belgians, they are essentially modern era army in ww2, just a time-travel sci-fi thing I did for kicks. Thing is, every end of mission, when I would get a medal, it crashes, but, I do get my medal, and the campaign is able to be continued?! I just have to restart WF and continue, very strange, I thought perhaps I had missed a BMP for promotions or something. Lately though, I'm thinking it may be since there is no Belgian campaign that maybe the medal sequence just kicks off? No big deal, I can still play it, just curious if you might have any clues I haven't thought of?

Take care, and thanks again!!

Mike

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: Warhorse
Thing is, every end of mission, when I would get a medal, it crashes, but, I do get my medal, and the campaign is able to be continued?! I just have to restart WF and continue, very strange, I thought perhaps I had missed a BMP for promotions or something.

Who's medals are you getting, and who congratulates you before the medal? There are no bmp's or audio files these for Belgium (nationality #12) which may cause the game to crash.

[Sgt.Fury25]

Simovitch,that was cool to see you help out kalidoscope like that.[:)]

[Warhorse]

I'm getting the medals I created for it, but there is no picture of a general giving me the medal like for the Germans, even though I created the promotion screen. Oh, looks like, after a quick look through all the BMP's and sound files that maybe I should include also a Victory12.BMP and the accompanying defeat, draw, Mvic and vic audio files??!!

Thanks again, I'll let you know what transpires later!

Mike

[Warhorse]

Ok, I put in the screen and audio files, now that works. What happens after the General congratulates you is the screen fades to the Matrix logo, then you get the exe crash, necessitating a restart of the game. When you start, and continue campaign, all is well. Can't place what is causing the kick, though...

Mike

[kaleidoscope]

Well,its now early 43 in my continuing east front campaign.
Another crash has occurred which is identical to the
original one. As simovitch explained, the CCD file has a
lot of extra blanks spaces once again. I was able to fix it
this time, myself, using what simovitch did previously as
a guide (deleting the excess blank spaces in the CCD file)
THANKs for that help!

This could be a red herring but right after the CCD file was
fixed for both crashes, the "upgrades have arrived"
popped up. Additionally this time I noticed the computer
generated an odd organization (not part of my core force)
This consisted of 4 units...a transport halftrack, a motocycle
transport, a motorcycle platoon, a towed 75mm Antitank gun.
It was odd because when it came on as a reinforcement, it
was preloaded. This is very rare in my experience to see
preloaded units. Even stranger,the 75mm AT guns were loaded
on the motorcycles and the motorcycle platoon was loaded
on the halftrack transport which is clearly reversed from
how they should have been loaded. I think other people
have reported this strange ability of motorcycles to
carry unusual cargoes.

[scottintacoma]

The units coming loaded on the wrong transport is because of how the OOB is written. The units appear in the order on the OOB. When they come in pre loaded the in the same order, first unit on the first transport, ECT.

Scott in Tacoma

[big dawg]

Did you download any new files from another website? 

My WF crashed after downloading a corrupted file.  I posted my experience just below your post.

I know this is driving you nuts.  Just hold tight.  Someone will have a answer.

[kaleidoscope]

No, my game is the stock game with the latest patch applied. No mods or anything additional.
I can work around this crash due to the guidance Simovitch gave me. He showed me how
to delete the spaces in the CCD file which seems to be the main culprit in my campaign
crashes. I am reporting any additional weirdness that occurs (such as the motorcycle
transport carrying the 75 mm A.T. guns) in the hope these problems will be corrected
and eventually players will be able to complete a campaign without resorting to manually
working around the crashes as they happen.

[kaleidoscope]

Still plugging away in my east front DCG and
I just experienced another crash, just
like the two crashes described
in the previous posts = (the ccd file is
inexplicably getting padded with blank
spaces). Removing the blank spaces allows
me to continue the campaign.

I did notice a common pattern in
all three crashes.... AFTER fixing
the ccd file and continuing to the next
campaign battle....the "upgrades have arrived" message
has appeared in all three crash instances.
So, it seems these crashes
are possibly related to the units being upgraded.
Just passing this info along for any bug hunters
out there.

[Warhorse]

Where exactly do you see the spaces in the ccd file? I'm having a few problems with a DCG using another country (Czech-Arkady's mod), one of the camps goes okay, another gives a black screen when re-opened, also no country insignia at bottom left like usual. Prior to this, I receive a "error loading scenario" message when program takes you to campaign setup, although if you just continue and play it, you can play the whole scenario. You just can't continue on after it's over, or reload...weird, any ideas?

Mike