Locks up when I win

[LarryP]

I have won two scenarios and both times it locked up when I clicked the Close button on the victory screen.

Here is my dxdiag.txt file.

Since we can only upload one file per post, the saved game is in the next post.

[LarryP]

Here is the saved game.

Each time it locked up, I left the victory menu up for several minutes before clicking the Close button.

[jomni]

Funny, I haven't experienced that yet.

[LarryP]

I found the problem after about twenty lockups and the old ctrl+alt+del keys. DirectX acceleration. I turned it off and that was it. Works fine now for anyone that has this problem.

I am all done buying PC games. This was my last straw. Patches, waiting for patches, waiting for more patches, bugs, bugs, and more bugs. Developers that don't help. I'm going back to consoles, so see you all later.

Thank you to all of the wonderful posts of help here! [&o][&o][&o]

[e_barkmann]

when no one else has the problem, what does one expect

[LarryP]

I expect the frigging developer to come in here and talk. Is that too much too ask if it were you?

Just how many posts does it take to qualify to get help then Chris?

I also posted at Slitherine and got no help there either, other than some stupid questions that clearly showed no download of the saved game.

[e_barkmann]

on second thoughts, best let this one lie

[LarryP]

I received your original in my email:

original: Chris Merchant

I notice on the Slitherine site you waited a whole 55 minutes after your last response to Ian's question before you did the dummy spit about no help.

Seems to me the developer was in the process of helping you.

Patience is a virtue.

Why am I answering to you Chris? I don't know. I simply wanted the developer to help and none came around. The guy you referred to is the site admin. After over twenty four hours, I still had no help from the developer. And like I said, the questions he asked clearly showed he had not come here and downloaded my saved game. Nobody has come here and downloaded the saved game file as of this minute. Still, no download of the saved game. Open up the attachment and it shows "0." The dxdiag shows "3" downloads.

As far as your remark about patience, I've had tons of patience, however it has finally run out just today. Over 300 games and too many of these issues to count. I'm done.

[e_barkmann]

there's no doubt PC are complex beasts.  I don't envy PC game developers at all!

Good bye Larry.

cheers Chris

[LarryP]

Chris, yes they are complex and so many variations of drivers and software. I used to write software for the shareware industry, but I am pooped out. I'm sorry for losing some patience, it just happened. This may have been a week when I should have ignored PC games entirely.

[IainMcNeil]

Larry - you already know we have replied 2 times to you post in the Slitherine forum which as you know is where the developers are.
 
Why would you post here that you have not had a response when you have already replied to our response over at the Slitherine forum?
 
The problem as you reported is now fixed and was related to some sort of conflict on your PC to do with DirectX acceleration, not related to the game. You turned it off and the game runs fine. I don't understand the agenda here.

[Erik Rutins]

Larry,

Normally, you would have received a reply here earlier, but I've been pretty sick since Monday and haven't been able to keep up. Apologies that this caused you frustration. I hope you stick with it.

Regards,

- Erik

[LarryP]

Erik;

I am very very sorry you got into this, I never meant Matrix. Usually I have a lot of patience with these matters. I too have been sick all week and I just finally reached my limit. You Erik have always been right there on top of issues and I appreciate your patience. I hope you are feeling better soon.

[LarryP]

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

Larry - you already know we have replied 2 times to you post in the Slitherine forum which as you know is where the developers are.

Why would you post here that you have not had a response when you have already replied to our response over at the Slitherine forum?

The problem as you reported is now fixed and was related to some sort of conflict on your PC to do with DirectX acceleration, not related to the game. You turned it off and the game runs fine. I don't understand the agenda here.

I never said I received "no response" as that would have been a lie. I said I received "no help" and I didn't and haven't. The saved game file was never downloaded even once. Maybe Matrix has spoiled me in that respect as they ask for dxdiag and saved game files and actually look at them.

Having to disable hardware acceleration is a common problem with many games. That is an issue I have seen come up a lot. It does not mean it's an isolated issue to my PC. It could just as easily be in the game. However, this is another reason why I am tired of PC games, all the conflicts and developers releasing unfinished games.

[Erik Rutins]

Larry,

For what it's worth, we did not have this problem on any of our test systems, no DirectX acceleration change was needed. I know Iain and he is one of the good guys. I'm sure they will get it sorted out. I'm recovering, I hope you feel better soon too.

Regards,

- Erik

[LarryP]

Thanks Erik. This might be an isolated issue then with the DX9 acceleration.

This is one of those times when everything in life had added up and I lost my mouth yesterday. I know how I should have handled it, and I wish I could change how I did. At my age I know better but the situations involved got the better of me, and there were many. I'm really sorry for causing a stink here. I thought I was beyond that kind of garbage. [:(]

EDIT: I found out that turning off acceleration also turns off the excellent shooting and calvary sounds. So I tried turning the acceleration on but only up to the first setting which is called Basic. Everything works great at that minimal setting. No more lockups, full sounds. If anyone has the problem of lockups at the victory menu, I hope this helps them.

[IainMcNeil]

Larry we try and resolve problems without resorting to saved games as it just eats up so much time. There is one programmer at HexWar on the project and he's trying to add features and fix bugs so taking him off that to check why someones machine does not work with a particular setting is something we avoid until we've checked ther options. The reality is that wargames like this have very small teams as they sell a tiny fraction of what a AAA retail release would sell. We also dont have a 24/7 tech support team - I'm the owner of Slitherine. We're hoping that the initial success will continue and we'll be able to support a larger teams for these types of projects but you have to walk before you can run.

[LarryP]

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

Larry we try and resolve problems without resorting to saved games as it just eats up so much time. There is one programmer at HexWar on the project and he's trying to add features and fix bugs so taking him off that to check why someones machine does not work with a particular setting is something we avoid until we've checked ther options. The reality is that wargames like this have very small teams as they sell a tiny fraction of what a AAA retail release would sell. We also dont have a 24/7 tech support team - I'm the owner of Slitherine. We're hoping that the initial success will continue and we'll be able to support a larger teams for these types of projects but you have to walk before you can run.

Iain; Saved games is what I'm used to having to provide immediately. That's ironic. I understand how one programmer can be so busy as I have done a lot of programming through the years. That's a valuable employee to say the least.

You have an excellent game here, one that's a lot of fun to play. It's fast to get into the action, but yet it doesn't have to be drawn out over several days to finish. I played three scenarios at night and started a fourth. Compared to games I have that take months to finish, FoG is a nice change. Yet it has a good amount of strategy if you want to win those scenarios too. It's games like this that keep me hanging on to the PC platform, as buggy as it can be at times. [:)]

I wish you the best of business, and hope more gamers come in here and try this game. There are a lot of gamers here at Matrix that support the small developers, as they are our only hope for the type of games we want to play.

[IainMcNeil]

It's great to get the saved games straight away - we just try to look for simple solutions before we go on to more complex ones

[LarryP]

That makes good sense. Like all troubleshooting, start from the bottom. I've been so used to developers saying "post your saved game!" It hadn't dawned on me that it could be done different. [X(] [;)]