In 99% of time GGWaW crashes when I re-enter it after Alt-Tab

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

In 99% of time GGWaW crashes when I re-enter it after Alt-Tab.

This happens in latest version (v1.033) as it happened in v1.016 and v1.005 as well.

Please note that I have UV and WitP for years now and they happily Alt-Tab whenever I want/need...


Leo "Apollo11"

[Tac2i]

This has never happened to me. What are your system specs? What firewall/anti-virus do you run? What other applications may be running? Spyware infected? Virus infection? Non-standard Windows (or a heavily modified Windows)? Defective memory chip? Drive space free? This could be caused by a 1,000 different things.

[MButtazoni]

could you run GGWaW in Windowed mode and see if the same problem occurs?

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Webizen

This has never happened to me. What are your system specs? What firewall/anti-virus do you run? What other applications may be running? Spyware infected? Virus infection? Non-standard Windows (or a heavily modified Windows)? Defective memory chip? Drive space free? This could be caused by a 1,000 different things.

Let's just say that I am IT specialist and, without any false modesty, PC expert (and that this means that I have good and 100% stable machine at home that I personally assembled) with 15+ years of experience in this field.

Believe me it's not my machine... it's GGWaW acting strange after Alt-Tab due to some reason... [:(]


My strong belief is that this, possibly, has something to do with resolution (my desktop is at 1280x1024x32) whilst GGWaW is 1024x768.


Leo "Apollo11"


P.S.
Just regular WinXP Pro (Intel P4 3.0 GHz, 1 GB DDR, i875 chipset, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro).

P.P.S.
I don't have any resident AntiVirus running because I always scan manually (never in my life had virus at home or at work if that matters) and that I sit behind LINUX machine that works as firewall.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: MButtazoni

could you run GGWaW in Windowed mode and see if the same problem occurs?

GGWaW runs much slower in windowed mode on my machine that full screen so that is not an option.

Again (please see my post above) I think this has to do with resolutions...


Leo "Apollo11"

[Tac2i]

Did you test the resolution theory by switching your PC to 1024x768 to see if the same behavior occurred?

Update: I switched my PC to 1280x1024x32 resolution and Alt-Tabbed several times without a crash. This isn't definitive of course since we have different machines. I have a Radeon X300 series card (128MB). The ATI Catalyst 5.5 driver set was released the other day. You may wish to try that if you don't already have it installed. I'm also running a home built PC (WinXP Pro w/SP2 Intel P4 2.8Ghz w/1G ram)

[Erik Rutins]

Apollo11,

I have a very similar machine and can run it in Windowed mode with great performance and can Alt-Tab from full screen to desktop and back without a problem (my desktop is also 1280x1024x32). I don't think we should reach a conclusion before investigating other possibilities. Does it still do this if you change resolution/color depth? Can you post a DxDiag for us?

Regards,

- Erik

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Webizen

Did you test the resolution theory by switching your PC to 1024x768 to see if the same behavior occurred?

Update: I switched my PC to 1280x1024x32 resolution and Alt-Tabbed several times without a crash. This isn't definitive of course since we have different machines. I have a Radeon X300 series card (128MB). The ATI Catalyst 5.5 driver set was released the other day. You may wish to try that if you don't already have it installed. I'm also running a home built PC (WinXP Pro w/SP2 Intel P4 2.8Ghz w/1G ram)

Of course I did... I switched my desktop resolution to 1024x768x32 and Alt-Tab into and out of GGWaW 10x without any problem whatsoever...


Leo "Apollo11"


P.S.
I still have Catalyst v5.4 (I never ever install brand new driver before I get info about it's behavior from various forums - other than UV/WitP/GGWaW I play flight sims and that's where performance and 100% reliability is of biggest importance)...

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

I have a very similar machine and can run it in Windowed mode with great performance and can Alt-Tab from full screen to desktop and back without a problem (my desktop is also 1280x1024x32). I don't think we should reach a conclusion before investigating other possibilities. Does it still do this if you change resolution/color depth? Can you post a DxDiag for us?

OK (when I get some time).

BTW, do you also have ATi Radeon (if yes what Catalyst version)?

Also do you run your windows with "Large" or "Normal" fonts?


Leo "Apollo11"

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Just to inform you that latest ATI Catalyst v5.5 fixed my Alt-Tab problem (now I can do this without crash even when my desktop was set to my normal 1280x1024 as opposed to only 1024x768 before).

It was some weird ATI-GGWaW interaction but all is OK now!


Leo "Apollo11"


P.S.
I changed to ATI Catalyst v5.5 after I checked that my other programs (fligh simulations) are not affected and that they work OK.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Sorry guys... false report... [:(]

Although GGWaW didn't crash yesterday whole day while I was playing my PBEMs (and doing Alt-Tab) - it crashed today with very same symptoms I described in my 1st post in this thread.

Therefore the ATI Catalyst v5.5 didn't solve problem completely...


Leo "Apollo11"

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

As promissed here is my DXDiag for Erik (Matrix/2By3)...


Leo "Apollo11"

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

I think that I might (possibly!) found the culprit for Alt-Tab crash...

I was playing with GGWaW preferences I and after I turned OFF the music ("Music" = 0) I can happily Alt-TAB in and out of game without problem <sound of Leo knocking on wood 3 times>!

After this happened I also think that two days ago (when I first installed Catalyst v5.5 and thought that they solved the issue) I also had Music = 0...

Can someone else please try this (do multiple in and out Alt-Tab with music set to ON and OFF)?


Leo "Apollo11"