(Resolved) Exception Error in DL 1.5

from GalCiv2 Forums

I'm not certain that I handled this right. I emailed the smart exception log to carielf instead of gc2bugs. (One post says to email them to gc2bugs and another says to email them to carielf.) Please let me know if I should also email it to gc2bugs.

I also neglected to post a bug report here in the forums, assuming that the email was sufficient. My apologies.

Anyway, the problem I'm having is an unspecified exception error during the end turn sequence after I upgrade a large number of ships. The end turn sequence won't complete. Nothing shows up in the debug.err.

The exception error points to a library and gives an offset, but that doesn't help a mortal like me too much. The exception doesn't give a hex code, so I can't tell if it's my memory, page file or something else.

I haven't seen the memory's total commit go above 1.5 GB and haven't seen the .exe use more than 1.2 GB before the error shows up.

Here's what I've tried to troubleshoot it...

Computer: Updated the video driver to the newest 2008 version (ATI). Scanned online for any other driver updates, none found. Local and online A/V and Spyware scans were ok. Tested memory and drives. Moved the swapfile from C: to D: and set it to a static 4095 MB (The minimum 2MB on C: is still there, too). Disconnected from the internet and shut down all but 17 services. No A/V and the all ethernet adapters disabled. Sound services disabled. Disabled screen saver and disabled all power saving options. Desktop Resolution is 1280x1024, 32 bit.

Game: All video settings in the options are selected to give the lowest performance and throttling is enabled. Resolution is 1280x1024, windowed mode. Austosave is disabled. Sound is disabled.

I tried saving the game right after the upgrade, rebooting, shutting down services, reloading and hitting end turn from a "clean" environment, but the end turn sequence won't complete before the error pops up.

I know about the 17k ship limit, but I'm thousands of ships below that as far as the upgrade goes.

Help would be appreciated.

4,322 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
GC2bugs is preferable unless there's some specific issue Cari is looking into currently (which is probably what you saw her asking for personally). If the save crashes every time you try to play it, then sending it in to gc2bugs with your debug.err and description of the issue is all you should need to do.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for the quick response, Kryo.  I'll send it to gc2bugs when I get home.  :) 
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
First, a thank you to Carielf for responding via email. I know you're very busy and I appreciate your efforts.

It appears that the crash is Direct X related, so I'll concentrate my troubleshooting on the video area. I've already tried downgrading my video drivers to older, known stable ones such as Omega 7.10 and Warcat 7.4. I'm back up to ATI 8.4 since the others didn't help.

I'll try uninstalling and re-installing Direct X. I'll also look around for some more older video drivers that might be known stable ones.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've tried a few more things, but still get the exception error. I reinstalled the newest chipset drivers, sound drivers and downgraded my video driver from 8.4 to 7.12. The video is faster and my system is ever so slightly more responsive, but the exception error remains.

One thing I noticed is that this time, the peak total commit (memory) went from 1.49GB to 1.59GB. It's most likely because I didn't unload the extra services and left the internet hot during the test. The significance is that had it remained the same, I might be looking at a bad RAM chip. It looks like that's not the case.

I've enlisted the help of one other gamer who has DL 1.5 and hope to get someone who uses 1.4 to test it, too. So far, I haven't found anyone with DL 1.5 who has reportedly done this kind of upgrade. The two I know of who use DL 1.4 can apparently get through it. The version number isn't even to the point of theory yet, but it's something to look at.

Since I bought several more copies of Galciv2, I'll try it on an older version myself once they arrive. (If it looks like it can be done within a reasonable amount of time/effort).
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've tried uninstalling and going back to the CD install (1.50) and got the same results. I found a download for 1.0 demo, but it wouldn't run the save game. I attempted to upgrade it with a patch to 1.4, but my serial number doesn't work with the old version.

I've uninstalled and re-installed/upgraded several times and am running out of options. I found a torrent 1.4, but from what I've read here, that's a pirated one, so I'm not going to trust it.

I'll reinstall and upgrade back to current and hope for further suggestions.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Anyway, the problem I'm having is an unspecified exception error during the end turn sequence after I upgrade a large number of ships. The end turn sequence won't complete. Nothing shows up in the debug.err.
End of quote

Exactly how many ships are you trying to upgrade?

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Exactly how many ships are you trying to upgrade?
End of quote


Sorry for the late reply. The first attempts ranged from 16,999 ships, decommissioning down to about 16,000 ships. The next group of attempts were at just over 13,200 ships.

I changed my video card from the 256MB ATI (X1950Pro) to a 512MB NVidia (7300GT). I'm no longer getting the exception errors. I believe the problem is that my 500W power supply isn't sufficient to power the ATI card at maximum demand, but can easily handle the lower end NVidia.

My next step in troubleshooting will be to upgrade my power supply to a 650W and try again with my ATI card. The NVidia is much slower, but it helped me troubleshoot the problem.

Bottom line though, is that the problem was in my hardware and not in the game. Thanks to CariElf for pointing me in the right direction. :)