Minidump on startup of Expansion packs... but not standard sins

from Sins Forums

    I know that there are alot of posts on this topic, but I have yet to find a solution and I've been trying for a couple days now to get my expansions running. 

 

Here's what is happening... I bought the Trinity Pack through Impulse, and I can run the standard Sins game fine when I choose the "Chapters" option at startup. 

I Cannot run Entrenchment, it black screens on startup.  This produces a minidump file (Which I am in the process of Retrieving).  I will post that file as soon as i can get it. 

I can run Trinity as a whole, but it doesn't seem to have Entrenchment running in it as far as I can tell.  As a side note, I get a black screen if I try to change up to my native resolution (Or any other res.) without running it in windowed mode)  This also gets me a minidump file. 

 

I previously ran the basic Sins game off a disk but uninstalled that before buying the Trinity Pack.  I have sold the original game to a friend, so I'm counting on Trinity to work for me. 

 

here is my system:

Alienware M17x R3

Intel Core i7-2820QM @ 2.3GHz Quad Core

NVidia 580m GPU

8gbs of RAM

Killer Networks Wireless Card

 

Those are just the prominent specs, if you think any other under-lying specs may be interfering with the game, let me know and I'll give any details needed to solve this.  I really just want to be able to play this game. 

 

Finally... as far as retrieving those minidump files, how can I do that?  I have them saved, but I have no programs which can read .dmp files.  I've tried Microsoft's debugging tools, but it simply opens up the minidump in a command prompt window for a second or two and closes it before I can read anything.  I've never seen anything like this before. 

 

Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.  I'm a huge Sins fan and I'd like to play the expansions ASAP. 

 

THANK YOU!

 

technical
2,338 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Trinity is the (current) full version of the game, expansions included.

Try shift+right-clicking on them in Impulse and selecting Verify. If that doesn't work, send the minidumps to [email protected].

 

:fox:

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Can you run the Developer .exe versions? (in

C:\Program Files\Stardock Games\Sins of a Solar Empire - Trinity

)

I really have no experience with this, but one possible option is to enable logging using the instructions here:

https://www.sinsofasolarempire.wikia.com/wiki/Enable_Logging

Hopefully the logging will activate in time to log enough before the crash occurs.

You say you can run Trinity just fine. Trinity = Diplomacy. And you say you can run vanilla Sins just fine. So the only problem is with Entrenchment.

Also, remember that Diplomacy (the same thing as Trinity) has everything that the original Sins has, plus everything Entrenchment has - also remember that anybody who is anybody plays multiplayer on the Diplomacy server (no one plays on the Entrenchment or vanilla Sins server anymore). So if you can't run Entrenchment, it's no great loss.

It's still probably annoying though; you paid for it! If you can enable logging and post whatever it says here, we might be able to find a solution.

I can run Trinity as a whole, but it doesn't seem to have Entrenchment running in it as far as I can tell.  As a side note, I get a black screen if I try to change up to my native resolution (Or any other res.) without running it in windowed mode)  This also gets me a minidump file.
End of quote

If you can get the game to run in the first place, then make sure logging is enabled and then go change the resolution or whatever to make it crash, and then look at the log file. Hopefully it'll say something informative.

Also, all 3 versions use completely separate executables.

Those are just the prominent specs, if you think any other under-lying specs may be interfering with the game, let me know and I'll give any details needed to solve this.  I really just want to be able to play this game.
End of quote

Well, usually I'd say to make sure that absolutely no other programs are running other than the ones essential for keeping the system running - this can be verified through taskmanager. I'll still recommend that, but strongly suspect that the problem is elsewhere.

 

Finally... as far as retrieving those minidump files, how can I do that?  I have them saved, but I have no programs which can read .dmp files.  I've tried Microsoft's debugging tools, but it simply opens up the minidump in a command prompt window for a second or two and closes it before I can read anything.  I've never seen anything like this before.
End of quote

I don't think we on the forum can make much sense out of minidump files, unfortunately.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

   Thanks for your help.  I'm going to look into some possible solutions before sending in the minidump.   I think I'll try messing around with windows and resolutions to see if i can get anything playable at my native resolution on Trinity. 

   I'll also try to get logging up and running.  Also, I verified the game through Impulse and it doesn't seem to do anything... =/ 

Thanks again for everyone's help!