Battle CTD's - Possible Causes and Solutions

[julianus heraclius]

This post has been updated from information that is available with Roma Surrectum II but the same issues apply to IJ and hence possible solutions.

The game crashes after a battle.

And the more troublesome are the random CTD that sometimes appears after an especially long and soldier-filled battle, straight after clicking on the continue button. For those of you that are having "RAM related" CTDs that have 3 or 4 GB of RAM, you're correct, it's not your hardware, but, if you are running a 32 bit version of XP or earlier, there is a problem where applications can't address more than 2GB of RAM. This is what usually causes those crashes after a huge battle.

It would seem that this is a hardware issue, since it only appears in resource straining situations, but our tests can't find anything wrong like overheating. If this happens to you several times, please report it with the maximal informations possible in-game and outside (heat of hardware, usage of memory, CPU, GPU; the more, the merrier). It seems that waiting around 30 seconds before clicking on continue reduce this somewhat. This lets some of the RAM "clear out" so the campaign map can load. Another workaround solution is this: if your computer comes with an activity light, make sure that the light is no longer blinking rapidly before proceeding with what you are about to do after a battle. The rapid blinking light is simply telling you that Rome Total War is still calculating the aftermath of the battle, including troop loss, movement points, characters affected, population change, etc.

Here are additional things that can be done to help deal with crashes after battles:

This is to help improve performance and reduce CTDs.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=390476

Users with computers that have 4GB + of RAM
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=390381

The game crashes while loading my savegame.

Your savegame is corrupted for some unknown reason. The good thing is that it happens rarely, but that is not really a consolation for you right now. There is no way around this, except loading an earlier savegame or starting a new campaign. Another good thing is that you have those older savegames to revert to. Right? Right. Anything else would be foolish, of course, sorry for doubting you.

I saved my game right before a battle begins, and the game crashes after the battle.

Yes, that's true. You need to always save on your turn, and never right before a battle, as that provokes CTDs. Reload an earlier savegame and you should be fine. Don't have an earlier savegame? Foolish. Make sure you retain them in your next campaign.

I have just taken an enemy settlement, and the game crashes when I select its fate.


Are you sure you didn't save the game right before the battle where you won the city? If you did, see the above point. Otherwise, you may have some success using Lusted's trick with corrected_regions.tga. It may be quicker to just revert to an older savegame though, if it's not from very long ago.

• Make a backup of RTW/IJ/data/world/maps/base/campaign/map_regions.tga.
• Copy corrected_regions.tga from your RTW directory into the folder where you found map_regions.tga. Then rename the file to map_regions.tga (you may have to delete map_regions.tga first).
• Start IJ but do not load your savegame. Delete RTW/IJ/data/world/maps/base/map.rwm.
• Load your campaign. Play the battle and see if you get past the crash. If not, revert to an older save.

I've just played through a huge battle and it crashes as soon as I click to close the battle summary scroll to return to the campaign map.


There is no certain way to fix this, but there are currently four ways that I know of that are reported to minimize or eliminate them.

• Leave the battle summary open for 10-15 seconds instead of closing it right away.
• Do not use the Miles Sound System, but rather DirectSound3D. You choose this by going to the OPTIONS in the game menu, then choose AUDIO OPTIONS and select another SOUND PROVIDER.
• Replace RTW/IJ/data/world/.../map_regions.tga with RTW/corrected_regions.tga. Delete map.rwm and do not use the trivial script to start EB the next time around. After quitting IJ again, copy the newly generated map.rwm file into sp game backup.
• Try the suggestion of Theages in this thread.

The game crashes during battle.


This is unlikely to be a problem with IJ, but rather something with your hardware. Yes, RTW vanilla works fine, but we're taxing your system more.

• Download and run Memtest to ensure that your memory is doing alright. If not, you could have to change your memory speed in the BIOS, or replace one or more of your chips.
• Try to upgrade your video drivers.
• Try to DOWNgrade your video drivers. Some are more stable than others. There is a suggestion for a driver version for ATI cards in the validation thread, which is the one I was using at the time with no problems.
• Run Scandisk on your hard drive. You find this by right-clicking the drive in question, then choose Properties and click the Tools tab. Finally click the "Check now" button on "Error checking".

Unit and Building Cards Appear White

Some unit cards and building cards may sometime appear white. While annoying, there currently exists no solution to this problem. It would seem that once more, there is just too much of them, and the aging engine can't cope with it.

Many, many thanks to merlinuscdxx and Roma Surrectum II for this.

[Julianus Flavius]

EB? Isn't that Europa Barbarorum? Do you mean IJ?

[Gen.jamesWolfe]

thank goodness. I have fixed the battle CTD's of mine (EDIT: most of them )


*goes back to slaughtering romans*

EDIT: I've gone ahead and slaughtered som romans, but I had a mid-battle ctd. memtest is not helping, as the problem seems unique to IJ. it has not once happened in EB, IBFD 7.04, or any other mod.

so, how do I change my BIOS thingy, just in case?

thank goodness. I have fixed the battle CTD's of mine (EDIT: most of them )


*goes back to slaughtering romans*

EDIT: I've gone ahead and slaughtered som romans, but I had a mid-battle ctd. memtest is not helping, as the problem seems unique to IJ. it has not once happened in EB, IBFD 7.04, or any other mod.

so, how do I change my BIOS thingy, just in case?

Can you tell me what units were involved and post it under the bugs thread.

Thanks

Can you tell me what units were involved and post it under the bugs thread.

Thanks

its really unpredictable. It started in a battle where I assulted a roman fort, and I had arabs with me. but it has happened with roman mercenaries, berbers, and blacks (blemmyes). and it is always on a campaign, and almost always against a roman army. throughout the time, I plyed as a lakhmid, using both arab an non arab units.

its really unpredictable. It started in a battle where I assulted a roman fort, and I had arabs with me. but it has happened with roman mercenaries, berbers, and blacks (blemmyes). and it is always on a campaign, and almost always against a roman army. throughout the time, I plyed as a lakhmid, using both arab an non arab units.

Hmm, try deleting your map.rwm file and see what happens then. This seemed to work for SBH with his Berbers problem.

Hmm, try deleting your map.rwm file and see what happens then. This seemed to work for SBH with his Berbers problem.

I'll let you know.

ok, now its time to sum up the results:

it doesn't work-period.

those two battles are one-offs, as every other battle has had a ctd in the middle.

my computer must be damned, as memtest won't work on it (those ers at memtest central can't even give instructions on use in simple english, so I can't even know if it is a memory problem) and these wierd crashes only happen in IJ

I guess I'll just autoresolve all my battles, until I win. then I'll reinstal it.

ok, now its time to sum up the results:

it doesn't work-period.

those two battles are one-offs, as every other battle has had a ctd in the middle.

my computer must be damned, as memtest won't work on it (those ers at memtest central can't even give instructions on use in simple english, so I can't even know if it is a memory problem) and these wierd crashes only happen in IJ

I guess I'll just autoresolve all my battles, until I win. then I'll reinstal it.

Hey, what install and patch are you using? I noticed in your video battle you had the older version of the pedites veteranii.

The latest install is version 2 and the patch is 2b.

yeah, I only have 2a.

I'll install the 2b, see what happens

[Archaeopterix]

I saved my game right before a battle begins, and the game crashes after the battle.

Yes, that's true. You need to always save on your turn, and never right before a battle, as that provokes CTDs. Reload an earlier savegame and you should be fine. Don't have an earlier savegame? Foolish. Make sure you retain them in your next campaign.

Hello julianus:

I have the follow problem... Playing with Constantius II Empire (The East Empire)... I saved the game before to go the follow turn, then in the follow turn i have this battle against Sassanids:



... then i go to the battle, in the battle map... I can beat them, maybe with some difficulty (the Sassanids are very powerful), but I finally won, including two commanders killed in battle:



... The Problem: after the battle (when i go to the campaign map), i got CTD (after some seconds this message: "...RomeTotalWar.exe, has encountered a problem and needs to close... etc")... I try this in 3 times... 3 times i got clear victory on battle map, and then... CTD.

Then, i prove it in "Automatically resolve", 3 times also... and always gives me the loss...



I not saved the game before the battle, saved in the before turn (for you comment)... and i try also delete the map.rwm before start the game (Senior Batavian Horse recommend that, i think... http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...23#post5691923)

Im not playing with "unlimited men in battle", im not playing with "hughe" unit size (i can in large only, for the LAG), and the visual options are minimum basically.

... I was not know what happens, and i discouraged.

... if you have any comments or suggestions for this, do it smoothly, maybe there is something that I still have not understood

******************************************************************************

in this battle, i take another picture, of another problem (but has nothing to do directly with the CTD). See the units marked, when the battle is over... they follows fighting. This i can to see in normal form, often... in IBRR and IBIJ MODs ( not in others MOD ):

...As always, this is only a report (no one criticizes), if i am wrong on something or some things i do not understand, i apologize.

greetings.

[julianus heraclius]

To be honest, I am not sure what is going on here. I assume that you are waiting for 20-30 seconds before going back to the campaign map. Remember, due to the large RAM involved with battles, some computers cannot handle this, that is why you need to wait after the battle. If this fails to work, may I suggest withdrawing from the battle and trying another way. See what happens then.

Cheers

[Archaeopterix]

that is why you need to wait after the battle

its means, wait before make "click" on the button for continue?

thanks julianus, i try in other moment with this battle for see what happens then

[julianus heraclius]

its means, wait before make "click" on the button for continue?

Yes, it does.

[Aenima]

I'm confused with regards to the saving before a battle- is this saying that you can't attack someone, save, and fight the battle, or that any kind of save before any battle will mess it up?

[julianus heraclius]

I'm confused with regards to the saving before a battle- is this saying that you can't attack someone, save, and fight the battle, or that any kind of save before any battle will mess it up?

It says that:

1) it is best not to save your game prior to any battles, and;

2) wait 20 - 30 seconds after a battle has finished before going back to the campaign map. This is to allow your computer "clear out" some of the RAM so the campaign map can load.

Hope this clarifies things.

Cheers

[Seleukos Megas]

fatal ctd' during battle the battle with jazyges stack contents any type of horde unit, not always but very often

[julianus heraclius]

fatal ctd' during battle the battle with jazyges stack contents any type of horde unit, not always but very often

Which patch are you using??

[Seleukos Megas]

I'm using patch 3 installed above patch 2, and as usually installs Soundmod

[julianus heraclius]

I'm using patch 3 installed above patch 2, and as usually installs Soundmod

Have you tried reducing your video settings and altering the unlimited men on battlefield from TRUE to FALSE in the preference.txt file in the preferences folder? This reduces the number of men on the battlefield and may assist with reducing RAM for your computer.

[Aenima]

It says that:

1) it is best not to save your game prior to any battles, and;

2) wait 20 - 30 seconds after a battle has finished before going back to the campaign map. This is to allow your computer "clear out" some of the RAM so the campaign map can load.

Hope this clarifies things.

Cheers

Thanks man, I tried this but I'm still getting CTD. It only happens if I try to fight a second battle, as it always crashes loading the battle up. I can fight the first one with no difficulty, but once I get attacked and try to fight another, it bugs. Any ideas? Cheers

[Seleukos Megas]

Thanks, will try

[Aenima]

update with regards to my CTD

i did several small attacks on the lazyges hordes with single cavalry units, 2 altogether and all went smoothly. i retreated to save time and attacked another lazyges horde with the border force in the fort on next to aquincum, loaded fine and once again retreated to save time. i moved up one of the large legions into lazyges territory however, and when i hit end turn and was attacked by them, it crashed as i tried to load the battle. hope this helps you to help me.

[julianus heraclius]

Thanks man, I tried this but I'm still getting CTD. It only happens if I try to fight a second battle, as it always crashes loading the battle up. I can fight the first one with no difficulty, but once I get attacked and try to fight another, it bugs. Any ideas? Cheers

What patch are you playing with?

[Aenima]

What patch are you playing with?

i downloaded the latest patchin in the install thread (3 i think?)

[julianus heraclius]

i downloaded the latest patchin in the install thread (3 i think?)

And you are using Install 2 as well?

[Aenima]

And you are using Install 2 as well?

yep, its v2 beta