Before posting: How to fix broken savegames and stability issues (incl. fatal graphics errors)

[Germanicu5]

Aftermentioned solutions directly address most common stability issues.
Not all of them apply to every case and sometimes they may not be enough, but are definitely worth a try.

SS 6.3-6.4 issue - exclude 2nd "prepare_for_battle" instance from campaign_script.txt (one preceded by all "set_counter xxx 0" lines).

Point 0 - mandatory, particularly on Vista or Win7, not doing this will cause fatal graphics errors, CTDs and other issues.
Point 1 - applied if you don't see changes after updating a mod (if that doesn't help, move to points 4 and 7).
Point 2 - applied if your savegame or battles won't load, sometimes fixes internal mod errors
Point 3 - applied as most common battle CTD solution.
Points 4 and 7 - applied if the game doesn't start or you don't see any changes after an update.

0) Right-click SS icon, choose Properties, choose Shortcut tab, click Advanced, tick "Run as administrator", then click "ok".
1) delete all map.rwm files from data\world\maps\ - do that each time after updating a mod
2) disable file cache - fixes old savegames by enabling compatibility mode, do not use with freshly started campaigns

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Disabling file cache is done via mod's .cfg file (found in mod's main directory), relevant section needs to contain the line:
[io]
file_first = true
disable_file_cache = true

It's vital if you play a mod that's frequently updated, in many cases you wouldn't be able to continue your previously saved campaign with cache enabled - my recent research shows that the game will allow you to play on in "compatibility mode" when cache is disabled, whereas normally some battles wouldn't load. And there might be more to it.

A known symptom that could indicate disabling file cache would help is a CTD preceded by random texture errors found in game's log, directly before its end.

Detailed research here.

Other common CTD solutions:

3a) disable the advisor - crucial to maintain battle stability - done by pressing Esc on campaign map and setting "Advice Level" to "none" in Game options.
3b)... or kill the advisor - erases all advice to make sure it doesn't cause random CTDs in battle, unpack attached files to SS6.3\data\
4) turn UAC (User Account Control) off if using Vista/Win 7 and proceed to step 7 - absolutely necessary for correct game installation and updates - unless you applied some other solutions that override UAC protection
5) turn autosaving off - may help in getting rid of campaign map CTDs
6) delete strings.bin files from data\text\ folder - very rarely necessary
7) reinstall MTW/SS

Other means of keeping good stability:
8) reinstall graphics card drivers
9) don't use multiple submods without making sure they're compatible

Regards

Extended info on disabling UAC in Vista\Win 7:

a. Win 7 - Press Start, write "UAC" in search window, "Change User Account Control settings" should be found - click it.
Move the slider downwards to "never notify" position.
b. Vista - Try Win 7 method, but untick "Use User Account Control..."; alternatively you can go to main User Accounts page in Control Panel, click "Change Security Settings" and then untick beforementioned element.
c. Press "OK".

d. I recommend uninstalling SS and making sure SS6.3\data directory is deleted (you can keep saves, preferences etc).
e. Find compatibility folder and delete it, make sure you backup any savegames found there (there might be no saves inside as well):
C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Sega\Medieval2 Total War (default path, could differ a bit)
f. Install SS 6.3 following usual routine.

g. For players confident that they installed correctly: skip uninstalling part and go straight from "c" to "e".

Fix for advisor-related CTDs below:

[bɑne]

A few things

• I also had crash issues with a battle resolution different from the campaign map resolution. That's been there since MTW1, so maybe I'm biased on that.
• The RSII forum mentions that waiting at any end of battle question and statistic screen until the "work" leds have stopped reduces the chances of crashes, pointing to a general memory issue.
• Battles played on different systems fail to reproduce the crashes on others. Maybe that's caused by a different BAI used, maybe it's hardware. Seems like some driver versions work to prevent the issue in one system and fail in the next. It's my understanding that using the default.bat to start the game will disable BAI switiching so you will default to only one BAI. So if you experience a end of battle CTD for whatever reason try starting the game with the .bat and playing the battle. Note that afaik the BAI data is cached and not switched in battle.
• Unless I'm wrong on that, quite a few of those crashes seem to happen in siege battles. There is a tool Creating a World - Reduced City Textures that will install reduced city textures for the basic M2TW game. As it installs into the root directory of the original game, these changes will affect all games - unless a mod provides custom textures. More info can be found in the linked topic and Gigantus topic for TATW. Obviously you don't need the TATW Reduced City Textures 2.1.01.rar for SS6.3 but before anyone asks I better mention it. Some texture expert will have to post how much of an impact is to be expected from that, I couldn't find anything that quick on custom textures in SS6.3.
• Installing DX9 on a DX11 Win7 or similar adds to & updates the directx dll library where needed (nothing gets overwritten, installing earlier DX9 versions doesn't downgrade your DX). Remember that M2TW is a DX9 game so that's what you're going for, earlier versions are of no use. For example you can use this link to install or google for direct x9, it's recommended to download from microsoft.
• From the FAQ: If you have an older computer, you may want to your SS directory, and inside default.cfg change "unit_detail=highest", to "unit_detail=low". Why is this by default set to highest? because when using the highest option MTW2 is forced to use models at any distance, instead of using spirites. What were the spirites you might ask? The little funny-looking images of soldiers when you zoom out a little.

Original topic here

Post before edit: One out of 300 that viewed this topic. Now thats a good number... and yes you can be sure thats what he meant

[Germanicu5]

One out of 300 that viewed this topic. Now thats a good number... and yes you can be sure thats what he meant

I'm not that strict, it was just an omission done on editing (so having TATW is allowed, although you may ofc want to delete the VirtualStore folder I accidentally mentioned to keep TATW unaffected by UAC issues). Excuse me for causing this misunderstanding.

OP updated, also added absolutely mandatory point 0 to the thread.

Regards

[Neptune7]

Wow, I just played 6 straight battles in a row in my english campaign against the french using SS 6.3 and no Crash to Desktops..amazing....Normally I get them by now...
I did two things, one was point 0, running the SS 6.3 icon as administrator, (I had UAC turned off, but you may need to do both)...And I defragged my hard drive which I hadn't done in 2 1/2 years...And I noticed my performance on my computer is faster, and more responsive.......I may upgrade my Nvidia drivers on my Geforce 8800 GTX graphics card to the latest WHQL 256 family of drivers that came out this year from Nvidia, However I am wary about doing that..I have to think about it...

[Meneth]

Wow, I just played 6 straight battles in a row in my english campaign against the french using SS 6.3 and no lockups..amazing....Normally I get them by now...
I did two things, one was point 0, running the SS 6.3 icon as administrator, (I had UAC turned off, but you may need to do both)...And I defragged my hard drive which I hadn't done in 2 1/2 years...And I noticed my performance on my computer is faster, and more responsive.......I may upgrade my Nvidia drivers on my Geforce 8800 GTX graphics card to the latest WHQL 256 family of drivers that came out this year from Nvidia, However I am wary about doing that..I have to think about it...

I'm assuming you have the fixes installed? If so, you've also done point 3B, since the fixes kill the advisor (on purpose, not by accident )

[Neptune7]

I'm assuming you have the fixes installed? If so, you've also done point 3B, since the fixes kill the advisor (on purpose, not by accident )

Not the latest 2.3 fix just the main one in early september that fixed the turn 51 CTD...I downloaded it, however I haven't applied it yet. I don't think the changes will take affect in my current campaigns..If I have the advisor turned off, what does killing the advisor do for you?...(Does it actually fix anything?, or is it just an experiment type fix?)..

[Meneth]

Not the latest 2.3 fix just the main one in early september that fixed the turn 51 CTD...I downloaded it, however I haven't applied it yet. I don't think the changes will take affect in my current campaigns..If I have the advisor turned off, what does killing the advisor do for you?...(Does it actually fix anything?, or is it just an experiment type fix?)..

Killing the advisor makes sure that it doesn't cause CTDs in battles.
You can still get CTDs, ofc, but you'll probably get less.
With the advisor completely gone instead of just off, there's absolutely no way for it to cause CTDs, with it off there's somehow still a low chance.

[bɑne]

Not the latest 2.3 fix just the main one in early september that fixed the turn 51 CTD...I downloaded it, however I haven't applied it yet. I don't think the changes will take affect in my current campaigns

The 51ctd fix does take effect in running campaigns. Says so right on the box, err, bug report post.
But honestly why download a fix and then let it sit around without installing? Installing them will be the first thing I suggest to you on any ctd report here...

[bɑne]

Added some general advise in the second post.

[Avega]

Sometimes when I load save game I get critical error (blue screen), can you help me? Win XP ss 6.4
P.S. Sorry for my bad English...

[Germanicu5]

Most likely it's related to drivers, which means you'd need to install latest graphics card drivers and directx 9.0c again. Reinstalling the game might help as well, but it's rather a Windows XP issue (could also be the "too much junk software running in the background" thing, hard to judge).

Regards

[preachercheeze]

How about the thing in the campaign script that you pointed out in the bugs forum Germanicu5?

the one with the line

20:34:34.601 [game.script.exec] [trace] exec <prepare_for_battle> at line 22953 in mods/SS6.3/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/campaign_script.txt

that one is the one that seems to be most related to my crashes.... I exclude it by setting a ; before that line, but I seem to forget to do it every time I start a new campaign... isn't that a crucial line to get rid of (according to the prior thread)?

[Germanicu5]

It won't be an issue when 6.5 is out (as I mentioned it's a result of some miscommunication), also if you download the latest AI it'll be eliminated. But yes, it's important that this line is excluded.

Regards

[DerekBaker]

It won't be an issue when 6.5 is out (as I mentioned it's a result of some miscommunication), also if you download the latest AI it'll be eliminated.

Regards

Latest AI. What? Where?

[bɑne]

submod forum

[DerekBaker]

submod forum

This?

[bɑne]

This, yes. ReallyBadAI Battle System

[DerekBaker]

This, yes. ReallyBadAI Battle System

Thank you.

[roric normannum]

thnx for this great thread germanicus,

i have 2 questions as i seem to have problems with fatal graphic errors during battles (only in sieges)

i have looked at the list for a solution but have some questions and couldnt find those on the forum.

point 0 is mandatory but i am using steam so i click on the steam start up button and therefor i havent been able to change the setting to run as administrator, cant find an option in steam sadly, someone knows where i can find this?

second question and rather silly a bit, point 5, the autosave, where can you turn that off? i have looked in the options section and during the campaign itself but i cant seem to find the option where to shut it off

hope you can help...

[Losthief]

thnx for this great thread germanicus,

i have 2 questions as i seem to have problems with fatal graphic errors during battles (only in sieges)

i have looked at the list for a solution but have some questions and couldnt find those on the forum.

point 0 is mandatory but i am using steam so i click on the steam start up button and therefor i havent been able to change the setting to run as administrator, cant find an option in steam sadly, someone knows where i can find this?

second question and rather silly a bit, point 5, the autosave, where can you turn that off? i have looked in the options section and during the campaign itself but i cant seem to find the option where to shut it off

hope you can help...

put autosave= 0 in the [game] section of the default.cfg file i believe should do it.