Game -completely- crashes

**Avenger cow** · July 25, 2008, 02:56 PM

Hey guys, I've been having this annoying problem happening to me on the campaign map. What happens is the game just completely freezes, it makes a high-pitched sqeak, and it may or may not be followed by a long hanging tone (possibly from the music that's being played in the background). I end up having to shut down the computer with the power button and reboot. This happens pretty much unpredictably. I've had it happen on me 20 mins from loading the campaign map, 1 hour, 3 hours, etc. I've even went through about 6 hours before it happened.

And yes, I've tried a lot of things to diagnose the problem already. I left that crash hanging for 6 hours (over night) and the next day it was in exactly the same position. I reinstalled the games at least 8 times, cleaned registry, patched each individual patch, etc. I also tried a no-cd patch just to check if it wasn't my game DVD doing it. I even reformatted my PC. I ended up buying a M2TW copy off steam and, guess what?, the SAME unpredictable crash happens.

I've never applied ANY mods onto the game, its a fresh clean vanila install. Because of the crash I haven't touched M2TW in 4-5 months, but recently I've been getting back again and I was crossing my fingers that it wouldn't happen, but it did :\

I'm wondering if anyone here has experienced the same problem? It's not a CTD, it doesn't even respond from the initial crash. The only way to fix it is to reboot the computer. I can't tell you exactly what I do prior to the crash, beacause it's pretty much random. But, on a couple occasions, I noticed i was clicking on the faction-shield at the bottom right, and it happens. I've also noticed it happening while i'm not even clicking anything, so its hard to find what's causing it.

What I'm doing now is saving almost every turn and, if it happens, I can get back and start a turn before. But it's a big hassle to keep doing this and I'd like to play the game without being paranoid of the crash

: I would really like to end it here, so if anyone can help me that'd be great.

My computer specs:
Intel Pentium 4 3.3 GHZ (2 CPUs)
ATI Radeon x1600 pro (drivers up to date)
2Gb RAM
DirectX 9.0c
Windows XP sp2
Game patched to 1.03 (vanilla no mods)

Error log

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**<purplepenguin>** · July 25, 2008, 04:21 PM

well the problem is almost guarenteed to be your comp because you have 2 copies and mine never did that. so dont buy another copy BUT keep your game so when you get a new 1 eventually you can use it. in the mean time play rtw or wait for empire

Good Luck!!!!
p.s. that was a veeeeery long first post

**Gigantus** · July 25, 2008, 11:31 PM

Possible overheating? Open your comp and check for blocked\obstructed cooling.

**irishron** · July 26, 2008, 04:08 AM

Check to see if fan(s) still work? Sounds like the bearings just froze. Fans are cheaper than new computers.

**Avenger cow** · July 29, 2008, 01:16 PM

Hmm, that's a possibility. My computer case is as small as it comes (i'm never buying an HP again) and everything is cramped together. Just a few weeks ago i bought a new power supply because the old one short circuited, some cords were blocking the CPU fan and it was causing it to shut down on start.

I'll see if the fan stops the next time the crash happens.

**Avenger cow** · August 02, 2008, 09:04 PM

Well I was playing Kingdoms today and it happened again, this time while i was wathcing an assasination video. It can't be the fan because i opened it and checked. Anyone have any insight?