[solved] CTD When Zooming In On Carthaginian Units In Battlemap

[PadrePio]

Pretty much what the title says. I played the Roman Campaign, zero-turn. I have no problem zooming in on my Roman legions/units. It happened twice already, and in the same scenario. I was battling Hannibal in Northern Italy.


PC specs: Pentium IV 3.40Ghz, 2gig RAM, 128mb onboard graphics card

I'm using alex.exe.

[Friedrich Barbarossa]

Have a similar problem, crash does randomly occur but regardless which units are on the field when I'm zooming in or out or change the view direction to fast.

Specs are:

Win 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
I7 860 @ 2,80 GHZ
Radeon 5850 1024 MB
6 GB ram

I use also the Alex.exe but it occurs with bi.exe too as I found out lately no matter if bloom is activated or not

[Beast Within]

Hve you both got Unit Shaders turned on this could be the cause of the problem and has been known to cause CTDs. Check in the preferences on the launcher for your given campaign that it is on.


--> Open the Launcher
--> Press the Edit RS2 Preferences
--> Select RS2 folder through the search open it
--> Then scroll down to your faction, highlight its folder and press ok
--> a new window will open with a list of options, scroll down and check the unit shaders are on.
--> Press save and quit.

This may help, its worth a try.

[Friedrich Barbarossa]

Was enabled already ... but thank you for your help

[Beast Within]

What specs have you choose to use?

[Beast Within]

Sorry for the double post but this could be useful for you, info fromDVK in another topic

I can only make some educated guesses here, and ask some questions. First, do you have 'unit shaders' enabled in Video options? They MUST be enabled (the box checked) in RS2.
Second, are you using the 'High-Res' vegetation files?

The occasional 'glimpse' of the Desktop when the game switches screens like from a menu to the battle loading, or from the Strat Map to a battle is normal. That's just the game switching resolutions.
You can disable 'restricted camera' in the game options at any time during a battle. Just hit the 'escape key', click on 'Game Options', and un-check 'Restricted Camera' at the bottom. Anyway, I think that's where it is.
It's better to do this in-game, because each modfoldered campaign AND the Custom Battles all have their own 'preferences.txt' file.

I suspect (but really can't prove) that after battle CTD's, 'other than' the normal bugged RTW dialog screen that comes up after you capture a city, is due to Video card overheating or overloading. There is a LOT going on in the Battlefield, and many very intensive graphics and models involved. There will be many systems that just can't handle some of the higher settings for whatever reason. I would suggest doing the following:

1. Do NOT use 'high-res' vegetation or the 'high-res DMB' from the Launcher. Set both to the defaults.

2. Go into 'Video options' before entering a campaign and check the box that shows advanced options. Now click the gold button in the lower left hand corner. RTW will do an analysis of your Video card and suggest the best settings it thinks you should use.

3. Turn anti-aliasing OFF

4. Make sure 'Unit-Shaders' box is checked (in must be).

5. Set Vegetation to 'Medium'

6. Set 'Unit Detail' to 'High' (never to 'Highest'. That setting disables ALL of the unit sprites).

7. Set Grass detail to Medium.

8. Set resolution to a lower one than you are using...something in the 1200's.

9. If you check 'Widescreen', this is what causes the momentary 'glimpse' of the Desktop, but that's OK. All other settings can be as you wish.

Try this for a while and see if it solves the problem. If it does, you can try 'inching' settings up a bit. But I really see no point using the High Res files...they are for the most ungodly powerful rigs that most people don't have, and are very taxing on you PC and Video.

I'm recommending this because I personally have not had this crashing after battles problem...but I have a relatively 'low-end' PC and I know it. So my settings are quite modest. My machine can't even handle 'Huge' unit settings, but works on 'Large', and lags like crazy when I choose 'High' detail for Vegetation. So I don't push it, and have no problems.

Also, a house-keeping tip....make sure your video card is clean, and the fan is not clogged with dust or dirt. Same goes for the processor heat sink and fan. You can buy 'canned air' at a lot of electronics stores for a buck or two, and blow out these fans if they are dusty or clogged. BUT, never do this when the machine is HOT or running, and don't put the tip of the plastic tube that shoots the air too close to card or motherboard. Compressed air is VERY cold, and you can virtual 'freeze' components and snap them to pieces with it, especially if they are already hot. If you don't have canned air, use a vacuum cleaner or blow out the fans as best you can with whatever you can. Dust and dirt are your PC's enemy, and cause problems dispersing heat.

Make sure that all of the FANS in your PC are working right. If they aren't, you'll have problems.

[Friedrich Barbarossa]

I will try lower settings I don't like the idea but it seems there is no other way .. hopefully it helps

[Beast Within]

Well if it doesnt solve the problem then there must be something else but if it does then im afraid you will just have to put up with it, improve your system or be prepared for ctds.

[tone]

I think there may well be some issues with graphics cards overheating on too high vegetation settings, particularly if in-game antialiasing is being used.

[apple]

Yeah don't use the high vegetation setting from the launcher if you don't got a Über PC and don't use the in-game antialiasing, use the graphics cards own program to set antialiasing.

[PadrePio]

Gracias for the inputs, amigos. With an onboard graphics card, how do I go about changing anti-aliasing or unit shaders? It's Intel 82945G.

When I open up the Nvidia Panel, these are the choices for 3D settings:

[PadrePio]

Problem solved! I set unit_use_shader to true in the preferences.txt inside the Play Rome folder and whoala. . . no more CTDs! Finally, I was able to beat Hannibal. What a fight! I love the Battle map and the music. Muy excelente! Now Rhegion and Capua rebelled. . . *sigh* let's see. . .

anyways, gracias gracias. Thank you for helping me out guys. Mabuhay ang Roma Surrectum II!

[tone]

closed