CTD: I suspect why. Or not

**miki** · April 15, 2007, 07:59 AM

Hi gents

My new 6.3 campagin has been stopped cold by a recurrent CTD. Damn thing. I suspect the reason - because I have seen it happening more times - is when you conquer an enemy city with 3 armies against 2 enemy armies -1 inside the city, the other supporting from outside. I autocalc the battle, take the city and Hurrah for Rome. Then, when I try to select the army or beef up the weak units in the recently conquered city, it CTD. Damn thing is my save games suffer the same damn syndrome, bloody hell!

I think to recall this is a Vanilla bug or not? Any hints about how to bypass this damn thing and follow on with the campaign being able to manage the buggy city in the future?

Just to let you know, this same thing happened to me when I took Salonica to those psycotic macedonians - with 6.2 - when playing an older campaign.
Damn bug!

**lt1956** · April 15, 2007, 08:10 AM

Wierd, I would suggest giving it Time, I found alot of RTW bugs if you give it time that helps. I havent seen all the bugs RTW vanilla has, but I know there is a alot of ones that we cant fix. I have seen the Senate one where the senate asks you to take a city and when you do it CTDs lol

But I havent seen the one you speak of, it may be related to something hardcoded, I would suggest Making sure you save alot so not much work is lost. I do that ever so many turns because I have Auto save turned off since it causes CTDs in RTW at times.

**miki** · April 15, 2007, 09:16 AM

Thanks for the response Lt!

I'l try the patience way. It happens that time heals wounds and allow modest cities to grow to magnificent empires, sometimes. Look at the case of that tiny city south of great Etruria, called Rome, for example...

**Garnier** · April 15, 2007, 11:30 AM

Will quicksaving the game mess it up? I know autosave often causes problems, but I want to be able to save often during turns without doing it the normal way that takes some time. Ctrl-S does a quicksave.

**lt1956** · April 15, 2007, 01:41 PM

Not sure NEVER use it. I suggest NOT saving right before a siege though or a battle its best to TAKE your losses. Otherwise you can get a corrupt save. Plus by manually saving you can have multiple saved games and that can make a difference if one gets corrupt.

**Garnier** · April 15, 2007, 03:32 PM

Well I always save before hitting end turn or before every battle just because the game crashes a lot, and often I have to go do something suddenly. Of course I dont use it to replay lost battles.

So I guess I shouldnt use quicksave

**Garnier** · April 15, 2007, 04:46 PM

Practically after every single battle my game is crashing when I try to save.. I am really confused and frustrated..

**lt1956** · April 15, 2007, 05:03 PM

What system specs and OS are you using?

**Garnier** · April 15, 2007, 05:17 PM

AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 2.6 ghz
2 GB Corsair RAM
X850 XT 256mb

OS: XP

And settings:

SAFE_REFRESH:TRUE
USE_TRIPLE_BUFFER:TRUE
USE_WIDESCREEN:FALSE
SUBTITLES:TRUE
MORALE:TRUE
FATIGUE:TRUE
LIMITED_AMMO:TRUE
SUPPLY:TRUE
FOG_OF_WAR:FALSE
RESTRICT_CAMERA:FALSE
DEFAULT_BATTLE_CAMERA:RTS
EVENT_CUTSCENES:FALSE
SMOKE:TRUE
DESYNC:FALSE
SPLASHES:FALSE
GLINTS:TRUE
REFLECTIONS:TRUE
SHADOWS:TRUE
VEGETATION:TRUE
DETAILED_UNIT_SHADOWS:TRUE
GLOSS_MAPPING:FALSE
STENCIL_SHADOWS:TRUE
MULTI_TEXTURE:TRUE
AUTO_SAVE:FALSE
SHOW_BANNERS:FALSE
UNIT_EXPERIENCE_UPGRADE_EFFECT:FALSE
UNIT_SIZE:160
MASTER_VOL:68
SPEECH_VOL:0
SFX_VOL:100
MUSIC_VOL:100
CAMERA_ROTATE:50
CAMERA_MOVE:50
CAMERA_FOV:75.000000
ENABLE_AUDIO:TRUE
ENABLE_MUSIC:FALSE
ENABLE_UNIT_SPEECH:TRUE
DISABLE_BACKGROUND_FMV:FALSE
DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS:FALSE
AUDIO_3D_PROVIDER:Creative Labs EAX 2 (TM)
CLOUD_TRANSITIONS:TRUE
GRASS_DISTANCE:20
AA_QUALITY:AA_HIGH
STRATEGY_RESOLUTION:1280x1024
STRATEGY_MAX_RESOLUTION:2048x1536
STRATEGY_32_BIT:TRUE
BATTLE_RESOLUTION:1280x1024
BATTLE_MAX_RESOLUTION:2048x1536
BATTLE_32_BIT:TRUE
UNIT_DETAIL:HIGH
BUILDING_DETAIL:HIGH
TGA_CAPTURE_WIDTH:1280
TGA_CAPTURE_ASPECT:1.250000
TGA_CAPTURE_INPUT_SCALE:1
TGA_CAPTURE_RESERVE_SPACE:FALSE
LABEL_CHARACTERS:FALSE
LABEL_SETTLEMENTS:TRUE
MINIMAL_UI:FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_MAX_SCROLL_SPEED_MIN_ZOOM:30
CAMPAIGN_MAP_MAX_SCROLL_SPEED_MAX_ZOOM:30
FIRST_TIME_PLAY:FALSE
ADVISOR_VERBOSITY:0
MUTE_ADVISOR:FALSE
BLIND_ADVISOR:FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_CAMERA:SKIP_AI_FACTIONS
CAMPAIGN_MAP_SPEED_UP:FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_GAME_SPEED:99
DISABLE_EVENTS:0
MICROMANAGE_ALL_SETTLEMENTS:TRUE
ADVANCED_STATS_ALWAYS:FALSE
UNIT_USE_SHADERS:TRUE
TERRAIN_QUALITY:HIGH
EFFECT_QUALITY:HIGHEST
VEGETATION_QUALITY:LOW
KEYSET:0
UNLIMITED_MEN_ON_BATTLEFIELD:TRUE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_CAMERA_SMOOTHING:TRUE
CHAT_MSG_DURATION:10
USE_QUICKCHAT:FALSE
GS_PIDS:FALSE
GS_PIDS_FULL:FALSE
GS_PIDS_CUR:TRUE
ALWAYS_LOGFILE:FALSE
TIMESTAMP_LOGFILE:TRUE
32BIT_UI:TRUE
GS_LOG_RESULTS:FALSE
CHAT_COLOURS:name=ffffa0,private=ff7707,game=94aadc,public=fff777,system=ffffff,lobby=fff777,setup=94aadc,playing=ff0707
EDIT_SETTLEMENT_NAMES:TRUE

**lt1956** · April 15, 2007, 07:05 PM

Its the vid card, I heard ATI was having issues with the X800 and X850 and I believe it as I owned one myself and had some Heating issues with the card, seemed that when the temps reached about 45c+ I would get Random CTD issues with the card. The chipset cant handle the heat and the game cant handle the ATI card with heating issues.

Its a bummer as I had good results a while back with ATI, and I was forced to switch to Nvidia for stability sake. I suggest getting a 7800GS from BFG its a good card and good price. Plus it handles RTW with no issues.

I noticed MOST of the people having CTD issues with SPQR are ATI users and this is because SPQR has LARGER battles, if you turned down the to Large units I bet the CTD issues would go away, but then again, they may not the ATI card is not very good, it should be for the price but its not, mine eventually DIED! I have NEVER had that happen with a Vcard before in a LONG time (years).

P.S. I just noticed try turning OFF the AA and also play at 1024 x 768 JUST TO SEE, I play with AA off or I get some lag issues with Sieges and Larger Battles.

**Garnier** · April 15, 2007, 07:25 PM

Well I'm getting a hand-me-down X1900 XT from my brother soon, do you think that will help? I don't really want to buy a new video card when I have that one.

**Garnier** · April 16, 2007, 09:54 AM

Also, these crashes weren't happening until I installed the 6.3 patch. But then again not all 6.3 battles have crashed.

**lt1956** · April 16, 2007, 11:49 AM

there is nothing in the patch to cause a crash, sorry, you must have not notived it before in 6.2, my understanding anyway from other posts is you came back to SPQR and havent been playing for a while.