Author Topic: Battle Crash  (Read 6146 times)

Sephiroth 3D

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Battle Crash
« on: 2004-01-19 02:28:50 »
Having followed Aaron's Great FF7 FAQ almost to a T, I have come across an interesting problem: A Battle crash.

Everything looks fine, and plays fine, until I get into a battle. At which time, (at a random interval) a fatal crash is performed. This has been happening for quite a while...

Win2k-SP4, GeForce-FX 5950, SB-Audigy 2 ZS, P4-1.8GHz, 1GB Ram.

I'm working on trying to get a dump of what's wrong, but so far, FF7 won't let me view the error. (Black screen-freeze...) TCIs?

Edit: Here's the Dr. Watson dump file for those who wish to view it.

EmperorSteele

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Battle Crash
« Reply #1 on: 2004-01-19 05:27:39 »
hmm...

I know ff7 isn't the most intensive game when it comes to memory usage, but try switching off trillian and other resource hogs while you play.

You implied that this doesn't happen at EVERY battle, and just at random when going into one?

I remember i had much the same problem once and couldn't fix it... i simply reinstalled it.  And while I'm sure you applied the patch correctly, there may be other things wrong (like old/outdated video drivers or a directX conflict).

I'll let the techier people take it from here o_o

The Skillster

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Battle Crash
« Reply #2 on: 2004-01-19 11:56:14 »
long time no see seph3d welcome back!

Aaron

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Battle Crash
« Reply #3 on: 2004-01-19 12:02:13 »
I don't think memory usage should be a problem if you have 1 GB of RAM, other programs should be able to run safely in the background....

Sephiroth 3D

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Battle Crash
« Reply #4 on: 2004-01-19 20:41:10 »
Hey guys. Nice to see you all again. I've gotten back into an FF7 kick, what with AC coming out.

Installed FF7, got it running via Aaron's FAQ, (This is a fresh install I'm talking about!) then in EVERY battle, at a random time (but before I can kill anything), I get that crash. I tried it with a New Game, and with a savegame. Same thing both times.

I agree with Aaron that it probably isn't a memory thing. Cause it works fine UNTIL I go into a battle...

Edit: I just did a test... The problem doesn't occur until I go to use a summons. Normal attacking works just fine. Dunno if Magic causes it to crash...

Aaron

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Battle Crash
« Reply #5 on: 2004-01-19 21:07:25 »
That's really wierd.  I assume you tried to uninstall / reinstall the game, and you're not using any funny patches (besides maybe, the 1.02 patch and the chocobo patch)?

Quote
I tried it with a New Game...

Did you have summons in your new game?

Sephiroth 3D

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Battle Crash
« Reply #6 on: 2004-01-19 21:16:38 »
No, to uninstall/reinstall. (I just freshly installed it!) I only patched what was mentioned in the FAQ. (I trust you guys more than anyone else...)

New game: No, no summons... But I had magic...

I tried using magic, like lighting, but when I opened the magic menu, it froze. It also freezes at the party selection screen. (I was forming a party to look for Sephiroth on the boat to Costa Del Sol.)

sfx1999

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« Reply #7 on: 2004-01-20 00:29:36 »
Seems like a driver problem. Are you using a NVIDIA Geforce? You may need to downgrade your drivers. It sounds silly, but when I upgraded to the latest, UT2003 stopped working in Direct3D mode.

Greendragon

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I've seen this one...
« Reply #8 on: 2004-01-20 02:19:39 »
I've had this error-before-battle thing now and then. I believe it's related to my *.ax video/codec problems (which I'm still troubleshooting [look at this thread). Looking forward to a fix to this.

I'll share my solution if I find happen to find one...

Peace!

Greendragon

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My solution!
« Reply #9 on: 2004-01-20 03:15:53 »
Ahhh at last, a codec set that worked! Here's what I used boys (in order) to fix my battle-crashing:

K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.01 RC12 Full:
KaZaA-Lite Mega Codec Pack

(FULL Install... don't go mess with any config or settings. Just setup, and shutup :P)

Next...

Nimo:
Nimo Codec Pack 5 build 9

(Fully install this one as well... leave defaults again and try opening *.avi's/*.mpeg's. If you have upside-down screen, FSAA issues, etc., then refer to other threads and/or manuals for the simple config modding you'll have to do [you should be able to hunt down the specifics anyways].)

This worked nicely for me, updating all my DivX, XviD and MPEG-2 formats. MPEG-2 was causing the *.ax related problems (which was my related to my battle crashes).

Hope this helps!

Peace!

EmperorSteele

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Battle Crash
« Reply #10 on: 2004-01-20 06:05:13 »
Oh, got something!

Try changing the SOUND in the config.

I got the same thing today, and i went back to using normal midi mode after having changed it to yamaha synth before.  Works fine now.

Sephiroth 3D

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« Reply #11 on: 2004-01-20 07:43:05 »
Hmm... That might work... If I wasn't already on General Midi... -_- *Wants this fixed NOW.*

Re: Drivers: I don't know if that's an option... I'm running my original drivers that came with my card, and not Nvidia's drivers. And my vid card is rather new (in design terms) so I may get a lot of problems if I "downgrade" them...

New info: Fatal crash going INTO a battle if I'm in software mode.

The Skillster

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« Reply #12 on: 2004-01-20 12:51:59 »
i would suggest a complete uninstall (delete directories, registry enteries, save games). scandisk, and defrag. update your soundcard drivers, and use all default settings on your graphics card (which one you got?). then reinstall of ff7, use it without any patches, with d3d on if you can (use riva tuner to enable 8bit textures), and see if it helps. if not check that ur graphics card and sound card are on max performance settings, (graphics go to display panel>advanced settings>video adapter tab, check the slider. for sound go to sound panel>go to 3rd tab>advanced audio settings button>performance tab, check the slider).
worst come to worse use a older agp card, or soundcard.

Sephiroth 3D

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Battle Crash
« Reply #13 on: 2004-01-20 22:53:33 »
While I really appreciate your help Skillter, I was having these problems with my old Soundcard & Vid-card, so downgrading my system won't help. (Otherwise, I might not of lost interest in FF7, cause I would of been able to play it...)

I'll try doing a clean install again when I get home, but I'm doubtful about the results. My sound-card is also running it's original drivers, so I'll see about getting updates for both it and my vid-card.

Oh, and you wanted to know what I'm running?
Quote from: In my first post, I
Win2k-SP4, GeForce-FX 5950, SB-Audigy 2 ZS, P4-1.8GHz, 1GB Ram.

Let's just say that Doom III is going to scare the shit out of me. :wicked:

Aaron

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Battle Crash
« Reply #14 on: 2004-01-20 22:58:18 »
For your convenience.

Newest nVidia drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_53.03
Newest Audigy2 drivers: http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download2.asp?centric=4915&dlcentric=7083&ProductName=Sound+Blaster+Audigy+2+ZS&OS=9&OSName=Windows+2000

Dunno if that'll help, but new drivers are always good :P Ok, maybe not always.
For FF7, halohalo says it's better if you use nVidia drivers 45.xx or older if you have a GeForceFX, but I don't know if you can use a FX5950 with those.  Anyway, it shouldn't break the game, just maybe a few graphical glitches, and I don't know if you'll have any problem at all unless you're trying to use FSAA.

I would also suggest that if you do a clean install, try to run the game immediately after the install (new nVidia drivers should allow you to choose hardware rendering without the patch, if you have 8-bit paletted textures ON) and see if it works.  Maybe software mode too.  Then start patching.