0 A.D 18 crashes on startup

[Blue]

Can't suppress or continue, the error log stays up unlike in 17 when it popped up, I could suppress to continue. In 18 I can not and it won't allow me pass the log pop-up window.

[Blue]

crashlog.txt

[Blue]

crashlog.dmp

[sanderd17]

Is it correct that you use some Right-to-left system language (Hebrew, Arabic, ...)? Could you try setting your system language to English f.e.?

In any case, it's something that should be solved against next release.

[Blue]

Replying to sanderd17:

Is it correct that you use some Right-to-left system language (Hebrew, Arabic, ...)? Could you try setting your system language to English f.e.?

In any case, it's something that should be solved against next release.

Does it look like I'm typing in sandstone? Language is already set for US English. I had a similar problem in release 17, but at least it allowed me to continue/suppress to get into the game. Release 18 error pop-up... no amount of suppressing or continue will allow me into the game.

[sanderd17]

The files you provided seem to say it fails on Rtl initialization, that's why I thought you use an rtl language.

As this problem doesn't occur with most Windows users (you're the first one to report it), we need to find out what's different with your installation. Could you upload your system.txt log?

[Blue]

it would be helpful if you listed the location of the, "system.txt", file you're looking for. Similarly the "crashlog.dmp" file was not in a known location and I had to use File Explorer to search for it. I do have a 4Tb hard drive system so looking through it takes a LOT of time.

[sanderd17]

It's all documented on our wiki: ReportingErrors

[Blue]

system_info.txt

[Blue]

No wonder I could not find it using Explorer. You said, "system.txt", and the only file listed there it, "System_info.txt"... Also I modified the file to my default o/s because I dual boot Windows 7-64b Home Premium and Windows XP-32b Professional using Easy BCD to modify my boot sequence. When I'm in Windows 7, I am only in 7, I can access the drive that contains XP and the files on that drive but the o/s is Windows 7. When I boot into XP I have access to my Windows 7 files but the o/s is XP. Does this help any?

[sanderd17]

Right, sorry about the name mistake.

But your setup isn't very clear. On which OS did you install 0 A.D., on which partition, and on which OS do you try to play 0 A.D.?

[Blue]

0 A.D is installed on the Windows 7 drive. No partitions. I have three physical drives. A 1 Tb drive for Windows 7, 1 Tb for Windows XP, and a 2Tb drive for storage. A total of 4Tb on 3 physical drives. The system_info.txt file only listed Windows XP as my o/s, so I edited it to include Windows 7 which is my default o/s.

[historic_bruno]

Replying to sanderd17:

The files you provided seem to say it fails on Rtl initialization, that's why I thought you use an rtl language.

In the Windows API, that means Run-Time Library.

Replying to blue.bsod:

0 A.D is installed on the Windows 7 drive. No partitions. I have three physical drives. A 1 Tb drive for Windows 7, 1 Tb for Windows XP, and a 2Tb drive for storage. A total of 4Tb on 3 physical drives. The system_info.txt file only listed Windows XP as my o/s, so I edited it to include Windows 7 which is my default o/s.

I think that is the important info, something is wrong with this setup, even if it seems to work. ​SHGetFolderPathW is failing but it doesn't log the return value :( If system_info.txt says you're running XP, then the Windows registry is reporting that (sounds bad to me).

Did you install 0 A.D. from within Windows 7 and which user are you running as? Have you run 0 A.D. from both XP and 7?

[Blue]

0 A.D is installed on Windows 7 only, from my admin user account which is the default. I'm the only one who uses my computer so it was pointless making other users active. 0 A.D is not installed on the XP drive.

Initially I was already running Windows 7 when I tried installing Windows XP on a separate partition, it kept trying to take over the drive Windows 7 was already on regardless where it was installed and regardless which drive I told it to install it. Whatever drive W7 was installed to, XP would take it over and designate it as the new Drive C.

Same with installing XP first and W7 second. It kept locating XP and overwriting it as the default drive. To get around this problem, I plugged in one drive, installed W7, then physically unplugged the drive and plugged in the next to install XP. After installation I plugged both drives back in, and used EasyBCD running on a drive stick to give me a boot menu.

0 A.D version 15-17 never had a problem with my dual booting computer until now. W7 is the default o/s and the first one listed on the boot menu. XP is secondary.

[historic_bruno]

It's possible that upgrading our compiler to VS 2013 changed how that part of the API works in some subtle way. We didn't change version detection or path handling for A18.

Can you confirm that installing A17 or earlier still work correctly? (to rule out something else changing on your system meanwhile) You said they had errors on startup that you could suppress, was it the exact same error message?

[historic_bruno]

What does Windows' System Information tool say about your OS?

[Blue]

0 A.D. 17 Crashlog.txt

[Blue]

0 A.D 17 System_info.txt

[Blue]

There seems to be no 0 A.D. 17 crashlog.dmp file. But here is what MSInfo32.exe says about my computer (core speed is 3.5Ghz but I have the BIOS toggle on for Turbo which gives me 4.1Ghz):

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601 Other OS Description Not Available OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation System Name BLUE_FX6300 System Manufacturer System manufacturer System Model System Product Name System Type x64-based PC Processor AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor, 3500 Mhz, 3 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s) BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 1201, 19-Apr-13 SMBIOS Version 2.5 Windows Directory C:\Windows System Directory C:\Windows\system32 Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2 Locale Canada Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514" User Name Blue_FX6300\Blue_W7-64b Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB Total Physical Memory 7.98 GB Available Physical Memory 5.20 GB Total Virtual Memory 12.0 GB Available Virtual Memory 8.70 GB Page File Space 4.00 GB Page File C:\pagefile.sys

I do not have a shared video memory card. I use a 2Gb GT610 nVidia card which I overclock to 1040Mhz from the 810Mhz stock:

Name NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_104A&SUBSYS_26173842&REV_A1\4&2A1FC852&0&0010 Adapter Type GeForce GT 610, NVIDIA compatible Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 Adapter RAM (2,147,483,648) bytes Installed Drivers nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um Driver Version 9.18.13.4788 INF File oem137.inf (Section002 section) Color Planes Not Available Color Table Entries 4294967296 Resolution 1920 x 1080 x 60 hertz Bits/Pixel 32 Memory Address 0xFD000000-0xFEAFFFFF Memory Address 0xF0000000-0xFBFFFFFF Memory Address 0xFA000000-0xFBFFFFFF I/O Port 0x0000DC00-0x0000DC7F IRQ Channel IRQ 18 I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys (9.18.13.4788, 9.79 MB (10,262,160 bytes), 24-Mar-15 1:13 AM)

[Blue]

Oddly enough when I booted into XP, it was able to install and fully run 0 A.D. 18 with no pop-up issues and it even ran without lag at all the default settings playing against the AI at the default settings and population cap (300). Since version 15 on Windows 7, I had to reduce the maximum population cap to 150 if I am playing one AI, 100 if I am playing against two AI, and 50 if I am to against play three.

In XP I didn't have to reduce that number if I was only playing one AI. Against two AI, I had to reduce it to the next level at first, but after 10 mins into the game it began lagging so I reduced it to the next level down (200) where it was stable to the end of the game.

What gets me is the XP is a 32b o/s so only 3.5 Gb of RAM is available and I don't lag much. In Windows 7-64b o/s and the full 8 Gb of RAM is available for use and I keep lagging to the point where I am playing with a population cap of 50/100/150 depending on how many AI players I'm playing against.

My version of Windows 7 is the Home Premium version and not much of what I would like is turned on or available to me in that version. Something as simple as editing Group Policy or running a remote in Windows 7 Home Premium is not available unless we hack or patch it to give us limited support.

Most of my older XP programs can run in Windows 7 HP using the compatibility mode to emulate Windows XP, but the odd few can't which is why I opted for a dual boot installation. Something Windows 7 HP doesn't like... dual booting, which is why I found a way around that by installing both on separate drives individually, then plugging back in both drives and using a standalone program on a drive stick, create a boot menu.

Windows 7 works fine on it's own as a 64b o/s, I have full access to all it's resources when I am in that o/s. Same with XP, when I am in XP I am only in XP... and have full access to that o/s to the limit of 3.5 Gb RAM. What odds me is 0 A.D. 18 sought out a different o/s on a different drive instead of continuing to install into the same default W7 directory as before.

[sanderd17]

0 A.D. isn't heavy on memory. 3.5 GB is certainly enough, so 32 bit or 64 bit doesn't matter. Only the speed of the hardware matters.

Maybe you can try reinstalling with the XP drive disconnected? Then it should hopefully stick to the right drive. If you can, maybe it's also a good idea to disconnect the data drive

[Blue]

The hardware rating system according to the Windows reporter is 5.6 out of 7.9 and the one part it found lacking was my video card. Gaming graphics setting is rated at 6.9 but because I use Aero desktop it only rated the Aero Desktop Performance to be 5.6 but all my devices rate 7.0-7.9, so I have a very fast system with more than adequate resources to run each.

So basically you want me to only run Windows 7 with all my other internal drives unplugged and to remove the boot menu just to install 0 A.D.? When other games hardware intense games run fine, Simcity 2013 Offline, Dragon Age Part 1,2, and 3, Grand Theft Auto, Assassin’s Creed and even intense FPS games like Elder Scrolls and more all fine with the way I have setup my system.

There is something different with the way 0 A.D. is launched since version 17 that opens with errors that I could suppress but in 18 can't suppress anymore.

[sanderd17]

You can do what you want, but none of us have the issue. So it's up to you to try and find the origin of the issue.

And yes, things have changed. Like we've switched to newer compilers, allowed c++11 code in the game. All those changes could affect the way it's booted.

It's also sad you didn't notify us when you saw the error. Though that error would probably tell us the same as the system_info.txt. That the installation believes it's installed on XP.

[Blue]

I thought I did report... 8 days ago when I posted this to begin with. I only installed 18 recently only having checked once every months to see if there was an update. Sadly the update came in March but I didn't check til April, so what may look late to you, is news to me.

[Blue]

There is no physical drive other than the main boot drive. MSinfo32 reports:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601 Other OS Description Not Available OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation System Name BLUE_FX6300 System Manufacturer System manufacturer System Model System Product Name System Type x64-based PC Processor AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor, 3500 Mhz, 3 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s) BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 1201, 19-Apr-13 SMBIOS Version 2.5 Windows Directory C:\Windows System Directory C:\Windows\system32 Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2 Locale Canada Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514" User Name Blue_FX6300\Blue_W7-64b Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB Total Physical Memory 7.98 GB Available Physical Memory 5.20 GB Total Virtual Memory 12.0 GB Available Virtual Memory 9.16 GB Page File Space 4.00 GB Page File C:\pagefile.sys

I removed the XP drive physically and re-installed Windows 7.

(Needless insults removed)

[leper]

You didn't provide any further information, reruns of the game and insult devs, closing.

[Blue]

I got insulted first or does that not count? There is no NEW information. So we donate, get treated like morons, get insulted and we're suppose to sit back and take it? Then WTF would I bother donating anymore?

I was told to remove my other physical drives and for one step further I re-installed Windows.

[leper]

You were asked to test something that nobody else could reproduce, you answer by saying that you don't need to do that for something else that works (yeah, well the game doesn't exhibit that behaviour for anyone else but you so you are asked to test something), you come back a month later insulting a dev while providing no further information that you were asked for. What should we do? Make guesses? Also this is a bug tracker, and not a forum if you want to discuss something instead of trying to help us fix that bug use the forums. If you don't want to fix that bug why comment here at all?

Also I don't seem to find any insult in sanderd17's comment above, I can find a few in your post though. If that is what you think you get from donating you might want to reconsider that.

[Blue]

(Needless insults removed)

So when I got around to re-installing everything, the first thing I did was install the Alpha 18 yet again and I got the same error.

So nothing has changed, and this time there is no System_info.txt file created.

[sanderd17]

I meant when you got the error in A17, not the crash in A18. It's possible that the error would give us some more info.

Though the fact that there's no system_info.txt also gives us some info: that the previous system_info.txt was most likely not the one that got written by the game you had installed at that point, but by a previous version of the game. As the new game doesn't seem to write system_info.txt.

I wouldn't know how to proceed with this problem though.

[historic_bruno]

I think the only way to troubleshoot this is to add some debug logging to the code that is failing and discover what the return code is (the warnings are actually quite useless by lacking that information). Unless you can compile the game yourself and run it in a debugger. If you were willing to try the latest development version of the game from SVN, we could probably find out within days, but otherwise it will have to wait a few months until A19 is released.