C3 Complete freezing on loading

[Kaidonni]

I've had this problem before, and although that time a reinstall seemed to do the trick, I'm hoping there is a far better solution to my problem. Played Civ III Complete a lot in the past few days, no trouble loading. No crashes or anything. But today I popped the CD into the drive (yes, the correct CD and the correct drive), double-clicked on the .exe, and the mouse and hourglass symbol appeared (as it always does). Then, it froze. Couldn't move it at all, wasn't doing anything. Computer itself was locked up. Had to reboot. Tried again, it happened again. Nothing has changed since yesterday evening when I last played, nothing at all. This is annoying because it has happened before, and the computer locking up is just unacceptable. I would reinstall, but as I said, I hope there is a far better solution (I do not intend running the risk of locking the computer up like this each time I play, nor do I intend to keep having to uninstall and reinstall regularly - it just shouldn't be happening, full stop). I don't want to lose my saves at all, either.

I would greatly appreciate any help that can be afforded. Otherwise, it looks like I will need to permanently uninstall the game (I do not want to keep going through the same non-sensical problem that just decides to happen out of the blue). No other games I have played have caused me such an issue (not even Clear Sky, and that is a seriously buggy game).

 

[CommandoBob]

Someone had a similar problem at game startup recently that invovled SecuROM. You may have something on your PC that SecuROM doesn't like. It (SecuROM) is DRM and anti-piracy software.

 

[Kaidonni]

Thing is, I've been playing it a lot for the past week, and all of a sudden it decides it doesn't like something? There has to be a solution, because this is not on. Otherwise, all I can do is uninstall the game and never let it anywhere near the computer again...plenty of other games have SecuRom, and they haven't done this.

 

[CommandoBob]

On SecuROM's website is a guide on how to send them a diagnostic file of when you try to run the game. That might help.

It worked and now it doesn't.

I'm



and you're (quite rightly)



Hmm.

Just throwing out some ideas. I'm not really sure if they will help. I'm hoping they will give lead to something constructive.

Does the CD drive work with other things?

What happens when you start the game and the CD is not in the drive?

Could the disc be dirty/scratched/marred in someway?

Was any software updated?

What OS?

Since the game did work and now does not, it seems reasonable to assume that the installed game is not the problem, but that something else is. Easy to say, harder to prove.

 

[Kaidonni]

Does the CD drive work with other things?

What happens when you start the game and the CD is not in the drive?

Could the disc be dirty/scratched/marred in someway?

Was any software updated?

What OS?

Since the game did work and now does not, it seems reasonable to assume that the installed game is not the problem, but that something else is. Easy to say, harder to prove.

In order...

Yep, uninstalled and reinstalled Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, even loaded it up.

Won't be trying that again, exactly same thing happened. Clicked on the .exe for Conquests (how Civ III Complete is accessed from My Computer folders), mouse and hourglass icon appeared - and it locked up. That means it never gets anywhere near loading the CD (because it didn't get anywhere near realising there was no CD in the drive this time around). CD can't be damaged, then (since as it gets nowhere near loading it).

No software was updated. No graphics drivers or graphics cards or sound drivers, at least. Nothing fundamental.

A number of weeks ago, Service Pack 3 was installed, we have Microsoft Windows XP, but I played Civ III Complete since then just fine.

This has happened before, and all I did back then was think it may have been corrupted (somehow - it was just a wild guess at the end of the day, though), and I reinstalled. This time around, I don't want to do that - whatever caused this last time is striking again, and I doubt reinstalling will help in the long run, it will likely start happening again. Obviously I therefore need a solution beyond that, because although I like the game, it'd be too risky to keep reinstalling.

Checking the Event Viewer, at the time of the lock-up (or close, didn't check the time when I tried the .exe), there was an error with the source RaySat_3dsmax9_32 Server. The description: The description for Event ID ( 2 ) in Source ( RaySat_3dsmax9_32 Server ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: (1632) getservbyname: The requested name is valid and was found in the database, but it does not have the correct associated data being resolved for. (0x2afc), .

 

[CommandoBob]

RaySat_3dsmax9_32 Server points to/is part of:
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 9\mentalray\satellite\raysat_3dsmax9_32server.exe.

But check your machine to be sure. I might have misread things.

The link to Autodesk's 3ds Max 9 support page is >>HERE<<.

I did a little digging at Autodesk and my impression is that something changed a registry setting of Max 9 and Max 9 did not like it. I didn't dig very deep, however.

EDIT: I only Googled for 'at_3dsmax9_32 Server', not any of the other things in the error message.

 

[CommandoBob]

Well, Kaidonni, I've got the same problem you've had. Click on the Civ Icon, hourglass appears and then - Freeze! Does this with Civ and the MapStat (both shortcut and the .exe for both, at least early on).

I uninstalled C3C, ran WinASO (demoware registry cleaner), then defragged both Drive D (game install) and Drive C (some default stuff for Windows), restarted the machine...and it did no good.

However, Event Viewer doesn't show anything.

The only software change has been that I installed Civ4 Gold and Beyond the Sword and then patched BtS to 3.17. Well, that and doing PC maintenance on Monday (Spybot Search and Destroy, Spywareblaster, Adaware, WinASO, defrag and Windows update).

 

[Kaidonni]

I've since uninstalled C3C, didn't really know what to do about it. Not sure if that 3DS Max thing was really anything to do with it, because when I was having the problems, and checked the Event Viewer, it popped up at other times in the list - times when I wasn't on the computer. As far as I know, my brother hasn't been having serious problems with the computer, so...

Not that I've destroyed my saves, though. I anticipate that, possibly, someone may find a solution to whatever is causing the freezes. Reinstalling in the past has temporarily fixed it for me, like I said, but because it then starts again after a period of time, it's no use keeping reinstalling. It could get more frequent, stay the same, or never happen again...but not knowing is risking it, and computers aren't the sort of things one metaphorically drops out of the third floor window.

 

[CommandoBob]

C3C ran on my wife's PC, so the CD is not scratched or messed up.

Other shortcuts still work, like to IE7 and Mystery Case Files.

I have PC Tools Firewall installed; I wonder if that could be the problem. Civ got cranky after the last update to the firewall, but I don't see how that would affect Civ in any way.

I am considering just FDisking this machine and start over, though that seems a bit radical (and a lot of work tracking down the various drivers). The only thing I use this machine for is Civing, surfing and (maybe) VPNing to work. The only data is Civ related.

 

[CommandoBob]

On my PC (the one in question) Civ 4 Beyond the Sword runs fine.



Still no Civ3.

 

[CommandoBob]

I have identified the problem, now to find the solution.

C3C ran fine when I disabled PC Tool's Firewall Plus. So did MapStat.

The last update was the problem. I'm not sure how to undo that.






Off to their website to look for an answer to the problem they caused.

 

[CommandoBob]

The fix is in, courtesy of the PCTools Firewall Plus user forum.



The Fix

And now MapStat and C3C run fine.



I will now happily resume my regularly scheduled time sink/addiction.

Ah!

 

[Padma]

Glad to see you got it resolved, CB.