CTD every few turns

[MakaveliTheDon]

I posted this in the Fall Further forum since I'm using that mod (version B of 051) and FfH2 (version 0.41d in the FfH2 folder...but in the FF folder the readme says 0.41).

Anyway I put the info in the other thread so I didn't have to upload twice.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=353391

 

[MakaveliTheDon]

Anyone have any ideas? I'd really like to get this fixed because the saved game I'm playing is probably the most engrossing and fun and I'd love to continue playing it, as well as other games with similar settings (massive size + 20 civs).

Any idea is better than no ideas

 

[Emptiness]

I also modified the python a bit (although I'm not very experience with it) so that "huge" maps were 1.5 times bigger. This allowed me to fit 18 civs (20 with Merc+Hyb) so they'd have enough room to expand (seemingly too much room to expand now that I think about it)

The file is 1.6mb.

My suggestion: Don't do that.

 

[MakaveliTheDon]

My suggestion: Don't do that.

Any reason why? My computer can handle it and turns go by very quickly, but every few turns starting at around ~400 it started to crash, and it's getting more frequent as time goes by.

Is there anyway to post a log or something so I can see what is happening before it crashes?

 

[Emptiness]

It is probably the Civ engine that is the limiting factor in your case. 50% more tiles will mean about 50% more cities and at least 50% more units. There is probably a limit to how much information the Civ engine can manage without errors; beyond that limit a more efficient information system would need to be used.

I suspect that by allowing such a massive map you have surpassed the practical limits of the Civ engine, resulting in frequent crashes. The crashes do not occur in the early game because the database is not yet managing too much information. Once the critical limit is exceeded, the power of the hardware is irrelevant. A weaker computer would have trouble sooner, in the form of longer turns, but even a computer more powerful than yours would likely develop the same pattern of crashes around the same time.

I don't know of any logging feature, but then I've never worked with coding or debugging for Civ. You can turn on python error reporting, which will allow you to see if there have been one or more python errors leading up to the crash:

To enable python popups in your CivilizationIV.ini change:


Code:

; Set to 1 for no python exception popups
HidePythonExceptions = 1

To:


Code:

; Set to 1 for no python exception popups
HidePythonExceptions = 0

If this is not enough information then in order to get a log with the level of detail necessary to track down the exact cause of a specific crash it would probably be necessary to write your own log-creating modmod. Before you try that, though, you should probably ask around in the developer sections of these forums to see is something like this already exists.

 

[MakaveliTheDon]

Hey thanks for the help!

I've turned on logging and this time when it crashed it said:

"Failed to allocate video memory. Please try reducing your graphics settings.
File:\main\Civilization4\SDKs\Gamebryo2_0\CoreLibs\NiDX9Renderer\NiDX9VBManager.cpp, Line:1019"

Any idea what this means?

 

[Emptiness]

Based on that error message a DirectX or driver problem could be responsible. Make sure you are using the most current versions of
1) DirectX and
2) the drivers for your video card,
that are supported by your operating system and video card. If you are already using the most current versions, or if updating to them does not change the situation, then the crash is probably related to overtaxed memory management (because of such a large map).

Edit: Oh, also you could try lowering your graphics settings to see if that makes a difference - but I don't expect that it will. Your system sounds like it is capable of handling the game with all graphics features enabled. The suggestion in the error message to lower your graphics settings is just a generic suggestion for any graphics-related crash, rather than one tailored specifically to resolve your crash.

 

[CurseUppl]

Makaveli,

Play tectonics (lakes 30%). That map type can easily accommodate 20 to 25 civs with plenty of room between civs. On top of that, you get some nice mountain ranges and choke points. Downside is that navies become defunct, but the AI can't use ships properly anyway.

 

[MakaveliTheDon]

Based on that error message a DirectX or driver problem could be responsible. Make sure you are using the most current versions of
1) DirectX and
2) the drivers for your video card,
that are supported by your operating system and video card. If you are already using the most current versions, or if updating to them does not change the situation, then the crash is probably related to overtaxed memory management (because of such a large map).

Edit: Oh, also you could try lowering your graphics settings to see if that makes a difference - but I don't expect that it will. Your system sounds like it is capable of handling the game with all graphics features enabled. The suggestion in the error message to lower your graphics settings is just a generic suggestion for any graphics-related crash, rather than one tailored specifically to resolve your crash.

My drivers/directX are up to date. I've posted the exact error in a search engine and am seeing a lot of other people are also getting these errors, although they are pretty dated. I'm going to try posting this in the Civ4 technical support to see if there's any known solution to the problem.

Thanks for the help!