[C3C] Freeze on Mod load

[Nathiri]

After doing extensive editing on a mod, I decide to load it in civ3 and it loads into Player Setup, but after choosing a civ, it freezes on the progress loading bar in the main menu. If I chose a particular civ, it would freeze on configuring human player, but if I chose any other civ apart from that one, it would freeze on configuring AI player 3 at the same point in the progress bar.

The mod did load before I added all first era buildings in the mod. Before adding all these buildings, I had added 90% of the units, but the mod didnt freeze at that time.

It doesnt crash with an error, it just freezes and I have to end the game process. I havent come across this before, and I have no idea what to fix. There is no preset units yet, only the one placeholder which has been there since before. As I said, I only did the buildings and a couple units, but it has been a couple months since I last loaded the mod in-game. All the pediaicon entries should be okay, but it freezes at an odd time and I dont really know what I should be looking for. It could be a wrong space, or incorrect line, but I dont really know.

I know this is difficult to help with, but I was wondering if you guys had ideas or had come across something similar and know what to look for, because of the positioning of the progress bar, or the time of the freeze.

Usually civ3 has different ways of expressing its errors.

 

[tom2050]

I've had that happen on things such as looped tech trees, or units that upgrade in a circular pattern.

 

[KingArthur]

This is bound to happen at some point to any modder.

Here is a method to try and isolate the problem. Load up the editor and create a new biq. Use the file > import function to import data from your modded biq. You can start big or small. I usually start with all rules plus map but in the map options deselect starting cities and units. If it fails to work start again with a smaller subset of imported items. If it does work, start adding additional items one by one.

If you added custom music then also remove your music txt files to check those.

If you can't fix it upload everything and I'll check it out. I love a puzzle.

 

[Nathiri]

I'll try what you say. I did do some unit stat editing, because most of the units had placeholder stats, and some needed their ugprade lines placed, so that may be it.

Music.txt was the first thing I renamed so it wouldnt be an issue, since it was untested and I just added it.

 

[Bluemofia]

Are you using a custom editor? Usually the default editor is pretty good at warning you for looped upgrade paths, so if you want to read it with the default editor, you might be able to catch the error that way (and use the custom editor to do the actual editing).

 

[Nathiri]

Are you using a custom editor? Usually the default editor is pretty good at warning you for looped upgrade paths, so if you want to read it with the default editor, you might be able to catch the error that way (and use the custom editor to do the actual editing).

No I havent looked at custom editors much, since I had some issues with them.

 

[Nathiri]

Unable to find a complete fix for this still. I have tried as well to open the file up in a custom editor to see if it would show any errors as it has done before on another mod once. Nothing has really come of this, but I thought I would give it a go just in case.

I first opened it in Quintullus' editor and it loaded fine and I went through all of the tabs, and even adjusted the safety lvl to total, but nothing appeared. When I however opened it in Steph's editor, I keep getting an unwanted exception error, though it doesnt do this to another one of my mods, so I cant go through all of the tabs very well. I didnt see anything relevant in the details of that error.

 

[Civinator]

In the early times of developing CCM,, my mod was haunted by plenty of different reasons of freezing during gameplay. I was helped in fixing a very nasty reason of those freezes by Takeo. It was a blanc line in the city list of a civ. May be you have such a blanc line in the first position of the citylist of one or more civs, so the mod cannot find a city-name when starting the game.

 

[Nathiri]

In the early times of developing CCM,, my mod was haunted by plenty of different reasons of freezing during gameplay. I was helped in fixing a very nasty reason of those freezes by Takeo. It was a blanc line in the city list of a civ. May be you have such a blanc line in the first position of the citylist of one or more civs, so the mod cannot find a city-name when starting the game.

There was a few blank lines at the bottom of some of the city lists and I also removed some in the Military Leader list just in case, but the issue still remains in the same form. It seemed like a possible solution, because there was a person I asked to help and he managed to launch to the map after some fiddling in the importing, but it crashed on city build.

I also went through the unit list and building list again to try and find something that may have been causing a problem, but what I edited didnt make a difference. I also went through the pediaicons text file.

 

[Civinator]

That´s a pitty.

There was a few blank lines at the bottom of some of the city lists and I also removed some in the Military Leader list just in case, but the issue still remains in the same form. It seemed like a possible solution, because there was a person I asked to help and he managed to launch to the map after some fiddling in the importing, but it crashed on city build.

I also went through the unit list and building list again to try and find something that may have been causing a problem, but what I edited didnt make a difference. I also went through the pediaicons text file.

A frequent cause for such a crash is a wrong indexed unit_32 file. Another possibility is that there must be always at least one unit be buildable for each civ.

 

[Nathiri]

That´s a pitty.

A frequent cause for such a crash is a wrong indexed unit_32 file. Another possibility is that there must be always at least one unit be buildable for each civ.

Yeah I thought about that and I have set a unit and building for each civ.

There isn't a unit_32 file just yet, is that a problem?

 

[Civinator]

There isn't a unit_32 file just yet, is that a problem?

Yes, of course this is a big problem and a very common reason for CTDs (but not for freezes). When a city is founded, the city screen opens and will show a unit to produce - but the game doesn´t find the unit_32 file.
I suggest to try a start of the game with a fitting unit_32 file.

 

[Nathiri]

Yes, of course this is a big problem and a very common reason for CTDs (but not for freezes). When a city is founded, the city screen opens and will show a unit to produce - but the game doesn´t find the unit_32 file.
I suggest to try a start of the game with a fitting unit_32 file.

Okay I put together the unit_32 file with all the current units in it, which is about 450 units. Before I just used the default placeholders, though I didnt actually have a file in the mod folder. I used the default. The freeze still remains just after going through player setup however.

 

[Civinator]

That´s bad news. Than the methode KingArthur suggested above could be the next option. May be it´s best to start with removing the buildings in the new biq as you posted that the mod did load before you have added the era 1 buildings. or, if you have an old biq from the time when the mod loaded without problems, to add settings step by step to that biq and look if it loads with those additions. That´s why I always save many old versions of a biq I´m working on with the date when that biq was used the last time without problems (per example CCM2-040717).

 

[Nathiri]

Okay so I found a BIQ that was several months old. I loaded it up and was surprised it didnt actually load to the map, but it got through to the actual game screen, but freezes on Configuring Scenario. I then imported Civilizations, Tech Advances, Improvements and Wonders, and Units from the current BIQ and it still freezed at that spot (before it would freeze at the main menu at configuring a particular civ). When I imported Natural Resources and Terrain, it freezed at the main menu again. When I redid the importation without Resources, it did not, so it appears there is something at Resources at least, but obviously something else is causing the freeze as well. There is a lot of resource entries, so that is understandable.