Scenario crash/problems

[Gary J. Durham]

I am currently trying to play 'The Age of War' (1900-1950), by Exile, on an XP system. Unfortunately, the game will crash now and then. Even more unfortunately, the save game feature doesn't quite work. Something about a 'stack error'. Has anyone tried this scenario and had any problems?
I find this game to be the current 'bomb'... yet cannot play it. What's up? Also, am unable to email Exile for advice.

Who knows how I can fix this?

Major Irked

 

[Gary J. Durham]

Oh, come on, man! What the hell is wrong here?! A thousand posts at this site since I asked for help... but no one bothers with the 'new guy'!? Person after person reads this thread... then ignores it!?

Come on guys, give! What am I doing wrong? Do I have bad breath, or something? Is it my curly hair?
Surely I cannot be the ONLY Civ fanatic that is experiencing difficulties with some of these scenario's?

Am I asking for help at the wrong site? Is there any other sites that you guys (God bless you!) could/WOULD direct me to? Am I posting in the wrong spot? Do I need to describe something better? Am I making some kind of 'novice gaff'?

I'd say that roughly 20% of all the scenario's available for download do not work for me. Is this normal, or am I the only one? Am I supposed to pay money, or make a donation, or something before people 'talk'?

I've been a Civ freak for over a decade now. Bought computers for the sole purpose of Civ. Honestly! So, although I am computer illiterate (only use it for Civ and email), I finally get on the internet, find these AWESOME scenario's on this AWESOME website... and the frustration sets in (if you haven't noticed) because I can't get a bunch of scenario's to work.

So, just as a 'starting point... would some humane Civ lover tell me if at least it's normal that a lot of these scenario's are screwed up?

Admittedly frustrated,

Gary

P.S. Will this finally get me a response from someone?

 

[Boco]

Is this normal, or am I the only one?

I haven't had problems loading the very few scenarios that are on my XP PC. Since the well is dry here, you probably should post on the Tech Support forum or on Apolyton Scenario League.

Am I supposed to pay money, or make a donation, or something before people 'talk'?

What's your offer?

 

[Mercator]

I'd gladly help if it wasn't for the slight problems that I hardly ever play scenarios (so I've never even seen Age of War) and don't have Windows XP...

But, considering you've only recently arrives on the Internet, so to speak, have you installed the latest patch?

What Civ2 version do you have? The version number appears in the title bar of the "Game Options" window, accessible through the "Game" menu. I'm assuming you have the "Multiplayer Gold Edition", in which case you might need the following patch:
http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ2/utility/civiimge_uccupdate3.exe

And in case you don't know where to find Apolyton, that would be here: http://apolyton.net/forums

Oh, and no, there's nothing wrong with you. People simply didn't know the answer to your problems. And I also think CivFanatics doesn't have as much of a scenario community as Apolyton does.

 

[Morten Blaabjerg]

Sounds like version problems. Most scenarios will run with the MGE (multiplayer gold) version of Civ2, but not all. FW will not run MGE only scenarios. And with the classic version, and Test of Time, only specifically made scenarios for these version will work.

 

[Mercator]

But the usual version problems would mean you can't even start a scenario, it wouldn't lead to any game crashes.

 

[Gary J. Durham]

Ah, bless all of your hearts, guys! I am 'ever so slowly' starting to gain just a SLIGHT knowledge of this website as I keep visiting/looking around. Yes, I freely admit that I am computer ignorant. I see things like people posting 'ISP's' and wonder what the heck that is (I'll find out eventually).
I own everything there possibly is, as regards Civilization. However, I only stick to the Civ II MPG edition (it's the best IMHO).

Yes, sometimes I cannot even get a scenario to boot up. This 'Age of War' booted fine the first time, and now won't boot up. If I try to boot it, it ONCE did, after about thirty (30) tries.

So, I'll share my over all plan with you guys. I've been MORE than a Civ fanatic... probably more of a CIV FREAK... since, oh, maybe late 1991/early 1992. I play the game over, and over, and over, for infinity. I have never stopped playing, and don't mind admitting that I'm a CIV addict.

Now that I've found that I can actually (eventually) learn how to play against (and, of course, beat human players... (that IS meant as a joke, guys), I wanted to play all of the scenario's, then learn how to play against you guys.

One thing I have picked up when reading about PBEM, is that to many games never resolve to a satisfactory conclusion, due to people dropping out, losing interest, or whatever. I'm the exact opposite! With 12 or 13 years addiction under my belt, not like I'm going to lose interest anytime soon. Plus, I've some ideas for some accelerated games... pretty cocky for someone who doesn't even know how to manuever around this site yet, eh?

Anyway, this patch that one of you mentioned. This is for the Civ II MPG edition? If so, and I download it... then what does a 'booter' novice like me DO with this patch? Do I, um... make it do something to my Civ II MPG game which s on my 'C' drive?

And as for my 'offer', and what would it be? Hey, I promise that I will go out of my way in the future to help out other 'new' civ lovers when they find this site (that is, assuming I ever get competent, or learn anything from you Civ guru's)

Gary

 

[Mercator]

Originally posted by Gary J. Durham
One thing I have picked up when reading about PBEM, is that to many games never resolve to a satisfactory conclusion, due to people dropping out, losing interest, or whatever. I'm the exact opposite! With 12 or 13 years addiction under my belt, not like I'm going to lose interest anytime soon.

You have to remember that there are many more players here who have been playing Civ for so long. In fact, with Civ2 being so old already, most people still playing now must be rather fanatic about it themselves. So it's not really a matter of you being the opposite, and never losing interest. Multiplayer games are just a little different. When a game takes weeks or months to play, some people will almost certainly find themselves unable to continue due to real life kicking in (e.g. students in exam period). Or when people are being a little too enthusiastic, they might sign up for a few too many PBEM's than is good for them. And of course, something which you might not have encountered yet if you're so fanatic, it can be rather hard picking up a game you haven't played for a week or more. Especially if you've been playing other games in between.

Anyway, this patch that one of you mentioned. This is for the Civ II MPG edition? If so, and I download it... then what does a 'booter' novice like me DO with this patch? Do I, um... make it do something to my Civ II MPG game which s on my 'C' drive?

Aha!,Yes it is for the MPG edition (commonly referred to as MGE, though)...
After you've downloaded it, you only have to (double-)click on it (like with any regular program). It should install all by itself.

I'm pretty sure this should resolve your scenario issues, and you will absolutely need this patch if you want to do any kind of multiplayer.

 

[Gary J. Durham]

Merc,

Very true, and good points that you're helping this newbie to understand. Sincerely, thanks for taking the time for me. I'm 'picking up' more knowledge of the site, and what it's about, as time goes on, I access the site, and interact. I do appreciate it.

And for the 'patch' you mentioned. I will give it a go as soon as I can. Unfortunately, my home system got trashed by a damned virus 2 days ago, and I probably won't have it up and running until I have more time... this weekend, maybe. Until then, I'm basically stuck with the work system, and can only gain a little proficiency with this site, but definately not download anything.

Again, my thanks, and also hoping that others take pity on a fellow civ lover and help 'educate' me.

 

[yaroslav]

You're being eduacted by the best, Gary, because Mercartor is the best around here.

Maybe was the virus related to your problems??

BTW:ISP is Internet Service Provider: the company that let you access to the Internet (for instance, American OnLine in, well, America ). My ISP is Telefonica, one of my grandfathers uses BellSouth as ISP and so on...

Ask anything you want about Civ2 here

And for computers debates, you've a dedicated section in the Computer Talk forum of Civfanatics

 

[Morten Blaabjerg]

Originally posted by Mercator
But the usual version problems would mean you can't even start a scenario, it wouldn't lead to any game crashes.

Right... I recall a time when I had similar problems, also with the infamous 'stack error' popping up repeatedly out of the blue.

I don't remember the precise remedy, though, although I am sure there is a collection of my old threads on the problem in the computer trouble forum. IIRC, I reinstalled civ2 and MGE with the patch, and it solved the problem, but there might've been something else to it also.

If the search function in the forum has been re-enabled, try searching for those old threads with appropriate keywords such as the wording of the error. I am positive I posted the remedy there way back.

 

[yoshi]

I think I remember reading that some people had problems running Civ2 on WinXP --there was a remedy though, but I have no idea what.

I'm using 98 2E and can say that I haven't had (get this) a single problem playing any of the scenarios I've downloaded (sixty or so). Unfortunately, I haven't played that particular scenario so I wouldn't know of any glitches.

Although scenarios can crash due to mistakes in design by the player like adding a tech that is required by its own prerequisite, or typing in the wrong values if using the Rules.txt and things like that, scenario designers usually play-test their scenarios before releasing them so it's unlikely that that's the problem. That's the only reason I can think you would get the 'Stack Error' message.

If the version is wrong you get a 'Failed to load. File is not a scenario' (or something like that) message. And as M said, you wouldn't even be able to start the scenario.

Just a note: one problem that I've had in the past is installing SimCity on the same system as Civ2 will cause problems. For some reason the two conflict (i.e. Windows can't distinguish between the two types of .scn files).

Nevertheless, do as others have recommended first.


And...look out, here comes the boss (quickly switches windows from CFC to work-related stuff)!

 

[Mercator]

Originally posted by yaroslav
You're being eduacted by the best, Gary, because Mercartor is the best around here.

In some things anyway...

Originally posted by Morten Blaabjerg
If the search function in the forum has been re-enabled, try searching for those old threads with appropriate keywords such as the wording of the error. I am positive I posted the remedy there way back.

It IS enabled.

Originally posted by yoshi
I think I remember reading that some people had problems running Civ2 on WinXP --there was a remedy though, but I have no idea what.

Ooh... I forgot about that. That might actually be one of the problems (though certainly not related to the saving, but maybe the patch fixes that). The solution (and description of the error message) is in this thread:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20703