AWE32/64 and Enhancement v3.0 crashes

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Author Topic:   AWE32/64 and Enhancement v3.0 crashes

Che_Fox posted 03-30-99 02:15 AM ET
After reading through all the latest messages about crashes that are new with Enhancement v3.0 (including my own) I noticed a thread common to EVERY SINGLE ONE.
All of us have AWE32/64 sound cards. This *must* mean something.

Evk posted 03-30-99 02:26 AM ET
Yes. It means you should not have brought an AWE 32/64 soundcard.
I'm shutting up now.
Che_Fox posted 03-30-99 02:34 AM ET
Ha ha.
As I just ran into this today under Linux, perhaps this is the deadly combination of an ISA card and DMA buffers.
Since ISA cards like the AWE32/64 *must* reserve lots of DMA buffers under the 16MB limit, if you don't pre-allocate the DMA buffers like Linux or other smart OSes do, you will inevitably run out of DMA buffers when all the memory under 16MB is allocated (but there's still plenty left elsewhere).
But this wouldn't explain why none of us had the problems under Enhancement v2.0..
Manu posted 03-30-99 09:57 AM ET
Hello!
I have too an old Creative Soundblaster AWE32 for ISA slot and my problem is that I have absolutely no music
under SMAC 1.0 and under SMAC 2.0 ( both german version ), but I have experienced no
crashes with this game. Sound FX runs fine
and I have music when SMAC plays a video
sequences.
Some guys could tell go buy a new sound card,
but first I must say that all other games I have runs fine ( and I have a lot of them ),
and second the sound card was not a
'no-name' product and it was not a cheap one.
Che_Fox said something about a DMA
problem concernig AWE 32 ISA Soundcards,
could this be the reason why I have
no music with this game? Is there a possibility to fix this problem?
And last a question for FIRAXIS:
If the DMA problem is true and this is
the reason why I have no music will
you fix this problem in future patches?
Any answers are welcomed.
Thanks.
Manuel

Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS posted 03-30-99 10:29 AM ET
Make sure you're setting the existing EAX and DS3D entries in the alpha centauri.ini file to 0. If you continue to have problems, email me the specific specs of your system and a copy of your alpha centauri.ini file. Thanks.
jkm
firaxis games
DeVore posted 03-31-99 07:12 AM ET
Add SB16 to the growing list of fu***d soundcards for SMAC.
I applied the V. 3 patch yesterday with the result that I can't run SMAC without renaming sound.dll anymore. When I start the game it will enter a sound loop in less than 10 secs and crash win98 so bad that a reboot is needed.
Tried EAX=0 and DS3D=0 with the same result.
BTW I have the I (International ?) version of the game but I had a friend send me the US exe so I could patch to 3.0 (As a long time UO player I know just how slow and incompetent OSI is when it comes to Q&A :P)
Anyway how comes the I version of terran.exe is like 1.5Mb and the US is roughly twice as big ?.... beats me unless you got a crap load of debug inf in the gold US version.....
/Dev
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS posted 03-31-99 10:23 AM ET
Well, it can't be all SB16s, since that's what I use at home and am constantly playing v3.0. It might be a version control issue, with different files from different versions. Where does the crash occur (sound.dll?)? I'd start by installing DX 6.1 if you haven't already, though it may be worth waiting for v3.0 for your version.
jkm
firaxis games
DeVore posted 03-31-99 11:12 AM ET
Jeff: No crash info, SMAC simply dies while endlessly playing a 3 or 4 sec sound loop and the only way to stop it is a hard reset (No reaction on Ctrl-Alt-Del).
I'm already using DX6.1 but you reminded me that I'm using a non certified sound driver
(4.05.00.0165 Rev 16 [4 November 98]) which I'll swap to a certified version and see if it helps though I never had a single sound problem before.
As for the version thing then I doubt that's a problem since
#1 The patch applies with no errors meaning the files are identical except for terran.exe.
#2 Everything but the sound works a-okay and I can play for hours without any crashes (with sound before patching, w/o sound after patching).
Anyway if I ever get around to it then what patch should I use for the I version ?
I belive the UK version is labeled UK and the German DE ?
Kudos for a great game that surely will become a classic in the MOO/CIV1 class.
(Yeah MOO2 and CIV2 was huge letdowns compared to the originals IMO)
Anti-Kudos for keeping me up untill the early hours....just one more turn
/Dev
DeVore posted 03-31-99 11:20 AM ET
I just checked the creative site and rev. 16 is the newest SB16 driver release.
/Dev
GaryD posted 03-31-99 12:21 PM ET
As a matter of interest, if you pull your soundcard and play without it, do all your problems go away ?
DeVore posted 03-31-99 12:49 PM ET
I don't have to pull the card, renaming sound.dll is enough and the game runs flawlessly w/o sound.

/Dev
Pyramider posted 04-01-99 01:40 AM ET
I'm having crashes in terran.exe after having replaced my SoundBlaster 16 with a SoundBlaster AWE64.
My system is:
CPU: K62-350
Video: S3 TrioV+
Accelerator: Monster3D II
Audio: SB AWE64
Network: Netgear FA310TX
RAM: 64 MB
Terran.exe crashes between 5 and 30 turns into the game. I set the EAX and DS3D to 0 in AC.ini, which resulted in improved sound quality, but did not prevent the crashes.
Dump is as follows:
TERRAN caused an invalid page fault in
module TERRAN.EXE at 014f:005d3fb0.
Registers:
EAX=00000023 CS=014f EIP=005d3fb0 EFLGS=00010202
EBX=00000049 SS=0157 ESP=00bf9d4c EBP=00000049
ECX=0000000c DS=0157 ESI=0069584c FS=0caf
EDX=00000023 ES=0157 EDI=0097c700 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
8a 81 9c 00 00 00 56 a8 02 8b 44 24 0c 74 4c 8b
Stack dump:
005d4bad 00000000 00000023 0097c700 0069584c 00686a04 005d42ab 00000014 00000023 0068748c 00bf9da8 00686a78 00000003 00000248 0000010d 00000248

I have not yet altered the sound card full duplex or Creative enhanced sound settings, but I'll try that next.

Pyramider posted 04-01-99 02:19 AM ET
Addenda:
Changing the full duplex and Creative enhancement settings did not prevent the crashes.
Re-installing SMAC did not help.
My SMAC version is 3.0. This version ran just fine with the SoundBlaster 16. Both the SB 16 and the SB AWE64 that I replaced it with are ISA.
GaryD posted 04-01-99 06:03 AM ET
Thanks for the info DeVore. I must try that myself.
Meanwhile, for what it is worth, on a very limited test period, (one evening) I seemed to have improved performance (read fewer crashes) by using the memturbo programme as recommended by yin26.
Warpig posted 04-01-99 04:11 PM ET
Pyramider:
Have you set your harware acceleration to the lowest level on the AWE64 (emulation only)? This stopped the crashes for me but results in some stuttering/echoes. I am still tinkering w/ settings and drivers to find a fix for the stuttering without having any crashes.
Warpig
-great game but sloppy code-
Pyramider posted 04-01-99 07:31 PM ET
Warpig:
That sounds like a good idea, and I'll give it a shot tonight when I get home from work. I haven't altered the hardware acceleration on the AWE64 before. Is that handled through a utility on the CD or through switching a jumper on the card?
Warpig posted 04-02-99 01:09 PM ET
Control panel>>Multimedia>>Audio
Under the audio playback you should have the AWE64 shown in the window (as opposed to 'any available device'). Click the button just under this window...settings or preferences..I forget the exact name. You will find the hardware acceleration settings under one of the tabs in that sectons.
I still have not solved the stuttering problem. There are clearly some conflicts with the ISA SBAWE cards and SMAC code, at least on some systems. Simply changing the sound drivers or DirectX ver. does not solve the problem. The latest Award BIOS for my ASUS mobo has added some specific support for creative SB cards. I am going to flash the BIOS and see if that helps. Heh, prolly cause more problems than fixes but what the hell?..you can always reflash with the old BIOS ver.
Warpig
Pyramider posted 04-02-99 05:14 PM ET
Warpig:
I tried to find a way to turn off my hardware acceleration, but there was no settings or preference button under Control Panel >> Multimedia >> Audio with the AWE64 selected under Playback. I'm using Windows 95. Are you using Windows 98 or NT?
Mcerion posted 04-04-99 01:25 AM ET
I'm running SMAC v 3.0 with an AWE 64 gold card and I haven't any sound problems except for the occasional burp from the speakers.
Are you getting the SoundBlaster splash screen before the game starts? If so, try this, I don't know if this will work for you, but try checking the MIDI settings under the multimedia section in the control panel. Play around with the settings until the splash screen doesn't appear and see if the game works that way.
I have the dsd=1 and eax=1. I have no problems with either setting.
Pyramider posted 04-04-99 03:26 AM ET
Mcerion:
What are the specs and cards of your machine?
BoSachok posted 04-04-99 09:24 AM ET
I have a similar problem with Page faults against Terran.exe, but I'm using a Monster MX300. I think V4 will out soon.
Bo
Mcerion posted 04-04-99 09:40 PM ET
Packard Bell S615
233mhz Intel pentium mmx
96mb ram
Intergraph Intense 3d voodoo v2073 driver
glide 2.46
AWE64G version 4.38
windows 95 4.0 build 1212 b
dos 7.10
directx 6.1 (4.06.02.0436)
SMAC v 3.0 clean install (I unistalled it totally and then reinstalled it and then patched it.)
I hope this info helps.
Pasha posted 04-06-99 10:16 PM ET
I have an SBLive, and the same thing happens.
I hear no sound, and it hangs at the splash screen, upon inspection, I find the last entry in the .ini is the EAX ref.
Also, if it does make it into the game, I only have sounds during the films.
I think it is the video vs sound drivers...
The hang is on resolution change.
=o(

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Author	Topic: AWE32/64 and Enhancement v3.0 crashes
Che_Fox	posted 03-30-99 02:15 AM ET After reading through all the latest messages about crashes that are new with Enhancement v3.0 (including my own) I noticed a thread common to EVERY SINGLE ONE. All of us have AWE32/64 sound cards. This must mean something.
Evk	posted 03-30-99 02:26 AM ET Yes. It means you should not have brought an AWE 32/64 soundcard. I'm shutting up now.
Che_Fox	posted 03-30-99 02:34 AM ET Ha ha. As I just ran into this today under Linux, perhaps this is the deadly combination of an ISA card and DMA buffers. Since ISA cards like the AWE32/64 must reserve lots of DMA buffers under the 16MB limit, if you don't pre-allocate the DMA buffers like Linux or other smart OSes do, you will inevitably run out of DMA buffers when all the memory under 16MB is allocated (but there's still plenty left elsewhere). But this wouldn't explain why none of us had the problems under Enhancement v2.0..
Manu	posted 03-30-99 09:57 AM ET Hello! I have too an old Creative Soundblaster AWE32 for ISA slot and my problem is that I have absolutely no music under SMAC 1.0 and under SMAC 2.0 ( both german version ), but I have experienced no crashes with this game. Sound FX runs fine and I have music when SMAC plays a video sequences. Some guys could tell go buy a new sound card, but first I must say that all other games I have runs fine ( and I have a lot of them ), and second the sound card was not a 'no-name' product and it was not a cheap one. Che_Fox said something about a DMA problem concernig AWE 32 ISA Soundcards, could this be the reason why I have no music with this game? Is there a possibility to fix this problem? And last a question for FIRAXIS: If the DMA problem is true and this is the reason why I have no music will you fix this problem in future patches? Any answers are welcomed. Thanks. Manuel
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS	posted 03-30-99 10:29 AM ET Make sure you're setting the existing EAX and DS3D entries in the alpha centauri.ini file to 0. If you continue to have problems, email me the specific specs of your system and a copy of your alpha centauri.ini file. Thanks. jkm firaxis games
DeVore	posted 03-31-99 07:12 AM ET Add SB16 to the growing list of fu***d soundcards for SMAC. I applied the V. 3 patch yesterday with the result that I can't run SMAC without renaming sound.dll anymore. When I start the game it will enter a sound loop in less than 10 secs and crash win98 so bad that a reboot is needed. Tried EAX=0 and DS3D=0 with the same result. BTW I have the I (International ?) version of the game but I had a friend send me the US exe so I could patch to 3.0 (As a long time UO player I know just how slow and incompetent OSI is when it comes to Q&A :P) Anyway how comes the I version of terran.exe is like 1.5Mb and the US is roughly twice as big ?.... beats me unless you got a crap load of debug inf in the gold US version..... /Dev
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS	posted 03-31-99 10:23 AM ET Well, it can't be all SB16s, since that's what I use at home and am constantly playing v3.0. It might be a version control issue, with different files from different versions. Where does the crash occur (sound.dll?)? I'd start by installing DX 6.1 if you haven't already, though it may be worth waiting for v3.0 for your version. jkm firaxis games
DeVore	posted 03-31-99 11:12 AM ET Jeff: No crash info, SMAC simply dies while endlessly playing a 3 or 4 sec sound loop and the only way to stop it is a hard reset (No reaction on Ctrl-Alt-Del). I'm already using DX6.1 but you reminded me that I'm using a non certified sound driver (4.05.00.0165 Rev 16 [4 November 98]) which I'll swap to a certified version and see if it helps though I never had a single sound problem before. As for the version thing then I doubt that's a problem since #1 The patch applies with no errors meaning the files are identical except for terran.exe. #2 Everything but the sound works a-okay and I can play for hours without any crashes (with sound before patching, w/o sound after patching). Anyway if I ever get around to it then what patch should I use for the I version ? I belive the UK version is labeled UK and the German DE ? Kudos for a great game that surely will become a classic in the MOO/CIV1 class. (Yeah MOO2 and CIV2 was huge letdowns compared to the originals IMO) Anti-Kudos for keeping me up untill the early hours....just one more turn /Dev
DeVore	posted 03-31-99 11:20 AM ET I just checked the creative site and rev. 16 is the newest SB16 driver release. /Dev
GaryD	posted 03-31-99 12:21 PM ET As a matter of interest, if you pull your soundcard and play without it, do all your problems go away ?
DeVore	posted 03-31-99 12:49 PM ET I don't have to pull the card, renaming sound.dll is enough and the game runs flawlessly w/o sound. /Dev
Pyramider	posted 04-01-99 01:40 AM ET I'm having crashes in terran.exe after having replaced my SoundBlaster 16 with a SoundBlaster AWE64. My system is: CPU: K62-350 Video: S3 TrioV+ Accelerator: Monster3D II Audio: SB AWE64 Network: Netgear FA310TX RAM: 64 MB Terran.exe crashes between 5 and 30 turns into the game. I set the EAX and DS3D to 0 in AC.ini, which resulted in improved sound quality, but did not prevent the crashes. Dump is as follows: TERRAN caused an invalid page fault in module TERRAN.EXE at 014f:005d3fb0. Registers: EAX=00000023 CS=014f EIP=005d3fb0 EFLGS=00010202 EBX=00000049 SS=0157 ESP=00bf9d4c EBP=00000049 ECX=0000000c DS=0157 ESI=0069584c FS=0caf EDX=00000023 ES=0157 EDI=0097c700 GS=0000 Bytes at CS:EIP: 8a 81 9c 00 00 00 56 a8 02 8b 44 24 0c 74 4c 8b Stack dump: 005d4bad 00000000 00000023 0097c700 0069584c 00686a04 005d42ab 00000014 00000023 0068748c 00bf9da8 00686a78 00000003 00000248 0000010d 00000248 I have not yet altered the sound card full duplex or Creative enhanced sound settings, but I'll try that next.
Pyramider	posted 04-01-99 02:19 AM ET Addenda: Changing the full duplex and Creative enhancement settings did not prevent the crashes. Re-installing SMAC did not help. My SMAC version is 3.0. This version ran just fine with the SoundBlaster 16. Both the SB 16 and the SB AWE64 that I replaced it with are ISA.
GaryD	posted 04-01-99 06:03 AM ET Thanks for the info DeVore. I must try that myself. Meanwhile, for what it is worth, on a very limited test period, (one evening) I seemed to have improved performance (read fewer crashes) by using the memturbo programme as recommended by yin26.
Warpig	posted 04-01-99 04:11 PM ET Pyramider: Have you set your harware acceleration to the lowest level on the AWE64 (emulation only)? This stopped the crashes for me but results in some stuttering/echoes. I am still tinkering w/ settings and drivers to find a fix for the stuttering without having any crashes. Warpig -great game but sloppy code-
Pyramider	posted 04-01-99 07:31 PM ET Warpig: That sounds like a good idea, and I'll give it a shot tonight when I get home from work. I haven't altered the hardware acceleration on the AWE64 before. Is that handled through a utility on the CD or through switching a jumper on the card?
Warpig	posted 04-02-99 01:09 PM ET Control panel>>Multimedia>>Audio Under the audio playback you should have the AWE64 shown in the window (as opposed to 'any available device'). Click the button just under this window...settings or preferences..I forget the exact name. You will find the hardware acceleration settings under one of the tabs in that sectons. I still have not solved the stuttering problem. There are clearly some conflicts with the ISA SBAWE cards and SMAC code, at least on some systems. Simply changing the sound drivers or DirectX ver. does not solve the problem. The latest Award BIOS for my ASUS mobo has added some specific support for creative SB cards. I am going to flash the BIOS and see if that helps. Heh, prolly cause more problems than fixes but what the hell?..you can always reflash with the old BIOS ver. Warpig
Pyramider	posted 04-02-99 05:14 PM ET Warpig: I tried to find a way to turn off my hardware acceleration, but there was no settings or preference button under Control Panel >> Multimedia >> Audio with the AWE64 selected under Playback. I'm using Windows 95. Are you using Windows 98 or NT?
Mcerion	posted 04-04-99 01:25 AM ET I'm running SMAC v 3.0 with an AWE 64 gold card and I haven't any sound problems except for the occasional burp from the speakers. Are you getting the SoundBlaster splash screen before the game starts? If so, try this, I don't know if this will work for you, but try checking the MIDI settings under the multimedia section in the control panel. Play around with the settings until the splash screen doesn't appear and see if the game works that way. I have the dsd=1 and eax=1. I have no problems with either setting.
Pyramider	posted 04-04-99 03:26 AM ET Mcerion: What are the specs and cards of your machine?
BoSachok	posted 04-04-99 09:24 AM ET I have a similar problem with Page faults against Terran.exe, but I'm using a Monster MX300. I think V4 will out soon. Bo
Mcerion	posted 04-04-99 09:40 PM ET Packard Bell S615 233mhz Intel pentium mmx 96mb ram Intergraph Intense 3d voodoo v2073 driver glide 2.46 AWE64G version 4.38 windows 95 4.0 build 1212 b dos 7.10 directx 6.1 (4.06.02.0436) SMAC v 3.0 clean install (I unistalled it totally and then reinstalled it and then patched it.) I hope this info helps.
Pasha	posted 04-06-99 10:16 PM ET I have an SBLive, and the same thing happens. I hear no sound, and it hangs at the splash screen, upon inspection, I find the last entry in the .ini is the EAX ref. Also, if it does make it into the game, I only have sounds during the films. I think it is the video vs sound drivers... The hang is on resolution change. =o(