Alpha Centauri Forums
Support and Troubleshooting
'TERRAN caused GPF in module TERRAN.EXE'
|
|
Alpha Centauri Forums
Support and Troubleshooting
'TERRAN caused GPF in module TERRAN.EXE'
|
| Author | Topic: 'TERRAN caused GPF in module TERRAN.EXE' |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-12-99 06:28 PM ET  
Having trouble with my copy of SMAC...a wonderful game, but prone to random explosions. I keep getting 'TERRAN has caused invalid page fault in module TERRAN.EXE'. It doesn't matter what I'm doing; I can start a brand new game and just let it sit for several minutes without making any input, and it will crash. It rarely runs for more than 20 minutes at a time and if I just restart the game, it crashes even faster. Usually I have to reboot the computer entirely, as sometimes it mungs the mouse. Any suggestions? I really do like the game, and very much want to play it... Details on the crash: |
| Mme Dodge |
posted 05-13-99 02:15 PM ET
I have this same problem and it's keeping me off the only game I can play right now, so if someone could come up with a fix for this pronto, I'd appreciate it. |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-14-99 10:31 AM ET
Is the processor overclocked? We've seen various instabilities on non-intel processors that are. Another thing to try is to set the 3D acceleration to 0 by right-clicking on the my computer icon, selecting properties, then performance, then graphics. Set the slider to 0. jkm firaxis games |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-14-99 01:18 PM ET
No, it's not overclocked. I'll try the acceleration thing and let you know... |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-14-99 01:54 PM ET
Just tried turning the hardware acceleration all the way down, and it made no difference. Plays for a while, then crashes out with the same error. |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-14-99 02:25 PM ET
Is windows managing your swapfile size (in other words, does it have access to that 6.1 gigs free)? Try setting your desktop resolution to 800x600x8bit or 1024x768x8bit and see if it makes any difference. jkm firaxis games |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-14-99 09:17 PM ET
Tried changing desktop settings to 1024x768x8, and to 800x600x8, and aside from making the Firaxis logo look like crap when the game started, before it adjusted, no change. Windows is running the swap file itself... |
| Pennsy |
posted 05-15-99 09:36 AM ET
My wife and I are having a very similar problem. Our crashes,mhoever, seem to wait until the end of the game to begin to happen. They happen every turn either just before the 'Future Tech' research window comes up or just after. We have been able to recover from most of them becuase we are running Norton Utilities Crash Guard. And yes, this problem was happening BEFORE Crash Guard was placed on the computers. We have several games where even Norton can't recover from the crash. The game is very enjoyable but if you can never finish a single game, what's the use in playing? |
| summon |
posted 05-17-99 03:11 AM ET
I'll have to join the group. I was running relatively bug-free on an old P130 but I recently upgraded to a compaq AMD6-2 450 and now SMAC gets a page fault error on terran.exe at 147: etc... every few minutes. I'd hate to think my brand new rig wont run this program. PS-I also tried to reduce the hardware acceleration, as well as the read-ahead for the CD-rom plus every other sort of config change I could think of as well as confirming on the internet, driver by driver that all my drivers were up to date. |
| The Gamer |
posted 05-17-99 03:32 AM ET
So do I. My system crashes with the same error message. I have a germnan version. I tried everything to get rid of it. I also installed a new operating system. But it didn't help. I am a semiprofessional programmer. I mean with that, I know something about computers and software. Fact is, that with version 2 of the game the system was 100% ok. Version 3 makes really many troubles. The longest period I can play is more or less 30min. After that (or even before that) my computer crashes every 1-2min. I was quite surprised to read from Firaxis, the problem lies in the hardware!!?! I woukld like You to bring out a patch to this annoying problem that makes a really good game unplayable. What I also do not understand: it took 2 months for EA to check the patch and noone ever encounted this problem? Please, find a way to solve it. In the last 1-2 months I read, I was not the onlyone with this problem. Thank You, S.M. |
| Mme Dodge |
posted 05-17-99 10:04 AM ET
I'm afriad that I have to agree that Ver. 1 and 2 of the game work perfectly fine, but version 3 just DOESN'T. I've gone back to using version 2 until I see a version 4 that addresses this problem. I can't imagine this being a hardware problem since it only happens with SMAC. I'll keep reading, and try the new fix when it's done. |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-17-99 11:01 AM ET
Those of you with v3 only problems, try setting the EAX and DS3D settings in the alpha centauri.ini file to 0. On some soundcards (SBPCI64 for instance) the game is misdetecting the hardware as DS3D compatible, when in fact it's not. So it's both a hardware problem (the card shouldn't being stating it's blue-sky support for positional audio) and a software problem (the game believing them). Tyger: I'm not certain what is left to try. Does this problem occur with all 3 versions? The fact that no-input at all, if given time will crash the game, indicates a pretty tough technical solution. One that I may not be able to figure out. jkm firaxis games |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-17-99 01:38 PM ET
It definately happens in v3...I hadn't tried it in the other versions. I'll reinstall and let you know. Thanks for the attempts at answers, anyway, they are appreciated... |
| summon |
posted 05-17-99 10:36 PM ET
Fixing the settings in the centarui.ini had no effect. I tried to change all the settings in the advanced file management settings. The game crashes every few minutes and it seems to crash faster later in the game when there is more going on. The error is as follows: Terran caused an invalid page fault in module terran.exe at 0167:004ded7c plus some registers that change but the page fault address is ALWAYS the same. I am going to try installing on another P2 system to see if there is a repeatable P2 crash. |
| Lonestar27 |
posted 05-17-99 11:23 PM ET
Now im stuck with this same problem. It seemed to happen in Version1 and that was why i upgraded to version 3. I tried reinstalling the game and putting it on a new hdd and putting the version 3 upgrade. Now im sure i have enuf space and i sure i dont have a bad sector. I am crashing at the end of a turn, im finishing a production or a couple of productions. I tried desabling the autosave after a turn and it still doesnt work. I tried disabling the sound and it doesnt work. I tried everything you said and it doesnt work. Im not overclked. I could send u the save game that i made right before the crash. Now i have seen a problem that is maybe similar in another game. Is there a unit limit? The other game had a building limit. The limit was too low for the game to run correctly until the end. The game is GREAT. Just for that bug it RUNS GREAT! Its one of the best stategy game of the year. Just fix this please? |
| Lonestar27 |
posted 05-17-99 11:47 PM ET
I confirm this bugs also appears in version 1 . I loaded a version 3 save from version 1 however so that may be the cause of the crash now. |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-17-99 11:54 PM ET
Oops...was going to re-nab the v2 patch, but it doesn't seem to be on the site anymore...will let you know how it goes with v1... |
| The Gamer |
posted 05-18-99 01:42 AM ET
To the Firaxis Team: I already tried the settings for the soundcard and much more... But it did not function. Do You need some additional informations? |
| brad |
posted 05-18-99 09:47 AM ET
I am having the same problem towards the end of the game. I have saved the file and can reproduce the event easily. I also have saved the registers from the events. Would anyone at Friaxis want these files to find the bug? |
| brad |
posted 05-18-99 10:05 AM ET
I also zeroed slider on the graphics accelerator - same crash. I am using a Pentium II and Windows is doing the memory management. Having watched this event several times, I think it involves the graphic, not the sound. Please fix!! I want to transcend. |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-18-99 10:28 AM ET
You can send the save to [email protected], though traditionally these fatals are not able to be duplicated here. The end of turn crashes sound an awful lot like you're running out of virtual memory. Make sure you've got plenty of HD space available (a few hundred megs), that it's been recently defragged, and that windows is managing your swapfile. The Gamer: What's your original problem? I can't find any mention of it.. jkm firaxis games |
| DeVore |
posted 05-18-99 11:25 AM ET
StarChaser: I played a LAN game with friend who also has a K6-233 (underclocked to 225 �?!) + Banshee setup and to my utter astonishment SMAC "almost" overheated his more than adequate cooled CPU (71-72c), true these babies runs hot but not THAT hot and especially not in a game like SMAC where the CPU is supposed to sit almost idle for most of the time (Unless it calculates Pi to the 89453563 decimal for the heck of it while you're planning your grand strategy in your turn). This means that SMAC is using 100% CPU even when supposedly idle (bad bad bad Firaxis) and your 20 mins seems like a resonable ammount of time to hit the ~73c that will crash a K6-233. I haven't checked my 100% CPU claim yet as it just occured to me when I read your post but I will run a game when I get home and log the CPU usage. /Dev |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-18-99 04:00 PM ET
DeVore: It doesn't crash the COMPUTER, it crashes the GAME. Nothing else is disturbed by SMAC going blam...Maybe it's trying to get him back for slowing it down? (grin) Jeffrey Morris: Just played a fresh typical reinstall of v1 (uninstalled v3, deleted the leftovers, rebooted, installed, rebooted, retried)...ran for about half an hour, then crashed. I was moving the mouse toward a larval mass unit to bring it out of sentry mode, while it was a different unit's turn, because the Hive had just attacked me, so it wasn't the end of the turn... I dunno, this is really mystifying... |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-18-99 04:04 PM ET
Only thing I can think of (and of course I thought of it AFTER hitting 'submit reply') is a memory leak of some sort...after a time, the units start moving slower, (the animation is slower), and it seems to take it longer to do things. Just noticeably, not like it takes two minutes to switch squares...also, while it takes half an hour the first time, if I just restart the game, it takes less and less time to crash, typically 2 mins or less. If I reboot, it seems to 'reset' it... |
| brad |
posted 05-18-99 05:23 PM ET
Thanks, Jeff - I will do the defrag. BTW, I have SMAC installed on my F: drive, not my C: drive. Might that cause the problem? How do I check as to which drive Windows is using for the virtual memory? I noticed that when I got the error at the start of the game turn it was when one of Miriam's units appeared (either a marine or a paratroop) next to one of my cities. So I wenrt to the previous save, moved units onto 4 squares, and then went forward. No Miriam unit - and no crash! However, I am also having the problem with slower animation - and like StarChaser, if I restart the game, it seems to go away. |
| Monotox |
posted 05-19-99 08:45 AM ET
hi all... i have exactly the same problem. i can't even play for more than five minutes. i've got a AMD-2K6 400 MHz, 128 MB Ram, more than 4 Gigas left on the harddisk, a 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee Card with 16 MB, a Addonics SV550 Soundcard. i don't have this problem with another game! i've got the german version by the way. so, i hope that you can solve the problem as quick as possible...thanx |
| Mme Dodge |
posted 05-19-99 11:24 AM ET
Just to clarify. I ONLY have the problem in version 3 and rarely do I even get to start a game before it crashes. If it does start, it always has crashed within 5 minutes tops. My computer is fairly fast, but does not have 3D sound. I'm sorry we're being problem children Jeffrey, but, if it's any consolation, my sister says version 3 has some really nice improvements. :-) |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-19-99 11:37 AM ET
Let's see if I can do this: Dodge: As far as I know, the only new hardware problem introduced in v3.0 related to soundcards being misdetected. Does renaming the sound.dll for you solve your crashes? Monotox: Unfortunately there are a number of different problems being discussed here. Where does your game crash? What have you explicitly tried and what were the results? Is this new to v3, or has all versions exhibited the same behavoir? Tyger: Other AMD users may be able to help with this. I'll paying attention with interest and doing some investigating of my own. Whew. jkm firaxis games |
| Mme Dodge |
posted 05-19-99 03:11 PM ET
OK, Here's my Alphacentauri.ini file in it's entirety. [Alpha Centauri] MainFontSize=16 InterludeFontSize=16 Prefs Format=11 Difficulty=2 Map Type=3 Top Menu=4 Faction=1 Preferences=10111011111000011101110110110110 More Preferences=1110100111000101101000 Semaphore=00000000 Announce=111100001110101001 Rules=1101000001110 Customize=0 Custom World=2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, Time Controls=1 Latest Save=C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\saves\BOB Latest Scenario= Net Session=Bob Net Name=Joelle WinsFileBox=0 I don't even get the option of setting 3D sound options. (At least I don't think I do.) If I'm being stupid and just don't see it, I apologize. |
| Mme Dodge |
posted 05-19-99 05:07 PM ET
FYI - I renamed the sound.dll to sound.dl_ and joy, rapture, I can play SMAC again. V3 and all. Yippee skippee!! Granted, I'd like to have sound, but no sound is better than no game. |
| Ned |
posted 05-20-99 02:45 AM ET
All, I have the same problem. Have had it since v.1. It occurs later in the game. (More going on, I suspect.) I have the following workaround: Save the game several time a move. When the game crashes, change video resolutions. It will always play past the point of the crash in the new resolution. I have been using 800x600 and 1048x768. Ned |
| DeVore |
posted 05-20-99 05:46 AM ET
It's not an AMD problem, I run SMAC on an overclocked K6-2 300(@375] on an ancient ASUS T2P4 HX motherboard without a single problem save my before mentioned sound crashes which disabling CD caching cured. It might be a VIA or ALI chipset problem though but then again I have friends who runs SMAC on K6-2 VIA/ALI/Banshee setups without a hitch either. /Dev |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-20-99 11:08 AM ET
Dodge: Great. Try adding EAX=0 and DS3D=0 to the top of the alpha centauri.ini file (under the header) and rename sound.dll back to normal. jkm firaxis games |
| Mme Dodge |
posted 05-20-99 12:25 PM ET
Jeffrey Morris, you are my favorite person in the whole wide world right now! The .ini changes did the trick! I have sound and game! And no crashes! Question, will this be a problem every time Firaxis releases an update, or will the settings stay in the .ini file? |
| Earwicker |
posted 05-20-99 12:55 PM ET
I get a similar error message now that I've installed V3. Never had anything at all like it happen in 1-1/2 months of play under v1. "Program has attempted an illegal operation", or words to that effect. How often the crash comes varies a bit. My first game under v3, I'd get in about an hour at a time and was able to finish the game. The second, current game ran okay until I got to airpower phase of the game (first crashed when an interceptor scramble to defend a base). After that, everything went buggy, with no more than 5-20 minutes at a stretch before crashing: and not tied to air defense any more: crawlers or formers moving, or just waiting for me to do something. I haven't tried reloading v1 or the changes about to the .ini file. Love the game. Want it to work okay again! Thanks. |
| DeVore |
posted 05-21-99 04:28 AM ET
Starchaser: I'm willing to bet my copy of SMAC that your problem is due to CPU overheating. I checked the CPU usage yesterday and it's 100% from the second you start SMAC and stays that way even though you never leave the opening menu. Most DX games are more vulnerable to overheating than Window itself so it's perfectly resonable that SMAC will crash while Windows keeps running. /Dev - Overclocking & heat expert :P |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-21-99 10:48 AM ET
Earwicker: Try the sound related tweaks mentioned here and in the v3 readme.txt. Dodge: The problem relates to the game believing what certain soundcards state their DS3D support is. The crash comes when the game tries to utilize a feature the card says it supports, but in reality doesn't. The v4 sound.dll is far more savvy about what a soundcard's driver says it supports.. jkm firaxis games |
| Earwicker |
posted 05-21-99 04:06 PM ET
Thanks, Jeff. When I got home I made the suggested changes in the alpha.ini file, but the problem persists. Same exact error message. Any additional hints would be greatly appreciated. |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-21-99 05:08 PM ET
Sounds like perhaps it's swapfile related. Try freeing up more space on your c: drive (or wherever your swap file is located) and let windows manage the swapfile's size. Another thing to try is to defrag that drive completely, since that can limit the amount of HD space available for virtual memory. This problem is more prevelant on large or huge maps as well. jkm firaxis games |
| Earwicker |
posted 05-22-99 12:38 AM ET
My file manager tells me I have 1.8 GB free space on the hard drive. I ran the defrag for the C: drive, even though it was only 1% fragmented (hey, at least I know where that program is now when I need it later). Tried the game again, and same error, with a slightly different error message: TERRAN caused an invalid page fault in You also mentioned the swapfile. How do I check what windows is doing in that regard? Thanks. |
| Ned |
posted 05-22-99 01:30 PM ET
I have v. 3.0, set the EAX the other setting to 0, I have Windows managing my swapfile, I have 10 gigabytes free space, I have a fairly new Dell Demension PII machine with Win. '98. The problem mentioned here happens for me seemingly randomly, but more often at 1094x768 resolution. As before, I can continue the game by changing to a different resolution and reloading the last saved game. I really suggest you get a programmer to look at this an get us all a patch. Ned |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-23-99 12:17 PM ET
Earwicker: Okay, that terran.exe is causing the fatal in another module (and not terran.exe) indicates it's perhaps a driver problem. Have you installed any new hardware or software between the game working and it not (besides the patch)? Try running DXDiag.exe and look for problems under the notes section. Try running the directdraw/sound tests as well. Ned: I'm not certain what the problem is. At what point does it crash? What's your system specs? You've apparently had the problem since the retail box, so the EAX stuff isn't relevant. What does the DXDiag.exe suggestions about reveal? jkm firaxis games |
| Greenhammer |
posted 05-23-99 01:12 PM ET
I too had this problem, I use a K6-2 300 overclocked to 350, 128 megs of ram, a 300 meg swap file, a v550 AGP 16 meg video, SB Live! Value PCI Sound, andboy did I have problems! I upgraded to V3.0 and it was a crash fest, I concluded system heat was the cause since my CPU wouldn't stop peaking out while running smac (it was either that or a memory leak, I am sorry, but a program like smac should NEVER take up over 400 megs of system memory to run, especially given its small install size). I solved (or slowed) the frequency of this error by installing and running a program called rain. This program inserts an idle command in the CPU so that any part of the processor that is not actively functioning does not draw current. I lowered my system heat, limited my CPU peaks, and now I can run the game for hours on end. |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-23-99 01:36 PM ET
Looks like I owe DeVore an apology...I'll look around for this 'rain' proggy and try it out... |
| Ned |
posted 05-23-99 07:27 PM ET
I looked at dxdiag. Every works and reports normal. The program faults in terran.exe. It normally does this after playing a about a half hour after the previous fault. It always and reliably crashes at a defined point - such as when I attach a certain enemy piece or city. I can restart the computer and reload the game as much as I want. The game will fail at that point. What does work is starting the game in a different resolution. In v. 1 of the game, I was able to merely restart the game without changing resolutions. I was sometimes able to go on. This has never occurren in version 3 without changing resolutions. If you would like, I will send you a copy of a game that failed, what action caused it fail, and the current video settings. As to my computer, it is a Dell Dimension XPS R350, STB nVidia ZX 8MB display adapter with the lastest Dell drivers, and TBS Montego Sound card that has Soundblaster emulation. Of course, I run Windows '98. I have all the lastest critical updates from Windows Update. If you have a clue, I would give it a shot. Ned |
| Earwicker |
posted 05-23-99 07:33 PM ET
Okay, I ran the DXdiag, with the following messages. * Several files (es1688.drv, esfm.drv, essfm.drv, etc.) are uncertified, which means that they have not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs.
I did not add any new software in the interim, just v3.0. Are either of these messages instructive? Also, the module=unknown message has only come up that one time. Every other crash indicates that it's terran.exe. If you think it will help, I can send you a .sav file from one of the crashing game (that I finally finished :-) ). |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-23-99 09:15 PM ET
Ned: Well, I'm stumped. If you have 10 gigs free (how big is your hard drive anyway? Are you sure it's not 10 gigs total?), it's not a sound problem, and changing rezs solves it, it's a mystery. The memory footprint will no doubt be smaller with 800x600 rez, but not signifigantly (with 10 gigs free). Hey, as long as it works for you.. Earwicker: When you mentioned the sound tweaks you tried, did you try renaming the sound.dll to sound.dl_, which will disable sound? The ess DX compatibility could be a problem, though disabling sound will prove that for sure. jkm firaxis games |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-23-99 11:00 PM ET
Tried 'Rain' and it did definately help, the game ran for more than an hour, which it had never managed before. Unfortunately, after that, it crashed again in the same old way. |
| Greenhammer |
posted 05-24-99 06:01 PM ET
You might want to explore additional cooling for your case, throw in an additional fan, or take out some of those empty slot covers on teh ISA slots, just to increase ventilation. I suspect you are having a problem due to heat. |
| Earwicker |
posted 05-24-99 09:13 PM ET
Thanks for the suggestions, Jeff. I tried the .dll to .dl_ trick, and played without sound for about an hour before being faced with the same error message. Still no luck :-| |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-24-99 11:37 PM ET
Kind of what it's looking like, Greenhammer...Annoying, though. Wish they'd put an adequate cooling system on it already... Thanks a lot, DeVore... |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-25-99 10:16 AM ET
Earwicker: Man, this is a tenacious one. Even though the uncertified ess card might have been the cause of problems, it's clearly not, since renaming the sound.dll doesn't impact the problem. Try setting your hardware acceleration to 0. Right-click on the my computer icon, select properties, then performance, and then graphics. Set this slider to 0. Another thing to try is the oldvoxel switch mentioned in the alpha centauri.ini file. It matches your symptoms. jkm firaxis games |
| Aarth |
posted 05-26-99 01:12 AM ET
Just wanted to throw my 2c in... I'm seeing very similar problems to those described here. I think Ned is the closest to seeing my exact problem but the resolution work around hasn't worked for me. I've also tried all the suggestions in the ReadMe and posted here with no luck. On my old Pentium 100MHz it ran fine. Now I have a PIII450MHz, 256Mb RAM, ATI Rage! with 32Mb, Soundblaster Live! Value, 16Gb HD with >12Mb free. I get about 220 years into a game and it just locks up. I can save the game or try running the autosaves but it keeps freezing at the same point in that game (it will be a different point in each game but if I load up one of the saves it will freeze in the same point of that game each time). The background music continues to play but all video stops. I don't get an error message but I have to End-Task on "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri". It then takes me back to a messed up looking version of my Windows Desktop. I do the CTRL-ALT-DEL again and end task on Terran.exe. It tells me it's not responding. I kill it and I'm back to Windows as if nothing had ever happened. Any clues are most welcome!! : ) |
| Earwicker |
posted 05-27-99 12:01 AM ET
Okay: oldvoxel switch -- check. Acceleration to zero -- check. Same crash, same pattern. -- Earwicker |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 05-27-99 10:04 AM ET
Earwicker: I was perusing your other posts and saw you ask about the swapfile. To check whether or not windows is managing your swapfile size (desirable), right-click on the my computer icon, select properties, then settings, then Virtual Memory. Aarth: This is actually a very different problem. What version of the game did you start this game with? Some customers experienced this kind of this with v2.0. Upgrade to v3, though in all likelihood the save will cause the problem to occur in any version. It should not occur during a game started with v3. If you did start with v3, send the save to [email protected] with explicit instructions on what I need to do to duplicate the problem. jkm firaxis games |
| Earwicker |
posted 05-27-99 11:15 AM ET
Jeff -- Actually, when I was setting my acceleration back to 1, I looked around to see what other options were available there, found the Virtual memory, saw that Windows was managing, and left it all the heck alone. I had been hoping there would be the Answer to It All hidden in there, but no such luck (:-( |
| Ignacio |
posted 05-29-99 12:04 PM ET
Hi! Somebody pointed out that the GPF could be caused by CPU overheating. Well, I slowed down my AMD K6/233 to 200 Mhz and it solved the issue, so it's true. Since then, I've played about 8 hours straight and didn't have any error. Of course, I had previously tried EVERYTHING to make the game run, but nothing worked till I slowed it. I'm lucky in that I have a Mainboard that allows me to change the processor speed without opening the computer, so this sollution works for me but others might find it too cumbersome. Hope it helps... BTW, where can I find the Spanish patches? Thanks... |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-29-99 06:52 PM ET
Yeah, that's what it's looking like for me, too. I'm looking for a heftier heatsink right now, possibly a peltier... |
| foxr |
posted 05-30-99 12:05 PM ET
Well, I definately know it's not an overheating issue, OR a memory issue. I have 128 megs of ram free, plus tons of swap file room. And as well as my processor, it's running at normal speeds, with a heat sink and a fan cooling it. My problems have plagued me through ALL 3 versions. I've tried a few of the fixes that don't seem to work. I am currently playing a game that I thought was "cured" because I had played about 500 turns with not even a hint of a problem, but then I had a problem when I tried to attack an enemy base with an air unit. I restarted the game, and then simply did not attack his base until next turn. This bypassed the issue, but a few turns later, the enemy attacked one of MY bases with an air unit, and the game crashed. This seems to be where I'm stuck now. I suppose I could try preventing the fighter from reaching my base the turn before. I have a feeling it's sound related though, because my sound isn't perfect to start with in Alpha Centauri. When the leaders have their "speeches" when improvements are built, or technologies are discovered, they usually have a few "jumps" or "garbles" in them. Thanks for your help. |
| Rackam |
posted 05-30-99 04:28 PM ET
This is only an idea. When was the last time you clean wiped your HD and reinstalled everything? By this, I mean repartitioning. ~Rackam |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 05-30-99 07:07 PM ET
Foxr: My AMD K6 is running at it's normal speed, and has a fan and heat sink, and it's still overheating. I took it apart and cleaned the dust out of it yesterday, and I think that helped some...I'm still looking for a bigger sink, though. Rackam: When I started getting the problem (right from the beginning) I wiped the drive and reinstalled Winblows, because I had a new soundcard anyway, and wanted to clean everything up. No changes,.. |
| Aarth |
posted 05-30-99 08:43 PM ET
I think I've firgured out where my problem was... more or less. I was having memory allocation/access problems with other apps and Windows itself. Since it's a new machine anyway I decided to wipe the HD and reinstall Windows and my other software from scratch. That seems to have cleared everything up. I really think there was something wrong with the Windows install when it came from the manufacturer. Reinstalling fixed all the problems I was having and fixed a couple things I hadn't realized were problems. Anyway, I played AC this morning and got farther into the game than I've been able to previously on this machine. |
| Dave the mugwump |
posted 05-31-99 01:59 PM ET
Had the same problem as Mme Dodge, ie the game works when sound.dll is named sound.dl_ but you know, if possible i'd like sound! Putting those lines in the .ini file didn't work for me, got a new crash with the following meassage on immediatley starting the game: TERRAN caused a stack fault in module KERNEL32.DLL at 023f:bff724c1.
|
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 06-01-99 04:20 PM ET
Earwicker: I have no idea what's left to try. Email me and we'll set you up with some experimental code fixes to see if it makes any difference. Dave: What's the soundcard? Also, you don't want to add those lines to the ini file, but modify the ones already listed. Adding them won't work, if they're already set elsewhere. jkm firaxis games |
| Dave the mugwump |
posted 06-01-99 04:25 PM ET
My soundcard is a SB16 plug and Play. Some of the drivers aren't approved my microsoft in directx diagnostic program but there is no newer set available. Cheers. |
| Ned |
posted 06-02-99 03:25 AM ET
Jeff, A lot of us who are having problems report that the crash occurs when we or the machine attacks something. Many times, if I can recall, the city or unit is defended by an inteceptor which takes off to defend. I noticed one time, just before the crash, that the "view" of the game jumped dramatically when the defending fighter began to emerge. I think this may be the source of the crashes. But then, I am not sure. But many of us report that the crashes do not occur until Airpower appears in the game. On a current game, I was playing in 1024x768 resolution until Airpower. I had a crash. I swithed to 800x600 16 bit. I have not had a crash since. If I recall, this is very unusual. The only thing I did to change my system is that I installed both IE 5.0 and DirectX 6.02. But here is something about 1024x768 resolution that causes the problem - at least on my machine. Just some thoughts. Ned |
| DrJudas |
posted 06-04-99 01:25 PM ET
This is the error I've been getting: TERRAN caused an invalid page fault in module TERRAN.EXE at 015f:0046d66d. As some people have mentioned before, this seems to happen when an interceptor scrambles to defend a city. Like most, I'm using version 3. In this case, I started the game on one computer at home and continued it on a computer at school. The one at home never had any problems (with any of the enhancements), but the one at school seems to have a serious problem with Terran.exe when the aforementioned fighter scrambles. The computer at home is a AMD K6/233 (non o/c), with 64MB of RAM, on an Asus T2P4. It has an Intergraph Intense 3D 100, running in 800x600 resolution. The one at school is a Celeron 300A (non o/c), with 64 MB of RAM, on an Abit Bh6, with a Diamond Viper 330 (8 MB of RAM). Both have Soundblaster 16's I'll try switching to 800x600 resolution here and seeing what happens. |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 06-04-99 09:26 PM ET
DrJudas, you have the same problem I did, and it seems to have been solved by better cooling on my CPU. I have the same CPU and memory, and the same error. I cleaned the heat sink on my CPU and that helped, then because I was doing some other things, I left the case off, and since then I have yet to have a problem. I suggest you get a heftier heatsink, or skin the case. I'm going to do both... |
| Chris hine |
posted 06-04-99 11:34 PM ET
Hi, this my first time here. I saw that this thred had something to do with my problem so I figured I'd start here. I came because ever since I updated my game to V3.0 I get an "illegal operation" shut-down-the-program message every time I try to start a new game. I think the problem occures when the game trys to open the sound file for the faction I picked. It seems to do the same thing all over the place in the game at random times too. I was skimming through the other posts and saw some stuff about banshee cards, of which I have one (Dimond Monster Fusion) but I want to get a TNT2 soon...... Other than that I've got PII 400 w/ 64RAM, an 8.4 gig drive w/ about 4 left and (as far as I know) a generic 16-bit sound card. If anybody has already found a fix to the problem I would be very thankfull to know it. I think it might be time for a new patch if this as big a problem for a lot of other ppl as it is for me......... thanks |
| Chris hine |
posted 06-04-99 11:36 PM ET
oh yeah, it says TERRAN caused the problem. |
| Ned |
posted 06-06-99 01:27 AM ET
All, Since I reinstalled my sound card drivers and DirectX 6.02, I have not had a crash. I don't know which one fixed the problem. However, I suspect it was the former. I suspect that SMAC or some other program replaced critical .dll's with faulty drivers. So, I would recommend reinstalling your sound card drivers and upgrading DirectX to the lastest version. Ned |
| Lex Talionis |
posted 06-06-99 04:02 AM ET
Hi, I've been reading this thread and realize that I am having this EXACT problem - invalid page fault in module terran.exe. Here is my system: Celeron 300A Overclocked to 450 MHz 128 megs RAM 8.4 gig HD, 3.5 gigs free HD never more than 5% fragmented Blaster Banshee 16 MB video card (Voodoo II) Sound Blaster live 128 sound card Windows is managing my swap file. Here's the history: My plea for help: Thanks |
| Earwicker |
posted 06-07-99 07:54 AM ET
On Friday I reloaded the game from my CD but did not re-install patch 3. Happy times: I was able to play for a 4-hour stretch (no crash, just had to go to bed). Pretty convincing evidence that the trouble is how the machine runs with the patch, other than any more widespread system problem. I suspect I'll just leave it unpatched for the time being. Ironically, now that I've returned to Version 1, I really notice how much better the patch made gameplay. I hope there's something else to fix it, or that Version 4 is the solution. |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 06-07-99 08:30 AM ET
Lex: Start by restoring your clock speed to it's rated value. We normally have only seen overheating issues with non-intel processors, but your's is WAY overclocked. Chris: It may be the soundcard's compatibility with DS3D. Try setting the EAX and DS3D entries in the alpha centauri.ini file to 0. An alternative is to rename the sound.dll to sound.dl_. jkm firaxis games |
| ronmcdwv |
posted 06-07-99 11:11 AM ET
Am having TERRAN.EXE "invalid page fault" errors since installing V.3. 90% certainty of game crash when interceptors (either mine or opponents) scramble against air attack. Have been able to prevent crash by loading AUTOsaved game back one turn and either disbanding my interceptor (when my interceptor causes the crash) or cancelling my air attack (when the opponent's interceptor causes the crash). Did not experience any TERRAN.EXE crashes with V.2. Have tried setting EAX and DS3D to 0 with no noticeable improvement. Have installed the latest Creative Labs AWE64 and STB video drivers with no improvement. Am running a 300 mhz Pentium II and have a tough time believing that this is an overheating or overclocking problem. |
| DrJudas |
posted 06-07-99 08:13 PM ET
Well, my problems were solved by a suggestion I got here in the forums. I simply switched to 800x600 resolution, and I played the game through without a hitch. No crashes at all. Finally got to see my Ascent to Transcendence. Very nice. So there must be some kind of weird problem with 1024x768. Regarding cooling, my Celeron runs very cool, as it is non overclocked (in addition to the case fan and cpu fan I've got). So I'm pretty sure it is not cooling which is a problem. |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 06-08-99 08:22 AM ET
Ron: Try the 800x600x8bit suggestion. The memory footprint shrinks signifigantly at that resolution, so if it is a virtual memory problem it will help. jkm firaxis games |
| Mugwump |
posted 06-08-99 07:24 PM ET
I just got Alpha Centauri last week. Great game! the 3.0 upgrade crashes big time when loading. I am running '98 on a 350 PII, 128 megs ram. I re-installed 1.1 from the disk. 3.0 never runs, no matter what screenmode I use. |
| Lex Talionis |
posted 06-09-99 03:38 AM ET
I'll try the processor, but the Celeron 300A to 450 MHz is a VERY stable overclock. I think its unlikely that it is overheating (CPU is running at 2.1 v and never has risen over 30 degrees that I've seen). Also, the game NEVER crashed, (and I played two games to completion on a huge map), before I installed the V3 patch. Perhaps a dumb question: Would an overheating processor really cause a "page fault in terran.exe" error? Seems to me if the processor overheated you'd have to reboot to fix. For me only SMAC dies - everything else is fine. |
| Lex Talionis |
posted 06-09-99 04:29 AM ET
Well, I clocked my Celeron back to 300 MHz and played. Things were going well - I was almost going to come back here and ask you to help me pull my foot out of my mouth. Unfortunately, (thankfully, for my ego), it crashed after about an hour. This time I was in the process of giving movement orders to a colony pod - clicked the mouse where I wanted pod to go, and as soon as I removed my finger from the button, it puked. Same error as always (page fault in terran.exe). |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 06-09-99 08:14 AM ET
Mug: Problem that crop up specificly with v3 relate to sound. Try setting the EAX and DS3D entries in the alpha centauri.ini file to 0. An alternative is to rename the sound.dll to sound.dl_. It'll let us know if we're on the right track. What's your hardware specs anyway? Especially sound and video hardware. Lex: Hey, troubleshooting mean (to me) systematically eliminating potential causes. It's not a competion. Try the sound tweaks detailed above. Also, try setting your hardware acceleration to 0 by right-clicking on the my computer icon, selecting properties, then performance, then graphics. Set this slider to 0. You might want to try some of the ini file tweaks listed in the readme.txt, especially the oldvoxel one. Matches your symptoms. jkm firaxis games |
| bigcanuk |
posted 06-13-99 02:04 AM ET
Hope this post is not to late to be read. I had exactly the same prob too! Dell xps350 stock factory almost new. I suffered by restoring from auto save files One day I changed my COLORS from 65000 to 256 problem solved!!! I would guess a video driver conflict. |
| ntfdaway |
posted 06-20-99 01:49 AM ET
Same prob here. Usually late in game.3gig available. first aid crash protector sometimes allows saves. Current game crashes at probe activity. random causes also. I shut down all programs, still crashes. all resolutions (640x480,800x600, 1024x 768, 1280x1024)still crashes. all colors (256, 16bit,32bit, still crashes. Heres the latest crash report from first aid:First Aid Crash Protector Problem Report - Saturday, June 19, 1999 7:05:57 PM Fault Description Registers Bytes at CS:EIP Stack Dump Running Programs Memory Drives |
| ntfdaway |
posted 06-20-99 02:52 AM ET
Her's one with just first aid, explorer and resource monitor running.:First Aid Crash Protector Problem Report - Saturday, June 19, 1999 11:12:13 PM Fault Description ================= C:\PROGRAM FILES\FIRAXIS GAMES\SID MEIER'S ALPHA CENTAURI\TERRAN.EXE caused an "Access Violation" fault in module TERRAN.EXE at 015F:006262CB. Registers Bytes at CS:EIP Stack Dump Running Programs Memory Drives |
| ntfdaway |
posted 06-20-99 02:56 AM ET
Hers one with only explorer running :TERRAN caused an invalid page fault in module TERRAN.EXE at 015f:006262cb. Registers: EAX=00340028 CS=015f EIP=006262cb EFLGS=00010246 EBX=00000179 SS=0167 ESP=00bfa52c EBP=00bfa670 ECX=057710bc DS=0167 ESI=008dd500 FS=29af EDX=7efefeff ES=0167 EDI=00bfa549 GS=0000 Bytes at CS:EIP: 8b 01 03 d0 83 f0 ff 33 c2 8b 11 83 c1 04 a9 00 Stack dump: 0017ffff 00465e65 00bfa548 057710bc 00000015 00000097 008dd500 00340028 |
| ntfdaway |
posted 06-20-99 02:59 AM ET
Please fix this. This would be the best game around if you could beat this extremely frustrating flaw. |
| LethalAgent |
posted 06-23-99 05:04 AM ET
Hi, all! I just discovered this site last week (don't ask!) and it feels sooo good to see I'm not the only one having trouble playing one of my favorite games. |
| Archer12345 |
posted 06-24-99 11:35 AM ET
ok i am also having this proablem but since i now close to nothing about computers could someone explain it a little more as to how i can attempt to fix this i can't even find this ini file and i belive it has something to do witht the sound because when i start up the game and there is sound when i get a new technolige it crashes but after a few restarts there will be no sound and i can play for as long as i want |
| Thork |
posted 06-24-99 12:22 PM ET
I am also having problems with SMAC crashing. I was playing a really fun very developed game . It eventually got to the point where i was crashing about every turn. Then the worst part happened it crashed at a point in the game and i have never been able to continue- every time i load it, it crashes. I Decided to start a new game and i havent had any problems with it, yet. The crashes may also have something to do with playing beyond the terminal year. |
| AlanTowers |
posted 06-24-99 03:29 PM ET
I had similar problems while running the Bitware rx manager in the background since closing it while playing. No Prob. Bye |
| ntfdaway |
posted 06-24-99 07:57 PM ET
HELLO FIRAXIS!!!!!!! ANYBODY HOME?????? ANYBODY GIVE A CRAP??????? WILL UPGRADE 4 FIX THIS CRAP OR ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE EVERYONE THERE MONEY BACK? I gave you the First Aid crash readouts. Don't you have anyone smart enough to figure this out? Or is the game just worthless? Nothing worse than playing a game for a week or two then not being able to finsh it! Please respond. |
| MCEscher |
posted 06-26-99 05:10 PM ET
2 days ago i went out and bought my copy of SMAC for about 60$ (110.000 italian lire). I'm a old civilization player so it was easy for me to start my first game as soon as i got SMAC installed. I got a crappy P-133 + 48 megs so the game runs quite slow for me, anyway i already know it (i played the demo before) nonetheless that didn't discourage me from purchasing my own copy because i was sure that i was gonna play SMAC for the years to come so i tought i could start practising with it while i'm waiting for a new PC. As i said above i played the demo before going to the store and i had an hard time trying to get it working because it kept crashing all the time. I tought that bug (whatever it was) was gonna be fixed in the full version but i was wrong. The game itself is awesome but how hell am i supposed to play it if i have to reboot my system every 10 minutes? Right now i'm stuck at the year 2257 and i just can't seem to be able to reach to the end of that damn turn without seeing that infamous window popping up and telling me that maybe i should take the game back. I've tried everything has been suggested on this forum in the hope to fix it...here's the result: "TERRAN caused a general protection fault in module GDI.EXE at 0001:00006681" (sometime TERRAN fails on itself so the module is terran.exe). Here's my configuration: P133 + 48 megs (no, it's not overclocked  Windows95-FAT16 (that's the build 4.00.950a) a 4 megs S3 Virge DX video card Creative SB-awe64 600 Mb of swap file Directx 6.1 (everything is microsoft certified except the audio drivers which are the latest build from Creative) i've renamed the sound.dll to sound.old i've even turned off the hardware acceleration (as suggested) Here's an extract from my Alpha Centauri.Ini: [Alpha Centauri] ds3d=0 eax=0 [PREFERENCES] ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1 Finally, i'm running SMAC-V2. That's the game version coming out of box...i didn't patch it 'cause the V3 italian patch isn't avalaible yet (shame on you). Mr.Morris.....are ya gonna track down that bug or i have to get a new pc and cross my fingers in the hope that SMAC will run flawless? |
| Scotty10 |
posted 06-27-99 01:11 PM ET
I got that too when i had the version 3 upgrade, except i got the error just after i pick a faction when starting a new game, it also made windows explorer lock up when i trying to open it, i had to fdisk and reinstall everything, right now i'm using version 1 and it works fine, as it did before i got it upgraded. my computer is a celeron 333a (not overclocked) with 64 meg sdram, a 3.2 gig HD with maybe 2 gig left, SB16 compatible onboard sound and 8 meg onboard AGP graphics. i'm not sure if it will work now since i reinstalled but i need to make sure. i would like a reply by email [email protected] |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 06-27-99 01:22 PM ET
Been on vacation for a while, so pipe up if I pass over you. ntfdaway: What's your system specs. Specifically amount of RAM, processor, video/sound card, and other details. I can see you seem to have enough virtual memory, but what else have you explicitly tried? Perhaps the save itself is the problem. Archer: The alpha centauri.ini file is located in the directory you installed the game into (default c:\program files\firaxis games\sid meier's alpha centauri). To determine if sound is the problem, either set the EAX and DS3D entries in that file to 0, or rename the sound.dll file also in the folder to sound.dl_. Let me know what that does. Thork: Sounds like virtual memory. Make sure you've got plenty of space on the c: drive (or wherever your swapfile resides), that space is defragged, and that windows is managing your swap file size. Large and Huge maps exacerbate this problem. MCEscher: Well, the GDI location of the fatal indicates the video card as the likely suspect. Try manually setting your desktop resolution to either 800x600x256 colors (8bit) or 1024x768x256. Also, try adding(?) directdraw=0 in the alpha centauri.ini file, if it's not already there. What's the hard drive size? How much space is free. Check my response to Thork. Scotty: Sounds like you solved whatever the problem was with the reinstall (yikes!). I don't think reinstalling v3 (or the soon to be released v4) will cause the problem to resurface. If it does though, PLEASE email me at [email protected] before you wipe out the HD again. That everybody? jkm firaxis games |
| MCEscher |
posted 06-27-99 03:18 PM ET
Glad you replyied me Mr.Morris. Thanx for paying attention to our problems. I got 3 giga HD which has been split in 2 chunks (1 giga and 2 giga). Windows95 950a has been installed on the one giga partition and right now the OS is handling the swap file. There are still about 600 megs free on this partition (that's C:.....where i install every utility or program which is worth to have). I've checked the integrity and then defragged my virtual C drive just yesterday so i'm sure there are no probs with it (as ya can see the swap file isn't fragmented at all). As for my video card i can tell you that the drivers i'm running right now are MS certified......at least that's what DIAG.EXE tells me. They should be the default drivers coming with windows95 (and you shouldn't be surprised about that given that my S3 Virge is older than CIV2). I don't think that what i'm gonna tell you might be relevant in order to solve my problem...anyway here's the deal, i got the win95 italian version and so are all of my drivers except the kernel (that i updated while trying to fix the terran problem on my own) and the video drivers which are english. I think you have a clear description of my system now and i'm *really* looking forward for the V4 patch to fix my problem...and the other bugs too (in another thread you told me that the italian V4 patch will be avalaible a little time after the others). |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 06-27-99 04:05 PM ET
Let's focus on the direct draw line. The fact that the desktop still resizes after you've added it indicates that it was probably in the wrong place. Make sure to put it under the [alpha centauri] heading, probably at the end, but before the preferences heading. Also, make sure that it's not already in there somewhere, as it will only read the first entry. Another thing to try is to undo the forceoldvoxel setting, unless you enabled it to trouble shoot this problem. As far as v4 goes, the only fatal that fixes is related to DS3D capabilities being misdetected by the game. In other words, I think this is a tricky system config problem, and one that the v4 patch may very well not address. jkm firaxis games |
| Fenix |
posted 06-27-99 10:32 PM ET
I have a K6-2 333/66 overlocked at 350/100, 128MB Ram 16meg TNT video card and diamond MS MX300 soundcard, and I too experienced a few of the Terran.exe crashes, however since, adding another fan to my system to get better air throughtput, It hasnt crashed once, additionally it only crashed before once in a while when i was exiting the program. If anyone else has problems with this error try putting another fan in your case doing the opposite of the existing fan, i.e. if the power supply fan is sucking air out make the second one pull air in. |
| sandworm |
posted 06-30-99 09:37 AM ET
Has anyone tried downloading a temp copy of Memturbo to see if that helps? I read some posts by some people who sounded like they knew what they were talking about (I'm not sure I did) say it helped with the time-delayed crashes by cleaning up "memory leaks" that gradually use up system memory and crash the game. |
| azinnike |
posted 07-02-99 02:15 AM ET
Hey guys....I found one answer for my problems see if it fixes yours. If you get the patch for the kernel32.dll file from windows it fixes the memory leak problem. Try it and tell me if it works. If someone finds another reason for the crash please tell me. Nick ([email protected]) |
| ntfdaway |
posted 07-03-99 11:59 PM ET
OK. Gateway P-II, 350mh, 96MB sdram,STB Velocity 128 8mb,Creative Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64V. |
| ntfdaway |
posted 07-04-99 12:20 AM ET
I tried all remedies posted here. I can't find kernel32.dll. Searched microsoft website, no luck. |
| jimbo139 |
posted 07-07-99 04:48 PM ET
i have just one question for all of you. How many of you getting this error are not running windows 98? Because i'm getting this error all the time too, and i know windows has a lot of problems with almost everything i seem to do. good luck all |
| StarChaser Tyger |
posted 07-07-99 06:26 PM ET
Found the link for the update for kernel32.dll...as with everything on M$'s site, it's really hard to find. I don't know if the below will get you to it or not (that's all one link)but if not, go to www.microsoft.com/downloads, choose 'search by keyword', type in 'kernel', choose 'windows 95'. It's the only file that will appear. (clicks on the link and gets a more direct one) Here we go... http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/KRNLUPD.EXE And again, that's all one link. Now, my NEW question: Has anyone found a fix for the air-defense crash? When I attack a Hive former it crashes; if I ignore the former, they send a plane in and when it starts to pivot to attack my base, it crashes. |
| azinnike |
posted 07-09-99 02:22 AM ET
Dang....now that i have updated to 4.0 the game doesnt even start. When loading it has a kernel32.dll error and crashes, when i had 3.0 with the kernel patch everything went fine...Im confused... nick |
| jellocat |
posted 07-10-99 04:28 PM ET
I keep getting the following error:
I've got a 333mhz, amd k-6, 64megs ram, 13gig hd. I'm playing a large map made by myself. |
| Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS |
posted 07-12-99 08:17 AM ET
Jellocat: It sounds like you're exhausting virtual memory. Make sure you've got plenty of free HD space available (300+ for large/huge maps), that space is defragged, and that windows is managing your swapfile zie. azzin: Is it the kernal32.dll error again? jkm firaxis games |
| luzerKing |
posted 07-12-99 04:47 PM ET
Just want to let the huddled massed know that if you get the latest patch, 4.0, it totally, and I mean totally, got rid of this problem for me. I played a cheat game over the weekend. I had hundreds of units, used many PB's, had full sound, etc. and in the nearly 24 hr stretch of this game...not one crash. I've got a sh*tty soundcard and video card and if this fixed it for me....it should work for everyone. Thanks, Firaxis. |
To close this thread, click here (moderator or admin only).  |
Powered by: Ultimate Bulletin Board, Version 5.18
© Madrona Park, Inc., 1998.
kept track of these, they are always different.)