Solving the Loadgame AI Bug - A suggested approach

[Kull]

While burrowing through all the commentary in the Application Hibernation thread (the link was posted earlier), I came upon a few gems that you might enjoy:

1) "I guess (being in games) I always hated games that saved games by writing out all of the allocated memory, and restored them by reading it and fixing up the pointers (often missing a few of the pointers in the process). Serialize everything, and you've solved both saving and reproducing any kind of state you need for your application."

Hmmm, I wonder if this is how we get the "Loadgame AI" bug?

2) "I want this feature. Always have. [snip] I also have Rise Of Nations open and minimised and it's been minimised for 5 days. [snip] I want RON and the IE windows to go away from my taskbar for a while. And to survive a reboot (as 5 days ago I rebooted with another RON minimised)."

And here's the absolutely classic reply:

"I thought most games had a "save" feature anyway?"

I will now die laughing!!!

[bouis]

I don't think the dual boot option is a very good idea either, since it means you have to stop everything else you're doing in order to play.

VMWare might be the best option, if it has improved any since I last used it a long time ago. Unfortunately back then RAM certainly wasn't the only limitation. It rarely worked for 3d apps, and when it worked it was awfully slow.

I will give it a shot though.

[Kull]

I don't think the dual boot option is a very good idea either, since it means you have to stop everything else you're doing in order to play.

I'm not particulary thrilled with it either, but the goal is to develop workable solutions to the bug. Since we can't get into the source code and CA is unwilling to address it, we're left with these sledgehammer approaches. But any choice is better than no choice. Speaking of which.....

VMWare might be the best option, if it has improved any since I last used it a long time ago. Unfortunately back then RAM certainly wasn't the only limitation. It rarely worked for 3d apps, and when it worked it was awfully slow.

I will give it a shot though.

Many thanks for taking this on, and I look forward to hearing the results of your tests! Good luck!

[Kull]

I've been experimenting with Boot Loader programs, and they do allow for a successful dual-boot hibernate strategy. I'm always leery of recommending anything like this, since these programs usually install to the Master Boot Record, and since every system is different, what works for one person could totally hose someone else.

However. There is a freeware program called Gag45 that can be installed ONLY a floppy, and which successfully enables the Dual-boot Hibernate strategy. It can also be installed on your hard-disk, but that is strictly optional (and as noted above, "user beware"). If anyone is interested, I can provide more details on a safe dual boot-hibernate strategy using Gag45.

http://gag.sourceforge.net/download.html