Game crashes after reinforcement battle - is this the reinforcement bug?

[Comrade Alexeo]

I've started a Roman campaign partially because my first event with my reenacting Legion is this weekend and because Rome is just cool

After expelling the Epeirotes from the south of Italy and taking Rhegion, I pondered my next step. I could move on Epeiros and try and eliminate them, but invariably whenver I attack Greece I get bogged down there. I could move against the barbarians to my north, but I'm loath to attack their now-powerful infantry with my early hastati, principes, and triarii. For this reason I also decided to leave the northern Italian cities as rebel, so they would be buffers against barbarian aggression. I could move on Spain, but while its theoretically an easy conquest its also an extremely time-consuming one.

I decided to go for broke and landed a legion in Africa and quickly seized Kart-Hadast, crippling the Carthaginians while I send another legion to take Sicilia.

The Carthaginian force in Sicilia is concentrated in the person of Mago, the Carthaginian king with some 666 ( ) good-quality troops. There is also, however, right next to him 161 Phoenician Citizen Phalanx led by Captain Yahawwielon.

Here is where my problem arises:

Its winter, 269 BC. I attacked Yehawwielon (he was closer) with my 1229 troops. Predictably, he retreated. I then attacked Mago, and he also predictably retreated. As they retreated right next to each other, I attacked them once again head on.

The battlefield was absolutely perfect for usage of the checkerboard formation; it was large and perfectly flat, forcing the Carthaginians to play me at my own game - the set-piece battle. Since I wanted to crush the Carthaginians without risking any of them escaping, I simply waited in battle order while Mago's reinforcements arrived and set up. I then proceeded to attack and, if I do say so myself, did so brilliantly, leaving the battlefield with some 1033 troops... and leaving the Carthaginians wiped out.

The game was loading back to the campaign map when, to my horror, the screen turned black and it crashed to the desktop. No error message was given.

Needless to say, I was rather perturbed and annoyed by this, as I'd just conducted a very-well-fought, almost perfectly executed battle and all to no end.

I decided to try again and, once again, absolutely smashed the Carthaginians, leaving none alive and still coming out on top - though, annoyingly, this time I only had 965 survivors. Still, I'd take it, because now Sicilia was mine to exploit and pillage.

And then, to my disbelief, the game crashed again.







No error message was given either time. The issue cannot arise somehow from retreating troops because there were no troops to be retreated, and it was not a fight to the death because in theory they could still retreat to whatever that western Sicilian city is. It's not a matter of something wrong with turns because, since I was attacking of my own volition, my turn was still in play.

I'm at a loss as to what could have happened. So far as I can recall, I never encountered a "reinforcement battle bug" in my Parthian or Carthaginian campaigns (knock on wood). But the game doesn't crash when I try to start the battle, or even during the battle when the reinforcement armies arrive - it crashes after I've already won and eliminated everyone from the field.

I'm loathe to keep trying because I imagine that either I'll waste time and keep failing to get my victory or, more insultingly, I'll screw up in the battle because of my frustration, get a worse result, and then, magically, the computer will "decide" to cooperate and say "Oh, sure, now you can win, heh heh." That's also why I don't want to try an auto-resolve.

[orwell]

I'm not entirely sure what your error is actually defined as, but I've had similar things happen every single time I play Baktria. Is your battle heroic victory? Every time I've played as Baktria it was a heroic victory, as any less would leave me with too few troops to properly accomplish much of anything. Autoresolve worked to get past it, but every time I was decimated to the point of why bother playing when your economy can't support it. Rebels or seleukids will come and crush if you just build up your economy.

[therother]

Do you happen to still have a save of the affected game? If so, could you upload it somewhere, e.g. to the Org?

[orwell]

I never saved once on the campaign, because I would play till something like 5turns before I fought a battle, and now after my recent hdd crash both my cds and eb download are corrupted. Once I get total war eras I'll redownload and try again, though I'll probably just stick to learning coding so I can work with the team, instead of playing a full game.

[Slartibardfast]

I have five saves leading up to and saved at the crash point under similar circumstances in an Arvernii campaign.

All files are zip compressed and waiting.

Have never uploaded anything before but tell me how and where to and I'll endeavor too do so.

"Ashim shallah, your wish is my command."

[therother]

Could you (or anyone else with save games relating to this crash) upload them using this link:

https://www.europabarbarorum.com/gameuploader.html

Please zip/rar the file. Max filesize is 5120KB (5MB).

Many thanks!

[Goatus_Boyus]

Same problem here..crash after a battle,it happens if there is 3 forces involved,the only way around it is auto the battle,cause I know if there is 3 forces involved it will crash after the battle

[LordCarnate]

Same thing happens to me. Reinforcements battles are a major part of my strategies as i use them to lure strong opponents out of their settlements by attacking a nerby forces and causing the enemy to come out to render assisance. It is infuriating to decimate an oppenent and have your acheivement erased faster than you can say "victory". I plan to upload my game to the org once i get it to a point where i am about to enter a battle that normally crashes afterwards. I hope a solution is found soon as i am becoming fearful for my beloved casse empire.

[Tellos Athenaios]

What build of EB do you have?

It seems as if 0.7.4 has less or no problems with the reinforcement battles. I for one, playing EB 0.7.4 have never experienced one single reinforcement CTD.

If you're still using EB 0.7.2 then all you can do is either use the work around file, or patch to 0.7.4, and start a new campaign. Note that 0.7.2. saves are not compatible with 0.7.4. You can find the work around file here: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=68114 .

Or maybe it's just the faction you're playing with... maybe you should take the advice of Teleklos on what faction to play when 0.8 is out... maybe you should start playing Greek factions!

Hope this helps you out.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

The reinforcement problem continues to plague us. It makes no sense - the same triggers and traits work on autoresolve but don't work on manually fighting the battle out. That makes no freaking sense. We are still working on it, but we do have a definite way around it, just one we don't want to do.

[LordCarnate]

I cant speak for the other people but I have had this problem with v0.7.4. I have recently started a new campaign using the same faction as before and i no longer have the problem. The glitch appears to be entirely random. (although the only reinforcement battles I have played are battles with reinforcements on my side, as far as I know all my problems were when the opponent had reinforcements)

[Kull]

Same thing happens to me. Reinforcements battles are a major part of my strategies as i use them to lure strong opponents out of their settlements by attacking a nerby forces and causing the enemy to come out to render assisance. It is infuriating to decimate an oppenent and have your acheivement erased faster than you can say "victory". I plan to upload my game to the org once i get it to a point where i am about to enter a battle that normally crashes afterwards. I hope a solution is found soon as i am becoming fearful for my beloved casse empire.

First of all, having a strategy that SEEKS OUT reinforcement battles is almost insane, given the existance of this bug. It may be a great idea in theory, but until the bug is licked, you are just asking for trouble if you do this. If you simply MUST use this strategy then you also MUST install the reinforcement CTD bug patch - it nerfs the award of battle victory traits, but it eliminates the CTD altogether.

The other "solution" is a tad less optimal. I performed some very extensive testing, and there IS one thing you can do if you find yourself in a reinforcement battle through no fault of your own: Avoid the Heroic Victory! Better yet, seek to win an average victory, and it's highly unlikely the game will CTD.

[Zalmoxis]

No, I have a similar problem where I saved my game right as I was attacked (the battlescreen or whatever) with reinforcements from a nearby city assisting me. I tried several times and won several heroic battles, but after crashing several times, I decided to exit battle before it ended, and finish with an average defeat, but the game still closed.

After that, I started a new campaign, thinking I could make it work this time. I (of course) took the Dacians and selected one of my spies (the one the north) to enter the city with the Bastarnae. He went in, and the game crashed. Anyone know what to do?

EDIT: I sent the first file to EB under the name Dac.

[Kull]

No, I have a similar problem where I saved my game right as I was attacked (the battlescreen or whatever) with reinforcements from a nearby city assisting me. I tried several times and won several heroic battles, but after crashing several times, I decided to exit battle before it ended, and finish with an average defeat, but the game still closed.

Yes, you're right, I don't know what I'm talking about. Avoiding Heroic Victories has NO CHANCE of altering the outcome:

My second Reinforcement CTD, after playing many battles with reinforcements without CTDing, with many different conditions. I failed to keep the first CTD save-game though.

Eiperos vs Romani v.74,

How to reproduce the CTD:

1. Load the game.

2. Click on any town and activate the script (though it CTDed without it too, I tested it).

3. Look at the Italian boot, that's where the action will happen.

4. Press End turn, a Romani army SHOULD attack the little Eiperote stack sitting at the border, when the battle screen pops-up, select WITHDRAW from battle.

5. The Eiperote little stack will retreat a few steps back and sit right next to another Eiperote stack, the Romans should attack AGAIN. And it's in this battle, with an Eiperote reinforcement stack, PLUS a Romani reinforcement stack that the CTD will happen at the end of the battle (only tested a victory).

If things don't work as planned, let me know and I'll upload a save from the second battle screen pop-up:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V220UKOP

I tested this out with an EB v.74 setup, and here were the results:

1) Enemy had one army with a general, i had two armies with two generals. I deliberately decided to lose, just to see if that would cause a CTD. The result was a crushing defeat for me (my army "melted away), but no CTD.

2) Repeated the test, had identical force dispositions, and achieved a clear victory. No CTD.

3) Immediately after, returning from the Battle Map to the strat map, there was ANOTHER pre-battle map display. Apparently a second Roman army was hot on the heels of the first, and attacked me. Force dispositions were similar (1 army versus 2) but this time they were led by a Captain. Again I achieved a Clear Victory, and again, no CTD.

4) I combined my two armies under a General and attacked the Romans, putting Canusium under siege. The next turn they attacked 2 armies to my one, including a sally by the garrison of Canusium, with a captain and a general leading their forces. This time I achieved a Heroic Victory, but once again, no CTD.

Very odd.

Edit1: Once more into the breach!

5) Since the one-on-two didn't seem to be doing anything, I started over, and autoresolved into a defeat. The next turn the Romans had retreated north near Canusium, so I assembled a mid size army under a single General and followed after them, but stayed clear of Canusium (so the battle would have nothing to do with sieges). Sure enough, next turn the enemy attacked with two armies against my one (they had a captain and a general). The result was a long, bloody Heroic Victory, followed by a CTD!!! Woowoo! My first Reinforcement CTD!!

6) On a hunch, I decided to test out the same maneuver, but this time to fight the battle using a Captain. Basically I replicated all the moves from #5 and once again achieved a Heroic Victory, but this time there was no CTD.

Edit2: Used the exact same setup and ran out three more battles:

7) All three times I used a General. One battle was with scripts activated, and the other two were without scripts. All three resulted in Clear Victories. There were no CTDs in any of the battles.

Edit3: Modified the setup a little so I have fewer troops, and ran two battles:

8) Both times I used a General. One battle was with scripts activated, and the other was without scripts. Both resulted in Heroic Victories. Both times there was a CTD!

Edit4: The setup is now perfect. I can get a Heroic Victory anytime I want. Here are two more battles, identical troops to the previous two battles with one exception - No General leading my army:

9) Both times I used a Captain. One battle was with scripts activated, and the other was without scripts. Both resulted in Heroic Victories. Both times there was not a CTD!

Edit5: One final test. What happens if I lose?

10) Tried one battle, script on, army led by a General. The result was a Crushing Defeat, there was no CTD.

Edit6: What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment!

11) Tried two more battles, script on, army led by a General. The first one was an Average Victory, and there was a CTD. The second result was a Crushing Defeat, but this time I made sure not to harm the enemy Generals and ensured that mine escaped alive. Even so, there was no CTD.

If anyone wants to play with this, here's a link to the file.

And here's the start screen when you load it up. The army is in place near Canusium, surrounded by Romans and led by a Captain. If you want a General to lead your army, add the unit as indicated by the Green Arrow. When you are ready to go, just click End Turn:

[Tellos Athenaios]

I guess:

That makes no freaking sense.

.

Anyway, this is conclusive evidence for the thesis: massive odds aren't the same as 'that is bound not to happen'.

[Kull]

Fortunately this discussion is now a thing of the past - forever! The reinforcement CTD has been solved!