unspecific error encountered

[Shadow]

I am posting this for a friend of mine who encountered this everytime he play the game.

His game crashes and he recieved this message

Total War: The game encounter a unspecific error and need to exit now

This happened both on the map and during battle.

RAM:1.5k single row ddr
Processor: P4 2.4 gh
Graphic card: Radeoan 9600 Series 256mb

Any help?

[RoadKill]

Did he get that during the "Ai movement periods" ?
Beuase during my englishcampaign after a while everytime i pressed next turn my game crashes too, so if its that just do a new campaign.

[sapi]

Has he used the unpacker?

If yes, did he delete the files as per the readme?

[sbroadbent]

I got a similar error but it was during the campaign when the pre-battle screen came up. I think I right-clicked on one of the general's portraits (to view the troops) and the screen went briefly black before popping up the error.

I'm using 1.1 and have not touched the game files in any way. It's only happened once so far.

[HKDDJulker]

i have encountered an error like that, and it only occurred after i unpacked the files and changed a couple of values. the game would crash out to an unspecified error every time i tried to load any battle. after i deleted the files, everything worked normally again.

[sapi]

That was because two of the unpacked files crash your game unless you delete them

[Hollerbach]

I used to get this kind of error in RTW. A campaign can get corrupted somehow and keep crashing at the same point. The only real solution was to start a new campaign, which really is not a solution at all.

I havn't seen this with M2:TW myself yet, but it happened to me a lot with RTW (no mods or any other hacks used, apart from patches). I hope this bug hasn't made it into M2:TW!

[Shadow]

what's a unpacker?

He just install the game from the DVD

I will ask him to try a new campaign and give u guys an update later.

Thanks for all the help ;)

[BobsYourUncle]

He could also try turning the graphics settings down a bit. I had a similar problem when I first got the game, with my old computer. It had a 6600GT, and I think it was the pixel shader that caused the problem, but I'm not 100% on that. Try dropping it back to the older version pixel shader (1.1 i think), and if that doesn't help, try dropping back other video settings.

[Shadow]

Okay. Starting a new campaign didn't do the trick and the graphics setting are low low low.

Anymore idea guys? Btw what is an unpacker?

[HoreTore]

Has he been tweaking the data files? Every time I screw up there, I get an "unspecified error" crash... A typo is more than enough.

The unpacker, is a program allowing you to access the data files, as they are packed when you install the game - hence "unpacker". There are two files there you need to delete for the game to work.

Other than that, what is happening when the game crashes? Is he encountering a specific enemy, doing a specific thing?

Oh, and of course, MAKE SURE he has the latest video drivers.

[Shadow]

Okay, so what are the two files that he have to delete?

[helmeteye]

I have the same problem. I have a new power supply just for this game. I have all the drivers updated. I have a 7600gs and have tried lowering all the setting. I have reinstalled about 15 times and currently have vers 1.1 unpacked. I have used the unpacker with the 2 mentioned files deleted and still got this problem.

I am not saying for sure that it is the game causing the unspec error because I have another game that does it. I bought star trek legacy just to trouble shoot for mtw2 and it crashes with its own problems. Using stl forums I am sure that in that case it was the game.

The first time I used the unpacker, I managed to create a bin file or whatever it wants me to do. I can't remember how I did that though and the instructions are very vague for a non techie. If I were to use the unpacker again I would like to know how to create this file with a step by step as I am not a techie.

I have enjoyed all the different versions of total war, including many mods, until now. I took a long break from gaming and can't even remember the most basic modding stuff.

[Foz]

Okay, so what are the two files that he have to delete?

The two file names can be found in the unpacker ReadMe.txt file. It's in the "Medieval II Total War\tools\unpacker" folder, where the game stores the unpacker. IIRC the pertinent section is near the bottom, and should mention a "timestamp check."

If you can't find the named files (in "Medieval II Total War\data" by default), then your friend probably hasn't unpacked the game (and you should report that here).

[Bartix]

For me I get this after playing some time if I over clock to much.
It is ultimate stability test, I run other bench mark and stress test application fine, but 1 or 2 hour play M2TW, I get un specified error. Clock down again, no error.

[Shadow]

He can't find the unpacker folder but he does have the data folder.

I too do not have the unpacker folder and yet i can play the game without much of a problem (game did crash a few times during big battles)

[Carl]

If he has Patch 1.1 then he should have the Unpacker folder (actually it should be in a folder called tools that is in the same sub folder as the Data folder. The npaker Folder is i the Tools folder).

Peice of advise. Tell him to uninstall the game. Go into his M2TW folder and find the folder called "SEGA" delete it manually.

THEN and only then, re-install the game.

Tell us if it still crashes after that.

[Slug For A Butt]

@Shadow. How old is the hard drive? The reason I ask is that I used to get this exact same problem all the time.And it always seemed to happen when the game was saving to the hard drive e.g. saving game or end turn.
I had a really old hard drive for my OS(about 6 yr old ). I installed a new drive with all the other exact same hardware and it NEVER happened since.
Just a thought.

[Shadow]

He just bought his hard drive two weeks ago so i think it should not be the problem. I think i will ask him to try reinstalling to see if there is any chance.

[tomski]

hi guys, i to have this problem its only just started on some battles. i have a advent 7016 laptop with 512 ram just installed. why as this just started, is it because i use the cheat mode on occassions?? i am new to this . but i will try re instaling, is it safe to delete the sega file.

[Shadow]

Reinstalled and it didn't work, so i guess this is the last straw. Unless someone has other ideas.

[Foz]

Reinstalled and it didn't work, so i guess this is the last straw. Unless someone has other ideas.

I'll keep thinking on it and see if I come up with anything... but at the least the 1.2 patch is due out tomorrow, so you can have him download and install that, it may fix the problem.

It's also possible he hit the elephant unit bug - someone else on the thread was reporting that it's possible to make your game entirely unplayable if you hit the elephant bug. It wasn't always making it unplayable forever, but sometimes gave that result. It must corrupt something vital in the registry is the theory. The workaround was to create a new user account, and begin running the game from there. Apparently each time it happens you can make a new account and continue playing with that one until it happens again. So that'd be the other great suggestion of the moment, to have him create a new user just to play the game with (don't bother personalizing it since you only need it to run the game) and see if that sets things right for the moment.

[tomski]

yes it seems it could be , mine only started when i had elephant cheats