campaign-crash 1204 to 1205, spanish only

[OnkelTom]

as the topic says, I have finished various conquer all campaings with italians, germans and so on, but everytime I play the spanish and reach 1204(should be the switch to high period), the game constantly crashes after the moves are done aka the start of 1205.
had the same problem in the highscore campaign with them aswell, but I think in highscore it happened with other nations aswell, but never in conquer all - at least till now.

tried all normal ctd-avoid-etc-tips, "slow" pc shouldnt be a prob aswell...dunno pretty frustrating

[macsen rufus]

Hi OnkelTom - what version of the game are you playing? Vanilla, VI, or a mod? It's YEARS since I've played the Spanish, but I've never seen this problem before.

[OnkelTom]

vanilla. no mods.

[The Unknown Guy]

It might not be related to the Spanish in particular, but one of those "corrupt savegame" problems, that just happened in that campaign.

[OnkelTom]

well I used quicksave alot but then again I just made a normal save "spanish 1204" and the latest quicksave is after that, both files crash at the switch to high

[macsen rufus]

I think the Unknown Guy is probably right, and you've got a save game corruption. AFAIK once there's something wrong in a campaign it will be locked in, even if it doesn't cause a crash immediately, it will still be in there when the conditions come along that it doesn't like. These things are most likely to occur where you've done a quick-save between battles and maybe re-fought half your battles in one year, the game sometimes seems to think that some units have died and not-died simultaneously (Schroedinger's Kataphracts, anyone )

This will sound harsh, but have you tried starting a whole new campaign and playing it through again? Other thoughts - do you have any Royal Knights in for retraining at the time (long shot, I know, but it's about the only early/high transition problem I can imagine so far - unless Spain has some "early-only" units that you may be (re)training). Either way, try the year again with all your training cancelled, see if that makes any difference.

Good luck (oh and welcome to the Org, by the way )

[OnkelTom]

well I ve played dunno 15 campaigns and this is the like hm 3.-4. that "features" such a problem.

btw reinstall, resolution changes didnt help aswell, might really be a corrupt save, even though I had such crashes in campaigns without any quicksaves.
moreover I use qs at the end of the turn, but never after the cpu-turns aka right in front of battles.

[macsen rufus]

Hmmm, okay, so it does sound a bit more complex than a save game corruption, or even a corrupt install. Have the Spanish EVER managed to get past 1204?

[The Unknown Guy]

We still exist, despite popular belief to the contrary. :p

[OnkelTom]

soooo I took a normal save of the same campaign from 1158 and played it till 1204, totally other development, less factions to calculate, etc - but guess what - still the same ctd over and over again, must be sth with the change to high.

[The Unknown Guy]

Maybe it was already corrupted back then
I know it´s a weak reply, and that it´s annoying to restart a campaign from early until l204, but I can´t think of any reason why Spain would crash and the other factions wouldn´t. :/

Have you asked in the "official" forums whether someone has had the same problem?

[macsen rufus]

[Thinks hard....]

I am even more mystified now! You say you have vanilla, is this from the original release or a Gold or Eras version? And no VI if I understand you aright - does it have the 1.1 patch, though?

Oh, dang it, I may just have to go and play a Spanish campaign for myself

[/ think hard]

[OnkelTom]

max patched for none-VI and I bought the game back when it was first released

and yeh, the corrution might have taken place before 1158, but somehow, why should the corrupt save just come up when ages change, to me it feels more like the game cant handle some part of all the restructuring or sth like that that has to be done when early changes to high.

another thing that comes to my mind is that maybe it is the fact that I do have too many citadelles and other stuff that wont have any real effect before high(milita-building) etc atm

[OnkelTom]

from the error.log

Errors for session started: Tue Apr 24 12:32:02 2007

C:\Med_Patch\Crusaders_TW\bmradar.cpp(287) : File Error : fopen(".\RadarMap\FlatInland20.map", "wb") - "No such file or directory"(2)

well actually I ask myself why the hell does the game search for a file in a folder that doesnt exist...

[caravel]

from the error.log

Errors for session started: Tue Apr 24 12:32:02 2007

C:\Med_Patch\Crusaders_TW\bmradar.cpp(287) : File Error : fopen(".\RadarMap\FlatInland20.map", "wb") - "No such file or directory"(2)

well actually I ask myself why the hell does the game search for a file in a folder that doesnt exist...

It doesn't. That is not the true path. During the development the files were stored in such a path and those were added as error messages to aid debugging perhaps. It looks like save corruption is your problem. Try clearing your savegames and starting anew. Also try reinstalling and repatching. nsure the CD is clean.

[OnkelTom]

well re-install and re-patch have already been done, how to "clean" my saves, other than not using quicksave?

[OnkelTom]

well a little update, new campaign, no quicksaves, spanish again, same thing, switched the resolution from 1280 to 800 and reloaded, et voila it worked, same thing didnt work with the other saves though

[The Unknown Guy]

If it´s of any consolation, my HRE campaign seems to be corrupt as well... everytime I fight past the year I´m in, and try to save the game, I crash :(

[caravel]

If you've modded the game then loaded an old save game that may be the cause.

A crash between 1204 and 1205 can be quite significant as it is at that point that new units become available (the end of the early era and beginning of the high era). It could still be cause by a corrupted save though.

To avoid corrupted saves:

1) Exit to the main menu and use the normal save.
2) Save the game only directly after ending the turn. That is: Hit end turn and then exit to the menu immediately and save the game. Do not move anything, or do anything on the map before this.
3) Never use the CTRL+S, quicksave randomly.
4) Never use, or rely upon, the pre battle quicksave.
5) If exiting to the main menu gives you random CTDs on occasions do the following:

CTRL+S, quicksave directly after ending the turn. That is: Hit end turn and then CTRL+S once the AI has finished moving and you're back in control. Then exit to the main menu and and save the game. Do not move anything, or do anything on the map before this. If the game crashed when exiting to the menu you have the quicksave as a backup.

To avoid crashes when exiting to the main menu, you may want to try older graphics card drivers.

[OnkelTom]

well I made it up to 1320 now, guess what next "new age" next ctd, still no mods, no quicksaves.

the resolution thing did not work this time, gorgeous :|

[caravel]

So both era changes cause a crash? I must say that in my experience such a problem can only be down to software corruption. The game enables new units when the era changes, that is the only effect eras have IIRC, and it is the enabling of those units that must be crashing the game. This may point to a problem in the unit prod file or something else. I know you've tried it before, and I'm sorry not to come up with any better solutions (I will be searching for anything similar), but I think you should try reinstalling again, but this time uninstall the game from the add/remove programs in the control panel as normal but also delete the installation folder the game leaves behind. This will be something like:

C:\program files\total war\medieval - total war\

You want to delete the "total war\medieval - total war\" bit and not the program files as that contains your other programs.

When you've done that check your CDROM for scatches or dirt and give it a clean, then reinstall again. Download the v1.1 patch again from here: http://www.totalwar.com/?lang=en

Then run the game, fire up a campaign and start again.


There is a way we can check the era change over quickly but it involves editing some of the games text files, this is how to do it if you wish to try:

Go to the folder: "c:\program files\medieval - total war\campmap\startpos"

You will see several files called early.txt, high.txt, late.txt

Copy early.txt and past it back in the same folder, you should end up with an extra file called: "copy of early.txt"

Open copy of early.txt, not early.txt (double click opens it with notepad). Right at the top you will see a section like this:

//========================================
//campaign name: can either be text or a 
//label. Set predefined accordingly
//========================================
cn_predefined::true
cn_title::"Early Period Title"
cn_short_title::"Early Period Short Title"

//========================================
//campaign description: can either be text
//or a label. set predefined accordingly
//========================================
cd_predefined::true
cd_line::"Era_Description_EARLY"
cd_predefined::true

//========================================
//hidden: set to true or false
//true means it won't show up on custom battle screens
//========================================
cd_hidden::false

//========================================
//Start Date
//The year in which this 
//campaign will begin
//========================================

SetStartDate::	1087
SetPeriod:: EARLY
SetEarlyPeriodStartDate::	1087
SetHighPeriodStartDate::	1205
SetLatePeriodStartDate::	1321

Change this as follows (you can copy and past the section but don't erase anything or make duplications, replace only in the same place):

//========================================
//campaign name: can either be text or a 
//label. Set predefined accordingly
//========================================
cn_predefined::false
cn_title::"Early to High to Late Transition Test"
cn_short_title::"Test"

//========================================
//campaign description: can either be text
//or a label. set predefined accordingly
//========================================
cd_predefined::true
cd_line::"Era_Description_EARLY"
cd_predefined::true

//========================================
//hidden: set to true or false
//true means it won't show up on custom battle screens
//========================================
cd_hidden::false

//========================================
//Start Date
//The year in which this 
//campaign will begin
//========================================

SetStartDate::	1087
SetPeriod:: EARLY
SetEarlyPeriodStartDate::	1087
SetHighPeriodStartDate::	1089
SetLatePeriodStartDate::	1091

When done fire up the game and select the campaign in your menu called: "Early to High to Late Transition Test". Start the campaign as the Spanish and end the turn twice, that will initiate the high era, twice again will initiate the late era. If it still crashes then file corruption, possibly caused by a defective disk, is likely to be the problem.

[OnkelTom]

well I ll try the reinstall again, but as I do have my "own" folder-structure, I ofc do make sure every uninstalled prog's folder is deleted aswell ;D

hm I did edit the startpositions once to enable nowgorod in early I guess, but as the modified files had no backup on my pc, well it shouldnt have been there after the last removal, thx alot again, I ll try what you purposed

[neon green ninja]

In case anyone is still playing this game and want to be the Spanish without dealing with this crash, you need to start a Crusade prior to 1204. I do not recall all the details from what I read a long time ago, but I have recently played as the Spanish and encountered this issue. I had a saved game around 1192 and went back to build the chapter house and start the Crusade (it was in Leon). I think you only need to start the Crusade; that is, you don't have to move to the selected province or complete your mission. However, I had completed the Crusade prior to the period change.

Having new units in the training queue or retraining units that get upgraded (Royal Knights) or disappear (vikings) due to the time change had no effect (I tested these hypotheses).

The game designers probably put a lot of work into their Knights of Santiago, and they decided to punish anyone who refused to create them!