TDM 2.03 crashes on F4 save

[dickivy]

On two occasions now, when I execute an F4 game save, TDM crashes to desktop with no error message. Upon loading the save game, I get a cache offset error and all my progress is lost.

I'm running on a Dell AIO27 Win 8.1 Am I alone or is there a fix for this problem?

[nbohr1more]

Was your save created before upgrading to v2.03?

 

Please post your Darkmod.cfg

 

Is your darkmod directory set to "Read Only"

 

What mission is affected?

[DeusXIncognita]

I know that error - its all missions.

There is a work around somewhere hidden in the forum - well not really a workaround.

I had to use that to have somewhat decent gameplay.

 

In essence, you change the commands, so you have two quicksaves with one Key, that save alternating. So when you crash with one, the other is still intact and hopefully not that far behind.

If I pieced it together right it works thus:

 

you open Darkmod.cfg

There you find:

bind "F4" "savegame quick"

after that you insert (or change, not sure anymore)

bind "F5" "exec quicksave1.cfg"

Additionally you create two txt files, one named quicksave1.cfg, the other quicksave2.cfg (be sure that there is no.txt behind it I think)

In the cfg files you have the following content:

 

quicksave1.cfg:

savegame quicksave1
bind f5 "exec quicksave2.cfg"
bind f9 "loadgame quicksave1"

and in the other:

quicksave2.cfg

savegame quicksave2
bind f5 "exec quicksave1.cfg"
bind f9 "loadgame quicksave2"

This way every save changes the savegame, and also the game that will be loaded on quickload, and you can easily play with one quicksave and one quickload button, that alternate two quicksaves.

When you crash on save and the savegsame is corrupted, you fal back on the older one.

[SteveL]

Hmm that's helpful but it's an elaborate workaround. Something to be avoided if possible.

 

I've never had a corrupt save game, so I'm at a loss how to reproduce or investigate the crash. Were both your saves at a similar point in the same map? That could be a specific bug.

 

Please check your folder read-only status as.nbohr1more suggested. We have had reports before of some tdm folders mysteriously going read only.

 

I'll have a look later whether we can implement "commit and rollback" semantics for overwriting save games, which would cure the loss of earlier saves if not the crash. The plan would be to write the new save to a temp file, then delete the old file and rename the new only after successful completion of the write.

[dickivy]

My .cfg file covers 7.5 WORD pages, so I'll refrain from posting unless someone insists.

It is not read only

the mission is Briarwood Cathedral.

Running the latest version of darkmod.

 

This happens with the F4 save and manual saving from the main menu. It's driving me nuts.

 

Rich

[161803398874989]

Put it in a pastebin and link it here.

[dickivy]

Not familiar with pastebin.

[161803398874989]

Not familiar with pastebin.

http://pastebin.com/

 

Do you want me to change your diaper too?

[dickivy]

http://pastebin.com/eCqqrDkD

[dickivy]

Now I have a new problem. I resurrected my Velocitymicro pc and installed darkmod.

Now the program freezes when downloading multiple missions. It will download one at a time or maybe a couple, but eventually it just freezes and I have to close it and restart darkmod.

This is a fresh copy of darkmod 2.03 on a clean pc running win 8.1 ]

Haven't tested the save game functions yet.

 

Is this a Windows problem with 8.1? What's going on here?

 

I posted my CFG file yesterday and am waiting for a response.

[nbohr1more]

Does your Dell have Intel or Nvidia graphics ( there are a few variants of the AIO27).

 

I would suggest changing:

 

seta com_videoRam "128"
seta image_downSizeBumpLimit "128"
seta image_downSizeBump "0"

 

to

 

seta com_videoRam "512"
seta image_downSizeBumpLimit "256"
seta image_downSizeBump "1"

 

then make sure to run TDM as Administrator.

[DeusXIncognita]

Is this a Windows problem with 8.1?

Its not, I am having Windows 7 and also the same problem, no idea what causes it, but most of the times trying to download more than one mission at once will hang up on the second mission.

Downlaoding one after another, even without exiting the downloader will work fine though in my case.

[dickivy]

Got TDM loaded and played Briarwood Cathedral from beginning to end with numerous saves/reloads on my Velocity PC without a problem.

This crash on save problem seems to be unique to my Dell AIO27]

I'll try the NVIDIA fix and see what happens.

I have been running as Admin all along as it won't run otherwise.

Thanks for the help

 

 

I downloaded all the missions one at a time. Yikes!

[DeusXIncognita]

I downloaded all the missions one at a time. Yikes!

Tedious - and still worth it

[dickivy]

Well, I need tech help again I'm afraid. I tried to change the CFG file in Darkmod and was denied access. I changed the file attributes to allow write function and still got denied. Must be a security flag set somewhere, but I can't find it.

Help anyone?

[DeusXIncognita]

Depends how you are denied access.

Is there an error or info you can write to make the problem more clear?

 

When I try to open it "normally" (double click) Windows tells me that it can't be opened - because it doesn't know the right program (loosly translated).

Then I can choose to search for the right program.

Then that file can be opened with the editor.

 

I do it differently though, and have installed notepad++, and have a direct link to edit that file with notepad++ when right klicking on it.

[SteveL]

You should be able to edit the file. Was it locked because a darkmod process was running? The downloader spawns a separate process, so maybe that was running if the main game wasn't.

[dickivy]

I can open it with wordpad,(notepad) make changes, but cannot overwrite the file. I can write to a different location however. I'll check the processes and see if any darkmod element is running and try again.

It just says access denied, you may need administrative rights. I don't know how to open a file with admin rights. I can and do run darkmod as administrator when playing the game.

 

It seems I don't have permission to write to "this location". Need Admin rights. I am log in as administrator, so what else do I need to do to write to darkmod.cfg?

Edited March 31, 2015 by dickivy

[Atomic]

Putting my hand up as someone else who's occasionally had a quicksave bomb out and crash the game, though for the last one or two crashes I could have sworn it happened upon making the first save of a mission rather than further into the mission, which is tolerable I suppose. Nothing special about my config apart from the fact I don't have any of the image_downsize* vars enabled as I want maximum visual quality (my GTX 770 can handle it).

 

Having said that, I also have occasionally encountered a failure to download missions, specifically the bit about it freezing up after downloading several at once. If it fails I just kill the dark mod process, clean out any temp files in the fms directory and try again. I suspect a dodgy mirror is responsible but don't have any proof.