HELP...!!! Torque crashes even BEFORE splash screen for customer
by Nmuta Jones · in Torque Game Engine · 04/08/2010 (9:20 am) · 14 replies
I have a completed game that I've distributed to a pretty large number of people. No problems for anyone so far...
until today. One client has a Radeonx300 video card with 128 MB of VRAM. The drivers are from 2004.
Should run TGE just fine.
System has XP with 1 Gig of RAM .
She is able to play other low res 3D games. When she tries to run Torque Game Engine, it crashes before the splash screen is even able to come up. And it says that the computer must be shut down to avoid errors.
I'm sure its a video card issue.... but to crash even before the SPLASH screen comes up??????????never seen that before.
I used TeamViewer to remotely view her PC and I changed the prefs.cs and default.cs to force Direct3D instead of OpenGL (I originally had OpenGL as the default)
still crashes.
Anyone know what I can do as a next step? This one really has me puzzled....not sure what to do next.
It's a really bad problem because it crashes her entire PC and she has to reboot each time it happens.
until today. One client has a Radeonx300 video card with 128 MB of VRAM. The drivers are from 2004.
Should run TGE just fine.
System has XP with 1 Gig of RAM .
She is able to play other low res 3D games. When she tries to run Torque Game Engine, it crashes before the splash screen is even able to come up. And it says that the computer must be shut down to avoid errors.
I'm sure its a video card issue.... but to crash even before the SPLASH screen comes up??????????never seen that before.
I used TeamViewer to remotely view her PC and I changed the prefs.cs and default.cs to force Direct3D instead of OpenGL (I originally had OpenGL as the default)
still crashes.
Anyone know what I can do as a next step? This one really has me puzzled....not sure what to do next.
It's a really bad problem because it crashes her entire PC and she has to reboot each time it happens.
About the author
Lead Developer for MediaBreeze Multimedia
#2
We tried to update the drivers and Windows said that those drivers were the most up to date for that particular card.
Its a Radeonx300
I have seen TGE run on video cards with only 64 MB VRAM . TGE can run on virtually ANY machine. And it was made to do so in the early 2000s.
04/08/2010 (2:29 pm)
Yeah but I first started using Torque in 2002 and it was made to run on hardware from 2000 and before. So that is no excuse. We tried to update the drivers and Windows said that those drivers were the most up to date for that particular card.
Its a Radeonx300
I have seen TGE run on video cards with only 64 MB VRAM . TGE can run on virtually ANY machine. And it was made to do so in the early 2000s.
#3
04/08/2010 (2:35 pm)
check her console and see where it crashes..and upgrade her drivers and see if that fixes it 
#4
Did the console log manage to output anything at all?
04/08/2010 (2:39 pm)
Did you try checking for newer drivers directly from ATI and not via Windows? Also if it's a Dell machine there's a good chance it's from that era were Dell forced people to user Dell signed drivers, in which case she'll need to check for drivers via their site.Did the console log manage to output anything at all?
#5
04/08/2010 (2:58 pm)
Yeah, the console was too long to paste in this window. I am going to try to post it.
#6
mediabreeze.com/console.htm
04/08/2010 (3:12 pm)
Here is the console.log file she sent me. Does not look complete at all.... mediabreeze.com/console.htm
#7
It's missing:
Edit: This is the top of a console.log for tge 1.5.2
04/08/2010 (5:13 pm)
The console log doesn't show all the info it should be showing.It's missing:
//-------------------------- 3/1/2010 -- 19:00:11 -----
Processor Init:
AMD (unknown), ~2.20 Ghz
(timed at roughly 2.19 Ghz)
FPU detected
MMX detected
3DNow detected
SSE detected
Math Init:
Installing Standard C extensions
Installing Assembly extensions
Installing FPU extensions
Installing MMX extensions
Installing 3DNow extensions
Installing SSE extensions
Input Init:
keyboard0 input device created.
mouse0 input device created.
DirectInput enabled.
Initializing chunk mappings...
o 'TEXT' maps to TextChunk
o 'SCHK' maps to UnknownChunk
o 'SCHK' maps to SimChunk
--------- Loading MODS ---------
Loading compiled script starter.fps/main.cs.
Loading compiled script common/main.cs.
Loading compiled script starter.fps/client/defaults.cs.
Loading compiled script starter.fps/server/defaults.cs.
Compiling starter.fps/client/prefs.cs...
Loading compiled script starter.fps/client/prefs.cs.
Compiling starter.fps/server/prefs.cs...
Loading compiled script starter.fps/server/prefs.cs.
Loading compiled script creator/main.cs.
Loading compiled script common/main.cs.
--------- Parsing Arguments ---------
--------- Initializing MOD: Common ---------
Loading compiled script common/client/canvas.cs.
Loading compiled script common/client/audio.cs.at the beginning. Without some of those scripts...(canvas.cs for starters) nothing can render.Edit: This is the top of a console.log for tge 1.5.2
#8
04/08/2010 (6:32 pm)
I know. That's why the console confuses me. It doesn't show everything.
#9
EDIT
also try deleting the prefs.cs and forcing the defaults since maybe it might be an audio issue (i had it happen to me way back when)
04/08/2010 (6:49 pm)
put trace(1); at the top of the main.cs in the game root then run it and see where the console stopsEDIT
also try deleting the prefs.cs and forcing the defaults since maybe it might be an audio issue (i had it happen to me way back when)
#10
and deleting prefs.cs is a good idea too.
will try , thanks.
04/08/2010 (6:54 pm)
Yeah, I couldn't figure out how to run a trace since I can't even get a splash screen , but putting it at the top of main.cs is a great idea. and deleting prefs.cs is a good idea too.
will try , thanks.
#11
TGE 1.5.2 was created in what 2006? and is a very different beast from the tribes2 game, advanced lighting etc, and not forgeting some fairly major advances in DirectX technology.
While not trying to offend or anything, sombody who has a 6+ year old PC probably hasnt updated all kinds of things, my first step would be to get the DX web updater and check on service packs.
The fact that it appears to be crashing out rediculously early probably indicates that its crashing out when interrogating the hardware, if you could get the error numbers from the bluescreen that would help narrow down the issue i'm sure.
04/14/2010 (9:13 am)
Just as a point of order...TGE 1.5.2 was created in what 2006? and is a very different beast from the tribes2 game, advanced lighting etc, and not forgeting some fairly major advances in DirectX technology.
While not trying to offend or anything, sombody who has a 6+ year old PC probably hasnt updated all kinds of things, my first step would be to get the DX web updater and check on service packs.
The fact that it appears to be crashing out rediculously early probably indicates that its crashing out when interrogating the hardware, if you could get the error numbers from the bluescreen that would help narrow down the issue i'm sure.
#12
The answer was "yes"....but when I saw the game it had some pretty old graphics so my guess is that it may have used either software rendering, or very old DX7 technology that did not ask it to do what I'm asking
HOWEVER..... with all that said, the "SPLASH" screen should still at least come up on her PC. That is not dependent on 1.5.2 technology at all, is it? I mean just to get a splash screen....that should occur on anyone's machine without error.
04/14/2010 (9:18 am)
Yeah, I'm using TeamViewer to remotely control her computer while she watches. You're right...its an old machine. And I told her the same thing.... I asked her.....um.... have your son ever played ANY 3D games on this computer? The answer was "yes"....but when I saw the game it had some pretty old graphics so my guess is that it may have used either software rendering, or very old DX7 technology that did not ask it to do what I'm asking
HOWEVER..... with all that said, the "SPLASH" screen should still at least come up on her PC. That is not dependent on 1.5.2 technology at all, is it? I mean just to get a splash screen....that should occur on anyone's machine without error.
#13
04/14/2010 (9:35 am)
The splash screen is absolutely dependent upon the tech. It's part of the engine. If the engine is failing to initialize due to something on the machine not being up to date or supported then it'll crash when it tries to do that.
#14
The raw specs of her machine should support it, if the gfx is updated.
04/14/2010 (9:44 am)
Cool, yes, well we are going back on TeamViewer soon and I'm going to use ATI's automatic driver detection tool to get her new ATI drives from the source. I thought the splash screen was only using very very basic features re: rendering, etc. (nothing processor, GFX, or memory intensive), but yeah, her system is just simply crap so the new drivers should help get her closer to the modern age, if possible. The raw specs of her machine should support it, if the gfx is updated.
Torque 3D Owner Thomas Bang
Bad.