Error messages (Help again)

[BEES]

W&W is great but latly I have had trouble with the game crashing (WinXP), I have done the properties thing to make it think its on win 95? I have trouble with Ishad na, the castle, killing mantraps and other general things. Is there any help. I read the tech tips but it didn't help after i did them.

[Bungleau]

Hmmm... well, let's see. You've set the Win95 compatibility flag. Let's get the specifics nailed down here...

1. Is it just crashing, or are you getting some error messages (memory, etc.)? Details help...

2. What else is running while you're playing W&W?

3. How much swap space (virtual memory) do you have? Is it fixed or Windows-controlled? How much real memory do you have?

4. Have you defragged your hard drive recently?

5. Are you playing patched or unpatched?

6. Where specifically does the game crash? In the same place, after the same amount of time, during particular scenes, or something else? We're looking for the pattern here...

I think that's it for starters. Send back some answers and we'll see what we can do.

[BEES]

Number 1 Error messages
Number 2 ? Nothing is on the bottom bar
3 ?? How do I check
4 ???
5 Patched
6 It crashes when I enter into a town or creature den (when it has to load stuff) and when I kill man traps but not other creatures.
It is not time dependant it has nothing to do with spells (how I killed the mantraps)

[Bungleau]

Okay, let's see what I can clarify...

Originally posted by BEES: Number 1 Error messages Quit teasing What are the exact messages? Number 2 ? Nothing is on the bottom bar Bring up the Task Manager (right click on start bar or hit ctrl-alt-delete and select it). What other programs are running? What processes? The list may be long, but it can make quite a difference. 3 ?? How do I check Right-click on My Computer, click on Properties, click on Performance, click on Virtual Memory. The "Let Windows manage..." box is typically checked; check the other one and specify an upper and lower limit that is between 2 and 3 times your actual memory. For example, on this Win98 box (512MB memory) I've got it set to 1536 MB in both fields. Don't worry -- you're smarter than Windows. Just make sure you've got enough disk space for it. 4 ??? Okay... in Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, there should be a disk defragmenter option. Run it, being sure to disable all your power-off settings (screen saver, power management shutdown options, etc.). You can find those things by right-clicking on your desktop and selecting Properties. Fragmentation involves files being scattered all over the hard drive, making it take a long time to find the pieces when you ask for the file. Defragging makes them contiguous, or puts the pieces next to each other. It's much better, performance-wise, and can fix some game problems. *edit* Forgot to add that defragging can take a long time. Kick it off at night and turn off your monitor. 5 Patched 6 It crashes when I enter into a town or creature den (when it has to load stuff) and when I kill man traps but not other creatures. Hmmm... Sounds a bit like video card driver problems. What vid card are you using, and what version of drivers? And what version of DirectX? It is not time dependant it has nothing to do with spells (how I killed the mantraps) Well, that can rule out some things...

Okay, let's take it from there and see what we can do.

[ 06-30-2004, 11:29 PM: Message edited by: Bungleau ]

[BEES]

1. The instruction at 00420d1b referance memory at 00000514
The memory could not be read from
This started after talking to the wizard at the castle out side

2 In the Application box nothing
In processes box taskmgr, MSGSYS, msimn, svchost, rtvscan, defwatch, alg, sysupd, spoolsv, bargains, msbb, jusched, SOUNDMAN, khooker, vuptray, svchost, sistray, svchost, svchost, explore, svchost, IEXPLORE, lsass, services, winlog, csrss, smss, essspk System, System Idle Process.

3. I think i did it was not quite the same

4 Ok I will try

5 Again how do you tell (hmm this must make you bang your head on the desk in frustration!)

[BEES]

Forgot to add memory thing is set at 1440 was at 720 to 1440

[Bungleau]

Bees, I've got good news, and bad news for you.

The good news: I just saved a bundle on my insurance.

The bad news: Your computer appears to be sicker than a dead dog.

There's good news behind that, though: it's curable.

You've got spyware and potentially viruses running rampant. Specifically...

...bargains
...msbb
...soundman*
...khooker

are bad news. You don't want them there, with the possible exception of Soundman, which is related to RealPlayer somehow. Those things could be the source of your problems.

So what to do? Well, the first thing is to get protected. You can download (for free!) the following items:

1. Spybot Search & Destroy -- install it, run it, and have it clean up what it finds. You don't need no stinking spyware...

2.Ad Aware -- install it, run it, and have it clean up what it finds. Between it and Spybot, they get 'most everything.

3. HijackThis -- Run it and look at the results. It looks for anomalies -- things that don't seem quite right. It will identify things that are okay as well as things that are bad. Don't immediately have it fix what it finds -- only remove something if you've clearly identified it as a baddie. You can post parts of your log here, or over at spywareinfo -- they'll give you input on what you should get rid of.


Now, as far as seeing what versions of DirectX and vid card drivers you've got, go to Start, Run and enter "dxdiag" (without quotes) and hit return. This is the DirectX diagnostic tool, and on the video card tab, it will answer all these questions.

Let's take it from there and see what happens next. I'm going to be out on vacation next week with limited access, but I will try to dial in periodically to see if I can assist.

Good luck. Let's knock 'em down... [img]smile.gif[/img]

[So So]

HijackThis?... Never heard of it Bungleau... is it good?... One thing tho... a lot of these Spyware and Ad Aware things... you also have to be careful of what you get rid of... I used them, and without thinking got rid of a lot of stuff and a lot of my programs stopped working... so just a warning... be careful...

[Bungleau]

HJT is very good, So So. It's not an entry level tool, though... you really have to know what you're doing.

And you're right -- removing spyware and adware can sometimes disable what brought it into your computer in the first place. You have to ask yourself if you really want it there or not... Personally, I don't. I can get "it", whatever "it" is, without the adware, and I do it. And cheaply, because I hate to waste money

Don't forget the viruses/trojans/worms (one of each) that look like Windows system processes [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Sysupd.exe == TSCash

sistray.exe == Trojan.Prova

winlog.exe == W32/Agobot-LF

Also, after you've removed a bunch of worms & what not, you can kill most of those running processes for better game performance. For instance:

rtvscan.exe, defwatch.exe, and vptray.exe are all Norton AntiVirus running files (the last unique to Corporate Edition 7.x) and can be turned off during gaming -- I'd disconnect from the network first.

jusched.exe keeps checking the Sun site to see if a Java update is available, and should be killed when spotted without mercy

soundman.exe, by the way, is harmless: Sony/Philips Digital Interface input and output controller -- it does look to be a resource hog, though, and should also be killed when gaming.

msimn.exe is Microsoft Outlook Express, and should of course be shunned like leprosy. I'd recommend Mozilla Thunderbird, but now I'm just going to start a flame war...

Good luck, and always keep an eye on running processes!