CMSF CTD

[Andre Calais Salles]

Hello, everyone!

I just bought the game and I'm having problems with crashing after 30 minutes of play. After the first crash the game becomes totally unstable and the crashes starts happening on startup, at the menu or after 5-10 minutes of play. If I restart the computer the cycle beings again.

I installed the last driver for my AMD Radeon R7 265, the 17.40.1031-171102a-320048C-CrimsonReLive. Patched to the 1.32 version. Run as administrator. Nothing worked.

This kind of crash smells like hardware acceleration for me...

Anyway, I've been having so much trouble to play CMSF since the website, let me tell you a history in topics:

- I made a international card just to buy the game (I'm from Brazil).

- My IP is blocked in your website for no reason and I had no return from support. I used the free trial of a software called TRUST.ZONE to disguise my IP to access your website, buy the game and download it, now this is what I call love for your game! My IP was probably blocked because I forgot my password recently and did a lot of attempts to connect.

- Now after all of that the game is broken...

The game is great, the 30 minutes of play I have are the most tactical of any RTS/RTT I've played so far, help me, I want to buy the modules and other games but they don't work! The TRUST.ZONE trial already expired and I can't even buy other games from you...

Could the crash be related to IP block?

Thanks in advance guys.

Att., Andre Calais Salles.

[Andre Calais Salles]

Ok, so I tried playing with internet off (for the ip problem) and uped textures to balanced (for hardware accelaration problem). Had like 30-50 minutes of gameplay and my pc frozen. Audio kept repeating, video keyboard and mouse all went off, had to restart pc.

Well that indicates thats probably problem with hardware accelaration as I expected.

At least I didnt had a CTD.

You guys have any idea?

I use i3 processor, my motherboard is Intel, 4 gb ram, video card is a amd radeon r7 265.

[Andre Calais Salles]

What I mean by hardware acceleration is that the game is too old for my specs then it overloads my pc.

[Erwin]

Am not a tech grog.  But, there have been problems with the AMD videocard.  Most of us use NVidia.

[Andre Calais Salles]

There must be a workaround, changing my videocard for a game is crazy.

[sburke]

7 hours ago, Andre Calais Salles said:

There must be a workaround, changing my videocard for a game is crazy.

I would not jump to the conclusion you should.  I'll link this thread to the powers that be to have someone who can actually assist involved in the discussion.

[Andre Calais Salles]

Thank you sooo much.

[Andre Calais Salles]

Another thing: When I enter the game and quit, I can't start it again anymore. I have to restart the computer. I run as administrator and it just won't start. I saw some guys talking about a DEP thing, I tried that and it didn't work, but I don't think I did it correctly, I need a tutorial.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

What's your OS?

This may help:  https://www.top-windows-tutorials.com/dep-settings/

[Andre Calais Salles]

Win 7 64 bits

According to the video you sent, I did the DEP thing correctly.

I'll try playing the game again today after work, turns out I installed the video card driver incorrectly, I started having freezing problems with other games. Now that I installed the correct driver I'll give it another bash without internet connection. I have a feeling that my IP blocked is the problem.

Anyway, dont let me stop you guys giving opinions.

[General Jack Ripper]

23 minutes ago, Andre Calais Salles said:

I have a feeling that my IP blocked is the problem.

That has absolutely nothing to do with it.

[Andre Calais Salles]

The game is not starting anymore no matter what I do. I did the DEP thing, tried starting it with no internet connection but no result.

3 hours ago, SLIM said:

That has absolutely nothing to do with it.

You are right.

[Andre Calais Salles]

Reinstalled it and can't even license it now because it won't start anymore.

Will search for people that had the same problem, but if you guys have any idea, I thanks in advance.

[Schrullenhaft]

DEP settings will typically be needed for eLicense (the copy protection system). If you got the game initially activated and it ran, then DEP usually isn't the problem. When you have an issue with DEP it will usually prevent the game from running at all, which is your current situation, but it wasn't your original situation. Here is the Knowledgebase article on DEP settings for Battlefront games. 

Here's another Knowledgebase article about startup problems with CMSF. 

What security software are you running ? You may want to add exceptions within it to prevent it from interfering with CMSF and eLicense. This includes possibly making an exception for the 'Runservice.exe', which is the eLicense service (found in the 'Windows' directory). Security software can potentially interfere with CMSF and its modules. Sometimes quarantining the game executables and/or preventing them from running properly.

Your problem originally sounded similar to a problem with AMD drivers back in 2009/2010. There was an OpenGL bug that would crash the game after 5 to 20 minutes of play. This was only fixed in 2010 with an updated driver. I'm not specifically aware of the return of this bug (which is always possible). Do you know what you did wrong with your video driver installation earlier ?

An internet connection is ONLY necessary when you initially activate the license key. The copy-protection system does NOT go out and check your activation each time you run the game. Even if you uninstall the game the activation is still in place (unless you perform a 'clean install' of Windows or otherwise make significant changes to your computer). If you decide to remove it from this computer ('unlicensing') then you WILL need an internet connection to accomplish that. If your computer did not have an internet connection, then CMSF wouldn't care (as long as you have it activated already or do not need to unlicense it).

Do you know what version your CMSF install was at when it was somewhat working ? Even though it is no longer being developed/patched, it is still possible that your base CMSF installation may have only been version 1.10/1.11 (the current/last version is 1.32). If you intend on purchasing modules, then you will need to repatch the game (since the modules are at certain 'patch levels' themselves). Here's the Knowledgebase article on patching CMSF and installing modules. Patches mostly fixed data bugs in the game and corrected certain behaviors, etc. They usually didn't affect the actual running of the game.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Schrullenhaft

[Battlefront.com]

I'm coming late to the party and I just got beat out by the guy who knows more about this stuff than probably anybody else!  Schrully covered most of what needs to be covered.

It is possible that there are two different problems.  One is some sort of oddball instability issue that's causing the game to crash.  The second might be some sort of security software shutting down CMSF's ability to run at all.

As for help with blocked IPs, I can do that if you post a request to the Help Desk:

https://battlefront.mojohelpdesk.com/

In the upper right there is a button to create a new Ticket.

Steve

[Andre Calais Salles]

9 hours ago, Schrullenhaft said:

DEP settings will typically be needed for eLicense (the copy protection system). If you got the game initially activated and it ran, then DEP usually isn't the problem. When you have an issue with DEP it will usually prevent the game from running at all, which is your current situation, but it wasn't your original situation. Here is the Knowledgebase article on DEP settings for Battlefront games. 

Here's another Knowledgebase article about startup problems with CMSF. 

What security software are you running ? You may want to add exceptions within it to prevent it from interfering with CMSF and eLicense. This includes possibly making an exception for the 'Runservice.exe', which is the eLicense service (found in the 'Windows' directory). Security software can potentially interfere with CMSF and its modules. Sometimes quarantining the game executables and/or preventing them from running properly.

Your problem originally sounded similar to a problem with AMD drivers back in 2009/2010. There was an OpenGL bug that would crash the game after 5 to 20 minutes of play. This was only fixed in 2010 with an updated driver. I'm not specifically aware of the return of this bug (which is always possible). Do you know what you did wrong with your video driver installation earlier ?

An internet connection is ONLY necessary when you initially activate the license key. The copy-protection system does NOT go out and check your activation each time you run the game. Even if you uninstall the game the activation is still in place (unless you perform a 'clean install' of Windows or otherwise make significant changes to your computer). If you decide to remove it from this computer ('unlicensing') then you WILL need an internet connection to accomplish that. If your computer did not have an internet connection, then CMSF wouldn't care (as long as you have it activated already or do not need to unlicense it).

Do you know what version your CMSF install was at when it was somewhat working ? Even though it is no longer being developed/patched, it is still possible that your base CMSF installation may have only been version 1.10/1.11 (the current/last version is 1.32). If you intend on purchasing modules, then you will need to repatch the game (since the modules are at certain 'patch levels' themselves). Here's the Knowledgebase article on patching CMSF and installing modules. Patches mostly fixed data bugs in the game and corrected certain behaviors, etc. They usually didn't affect the actual running of the game.

Thanks for the answer!!

I don't have anti-virus and my firewall is deactivated. I'll try the instructions on DEP and patching you provided once I get home, thank you very much! When I did the DEP thing, I didn't added the Runservice.exe and other stuff.

The AMD Radeon has a new driver software, they retired the catalyst and launched a new one called Radeon Crimson Edition. You can check on this website http://www.amd.com/pt-br/innovations/software-technologies/catalyst

I installed it incorrectly the first time, now it's ok.

Even the unlicense crashes sometimes and I have to restart my computer to open it again. This is what I find really weird, I can start the game a first time, but if ti crashes or I quit, the game will start again only if I restart the computer.

Today is friday and I can dedicate more time into this once I get home, thank you!

4 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

I'm coming late to the party and I just got beat out by the guy who knows more about this stuff than probably anybody else!  Schrully covered most of what needs to be covered.

It is possible that there are two different problems.  One is some sort of oddball instability issue that's causing the game to crash.  The second might be some sort of security software shutting down CMSF's ability to run at all.

As for help with blocked IPs, I can do that if you post a request to the Help Desk:

https://battlefront.mojohelpdesk.com/

In the upper right there is a button to create a new Ticket.

Steve

I made a request via the battlefront.com > support > contact us, if you can get my e-mail there, the subject is "Can't access website, want to buy cmsf" and it has my IP.

I can't get my IP right now because I am at work, once I get home I can do it.

Thank you very much, Steve!

[Andre Calais Salles]

17 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

I'm coming late to the party and I just got beat out by the guy who knows more about this stuff than probably anybody else!  Schrully covered most of what needs to be covered.

It is possible that there are two different problems.  One is some sort of oddball instability issue that's causing the game to crash.  The second might be some sort of security software shutting down CMSF's ability to run at all.

As for help with blocked IPs, I can do that if you post a request to the Help Desk:

https://battlefront.mojohelpdesk.com/

In the upper right there is a button to create a new Ticket.

Steve

I made the ticket, thanks.

22 hours ago, Schrullenhaft said:

DEP settings will typically be needed for eLicense (the copy protection system). If you got the game initially activated and it ran, then DEP usually isn't the problem. When you have an issue with DEP it will usually prevent the game from running at all, which is your current situation, but it wasn't your original situation. Here is the Knowledgebase article on DEP settings for Battlefront games. 

Here's another Knowledgebase article about startup problems with CMSF. 

What security software are you running ? You may want to add exceptions within it to prevent it from interfering with CMSF and eLicense. This includes possibly making an exception for the 'Runservice.exe', which is the eLicense service (found in the 'Windows' directory). Security software can potentially interfere with CMSF and its modules. Sometimes quarantining the game executables and/or preventing them from running properly.

Your problem originally sounded similar to a problem with AMD drivers back in 2009/2010. There was an OpenGL bug that would crash the game after 5 to 20 minutes of play. This was only fixed in 2010 with an updated driver. I'm not specifically aware of the return of this bug (which is always possible). Do you know what you did wrong with your video driver installation earlier ?

An internet connection is ONLY necessary when you initially activate the license key. The copy-protection system does NOT go out and check your activation each time you run the game. Even if you uninstall the game the activation is still in place (unless you perform a 'clean install' of Windows or otherwise make significant changes to your computer). If you decide to remove it from this computer ('unlicensing') then you WILL need an internet connection to accomplish that. If your computer did not have an internet connection, then CMSF wouldn't care (as long as you have it activated already or do not need to unlicense it).

Do you know what version your CMSF install was at when it was somewhat working ? Even though it is no longer being developed/patched, it is still possible that your base CMSF installation may have only been version 1.10/1.11 (the current/last version is 1.32). If you intend on purchasing modules, then you will need to repatch the game (since the modules are at certain 'patch levels' themselves). Here's the Knowledgebase article on patching CMSF and installing modules. Patches mostly fixed data bugs in the game and corrected certain behaviors, etc. They usually didn't affect the actual running of the game.

I made the DEP thing and the game starts now but it still crashes after 10+ minutes. Sometimes I can't start it again after a crash, I need to wait some time. Anyway, the game is starting now but after the first crash it crashes more frequently and faster. Is there any diagnostic I could run to find what is crashing it? I have no anti virus and disabled firewall.

I selected CM Shock Force.exe and RunService.exe on the DEP, am I missing something?

The game starts when he wants to, I can't predict when it will work, I only know for sure it will work if I restart the computer.

I can't find him on firewall exceptions list and AMD Radeon Driver games list.

At task manager he is 32-bit: CM Shock Force.exe *32

I'll keep trying stuff like compatibility, playing with internet off, restarting the computer, but if you guys get any idea please post it.

Thanks, at least we made some progress!

I'm being obliged to play the first mission so many times and I enjoy every time, please let's fix this.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Andre Calais Salles
adding

[Schrullenhaft]

With the game running and only crashing after awhile it does not seem like it would be any sort of security or DEP issue. If you purchase any modules, you will probably want to add the module executables to the DEP list too (not a current issue, of course). Do you play any other games on this computer ? I'm wondering if there is a possible hardware issue here. I haven't heard of any issues with the AMD drivers (Catalyst or Crimson - simply a naming system with Crimson the current incarnation) and CMSF or any of the other CM2 games. I have an R9 290 at home I can check out with the latest AMD driver and see if that runs into any issues.

What is your CMSF version (usually seen on the screen at the main menu at the bottom center) ?

What other programs are possibly running in the background as you attempt to play CMSF (including utilities, etc.) ? I'm not particularly aware of any incompatibilities, but you might run into something that is interfering. I can't remember off-hand if the Nahimic audio controls (for some on-motherboard sound systems) cause problems with all of the CM games or not. 

If you're overclocking anything (CPU, video card, etc.), you may want to down-clock to the default clocks of those devices and see if that makes any difference. The CM series can be fairly 'hard' on CPUs and if there are any issues with the CPU cooling CM may aggravate that and overheat the CPU.

When the game locks up/crashes, if you perform a Ctrl-Alt-Del and 'start task manager', do you see the CM executable still listed (in the 'Processes' tab) ? If so, you can attempt to 'end' that process and see if CM will run again without rebooting.

[Andre Calais Salles]

27 minutes ago, Schrullenhaft said:

With the game running and only crashing after awhile it does not seem like it would be any sort of security or DEP issue. If you purchase any modules, you will probably want to add the module executables to the DEP list too (not a current issue, of course). Do you play any other games on this computer ? I'm wondering if there is a possible hardware issue here. I haven't heard of any issues with the AMD drivers (Catalyst or Crimson - simply a naming system with Crimson the current incarnation) and CMSF or any of the other CM2 games. I have an R9 290 at home I can check out with the latest AMD driver and see if that runs into any issues.

What is your CMSF version (usually seen on the screen at the main menu at the bottom center) ?

What other programs are possibly running in the background as you attempt to play CMSF (including utilities, etc.) ? I'm not particularly aware of any incompatibilities, but you might run into something that is interfering. I can't remember off-hand if the Nahimic audio controls (for some on-motherboard sound systems) cause problems with all of the CM games or not. 

If you're overclocking anything (CPU, video card, etc.), you may want to down-clock to the default clocks of those devices and see if that makes any difference. The CM series can be fairly 'hard' on CPUs and if there are any issues with the CPU cooling CM may aggravate that and overheat the CPU.

When the game locks up/crashes, if you perform a Ctrl-Alt-Del and 'start task manager', do you see the CM executable still listed (in the 'Processes' tab) ? If so, you can attempt to 'end' that process and see if CM will run again without rebooting.

I will purchase modules only after the game is fixed, I am playing the original.

The version is 1.32.

I have a lot of games on Steam. I usually have spotify running but I tried with him closed and had the same problem.

I have the audio manager HD Realtek.

How can I find if my pc is overclocked?

The game never locks up, he only CTDs, can't find him on processes tab.

Could it be switchable graphics function with the Intel HD Graphics?

Could it problems with the opening short video?

I forgot to mention a bad thing... My pc is 6+ yo, and 3+ y ago I didn't had a job nor the money to buy games. I found a .iso for a CMSF cracked version I downloaded from a torrent on my pc... the game was uninstalled but, could it be a corrupted file that was left on my pc that is now breaking my game? I had CM normandy too... After my first job I never download and cracked games anymore, I uninstalled all of them, that's why I forgoted this thing. How can I do a complete reinstall of the game?

I don't know if I can be punished but I hope you guys understands my circumstances at the time, I live in Brazil and buying games in dolars is way too expensive for us specially for a unemployed boy. After my first salary, the first thing I did was downloading steam and never downloaded a cracked game anymore.

[Schrullenhaft]

If you have not overclocked your CPU or videocard/GPU (with a software utility or via the BIOS/UEFI), then they should be fine ('stock' speeds) and that generally shouldn't be the issue here (other than the possibility of overheating).

Are you playing on a laptop or a desktop ? If it IS a laptop, do you know if the game is playing on the AMD Radeon or the Intel HD Graphics ? The Intel Graphics MIGHT be unstable with CM and that MIGHT be the cause of the CTD issue. I'm not sure how the 'switchable graphics' is operating. Often a lot of these functions may auto-detect what is needed, but CM games often don't fit exactly what these drivers are looking for and assume that the 3D capabilities of the GPU are not needed (and thus the game ends up running on the Intel Graphics). Sometimes you have to tell the video utilities to 'run with maximum performance', which will usually involve running programs on the Radeon instead of the Intel.

This YouTube video shows some things to possibly change in the AMD Crimson drivers for Switchable Graphics. Most of these settings will have the video/GPU running with no power savings. Adding the CMSF executable to the 'Switchable Graphics Application Settings' MIGHT be enough to get the game to run, but you might need to change all of the power settings here just in case something is happening on that front that is causing a CTD with CMSF:

A 'cracked' game typically has the copy-protection system removed. With CMSF there shouldn't have been any hidden files to my knowledge and if you had deleted it I wouldn't think that anything would be left over to cause problems with your current install of CMSF. However torrents of cracked games may contain other malware, so they're not a good idea. I have no idea if there is any sort of malware on your computer. You may want to download one of the free anti-virus/security programs and possibly scan your computer (though I would somewhat doubt that any sort of malware is causing the issue you're seeing with CMSF).

[Andre Calais Salles]

32 minutes ago, Schrullenhaft said:

If you have not overclocked your CPU or videocard/GPU (with a software utility or via the BIOS/UEFI), then they should be fine ('stock' speeds) and that generally shouldn't be the issue here (other than the possibility of overheating).

Are you playing on a laptop or a desktop ? If it IS a laptop, do you know if the game is playing on the AMD Radeon or the Intel HD Graphics ? The Intel Graphics MIGHT be unstable with CM and that MIGHT be the cause of the CTD issue. I'm not sure how the 'switchable graphics' is operating. Often a lot of these functions may auto-detect what is needed, but CM games often don't fit exactly what these drivers are looking for and assume that the 3D capabilities of the GPU are not needed (and thus the game ends up running on the Intel Graphics). Sometimes you have to tell the video utilities to 'run with maximum performance', which will usually involve running programs on the Radeon instead of the Intel.

This YouTube video shows some things to possibly change in the AMD Crimson drivers for Switchable Graphics. Most of these settings will have the video/GPU running with no power savings. Adding the CMSF executable to the 'Switchable Graphics Application Settings' MIGHT be enough to get the game to run, but you might need to change all of the power settings here just in case something is happening on that front that is causing a CTD with CMSF:

A 'cracked' game typically has the copy-protection system removed. With CMSF there shouldn't have been any hidden files to my knowledge and if you had deleted it I wouldn't think that anything would be left over to cause problems with your current install of CMSF. However torrents of cracked games may contain other malware, so they're not a good idea. I have no idea if there is any sort of malware on your computer. You may want to download one of the free anti-virus/security programs and possibly scan your computer (though I would somewhat doubt that any sort of malware is causing the issue you're seeing with CMSF).

Thanks!!! I'll try the video.

I am playing on a desktop.

Edited November 18, 2017 by Andre Calais Salles

[Schrullenhaft]

The 'Switchable Graphics' is typically a laptop-only function. Laptops with Intel CPUs that also have a GPU (AMD or Nvidia) will often run most day-to-day tasks with just the integrated video of the Intel CPU. The AMD or Nvidia drivers typically have a function within them to automatically determine when the GPU itself should take over and run the application (typically 3D games and other programs that benefit from the power of the GPU). All of this comes out of a shared video connection (VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI, etc.). On a desktop there are discrete connections for both the video card and the integrated video. A monitor hooked up to the GPU will only be driven by the GPU, while a monitor hooked up to the video connections of the motherboard will be driven only by the Intel integrated video. One product allowed for a GPU to run some of the graphics coming out of a motherboard connection (Lucid Virtu), but I'm fairly certain you're not running that. So in your case I assume that the Radeon is what you are connected to and the Switchable Graphics likely will not even appear as an option within the Radeon Crimson controls.

So the CTD is most likely either some sort of interfering software or a driver issue with the Radeon or some sort of hardware problem. Since you play other games on this computer that don't seem to have a problem, then it would seem a bit unlikely that you're having a hardware problem.

The intro video would be unlikely to be the problem. If it were, then I would assume that the game would crash each time it played that video (just a still of the Battlefront logo). I wouldn't think that just playing the video would cause a problem awhile later, but if you want to experiment with that, I believe you can simply delete or move the video from the CMSF folder (I can't recall what that exact file is at this point).

The 'Realtek HD' control panel shouldn't be a problem to my knowledge (its a pretty simple utility).

I'll have to experiment with the Radeon R9 290 that I have, however it is on a motherboard with an AMD FX CPU rather than an Intel i3.

[Andre Calais Salles]

10 hours ago, Schrullenhaft said:

The 'Switchable Graphics' is typically a laptop-only function. Laptops with Intel CPUs that also have a GPU (AMD or Nvidia) will often run most day-to-day tasks with just the integrated video of the Intel CPU. The AMD or Nvidia drivers typically have a function within them to automatically determine when the GPU itself should take over and run the application (typically 3D games and other programs that benefit from the power of the GPU). All of this comes out of a shared video connection (VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI, etc.). On a desktop there are discrete connections for both the video card and the integrated video. A monitor hooked up to the GPU will only be driven by the GPU, while a monitor hooked up to the video connections of the motherboard will be driven only by the Intel integrated video. One product allowed for a GPU to run some of the graphics coming out of a motherboard connection (Lucid Virtu), but I'm fairly certain you're not running that. So in your case I assume that the Radeon is what you are connected to and the Switchable Graphics likely will not even appear as an option within the Radeon Crimson controls.

So the CTD is most likely either some sort of interfering software or a driver issue with the Radeon or some sort of hardware problem. Since you play other games on this computer that don't seem to have a problem, then it would seem a bit unlikely that you're having a hardware problem.

The intro video would be unlikely to be the problem. If it were, then I would assume that the game would crash each time it played that video (just a still of the Battlefront logo). I wouldn't think that just playing the video would cause a problem awhile later, but if you want to experiment with that, I believe you can simply delete or move the video from the CMSF folder (I can't recall what that exact file is at this point).

The 'Realtek HD' control panel shouldn't be a problem to my knowledge (its a pretty simple utility).

I'll have to experiment with the Radeon R9 290 that I have, however it is on a motherboard with an AMD FX CPU rather than an Intel i3.

Thanks schrullenhaft, sorry for the trouble. I can't find what is crashing the game, I saw a post of a guy that had the same problem and he solved it with amd catalyst 9.11 version, I'll downgrade to that. The weird thing is that the game starts for a first try when I enter my PC but, after the first crash or exit I have to keep trying to start it and he decides to do it randomly, but crashes occur faster after that.

I have no anti-virus, firewall is off, I did the DEP thing, I can't find a program that would block the game, I have steam, origin and battlenet but they are not open when I try.

I'll probably try on a laptop I have home but I would like to make it work on my PC.

It seems it's a problem with my video card or a hidden program blocking it (Can't find nothing on task manager either).

I can't quit trying to make the game work, thanks for the help.

Tell me what results you had on the Radeon R9 290.

[Andre Calais Salles]

When I license the game it gives me only one time but I have two keys, one for the game and another for the patch. The first time I installed it it was with the game key, I reinstalled it with the patch key then but no results on my problem. How can I license it with both keys?

[Andre Calais Salles]

I used the event viewer to try to detect CMSF crash while playing.

At the same time CMSF crashed, the event viwer reported an aplication called Office Software Protection Platform beign activated:

I read somewhere that this Office Software Protection Platform deals with the Office license.

I'll try to deactivate it, but what do you think about it?