New angle on "Installer" problems?

[JoeW]

While waiting for the replacement CD and eager to get into CMBB I just tried a new approach. I have a P2 400, Win98, machine that we use for internet stuff (formerly my top of the line gaming machine and the home of CMBO for many months ); the CMBB CD, which will not run completely on my new "top of the line gaming machine" (well, it was for a couple of weeks, a year ago ), installs perfectly on the old machine; all files in all their folders, HOWEVER, (you knew that was coming) when I attempt to run the game up pops this message: "Unhandled exception; Unhandled exception: c0000005, At address: 00570100"; acknowledging this message results in: "This program has performed an illegal operation, bla, bla". My question: if I transfer the CMBB files to the other machine is there something inherent in the "Unhandled exception" message that makes it likely that CMBB will not run there also?

[Schrullenhaft]

Unless the executable is corrupt I would assume tha the files are OK. It may be possible to see this error if a texture or wav file is missing. I typically associate errors in this range with DirectX problems, so you may have a problem with sound or video too.

The file counts are:

5847 files in the "BMP" folder

2324 files in the "WAV" folder

70 files in the "Scenarios" folder

2 files in the "OpenPlay Modules" folder

1 file in the root of the CMBB directory (CMBB itself)

the Prefs file is also in the root of the CMBB directory (which I wouldn't transfer to the other computer).

[ September 25, 2002, 04:57 PM: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ]

[JoeW]

Thanks, Schrullenhaft. Looking at the files in Explorer everything seems to be installed with two possible exceptions: I don't see a "Prefs" file in any folder and in the Open Play Module folder only one file is visible, "TCPIP.lib" of 35kb size, however, a check of "Properties" says there are two files in this folder containing a total of 136 kbs. So, two more questions: where should "Prefs" be and shouldn't I be able to "see" the other file in the Open Play folder or at least see that it has "136 kbs"? (As for the "Unhanded exception" error, I think this machine only has DirectX6; if the error is a DX problem the "main" machine has DX8 or 8.1 [whatever is current] so maybe it will be able to "get a hand on things" so to speak ??)

[Schrullenhaft]

The second file in the OpenPlay Modules directory may be 'hidden' by your file manager because it is a 'recognized' file type that is system-oriented (.dll extension). The files are 'tcpip.dll' and 'tcpip.lib'.

The Prefs file is generated when you launch CM and select a resolution (it isn't present as a file that gets installed) and is located at the root of the CMBB folder (along with the executable). Assuming you can close CM normally the file should be written out at some point after selecting the resolution. I've seen some instances where even after getting to the menus the file still wasn't written out. The file should be visible, even with your current file manager viewing settings.

CMBB should work with DirectX 6.x to my knowledge, since I don't believe it is making any calls that are unique to 7.x & 8.x (although DirectX 8.0 is listed in the System Requirements). Generally it should be OK to upgrade to DirectX 8.1 (unless you have Win95, which maxes out at DirectX 8.0). Basically upgrading DirectX is something you may want to look into regarding the video drivers that you have. Some of the newest video drivers require that DirectX 8.1 be installed in order for them to work properly. Depending on the age of your video card and it's drivers you may want to take a close look at this before upgrading. On occasion a newer version of DirectX may 'break' a video driver (which was probably incorrectly written anyway).

[ September 25, 2002, 04:34 PM: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ]

[Wilhammer]

Clarification:

and of course the executable and the Prefs file (which I wouldn't transfer to the other computer).

I think what you mean to say is not to copy the prefs file. I solved my install problem using the method this guy is headed to, and the executable can transfer.