CMBB quitting to Desktop on Autosave

[Simon Parsons]

Both CMBO and CMBB behave the same way on my machine. At regular intervals the game quits to the desktop. This appears to be when autosave is being performed - sometimes I have glimpsed the progress bar on the save. The autosave completes ok because it is possible to go back in on the autosave file and everything is there as expected. Game will then run okay until next autosave!

Any thoughts on what might cause this - and what I can do about it?

I am running Windows XP. Graphics etc seem to be fine.

[Schrullenhaft]

Actually you don't see any 'autosave' notification in the game (i.e. - no progress bar for autosaves). The blue progress bar is the computer computing the next turn. If it is crashing at this point, then there is either something wrong with your computer or some program is somehow interfering with CM.

The turn calculation phase is fairly CPU/floating point intensive. Maybe your motherboard or power supply is having problems when the CPU is at 100% full load. Or possibly your CPU isn't sufficiently cooled.

[Simon Parsons]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will keep an eye on the heating issue although I have reservations about that as a possibility because it is not happening on every turn. It always occurs (or at least seems to) at the same point regardless of scenario size. I haven't checked to see if there is any pattern as to which turns it happens on - seems like every third turn(ish).

If it is another program interfering then would it interfere at the same point? I have tried turning off Norton Auto-protect with no joy.MSM Messenger is running - good or bad?

When behaving itself the computer whizzes through the thinking phase. Graphics and sound all seem okay.

System is:

AMD Athlon XP 1900 (from Evesham)

512 MB RAM

Bios = ASUS A7v266

Video = Leadtek Geforce3 with 64mb

Sound = Creative SB Audigy

Any more suggestions anyone?

[Schrullenhaft]

I have no idea which programs may be causing problems. It's best to kill/shutdown anything you can live without while you're playing.

The computer thinks (as the opponent) and this is measured with the light green progress bar. Then your orders along with these computer generated orders are combined, the math calculations performed for shots fired, etc. and then a movie is generated. The calculation for all these items is measured by the blue progress bar. This phase (and possibly the computer 'thinking' phase) can put a big strain on the CPU. The more math calculations, then the longer this process will take. If anything interferes with this process, it may crash CM. If it happens specifically on each third turn (rather than being based on a large number of orders or firing) then something may be interfering with CM. You may want to experiment by NOT issuing orders to your troops and see how often the game crashes at that point. Assuming you have little to no contact with the computer's forces, you probably souldn't crash. If you crash consistently on the third turn, then I'd guess that something is interfering.

[Simon Parsons]

Thanks for your last message-lots of useful stuff to ponder and try. I have experimented with issuing no orders and few orders and got no crashes over 6 moves. Increasing the orders and getting further into a scenario the game crashed on turn 10 - much later than previously experienced.

I have yet to turn off running processes - which I will try next.

Is there a way to check for overheating?

I very much appreciate the help you are providing.

CMBB is just plain brilliant when it works!

[Schrullenhaft]

Overheating is a bit hard to get completely accurate info on. Most motherboards have a chip and some sensors that will tell you the current temp of your CPU (and often some other things). Usually you can see this in the CMOS/BIOS setup where there may be a page that lists voltages and temperatures. However this info is of limited usefulness since you're not booted into your OS.

Here's a program that you can download that will give you info on temps while you're booted into your OS: Motherboard Monitor (click on the 'MBM 5 Download' in the left hand column). One other thing to keep in mind about monitor chips and their sensors - they can often be inaccurate. In fact some BIOS updates often tweak the data they get from these chips to get a more accurate reading, but there's still accuracy problems. Nevertheless while the temps won't be completely accurate they should at least give you an idea if there is a problem.

[ September 23, 2002, 04:49 PM: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ]

[Simon Parsons]

Hi schrullenhaft,

Eventually discovered that Piccolo (digital imaging software) in start-up was causing the crash. Removed it and all okay. God knows what it was doing in the background!

Thanks for your help - hope this info helps others.

Regards

Simon