mech.exe crashes on laptop when undocked.

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ghunum
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mech.exe crashes on laptop when undocked.

Post by ghunum »

I downloaded SPWaW and have started playing through the tutorials. I'm finding it a really addicting and interesting game.

I have it on my work laptop, and it runs fine when I am connected to the docking station, but when I am undocked, it just flickers and then takes me back to the desktop.

The only think I can think of that would be different are network settings. Does anyone know if there are network hooks and if they can be turned off ?

Maybe I'm on the wrong track with that idea ... any help/advice would be appreciated. :-)

Cam


P.S. here is a list of things I have tried :
-----------------------------------------------
Installing while docked,
Uninstalling, cleaning out the registry, then reinstalling while undocked,
Installing in Win95 compatibility mode while undocked,
Running mech.exe in compatibility mode (all of them),
Editing irunin.ini (but it looked ok anyway)
Deleting all the holder.txt and steel.prf files
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Bernie
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Re: mech.exe crashes on laptop when undocked.

Post by Bernie »

Originally posted by ghunum
I downloaded SPWaW and have started playing through the tutorials. I'm finding it a really addicting and interesting game.

I have it on my work laptop, and it runs fine when I am connected to the docking station, but when I am undocked, it just flickers and then takes me back to the desktop.

The only think I can think of that would be different are network settings. Does anyone know if there are network hooks and if they can be turned off ?

Maybe I'm on the wrong track with that idea ... any help/advice would be appreciated. :-)

Cam


P.S. here is a list of things I have tried :
-----------------------------------------------
Installing while docked,
Uninstalling, cleaning out the registry, then reinstalling while undocked,
Installing in Win95 compatibility mode while undocked,
Running mech.exe in compatibility mode (all of them),
Editing irunin.ini (but it looked ok anyway)
Deleting all the holder.txt and steel.prf files


This is just a shot in the dark (no pun intended) but have you looked at it from a video driver perspective? That's the only other thing I can think of which would be different from docked/undocked states... That, and power management...

You're running straight from the mech.exe, correct?
What, me worry?
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chief
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Post by chief »

GHUNHUM:
When in dock you use a different monitor, correct ? SPWAW is designed to work 800x600, 16 color. Possibly your laptop is set different.

Another thought, you do have sound when undocked don't you. You must have sound or it won't work. HTH:) :cool:
"God Bless America and All the Young men and women who give their all to protect Her"....chief
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Bernie
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Post by Bernie »

Originally posted by chief
GHUNHUM:
When in dock you use a different monitor, correct ? SPWAW is designed to work 800x600, 16 color. Possibly your laptop is set different.

Another thought, you do have sound when undocked don't you. You must have sound or it won't work. HTH:) :cool:


The sound angle is another good bet chief. I'm not sure the video resolution would do it, as I keep my system set at 800x600x32k with nary a complaint from SPWAW. When I brought up the video angle, I was thinking more in terms of Windows seeing the LCD and monitor as dual screens.
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chief
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Post by chief »

Bernie, I can see now that 16 colors or 32 colors won't impair operation. Never used a docking station or a laptop so I was researching the docking procedure and it's daffynition. When he uses it docked it works so there goes the double screen theory. I suspect he has a wide angle screen and not compatible when undocked. Just a WAQ.
"God Bless America and All the Young men and women who give their all to protect Her"....chief
ghunum
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Still no luck :-(

Post by ghunum »

Hello again,
thanks for the flurry of posts.

I updated my video drivers just in case, but I actually use the laptop monitor even when docked, and the new drivers still didn't make any difference. So there is no dual monitor and no problem with a strange aspect screen.

I tried lowering the resolution to 800x600x16 but the game still exited when I launched it.

I do have sound, both docked and undocked, so that part should be ok too.

I am launching straight from mech.exe, to avoid the splash screens, etc.

One other thing that may be different is no external mouse - I have a USB mouse when docked, and only the touchpad/joystick combo when undocked. I'll have to try when I'm back in the office next.

Also, I may load up VMWare and try running it from a virtual machine - just for fun.
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chief
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Post by chief »

All rightee let ask this ......did you download all patches for 7.1 ?

Did you try eliminating preference file prior to starting turn/game ? It'll recreate itself.

Could you have a cache problem when undocked ? (WAQ)

That's all my WAQ's for now.
"God Bless America and All the Young men and women who give their all to protect Her"....chief
tmac
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Post by tmac »

Chief...I have come across other references in other posts to "deleting or clearing the preference file" (or .prf?) Could you or someone explain how to do this (ie, where's this file at, I can delete, lol) and what the advantages of it are, or why it's necessary?
Thanks
Tim
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Bernie
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Post by Bernie »

Originally posted by tmac
Chief...I have come across other references in other posts to "deleting or clearing the preference file" (or .prf?) Could you or someone explain how to do this (ie, where's this file at, I can delete, lol) and what the advantages of it are, or why it's necessary?
Thanks
Tim


The steel.prf file is located in the "SAVE" folder of the Steel Panthers directory. What sometimes happens is that the file can become corrupted, leading to instability of the game, weird actions, or even CTD's (Crash To Desktop). Deleting it forces the software to create a new one (albeit with default settings) the next time the game is run. Deleting the file is considered by many as the first action you should take when you encounter problems with the game.
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tmac
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Post by tmac »

Thanks Bernie, informative, succint and timely as usual

Tim
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chief
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Here's another idea

Post by chief »

Ghunum: You said that unit ran ok in dock, but not out of dock. Just as a curiousity how much stuff have you got in storage on that laptop when you undock. You know stuff like printjobs in the queque (spell ?) or work in your briefcase folder, etc. SPWAW is a hard mistress to serve, she requires a lot of memory, especially if your using large maps and big battles. I am starting to feel that your harddrive is loaded with (ugh) work (4-letter word) related and erelevant to the game data. :D Please tell me I'm correct. Now get that stuff out of memory and "Lets Roll". ;) :rolleyes: :cool:
"God Bless America and All the Young men and women who give their all to protect Her"....chief
ghunum
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Post by ghunum »

I've tried deleting the file, and I looked for patches for 7.1. I installed the only patch I found (approx 2.5MB) but it didn't help .

There was another download listed as a patch, and it was about 400MB. It looked to me like the original installer for the game, so I didn't install it. Should I try ?

Thanks again,

Cam
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chief
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Post by chief »

Ghunum.......NO

Bernie:
I'm glad you meant what I knew about (steel.prf) file. I do it so often I don't consider that when I explain it. Also if you understand just one word of this gibberish, explain it to me. :D :D :rolleyes: :eek:
"God Bless America and All the Young men and women who give their all to protect Her"....chief
ghunum
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Lots of resources

Post by ghunum »

Chief -

I am lucky enough to have lots of resources - 1GB of RAM, with 2.2 GB and 5.4GB of disk available on C: and D: respectively.

I am using the same antivirus software both in and out of the dock, and I have tried turning it off as well - no dice.

I am going to try an external mouse, but I would be surprised if it made a difference...

Does the application make a crash/dump file when it collapses ?

Thanks again
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Bernie
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Post by Bernie »

Originally posted by chief
Ghunum.......NO

Bernie:
I'm glad you meant what I knew about (steel.prf) file. I do it so often I don't consider that when I explain it. Also if you understand just one word of this gibberish, explain it to me. :D :D :rolleyes: :eek:


Yeah... that one up there after "Ghunum......"

I know that one well, as do most of the women I seem to date. They spell it almost the same way too...except thier way is usually preceeded by something I can't say here, and it ends with a lot of these things "!!!!!!!!!!" ;)
What, me worry?
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chief
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Post by chief »

Ghunnum......:confused: Don't really know:o

Bernie: I know, I know what those women say, it's Gee No !
"God Bless America and All the Young men and women who give their all to protect Her"....chief
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Bernie
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Post by Bernie »

Originally posted by chief
Ghunnum......:confused: Don't really know:o

Bernie: I know, I know what those women say, it's Gee No !


No, that's not quite it chief... It's usually "**** ***** **** NO!!!!!! Someone call a cop!"

I've tried explaining I'm a romance writer, and that it's only "research", but that only seems to work with 3 out of 10...

;)
What, me worry?
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Bernie
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Re: Lots of resources

Post by Bernie »

Originally posted by ghunum
Chief -

I am lucky enough to have lots of resources - 1GB of RAM, with 2.2 GB and 5.4GB of disk available on C: and D: respectively.

I am using the same antivirus software both in and out of the dock, and I have tried turning it off as well - no dice.

I am going to try an external mouse, but I would be surprised if it made a difference...

Does the application make a crash/dump file when it collapses ?

Thanks again


Unfortunately, no, it doesn't. :(
What, me worry?
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