RT3 Causes Frequent BSOD?

[TheBonobo4]

Forgive me if this is posted in the wrong place, move it as necessary, but I have a rather unusual and serious problem with RT3 at the moment. For a long time now (I'm unsure when exactly it started), the game has a tendency to crash to desktop (CTD), or BSOD (blue screen of death). Since I often record to YouTube myself playing scenarios, for fun, this is tiresome as the video files often get lost/corrupted, and what would be a scenario taking say 1 hour takes 2, as an example, (in reality, scenarios take longer, I'm just making a point), due to having to redo everything. Also, this can cause saves to become inaccessible due to corruption (I presume at least) from BSODs. Anyone have any idea why this might be happening? I realise the game is old, and it could be my laptop being , but I'm running Windows 7 64-bit, 1.05, with a lot of custom maps, logos, and locos.


I don't expect anyone to know anything, but I'm pretty desperate, and turning on/off Disable Hardware thing does nothing. And just now, I can't actually load a previous scenario, as attempting to do so gave CTD 5 times in a row.

[Gumboots]

Have you tried reinstalling RT3?

[TheBonobo4]

Have you tried reinstalling RT3?

Not yet but I might have to. Would all my saves and custom content etc work still?

[Gumboots]

As long as they weren't corrupted, yes. You can easily add the custom content back (I assume you still have the zips, or the files from them). Saves should be fine if you copy the saved games folder to a safe spot. You can just paste them back into the new folder after installing anyway. RT3 doesn't mind if you swap saves in and out of that folder. I do it all the time.

[TheBonobo4]

As long as they weren't corrupted, yes. You can easily add the custom content back (I assume you still have the zips, or the files from them). Saves should be fine if you copy the saved games folder to a safe spot. You can just paste them back into the new folder after installing anyway. RT3 doesn't mind if you swap saves in and out of that folder. I do it all the time.

I don't have the original zips but I have all the files still saved in their relevant folders. Would it just be a simple case of copying the saved games folders, and the 2 extra content, logos, locos etc folders to a safe space and then reinstalling? And then it would all work? Sorry I just need to be 100 percent clear I don't lose anything.

[Hawk]

It's a possibility an add-on could be causing the crash. Just keep that in mind.
If you do an uninstall/reinstall, add the custom content back in one at a time.

Also, think about what you added just prior to the crashing starting. maybe you can figure it out like that.

[TheBonobo4]

It's a possibility an add-on could be causing the crash. Just keep that in mind.
If you do an uninstall/reinstall, add the custom content back in one at a time.

Also, think about what you added just prior to the crashing starting. maybe you can figure it out like that.

It could be anything, but adding them one at a time might be a good idea. It doesn't always crash or blue screen at the same point each time, but until yesterday it's only ever crashed in game rather than in the menus itself. I do have a lot of add-ons like I said, and would some of the saves break without the custom content?


I also don't know when the crashing began, is there any crash report saved in the game files that might tell us this?

[Gumboots]

I don't have the original zips but I have all the files still saved in their relevant folders. Would it just be a simple case of copying the saved games folders, and the 2 extra content, logos, locos etc folders to a safe space and then reinstalling? And then it would all work? Sorry I just need to be 100 percent clear I don't lose anything.

Yes, that should work. Bnd yes, some of your saves probably would break without the custom content. It depends if that content is actually used in the game you saved. If not, it shouldn't be a problem.

But Hawk's suggestion of adding stuff back a bit at a time is a good one if you are trying to track down the problem. You can always test without using your existing saves.

[TheBonobo4]

I don't have the original zips but I have all the files still saved in their relevant folders. Would it just be a simple case of copying the saved games folders, and the 2 extra content, logos, locos etc folders to a safe space and then reinstalling? And then it would all work? Sorry I just need to be 100 percent clear I don't lose anything.

Yes, that should work. Bnd yes, some of your saves probably would break without the custom content. It depends if that content is actually used in the game you saved. If not, it shouldn't be a problem.

But Hawk's suggestion of adding stuff back a bit at a time is a good one if you are trying to track down the problem. You can always test without using your existing saves.

The problem is that like I said, the game doesn't always crash on the same map, or after the same time, or anything. I'll try with a fresh install, then slowly add maps, locos, logos, and saves back. Hopefully this works.

[TheBonobo4]

So, an update. With no Custom Content, running the very default base game, with no prior saves, I ran a test run through the British Isles scenario (a very fun, and easy scenario by the way), got Gold on Medium (easily, but that's not the point here). So maybe 2.5 hours of total gameplay. Version 1.00, and in the time it took to beat the scenario, the game had exactly 1 CTD and 1 BSOD. Hmmm. I'm stumped.

I'm now going to install CtC and then 1.05, again with no Custom Content or prior saves, but the fact it still BSOD on me makes me think it may well be either my graphics card or that the game is really old. My graphics card is good, but it would not surprise me if it needs replacing after almost 5 years of use. Saying that, even on Ultra High settings, RT3 isn't (or at least should not be) very graphics intensive.

[Hawk]

If your GPU is 5 years old, it's still newer than RT3 and shouldn't be an issue with RT3.
Is this the only game or situation that crashes and/or BSOD's?

[TheBonobo4]

Haven't tested other games yet, I'll need to do that. If it can handle a modern game I'll know it's just RT3, otherwise I may well need a new GPU. Saying that, if it is just RT3, I've no idea why, or how to fix that.

[Gumboots]

RT3 doing an occasional CTD is normal, but it shouldn't happen often. BSOD is a different kettle of fish, and usually implies there is something wrong with your operating system or hardware. Might pay to have those checked out.

[TheBonobo4]

Given that the game did crash to desktop and BSOD on a base installation, is it safe to assume the add-ons aren't the problem and I'm okay to add them back?

[Gumboots]

Probably safe, yeah. Do any other apps cause similar problems, or is it only happening with RT3 and nothing else?

[TheBonobo4]

Probably safe, yeah. Do any other apps cause similar problems, or is it only happening with RT3 and nothing else?

Right I've added back all my old content, including saves, add-ons, logos, maps, locos, etc. I can also load up from the game menu, previously this would cause the game to CTD. What is interesting is that even after re-installation, the game still CTD after I added back all my old saves. I founds a rather odd "fix" though. Start a new scenario, then load up the Autosave, then save that file to overwrite the corrupted save (which also could not be loaded from within a new scenario, in other words, it could never be loaded, and trying to do so would CTD, despite being able to load any other save once in a scenario map itself).

[RulerofRails]

I have never seen a BSOD from this game. Definitely sounds more like an underlying problem with the computer.

I did have a thought that perhaps it's a heat problem. With an old computer it might be full of lint and dust. This game isn't very energy conscious in it's usage habits especially if you are running the game without using your graphics card as much (in-game option Disable Hardware T&L). Depending on the computer, especially nVidia cards much past RT3's release, the game may not start with this turned off. In that case you need dgVoodoo: http://hawkdawg.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=45215#p45215.

[TheBonobo4]

I have never seen a BSOD from this game. Definitely sounds more like an underlying problem with the computer.

I did have a thought that perhaps it's a heat problem. With an old computer it might be full of lint and dust. This game isn't very energy conscious in it's usage habits especially if you are running the game without using your graphics card as much (in-game option Disable Hardware T&L). Depending on the computer, especially nVidia cards much past RT3's release, the game may not start with this turned off. In that case you need dgVoodoo: http://hawkdawg.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=45215#p45215.

It could well be full of dust etc. Is there any way to tell besides the obvious open up the laptop and look? Only thing that makes me think it isn't is that other games run fine and I don't get crashes when on YouTube etc.

What is GOG? I'm just running the standard CD version of the game on Windows 7 64 bit. Also I think the game crashes with or without disabling hardware T and L, but the graphics fixes sound interesting if they'll work. It is also using an nVidia GeForce graphics card, as you mention.

[RulerofRails]

Not 100%. Normally with heat though you will feel it warm physically and/or hear the fan running, unless you have the setting to run the fan at low noise, then the temperature control software can cause a bit of weirdness. Sometimes a blast of compressed air into the vents helps a little, but of course it's not the same as opening it up.

GoG is a DRM-free digital source for many games. You can buy and download this game at their site.

[Gumboots]

RT3 should run fine on an oldish laptop with an nVidia card, because that how I used to run RT3 before the old lappy died and I got my current box. So I doubt it's a problem the specifications of the laptop. I wouldn't expect 1.06 to fix whatever the problem is either.

Question: are you definitely running RT3 with "Hardware T&L" disabled in the game settings? If you aren't, that's known to cause CTD with newer computers and an nVidia card. I couldn't even get the game to run at all without that setting disabled. It was instant CTD whenever I opened the game.

I've always run RT3 with the no-cd patch, so I don't know how it runs from disc all the time. If you're doing that, I suppose it is possible there is some corruption of the disc. I'd suggest trying the no-cd patch just for the heck of it. It won't hurt anything, and might work. It's a generally more convenient way to run the game anyway.

Re dll files: someone who has a completely default installation could give you a list of those. Unfortunately all my installations are customised with dgVoodoo, and run some different files.

dgVoodoo does make the game more stable in some respects, although not having had a major CTD/BSOD problem myself anyway I wouldn't necessarily expect it to fix those. If you can get RT3 running though, dgVoodoo is definitely worth having (better graphics and more stable frame rate, primarily). It basically fixes some old game engine stuff to make it more compatible with new computer stuff. It means you can run with "Hardware T&L" enabled, which is truly a good thing.