LucasForums - Crashing after every mission on XP?

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Crashing after every mission on XP?

I'll post system specs if necessary, but I wouldn't think it is. This is a problem a lot of people seem to have, I was just wondering if anyone had found a way to solve it?

After every mission I successfully complete and after I get my medal, the game crashes to the desktop. Thus, after every mission, to progress, I have to start RS back up again. Everything else runs fine, which is what makes it puzzling.

Compatability mode, the 1.2 patch.... none of it helps.

I have not been here for ages. Surprised that the forum is still up. I have the same problem now, but not until just now. I usually crashed on start up, but I had XP SP2 on one of my other PC's with a 3Dfx Voodoo card that somehow allowed the game to run without errors where my other attempts failed. The PCI Voodoo card died the other night and I installed an old ATI 9800 Pro with the latest 6.9 drivers. I then experienced the same issue as you. Game would start and play ok, but as soon as I exited any mission after the medal was shown, the game would crash, Microsoft would tell me that there was an error to report to them, and I did. Microsoft would respond that there was no known fix and to contact Lucasarts. Yeah, right!!!! I love this game and really hate to give up on it. What are your specs? As I mentioned before, on other XP PC's, I very seldom was ever able to get to the mission. The game was distorted or stopped responding at the hanger.

Yes, I have the same problem on my PC (running of course Windows XP), powered with the following configuration:

P4 3 GHz H.T.
ATI X1600 pro PCI Express
Hard disk SATA1
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme

I tried the "Win98 compatibility mode", starting the game using "Rogue Squadron.EXE" instead of "Rogue.EXE", using software like Reforce to have a constant 75 fps gameplay, but...I still haven't found the solution.
That's a pity, even more considering that there are no other Rogue Squadron games for computer up to now.

Maybe a valid method could be using a 3DFX Wrapper...but I'm not sure.
Do you wanna try? :joy:

P.S.: the game runs correctly on Nvidia cards...infact I played it before on a Geforce Ti 4200 agp 2x without any problem.

I have a Pentium 4 3 GHz, ATI Radeon X300 PC-Express 16x with 128MB of ram. THe compter RAM is 512 MB.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocLathropBrown

I have a Pentium 4 3 GHz, ATI Radeon X300 PC-Express 16x with 128MB of ram. THe compter RAM is 512 MB.

I think the problem could be related to Hyper Memory technology of the latest ATI video cards... :firemad:

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocLathropBrown

After every mission I successfully complete and after I get my medal, the game crashes to the desktop. Thus, after every mission, to progress, I have to start RS back up again. Everything else runs fine, which is what makes it puzzling.

This happens with me too.
(Nvidia Geforce FX 5200 128MB)

Quote:

Originally Posted by victor74

This happens with me too.
(Nvidia Geforce FX 5200 128MB)

In your case there is a solution...infact, as I said before, I usually played Rogue Squadron 3D with a Geforce 4 Ti 4200 (with the latest Forceware drivers) without problems.

You must set "Rogue Squadron.exe" and "Rogue.exe" to "Win98 compatibility mode" (see their properties) and eventually set 75 Hz or 85 Hz mode for each resolution of your monitor (75 if you have an LCD, 85 if you have a CRT), using a program called "Reforce" that you can find here:

http://www.3dfxzone.it/files/nvidia/reforce.zip

(other link: http://www.3dfxzone.it/nvidia/utility.htm )

Reforce works well also with ATI video cards, but in this case I still can't play RS3D without crashes to desktop after each mission...HELP!!! :firemad:

thanks.

I will try that and post results here...

Quote:

Originally Posted by factor5

You must set "Rogue Squadron.exe" and "Rogue.exe" to "Win98 compatibility mode" (see their properties) and eventually set 75 Hz or 85 Hz mode for each resolution of your monitor (75 if you have an LCD, 85 if you have a CRT), using a program called "Reforce" that you can find here:

didn' t work... :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by victor74

didn' t work... :(

I'm sorry...I've found some topics in many forums over the web explaining that this problem is caused by the amount of system memory of modern personal computers: Rogue Squadron (apparently) can't work properly with 1 GHz ram (sdram or DDR).

Well guys...it doesn't matter, it's just a game.

May the force be with you, bye! :lsduel:

my PC:

AMD Athlon XP 2600+
512MB DDR
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB
(hd doesn't matter, right?)
sound on-board
MoBo ASUS A7N8X-X
O.S.: Windows XP Professional SP2

any chance? or give up? :giveup:

Now there are new Catalyst drivers (ver. 6.10, link below), who wanna try?

http://www.hwupgrade.it/download/file/2950.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by factor5

Now there are new Catalyst drivers (ver. 6.10, link below), who wanna try?

http://www.hwupgrade.it/download/file/2950.html

I am using the 6.09 with my 9800 Pro, so I do not believe that the new 6.10 is going to help a game that is several years old. The 512 MB issue might make be a possibility for me as I thought the game worked ok when I had only 512 MB and now I have 1Gb, but I also had a 3Dfx 5500 PCI Voodoo card and was playing in Glide mode instead of Direct X. The Voodoo PCI card died on me, and that is when I threw in a 9800 Pro and more memory. Hmmmm.
I never had any luck with Glide wrappers, but that was when I only had a 1Ghz processor, but now I have 3Ghz with twice the memory. Hmmm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chevy05

Hi chevy05! I tried to use the following wrapper without success:

http://www.zeckensack.de/glide/

Maybe it works on your system...however, do you know other versions of Glide Wrappers? :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by factor5

Hi chevy05! I tried to use the following wrapper without success:

http://www.zeckensack.de/glide/

Maybe it works on your system...however, do you know other versions of Glide Wrappers? :)

Well that was the wrapper that I was going to try. I'll save my time. I did pull half my memory out and it still crashes, so there goes the 512MB limitation theory. At least with Intel motherboards. I am fumbling around driverheaven.net and other sites looking for a wrapper. I have a feeling that it will be a waste of time though.

Possible solution...

Quote:

Originally Posted by chevy05

In Catalyst 6.11 & 6.13beta I read there is a fix for the "swithing to 640x480 mode" problem in some games...probably causing the famous issue in Rogue Squadron 3D (as you could see in the "readme" file of this one).

Do you wanna try the latest release of Catalyst? :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by factor5

I know that 6.11's are somewhat buggy and that a second beta release of 6.12 is floating around as the first beta was buggy. It seems as though ATI releases a really good release right around christmas as the 13th release of the year. I remember the 5.13's were a really good stable release last year. I am going to upgrade to either the 6.12 or 6.13 final anyway. Holding off on the 6.11's. All of mine and my son's games work good with the 6.09's except for Star Wars of course. Our normal desktop screen is 1024 X 768. Where does the 640 X 480 fit in? I have ran Nascar 3 in 640 X 480 mode with no problems. Hmmm, maybe I need to dig around in the graphics settings department. Some games need a line in a .ini file changed to another character as do some Need For Speed games a few years ago. I looked at Rogue Squadron files and nothing struck me as being a possible answer in theat department. Will try a newer set of drivers later on.

As reported here http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=13314 , this is a well known problem with ATI cards:

Quote:

Found some info regarding ATI video card compatibility problems with Rogue Squadron at LucasArts support site, sounds like your problem. Hope this helps:

"Problems When Using An ATI 3-D Card Which Uses The 3D Rage Pro Or 3D Rage LT Pro Chipset"

If you are encountering a black screen lock-up, or if you are being kicked back to the desktop while attempting to start Rogue Squadron 3D, and you are using a 3-D card manufactured by ATI Technologies (such as the ATI XPert@work or ATI XPert@play), the problem is most likely related to the version of the driver you are using with the card.

Rogue Squadron 3D was tested with, and fully supports the earlier 5.0 version of the driver for the 3D Rage Pro chipset. Unfortunately, Rogue Squadron 3D is not compatible with the latest version of the drivers released from ATI. We have been in contact with ATI, and they are aware of the problem. To correct this problem, we recommend you install an older version of the driver. This driver (ver 2548) is available on ATI's website at: http://support.atitech.ca/drivers/w...98_4112548.html

Those are pre-Radeon vintage cards. Very old and obsolete.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chevy05

Those are pre-Radeon vintage cards. Very old and obsolete.

True...but the problem is still the same, even if we have more powerful video cards and new drivers!!! :firemad:

I have finally resolved the problem with my Nvidia Geforce fx5200 128 Mb.
I have tried all the new drivers and that was wrong!
I installed my oldest drivers ( version 5.6.5.5 ) i have get when i bought the computer
from Medion ( videocard from MSI ) and what do you think?
It works, so all the troubles we have comes with the newest or newer drivers!

Rogue Squadron problem solved on my comp

Quote:

Originally Posted by factor5

True...but the problem is still the same, even if we have more powerful video cards and new drivers!!! :firemad:

We must look for old drivers! not new cards and new drivers.
On my comp. it works with nvidia geforce fx5200 128 Mb with driver
5.6.5.5
Good luck to you, i hope this also solves your problem. :thmbup1:

I accidentally wandered in here and I see your new?

Hi and Welcome to LF but you need to look at this.

I tried to get a link but it wouldn't work so look at this thread on the second page at the top look at the link and you'll see. Or might be eleventh page? Little confusing but have a looky.

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthrea...17&page=2&pp=1

It's a little reminder to not DP. :)

No DP's don't deserve to die it's just funny that's all.

Darth Aida.

Rogue Squadron problem solved

That was not so easy to find.

Here below are the instructions. For those who can wait, look at
http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games...squadron.shtml
in a few days ...

Quote:

Problem:
--------

This is a problem a lot of people seem to have on Windows XP with modern video cards.

After every mission successfully completed or cancelled, and after the medal panel,
the game crashes to the desktop. Thus, after every mission, to progress, one has to start
RS back up again. Everything else runs fine, which is what makes it puzzling.

Compatibility mode, the 1.2 patch.... none of it helps.

It is reported to be ok with some old display drivers, however most recent cards
(GeForce 5, 7, 8, ...) do not function with these old drivers, which wouldn't even install.

The facts:
----------

After the medal panel, the 1.2 patched game crashes at instruction 0x004EA2B0 (game
patched to 1.2 with ROGUE12.EXE of 1 316 556 bytes).

It is trying to access a memory region which doesn't exist, i.e. which is not physically
allocated and mapped in the process space.

Short analysis:
---------------

Coming back a little in the code and in the stack, it can be seen that the code is at
that moment trying to copy video data from one place to another, by 480 lines of 640 pixels
of 4 bytes (= 32 bits color ?).
The destination data seems to be twice the size of the source data, i.e. converting from
2 bytes pixels (16 bits color ?) to 4 bytes (32 bits color ?).
This can be seen by the increments applied after each line copy, which is 0x500 at source
(= 640 * 2 = 0x280 * 2), and 0xA00 at destination (= 640 * 4 = 0x280 * 4).
At the moment where the process breaks, 0x46 or 0x45 lines are yet to be copied, to a
buffer which appears to have a size of 0x100400 bytes = a little more than 1 MB.

Ways to cure the problem:
-------------------------

Given that there is not anymore support for this product, there is no other choice than
to dig into it and try to patch it by hand, directly in the ASM.

There are at first 2 possible ways to go on that:
1) Based on the fact that this could be due to the color expanding, avoid the problem
by having increments of 0x500 inside the destination buffer instead of 0xA00.

2) Find the place where the buffer is allocated, and patch the allocation to include
more memory in order to avoid the buffer overrun.

3) Other ... determined after the dig into the code and not obvious now.

Method 1:
---------
This starts by trying to find where the 0xA00 value is coming from.
After some trace back and analysis, using execution and data write breakpoints as needed,
the location which hold this value is: .data:0x708594

More digging reveals that the value is written to this variable from information traced
back to a call to ddraw.dll at: .text:0x57C3DD

.text:0057C3C7 push 0
.text:0057C3C9 lea edx, [esp+80h+var_74]
.text:0057C3CD push 1
.text:0057C3CF mov [esp+84h+var_74], 7Ch
.text:0057C3D7 mov ecx, [eax]
.text:0057C3D9 push edx
.text:0057C3DA push 0
.text:0057C3DC push eax
-> .text:0057C3DD call dword ptr [ecx+64h]
.text:0057C3E0 test eax, eax
.text:0057C3E2 jnz loc_57C4A8

This call fills back some data in the stack, which is then interpreted by the code
following it to determine if it should write what is returned by this call to ddraw.dll (1),
or what is returned by a default calculation which gives back ... 0x500 (2)

The test is done at: .text:0x57C4C4

.text:0057C45C loc_57C45C: ; CODE XREF: sub_56EF80+D4D2j
-> .text:0057C45C test [esp+90h+var_84], 1FF9EEh
0) .text:0057C464 jz short loc_57C46F
1) .text:0057C466 mov ecx, [esp+90h+var_78]
.text:0057C46A mov [esi+8], ecx
.text:0057C46D jmp short loc_57C489
.text:0057C46F ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
.text:0057C46F
.text:0057C46F loc_57C46F: ; CODE XREF: sub_56EF80+D4E4j
2) .text:0057C46F xor eax, eax
.text:0057C471 xor edx, edx
.text:0057C473 mov ax, [esi+4]
.text:0057C477 mov dl, [esi+10h]
.text:0057C47A imul eax, edx
.text:0057C47D cdq
.text:0057C47E and edx, 7
.text:0057C481 add eax, edx
.text:0057C483 sar eax, 3
.text:0057C486 mov [esi+8], eax
.text:0057C489

At this stage, the idea is then to force the path through 2), always,
by changing the line at (0) to an unconditional jump:

0) .text:0057C464 jmp short loc_57C46F

So let's do that and see what happens ... that works !! No more trap !
However, there is an inconvenient ! All the interface screens to manipulate
the options, the list of pilots ... etc ... are halved in height :-(

Not so surprising by the way, this 0xA00 and 0x500 thing, with expansion,
had to be there for a purpose.

All the rest is ok, i.e the mission screens, the in-action sequences when
flying the engines, the score and about screens ... etc ... are untouched.

These halved screens are playable, the mouse acts correctly over them since
the .data:0x708594 variable is used in a lot of places by the code, but
this is not perfect, some of the text on screen is partial in height like the
pilot names or labels ... This requires to use the original version for example
to go through the parameter screens for modifying the joystick buttons and other
parameter screens.

Method 1bis:
------------
Ok, so what if we leave .data:0x708594 intact, but just try to patch the line increments
then, when copying from one buffer to another, to use the same increment size at source
and destination ?

This is done there:

.text:004E816E loc_4E816E: ; CODE XREF: sub_4E8043+127j
.text:004E816E mov eax, [ebp+arg_0_source_desc]
.text:004E8171 mov ecx, [ebp+var_408]
.text:004E8177 add ecx, [eax+14h]
.text:004E817A mov [ebp+var_408], ecx
.text:004E8180 mov edx, [ebp+var_404]
-> .text:004E8186 add edx, dword_708594
.text:004E818C mov [ebp+var_404], edx
.text:004E8192 jmp short loc_4E8126

Let's change the line to:
-> .text:004E8186 add edx, [eax+14h]
with the necessary 3 nop's behind (the new instruction is 3 bytes shorter)

Result is ... not very good, the interface screens are ok in height, but the contents seem
somewhat scrambled, is changing as the mouse pointer is moving, doesn't correspond to the
mouse pointer position ... in short, not useable.

Method 2:
---------
This starts by trying to find where the video buffer address is coming from.
Simple, it is stored in: .data:0x657B60

The allocation of the buffer itself is much harder to find. This comes back to
the same procedure and call to ddraw.ddl than in Method 1, however it is highly
probable that this is just a video context coming from somewhere else in the code
which will be hard to find unless to be a DirectX expert, which I am not, or worse,
it could be allocated by ddraw.dll itself ... and there, no chance to patch anything.
Also, it is not obvious from the parameters given to the call what is driving that,
unless again to know the DirectX API.

Dead end then on this method :-(

But wait ....! Something is strange at the end of this procedure ...

Method 3:
---------

The end of this procedure takes the buffer address returned by the ddraw.dll call,
and adds to it an offset in lines multiplied by the line length obtained a little
higher in the code, cf. Method 1).

.text:0057C489 loc_57C489: ; CODE XREF: sub_56EF80+D4EDj
-> .text:0057C489 movsx eax, word_73A50C
-> .text:0057C490 imul eax, [esi+8]
-> .text:0057C494 add eax, [esp+90h+var_64]
.text:0057C498 mov [esi], eax
.text:0057C49A mov byte ptr dword_6D26E8+1, bl
.text:0057C4A0 pop esi
.text:0057C4A1 mov al, 1
.text:0057C4A3 pop ebx
.text:0057C4A4 add esp, 7Ch
.text:0057C4A7 retn

This offset is in another word variable: .data:0x73A50C (2 bytes)

This word variable is written at: .text:0x57BC1B

.text:0057BBF0 sub_57BBF0 proc near
.text:0057BBF0
.text:0057BBF0 var_E0= dword ptr -0E0h
.text:0057BBF0 var_DC= dword ptr -0DCh
.text:0057BBF0 var_D8= dword ptr -0D8h
.text:0057BBF0 var_D4= dword ptr -0D4h
.text:0057BBF0 var_C0= dword ptr -0C0h
.text:0057BBF0 var_BC= dword ptr -0BCh
.text:0057BBF0 var_B8= dword ptr -0B8h
.text:0057BBF0 var_B4= dword ptr -0B4h
.text:0057BBF0 var_94= dword ptr -94h
.text:0057BBF0 var_90= dword ptr -90h
.text:0057BBF0 var_88= dword ptr -88h
.text:0057BBF0 var_80= dword ptr -80h
.text:0057BBF0 var_78= dword ptr -78h
.text:0057BBF0 var_2C= dword ptr -2Ch
.text:0057BBF0 arg_0= dword ptr 4
.text:0057BBF0 arg_4= dword ptr 8
.text:0057BBF0 arg_8= dword ptr 0Ch
.text:0057BBF0 arg_C= dword ptr 10h
.text:0057BBF0
.text:0057BBF0 mov eax, [esp+arg_C]
.text:0057BBF4 sub esp, 8Ch
.text:0057BBFA and eax, 1
.text:0057BBFD push ebx
.text:0057BBFE mov ebx, [esp+90h+arg_0]
.text:0057BC05 push ebp
.text:0057BC06 mov ebp, [esp+94h+arg_4]
.text:0057BC0D push esi
.text:0057BC0E mov si, cx
.text:0057BC11 mov ecx, [esp+98h+arg_8]
.text:0057BC18 push edi
.text:0057BC19 mov edi, edx
-> .text:0057BC1B mov word_73A50C, bp
.text:0057BC22 shl eax, 1
.text:0057BC24 cmp si, word_73A500
.text:0057BC2B mov word_73A50E, cx
.text:0057BC32 mov word_73A502, di
.text:0057BC39 mov dword_73A724, eax
.text:0057BC3E jnz short loc_

The purpose of this is not obvious. Tracing on the values taken during the process
shows that this is 0 most of the time, and that at the moment where the process
breaks, it is 0x46 ... Aha ! So let's patch the code to always read 0:

-> .text:0057C489 mov eax, 0
with the necessary 2 nop's behind (the new instruction is 2 bytes shorter)

And let'ts try ... the result is .. perfect so far ! No glitch, no image distortion
anywhere.
Ok, didn't play the whole game so far, so there might be an effect somewhere which
cannot be seen yet, but at least, it seems that most of the time if not all, the
game will be fine. So that will be the one.

Enjoy.

!---------------------------!
! Summary of modifications: !
!---------------------------!

Method 1 (workable, some screens height divided by 2):
------------------------------------------------------
.0057C464: 7409 je .00057C46F
becomes
.0057C464: EB09 jmps .00057C46F

With an hex editor, change in "Rogue Squadron.EXE":

offset value changes
____________________________________
17B864h 116 (74h) to 235 (EBh)

Method 1bis (not really useable interface screens):
---------------------------------------------------
.004E8186: 031594857000 add edx,[00708594]
becomes
.004E8186: 035014 add edx,[eax][14]
.004E8189: 90 nop
.004E818A: 90 nop
.004E818B: 90 nop

With an hex editor, change in "Rogue Squadron.EXE":

offset value changes
____________________________________
E7587h 21 (15h) to 80 (50h)
E7588h 148 (94h) to 20 (14h)
E7589h 133 (85h) to 144 (90h)
E758Ah 112 (70h) to 144 (90h)
E758Bh 0 (00h) to 144 (90h)

Method 3 (perfect so far):
--------------------------
.0057C489: 0FBF050CA57300 movsx eax,w,[0073A50C]
becomes
.0057C489: B800000000 mov eax,000000000
.0057C48E: 90 nop
.0057C48F: 90 nop

With an hex editor, change in "Rogue Squadron.EXE":

offset value changes
____________________________________
17B889h 15 (0Fh) to 184 (B8h)
17B88Ah 191 (BFh) to 0 (00h)
17B88Bh 5 (05h) to 0 (00h)
17B88Ch 12 (0Ch) to 0 (00h)
17B88Dh 165 (A5h) to 0 (00h)
17B88Eh 115 (73h) to 144 (90h)
17B88Fh 0 (00h) to 144 (90h)

I know nothing about hex editors. How ironic about the timing. I just switched my gaming machine to Vista :)

This fix might allow RS to be run on Vista 32 bit also in compatibility mode. I can run one of my old Nascar racing games that was written for DX6 OK. I will give it a shot. I have an old PC in the basement with Windows ME and a Voodoo 3000 card just for RS and my old A-10 Silent Thunder game. Would be nice to get RS on my main PC.

Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_editor
for more on hex editors, and for a choice of them.

And post here if you have trouble and I can assist. I would indeed quite safely assume this can make it run on Vista in 32 bits mode also.

Method 3 works! Thank you Erwin_obs!

I used Hex Editor Neo.

Hi! Could anyone send me somehow the exe of the game with this hex fixed?
Or give me specific instr. on how to fix it myself with the hex editor neo?
Thnx and MAY THE FORCE BE WITH U!!! :)

Just saw that the link above, to GCW, is broken.

So go to http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/gcw.shtml, and type Rogue Squadron in the "Search GCW" box.

You'll find what you are looking for at the top of the list, if you do not want to use an Hex editor ... which personally I would not do ... lesson #1 on the Internet, make sure as much as you can of what you are getting, better to share/gain knowledge and spend some effort than to do it the obscure :dev9: way .. :D

May the force be with you ...

Remarkable research. I hope this hex change will work, That is hopeful.

When I installed Reforce on my Old Dell, the screen goes black. But the sound is still there. What should I do?