0.98 Crashes on Mini-Mods

[MooseBoys]

Since updating to 0.98, whenever I load a mini-mod map, my game crashes with the following error:

Code: Select all

memory.dll: sanity check: block size -1065353088 (3080.00 MB) doesn't seem sane

This occurs during the "Collision" phase of the map load.

This occurs on both Normandy and Vietnam maps (haven't tried Falklands). I didn't previously have Normandy installed, but I did have Vietnam installed, and all those maps worked fine prior to 0.98.

I've tried clearing the game cache, but it doesn't help.

I'm running Windows XP 64-bit, and suspect that the 64-bitness is the problem. Given the nature of the error message (and the fact that it's interpreting the byte allocation as a signed integer), I'm suspecting an int<>size_t bug. Any suggestions or workaround? I'd rather not install a 32-bit OS because it was a huge pain getting the right AHCI drivers to install my current one properly.

[LITOralis.nMd]

Ouch,
Appreciate the pain in finding AHCI drivers on XP64,

How much RAM are you running?
What is size of page file?
Is page file size system controlled or manually set?

IMHO, if you just realized your page file is smaller than 3GB, increase the page file size manually to a size larger than 4.5GB, or set it to "system managed size".

You might be able to use the /3G Boot parameter in reverse, forcing applications to use no more than 2GB of RAM? Or not, this seems like a bad idea the more I think about it.

[MooseBoys]

How much RAM are you running?
What is size of page file?

16GB main memory, 3GB video memory. My pagefile was set to some odd value like 2038-4090MB, but I don't remember ever manually setting it. I'll set it to 4096-8192MB and see what happens, but I wouldn't expect anything to need to page to disk anyway with 16GB. Then again BF2 has always had quirky behavior...

[LITOralis.nMd]

I own a copy of WinXP X64 and keep it in a virtual machine for testing purposes, however I am in no way well versed in the growing pains of x64 architecture in/of XP x64.

The "memory.dll:sanity check:block size" error message is quite common and is dealt with on the BF2142 forums. Most people seem to be fixing it by increasing the page file size or RAM and closing down any programs running in the background while playing.

Another possible fix involves turning off Windows DEP (Data Execution Prevention) for BF2142........
Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Performance Settings button > Data Execution Prevention tab

Also, from an official EA reply about this problem, they recommend users with dual core CPUs to restrict the game to just one core.

Another possibility is you have a bad stick of RAM, and you are not utilizing that stick in other programs... not likely, but possible.

[MooseBoys]

Well increasing the pagefile size didn't work (crashed on Operation Overlord last night). I'll try turning off DEP but I'm skeptical that it'll work. I also doubt it's a bad RAM stick because all my other games on my Win7 install work fine on the same hardware.

It is strange though that this never happens on any of the main PR maps, that it almost always happens on the mini-mod maps, and that it didn't happen on either until 0.98 (0.973 + Vietnam + Falklands worked fine).

I guess if the main US servers keep mixing mini-mods in the rotation I'll try switching to Win7 to run the game - seems like it's supported well enough. As it stands I can't play for more than 1 or 2 rounds before a mini-mod gets voted.

[LITOralis.nMd]

You should check the Hashes on the 0.981 installer you downloaded, make sure it isn't corrupt.

Hashes are here:
https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f27-pr ... ashes.html

If your download was corrupted, please let me know.

You could try a fresh reinstall of BF2 and PR on your current system before going to the fresh OS install option.

[MooseBoys]

Checked the hashes and everything was correct. I ended up just nuking the drive and putting Win7 64-bit on it. So far, no client crashes on map load (tested Vietnam and Falklands).