PR Crash Issue/Fixed

[Crimson_Wolfs_Blood]

Hi,

I've been searching forever on the following issue, and still have not turned up any definitive results. Here's the issue:

When I try to play PR, I can load the first map fine, and play that whole round, but when the round ends, it loads the next map, then crashes to the desktop after a 100% load (sometimes earlier, but rarely). There isn't an error message either, which is frustrating, since I don't know exactly what is causing the crash.

Here's the catch. It's ONLY PR. Regular BF2 runs perfectly fine, and I also play FH2, which runs fine. Only PR does this.

My system specs are as follows:

Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+ (2 CPU's), ~2.2GHz
OS - 32 bit Windows 7 Ultimate (w/ the stupid notifications turned off, and running PR as an admin... I've tried running in XP SP3 compat. mode as well)
RAM - 4096MB (4GB) PC2 -(I don't remember if it's DDR2 or DDR3, but it's at least one of those two)
DirectX - DX11
Graphics Card - 512MB NVIDIA 9800 GTX+
Screen Resolution - 1600 x 900 @ 60Hz (note that it still crashed when I was using a 1280 x 1024 @ 60Hz res. on my old monitor)

All drivers should be up to date.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling BF2. I've tried reinstalling PR when it was at .87, and then installed it again when .90 was released. And as I mentioned before, I run it as an admin, and have tried running it in XP SP3 compat. mode.

Please help in any way you can. I'm willing to answer any further questions that may help resolve this issue, as long as I am able to.

Thanks,
Crimson

[SnipingCoward]

it appears you are not searching the right forum there is a pr specific support forum with alot of similar threads and tons of things to try
PR Support - Project Reality Forums

here is one for example:
https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f27-pr ... -join.html

[Crimson_Wolfs_Blood]

it appears you are not searching the right forum there is a pr specific support forum with alot of similar threads and tons of things to try

I've actually search the entire internet, including the forum you mentioned now (This post probably should have been in there, I admit... my bad). Even in looking in there, I could not find anything that either I haven't already tried, or that when I did try it, was able to fix my problem.

[SnipingCoward]

lets go further into detail if you really think its not one of the common problems...

i dont see a sound device in your specs
whats your sound card? onboard or maybe Xfi?

please tell us what you have already tried so we don't just resuggest it

also have you run it in windowed mode to get an error message when it ctds?

i dont quite like the uncertainty in this quote:

All drivers should be up to date.

please make sure they are, gfx drivers are most common for ctds (even reinstall might just help to fix corrupted parts)

how much ram does windows recognize? (system control panel)
whats your page file size? (should be 1.5x the size of recognized ram)
did you md5 check the installers for corruption?
is your system overheating?
how much Watts does your PSU supply?
what are your ingame settings?
what are your nvidia settings?

[Crimson_Wolfs_Blood]

I believe my sound card is an on-board card. (Don't really know, haven't dealt with an actual sound card since the '90's or there about, but I'm fairly certain it's on-board.) I do not think the sound is the issue though, as there is no glitching in the sound or any sound related issues that i know of.

I've already tried:
- Reinstalling bf2 (1.41, then 1.5 directly after)
- Reinstalling PR .87, and then I installed .90 after it was released
- Running PR as an admin (always do)
- Running in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode (only made the problem worse)
- Tried the Command Prompt "editbin bf2.exe /largeaddressaware" fix, to no avail (I got the message "'editbin' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file"
- Turned off all the windows 7 notifications (like, the ones that ask for permissions)
- I think there were one or two other minor things I tried that i can't remember.

How do I go about running it in Windowed mode. If I can do so and get an error message, it would probably really help out... I just don't know how...

Well, all my drivers are up to date, but I wasn't sure about my gfx card, I'll try that quickly and see if it helps.

how much ram does windows recognize? - Installed Memory: 4GB (3GB Usable (I attribute this difference to the 1GB that Windows 7 requires...))

whats your page file size? (should be 1.5x the size of recognized ram) - Page file is system managed (currently at 3071MB) - I tried turning it up to 1.5x before, to no luck, but I may have done this wrong... if you could tell me exactly how to do this, I can try again.

did you md5 check the installers for corruption? - Not too sure what you mean here...

is your system overheating? - No, my system is not overheating, that I know for sure. (first thing I checked)

how much Watts does your PSU supply? I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe it's either a 350 or a 450, which I've calculated to be sufficient (note that when I was running XP everything was fine, but I've only had 2 problems after switching to Windows 7, one of which is a minor software issue elsewhere, and PR crashing).

what are your ingame settings? All on the highest level (again, worked fine when I was on XP - VBF2 works fine with these settings, as does the FH2 mod...)

what are your nvidia settings? (Umm, whatever default is... I think they're automated.)

[Crimson_Wolfs_Blood]

Alright, well, I updated my graphics card drivers, and then I was also able to get the "editbin" fix to go through... except now after I load up the first map, I have variable time in the server before I get kicked by punkbuster for the Md5 mismatch. I tried what I could from the forums here, except complete re-installation of bf2, since I really don't want to spend all the time needed to do that right now, and it's been to no avail. I'll try it later if there's nothing else I can try.

[SnipingCoward]

as for modding the bf2.exe this guy might have succeeded:
https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f27-pr ... witch.html

to run in windowed mode append "+fullscreen 0" to your shortcut's target line

on a 32bit system I think it would only recoginze 3.25GB due to limited adress space (36bit with PAE)

pr.9 is a full install - there is no need to have .87 installed before - if reinstalling it is recommended uninstall all previous versions

i suggest you keep looking at this thread as well: https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f27-pr ... sktop.html
(there is also an explaination on the md5 topic)

personally I believe your PSU should be at around 500-550 W but usually BSODs and unexpected reboots/shutdowns are more common symptoms

your page file might be fine - the "task manager"'s performance tab and the "resource monitor" (built into win vista and win7) can give you more insight on that issue

turn down "textures" and "lighting" to medium please, its reported to fix some issues

[Crimson_Wolfs_Blood]

Okay, so I did a full reinstall of bf2 and PR .9 which did not fix my original problem.

I then tried the "editbin" thing again, only I tried that again how the guy on your link did, and it started causing the md5 tool mismatch error for me again. This md5 issue is only in PR, not the vanilla game, or the FH2 mod.

I then checked my PR .9 setup files for md5 errors, and it did not match what was in the related link you posted. I then downloaded the PR files from a different source (the torrents this time) and they checked out okay. I tested it after uninstalling the old PR .9 files i had, and installing it with the new ones. I still got kicked for md5 tool mismatch.

Because I keep getting kicked for this, I'm unable to tell if the "editbin" fix corrected the problem this post was originally for (which, by the way, updating my graphics card drivers did not fix).

As for turning down the textures, I can load the first map fine and play no issues, no lag (except for the occasional server lag), so I don't think it's an error with the textures. I can try it if after I get the md5 issue resolved, I'm still having problems.

I really hope we can get PR to work for me... I'm really getting frustrated with it, but as I was able to play without problems back when I was running XP (I don't want to switch back, at that point, it's too much trouble), it'll be worth it if and when it's fixed...

[SnipingCoward]

actually i expected that md5 problem to occur - you should revert to your old bf2.exe and try some more different approaches (i.e. all that stuff mentioned in the ctd thread i linked earlier)

md5 kicks only happen on PB servers - so if you could join a non pb server or create your own and the problem still persists then it appearant that the modified exe did not work

[Crimson_Wolfs_Blood]

Alright, well I tried hosting a local server, and it fully loaded the second map and then crashed before it gave me the "Squad Assignment" aka Join button. I tried to take a screenshot of the message it gave me (I was running full screen in PR as well), but it didn't work right... so I'll try my best to describe it:

Black screen background, and the message that said "BF2.exe has stopped working" in the title. I forget the body of the message, but what I gave you might be enough to determine the problem.

If you could tell me how to revert back to the original bf2.exe, without a full reinstall, that would be helpful. If you say I have to do another full reinstall, that's fine. From there I can attempt to get that same, or a different error message... but I'll try the texture changes, to see if I even get said error message.

[SnipingCoward]

repatching with BF2 1.5 patch should restore your bf2.exe

the stopped error usually comes up when you did not run PR as admin
but seeing as you modified the bf2 its probably something to do with that or the original problem

[Crimson_Wolfs_Blood]

Okay, so I reinstalled the bf2 1.5 patch, and it still gave me the md5 error (which I don't get before I modify the bf2.exe), so I'll probably have to do a full reinstall again... but I was able to force the error again after I got kicked for md5 mismatch.

Here's the screen of just the error box:



(If the image didn't show, go here: http://flyingwolvesgaming.webs.com/error_zoomed.jpg)

This was the error I was getting during the initial crash errors as well, just the number at the end varied if I remember correctly.

Please note that at the time of my forcing this error, I have not yet tried changing the texture settings, as I'm really reluctant to do this, but if it's the only thing fixes the problem, that's fine (and I can still switch it back and forth for vbf2 or FH2, correct?).

[SnipingCoward]

Please note that at the time of my forcing this error, I have not yet tried changing the texture settings, as I'm really reluctant to do this, but if it's the only thing fixes the problem, that's fine (and I can still switch it back and forth for vbf2 or FH2, correct?).

its probably easiest to use seperate profiles for this - you can just duplicate the profile folder "0001" and rename the copy to "0002" - you will have 2 entries which will use the same online account but different setting files - so you decide PR is first, rest is 2nd entry and change the settings as you please

i generally recommend using seperate profiles for each mod - since its less error prone

i am out of ideas regarding alternative solutions to the memory.dll error - i guess its in devs' hands

[Crimson_Wolfs_Blood]

Alright, I'll try the texture changes the way you recommend, and see if that fixes my memory error by testing on a local or a non-PB server. If it does, then I'll reinstall and set up the profiles that way again. If not, I guess I'll just have to wait and see if either the PR devs or EA comes up with something to fix this.

Thanks a lot for your time,
Crimson

[Crimson_Wolfs_Blood]

Alrighty, finally got it to work on a local server at least (should work online after I reinstall bf2 to fix the .exe after I modified it). Here's what I did, turned down Textures and Terrain to medium, and turned Anti-Aliasing off. Tested it - ran fine. Turned AA back up to 8x - ran fine. Turned Terrain back up to High - Worked fine, Turned Textures back up to high - crashed. So, I've concluded that my problem could have been solved (and this is how it always seems to be), by doing the last thing I tried first, which is simply, turning the Textures down to medium. Now, if anybody else is afraid to do this, don't be. The game still looks fairly decent, the worst part about it are the vehicle textures, which really don't look that much different. I mean, there are noticeable differences yes, but not something you won't get used to over time, plus it's well worth it for the game-play value.

[XxxGrANdmA]

Nice to hear that you got it working but why didn't you just try turning textures down in the first place. Simple, easy, and it works for most people.

[Crimson_Wolfs_Blood]

Nice to hear that you got it working but why didn't you just try turning textures down in the first place. Simple, easy, and it works for most people.

Simple. I prefer to have the higher quality graphics if possible. I'll try anything else that I can in order to preserve the quality first, and if that doesn't work, then I'll drop the graphics.