jamesdmuchow
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Crash Before Startup

Mon Dec 21, 2015 9:24 pm

I just bought the game and downloaded it. I installed it (v.1.00) and it crashed during the opening ageod screen. I downloaded the 1.01 patch, installed it, and tried running with the same result.

The error I get is that scw.exe has crashed. When I hit the red X on that pop-up it takes me to what I assume is the first screen and pops-up another indicating what looks to be a address violation buts it's in French so I don't really know.

I looked through some of the Forum entries - I even saw one that sounded exactly like the one I'm seeing - but I don't know what I can do now. Some of the forum entries indicated an attached log file and I'd do that if I knew how.

jamesdmuchow
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Tue Dec 22, 2015 1:04 am

Small addition: The opening ageod screen is presented fine; it is with the next screen, the title page, indicating the name and developer, that the scw crashed pop-up is presented. On the exiting the pop-up, what I assume is the main page is presented, with another popup indication the error (something about EAccess Violation). None of the icons on the main page are active.

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ERISS
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Tue Dec 22, 2015 7:10 am

Launch it with administrator rights option. Don't install the game in the system folder (but in a separate /Games which is not in /Windows folder).

jamesdmuchow
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Tue Dec 22, 2015 2:37 pm

ERISS, many thanks for the suggestions, however, they don't work.

The game is automatically installed in c:\Games\Espana 1936, but for the purposes of testing, I also installed it under c:\Users\<me>\Games\Espana1936. Made no difference.

I am already administrator, so I should be running in that mode any anyway; however, I did launch the game using the special run-as-administrator option from the right-click menu. No change.

I also made sure that the installation indicates v1.00 on the lower right-hand corner of the main screen - and that it changes to v1.01 after installing that patch. Before and after patch made no difference.

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Durk
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Wed Dec 23, 2015 4:31 pm

Windows 7 and newer are a bit tricky to install a program with needs access rights while running. What I do is right click and use the 'Run as Administrator' option to install the game. I Do the same with patches, as Windows no longer allows you to be the administrator even if you have provided these general rights for yourself in the default settings.
Once installed using Run as Administrator, then open the game also using the Run as Administrator.
So try one more reinstall.

jamesdmuchow
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Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:39 am

Thanks, Durk; those seemed like great suggestions, but alas, without effect. And yes, I agree "Windows 7 and newer are a bit tricky to install a program with needs access rights while running".

I tried all of your suggestions. After the 1.00 install, I re-launched the game (as admin) and it crashed. It also crashed after I had patched with "Patch_Espana1936_v1.01.exe" (that is correct, yes?). I find it odd that the "more info" button in the popup indicating that the SCW.exe has crashed always shows the version as being 1.0.0, both before and after patching - this may be a red-herring however. I also find it odd that the patch becomes a separate app to be uninstalled from the app itself under the Programs and Features portion of the Control Panel.

I discovered that after running uninstall, the c:/Games/Espana 1936 directory is not removed. I thought that using this directory may've been the source of the permissions issues, so I deleted it so as to be recreated under an admin install. No change.

I saw something about running the update from a patches directory, but I couldn't find one, so I didn't do that. I am running both the install and update executables from the Downloads directory.

I just found something in the Advanced System Properties called Data Execution Protection. The behavior description matches what I'm seeing so let's just see - have to restart before I know... time passes... no effect here either.

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Durk
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Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:22 am

For me, I always need to do a restart. The computer seems to hold on to stuff I want gone.
Also, random virus protection sometimes gets in the way.
Try this. Uninstall all previous installs.
Restart.
Disable virus protection.
Install as administrator.

jamesdmuchow
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Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2015 9:07 pm

Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:57 pm

Thanks again, Durk. Will try what you suggest, but it may be a few days before I respond with the results.

jamesdmuchow
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Fri Dec 25, 2015 3:12 pm

OK, I got some time to play around and found out what was wrong. In short, because I had no speakers/headphones plugged into the audio jack, the PCs audio is disabled; the game really doesn't like this.

To test this, I re-installed and re-patched the game with no special admin considerations; basically, I let the install process follow its default course. Afterwards, I launched the game. With something plugged into the audio jack, the game ran fine; otherwise not. It did not matter whether I disabled sounds/music in the game's options or not.

I am curious as to whether the PC and thus the game can live with anything, regardless of functionality, plugged into the jack. I'll try this later. Personally, as a programmer, I think this situation is pretty lame and I'm not quite sure how it could come to be. I understand that a tester wouldn't catch it because my configuration (no sound) is (apparently) quite unusual. It seems odd to me that the Window's library of audio access functions wouldn't have a test for the state of the PC's audio (enabled or not) and that a programmer wouldn't use it before trying to access it, and upon detecting disabled audio would simply disable the game's audio functions. But no. On the other hand, Window's can be, um, difficult to work with and perhaps these audio shenanigans are typical.

Anyway, thanks to both ERISS and Durk for their time and suggestions, I really appreciate it.

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Leibst
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Location: Madrid, Spain
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Fri Dec 25, 2015 6:29 pm

Late to help here but i will never imagine the solution. I have played several times without sound without problems but in windows xp.
Image
Headquarter game designer of Battles For Spain, Ageod English Civil War, España:1936 and Thirty Years War
HQ website

jamesdmuchow
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Sat Dec 26, 2015 3:52 pm

Hi Leibstandarte, no worries about arriving late. As to playing without sound, note that I said audio is disabled, not off (aka muted).

This behavior I encountered is probably not a driver facility/feature. I experimented with something plugged in the jack and not and comparing against the Details menu of the Device Manager's Audio info. I didn't see any changes in entries that I would've expected.

On the other hand, on the desktop there is a speaker icon in the lower right hand corner. When the speaker is muted, the muted icon is a white '/' on a red field next to the speaker icon. When I pull the plug from the jack I see the speaker icon with a white 'x' in a red field instead. When I plug into the jack, I also get a popup which I think is coming from the manufacturer's software (Dell) telling me that something has been plugged in to the audio jack. In short, the awareness of this activity seems to be "higher up the stack" than the driver (although I would guess that the driver or some related driver-like entity is reporting it).

Now, however, I think I'd like to play the game. I've gone through the tutorials and it all looks very interesting.

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