Latest crash at cemetery! Any solution? HELP!

zerosdfd · #1 (**permalink**) 04-29-2005, 07:21 AM

The game crashes to desktop when I try to get out of the cemetery just after talking to Gary, starting the I Spy BARBARUS+TAWNI quest. I have both official and un official patch installed, changelevel2 console command does the same. I could use "map" command but that would clear out my quest log. "Noclip" is not good either because after goung throught the door the main street is sort of missing and I can't move anywhere really. It actually starts loading, but just before it it would start -i guess by entering the area outside the cemetery- the load indicator goes back a bit and the next is that I see my desktop.....
Here is part of my crash log:

vampire caused an Access Violation (0xc0000005)
in module vampire.dll at 001b:0db77340.

Read from location 00000040 caused an access violation.

Context:
EDI: 0x26777194 ESI: 0x00000040 EAX: 0x0e12aaff
EBX: 0x0353ef70 ECX: 0x0ddf8a60 EDX: 0x000088a5
EIP: 0x0db77340 EBP: 0x0012cf64 SegCs: 0x0000001b
EFlags: 0x00210286 ESP: 0x0012cf58 SegSs: 0x00000023

Bytes at CS:EIP:
8a 06 46 8a 27 47 38 c4 74 f2 2c 41 3c 1a 1a c9

-----[ SysInfo ]-----
Error occurred at 4/29/2005 13:56:54.
1 processor(s), type 586.
99% memory in use.
768 MBytes physical memory.
4 MBytes physical memory free.
2126 MBytes paging file.
1205 MBytes paging file free.
2048 MBytes user address space.
955 MBytes user address space free.

-----[ StackTrace ]-----
0x0D8D2E4E : prop_doorknob_electronic in C:\Program Files\Activision\Vampire - Bloodlines\vampire\dlls\vampire.dll
0x5F726567 : <unknown symbol> in <unknown module>

Help please!

Celacena · #2 (**permalink**) 04-29-2005, 08:33 AM

you have under a gig of physical memory and have only 4Mb free...99% stated usage - sounds as if trying to load the next level is too much for your system to cope with. I used to have this problem and do not since I made it up to a Gig. this game is greedy for memory and CTDs far too often - usually at a change in location.

simple answer is get more RAM - but cutting down on detail etc may help. delete some save games?

it's just another symptom of a good game rushed out.

zerosdfd · #3 (**permalink**) 04-29-2005, 10:41 AM

Thanx, that sounds reasonable; I think I'll have to buy those RAM cause deleting savegames and cutting down details didn't help much although it said in the log it used only 90% of my RAM when crashing...and had 1G of swap file free:-(
I'm on my way to that shop.

zerosdfd · #4 (**permalink**) 05-23-2005, 10:33 AM

Well i bought that RAM upgrade but my problem didn't change at all:-(
Anybody there to give some help.
I haven't yet installed 1.4 patch, though.

-----[ SysInfo ]-----
Error occurred at 5/23/2005 18:14:22.
1 processor(s), type 586.
88% memory in use.
1024 MBytes physical memory.
120 MBytes physical memory free.<------->this shouldn't be a problem, right?
2462 MBytes paging file.
1521 MBytes paging file free.
2048 MBytes user address space.
937 MBytes user address space free.

-----[ StackTrace ]-----
0x0CFA2E4E : prop_doorknob_electronic in C:\Program Files\Activision\Vampire - Bloodlines\vampire\dlls\vampire.dll
0x5F726567 : <unknown symbol> in <unknown module>

Celacena · #5 (**permalink**) 05-23-2005, 10:41 AM

I have been told that the change of location calls upon the drivers and if they are not perfect, it crashes. I went to Nvidia and got updated drivers a few days back and didn't CTD once during a few sessions of vamp with a new character since.

the memory issue has been common though and I'd expect you to get better performance now.

BTW noclip on godmodes is limited to the loaded level - where there are doors with load-levels, noclip cannot get you beyond them - areas in most games are discrete modules, so only a level jump would work.

zerosdfd · #6 (**permalink**) 05-23-2005, 10:47 AM

Thanx for the quick answer!
Maybe get the latest drivers and patches first, see what happens and if it won't work I'll restart the whole game with another character, play it through till the cemetery; and if it is still the same I start playing tetris...:-(

yrthwyndandfyre · #7 (**permalink**) 05-23-2005, 10:53 PM

If I saw an exception like this coming out of my code, I'd immediately start looking for an uninitialized pointer. It seems to be coming out of the doorkeeper code, so I'm thinking Heisenbug. That would indicate that the problem is probably setting- or configuration-dependent. Looking for updated drivers is probably a very good idea, but I'd recommend two other things as well:

1) Is the name of your vampire unusually long? If so, shorten it.
2) Do you by any chance have about 2 GB of free space on your C: drive? I notice your paging file settings are a bit odd. If you do have that little free space on your C: drive, you need to find a way to get more. Delete some files, uninstall some applications, back something up - you're best placed to decide how to get it. Too little space on the C: drive causes all kinds of problems, most of them manifesting in the form of context violations or Out Of Memory errors. All of them are system-level exceptions and invariably cause a crash.

Celacena · #8 (**permalink**) 05-25-2005, 05:53 AM

when we are talking in terms of 1 GIG of RAM or 1/2 a gig - then a meg is real small. if you look at the vamp files, I guess you will find many that are bigger than a meg - often many times that. even if your PC can squeeze the running components into your ram - if there is no 'elbow room' there would be problems. a problem with some programs is that they do not release RAM when they should, thus using more memory than seems logical. I'm sure that could apply to page files/virtual memory too.

your memory settings do seem a bit 'close to the edge' and you probably need to get rid of some background processes whilst you play.