Patch 1.04e on trial (betapatch)

[PhilThib]

Hi All,

Calvinus is still working hard like a madman (thanks :coeurs . Here is a new patch, non official, with a completely new sounds library. Well, it is supposed to eradicate the problems (freezes, ctds...) linked to the sounds that some of you have known...

All those feeling concerned (and others too) are welcome to test it. If it works fine and no one complains, it will become official next week


http://ageoddl.telechargement.fr/3rdParty/WW1/Patches/WW1_Patch_v1.0.4e.exe

[calvinus]

Herewith the news:

[Version 1.0.4e]
************

Improvements:
- A new more stable and better performant MP3 playback library is now integrated in the game
- Automatic browse of ingame musics is now in force
- The WW1 Configurator now allows to set two new parameters: "load all sounds at start" and "play sounds in streaming mode"

Fixed bugs:
- Fixed the mysterious bug of the snowy meteo conditions during spring
- Fixed a bug in Fog of War manager: the visibility bonus chits of AI were never released
- Corrected tooltip for forbidden interceptions in Fire-Power doctrine
- Corrected map DB mistakes for Persian Gulf and Red Sea
- Fixed the recurrent crash in Diplomatic phase of Summer 1915



Important:
As written before, you will find two new check-boxes inside the WW1 Configurator: "Load all sounds at start" and "Play sounds in streaming mode".
So you can customize the way the game now loads and plays the sounds!

Here all combinations:

Load all sounds at start : off
Play sounds in streaming mode : off
Sounds are fully loaded only once played, and kept in RAM until the end of the game. Loading of large musics will cause a small freeze, due to loading time (1-2 seconds max).


Load all sounds at start : on
Play sounds in streaming mode : off
Sounds' headers are loaded at game start, so short loading time at start. Then the full sound is loaded fully into RAM once played. Loading of large musics will cause a small freeze, due to loading time (1-2 seconds max).


Load all sounds at start : off
Play sounds in streaming mode : on
Sounds infos are loaded only once played, and kept in RAM until the end of the game. But the sounds are played in streaming mode, so saving a lot of RAM!


DEFAULT
Load all sounds at start : on
Play sounds in streaming mode : on
Sounds' headers are loaded at game start, so short loading time at start. In addition the sounds are played in streaming mode, so saving a lot of RAM!


Thanks,
Calvinus.

[Le Ricain]

Unable to d/l the patch.

[Rafiki]

It's available now

[Le Ricain]

Right you are...thanks

[Tamas]

Having both sound option "on" causes quite noticable lag upon the loading of new musics for me. A couple of seconds more than it used to be.

Game does run smoother than ever 'though, apart from this.

[yoppy]

Having both sound option "on" causes quite noticable lag upon the loading of new musics for me. A couple of seconds more than it used to be.

Game does run smoother than ever 'though, apart from this.

Same for me!
But I only played 30 minutes with 1.04e and at least turned the music off.

[calvinus]

Having both sound option "on" causes quite noticable lag upon the loading of new musics for me. A couple of seconds more than it used to be.

Game does run smoother than ever 'though, apart from this.

Yes, and nothing can be done... the sound engine needs time to load the music...
You can try the streaming mode!

[Johnnie]

Game seems to be running faster; but slow running was never my problem.

CTD first turn during combat (grand campaign). Sounds and music off.

I shall continue to try to play again when each new patch is posted.

[Johnnie]

Tried several times with 104e (various music settings). Can't get past combat phase of turn one of grand campaign without CTD. I used to get further than this.

[vonRocko]

Having both sound option "on" causes quite noticable lag upon the loading of new musics for me. A couple of seconds more than it used to be.

Game does run smoother than ever 'though, apart from this.

Game stops for 3-5 seconds when songs are changing.But no other problems so far!
thanks

[calvinus]

This sound lib is the best in terms of price/performance... the alternative is to pay 6000$ (:mdr ....

So use the "streaming" mode!
No delay when loading sounds, and a big save of RAM!

[Johnnie]

Am I alone here with regular crashes with 104e ?? I honestly think I was getting further in the game previously.

[calvinus]

Can you post here the DxDiag, if you didn't do it before, plese?

[Johnnie]

Calvinus:

I will do so if you tell me how.

[LUDOPEREZ]

I'm playing with Patch 1.04e and have this crash all the time in Caporeto ofensive scenary playing as german
I begin the batlle of the great offensive and in the middle always crash
With sound off the crash continuous
Four times the same error

A greeting

[tagwyn]

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas Arne. t

[tagwyn]

Johnnie: I am alive and well! Bad news? t

[LUDOPEREZ]

I'm playing with Patch 1.04e and have this crash all the time in Caporeto ofensive scenary playing as german
I begin the batlle of the great offensive and in the middle always crash
With sound off the crash continuous
Four times the same error

A greeting

But I played the big offensive on the Palestinian scenery without any error
Can be an error only in that specific scenario?

Leave my DXDIAG by whether it can serve as something

[calvinus]

I'm trying to reproduce the crash, unsuccessfully...

[calvinus]

Leave my DXDIAG by whether it can serve as something

I see you have only 1GB RAM....

The requirements for a good and stable gameplay are 2GB.
1GB causes a huge access to virtual RAM, HD swapping, loss of performances, risk of loss of game stability. Mainly if you play the Grand Campaign (load all map).

Probably if you use low texture graphics you can gain something...

[Johnnie]

I keep saying this to myself; but now I mean it. I'm done, finished, finito, whatever, with this game. I have wanted to play this game, or something like it, since I first read The Guns of August, WHEN IT WAS FIRST WRITTEN in 1964. But now I can't even get beyond the first turn.

I have a backlog of about 4,000, or so, games that I have yet to learn or play. I'm sure you are thinking: "Good riddance," but I'll probably check back in a month.

[06 Maestro]

Johnnie

I had plenty of problems too, but those have been nearly eliminated (I want te manual though ).

Before you give up on the game, check out crucial dot com. they have a small, easy to use utility whch wil give you options on upgrading your RAM. I orderd new RAMs very soon after buying this game. It cost 31 bucks per gig-I got two.

Give it a shot.

[Johnnie]

Maestro:

Thanks, but I have 4 GIG of Ram (machine only uses 2.75) so that can't be it. Game always ran smooth even 1.03 (although less smooth than now); my problem is Crashing to Desktop.

[vonRocko]

I also had two crashes with 104e. in august 1914. I went back to 104d,

[calvinus]

Just to inform you that the CTD issue is and will always be my priority #1.

1.04e is bringing valuable improvement on most PCs that previously suffered stability problems, but it seems they are not eradicated in a few ones.

This needs investigations.

I have too a 4GB config, core quad CPU. AVG antivirus, Vista standard firewall. Absolutely no problem at all, of course. So let's see what is "different" between the two PCs.

1) WW1 Config:
Be sure you have the "Lock full-screen" option is unselected.
Use the "Fit to screen" option too.

2) Installed software:
Antivirus? Firewall?
If you run the game on another PC, you have the same problems?

[Johnnie]

Calvinus:

I am running the settings as suggested. I use CA "Security Suite" antivirus supplied by my internet provider (it has never caused any problem); I don't use any firewall (except whatever comes with windows); am using XP sp2. My system itself is VERY stable. It's about 2 years old and I play a lot of wargames; new and old. I had it for a full year, literally, without the machine freezing up, even once.

I started 4 grand campaigns yesterday, 2 crashed during combat in first turn; 1 crashed in first turn after combat; 1 (third try) actually made it into 1915 (saved it there).

Intel Dual Core E6550; 2.33 GHz; NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT.

Thanks for your hard work.

[Syt]

Quick question since I didn't have time to look at 1.04d: does 1.04e include all prior patches or do I need 1.04d first?

EDIT: Nevermind, I take both - they are not that large, after all.

[calvinus]

Mmmm...

Have you tried disabling temporarily this antivirus?
If a trial version is available, I will download it very soon and try on my PC, whose config is very very similar to yours... (but I use Vista)

Also, another thing comes to my mind! Do you have a Certification Autority digital sign drivers installed on the PC??? If so, the engine is not compatible with them. Some days ago, I had to use these drivers for a while for the job, and the game did not run at all. Every I/O operation was extremely long and fault...

Other tip... maybe you have the crash caused by the I/O of AI logs... these I/O operations are very frequent, so they could be intercepted by the anti-virus so causing crashes.
So, open the WW1.ini file and disable the AI logs, as follows:

LogfileAI=0

[calvinus]

Downloading your CA Security Suite trial... just one question, can I uninstall it once finished the tests?????