SOW Gettysburg and Win 8 ??

[JohnVW]

I didn't know a cust scenario was a mod (sorry)...but, the cust scenarios don't go in the mod folder...they go in the scenarios folder...and we use them all the time...and never had a problem playing them via the lobby even, until I got Win 8

[RebBugler]

I didn't know a cust scenario was a mod (sorry)...but, the cust scenarios don't go in the mod folder...they go in the scenarios folder...and we use them all the time...and never had a problem playing them via the lobby even, until I got Win 8

Ah so...

Maybe that's been your problem all along. I'm assuming now that you added a new folder in Base and named it Scenarios, and that's where you added the custom scenario. Since the retail game is not designed for that, maybe that's causing your crashes. Bet ADukes knows whether this is possible or not.

[JohnVW]

no, my new game (less than 3 months) came with a scenarios folder I believe...but again, that can't be the problem...I've been playing custom scenario games (via the lobby) for years, no problem...after getting Win 8 I've been having problems...but since I did the "port forward" I've been able to play 2-player games (just finished a 2hr cust scenario online just now)...what I need to try now is a 3-player port forward game (since the increase in bandwidth) and see if that made any diff...this is 3-4 2-player games I've played now ok...BUT, in a perfect world i'd like to go back to playing in the lobby as well...and there's no doubt now in my mind that that is a Win 8 issue...

[Garnier]

It's important to keep separate issues separate, and not jump to conclusions.

Playing one or two or three games in a certain configuration and crashing or not crashing doesn't prove anything. Especially if the crashing happens somewhere in the middle of the game. Just because it didn't crash doesn't prove that it couldn't have crashed.

what I need to try now is a 3-player port forward game (since the increase in bandwidth) and see if that made any diff.

One game won't prove anything.

but again, that can't be the problem...I've been playing custom scenario games for years, no problem

It's quite possible to make many custom scenarios that work, and then make an error on one of them that causes the game to crash. Obviously the bad formation error in this latest scenario wasn't in your earlier ones, since it didn't show up in the logs. We don't know if this error is what caused the crash, of course.

I'm not sure how thoroughly the game validates that a scenario file will work. Does anyone know if there's a way to make a bad scenario file that will cause a crash but won't put any errors in the log? Maybe we should have a scenario validator outside the game that checks if it's correct.

[JohnVW]

well, I've played that scenario about 8 times now (5 times solo, and 3 times in the last 3 days online) and it's only crashed when i played an online 3-player game (5 solo and 2 2-player worked fine)...so obv there can be an error in the scenario, but i'm thinking that probably isn't the issue...

well before this scenario was created, i have not been able to play any lobby games (since Win 8) and only partially the way through any standard SOW sandbox games (with no mods)...so, we can leave that particular scenario out of the loop because all the issues existed before it was created and/or in games where it was never used...

i'm not saying that my 2 2-player games I've played (using the defective scenario, and another mod as well) since the bandwidth increase really proves anything; just that it's a start...i can only play so many games and in the last 18-20 hrs my 2 2-player games have played fine (both after the bandwidth increase) and my 1 3-player attempt (before the increase) failed 1/3 of the way through...so, it's "baby steps", but i'm trying to narrow down the culprit(s)...and so far the only constants have been:

- lobby games since Win 8 don't work (regardless of type of game, mods or not, etc.)
- 2-player games "seem to work" since i went to hosting them and also increased my bandwidth

that's all i really know for now...

[JohnVW]

MAY HAVE A FIX !!

it seems that many Win 8.1 users are all having the same issue, quite frequently...and Win Update is not fixing it...the issue is all of a sudden, in the middle of something, you freeze-up and get "windows has stopped working"...

that is what I get when playing SOW online many times...now, it's very possible there could still be an issue somehow with Win 8 and SOW (and/or playing through the lobby)...BUT, in researching this I found a fix that has worked for me...(see attached file)

this fix did fix my corruption errors (that cause the "windows has stopped working"), but I will now need to start playing online (since implementing this earlier today) and see if this indeed was the issue all along...

but either way, anyone with Win 8.1 should use this to fix issues not yet addressed in any Win updates...

AND bottom line is that this issue with "windows has stopped working" obv would knock me out of any online games regardless, so this has to be a huge help!

i'll let you know after a number of online games how things went...