Tides of War

First off I'd just like to say that this game is one of the few good naval sims on the market these days. The sim market was in desperate need of a good naval combat game. That being said, I find that it's not living up to its potential. That is to say, every time I start the game it crashes. Before the latest patch I would be able to play for about 5-10 minutes (depending on how lucky I was) before it would randomly crash to the desktop. Now, with the new patch, I can't even get into the game. Every time I click on the "patrols" button in the main menu, it immediately crashes to the desktop. I have tried setting the Dxdiag sound acceleration down to none or basic to no affect. I made sure there was no IRQ conflicts, and have done a dozen different things all for naught. If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. I know for sure I'd enjoy this game, if only it would cooperate. Thanks for your time and effort.

Hans

Send a DX Diognostics to Tesseraction and they will see if they can help you. They have helped many others.

I run XP without any problems but there are many more variables.

Hello Hans,

Read your post and felt obliged to respond, since I too had the exact same problem as yourself. I could run other demanding 3D games, but I noticed my pc was becoming slower responding over time, even though i ran updated AV scans daily and firewall, ( both turned off during gameplay of course ), the other programs worked but Enigma crashed to desktop continuously.

I too, double and triple checked all correct display and sound drivers, did Dx analysis etc, defrag, check hardware connections, the whole nine yards, until i was about to just give up entirely. Well it turned out I had to completely reformat my hard drive because i got infected somehow ( pc Tech said some virus's lately can bypass the older AV software thats updated) and it deleted important windows files ( even tho i scanned with updated av). ( OP system was win 98 se)

I went out and picked up win xp, patched it ( to protect from the blaster worm), downloaded every windows critical update, all drivers that i had previously, and it runs like a charm and have enjoyed many hours of intense naval battles.

Even though its a pain, it certainly paid off and I didnt waste my money.

Not saying your problem is same as mine of course, but if your hardware is beyond min spec and with correct drivers, as you say, it should run........

I wish you luck!

I sent my Dxdiag to the tech support, and they responded immediately with some suggestions, which I tried. However, the problem still persists. Thanks for the advice, I may just have to reformat as well.

Hans,

I have XP also and the same problem. The game crashes as soon as I hit the patrols button. I was running the game fine before the patch. Checked everything you stated above too. No problems. Something is going on with this patch.

Please respond!

Guys you need to make sure you have your sound/video drivers updated to the latest from your cards manufacturers.

nVIDIA Card owners: Do NOT download the video driver from WindowsUpdate.com its old and outdated, I dont know why MS never updates that page.

Format c: is really the end of the road, when all other possibilities are used, so check further...

Sound Acceleration at None or Basic (some machines requires Full(mine does that))

Reinstall DX9.0b, download from Microsoft

Mainboard drivers, check your Manufacturers website for updated motherboard drivers

Turn off background running application, antivirus etc

WindowsXP Pagefile, make you have that under YOUR control do not let XP control it. Make sure both min and max is at 1024MB

Backup your userdir from: ..\Program Files\..\Enigma....\(yourname) (remember to back up custom voice packs and settings too), Uninstall Enigma (use Add/Remove Programs), when removed browse to ..\..\Enigma and delete the dir, Rinstall Enigma, Choose yes to install the sAPI (choose repair mode), Apply patch(es), copy back your userdir and voicepacks, Start enigma

Check your drive(s) for errors, Start->run-> type cmd and hit enter, in the shell console type chkdsk x: /f (or is it chkdsk /f x:)? replace x: with your drive letter eg c:

Get rid of old temp files, Run DiskCleanup

Defrag your harddrives

Run adaware, its a free software, use google (i think its www.lavasoft-use.com, but google for "adaware" and the first match is the one you need).

Eventually insert your WindowsXP CD, restart and boot from it, choose new install and format existing drive (remember to make backups of everything you need to keep, like documents, pictures, IE favs, OE addressbook etc etc

Jesper,

Maybe I should clarify the problem a bit more. The CTD only occurs if you launch the game, click on patrols, and move your mouse. We can still play the campaign mode without any glitches. Also, after playing a campaign game, quitting to the main menu, and clicking on patrols, you can once again play without problems. So far, I have done everything but reformatting and the glitch still exists. I guess I want to be sure that it's not a glitch in the game before I take such a drastic step.

How many times did you reinstall enigma?

If you havent, it could be a bad patching.

During the beta tests i only played patrols, never encountered this problem, not before patches either

Jesper,

I reinstalled the game three times. In different directories and drives. Problem still exists.

-Manteuffel aka unurkan

BTW, this problem did not exist before the patch.