Got a strange error that keeps popping up and killing the game after and hour or two of play.
"Exception in MapViewer.ShowScene"
This is happening in both the Retail CD / GOG version.
Things that I have tried ...
Changing DEP settings and exceptions.
Compatibility layers ( a.k.a. WinXP SP2 / SP3 ).
Multiple uninstalls and re-installs.
Additional tests :
Found a suggestion that the NoExecuteBit ( NX / NOP? ) was the problem.
So I setup a Win2K machine / Celeron ( Northwood-128 ) and installed the Retail CD version on it.
Installed SP4 and Post-SP4 Rollup 1. No NX / NOP? bit support in OS or hardware.
OLE errors killed the game ( COM+ memory errors. )
WINE on Linux also reports lots of OLE errors.
Additional Questions :
Does version 1.36 require WinXP for the correct version of COM+ ?
Is this a memory limitation error? Is a 16 bit memory manager used in AoW.exe?
Any suggestions are welcome. I am at wits end.
[EDIT:] Update ...
Tried install path ( c:\aow1 ) and compatibility set to Win98.
Same error.
Looked at the map size. Seems anything with over 80 cities will generate this error.
Conclusion :
Its a 16 bit memory limitation, or poor quality program code. State updates not being applied ( variables updated incorrectly / not updated / set to NULL / unintentionally overwritten ).
Considering that the spell "Earth Mastery" never has applied the "Stone Skin" effect to all of the player units ...
Considering that the spell "Fire Mastery" never removes the applied large fires effects from the map when dispelled...
Its a coding / memory problem. Either the original source code needs to be debugged, or a replacement engine is necessary to fix this error.
"Exception in MapViewer.ShowScene"
This is happening in both the Retail CD / GOG version.
Things that I have tried ...
Changing DEP settings and exceptions.
Compatibility layers ( a.k.a. WinXP SP2 / SP3 ).
Multiple uninstalls and re-installs.
Additional tests :
Found a suggestion that the NoExecuteBit ( NX / NOP? ) was the problem.
So I setup a Win2K machine / Celeron ( Northwood-128 ) and installed the Retail CD version on it.
Installed SP4 and Post-SP4 Rollup 1. No NX / NOP? bit support in OS or hardware.
OLE errors killed the game ( COM+ memory errors. )
WINE on Linux also reports lots of OLE errors.
Additional Questions :
Does version 1.36 require WinXP for the correct version of COM+ ?
Is this a memory limitation error? Is a 16 bit memory manager used in AoW.exe?
Any suggestions are welcome. I am at wits end.
Tried install path ( c:\aow1 ) and compatibility set to Win98.
Same error.
Looked at the map size. Seems anything with over 80 cities will generate this error.
Conclusion :
Its a 16 bit memory limitation, or poor quality program code. State updates not being applied ( variables updated incorrectly / not updated / set to NULL / unintentionally overwritten ).
Considering that the spell "Earth Mastery" never has applied the "Stone Skin" effect to all of the player units ...
Considering that the spell "Fire Mastery" never removes the applied large fires effects from the map when dispelled...
Its a coding / memory problem. Either the original source code needs to be debugged, or a replacement engine is necessary to fix this error.
[This message has been edited by turtleplayer (edited 10-26-2015 @ 10:18 AM).]