VOGONS


First post, by nemo93

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Hi, my first post here. I'll do my best to provide any details allowing a resolution.

Issue:
Theme Park (CD) is crashing after a while on 0.74-2, 0.74-3 and SVN.

139047438-4bc1d2da-7ee9-4be4-9ed2-cca3f4ed734a.png
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139047438-4bc1d2da-7ee9-4be4-9ed2-cca3f4ed734a.png
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28.04 KiB
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File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Log "trace":

[snip]
Illegal read from ffffffcc, CS:IP 160: f69a
Illegal write to ffffffcc, CS:IP 160: f69a

Potential fixes I've tried thus far without success:

* core = normal, simple or dynamic
* cputype = 486_slow
* cycles = auto or fixed
* General MIDI/MT-32 or SB16 "FM"
* SBPRO1/2
* various mem settings (ems true/false, xms true/false, combination of the 2 etc)
* multiple CD versions (US/Europe)
* VGA only and SVGA (press 'R' while in-game)
* copy all files over the hard drive
* to replace game's extender with DOS/32A.

Last but not least I gave the GoG "version" a try which comes with a slightly modified 0.74-2. This version does work fine for couple of hours or so yet it will eventually end up crashing too. It just takes longer than with 0.74-3. Note the crash screen is the same as above:

2021-10-27 123705.png
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2021-10-27 123705.png
File size
26.01 KiB
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1374 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Steps to reproduce:
- simply run the game (whichever version), enter a name then start a normal game.
- once in the park, just let the game run without touching anything (crash is not related to a specific screen or action in-game).
- depending on your DOSBox version the game will crash after few minutes (typically under 10mn with 0.74-3 and SVN) or typically after 30mn (with 0.74-2).

Extra notes:
- tested on standard Win10 x64 and also on Raspberry Pi4.
- as far as my memory goes I never had such issue with that game back in the old days. I'm running out of idea to get this game playable hence any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Last edited by nemo93 on 2022-08-26, 06:36. Edited 8 times in total.

Reply 3 of 4, by nemo93

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Thanks for your assistance. I've edited the OP as I forgot to mention the various mem settings that I've tried also without success. I do confirm the crash will occur on SVN as well. I need to test with ECE and X indeed. For the record the "eXo" version does rely on ECE (not sure it's fine to mention this on that forum if not let me know).

Reply 4 of 4, by nemo93

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After days of trial and errors I finally found the proper settings to be set allowing the game to run as long as you want to. This is only for the CD version given the floppy runs just fine.

[dosbox]
memsize = 8

[cpu]
cputype = 486_slow
cycles = 12000
cycleup = 8000
cycledown = 8000

If you set memsize to a higher value game will just freeze after a while. It's worth noting that other settings could have impact on the game stability. For instance:

memsize =8 / oplmode = none / umb = false > work
umb = false (other settings at default values) > freeze
umb = false / memsize = 8 > segfault
umb = false / oplmode = none > freeze
memsize = 8 (other settings default) > work

I'd like to thank people of the DOS community as well as eXo for their amazing assistance. This game represents lots of childhood memories...