VOGONS

Colonization - Crash by "divide by zero"

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First post, by Arralen

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I'm trying to run Colonization (DOS, v3.0) on DOSbox 0.7.0, and everything is fine (I don't bother about sound) - until at some point during some AIs turn the game dumps with "run-time error R6003 - integer divide by 0", sometimes it says "by zero".

I've searched the net if this a known error with Col 3.0, but I only came up with 3 hits - 1 was in french, 1 was about Civilization, and one was this:
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/ … /16/375051.aspx

Points to overly-fast modern processors as a cause for the crash, but this shouldn't be the case with the game running in DOSbox with fixed 3000-4500 cycles (0-10% CPU load).

The crash is 100% reproducable - once the game crashed, it will crash again at the same point during that AIs turn when loading a savegame. Btw., it crashes with CPU set to auto at the very same point - even if I go back to a savegame 2 turns before.

I can provide further machine specs, DOSbox conf, savegame or even the whole "vogons" folder 😉 if needed to solve the problem...

Reply 1 of 5, by wd

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Maybe try loading loadfix. That is always start loadfix before starting the
game, and start a new game in colonization (it sounds like once the bug
happens you can't get rid of it).
Feel free to attach the savegame here along with a short explanation how
to easily reproduce the bug.

What OS are you on?

Reply 2 of 5, by Arralen

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Thanks for the help 😀
Sadly didn't help at all ...

"loadfix -64 vicerory.exe"

=>

run-time error R6003
- interger divide by 0

run-time error R6001
- null pointer assignment
64 kb freed.

------------------------------------------------

Savegame No5 attached.
Simply hit "end turn" ...

Actually, loading a savegame from a previous turn gives a chance that the error does not occur, and the farther "back" I go, the better seem to be the chances that the error does not pop up at the very same point. Doesn't keep it from appearing during another AIs turn then, though.

Guess it's dependend on what the AI does or tries to do - something at the beginning of its turn seems to go seriously wrong sometimes. That would point to a bug in the game itself, unless it uses some OS function that sometimes returns an unexpected "0", wouldn't it?

------------------------------------------------

Btw, Moo2 runs just fine with the same conf ..

------------------------------------------------

Operating System: Windows 2000 Professional (5.0, Build 2195) Service Pack 4 ... latest patch level with Auto-Update enabled
System Manufacturer: PCCHIPS
System Model: A21G
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+, ~1.0GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 264MB used, 2162MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6600 GT
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_00F1&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A2
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.9131 (English)
-------------------------------------------------------

Reply 3 of 5, by Arralen

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Things are getting even stranger:

Copied the whole folder with DOSbox and Colonization over to the machine here at work (Sempron 3000+, XPprof SP2, crappy Nvidia Gf6100/nFarce430 onboard graphics, 93.71 driver), and it ran fine ... once.

I tried running Colonization with or without the "Canalization patch 1.0" from
http://www.colonization.biz/ . Doesn't make any difference.
(What the patch is supposed to do can be read here: http://www.colonization.biz/battle_patch.htm)

Reply 4 of 5, by ErikGG

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The virtual PC guy stated that this is due to too fast hardware.
Maybe try to use core=full and set cycles to say 9000, to slow down the game.

If it still crashes, decrease the cycles until the game starts to stutter.

If it then still crashes then something else will be wrong.

Erik.

Read the new FAQ.doc

Reply 5 of 5, by Arralen

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I already ruled CPU speed out didn't I ???

Arralen wrote:

...
Points to overly-fast modern processors as a cause for the crash, but this shouldn't be the case with the game running in DOSbox with fixed 3000-4500 cycles (0-10% CPU load).

.. anyway ...

Sorry to have bothered you, looks like the Colonization version I used was already "treated" with the Canalization patch .. which seems to cause the errors !!
I checked, and the patch actually alters the viceroy.exe ... I wonder why it says it should always be loaded before starting viceroy ?!
However, I'm 99% sure this patch is the culprit. Seemingly it does indeed fix the "Fountain of Youth" bug (I remember getting 8 Petty Criminals without the patch, but got quite different colonist with it. Sadly, the game crashed shortly after.), and maybe some combat bug I never noticed .. but it seems to be faulty: It causes "division by zero"-crashes sometimes when combat is initiated .. got it ONCE myself when I attacked an AI unit today. Normally its the AI indians and european powers raiding each other which seem to cause the errors.

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