Save Issues

[ParrotPatrol]

For the last 10 years, on every machine I have tried it on, I have managed to get X-COM to run, no problem, not even needing dosbox. Unfortunately, I have only beaten it once because of the save file corruption issues. Has anyone ever solved the save file corruption issues? I am running XP, and I wanna play the game again, but I don't wanna have to worry about saving every 5 minutes so I don't get screwed by a game crash.

 

On a related note, if I can't manage to get it to work, could you guys suggest an alternative? I have heard alot about the UFO series, but none from X-COM fans.

[Bomb Bloke]

What are these "save file corruption issues"?

 

The CE version of the game can be made somewhat more stable by splitting it's EXE and then running it via a batch file (easiest way to do this is to run the game via XcomUtil).

 

This won't stop it "crashing", but it will pretty much nullify the ill effects.

 

I played UFO: Aftermath, haven't got around to the others yet (my graphics card wasn't up to scratch). Quite good I thought. Not as much control on the GeoScape but there's plenty to micromanage in the Tactical part of the game.

[NKF]

If you mean the occasional game crash, that happens all the time. The game's got lots of memory leaks that cause it to get unstable. A lot of players have reported having less problems with the game (the dos version) while playing the game in Dosbox. So I would actually recommend playing it through Dosbox if you've got a relatively modern computer.

 

Save frequently, but not at the frequency you mention. I'd recommend saving in the Geoscape before going to any battle. Use a separate save slot for the battlescape. This way any unavoidable crashes that happen in the battlescape can be worked around by reloading to a point prior to entering the battle, and getting the game to regenerate the map and everything on it.

 

If you're really worried about losing a game to corruption, you might want to periodically make a save in a third slot.

 

From experience, actual corruption to data in the save files to be more a fault of the older game trying to work on an older hard disk drives while multitasking something resource intensive in the background. At least that's how I found it back on my old Pentium-133.

 

- NKF

[ParrotPatrol]

I thought I had posted last night, but I guess the post didn't take.

I am talking about this bug:

 

 

 

Game crash, program quits to desktop - random

 

Lots of reasons and solutions:

 

This can also be caused by a corrupt saved game. Some time within the past two months (of game time) when you saved your game, the files became corrupted. This is a bug that has been in the game since the beginning and never fixed because it is somewhat unusual. The only way around this bug is to delete the files in the corrupted save's folder, load an older saved game (that hopefully is not corrupted) and save over the now-blank spot. To check to see if an older saved game is corrupted, use the 1 Day button to speed up the game to the time when the crash occurred in the first saved game. If the saved game gets past that designated crash time, the files are good. Two tips to avoid this bug in the future: Save often and in alternating save spots, and DO NOT save while an interception window is minimized.

 

There is a bug in UFO Defense that is caused by researching the floater medic. When the research of this alien is completed, the results are shown and when you click any button, the game crashes. Reload your most recent saved game and cancel the floater medic research. Do not research it again (unless you want your game to crash again....)

 

If you are using the Collector's Edition, consider using the patched executable available here. For an explanation of what this executable does, read this post (but disregard the errors about scientists - that has been fixed)

 

 

I save in roughly a million different save slots too. I have the same problem with TFTD, even its steam Version.

[NKF]

Does it happen to you in every campaign you've attempted?

 

I might have had a game corrupted once or twice, but it certainly doesn't happen all the time. Of course this will differ from player to player. My only recommendation is to just start a brand new game and give it another spin.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

Is there no pattern to these crashes at all?

 

They happen completely randomly, at any time, whether you're in GeoScape or Tactical mode?

 

Both your games are CE versions?

[ParrotPatrol]

There doesn't appear to be any pattern. The save file is corrupted and I just simply can't advance past a certain point. I have got X-COM Gold. It happens eventually in EVERY campaign.

 

I would just start over again, but it gets tiring getting defeated by crashes instead of aliens. I have put down and picked up the game 6 times because of this bug.

[Bomb Bloke]

If it always crashes at a "certain point", there's your pattern.

 

Send me the save file and I'll see what I can make of it.

[ParrotPatrol]

I don't actually have a save file right now. And it isn't a specific save file anyway, every game I play gets corrupted eventually.

[NKF]

It's quite rare for the CE copy of the game to have save file corruption on a fairly frequent basis like that. I find it more prominent when playing the dos edition on older PCs that can't handle excessive multitasking. Still it happens I guess on some computer setups.

 

Would you be able to play the game on any other computers? Or perhaps pick up an older PC for a really cheap price just to play it? Most PCs that were ideal for the game are cheap as chips these days.

 

One thing to check is that there aren't any unnecessary programs running in the background. I once had a real problem with most of my older games when I had an anti-virus application that was active all the time whenever there was hard disk access. It was messing with the games while they were saving, so the files ended up corrupted. Sort of an old vs. new clash there. Never used that AV since. It was that bad, I can't even remember the name now.

 

Perhaps you might want to also try creating a separate fresh installation of the game (no need to delete or overwrite your old copy - for nostalgia's sake). See if that works any better.

 

Also, since you're having trouble with the CE (aka Gold) version (TFTD on Steam is the CE version as well), I'll make my recommendation once again that you give the dos version a try through dosbox. It won't stop the occasional crash, but it should provide a much more stable environment for the game to run under. It's worth a try at any rate if the CE version's giving you all that trouble.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

There are various ways to make your game crash, some of them are reproducible. Given that this is happening to you so often I'd say there's something you're doing that brings it about.

 

If the crashes occur when you start/leave combat, use XcomUtil. You'll typically get a lot of crashes of this type if you're using the CE version with f0dder's loader though they shouldn't actually stop you progressing.

 

If crashes occur on the geoscape mode, it may have something to do with what your Interceptors are up to.

 

If crashes occur in the tactical mode, you may have a corrupt program file.

 

Here's a couple of the more common crash-causers:

 

Minimized Interceptor Bug

Base Facility Dismantle Construction Crash

[ParrotPatrol]

Honestly, its just bizzare. 9/10 it crashes when I ENTER combat, just after the briefing screen. And its pretty hard to reproduce the bug since since it only shows up about a year or so into the game. Its unbelievably discouraging.

[NKF]

Does this crash happen right after you exit the equip screen, or does it happen after taking one step out the back of the Skyranger?

 

This happens a lot in all versions for the PC, and I really wish there was some way we could track down what's causing it. This is the very reason why I often recommend saving in the Geoscape before the battle. It's annoying, but it shouldn't stop you from completing the game unless it's an unavoidable crash that always happens at a particular time.

 

If that is the case, you could zip up and post the game here. We've got a lot of people who like to dive through the game files, so there's bound to be someone who'd love to dissect it and do a bit of troubleshooting.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

Honestly, its just bizzare. 9/10 it crashes when I ENTER combat, just after the briefing screen.

If it really does crash just after the briefing screen, then it's the issue I've been parroting over and over again. f0dder's loader frequently causes crashes at this precise point.

 

Install XcomUtil and this will no longer be a problem.

 

Alternatively, you could even install my uniform mod. Or both.

 

I've only had crashes when stepping out of the SkyRanger when running the DOS version of the game under XP. Only happens if I try to drive a tank out. I guess it's got something to do with the slope and the clock speed of my system (maybe MoSlow or something would fix it), I can get the things up and down grav lifts without trouble.

[ParrotPatrol]

So if I were to just stop using Fodder's loader, it would work? Xcomutil provides some kind of workaround for this?

[Bomb Bloke]

The original game was made up of two programs - One to handle the Geoscape part of the game (the globe, bases, etc), and one to handle the Tactical (the on ground battles). It jumped between these by way of a batch file.

 

The CE game uses a similar structure but these two programs are now merged into a single EXE. Whenever the game switches from one module to the other there's a high chance of a crash (apparently caused by the loader).

 

However, the game still operates much like the original version, so just before it does this switch it writes a special save game to the HDD and just after it loads it back up. Yup, that's right, whenever you begin/end combat there's a hidden autosave.

 

XcomUtil splits the CE executable into back in two, like the original DOS version. The purpose of this isn't specifically to prevent crashes but it still helps. You start a mission, leave the briefing screen, the Geoscape module shuts down and crashes.... You hit ok, the batch file starts the Tactical engine which loads that auto save. Play continues.

 

The loader still gets used and the game still crashes. It just doesn't matter anymore because it still "works".

[ParrotPatrol]

Do using editors such as the Windows based editor or copy/pasting old soldier files into new games contribute to crashes?

[Bomb Bloke]

Which Windows based editor? There are a small handful I know of.

 

Copying soldier files across really shouldn't make a difference. If you do too bad a job, the crashes should start about the time you implement the changes.

 

UFO is actually quite good at running with corrupt data files. It quite happily ignores a lot of exceptions, in fact there are articles on the wiki which explain specifically how to trigger some of the things and what the effects are.

[ParrotPatrol]

https://www.stonepool.com/xcom/

That editor.

 

I use it to shuffle around my first base and change a few stats on my starting soldiers so I don't have to buy 100 soldiers and sort through the rejects.

 

Crashes have never happened on startup when I have used these editors.

 

Editing really has no effect on crashes?

[Bomb Bloke]

I haven't heard of any issues caused by HatFarm's proggy, certainly not after doing those things.

 

No editing has any effect on the pre-combat crash bug.

 

Editing can cause crashes... But as I mentioned if they're going to do that, they'll do it straight after you make your changes.

[Zombie]

I'd just like to point out that Hatfarm's editor works but because it was created a while back (before we decoded a lot of the data) there are files which may get corrupted due to editing. I think soldier editing is fine, but if you are copying soldier.dat from one save to another one, there may be issues if you have soldiers stationed at multiple bases as the LOC.DAT link in the soldier file will be pointing to a non-existing base. (I think).

 

I'd try playing the game without using editors as a start. Then begin sequentially using editors to see if they have an effect. If you don't get any crashes, it has to be something else which is causing the problems. Note that I play with the CE version and rarely ever experience a crash.

 

- Zombie

[Alpha_Monkey]

Has anyone ever had a tactical-map save freeze up on loading?

I get a black screen, with the toolbar along the bottom and the yellow cursor stuck in the topleft corner. Otherwise blank.

 

Doesn't happen consistently.....I can start a new game and maybe do a couple of missions before it stricks. But once it does, the save is irrecoverable. It's pretty frequent.

[Veki]

Yes, that happens to me, but rarely. Maybe 1 in 100 loads. I don't know why it is happening. Don't recall that happeneing when I was playing on Win95 or DOS.

 

Sometimes I can't even load previous saves from the same mission. But if I exit the game, restart it and try to load a previous save, it will work.

[NKF]

Is the mouse really stuck in the corner and cannot be moved? Or do you mean you just can't see the map?

 

This might not be the case mentioned, but I thought I'd mention it anyway since some players might experience it.

 

Sometimes I find that when you load a savegame that it messes up the camera position and you end up on an invalid level or are somewhere way off the map.

 

One way to counter this is to go to the overhead map, lower the map to a valid elevation (if applicable), then keep clicking in along any edge of the map in to bring the map back into focus. You can shift the camera towards the map, but not away from it, so just keep clicking one of the edges until the map comes into view. I don't remember if the soldier tab buttons work in this instance, but they're also worth a try. Note that if no soldier data is displayed in the toolbar, don't try to go to the inventory screen or else the game will crash.

 

This appears to happen at any time when loading a battlescape save, although I find it crops up more often when you actually editing the battlescape save files. I noticed this a lot when I was running tests to understand the damage modifiers, etc.

 

I wonder if camera location settings aren't stored in the savegames, much in the same way as the armed proximity mine status flags aren't saved in a savegame.

 

- NKF

[Alpha_Monkey]

Is the mouse really stuck in the corner and cannot be moved? Or do you mean you just can't see the map?

 

This might not be the case mentioned, but I thought I'd mention it anyway since some players might experience it.

 

Sometimes I find that when you load a savegame that it messes up the camera position and you end up on an invalid level or are somewhere way off the map.

 

One way to counter this is to go to the overhead map, lower the map to a valid elevation (if applicable), then keep clicking in along any edge of the map in to bring the map back into focus. You can shift the camera towards the map, but not away from it, so just keep clicking one of the edges until the map comes into view. I don't remember if the soldier tab buttons work in this instance, but they're also worth a try. Note that if no soldier data is displayed in the toolbar, don't try to go to the inventory screen or else the game will crash.

 

This appears to happen at any time when loading a battlescape save, although I find it crops up more often when you actually editing the battlescape save files. I noticed this a lot when I was running tests to understand the damage modifiers, etc.

 

I wonder if camera location settings aren't stored in the savegames, much in the same way as the armed proximity mine status flags aren't saved in a savegame.

 

- NKF

 

Well, in my case the cursor was stuck and wouldn't move, AND the map was blacked out.

BB has advised me on a few things, and it may have now been fixed. I haven't had the time to extensively test just yet though, so I can't be 100% sure.