Worst crash I ever had in any game.

[-=IDSF=-]SykloAG · 11-26-2006, 08:11 AM

So I was enjoying playing online - really this game kicks ass. The level ended and my team won. Great so far. The next level finished loading, a commander was elected - and I was about to spawn...

Crash boom Bang. Splat. No response. Ok. Ctrl-Alt-Del does not work. Kinda odd (I'm running Win 2003 R2 64-bit), and this is the first time my computer stopped responding.

I press the reset switch. Windows loads, but I get "A device or service failed to start". So I check the event logs - MySQL and Apache failed to load, some stupid error code. Hmm... interesting. I go to try find the Apache logs to see what happened. Hey, where is my E: F: and G: partitions?

Gone - 250GB of 3x 80GB partitions are suddenly missing. Holy crap. This is a first.

Luckily, my C: and D: drives were OK, so I was able to still boot and connect to the Internet. After some time I saw my partition table on Disk 1 had been corrupted. 3 hours of searching later for a really suitable partition tool, I finally got it to work.

Now I'm scared to run this Project Reality again. What the hell could have gone wrong? This was not a hardware failure (no bad sectors). Something was simply writing to my HDD non-stop. The HDD access light was on for 5 minutes b4 I pressed the reset switch. I'm pretty sure it would have stayed on for 5 hours had I given it the chance. Is there anything in your code that could have done this (gone into a file-writing loop)? Or is this just some random BF2 bug?

I have no viruses, spyware or anything like that. Latest DirectX, drivers, a fast stable machine - never any problems.

Griffon2-6 · 11-26-2006, 09:12 AM

How much RAM do you have? Because if you do not have enough RAM, some maps that are RAM intensive will start to swap data between your HDD and your RAM.

[-=IDSF=-]SykloAG · 11-26-2006, 10:42 AM

Is 2GB of DDR2-667 enough? System issues aint gonna be a problem here - I've been overclocking since 1994 with a Cyrix 486-SX 33

Duckitt · 11-26-2006, 11:15 AM

Project Reality does not and cannot cause this sort of problem by the nature of what it is.

Possible explanations are that you did not download a 'clean' copy of the mod and also downloaded a virus(es). Where did you download it from.

Secondly, you may have suffered a computer security attack (hack etc) coincidentally whilst playing PR or as a result of logging into a particular server/downloading from a particular mirror.

Third, you may have had a dormant virus/worm/trojan that was activated by your accessing the internet or use of system resources etc and it was only coincidental this error surfaced when playing PR.

Or it could be something completely different, a HD failure or CPU power surge or anything like that. Check all your hardware, then look at all event logs and see if anything funky was happening around that time.

Xizor · 11-26-2006, 11:31 AM

Well, I normally end up stopping playing PR because my computer freezes, and then I'm forced to pull the plug to get my computer to restart. It only does this on RAM intensive maps (so, just about all of them) and it's definitely a PR thing, because this doesn't happen on the old maps with fewer statics, and just about every single new map is packed full of statics. BF2 is very poorly coded and is totally uneconomic, and PR mappers appear to be pushing the coding beyond its limits, at least for players who can't afford high end machines, such as myself.

Duckitt · 11-26-2006, 11:46 AM

Yes this is true Xizor but losing partitions on a disk is different to having your Ram fill up!

Xizor · 11-26-2006, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [R-CON]Duckitt

Yes this is true Xizor but losing partitions on a disk is different to having your Ram fill up!

True, but I'd still call it the worst crash in any game I've played.

[-=IDSF=-]SykloAG · 11-26-2006, 12:06 PM

I consider my computer fairly high-end and stable. I specifically chose Windows 2003 R2 64-bit because it is billed as the most stable version of Windows currently available (Vista is based on the Windows 2003 R2 kernel).

I don't have any software issues - everything works great. Games such as FEAR run at 1280x1024 with 4x anti aliasing and 8x Anisotropic filtering with frame rates in the high 40s. My system runs BF2 like a Pentium II 266 ran Quake I (damn smooth) - its just begging for more to be thrown at it.

I have ruled out power or any other hardware issue out here. All my system components are new and way above cheap specs. I built this machine specifically to eat Windows for breakfast and then ask for seconds.

I downloaded Project Reality from an FTP server linked by the site itself. Windows NEVER has done anything like this. My RAM is genuine Kingston (the good stuff) and I have the Original BF2 CD (no cracked shit).

As a programmer by profession 10 years+ (C/C++/Delphi/PHP/JS/HTML/etc), I can say I agree that the nature of Project Reality means that it is UNLIKELY that it caused this to happen. However, I read that you use Python for scripting. I don't know what calls/functions Python exposes or if there might be some code that was added that can result in such an error.

I just want to get to the bottom of this. Project Reality turns BF2 into the best game of its genre I have ever played. Not that there have been that many games that really attempt a shot at soldier simulation successfully. If it helps, the level had already loaded (and it did so very quickly, about 20sec) - it happened just as I was about to spawn.

Quote:

Yes this is true Xizor but losing partitions on a disk is different to having your Ram fill up!

4 sure. And besides this, its kinda hard to fill up my 2GB's of RAM, unless a program is leaking memory. Although 3D Studio MAX 9 does succeed sometimes.

Quote:

True, but I'd still call it the worst crash in any game I've played.

Lol. Damn right.

Duckitt · 11-26-2006, 12:08 PM

Well I load maps in about 20secs as standard due to spec of my machine.

I doubt its the hardware - as you say it is high spec. Which mirror was it you dl'd from? And did you use an accelerator? Can you remember which server you connected to.

The python script is the BF2 script and PR should only effect BF2.

Have you still lost your partitions?

Griffon2-6 · 11-26-2006, 12:22 PM

I think he said he fixed them.

11-26-2006, 08:11 AM	#1
[-=IDSF=-]SykloAG Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Israel Posts: 404	Worst crash I ever had in any game. So I was enjoying playing online - really this game kicks ass. The level ended and my team won. Great so far. The next level finished loading, a commander was elected - and I was about to spawn... Crash boom Bang. Splat. No response. Ok. Ctrl-Alt-Del does not work. Kinda odd (I'm running Win 2003 R2 64-bit), and this is the first time my computer stopped responding. I press the reset switch. Windows loads, but I get "A device or service failed to start". So I check the event logs - MySQL and Apache failed to load, some stupid error code. Hmm... interesting. I go to try find the Apache logs to see what happened. Hey, where is my E: F: and G: partitions? Gone - 250GB of 3x 80GB partitions are suddenly missing. Holy crap. This is a first. Luckily, my C: and D: drives were OK, so I was able to still boot and connect to the Internet. After some time I saw my partition table on Disk 1 had been corrupted. 3 hours of searching later for a really suitable partition tool, I finally got it to work. Now I'm scared to run this Project Reality again. What the hell could have gone wrong? This was not a hardware failure (no bad sectors). Something was simply writing to my HDD non-stop. The HDD access light was on for 5 minutes b4 I pressed the reset switch. I'm pretty sure it would have stayed on for 5 hours had I given it the chance. Is there anything in your code that could have done this (gone into a file-writing loop)? Or is this just some random BF2 bug? I have no viruses, spyware or anything like that. Latest DirectX, drivers, a fast stable machine - never any problems.

11-26-2006, 09:12 AM	#2
Griffon2-6 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Here Posts: 2,615	How much RAM do you have? Because if you do not have enough RAM, some maps that are RAM intensive will start to swap data between your HDD and your RAM.
	. Under normal circumstances, everybody pwns Griffon, in Soviet Russia, Griffon pwns EVERYBODY!

11-26-2006, 11:15 AM	#4
Duckitt Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 205	Project Reality does not and cannot cause this sort of problem by the nature of what it is. Possible explanations are that you did not download a 'clean' copy of the mod and also downloaded a virus(es). Where did you download it from. Secondly, you may have suffered a computer security attack (hack etc) coincidentally whilst playing PR or as a result of logging into a particular server/downloading from a particular mirror. Third, you may have had a dormant virus/worm/trojan that was activated by your accessing the internet or use of system resources etc and it was only coincidental this error surfaced when playing PR. Or it could be something completely different, a HD failure or CPU power surge or anything like that. Check all your hardware, then look at all event logs and see if anything funky was happening around that time.
Duckitt Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 205

11-26-2006, 11:31 AM	#5
Xizor Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: England! Posts: 135	Well, I normally end up stopping playing PR because my computer freezes, and then I'm forced to pull the plug to get my computer to restart. It only does this on RAM intensive maps (so, just about all of them) and it's definitely a PR thing, because this doesn't happen on the old maps with fewer statics, and just about every single new map is packed full of statics. BF2 is very poorly coded and is totally uneconomic, and PR mappers appear to be pushing the coding beyond its limits, at least for players who can't afford high end machines, such as myself.
Xizor Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: England! Posts: 135

11-26-2006, 11:46 AM	#6
Duckitt Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 205	Yes this is true Xizor but losing partitions on a disk is different to having your Ram fill up!
Duckitt Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 205

11-26-2006, 10:42 AM	#3
[-=IDSF=-]SykloAG Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Israel Posts: 404	Is 2GB of DDR2-667 enough? System issues aint gonna be a problem here - I've been overclocking since 1994 with a Cyrix 486-SX 33

11-26-2006, 12:08 PM	#9
Duckitt Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 205	Well I load maps in about 20secs as standard due to spec of my machine. I doubt its the hardware - as you say it is high spec. Which mirror was it you dl'd from? And did you use an accelerator? Can you remember which server you connected to. The python script is the BF2 script and PR should only effect BF2. Have you still lost your partitions?
Duckitt Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 205

11-26-2006, 12:22 PM	#10
Griffon2-6 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Here Posts: 2,615	I think he said he fixed them.
	. Under normal circumstances, everybody pwns Griffon, in Soviet Russia, Griffon pwns EVERYBODY!

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