CMP keeps crashing - What should I do?

[Zeldaboy14]

Since no one answered my question in the TC thread, since I installed TC3 on my Windows XP computer yesterday, it keeps crashing CMP every 5-10 minutes. I've tried a few different methods, all which do nothing to help it stop crashing. Can anyone help me?

 

[cascaderailroad]

Crash's are a sign of something wrong, dirt or dust causing a PC to overheat, or cooked CPU / video card thermal paste ... usually it is the sign of an inadequate PC hardware to handle Trainz

 

[NeonTheGriffon]

Crash's are a sign of something wrong, dirt or dust causing a PC to overheat, or cooked CPU / video card thermal paste ... usually it is the sign of an inadequate PC hardware to handle Trainz

On top of that may include:

• Corrupt program files
• Incompatible hardware
• User Error
• Bad install image
• Corrupt/Missing install data (see:directly above)
• Resource-hogging applications running in background
• Still using a single-core processor in 2010 - Now

Just a few things I've witnessed over the years of troubleshooting others' software issues on their computers.

 

[Zeldaboy14]

The computer doesn't crash, Content Manager does.

 

[NeonTheGriffon]

The computer doesn't crash, Content Manager does.

• Corrupt program files
• User Error
• Bad install image
• Corrupt/Missing install data (see:directly above)

Does that help?
Delete down to the program files directory, delete install image, re-download install image, reinstall, see if that'll work.

 

[cascaderailroad]

When you first installed Trainz,

Did you have your antivirus temporarily turned off ?
Did you click: Yes ... Install to all questions posed ?
If you have a higher version of DirectX, you still need DirectX9 to stand alone beside all other versions of DirectX
Did you run Trainzdiag to see if your PC is capable of running Trainz (it might be located in the bin folder) ?
Did you make "allowable program exception rules" through your antivirus (Always Allow) for Trainz/Launcher.exe, and Trainz/CMP.exe ?
Did you click on the 2 above icons, and click properties/advanced, and tick the box "Run As Administrator" in both the Trainz/launcher.exe and CMP.exe ?

 

[Zeldaboy14]

Yes, Antivirus was turned off.
I clicked yes to everything.
I already had DirectX9 installed.
It said that OpenGL failed at switching something, but it said that for the TRS06 demo before.
My antivirus already has the exception to let it run.
I haven't tried that yet.

 

[JCitron]

Yes, Antivirus was turned off.
I clicked yes to everything.
I already had DirectX9 installed.
It said that OpenGL failed at switching something, but it said that for the TRS06 demo before.
My antivirus already has the exception to let it run.
I haven't tried that yet.

Here's your problem in boldface.

If your Open/GL drivers are not installed properly or up-to-date, CM won't run properly or won't run at all. Ensure you have up-to-date drivers installed, and believe it or not, reinstall the DirectX09 as that has actually fixed that problem in the past. CM may use Open/GL, but there maybe hooks, as they are called in programmer language, to some of the functions in DirectX. If something is corrupt anywhere in the chain, things won't work.

John

 

[Zeldaboy14]

How would I go about updating my OpenGL then? I tried to once to get Minecraft to work, but it still didn't run correctly.

 

[NeonTheGriffon]

How would I go about updating my OpenGL then? I tried to once to get Minecraft to work, but it still didn't run correctly.

Because the hardware is ridiculously outdated.
openGL is integrated into the GPU driver updates. I highly doubt you have a high-end laptop with a nvidia GPU, so download the video chipset drivers from intel's website and proceed to try it out.
Did it work? If not, you can't do anything else since openGL is integrated into hardware drivers.

 

[Zeldaboy14]

Well, since I forgot to mention before, or because some don't remember what I said before, the XP computer's video graphics is NOT intel, but a very outdated VIA/S3Graphics UniChrome Pro Driver. I do not think that installing a Intel what-ever-it-is would even work.

 

[NSWGR_46Class]

Think your stuffed on that one

Well, since I forgot to mention before, or because some don't remember what I said before, the XP computer's video graphics is NOT intel, but a very outdated VIA/S3Graphics UniChrome Pro Driver. I do not think that installing a Intel what-ever-it-is would even work.

 

[Zeldaboy14]

Yeah. I did manage to get the (final) driver update for it thanks to the power if the Wayback Internet Archive site. Though, the update was only 7 months newer then the driver already installed, so that didn't help very much. And the OpenGL version for that card is 1.2. Seems that computer is too old for Trainz.

 

[JCitron]

Try running the dxupdater from Shane Turner to update your DirectX09. Sometime updating DirectX also helps the OpenGL. Even though they're two separate things, they may talk with each other in Trainz.

 

[cascaderailroad]

I have a friend that got a brand new laptop ... said bragged that it had a video card ... he hasn't been online since ... I think the $1200 laptop is not capable of running Trainz at all

 

[JCitron]

I have a friend that got a brand new laptop ... said bragged that it had a video card ... he hasn't been online since ... I think the $1200 laptop is not capable of running Trainz at all

That's a very good possibility. Laptop graphics are a picky thing when it comes to Trainz and even other programs. The GPUs need to be discrete, or high end. This is where, and I hate to say it, where Alienware shines. Their older 17mx which I have is quite capable of running TS12. I surely doubt it will handle T:ANE well, but it may be worth a try. My system happens to have the ATI video card because that's all that was available when I got it. Shortly afterwards, they came out with the NVidia version and it was a fairly high end video card for its day.

As you know, the biggest problem with portable machines is heat. No matter how powerful the wiz-bang laptop is, it will die a much faster death due to its arch enemy, heat. I've seen this with many, many machines, and is the reason why I haven't purchased anymore portables for gaming. Their cost, obsolescent nature, and lifetime, is too expensive on the ROI scale.

John

 

[Zeldaboy14]

Forgot to mention, the Direct X version is version 9.0.

 

[NeonTheGriffon]

I have a friend that got a brand new laptop ... said bragged that it had a video card ... he hasn't been online since ... I think the $1200 laptop is not capable of running Trainz at all

If it's an ATI/AMD, there lies the problem.
I have a laptop with "quadro" graphics (though marked NVS) which is basically a slightly older chipset that has drivers optimized for CAD work. I use the performance drivers and have no issues for the games I play, which better be expected out of a $1700 laptop.

That's a very good possibility. Laptop graphics are a picky thing when it comes to Trainz and even other programs. The GPUs need to be discrete, or high end. This is where, and I hate to say it, where Alienware shines.

And you're right, but they look ridiculously ugly to me. If they offer an Alienware laptop that looks like this with a reasonable nVidia card, by golly take my debit card schnell, schnell!

And yes, I want it without the alienware logo, if I'm going to be presenting my photography and (future software) portfolio to possible clients, I do want to keep some professional aspects into my laptop.

Yeah. I did manage to get the (final) driver update for it thanks to the power if the Wayback Internet Archive site.

That's a sign you need to stop right now. The graphics card, rebranded or not, is ridiculously outdated. Using the internet wayback archive is a sign you can't do anything, so I recommend you stop now before you start throwing things and causing self injury because it refuses to work.