Minstrel FM bugging out

[66682c0730bccKolya]

Compatibility settings on shock2.exe set? (They survive re-installations.)
Weird proactive security software?
General system stability problems?
HD failures?
Beverage inside the keyboard?

[66682c0730d85voodoo47]

actually lets test that theory - will try to load the orig olddark Minstrel, if Aurora is still online. will also check compatibility settings, but again, those shouldn't be able to bug out just Minstrel.

[66682c0730e69Carrot]

Bad extraction?  Is he using 7-zip?

[66682c07310f9Kolya]

will also check compatibility settings, but again, those shouldn't be able to bug out just Minstrel.

Well you mentioned SS2 sometimes not starting. That doesn't sound Minstrel related.

[66682c0731239voodoo47]

nope, and can't say I like it very much. also as mentioned, the resources are where they should be as far as I can tell. if you check the corridor screenshot on the previous page, you'll see that number 1 (an orig resource) is being displayed. right next to it should be another identical no.1 sign, but it's not there. so the model is not getting loaded while getting loaded?

[66682c0731375ZylonBane]

It almost certainly means the object itself is getting clobbered.

[66682c07314bfvoodoo47]

allright, K has nudged me in the right way, I did swap a few files around with oldMinstrel and found out that the demon dwells in the mis file. I did a full reprocess (optimized), and all the evil seems to be gone. minstrel_1.03beta7_patch also works fine, so whatever bad thing happened, it happened when making beta08. also worthy of noting - when reprocessing the beta08 map, shocked was complaining about degenerate portals, I don't think this was a problem before.

we might need to roll back a build here.

[66682c073183fAurora]

Return to the UNN works, both with and without the latest patch.

[66682c0731961voodoo47]

yeah, it's clear now that whatever is going on, it's going on only in the Minstrel beta8 map, so RttUNN bugging out in the exact same way would be very unlikely. anyway, if you want to give RttUNN MP a go, I certainly won't be complaining - someone doing a full test run that would confirm that all the MP bits work as they should would be helpful.


//was caused by the level being just portalized/draft, and not optimized.

[66682c0731a56voodoo47]

also, about that thing when shock2.exe sometimes fails to launch properly, and needs to be killed via taskman - try that old trick with renaming the exe to ss2.exe and see whether the problem goes away.

[66682c0731b20Aurora]

That fixed it.

[66682c0731c00Kolya]

So it is compatibility settings. Turn that off.

[66682c0731d0avoodoo47]

afaik, this is basically a case or microsoft (win7) trying to be smart (and failing, as always), applying some unwanted compatibility settings (sometimes?) if shock2.exe is detected. renaming the exe fools it into not doing anything improper.

I don't think he had any (manually set) compatibility setting on shock2.exe when I was connected last time, but not 100% sure.

[66682c0731e58Kolya]

I am pretty sure that you still get some popup message at least, informing you of the compatibility settings being applied.
In any case they have a registry file here that should disable the Program Compatibility Assistant: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/70829-program-compatibility-assistant-enable-disable.html
I've looked at the reg file and it seems safe.

[66682c0731f28voodoo47]

might want to incorporate that into the tool.

[66682c0732091Aurora]

I had the bug on every Shock2.exe on my computer, in each separate installation of the game (I had four in total). It does not appear in the settings of any of them, but it just kept happening. I don't really understand how Windows works, like when it asks for permission from the user I am logged in as, etc.

[66682c073230aKolya]

might want to incorporate that into the tool.

Maybe if I could create a registry file that disables compatibility settings specifically for SS2 (instead of completely disabling the Program Compatibility Assistant like this one does).

[66682c07325bdvoodoo47]

right.

I don't really understand how Windows works

I don't think anybody really does. anyway, renaming the exe should be a sureproof way of getting rid of this particular issue. FMsel should have no problems with the renamed exe, but the mod manager will not like this - you will have to keep a redundant shock2.exe (that you won't be using for anything) in your SS2 folder for it to detect the install properly (and only use the manager to set up mods, never to launch the game). //fixed in the latest version.

[66682c0732719Kolya]

Aurora, please try this:
Right click on shock2.exe, choose Properties
Click on the Compatibility tab
Uncheck any boxes that are checked, and click Apply
Then, click the "Show settings for all users" button at the bottom
Again, make sure none of these boxes are checked, and click Ok
Click Ok to close any open dialog boxes.

[66682c073281dAurora]

Tested, and that does not work. Shock2.exe only starts properly on the second attempt, with every other attempt making the hourglass icon appear briefly before it launches about two minutes later.