Devastating RCE -- Please Help

[Samurai]

This is killing me.

I'm on Turn 228 (and it's taken me hours and hours to get this far). Even though I thought I was gaining the upper hand on my two biggest rivals, one of them just launched a major invasion against my partner empire. It sent 74 Dreadnoughts into one of my partner's systems, and 276 Dreadnoughts into another.

This is *really* getting exciting, I thought.

But then I hit End Turn, and when it comes to the Empire that sent in that massive invasion, the Range Check Error message comes up and the game gets stuck.

Is there *ANYTHING* I can do?

Not being able to see how this turns out would be criminal, if you ask me.

[jowe01]

Have you modified anything in the data files after you had started the game ?

[Samurai]

I'm pretty sure I didn't, but I definitely made some changes before starting this particular game, if that makes a difference.

[This message has been edited by Samurai (edited 10 January 2001).]

[Daynarr]

Make sure you mail MM about this with the save game files. This sound like an error that occurs when too many units engage in combat. Also, it would be good if you point out to MM all the changes you made to those files, so that they know what it was all about (you gonna have to remember all the changes though).

[Mephisto]

Make the invaded AI a player and avoid a battle this turn or just try to disable all ministers for one turn. There is probably one battle or action that causes the problem. Oftentimes the problem is vanished in the next turn and you can revert everything back to "normal".

[Samurai]

Thanks, Mephisto, this sounds like it might help. But how do I make an AI a "player"?

BTW, I'm surprised how many people are up this late ... or are you guys in Asia or Europe? (It's 3 a.m. here on the U.S. west coast.)

[Mephisto]

Europe, germany, Frankfurt am Main (city). http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ColdSteel]

My guess as a programmer is that there might be an upper limit of 255 ships per battle (possibly per player) and this is what's causing the range check error. Sounds like a subscript blew somewhere. Since there's a 255 system limit it seems likely they are using this number as a limit elsewhere in the game as well. After all, 255 is a magic number for programmers.

I remember that MOO2 had a crash problem with very large fleets as well. Ruined the game for me.

You need to send MM the save files and a good description of the problem. This can really mess up a nice, big game and I hope they fix it in the next patch.

[Samurai]

Thanks gang. That seems to have done the trick, at least for the time being. Again, thanks.

[jowe01]

Europe.

Just click on the icon in the upperleft corner (the one which you also use for saving games). In the menue, there is a point "players". All the green buttons indicate the players which are AI-controlled. Disable the botton for the one which gives you a headache.

If you did not change anything in the txt. files during the game and the game is already pat turn 200, it is most probably a true bug. Mail MM about it.

And enjoy the slaughter.