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Old 13-01-2011, 12:17 AM   #1
Bethrezen
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Default M.A.X Mechanized Assault & Exploration Crash

hi all

I have an original copy of M.A.X which i recently started playing again and while it seems to work well enough for the most part all be it a little slow and laggie I'm once again running into an very annoying crash here is a screen shot of the error that it gives



now i know M.A.X was never one of the most stable of games to begin with even with the 1.04 patch but I'm wondering if anyone knows if there is a way to put a stop to this and if so how maybe so one hacked together an unofficial patch to fix this problem in the intervening years?

Anyway i don't think this is anything to do with dos box because i seem to remember the same crash happening back when i was running win98se
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Old 13-01-2011, 12:33 AM   #2
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i remember that these kind of things happened to me when my pc got "temporarily busy" and performed something in the background- leaving less cpu for the main application and then crashing it in this weird way
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Old 13-01-2011, 12:45 AM   #3
Bethrezen
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humm some how i don't think so because I've seen this same crash happen on to many other computers all using different hardware and OS's used to get the same crash on my friend computers back in the day and on every computer I've tried M.A.X on since so that's at least 6 or more different pc's over the years so i find it unlikely that this is an issue with the computer or with dos box because it doesn't seem to matter whether its running nativity, in dosbox or running with vdm sound i always get the same crash repeatedly very irritating
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Old 13-01-2011, 12:52 AM   #4
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perhaps a wrong selection of audiodrivers then? it can be anything. did you try to turn sound off in setup and play like that for a while?
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Old 13-01-2011, 01:23 AM   #5
Bethrezen
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no but here is my dos box config file see if ya can spot anything an miss

Code:
# This is the configurationfile for DOSBox 0.74.
# Lines starting with a # are commentlines.
# They are used to (briefly) document the effect of each option.

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest,pause (when not focussed).
#             Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory DOSBox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=128

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames DOSBox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
#           Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq3x,
#                         2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,
#                         tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.
#           If forced is appended (like scaler=hq2x forced), the scaler will be used
#           even if the result might not be desired.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: normal,simple,dynamic,auto.
#         auto switches from normal to dynamic if appropriate.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions DOSBox tries to emulate each millisecond.
#           Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.
#           You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to max.
#           The default setting (auto) switches to max if appropriate.
# cycleup   -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown    Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=auto
cycles=max
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
#         probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
#              but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401      -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.
# device      -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
#                This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
# config      -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
#                the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the DOSBox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
#            On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
#            All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the 
#            Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory.  In this directory
#             there should be a MIDI directory that contains
#             the patch files for GUS playback.  Patch sets used
#             with Timidity should work fine.

gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
#          For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation. Covox Voice Master and Speech Thing compatible.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[joystick]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,
#                 2axis (supports two joysticks,
#                 4axis (supports one joystick, first joystick used),
#                 4axis_2 (supports one joystick, second joystick used),
#                 fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).
#                 none disables joystick emulation.
#                 auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).
# timed -- enable timed intervals for axis. (false is old style behaviour).
# autofire -- continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.
# swap34 -- swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. can be useful for certain joysticks.
# buttonwrap -- enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.

joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
#              Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
#              Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
#              parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq.
#              for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).
#              for modem: listenport (optional).
#              for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,
#                             transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).
#              Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support.
# keyboardlayout -- Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=none

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
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Old 13-01-2011, 12:41 PM   #6
Scatty
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As far as I know memsize= has a maximum of 64, so 128 doesn't add any extra.
You might try to set core= to dynamic and cycles= to 27000 or more instead of max, depending on how strong your computer is.
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Old 13-01-2011, 01:48 PM   #7
zirkoni
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xcoronner View Post
Here is a tutorial for those who want a step by step tut for running MAX with Sound, IPX NETWORK and without DOS/4WG crash...

Step11)
Select "Start Max using original dos4wg" if you want to load max.
But if you encounter problems with DOS/4WG error when playing select "Start MAX using Freedos"
it will run the game without dos4wg but using a free version dos32a.exe
I don't know if it really helps but you could try downloading dos32a.exe, rename it to dos4gw.exe and replace the original.
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Old 13-01-2011, 08:33 PM   #8
Wicky
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I know this crash very well, and it happens when you have too many units.
Try avoid building roads, redundant pipes, buildings on water platforms (yes, 2x2 building on water eats up 5 unit slots in RAM, 4 for the water platforms plus 1 for the building)
There is no way to fix this bug.
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Old 13-01-2011, 10:35 PM   #9
The Fifth Horseman
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Try setting MPU401 emulation to None or UART. I had issues with some games on Intelligent before.
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Old 14-01-2011, 08:23 PM   #10
Bethrezen
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wicky View Post
I know this crash very well, and it happens when you have too many units.
Try avoid building roads, redundant pipes, buildings on water platforms (yes, 2x2 building on water eats up 5 unit slots in RAM, 4 for the water platforms plus 1 for the building)
There is no way to fix this bug.
wasn't there an unofficial fix or something that helped fix this issue ? im sure i remember reading about that somewhere around here ?
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