Help ! Problems with D3 Mercenary

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:20 pm

Hi all.

Just a brief history first.
I have only ever been playing single player with the origional retail packs for D2,D3 and D3 Mercenary. Unfortunately I missed out on the pleasure of never playing D1, however, with any luck I'd like to get around to that one day..( I see you all talking about so many different other games to do with Descent I'm just blown away by it all and would'nt know where to start with all that, but that's another topic for later )

But right for now I have a problem that I am hoping with all the wealth of experience and knowledge I see here in this forum you all might be able to shed some light and help on it.

If it has any bearing at all my O/S is XP.
I am currently in level 3 of the retail D3 Mercenary and have taken out the \"Captain\" (boss 1) and am currently cruzing around in the big circular room eliminating any hidden threats through all the side doors before I go to take out \"The First Mate\" (boss 2).
I have almost gone through all the side doors on the upper level of this circular room but as I try to move on to the last remaining few doors the game hangs and basically crashes. The report that I get is and I quote \"Main.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close\".

I saved my \"savegames\" folder and uninstalled D3 and then reinstalled it. I am currently patched up to 1.4 and up till now has been going great guns. ( I dont know if there are any other patches I'm supposed to have )

I still have the same problem after reinstalling the game. Also, if this has any bearing, unpon reinstalling the game it detects that my PC has all the required up to date gear and by default sets the game configuration to run at the highest setting as it has always done. As I mentioned up till now there's been no problem.
I hope I have explained this well enough.

Dont know what to do

Can any one help !!??

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:22 pm

PS: I hope I have posted this particular topic in the right forum

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:40 pm

This forum is close enough.

Is this the only instance that this is happening?

**edit** Lines below have been altered to uh.. protect the innocent .. and the author...***

If so, delete the main.exe, re-down load the 1.4 patch.(in case the patch you had corrupted for some reason)

Reinstall Mercenaries and Then apply the 1.4 patch. It sounds like something is corrupted.

back up your pilot and saved games. If it happens again, blow away the mercs missions and your saved games and start the process over.

Not the prettiest answer by a long shot, but it's the steps I would take.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:54 pm

Ok, will try that but certainly hope I dont have to go to the extreme .... Thats gonna hurt !!!!!!!!

Thanx Duper

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:56 pm

Oh yeah, this is the only instance to date !?

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:22 pm

First case I've heard of D3 crashing in the merc levels like that. If completely removing and reinstalling D3 and merc doesn't fix it, I would caution that your saved game might be corrupt and you may have to replay that level.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:36 pm

Damn, now I'm realy gettin worried

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:46 pm

If I have to go to that extreme if all else fails, how do i just select that level to start over again.
I have previously made mistakes in my earlier days of D2 and D3 and the only way to get to the same level was to start from the beginning level as that was the only option available to me

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:09 pm

When you start a new game, it lets you start on any level you have already reached. So you can restart from the beginning of that level.

I just thought of something that might help you out. Before you load your saved game in that level start a new game in that level and then load your saved game from there, it may help the crashing.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:19 pm

Hmmm, ok, I wanna thank everyone for their input on this. Still a little bit overwhelming and still realy scared that I'll screw it up and have to start right from thr beginning again ... level 3 is the biggest dang level I've ever seen ... kinda feels like one could spend the rest of their life in there

Anyway, gonna try to print all this out and follow real carefull. Will be watching real close for any other suggestions.
Cheers to all

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:24 pm

You guys are great

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:06 pm

Krom wrote:....I would caution that your saved game might be corrupt and you may have to replay that level.

I was thinking along those lines as well.

Let us know what worked. : )

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:29 pm

I have completely uninstalled D3 and Merc (everything), then reinstalled D3, then repatched to 1.4, then reinstalled Merc.

From the saved games folder which I saved elsewhere before uninstalling everything I reinstalled them to the D3 Savegame directory folder less the last saved point (this is where it is freezing up).

From here I navigated my ship in a different direction from where it was freezing up but no matter what I do the same thing happens

You mentioned to try choosing an earlier level to work back up to this point but during game play, the menu where you save/load game has no option to start an earlier level other than the game saves of the level that I'm currently in

I can find no where else to recall and earlier level !?

About 6 or so years ago when I played D2 several times (just loved that game, moreso for the sick music

) I vaguely recall that I think somehow there was an obvious option that I could select and go back to any earlier level that I had already played without loosing the currently saved points in the level that I was playing at the time, something like that !?, but I could definately go back to a list of earlier levels !
Unfortunately that was with windows 98 but now I'm running XP and have never found a solution to run D2 on XP !!!!????? (anyone know something about this by any chance ?)

As you all have probably already figured out I am not terribly savy to all the technical ins and outs to do with PC's and O/S's etc but I kinda just get by. This is a new PC and I made sure that it had the required grunt needed for these RAM and Video card hungry games. As I mentioned earlier, to this point I've been playin D3 and Merc without incident and by default coz of the PC's grunt the game automatically set it to all of the highest settings. Just as a test I tried backing the setting down to the next level to see if any better but same prob.

I dont know if this has any bearing on anything but I'll point it out just in case.

I purchased D3 from the US a couple of months ago.
I then also purchased Mercenary from the US. Took ages to get here and didnt think it was gonna get here so eventually found a supplier here in Australia and purchased a copy from them, had to wait a bit as it came from another state. Then almost at the same time they both arrived, so I dont know if it was the Australian copy or the US copy that I installed ( the CD's look identical). Would this make any difference ? If so, I'll swap them over and see what happens.

I Look forward to any suggestions and please forgive my obvious lack of technical knowledge with all this.
For me Descent is the best game of all time and there's just so many people out there that just dont know what their missin out on !!! ..
Their loss !

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:53 pm

Even though I've completed all the levels in D3 I cant find any way to go back and and play any of those levels without starting from scratch, the same problem with Mercenary !!!

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:47 pm

PS: So wanna play D2 again coz I never actually ever got to Kill the Boss in the last level, damn SOB !

grizz · Post by **grizz** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:57 pm

Adrian wrote:Even though I've completed all the levels in D3 I cant find any way to go back and and play any of those levels without starting from scratch, the same problem with Mercenary !!!

When you start a level, type "moreclang", without the quotes, and it will give you the option to warp to the level you want.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:06 pm

Cooooooool !!!!!
Cheers for that grizz.
Cant wait to try

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:35 pm

Adrian wrote:I have completely uninstalled D3 and Merc (everything), then reinstalled D3, then repatched to 1.4, then reinstalled Merc.

That is your PROBLEM RIGHT THERE

Install D3
Install Mercenary (D3 Version 1.3 update embedded)
Then install update 1.4

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 11:51 pm

BUBBALOU wrote:
Adrian wrote:I have completely uninstalled D3 and Merc (everything), then reinstalled D3, then repatched to 1.4, then reinstalled Merc.
That is your PROBLEM RIGHT THERE

Install D3
Install Mercenary (D3 Version 1.3 update embedded)
Then install update 1.4

Quite right and looking back, I think it's my fault he's doing it backwards. I'll edit my post.

Thanks Bubba for pointing that out.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:07 am

Oh I see, ok, will give that a go. Has to work this time !

Thanx for that BUBBALOU - Duper

will let you know how it went.
Cheers.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:32 pm

grizz wrote:
Adrian wrote:Even though I've completed all the levels in D3 I cant find any way to go back and and play any of those levels without starting from scratch, the same problem with Mercenary !!!
When you start a level, type "moreclang", without the quotes, and it will give you the option to warp to the level you want.

That works a real treat

Thanx for that grizz

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:33 pm

BUBBALOU wrote:
Adrian wrote:I have completely uninstalled D3 and Merc (everything), then reinstalled D3, then repatched to 1.4, then reinstalled Merc.
That is your PROBLEM RIGHT THERE

Install D3
Install Mercenary (D3 Version 1.3 update embedded)
Then install update 1.4

Followed your instructions to the letter.

Saved my games > uninstalled everything > reinstalled D3 > installed Mercenary > applied patch 1.4 > ran the game to check out > reinstalled my saved games for Merc level 3 > game freezes again !!!

Just looking back on some of the earlier suggestions it seems I have only a few options left but I dont know what the order should be ?

One of the suggestions was that my 1.4 patch might be stuffed. Should I download it again and if so from where as I cant remember where I got it from ?

If I get this new patch again should I go through the same steps I mentioned above which would then only leave my current saved games as being the final thing that could be corrupted as mentioned by Krom and should I attempt to play with these current saved games for level 3. If I do use them and the same thing happens suggesting that for some reason they are corrupted will it have stuffed up the whole knew installation ? meaning would I have to do the full reinstall again as laid out by you but then to chuck my saved games and start level 3 again from the very start an which case I'll only know if the problem is still there when I reach the same point in level 3 where this freezing is happening !?

Look forward to your suggestions
Thank you all

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:44 pm

Duper wrote:This forum is close enough.

Is this the only instance that this is happening?

**edit** Lines below have been altered to uh.. protect the innocent .. and the author...***

If so, delete the main.exe, re-down load the 1.4 patch.(in case the patch you had corrupted for some reason)

Reinstall Mercenaries and Then apply the 1.4 patch. It sounds like something is corrupted.

back up your pilot and saved games. If it happens again, blow away the mercs missions and your saved games and start the process over.

Not the prettiest answer by a long shot, but it's the steps I would take.

Was just looking back at what you said here and one thing I had'nt tried yet was deleting the "MAIN.exe".
If I do this does the 1.4 patch put this file back in ??

Please excuse my ignorance with these matters

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:48 pm

Sometimes when a patch is applied, problems are not erased. It could be that something within the main.exe has corrupted and overwriting it with a newer one won't fix the problem. I have NO idea why this is, I only know that it happens from time to time.

So, blowing away all possible problem files and reinstalling them is the easiest (and fastest) step in trouble shooting.

Incidentally, I tried playing mercenaries for no particular reason on 1.5 last night and got an error. so I have some work to do myself.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:26 am

Duper wrote:Sometimes when a patch is applied, problems are not erased. It could be that something within the main.exe has corrupted and overwriting it with a newer one won't fix the problem. I have NO idea why this is, I only know that it happens from time to time.

So, blowing away all possible problem files and reinstalling them is the easiest (and fastest) step in trouble shooting.

Incidentally, I tried playing mercenaries for no particular reason on 1.5 last night and got an error. so I have some work to do myself.

Hmmmm, interesting !

Well, I'll keep experimenting for bit and see what happens !?

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:46 pm

BUBBALOU wrote:
Adrian wrote:I have completely uninstalled D3 and Merc (everything), then reinstalled D3, then repatched to 1.4, then reinstalled Merc.
That is your PROBLEM RIGHT THERE

Install D3
Install Mercenary (D3 Version 1.3 update embedded)
Then install update 1.4

Finally, "Success" !!!

After countless uninstalls and reinstalls it seems that quite possibly my saved games "were" corrupted.

First of all I got rid of my saved games after reading this extract from the readme notes for the 1.4 patch and I quote...

"Fixed a bug that could cause crashes when playing from a saved game from an earlier version. Note however that if a saved game from verion 1.2 or before was loaded in 1.3 and then re-saved, that saved game is probably corrupt and will not be playable."

So, on the final attempt, I loaded D3, got rid of "main.exe" "just in case", installed Mercenary, applied 1.4 patch, then started level 3 from the beginning and blitzed right through it with no problems. And just as another precaution I downloaded the 1.4 patch again just to be sure.

Therefore it seems the safest way to start playing Mercenary from the very beginning for the very first time (at least in my case)is by the steps I took above.

Another bonus was that previous to this exercise, whenever I loaded any saved point in the game I had to wait for up to 1 minute for it to load up, now its virtually immediately.

So I think its fair to say that my saved games were definately corrupted as was possibly suggested earlier because I started Merc on earlier carried forward D3 saved games.

I'd like to send out a big "THANKS"

to all that took the time and effort to try and assist with this as I would have had no Idea which way to have tackled this problem and in turn has given me a lot of valuable knowledge in general.

I hope that experiencing this problem and the final steps that I took will provide usefull information for others that may strike a similar or the same problem.

Once again, Thanx to everyone that got involved and heled me through this.

Moon · Post by **Moon** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:11 am

IIRC the # of levels you have completed is saved to your pilot file so there's no need to use the moreclang cheat. Also, you can play D2 under XP easily by using D2X-Rebirth.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:14 am

Moon wrote:IIRC the # of levels you have completed is saved to your pilot file so there's no need to use the moreclang cheat. Also, you can play D2 under XP easily by using D2X-Rebirth.

I realy appreciate this info Moon. Cant wait to finish Mercenary now ( on a mission now, you know whats its like

) coz so looking forward to having a go at that last level Boss in D2. Gonna thoroughly look forward to that "glorious" moment !!!!

Moon · Post by **Moon** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:02 am

Actually the Mercenary boss bot of level 7 is the toughest of em all.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:37 am

Moon wrote:Actually the Mercenary boss bot of level 7 is the toughest of em all.

Excellent, thats what I like to hear

Love a good battle

Just hope after having said that I hope I dont find myself having to eat my words and come running back here for help on how to Kill the sucker

Help ! Problems with D3 Mercenary

Help ! Problems with D3 Mercenary

Re:

Re:

Re:

Re:

Re:

Re:

Re:

Re:

Re:

Re:

Re: