3Darcade crashes continuously!!

[1UP]

I've got the FE up and running on my cab now, but I can only use the paging menus.  Both the cylarcade and FPS arcade crash the system!  The cylarcade will seem to load correctly, then after I try to move left or right thru the games, it will freeze after about 4-5 cabs pass by.  Same with the fps arcade.  The models load, then when the camera starts to do its 360^o pan, it freezes.  I have set all my folders for Mame32 (all the screenshots appear correctly, etc) and Mame32 runs properly on its own.  HELP!!  

[1UP]

Anyone?  I'm about an hour away from just reformatting my HD!!  

[1UP]

Well, I blew several hours reinstalling my system.  Made a clean boot of WinXP, installed Mame32, Shockwave, Emulaxian.  The 3D arcade ran fine when glvideo was set to false.  Then I installed realplayer8, and changed glvideo to true, and BOOM!  The problem came back!  I figured Realplayer8 was the culprit, so I uninstalled it, deleted all Real folders, and installed RealOne.  No problem!  Seeing as how RealPlayer8 never helped the playback issues, I'll just stick with RealOne.  Lesson learned...

[1UP]

NOOOOO!!!  It's still crashing!  No matter what I do...  

[)p(]

NOOOOO!!!  It's still crashing!  No matter what I do...  

also when you set glvideo to false? Does it stll crash then?

This is the version of real player I use on my win xp box:
http://3darcade.mameworld.net/rp8-win2000-setup.exe

what computer are you using, processor, ram, vidcard amount of vidram?

you can also try to change the renderer in fe.cfg It looks like geofrces prefer open gl and ati's direct x with the fe.

Peter





Peter

[1UP]

also when you set glvideo to false? Does it stll crash then?

This is the version of real player I use on my win xp box:
http://3darcade.mameworld.net/rp8-win2000-setup.exe

what computer are you using, processor, ram, vidcard amount of vidram?

you can also try to change the renderer in fe.cfg It looks like geofrces prefer open gl and ati's direct x with the fe.

Peter

Glvideo is false now, it still crashes.  I'm using a 700mhz Athlon for my cab, with 512mb ram, Geforce2 MX with 64mb vram.  I was using opengl rendering always.

I thought the video card might be overheating since it's all enclosed in the cab, so I hooked up the fans in the back of the cab.  Plenty cool in there, but it still crashes (usually crashes during FE startup, or when quitting a game and returning to the 3darcade.)  I noticed the ambient sound was playing jerky during games, so I set runstopsound to true, but still crashes.  Maybe my machine is just getting overwhelmed by all the stuf going on?  Actually, it still crashes when using the paging menu.  A couple times, the machine just restarted by itself without warning!  

[)p(]

also when you set glvideo to false? Does it stll crash then?

This is the version of real player I use on my win xp box:
http://3darcade.mameworld.net/rp8-win2000-setup.exe

what computer are you using, processor, ram, vidcard amount of vidram?

you can also try to change the renderer in fe.cfg It looks like geofrces prefer open gl and ati's direct x with the fe.

Peter

Glvideo is false now, it still crashes.  I'm using a 700mhz Athlon for my cab, with 512mb ram, Geforce2 MX with 64mb vram.  I was using opengl rendering always.

I thought the video card might be overheating since it's all enclosed in the cab, so I hooked up the fans in the back of the cab.  Plenty cool in there, but it still crashes (usually crashes during FE startup, or when quitting a game and returning to the 3darcade.)  I noticed the ambient sound was playing jerky during games, so I set runstopsound to true, but still crashes.  Maybe my machine is just getting overwhelmed by all the stuf going on?  Actually, it still crashes when using the paging menu.  A couple times, the machine just restarted by itself without warning!  

be sure to set hidewin to false in fe.cfg under xp with this version else it will have unexpected results after coming back from a game... you may also turn of the background sound in the fe see if that helps. The athlon may be a bit slow for the fe with all the bells and whistltes especially in fpsedemo2 but you have more then enough ram and I also use a geforce 2mx on my cab (with a celeron 850) so it should not crash...what drivers are you using for the geforce 2mx?

Peter

[1UP]

Doesn't matter if the sound is on or off.  I'm using the Nvidia drivers from a couple months back.  I dunno, weird things are happening all around.  After the FE crashes, sometimes WinXP just crashes while starting up, and I have to reboot again.  Also, in 3darcade, when I'm standing in front of a game, it shows the name of some other game that's behind me on the other side of the arcade!    And if I put a shortcut to the FE in my Startup folder, it will ALWAYS crash!

Oops, the arcade was just sitting there doing nothing, and it crashed again!!!    What have I done to deserve this?  

[)p(]

Doesn't matter if the sound is on or off.  I'm using the Nvidia drivers from a couple months back.  I dunno, weird things are happening all around.  After the FE crashes, sometimes WinXP just crashes while starting up, and I have to reboot again.  Also, in 3darcade, when I'm standing in front of a game, it shows the name of some other game that's behind me on the other side of the arcade!    And if I put a shortcut to the FE in my Startup folder, it will ALWAYS crash!

Oops, the arcade was just sitting there doing nothing, and it crashed again!!!    What have I done to deserve this?  

win xp crashes on boot up...that would be strange if that is related to the fe...

yes it will crash with a shortcut if you don't set the current directory/start in, in the shortcut properties to the folder the fe is in.

Yeah...the registering of cabs will be much better in the next version. You will even be able to look up to the ceiling and register object in the air... what it does now is using the collision detection to select cabs...so if you last move was moving backwards it will register what is in your back...for now when close to a cab just move a little forward and it will register the proper cab...

Peter

Peter

[Howard_Casto]

Do you have the online viewer, 3d studio max, anthoer instance of a 3d program or anything liek that running when you launch the fe?  I learned the hard way that director strangles the 3d stuff so it and only it can be running.  

[)p(]

Do you have the online viewer, 3d studio max, anthoer instance of a 3d program or anything liek that running when you launch the fe?  I learned the hard way that director strangles the 3d stuff so it and only it can be running.  

yeah that is true...luckily not if I halt it when a game is launched :-)

Peter

[1UP]

Do you have the online viewer, 3d studio max, anthoer instance of a 3d program or anything liek that running when you launch the fe?  I learned the hard way that director strangles the 3d stuff so it and only it can be running.  

Nothing else is running but XP's background tasks.  It now seems to be crashing more the longer the machine is on.  Maybe there's something more serious going on...

[)p(]

Do you have the online viewer, 3d studio max, anthoer instance of a 3d program or anything liek that running when you launch the fe?  I learned the hard way that director strangles the 3d stuff so it and only it can be running.  

Nothing else is running but XP's background tasks.  It now seems to be crashing more the longer the machine is on.  Maybe there's something more serious going on...

Mmm did you check the cooler on the athlon? Also you may try to run another very intensive app, the fe will use all your cpu power and video cards power, and see if that also crashes over time.  The only thing I know of that can screw up the fe badly is the real media stuff but as you said you disabled it, it may be time to take a deeper look at your hardware...

also you can try this..just unzip fe.zip in a new folder and run fe3darcade.exe...it should not crash when you walk around...if it does then there is probably something else wrong...

Peter

[1UP]

Mmm did you check the cooler on the athlon? Also you may try to run another very intensive app, the fe will use all your cpu power and video cards power, and see if that also crashes over time.  The only thing I know of that can screw up the fe badly is the real media stuff but as you said you disabled it, it may be time to take a deeper look at your hardware...

also you can try this..just unzip fe.zip in a new folder and run fe3darcade.exe...it should not crash when you walk around...if it does then there is probably something else wrong...

Peter

It's funny, I had a bunch of guys over 2 weeks ago, and we played Street Fighter 2 and lots of others for hours, not one crash.  That was under Mame32 with no FE, just the Mame32 GUI.  The computer was running for hours yesterday while I reinstalled everything, and no probs until I installed RealPlayer 8...  The internal fans all seem to be working, and there is now plenty of cool air getting into the cab with the two 5" case fans running.  Nothing in the PC even feels warm anymore...  I'll have to do some more experimenting tonight.  

[1UP]

AHA!  It seems to be a problem specifically with Shockwave/Director.  I tried loading )p('s Sinistar Cockpit viewer on my cab, and I can rotate in real time, no prob.  As soon as I grab the corner of the window and drag it all over the place, the machine can't seem to keep up with the wild scaling, and it freezes!  This happens every time I try.  I'll have to try my other Geforce card from my workstation, and see if that helps.  Otherwise, I'll have to switch to a less demanding FE, or get a new machine...  Dammit!  I really liked 3darcade!  

BTW, I tried unzipping the FE into a new folder, without changing settings.  I loaded the FE and just let it sit there.  The arcade loaded up, the ambient sound played for a minute or two, then the whole thing froze again.  It seems to happen at completely random moments, sometimes during the initial FE startup, sometimes after I've played a game or two.

Also, I've tried wildly sizing regular windows and browser windows, with no problems.  Only when I load a model viewer does it have problems while sizing.  I've tried it on my 1.4 GHZ workstation too, no viewer problems and no FE crashes.

Hmmm...things may not a be a total loss.  I can still view other Shoackwave / Director content in my browser without crashing.  Is it just the models?  Looks like I can still use the Emulaxian paging menu if I set show3dmenu to false, and showglcabsorpics to false.  That way, I avoid the 3d models completely.  No crashes so far...  But I miss the FPS arcade!  

[)p(]

AHA!  It seems to be a problem specifically with Shockwave/Director.  I tried loading )p('s Sinistar Cockpit viewer on my cab, and I can rotate in real time, no prob.  As soon as I grab the corner of the window and drag it all over the place, the machine can't seem to keep up with the wild scaling, and it freezes!  This happens every time I try.  I'll have to try my other Geforce card from my workstation, and see if that helps.  Otherwise, I'll have to switch to a less demanding FE, or get a new machine...  Dammit!  I really liked 3darcade!  

BTW, I tried unzipping the FE into a new folder, without changing settings.  I loaded the FE and just let it sit there.  The arcade loaded up, the ambient sound played for a minute or two, then the whole thing froze again.  It seems to happen at completely random moments, sometimes during the initial FE startup, sometimes after I've played a game or two.

Also, I've tried wildly sizing regular windows and browser windows, with no problems.  Only when I load a model viewer does it have problems while sizing.  I've tried it on my 1.4 GHZ workstation too, no viewer problems and no FE crashes.

Hmmm...things may not a be a total loss.  I can still view other Shoackwave / Director content in my browser without crashing.  Is it just the models?  Looks like I can still use the Emulaxian paging menu if I set show3dmenu to false, and showglcabsorpics to false.  That way, I avoid the 3d models completely.  No crashes so far...  But I miss the FPS arcade!  

At least we know what is the problem...
it is the 3d sprite that is giving troubles. You can try to set a different renderer in fe.cfg. that may help. Also you may try to install a new or different graphics driver. It seems the one you are using does not like to cooperate with shockwave 3d   I don't see why a low cpu might cause it..the graphics driver is most likely the problem. And if you use a via chipset be sure to use the lastest via 4in1 driver. I had some problems when I upgraded my desktop pc to xp until I upgraded that one.
And yes the fe moves 3d sprites behind the scene so it could be the same thing that crashes it as when you resize the viewer window...

actually..the 3d sprite will be there still in the paging menu...you just don't see it, it is off screen...and it will be updated...when it would not be it would be much faster on very slow machines  

Peter

[1UP]

Thanks for the help, but no luck.  I got the 4in1 drivers, and switched renderers, but the rendering got slower and still crashed.  By the time I got to software rendering, it just rebooted itself!  I guess I'll just go with the regular menus until I can afford to put a better machine in my cab...  

[)p(]

Thanks for the help, but no luck.  I got the 4in1 drivers, and switched renderers, but the rendering got slower and still crashed.  By the time I got to software rendering, it just rebooted itself!  I guess I'll just go with the regular menus until I can afford to put a better machine in my cab...  

did you update your nvidia drivers? I know there were issues with several older drivers that made shockwave 3d crash...for what it's worth i am running then 40.41 drivers on my win xp desktop machine...

Peter

[1UP]

I got their latest drivers, which caused lots of other problems (like garbled video) which required me to do a rollback...

[)p(]

I got their latest drivers, which caused lots of other problems (like garbled video) which required me to do a rollback...

as you know there are lots of detonators to fool around with  

but seriously sorry you can't use the program it really sounds as a driver issue to me and I can't do anything about that...

Peter

[Howard_Casto]

My video card sometimes has similar issues with shockwave/flash for the record but it's much less frequent so I live with it.

[)p(]

My video card sometimes has similar issues with shockwave/flash for the record but it's much less frequent so I live with it.

But the weird thing is 1up uses the same vidcard as I use on my cab and I have not have a shockwave related crash with for all this time I am using it...computers are just weird...

Peter

[1UP]

Yeah, I just tried swapping the cheapo generic Geforce2 in my cab for the Visiontek Geforce2 in my workstation.  Still crashes.  I've just accepted the fact that I'll have to upgrade the PC in my cab later on.  I'm sure I can get a new mobo and a gigahertz Athlon for not too much...  For now, I just need to get the FE tweaked out for Daphne, Pinball etc so I can actually start PLAYING!!

[)p(]

Yeah, I just tried swapping the cheapo generic Geforce2 in my cab for the Visiontek Geforce2 in my workstation.  Still crashes.  I've just accepted the fact that I'll have to upgrade the PC in my cab later on.  I'm sure I can get a new mobo and a gigahertz Athlon for not too much...  For now, I just need to get the FE tweaked out for Daphne, Pinball etc so I can actually start PLAYING!!

use howard's vplauncher wrapper for vp games...it works better then the build in support...why?...I can halt the fe completely that way...if i do it myself the textures have to be reinitilaized again...I have to close the 3d sprite to wait for a keypress to shutdown vp...giving a slowdown on the first turn you make coming back from vp...with the wrapper it is just as launching regular emus...the 3d is at 100% spped instantly!  

Peter

Peter

[1UP]

Thanks for the tip, and all the help in trying to get stuff running on my cab!

WOW!  I finally got all the videos DLed, and just tried the 3d arcade on my desktop PC.  With the FE in fullscreen and antialiasing on, the ambient sound and all the cabs running their attract modes, it really is almost like being in an arcade!  Even Dragon's Lair runs its own demo!  (BTW, where do I get a DL marquee?)  I love just walking up to machines and watching the demos without even starting the game!  You've done an amazing job, )p(, and all the modelers too!  

Now all we need is a strafing key...  

[)p(]

Thanks for the tip, and all the help in trying to get stuff running on my cab!

WOW!  I finally got all the videos DLed, and just tried the 3d arcade on my desktop PC.  With the FE in fullscreen and antialiasing on, the ambient sound and all the cabs running their attract modes, it really is almost like being in an arcade!  Even Dragon's Lair runs its own demo!  (BTW, where do I get a DL marquee?)  I love just walking up to machines and watching the demos without even starting the game!  You've done an amazing job, )p(, and all the modelers too!  

Now all we need is a strafing key...  

Maybe overkill..but the dl marquee is in the max source on the web...
(by the way I am still undecided if i am going to adjust the video stuff in the fe...speed of the real media video is ok on my system and very stable...I may wait with that until I can support a new video format...)

Yeah aa rules also be sure to enable anisotropic filtering for the textures if your vidcard can handle it...makes the textures more clear :-)

Peter

[1UP]

Hey, just to let you know, it now seems that my machine has some other problems with it.  It's now freezing while just using Mame32 by itself, if i play anything other than Pac-Man or other such simple games.  Even elevator action 2 or Puzzle Bobble freezes things!  Something has happened to that machine since I put it in my cab, because it never had these problems before.  Might need to buy a whole new box...