HALP!? BF2142 crash to desktop

[Fayd]

System:

C2D E4400 ---> 2.7 ghz
4x1gb DDR2 800mhz
MSI p35 neo2-FR
XFX 8800GTS 320mb
Raptor 150gb primary, 2xHD501LJ's in raid0 data
Creative X-FI xtreme gamer soundcard

Vista Ultimate x64, all updates and newest drivers for everything

i'm trying to play Battlefield 2142, and it's just not working.

from the top:

I install the game. I can set any options i want in command line, and everything works *just* fine. i go into game, it looks beautiful. runs fully stable. works well.

i can make changes to config and they work. (so long as they dont require me restarting the game)

but here's the thing. once i leave the game ( as in exit the game, not just a map) it wont allow me to load another map. no matter what i do. i can set all settings to default, no dice.

I load up the game, and even in single player (where i do all shader configs out of habit) as soon as i click "start rotation" or whatever it is that starts you on loading the map, it crashes to desktop. i get an error message that bf2142 stopped working, and either stop the program or ask microsoft why it died and stop the program. (no reason given from microsoft..)

the error log contains this.


Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: BF2142.exe
Application Version: 0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 471f3744
Fault Module Name: BF2142.exe
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 471f3744
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0004658f
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: ea80
Additional Information 2: b400e8e80e5583d4f6f1d0d0bd2ea0e6
Additional Information 3: cb61
Additional Information 4: 8270827d9f5c9c2bc38b9ce7739de4ea


any ideas? i've tried:

uninstall/reinstall: goes through the exact scenario i described above. works once, then once i unload the game and reload, it fails.

turn off DEP: no dice. no change in symptoms.

lower resolution/video settings: no dice, no change in symptoms.

lower sound quality/sound settings: no dice, no change in symptoms.

disabling x-fi/eax: no dice, no change in symptoms.

i'm out of ideas. anyone got some? i'd love to hear them.


EDIT: I should note that battlefield 2 runs perfectly stable at max settings, 1920x1200 resolution.

 

[Calculator83]

Either Dual boot, or partition for XP. Best option imo, better performance, and you will likely have None of these issues. And since you have 4 gigs of ram, dual boot won't be a problem.

ALTHOUGH, bf is apeshitz when it comes to system stability, so you may want to loosen mem timings, lower cpu clock, def use DEFAULT Gpu clock. It's not ur system,, it's the game. Oh yes, and Nvidia Drivers for Vista are still not perfected, there has recently been an article somewhere about it.

 

[MajorMullet]

I had a problem with BF2142 on my home PC (I have a similar setup, Vista x64 Ultimate as well). I couldn't load up a single map at all, whether it was the first time I launched it or not without it crashing to the desktop.

But I was also getting random crashes in other games as well though, so I ran memtest and found out that I had a bad stick of ram. I uninstalled the game before I ran memtest, thinking that re-installing may fix the issue but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I can't say the bad memory was ultimately the cause of my issue until I re-install the game and try to play it again, but it may be something to try.

 

[Fayd]

dualboot isnt an option. I did have this game working in xp, on this exact system, but now i dont have the option of dualboot so i have to get it working on vista.

other people seem to have no trouble getting it to work for them. i dont know why it wont work for me.

memory is okay. I run memtest regularly to check my ram, no issues.

 

[cheapherk]

I have an occasional crashing problem when I'll be in the middle of the game and "WHAM!"- I'm looking at my desktop. No error messages- nothing as if I hadn't even been playing. It might happen to me a couple of times a month.

 

[robphelan]

had a similar problem - worked on XP then I reformatted & rebuilt with XP.. BF would crash.

after a few weeks, figured out it was memory timings - they got reset somehow in my BIOS.

 

[kY]

I'm currently going through this on a fairly similar system... Q6600 w/ 8GB RAM on x64 Vista Ultimate w/ an 8800GTX, X-Fi Fatal1ty and latest drivers.

I can configure everything and up to the point of joining a server, CTD w/ bf2142pace.exe has stopped working...

One other guy who has a similar system recommends running the .exe as administrator to get past PB preventing it from working but I've tried that and the same CTD occurs.

 

[ourfpshero]

try erasing the radial.cdb file in the game directory- it will rewrite itself. its a known bug that keeps maps from loading- tho in xp it freezes not crashes. i have had to do this about 3 times so far

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: ourfpshero
try erasing the radial.cdb file in the game directory- it will rewrite itself. its a known bug that keeps maps from loading- tho in xp it freezes not crashes. i have had to do this about 3 times so far

yes this has happened to myself and clan mates a few times - radial.cdb is a hidden file so make sure you let yourself see those.

regardless, we still get random crashes to desktop in the middle of playing here and there. the radial fix takes care of when you join a server and the map loads up to about 2/3 full and freezes.

 

[Fayd]

okay... i realized i hated it when i have problems, other people have the exact same problems, but dont post what solution worked for them.

and i realized i'm guilty of that >_<

anyways, here's what worked for me.

deleting the game directory that is stored in my documents...every time, when i run the game.

i have a .bat that deletes that directory, and then loads the game.

it works every time. and the game runs stable. only problem is, every time i start the game, it needs to go through shader optimization.

 

[izike]

Have the exact same problem, nailed it down the "Global.con" file in \My Documents\Battlefield 2142\Profiles. If I delete this file every time before launching the game, I can play single player fine. If I don't, its CTD the next time I play (works once, thats it).

Btw- this bug also exists in 1.5 of the game (Did a fresh install on a new machine, same issue).

Global.con
There's not much in here, could someone with a working one post their contents (minus the encrypted password)? Looks like it is pointing to the 0001 directory, going to delete that and start the game again, might be related to a file in there...

izike

 

[VashHT]

Have you tried running it as Administrator, as well as in compatibility mode for XP SP2? I've found in Vista x64 if I have any problems with older games its generally fixed by running it in Administrator mode.

 

[izike]

Problem solved! Very odd fix, and may explain why others aren't having the problem. Here's what I did, YMMV

Add "+eaAccountName xxxxx +eaAccountPassword xxxxx +soldierName xxxxx" to the desktop shortcut, replacing 'xxxxx' with your info.

The only thing I can figure is that the manual account log in and profile selection is broken. I had verified this broken in 1.4 and 1.5. Once I added the the above to the shortcut, working in both 1.4 and 1.5. I haven't changed any game settings yet, I'll try that next and see if it holds.

I'm assuming most veteran players haven't seen this problem because they've previously modified their shortcut to bypass entering their account information every time. I verified that removing this info from the shortcut then breaks the game again (in single player). Odd stuff.

izike