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Game Crashes On Startup; Only With Certain Track Installed

GPL Thundercars CTD LeMans67 bsarthe

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#1 gplracer222

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Posted May 10 2019 - 11:11 AM

Hello,

So I've just re-installed GPL yesterday because of a huge mess of files in the install folder that had me wondering how my game runs in the first place.

Now I've installed the Thundercars mod and with some xml addons in GEM+, i've been having a BLAST at Hockenheim 1932; but the elusive 400 kph still were unreachable (my top was 397 kph and I braked at the very last moment I could, but that's another story).
I figured with my car setup I could easily reach 400 kph on the Mulsanne straight at LeMans67, so I got the track, installed it, put the BAPOM program in and tried to load the game up.
It goes to the loading screen which says "Thundercars Mod For Grand Prix Legends" and then it just crashes. "Grand Prix Legends has stopped working." - nothing more.
Tried changing 3D renderer, same result every time, at the same point. It doesn't even matter what track I set it to load in GEM, it just crashes.

Now here's where I'm starting to bang my head on the desk.
The crash ONLY happens when the bsarthe track is installed in my GPL install. It doesn't crash when I move the folder out on my desktop. But it also crashes when the track is in the GPL tracks folder but with no entry in any season ini.
How can that be? How can that track solely break my entire game? (So far it only crashed while loading up the TC mod, but reinstalling said mod didn't help either.)

Here's some information, in case it'll help.

OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit
CPU: Intel i5 Quad-core 2.4 GHz
RAM: 8 GB DDR3
GPL: 1.3, 4GB patch applied, Pribluda optional as xml patch, GPLShift applied
3D render: OpenGL V2
XML addons checked for the TC mod in GEM: 77a Weather V2.14, 77c Pit Stop V1.07, 77e Head Movement 1.0, Enablepribluda, Ffb2, Carsound (Note that the game worked flawlessly with all these applied when the bsarthe track is not installed)


Anyway, I hope there's something simple I just overlooked but I'm starting to worry that it might be something bigger.

Cheers,
Pascal.

#2 Bob Simpson

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Posted May 10 2019 - 02:18 PM

Have you tried re-insatalling the track from the track database at https://gpltd.bcsims.com/

#3 Bob Simpson

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Posted May 10 2019 - 03:10 PM

Also, for high speed tests, try going to the Smogbank or Blodbath giant oval tracks. I could only get 399 kph without a draft and 413 kph with a draft.

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Edited by Bob Simpson, May 10 2019 - 03:17 PM.


#4 gplracer222

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Posted May 10 2019 - 05:06 PM

No, I haven't tried to re-download it; only to re-install it using the archive I downloaded earlier today. Might actually be some sort of corrupt file, who knows. It's still strange how it only crashes when loading up in the Thundercars mod, though. But I'll re-download it quick and see what happens.


EDIT: Yeah no, it still crashes. Right on startup. Nothing I can do except watch it crash again and again and again. Not sure what the bsarthe.3do and bsarthe.trk in the sarthe_normal_fix.zip are, but maybe those are the key to it(?) I'll have to try those out..

Edited by gplracer222, May 10 2019 - 05:31 PM.


#5 gplracer222

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Posted May 10 2019 - 05:55 PM

Oh, talking about Bloodbath, I installed that (without having bsarthe installed) and that one crashes my game too.
I'm starting to believe that my install of the Thundercars mod is corrupt but I've got no idea how that can be or what to do now! I mean I could re-download the installer file from here but ohh my god that's going to take ages...

#6 gplracer222

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Posted May 10 2019 - 06:52 PM

After some trial-and-error and just playing around with the files, I've come to the following conclusion of the issue:
*This is nuts.*

Has there ever been any issue with the Thundercars mod throwing a fit when there are more than 17 track dats in the tracks directory? Because that seems to be exactly my issue. I have 17 tracks (11 vanilla + 6 add-on) installed, and as soon as the 18th dat, be it blodbath, bsarthe or anything else, is present, the TC mod crashes. It doesn't even have to be in the season ini file, it just crashes.

I've found out that the TC mod apparently doesn't have the 1.3 patch applied to it, so no longer tracks (like Spa67 or Targa Florio) and only 64 tracks in an ini are the limit. But 17?

I mean, my add-on tracks are: Monza10k, Hocke30, BA55N, Aintree, Harz and Spa67. The only issue I get with Spa67 in the TC mod is "Could not load track", which I assume is because it's too long or something.

If I exchange any of those tracks for Le Mans 1967, the game loads up and I can drive at Le Mans. If I try to run any sort of track combination that results in more than 17 track DAT files in my tracks directory, regardless of references, the TC mod won't load up and it crashes the game on the boot screen. Mind you, it's only with the TC mod.

However, this still puzzles me like crazy, because years ago, I ran the TC mod with way more than 17 tracks installed, I'm pretty sure even more than 64 installed, and something around 50 tracks in the season ini alone.

On the Discord, we've been discussing any possible causes, like different event counts in the ini, or any stuff like that but nothing makes sense. It's really just odd behavior which I personally just can't explain, nor resolve.


(Image: My tracks directory plus Monza10k on my desktop. Folders in a red rectangle have DATs in them. Total count: 32. Recognized tracks: 18. Tracks currently picked up by GPL: 17)

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#7 Saiph

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Posted May 10 2019 - 08:16 PM

Have you checked your hard disk for errors?

#8 Bob Simpson

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Posted May 10 2019 - 08:37 PM

Wait. Why do you have so many track folders without DAT files? All the track folders should have DAT files.

I have 436 track folders with DAT files in them and no problems.

I can run the TC mod at Spa67, but some people have trouble if they don't have enough RAM.

Edited by Bob Simpson, May 10 2019 - 08:43 PM.


#9 Michkov

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Posted May 11 2019 - 04:55 AM

55 mod. Installs "emtpy" track folders containing season specific programs and textures.


I'd move those to an external folder for better overview what's in the tracks folder, but they shouldn't impact the game.

#10 gplracer222

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Posted May 11 2019 - 06:38 AM

View PostBob Simpson, on May 10 2019 - 08:37 PM, said:

Wait. Why do you have so many track folders without DAT files? All the track folders should have DAT files.

I have 436 track folders with DAT files in them and no problems.

I can run the TC mod at Spa67, but some people have trouble if they don't have enough RAM.

I have the 55 mod installed which adds some programs and textures to tracks I don't have, thus there are folders without DATs.
About RAM, I've got 8 GB and the 4GB patch applied to the game. Spa67 loads up fine for the 67 cars and the 55 cars, but not for the Thundercars. As I said, "Could not load track" instead of the infamous "Could not initialize Replay System" error, which I assume is because the track is "too long" (even though it's not much longer than the vanilla Spa??) and the TC mod is, as I've been told, a little neglected and hasn't been updated to 1.3 (again, only been told that, could be right or wrong, I don't know.)

Anyway, my HD works completely fine, I had to replace it after someone dropped my laptop a couple years ago when it got totalled.
I am going to try and move those empty folders to an external place and then try to run the TC mod with more than 17 installed tracks, but I'm not very optimistic about it making any difference.

As I said, this only happens with the TC mod, and only if I have more than 17 tracks recognized by GEM+ - all other mods (at the moment, I only have C67 and C55 anyway) work without any issues; but TC throws a fit and instantly crashes when I try to boot it up.

Given the confusion, I assume there has never been any known issue of a 17-track limit for the TC mod? I'm sure it's never happened to me before, since the last time I remember, I had just about every car mod installed in one install, and way more than a hundred tracks and every single track worked fine. Only difference having been that I didn't have the 4GB patch and thus no Spa67.

#11 Michkov

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Posted May 11 2019 - 09:04 AM

Could this be the ANSI/UTF issue GEM has sometimes?

Quote

- Sometimes GEM will erroneously save season.ii files with UTF-8 encoding which causes a CTD. Make sure that the files are saved (File > Save As...) with ANSI encoding.


#12 gplracer222

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Posted May 11 2019 - 09:53 AM

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Well I'll be damned, out of all those, only 05season, 55season and g55 were coded in ANSI.
I'll try having the 67season saved with ANSI now.

EDIT: Well I'll be damned again, now the TC mod boots up with 19 recognized and installed tracks; and 19 tracks in the 67season.ini (which I use for the TC mod).  I stand corrected, it USED to work. Back to square one because even though I've saved every single one of the aforementioned INI files with ANSI coding, and it did boot up properly, now it just suddenly decided not to boot up anymore. Same problem, same issue, no difference at all. Only with the TC mod. The difference being that even the file coding stuff makes no difference anymore, which it shouldn't have done in the first place because all the other cars worked properly even with UTF-8 coding. (And I don't see how GEM "sometimes" does that because for some reason my GEM always saves the INI files with that coding and it's never caused me any problems until now)
Is it understandable that I'm starting to lose my mind over this? NO error messages, NO hints that something can't load, literally nothing to indicate any error.
And do you want to know what I did to suddenly cause it to crash again? I simply quit the game and tried to reboot it. Nothing else.

Edited by gplracer222, May 11 2019 - 12:08 PM.


#13 Bob Simpson

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Posted May 11 2019 - 12:22 PM

Check that any virus checker that you have has the sierra\gpl folder included in the exceptions. Also the GPLSecrets folder.

#14 gplracer222

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Posted May 11 2019 - 12:39 PM

That's already done; all my games and their respective tools are noted there

#15 marco lenarduzzi

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Posted May 11 2019 - 04:06 PM

Hi gplracer222. I was going through the forums here and I found this,
"EDIT: Just remembered something. Do you use the Thundercars mod at all? If so, there's no patch for it at the moment, so you should avoid selecting the large season file when you're running it."  
You can find it here  https://srmz.racesimcentral.net/inde...?showtopic=5273  post #2. I would suggest making a season ini. specifically for the Thundercars mod and keep it at 17 tracks for now. I don't know for sure if it will work but it's worth a try. Good luck !

#16 gplracer222

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Posted May 12 2019 - 05:45 AM

View Postmarco lenarduzzi, on May 11 2019 - 04:06 PM, said:

Hi gplracer222. I was going through the forums here and I found this,
"EDIT: Just remembered something. Do you use the Thundercars mod at all? If so, there's no patch for it at the moment, so you should avoid selecting the large season file when you're running it."  
You can find it here  https://srmz.racesimcentral.net/inde...?showtopic=5273  post #2. I would suggest making a season ini. specifically for the Thundercars mod and keep it at 17 tracks for now. I don't know for sure if it will work but it's worth a try. Good luck !

Thank you for the hint, however I'm far off any 64-track limit that exists for mods that didn't have the 1024-track patch.
I've even deleted all season files and created one from scratch with only one entry, but that also crashed when loading up the Thundercars mod.

There really seems to be no reason why the TC mod throws a fit as soon as there are more than 17 DAT files (i refer to properly installed and recognized tracks by DATs) in the tracks folder - no matter how many entries are in the season ini.

Besides, my GEM apparently has always been saving the season files with UTF-8 encoding, but it's never caused any problems until now.. weird.

I mean, I'm just about to sort of give up on trying to fix it and either reinstall everything yet again or make a separate, new install solely for the TC mod.

#17 Michkov

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Posted May 12 2019 - 07:02 AM

Try a separate ini with less then 10 tracks for the TCs. The game shouldn't even notice the extra tracks in the track folder, so I'm curious what would happen.

#18 gplracer222

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Posted May 12 2019 - 08:57 AM

That's exactly what I described what I did.

It doesn't seem to matter how many tracks are in the INI that gets loaded. Even with only one track entry, and ANSI encoding in the file, the game crashes as long as the TC mod gets loaded while there are more than 17 tracks recognized by GEM.
Believe me, I tried those methods already.

#19 twinpotter

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Posted May 12 2019 - 09:49 AM

I mean, I'm just about to sort of give up on trying to fix it and either reinstall everything yet again or make a separate, new install solely for the TC mod.

Have you tried and would it be worth installing on another PC. Yours or a friend's, to determine whether it is your PC or file related 🤔

TP:

Edited by twinpotter, May 12 2019 - 09:49 AM.


#20 gplracer222

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Posted May 12 2019 - 10:10 AM

No I haven't tried that, but then again I have no second PC or laptop where I could try that - but as I said, I tried reinstalling everything, too. Just, for some reason, it won't let me have more than 17 tracks with the TC mod. All other mods work just fine, it's just my TC install that throws its fits. And as I said, that's never happened to me, before, either so i'm just as puzzled as everyone else here might be.

I mean, would showing the debug.txt from GEM help, at all? I mean, all files that need to be there are there, but something causes the game to lock up and crash when approaching the main menu when there are 18 or more track DATs in the tracks folder - even if there are less referenced in the respective season ini.

But as you suggested, I'm strongly suspecting that something is faulty in my files. It all worked before without problem. I had 80+ tracks in my season files and the TC mod worked without any problems - but now, after I reinstalled it, it just crashes. Again, only the TC mod. 67 and 55 work without problems.

Spoiler

Edited by gplracer222, May 12 2019 - 10:19 AM.






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