Telltale Games

Ripple Beefwell · 07/25/2007, 02:51 pm

I got the Sam and Max DVD in the mail the other day and quickly set about to installing it (for some reason the downloadable version of the episodes stopped working for me), only to find that the DVD version also fails to start.

It seems like it's passing the CD-check for SecuROM, but once it gets past that I get an unhandled exception from the executable (caught by the Visual Studio 2005 debugger):

"Unhandled exception at 0x004c6a6d in SamMax101.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x0425cb8c."

System specs:

Core 2 Duo E6600
ATI Radeon X1900XTX
2x1GB Crucial DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz RAM
Intel DP965LT Motherboard
Creative Audigy 2 "Value"

Results from dxdiag attached.

Emily · 07/25/2007, 03:24 pm

Boo. I'm sorry it's still happening.

Well, at least now we have more information about the issue and we can get QA (back) on it. Is this exactly the same thing that was happening for you with the download version?

Ripple Beefwell · 07/25/2007, 04:00 pm

Both versions do cause access violations, though the way the errors are handled is different. In the downloaded version, the game itself appears to be catching the error, but in the DVD version, the Visual Studio debugger is catching it. The addresses are different (see below), but that's probably because the executables are different.

For Episode 3, the errors are as follows:
Download - access violation at 0x004e559f, tried to read from 0x057a2b3c
DVD - access violation at 0x004aeb31, tried to read from 0x043fcb8c

fpostma · 08/03/2007, 01:43 pm

Do you have DEP active? See also: http://www.updatexp.com/data-execution-prevention.html (although a new game like S&M should be DEP compatible really ;-)

Creative drivers are up-to-date (Creative has had some buggy drivers lately, though mostly for Vista) ?

Ripple Beefwell · 08/04/2007, 06:52 am

DEP is not on, drivers are up to date (in fact, I just upgraded to DirectX 9.0c August 2007 and no change) and even if I disable hardware audio acceleration, the error still occurs.

I think it may be DirectX-related since, if I turn off hardware 3D acceleration, the game does get far enough to say that it can't initialize D3D. Of course, that's one of the first things you do so it doesn't really narrow things down that much.

fpostma · 08/04/2007, 07:16 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripple Beefwell

I think it may be DirectX-related since, if I turn off hardware 3D acceleration, the game does get far enough to say that it can't initialize D3D. Of course, that's one of the first things you do so it doesn't really narrow things down that much.

You're talking about disabling Video 3D acceleration, right? That would point to bad or corrupt video drivers? Never had an ATI myself but I'm told something like 'Omega Drivers' sometimes work better?

Ripple Beefwell · 08/07/2007, 08:02 pm

It wouldn't necessarily point to bad drivers, since I can't actually run the game with no hardware acceleration. But it does prove that the error occurs after (or possibly during) when the D3D device is created in the code.

All this happens before the window is actually created, which narrows down where the game is failing to (probably) graphics startup code.

AdamG · 08/08/2007, 08:44 am

I wish I could help, but this is a really generic problem and the best person (and just about only) that could help you would be the programmers or Jake/Emily/Tabacco. :/ One thing you might want to ask them, if you haven't already though you probably have, Jake/Emily/Tabacco, is if they could implement an error report feature in Season 2. It would probably be a good idea because it's a lot easier to figure out the problem if you've got everyone's memory dumps.

Just a suggestion.

Ripple Beefwell · 08/08/2007, 02:28 pm

Well, if anyone at Telltale actually wants memory dumps, I can probably get Visual Studio to spit them out. I had tried to run in debug mode in Visual Studio to narrow things down a little more, but Securom doesn't appreciate that.

Ripple Beefwell · 08/28/2007, 03:25 pm

Update:

I applied the patch from this thread, but it didn't change anything except the address that the access violation occurs at.

The new error message is as follows, though I'm not sure how useful it'll be:
"Unhandled exception at 0x004a8898 in SamMax101.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x0422cb8c."

Emily · 08/29/2007, 07:13 am

That patch is only intended for people who are having startup crashes caused by SecuROM, which doesn't sound like the case for you.

I'm sorry we haven't been able to offer a solution. Access violation errors seem to be caused by a lot of different things and it's not something we've been able to find a catch-all answer for.

We have a new QA guy starting next week and my hope is that this is something he can help us diagnose.

Ripple Beefwell · 08/30/2007, 10:02 am

I didn't really expect the patch to fix my problem, but it was worth a shot.

If there's any other information from me that would be useful, let me know and I'll forward it on to you guys.

08/07/2007, 08:02 pm	#7
Ripple Beefwell Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 7	It wouldn't necessarily point to bad drivers, since I can't actually run the game with no hardware acceleration. But it does prove that the error occurs after (or possibly during) when the D3D device is created in the code. All this happens before the window is actually created, which narrows down where the game is failing to (probably) graphics startup code. Last edited by Ripple Beefwell; 08/07/2007 at 08:04 pm.

08/08/2007, 08:44 am	#8
AdamG The Maybe Friend for Life Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 1,054	I wish I could help, but this is a really generic problem and the best person (and just about only) that could help you would be the programmers or Jake/Emily/Tabacco. :/ One thing you might want to ask them, if you haven't already though you probably have, Jake/Emily/Tabacco, is if they could implement an error report feature in Season 2. It would probably be a good idea because it's a lot easier to figure out the problem if you've got everyone's memory dumps. Just a suggestion. __________________ "Stay frosty America!" - Max Last edited by AdamG; 08/08/2007 at 08:52 am.

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07/25/2007, 03:24 pm	#2
Emily Formerly of the Telltale Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: San Francisco Posts: 4,549	Boo. I'm sorry it's still happening. Well, at least now we have more information about the issue and we can get QA (back) on it. Is this exactly the same thing that was happening for you with the download version?

07/25/2007, 04:00 pm	#3
Ripple Beefwell Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 7	Both versions do cause access violations, though the way the errors are handled is different. In the downloaded version, the game itself appears to be catching the error, but in the DVD version, the Visual Studio debugger is catching it. The addresses are different (see below), but that's probably because the executables are different. For Episode 3, the errors are as follows: Download - access violation at 0x004e559f, tried to read from 0x057a2b3c DVD - access violation at 0x004aeb31, tried to read from 0x043fcb8c

08/03/2007, 01:43 pm	#4
fpostma Licensed Psychotherapist Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 119	Do you have DEP active? See also: http://www.updatexp.com/data-execution-prevention.html (although a new game like S&M should be DEP compatible really ;-) Creative drivers are up-to-date (Creative has had some buggy drivers lately, though mostly for Vista) ?

08/04/2007, 06:52 am	#5
Ripple Beefwell Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 7	DEP is not on, drivers are up to date (in fact, I just upgraded to DirectX 9.0c August 2007 and no change) and even if I disable hardware audio acceleration, the error still occurs. I think it may be DirectX-related since, if I turn off hardware 3D acceleration, the game does get far enough to say that it can't initialize D3D. Of course, that's one of the first things you do so it doesn't really narrow things down that much.

08/08/2007, 02:28 pm	#9
Ripple Beefwell Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 7	Well, if anyone at Telltale actually wants memory dumps, I can probably get Visual Studio to spit them out. I had tried to run in debug mode in Visual Studio to narrow things down a little more, but Securom doesn't appreciate that.

08/28/2007, 03:25 pm	#10
Ripple Beefwell Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 7	Update: I applied the patch from this thread, but it didn't change anything except the address that the access violation occurs at. The new error message is as follows, though I'm not sure how useful it'll be: "Unhandled exception at 0x004a8898 in SamMax101.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x0422cb8c."

08/29/2007, 07:13 am	#11
Emily Formerly of the Telltale Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: San Francisco Posts: 4,549	That patch is only intended for people who are having startup crashes caused by SecuROM, which doesn't sound like the case for you. I'm sorry we haven't been able to offer a solution. Access violation errors seem to be caused by a lot of different things and it's not something we've been able to find a catch-all answer for. We have a new QA guy starting next week and my hope is that this is something he can help us diagnose.

08/30/2007, 10:02 am	#12
Ripple Beefwell Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 7	I didn't really expect the patch to fix my problem, but it was worth a shot. If there's any other information from me that would be useful, let me know and I'll forward it on to you guys.