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Windows 10 upgrade seems to have broken SB [resolved, invalid]


Splash

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So I did a couple of things this weekend: Installed a new SSD in my aging rig, cloned my OS drive to it, and then upgraded to Windows 10 in advance of next month's end of support for 7.  Ok. Maybe that's three things.

 

So the install of the SSD went fine. The cloning of the OS went fine. Everything, INCLUDING SBProPe, worked fine -- just notably faster --when I booted to the new SSD, still with Windows 7.

 

Then I did the upgrade to 10. Again, everything appeared to go fine; no conflicts or incompatible apps, to my surprise (and I've got some pretty old programs on my computer). But when I tried to launch SB, It stopped at the splash screen (artwork with logo) and informed me "Steel Beasts Pro has stopped working."

 

I can't even get the debug or safe versions to launch. Same message. I know this is probably something simple I've overlooked and is clearly related to Windows 10 ... but since everything else on my computer appears to still work, I'm kind of at a loss.

 

What do you need from me to find the answer? I'm leaning toward a complete uninstall and re-install of SB (including the map packages) but hope there's a simpler solution before I do that. (Oh, by the way, I tried the Map Download Manager, and it launched and connected without error.)

 

And in case it's of any value, here's the content of the debug log from the latest attempt to open:

 

[23:27:36,159] CGame WARN : -------------------------------
[23:27:36,159] CGame WARN : Steel Beasts Log File v4.161
[23:27:36,159] CGame WARN : Sat Dec  7 23:27:36 201 / 2912
[23:27:36,159] CGame WARN : -------------------------------
[23:27:36,159] CGame INFO : +--+ MEMORY USAGE INFO (SteelBeasts START):
[23:27:36,159] CGame INFO : |  | Process: 4.3 GB (0 % of 128.0 TB total, 128.0 TB free) 4.3 GB min/4.2 GB max
[23:27:36,159] CGame INFO : |  | Physical: 3.3 GB (21 % of 16.0 GB total, 12.6 GB free) 3.2 GB min/3.3 GB max
[23:27:36,159] CGame INFO : +--+ Pagefile: 4.9 GB (15 % of 32.0 GB total, 27.1 GB free) 4.8 GB min/4.9 GB max
[23:27:38,989] CStringTable ERROR: [LOCAL] *** MISSING STRING: 'STRINGX_RECENT_HOSTS'.

 

And ... the service log from the same attempt:

 

[22:33:19,414] TRACE: WinMain
[22:33:19,414] TRACE: ctor
[22:33:19,416] TRACE: onStart
[22:33:19,416] INFO : Version 19.000
[22:33:19,416] TRACE: Starting up
[22:33:19,416] TRACE: Loading configuration
[22:33:19,416] INFO : Loading configuration from 'C:\Program Files\eSim Games\Steel Beasts Map Tools\Service\config\config.xml'
[22:33:19,417] INFO : Map Package Directory is 'C:\ProgramData\eSim Games\Steel Beasts\maps\packages'
[22:33:19,417] TRACE: Refreshing mappackage directory
[22:33:19,417] TRACE: Refreshing folder 'C:\ProgramData\eSim Games\Steel Beasts\maps\packages'
[22:33:19,531] TRACE: Done Refreshing mappackage directory
[22:33:19,531] TRACE: Restoring jobs
[22:33:19,531] TRACE: Starting up
[22:33:19,531] TRACE: Interprocess emulation folder: 'C:\ProgramData\eSim Games\Steel Beasts Map Tools\IPC'
[22:33:19,532] TRACE: Started up
[22:33:19,532] TRACE: Started
[22:33:19,535] TRACE: Listening on message queue
[23:27:36,170] TRACE: QueryServerVersion

 

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I suppose a first step would be to try and install SB Pro PE over the existing installation.

 

If the problem persists, please check the CrashDumps folder (link is in Windows Start Menu / eSim Games / Steel Beasts / Troubleshooting) and send me the corresponding files after zipping them. I'll pass them on to the programmers.

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So here's where I am right now:

 

Foolishly tinkering with settings trying to find a solution on my own, I ended up with a BSOD on my new SSD with Win10 (upgraded from 7). Don't ask me how. I think I changed a boot setting.


Fortunately, I still have the original HHD with my complete Windows 7 install (the one I had cloned to the new SSD). So I redid the OS clone from the HHD to the SSD. Now I have a fully functioning, authentic Windows 7 on the SSD. I've been here before. (SB loads much more quickly, by the way).


What I'm thinking of doing now is completely uninstalling SB -- backing up my mods then wiping everything associated with 4.161, including the maps packages -- and reinstalling from scratch AFTER doing the Win7 --> Win10 upgrade.

But I'm holding off on this for a bit until I hear from the team whether there's actually some other, more simple issue at play here based on the crashdump files I sent.
 

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Regarding modded sounds. Yes, I do have a few ... all in the appropriate mods folders; none in the main Program Files installation. All working fine in Windows 7, I'm a little puzzled why a sound file would fail to load in Windows 10. Driver issue maybe? I have the latest one available (Realtek) for my motherboard (ASUS) ... but it's still quite old and for Windows 7. 
 

Anyway, ... as explained in the post above, I'm no longer in a position to troubleshoot the Windows 10 launch fails of SB by moving sound files.


At this point I have a working install of Windows 7 on my solid state drive. If I am to proceed with my planned Win7 --> Win10 upgrade, it seems I have two options:
1) Perform the upgrade again as I did last time, and then troubleshoot the problem -- assuming it fails again to launch -- starting with the modded sound files. Or,
2) Wipe my system of everything SB, do the Windows upgrade, then re-install SB fresh and clean to Windows 10 and see if it works.
Either route is a considerable investment of time, and I'm not sure which has the most chance of success. Probably option 2.


So I'll let you know what happens.

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Quick status report:  I have re-performed the installation of Windows 10 and now have a functioning, activated copy of Win10 with a digital license.

All of my Windows 7 programs/apps ported over to Win10 and are functioning as before. For gaming purposes this includes CH Manager, Voice Activated Commands, Teamspeak, and Track IR 3, along with a copy of IL-2 1946, which loads and works fine (though I rarely play it anymore).

I uninstalled Steel Beasts and the Codemeter runtime before the upgrade. Tonight when I return home from work I'll do a fresh re-install (no mods) and see what happens.

 

Fingers crossed.

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i have steel beasts with several sound mods running in a new install of windows 10 - no issues like you describe. having said that from a user standpoint and not a software developer, there is nothing that Windows 10 offers that I would have upgraded for were it not preinstalled on my new system, it seems like change for the sake of change in order to sell a new product which is basically microsoft' s scheme to collect as much as data as possible on customers. the file structures and user interface isn't an improvement, other than occasionally activating cortana by mistake, which I have no interest in using, it's just different rather than better. then I can guess what the next iteration of windows will be a similar sort of thing- repackaging a product that was more or less perfect from a user interface standpoint when they rolled out windows xp. every version since then was just charging more money for a 'better' newer version

Edited by Captain_Colossus
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1 hour ago, Captain_Colossus said:

... from a user standpoint and not a software developer, there is nothing that Windows 10 offers that I would have upgraded for were it not preinstalled on my new system,

Aside from the slight performance improvements and a much better DirectX 12, the main point it has it going from a consumer's point of view is the further (and substantial) strengthening against cyber attacks compared to Windows 7 (not to speak of XP, 2000, NT, ...); other than that, fair comment.

 

it seems like change for the sake of change in order to sell a new product which is basically microsoft' s scheme to collect as much as data as possible on customers.

Use O&O Soft's "Shutup 10" as an easy to understand tool to set your preferences in a unified dialog. Yes, you'll need to reset your preferences after Windows updates, but at least you have everything in one place (and yes, you need to kill the "Telemetry 3" twice). Not everything that can be switched off should be however, you will still have to decide between privacy and functionality in a number of cases (e.g. you can disable access to your sound card's microphone for all applications, but then you couldn't use TeamSpeak either, so...; arguably, the ability to generally block access to certain hardware components is actually another improvement for the end-user, which wasn't possible in previous Windows versions).

 

From a software developer's point of view the idea of a unified platform for mobile and desktop applications had some appeal (but then they would have needed to follow it through with the Windows phone rather than throwing in the towel so soon). And of course we're still stuck with a new GUI design tailored to fat thumbs on tiny screens even if we have tiny mouse pointers on huge screens, wasting 40% of precious screen real estate while at the same time making scroll bars harder to access due to single pixel wide lines - can someone please line up the people responsible for this at a wall, and hand me a flamethrower?

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So it turned out to be a sound file, after all.

 

After installing a fresh copy, SB loaded without issue. (Yay.)

 

So I went about adding in sound files from my previous mods folder, one by one, until I found the one that crashed the launch. It's called "leorumble." (I think it's for the Leo 1 ... not sure where or when I got it). Looking at its properties I saw that it had double the bitrate of other modded files of its type. So I changed that, returned it to the folder and ... no crash.


The lesson learned is that SB will happily tolerate the file under Windows 7, but with Windows 10 -- not so much.

 

Thanks, Retro, for cueing me in on where to look.

 

Regarding the relative value of Win10 ... I wouldn't be making the switch if it weren't for the abandonment of support next month. I was plenty happy with Windows 7, but since M$ has quietly continued to offer the free upgrade, I figured I had better jump now or regret it later.

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Oops, sorry. I didn't consider the possible value of the file for that purpose. I saved over it when fixing it.

 

No, wait ... I actually do have a copy; I had -- duh -- backed up my mods folders to a separate drive before the upgrade. Email on the way.

Edited by Splash
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As an user of sound mods I'm glad that you fixed the problem Splash (you did a nice "search and destroy" there, have those days too with other sims) and great support from eSim games, hope the problem will be isolated and crushed  thanks! ^_^

Edited by Vikingo
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Our assessment at this point that the sound file, a .wav in 32 bit depth (already overkill) and with IEEE floating point precision (even more overkill) is not directly crashing Steel Beasts, but it's a problem for certain sound cards (typically, on-board sound chips) which simply do not support such .wav file formats.

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Well, to be clear, the sound file in question existed for more than 2 1/2 years in my SB mods folder without incident and could be also be loaded, played and edited with other software on my PC -- both in Windows 7 and Window 10 -- with the same Realtek HD Audio. It only became an issue when SB tried to load in Windows 10.

 

In any case, I'm just happy to have the glitch rectified.

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Could very well be a driver's issue, then. We've tested this on several machines. Some crashed, others did not, and it seems to be a question of which sound chip was used. My take on the situation is that it's not an inherent limitation of Steel Beasts, but that the trouble source is to be found in places over which we have no control (=sound driver, or hardware).

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