Known Game.dat errors

Tutorial for Battle for Middle-earth II BFME 2

Solinx

Category:	Other
Level:	Beginner
Created:	Sunday March 25, 2007 - 11:38
Updated:	Sunday November 7, 2010 - 9:40
Views:	8441
Summary:	A list of submitted causes for game.dat errors. The nasty ones that trigger in game.

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This list was started a long time ago at the forums. It is a compilation of the sort of game.dat errors that happen in game and won't bother to give you a debug report. The ones we all love :P

NOTE: This article is not here for you to ask how to fix a gamedat error: it's here so we can post solutions and discuss them.

Currently known causes for game.dat crashes:

- Using the same animation state twice in an object's code. Celeglin
- Referencing a specialpower template that doesn't exist Celeglin
- Giving a unit a non-existing armor (crash when your unit is being attacked). Morgoth946
- Missing asset.dat. Morgoth946
- Referring to inexisting weapons in any unit's weaponset ched
- Referring to inexisting locomotors in any unit's locomotorset ched
- Altered Skirmish profile (from playing a mod with new factions) (crash when opening the Skirmish menu) Solution: Simply delete it in the Application Data folder. ched
- Setting MaxLevelMP in playertemplate.ini to 0 (crash when you first get magic points). Lord of Gifts
- Using an inexisting AnimationState. Mullers_11
- Putting a non-existing object in the BannerCarrierPosition line of a horde module. Stealthsnake and zimoo
- Putting a SpellBook button in a SpellStoreCommandset (crash upon opening the Spellstore). Stealthsnake and Makaveli
- Missing shellmap (data\maps\shellmap1\shellmap1.map) (crash in the loading screen, at the moment the little spinning ring shows up). ched and 2playgames
- Missing a PhysicsBehavior in a unit. NebulousQ
- Referencing unknown particles in a FXList. Error occors on startup. Sulherokhh

Update Jan 2008:

- Setting GeometryMajorRadius = 0

Occurs with: All versions
Description:
The height and minor radius can be 0, just not that one, makes sense i guess, in a weird way...
Submitted by: Halbarad

- Conflicts with the HardCoded AI

Occurs with: BFME 2 (and RotWK)
Examples which cause this error:
1. Adding 'AIUpdateInterface' to an object with the new 'AIGateUpdate'
2. Adding 'AIUpdateInterface' to an object that is defined as a WallHubTemplate in 'skirmishAIdata.ini'.
Further information:
I introduced the behavior to have the object be able to both use lua functions and to be able to execute sequential scripts. But the game crashes when a script-function is being run on both kinds of objects (runtime crash).
Submitted by: Sulherokhh

Update November 2010:

- Missing Behavior in Object
Example:
"I misnamed the DualWeaponBehavior into WeaponBehavior in one of my units"
Occurrence of Error:
At game start
Submitted by:
Tir I Herkaluin
Note:
As can be seen above, there have been reports of issues with various types of missing behaviors.
I think it is reasonable to say that any type of behavior will result in a game.dat error when wrongly named

- Missing Attribute Modifier
Cause
Trying to reference an Attribute Modifier that does not exist.
Occurrence of error:
"The game will crash at 97% when loading the faction in skirmish.
A weird thing if the attribute is for a specific faction ie Rohan it will crash Good factions but Evil factions are ok."
Submitted by:
Radspakr

- System.ini
Cause
Typo's, reference errors, etc
Occurrence of error:
At the Shellmap
Submitted by:
Radspakr

- HordeContain module
Cause:
Horde without a HordeContain module
Occurs with:
BFME 1, but likely also BFME 2
Occurrence of error:
The error came up just before entering a skirmish. The loading bar went all the way up and then the display faded out as it does. It went to the red screen, but just before fading into the map it crashed
Submitted by:
Gfire

- Update limit
Cause:
The game can only manage a limited number of upgrades in ExperienceLevels.ini.
- According to GothmogTheOrc this limit is 190
- According to Lauri this limit is 205
Occurrence of error:
The game crashes when building the object that in the code lists an upgrade after the limit of ExperienceLevels.ini has been reached.

If you have one to add to the list, please place a comment below. Thank you :)

Comments

Display order: Newest first | Page: 1, 2

Imdrar - Thursday March 17, 2011 - 20:12

May I contribute another two errors to this list.

The first one is just a variant of what Lauri has already reported, but for BFME 2 / RotWK. Also, it doesn't occur when a certain unit is built in game, but instead at the end of RTS-battles in War of the Ring Mode. The game simply shuts down and gives you nothing, not even a crash log. That's apparently caused by the total number of upgrades in upgrade.ini. In my case, I just removed five of them and everything went well again. But I didn't count the critical number, sorry.

The second one correlates with the kindof = DOZER tag. If you add this to any other unit than the default dozers, you must replace the Behaviour = AIUpdateInterface by a Behaviour = DozerAIUpdate. Otherwise the game will crash with the beloved game.dat message once the AI introduces the new dozer unit.

Lauri (Team Chamber Member) - Sunday November 7, 2010 - 7:22

About the Upgrade limit. I recently ran into it, and have now tested it thoroughly, and can confirm that it is you can have a maximum of 205 upgrades. I don't know if this is he case with BFME2, but for BFME1 upgrade number 205 is the last one that works.

Gfire - Sunday August 23, 2009 - 17:30

I found one.

Having a Horde without a HordeContain module.

I found it with BFME1, but it's probably the same with BFME2 and RotWK.

I'm not sure exactly what the problem is. It may be because it was referenced in the alternateformation field of another horde which didn't like it, or perhaps a confliction with the horde kindof or something.

The error came up just before entering a skirmish. The loading bar went all the way up and then the display faded out as it does. It went to the red screen, but just before fading into the map it crashed.

Radspakr Wolfbane (Team Chamber Member) - Monday July 27, 2009 - 10:14

Oh yeah another two for the list.
Referencing a Attribute Modifier that doesn't exist (was the cause of my dreaded Good-faction bug)
The game will crash at 97% when loading the faction in skirmish.
A weird thing if the attribute is for a specific faction ie Rohan it will crash Good factions but Evil factions are ok.

An error in system.ini (typos,misreferencing etc)the game will crash at the Shellmap

Tir i Helkaluin - Friday March 7, 2008 - 22:27

I've discovered another error.

The error is an unability to load into the game itself, with a Windows 'EXCEPTION' error on the game.dat file.

It turned out I misnamed the DualWeaponBehavior into WeaponBehavior in one of my units, so I hypothesize that an inexisting Behavior in Objects could lead to a game.dat crash.

Solinx (Team Chamber Member) - Thursday January 10, 2008 - 7:29

Updated with the two mentioned causes. Rewriting them all following that structure you mentioned is going to take more time than I have.

Solinx

Sulherokhh (Team Chamber Member) - Monday December 31, 2007 - 1:22

Hehe. :D

This is actually a very good idea.

You can be my guest too, only this is not my house so i don't have much to offer. :P

--------

I've got a new source of undefined gamecrashes, exclusive to BfMe2 (and RotWK): Conflicts with the HardCoded AI. Two examples:
1. Adding 'AIUpdateInterface' to an object with the new 'AIGateUpdate'
2. Adding 'AIUpdateInterface' to an object that is defined as a WallHubTemplate in 'skirmishAIdata.ini'.

I introduced the behavior to have the object be able to both use lua functions and to be able to execute sequential scripts. But the game crashes when a script-function is being run on both kinds of objects (runtime crash).

ched (Team Chamber Member) - Monday October 1, 2007 - 16:26

be my guest :)

Bart (Administrator) - Monday October 1, 2007 - 15:43

the list should be rewritten to a format like

Hot poo in jar
Occurs: when you make poo in a jar
Cause: poo is dirty
Solution: clean the poo
Submitted by 2playgames

Sulherokhh (Team Chamber Member) - Monday October 1, 2007 - 1:33

That is what i assumed as well. So let me rephrase the concern: It's important to know if the specific crash accurs at the loadup of the menu, the loadup of the map or the use/creation of actual objects on the map at a later date. That would be pretty helpful as it narrows down which of the possibilities listed (or even a completely different one) is at the root of the crash.

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