A weird DLL error

[Handicap]

While squishing bugs and old brainfarts I somehow managed to trigger some weird bugs with some FW maps. Namely Ihantala 2nd day and Command Bunker -maps if you're familiar or want to check them out (FW 1.81). While running the game windowed the game tosses a checksum error with some .dll-file. I don't think the dll's or the checksums have changed at any point. Any ideas?

If you really want to browse through the whole changelogs. Feel free to do so here and here.

[fo0k]

just those maps huh?

Are you using a nocd?

I get that error on all and every map change when windowed and I believe it's down to the nocd patch.

[Senshi]

What dll error exactly? If it's a mod.dll error, yes, it's down to the most common NoCD crack around that messes up in windowed mode, as it alters the mod.dll in a crappy way.

[Handicap]

The players have reported that this bug comes out even if they have no no-cd. Servers may also crash.

The exact error message is plain ".dll checksum differs" with the classic "abort", "retry" and "ignore". The error doesn't state which .dll causes problems.

[Senshi]

Ooooh I had this one as well some time ago. That is, when I was modding BF42. Which I don't for over a year now, so I can't put the finger on it . However, this problem also affect only a small percentage of players back then, so I think it is related to the player system specs somehow. Some of them had the errors only in windowed mode, others had the dll error box only in windowed mode, but in fullscreen their game would CtD during map change. While most of the others had no issues at all.
I never found a solution for it, IIRC. Try telling them to use compatibility modes, though. Windows XP SP2 and Admin rights for the bf1942.exe and especially the blackscreen.exe (in the BF42 main folder) as well. The Blackscreen.exe is a very simple file that is responsible for displaying the black screen (who'd have guessed...) during map/mod change. IF this one can't start properly due to missing admin rights or similar, it can cause problems.

[Handicap]

That info helps, but have you got any clue how this problem could be fixed, or what makes it surface? I know most of our players are ten year olds so they might have some trouble adjusting any settings. And besides, it seems to affect pretty much anyone. All connections are lost when the map changes.

[Swaffy]

The players have reported that this bug comes out even if they have no no-cd. Servers may also crash.

The exact error message is plain ".dll checksum differs" with the classic "abort", "retry" and "ignore". The error doesn't state which .dll causes problems.

It just means this: Don't play a map one after the other. Leave your first map and go to the menu, then load up a new game.
It won't change mods or load new maps after the previous map ended. You have to directly load up your mod, then play a map once and exit before the map ends.

It pops up for me only when I'm using the debugger. That, or windowed mode. I can't remember, because I use windowed mode and the debugger at the same time.

[Handicap]

I was sniffing around for the cause of this bug with the debugger and while analyzing the horrendous log files I stumbled across this interesting warning:

Code: Select all

Warning: BFMainNewRend: geom::geometryTemplateManager->deleteAll() temporarly removed, must be put back in order to restart levels

Does anyone have any experience with this message? Any suggestions? I'm going to wade through the log files some more, and maybe get some sleep for now (over 12 hours of modding a day doesn't keep the doctor away). I'll post if I find any other suspicious warnings in the log file.

E: It might be a false alarm, since I was most likely checking the wrong log. I ran some tests with different maps and I might have accidentally opened a wrong file.

E2: I guess it's a false alarm, since the other logs seem to contain it too.