Any help for runtime errors?

JohnnyBench · 10-20-2005, 06:56 PM

I know this has been spoken of often, but I can not find a fix to these continuous "Runtime Errors". They are ruining my league and I am on the verge of scraping the whole game.

I just lost four of my top players because of a "runtime error" that happened while my "Generating Player Reports" was processing taking me to my next season. I had signed all four to new contracts and for some reason, when the error ocurred, it deleted my extentions.

This is what I keep getting:
"Runtime Error!
C:\programfiles\ootp6.5\ootp65.exe
abornmal program termination"

Please help with this. I am getting frustrated and thinking about deleting the game and going back to ootp5.

I am running windows xp. I don't know what I am doing wrong to keep this happening. Could some one please point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance!

Steve Kuffrey · 10-20-2005, 09:08 PM

Copied from a post made by Henry:

Well, I'll give you my opinion even though most of you won't like it. This opionion is based on being in the business for 20 years and being 3rd level support for 12,000 workstation here where I work.

First off, I have been running OOTP since version 3, sometimes on 3 machines at once - and only had this problem occur on one machine with version 4. Solution? I reformatted the machine and rebuilt it, starting with Windows and the problem went away.

the issue is that the Windows registry, over time, gets larger and larger. Windows is also not good at housekeeping, so when you install a game then delete it - many times the registry entries stay - assuredly if you don't use the Windows uninstall. Over time, the registry gets larger, and too many entries in it lead to deadends - that's when some programs begin to crash.

OOTP is a bit more suseptable in that it's usually one of the first ones to see a problem. but the real solution is to probably rebuild your machine.

PS: There's a chance that you have another program running that is conflicting with OOTP or trying to share a memory location, so I'd try turning everything else off first.

RchW · 10-20-2005, 09:33 PM

I'll vouch for the above. No problems since I started to do weekly maintenance, ie cleaning the registry, defrag etc.

JohnnyBench · 10-21-2005, 06:01 AM

Sounds like great advice guys. Thanks!

I understand doing defrag, but what does it mean to clean the registry?

JohnnyBench · 10-21-2005, 08:47 PM

I defraged my computer and my runtime errors continue. I checked for info on the "registry" and windows help and support suggested that I not alter it. It seems as though they know that I am computer illiterate!

Does anyone have any ideas of what I do next?
Am I the only one experiencing this runtime errors?
Am I just A BIG DUMMY? Okay, don't answer that!

Honestly, I do need help. The game is slowly becoming unplayable. I love this game! I hate to part with it.

Does anyone know why this has been happening in 6.5b and not ootp5?

Please rescue me. I am addicted to the game and I cannot get my fix with it shutting down 8-10 times a season.

I'm sure the game is fine.....
What is wrong with my computer?

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve Kuffrey · 10-21-2005, 09:05 PM

May need to reformat your HD and reinstall everything.....hate it but I do it regularly and never have these issues.

JohnnyBench · 10-25-2005, 10:10 PM

Can anyone give me info on cleaning my registry?

Thanks again!!!

Steve Kuffrey · 10-25-2005, 10:11 PM

There are some tools for it(though I've never used them), best way to correct these issues is the do a reformat.

JohnnyBench · 10-25-2005, 11:59 PM

Just curious, If I reformat do I loose my operating system? I am running windows xp and I can not find a windows disk that came with my computer.

If I reformat will I loose everything and if so How do I reload windows if I don't have an original disk that came with my computer?

Thanks again, sorry to be such an ignoramus!

Steve Kuffrey · 10-26-2005, 12:19 AM

You gotta either have your original disk or some copy of an OS.....

JohnnyBench · 10-26-2005, 12:22 AM

Thanks for the reply Steve!

I bought my laptop from UUUGGHHH Walmart!

I swear, I don't think I got a disk with it. What do you suggest that I do?

Steve Kuffrey · 10-26-2005, 12:33 AM

Try contacting the laptop manf. it is likely that you can get another copy of your OS disk.

marc420 · 10-28-2005, 01:39 AM

Can you please give specific reasons why the game might be crashing at the end of a game? Is the game doing work in the registry at this specific time?

For a computer that is having no other problems with other programs, cleaning the registry and re-installing the OS seem to be rather extreme measures. When a computer is only showing problems with one program, its much more likely that there's something happening with the program. Cleaning the registry isn't a bad idea. But I doubt I'm going to be messing with OS installs to get a game running.

From my own years of experience doing tech support, this sounds a lot like what I tend to call "blame the customer" syndrome. I see it a lot from the programmers I work with. Usually they have to be hit over the head with a two-by-four to admit they have a problem in their code. Their first response is usually to come up with as many reasons as possible why its really the customer's fault. One reason I'm considered good at my job is because I don't stop there, and I keep digging looking for the real answer.

I'm seeing this problem this week. I'm traveling on business, so I'm seeing the problem with the game installed on my work laptop and my league moved over to it. This is my professional computer. I trust it to the point where I was just giving a presentation on it to a group of about 50 of our customers and dealers at our users group meeting. I was using it on the trade show floor to answer and solve any problems that anyone walks up to me. This is me up in front of our customers and dealers at our biggest event of the year. I obviously trust this computer to use it in these situations, and I have no problems with any other programs on this computer.

As a professional with a software company, I'm generally very suspicious of very general answers that don't go into specifics. If there is a problem, there is something specific causing it. If it has to do with the registry, then it can be found and tied down to a specific cause. If that cause has to do with the registry getting too large, then so be it. But for me, as someone who's made his living by working with computers and software for about 18 years now, I don't trust a general answer that doesn't get into the specifics.

JohnnyBench · 10-29-2005, 07:24 AM

WOW!!

From above post:
"From my own years of experience doing tech support, this sounds a lot like what I tend to call "blame the customer" syndrome."

You were reading my mind! I just didn't have the "computer know how" to say it.

It does bother me that I do not have this problem with ANY other program as well. I do love this game but have chosen to delete it from my hard drive rather than "rebuild" my computer every month. I just don't trust my self to do that nor can I afford to pay someone to do it.

I have played this game faithfully since ootp3. It saddens me that I reached the end of the line. Oh Well, it's just a game. At least that is what my wife says.

I'm sure there will be plenty of flame thrown my way, that's okay. There was a time when I hopelessly defended the game to. I would now...if I could play it.

f.montoya · 10-29-2005, 09:13 AM

1. I recommend uninstalling any and all programs that you don't use. Go to the control panel/add&delete programs and wait for the list to show up. Except for the patches that are listed, go through the list and uninstall everything you can(that you don't use). Also, uninstall OOTP6 and 6.5 for now.

2. Go to Run and type "services.msc" and there will be a list of services. These are things that run in the background that help programs to function. Just to "optimize" the resources for gaming, disable ones you don't need. For a listing of their functions go to: http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm

3. Go to Run and type "msconfig" and hit the Startup tab. remove the green check from all the programs that might be starting up when you boot your computer. This just frees up memory. Again, lets optimize your pc first and see what we get.

4. Scan your system for viruses. Update your virus definitions before running this. (again, more optimization)

5. Go to Control Panel/System and click the middle tab. Then under performance, click settings. Then click Custom and remove the checkmarks from everything. This will render your computer to much the look of Windows 98 but your performance will increase. Also, hit the next tab and increase the "paging memory" to it's maximum for the C drive.

6. Restart the computer.

7. Defragment the hard drive.

8. restart the computer again.

9. install OOTP 6.12 and then install 6.5. Be sure to delete any league files that had "runtime errors" from before. They may already be currupted files. Start a new league from scratch.

10. restart the computer again.

Try playing now.

f.montoya · 10-29-2005, 09:19 AM

Wouldn't want you to spend money uneccessarily but a great program called Ashampoo WinOptimizer has a great function for scanning the registry and safely determines orphaned DLL's( Dynamic Link Library entries that have no programs using them) Cleaning the registry may be of help but if it doesn't, I'd hate to have had you buy something and not have it work for you. But a great program for other uses as well. This program also removes spyware even though it's not made for doing so.

JohnnyBench · 10-29-2005, 12:43 PM

Thanks for the detailed info f.montoya!
I will try it later.

chipa_luan · 11-05-2005, 07:51 PM

Hi,

I tried re-formatting my pc and rebuit everything from scratch. But still have runtime errors. Is any any other soltuion?

JohnnyBench · 11-05-2005, 08:54 PM

Me to Chipa,

I followed F. Montoya's instructions and the game worked well for a few days then the runtime errors occured again.

I just do not believe that I NEED to reformat and rebuild my computer every other day to play this game. I'm not saying that my computer is not deficiant in some area causing it not to handle the game. Maybe I do need to upgrade some aspect of my machine. I just wish someone would tell me what that is instead of what seems to be the pattened, "reformat and rebuild" answer.

I am not going to be able to continue this great game that won me over years ago and that does bother me.

I tend to agree with the post from marc420 above. There has to be some aspect in the game that my computer can't handle. I have this problem with no other program. It would be nice to know why this version of this game causes the problem when no other version in the past did.

Oh, well, doesn't matter I don't guess. Not trying to sound poutty, just discouraged. It feels like I am losing one of my best friends when I lose this game. Probably best, I must have been getting toooooo attached!

chipa_luan · 11-05-2005, 09:06 PM

I'll have to agree with you J. Bench,

For me, the game stopped working after I got a brand new upgraded pc.. I can never figure out how it happened.

Life will be weird without one of the best games I've ever played. Perhaps we'll be able to play it again when the next installment comes out!

10-20-2005, 06:56 PM	#1
JohnnyBench Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 254	Any help for runtime errors? I know this has been spoken of often, but I can not find a fix to these continuous "Runtime Errors". They are ruining my league and I am on the verge of scraping the whole game. I just lost four of my top players because of a "runtime error" that happened while my "Generating Player Reports" was processing taking me to my next season. I had signed all four to new contracts and for some reason, when the error ocurred, it deleted my extentions. This is what I keep getting: "Runtime Error! C:\programfiles\ootp6.5\ootp65.exe abornmal program termination" Please help with this. I am getting frustrated and thinking about deleting the game and going back to ootp5. I am running windows xp. I don't know what I am doing wrong to keep this happening. Could some one please point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance! Last edited by JohnnyBench; 10-20-2005 at 06:58 PM.

10-20-2005, 09:08 PM	#2
Steve Kuffrey Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: S.E. TN - Georgia born and raised Posts: 17,036	Copied from a post made by Henry: Well, I'll give you my opinion even though most of you won't like it. This opionion is based on being in the business for 20 years and being 3rd level support for 12,000 workstation here where I work. First off, I have been running OOTP since version 3, sometimes on 3 machines at once - and only had this problem occur on one machine with version 4. Solution? I reformatted the machine and rebuilt it, starting with Windows and the problem went away. the issue is that the Windows registry, over time, gets larger and larger. Windows is also not good at housekeeping, so when you install a game then delete it - many times the registry entries stay - assuredly if you don't use the Windows uninstall. Over time, the registry gets larger, and too many entries in it lead to deadends - that's when some programs begin to crash. OOTP is a bit more suseptable in that it's usually one of the first ones to see a problem. but the real solution is to probably rebuild your machine. PS: There's a chance that you have another program running that is conflicting with OOTP or trying to share a memory location, so I'd try turning everything else off first. __________________ Steve Kuffrey DABS Atlanta Braves - 2008 Eastern Division Champ *DBLC Atlanta Braves - 2011, 2014 East Division Champ, 2012, 2013 NL Wildcard Baseball Maelstrom-Montreal Expos-2013 Tourney winner, 2014 WC Team Sparky's League - Tampa Bay D'Rays Epicenter Baseball League - Astros 2014 The CBL Rewind - Phillies '95

10-20-2005, 09:33 PM	#3
RchW Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Toronto ON by way of Glasgow UK Posts: 15,629	I'll vouch for the above. No problems since I started to do weekly maintenance, ie cleaning the registry, defrag etc. __________________ Cheers RichW If you’re looking for a good cause to donate money to please consider a Donation to Parkinson’s Canada. It may help me have a better future and if not me, someone else. Thanks. “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Frank Wilhoit

10-21-2005, 08:47 PM	#5
JohnnyBench Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 254	I defraged my computer and my runtime errors continue. I checked for info on the "registry" and windows help and support suggested that I not alter it. It seems as though they know that I am computer illiterate! Does anyone have any ideas of what I do next? Am I the only one experiencing this runtime errors? Am I just A BIG DUMMY? Okay, don't answer that! Honestly, I do need help. The game is slowly becoming unplayable. I love this game! I hate to part with it. Does anyone know why this has been happening in 6.5b and not ootp5? Please rescue me. I am addicted to the game and I cannot get my fix with it shutting down 8-10 times a season. I'm sure the game is fine..... What is wrong with my computer? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Last edited by JohnnyBench; 10-21-2005 at 08:48 PM.

10-21-2005, 09:05 PM	#6
Steve Kuffrey Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: S.E. TN - Georgia born and raised Posts: 17,036	May need to reformat your HD and reinstall everything.....hate it but I do it regularly and never have these issues. __________________ Steve Kuffrey DABS Atlanta Braves - 2008 Eastern Division Champ *DBLC Atlanta Braves - 2011, 2014 East Division Champ, 2012, 2013 NL Wildcard Baseball Maelstrom-Montreal Expos-2013 Tourney winner, 2014 WC Team Sparky's League - Tampa Bay D'Rays Epicenter Baseball League - Astros 2014 The CBL Rewind - Phillies '95

10-21-2005, 06:01 AM	#4
JohnnyBench Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 254	Sounds like great advice guys. Thanks! I understand doing defrag, but what does it mean to clean the registry?

10-25-2005, 10:10 PM	#7
JohnnyBench Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 254	Can anyone give me info on cleaning my registry? Thanks again!!!

10-25-2005, 10:11 PM	#8
Steve Kuffrey Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: S.E. TN - Georgia born and raised Posts: 17,036	There are some tools for it(though I've never used them), best way to correct these issues is the do a reformat. __________________ Steve Kuffrey DABS Atlanta Braves - 2008 Eastern Division Champ *DBLC Atlanta Braves - 2011, 2014 East Division Champ, 2012, 2013 NL Wildcard Baseball Maelstrom-Montreal Expos-2013 Tourney winner, 2014 WC Team Sparky's League - Tampa Bay D'Rays Epicenter Baseball League - Astros 2014 The CBL Rewind - Phillies '95

10-25-2005, 11:59 PM	#9
JohnnyBench Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 254	Just curious, If I reformat do I loose my operating system? I am running windows xp and I can not find a windows disk that came with my computer. If I reformat will I loose everything and if so How do I reload windows if I don't have an original disk that came with my computer? Thanks again, sorry to be such an ignoramus!

10-26-2005, 12:19 AM	#10
Steve Kuffrey Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: S.E. TN - Georgia born and raised Posts: 17,036	You gotta either have your original disk or some copy of an OS..... __________________ Steve Kuffrey DABS Atlanta Braves - 2008 Eastern Division Champ *DBLC Atlanta Braves - 2011, 2014 East Division Champ, 2012, 2013 NL Wildcard Baseball Maelstrom-Montreal Expos-2013 Tourney winner, 2014 WC Team Sparky's League - Tampa Bay D'Rays Epicenter Baseball League - Astros 2014 The CBL Rewind - Phillies '95

10-26-2005, 12:22 AM	#11
JohnnyBench Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 254	Thanks for the reply Steve! I bought my laptop from UUUGGHHH Walmart! I swear, I don't think I got a disk with it. What do you suggest that I do?

10-26-2005, 12:33 AM	#12
Steve Kuffrey Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: S.E. TN - Georgia born and raised Posts: 17,036	Try contacting the laptop manf. it is likely that you can get another copy of your OS disk. __________________ Steve Kuffrey DABS Atlanta Braves - 2008 Eastern Division Champ *DBLC Atlanta Braves - 2011, 2014 East Division Champ, 2012, 2013 NL Wildcard Baseball Maelstrom-Montreal Expos-2013 Tourney winner, 2014 WC Team Sparky's League - Tampa Bay D'Rays Epicenter Baseball League - Astros 2014 The CBL Rewind - Phillies '95

10-28-2005, 01:39 AM	#13
marc420 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Terrapin Station Posts: 112	Can you please give specific reasons why the game might be crashing at the end of a game? Is the game doing work in the registry at this specific time? For a computer that is having no other problems with other programs, cleaning the registry and re-installing the OS seem to be rather extreme measures. When a computer is only showing problems with one program, its much more likely that there's something happening with the program. Cleaning the registry isn't a bad idea. But I doubt I'm going to be messing with OS installs to get a game running. From my own years of experience doing tech support, this sounds a lot like what I tend to call "blame the customer" syndrome. I see it a lot from the programmers I work with. Usually they have to be hit over the head with a two-by-four to admit they have a problem in their code. Their first response is usually to come up with as many reasons as possible why its really the customer's fault. One reason I'm considered good at my job is because I don't stop there, and I keep digging looking for the real answer. I'm seeing this problem this week. I'm traveling on business, so I'm seeing the problem with the game installed on my work laptop and my league moved over to it. This is my professional computer. I trust it to the point where I was just giving a presentation on it to a group of about 50 of our customers and dealers at our users group meeting. I was using it on the trade show floor to answer and solve any problems that anyone walks up to me. This is me up in front of our customers and dealers at our biggest event of the year. I obviously trust this computer to use it in these situations, and I have no problems with any other programs on this computer. As a professional with a software company, I'm generally very suspicious of very general answers that don't go into specifics. If there is a problem, there is something specific causing it. If it has to do with the registry, then it can be found and tied down to a specific cause. If that cause has to do with the registry getting too large, then so be it. But for me, as someone who's made his living by working with computers and software for about 18 years now, I don't trust a general answer that doesn't get into the specifics.

10-29-2005, 07:24 AM	#14
JohnnyBench Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 254	WOW!! From above post: "From my own years of experience doing tech support, this sounds a lot like what I tend to call "blame the customer" syndrome." You were reading my mind! I just didn't have the "computer know how" to say it. It does bother me that I do not have this problem with ANY other program as well. I do love this game but have chosen to delete it from my hard drive rather than "rebuild" my computer every month. I just don't trust my self to do that nor can I afford to pay someone to do it. I have played this game faithfully since ootp3. It saddens me that I reached the end of the line. Oh Well, it's just a game. At least that is what my wife says. I'm sure there will be plenty of flame thrown my way, that's okay. There was a time when I hopelessly defended the game to. I would now...if I could play it.

10-29-2005, 09:13 AM	#15
f.montoya Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,077	1. I recommend uninstalling any and all programs that you don't use. Go to the control panel/add&delete programs and wait for the list to show up. Except for the patches that are listed, go through the list and uninstall everything you can(that you don't use). Also, uninstall OOTP6 and 6.5 for now. 2. Go to Run and type "services.msc" and there will be a list of services. These are things that run in the background that help programs to function. Just to "optimize" the resources for gaming, disable ones you don't need. For a listing of their functions go to: http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm 3. Go to Run and type "msconfig" and hit the Startup tab. remove the green check from all the programs that might be starting up when you boot your computer. This just frees up memory. Again, lets optimize your pc first and see what we get. 4. Scan your system for viruses. Update your virus definitions before running this. (again, more optimization) 5. Go to Control Panel/System and click the middle tab. Then under performance, click settings. Then click Custom and remove the checkmarks from everything. This will render your computer to much the look of Windows 98 but your performance will increase. Also, hit the next tab and increase the "paging memory" to it's maximum for the C drive. 6. Restart the computer. 7. Defragment the hard drive. 8. restart the computer again. 9. install OOTP 6.12 and then install 6.5. Be sure to delete any league files that had "runtime errors" from before. They may already be currupted files. Start a new league from scratch. 10. restart the computer again. Try playing now. __________________ Fidel Montoya Asahi2 Baseball League ex-Commissioner(Historical League Since 2004) Ex-Web Host Current Mod Maker?? Last edited by f.montoya; 10-29-2005 at 09:22 AM.

10-29-2005, 09:19 AM	#16
f.montoya Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,077	Wouldn't want you to spend money uneccessarily but a great program called Ashampoo WinOptimizer has a great function for scanning the registry and safely determines orphaned DLL's( Dynamic Link Library entries that have no programs using them) Cleaning the registry may be of help but if it doesn't, I'd hate to have had you buy something and not have it work for you. But a great program for other uses as well. This program also removes spyware even though it's not made for doing so. __________________ Fidel Montoya Asahi2 Baseball League ex-Commissioner(Historical League Since 2004) Ex-Web Host Current Mod Maker??

10-29-2005, 12:43 PM	#17
JohnnyBench Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 254	Thanks for the detailed info f.montoya! I will try it later.

11-05-2005, 07:51 PM	#18
chipa_luan Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Tokyo Posts: 29	Hi, I tried re-formatting my pc and rebuit everything from scratch. But still have runtime errors. Is any any other soltuion?

11-05-2005, 08:54 PM	#19
JohnnyBench Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 254	Me to Chipa, I followed F. Montoya's instructions and the game worked well for a few days then the runtime errors occured again. I just do not believe that I NEED to reformat and rebuild my computer every other day to play this game. I'm not saying that my computer is not deficiant in some area causing it not to handle the game. Maybe I do need to upgrade some aspect of my machine. I just wish someone would tell me what that is instead of what seems to be the pattened, "reformat and rebuild" answer. I am not going to be able to continue this great game that won me over years ago and that does bother me. I tend to agree with the post from marc420 above. There has to be some aspect in the game that my computer can't handle. I have this problem with no other program. It would be nice to know why this version of this game causes the problem when no other version in the past did. Oh, well, doesn't matter I don't guess. Not trying to sound poutty, just discouraged. It feels like I am losing one of my best friends when I lose this game. Probably best, I must have been getting toooooo attached!

11-05-2005, 09:06 PM	#20
chipa_luan Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Tokyo Posts: 29	I'll have to agree with you J. Bench, For me, the game stopped working after I got a brand new upgraded pc.. I can never figure out how it happened. Life will be weird without one of the best games I've ever played. Perhaps we'll be able to play it again when the next installment comes out!