Author Topic: BGII mac crash help needed  (Read 7065 times)

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
BGII mac crash help needed
« on: October 13, 2010, 12:31:34 AM »
I used OSX-bg2_fixpack-v9, OSX-BG2_Tweaks-v9, and OSX-UnfinishedBusiness-v19 and I'm having problems I didn't have when I played several years ago (and I'm on a better computer now lol!). The first problem started at the circus when I first arrived on the promenade. We killed the gnome and was immediately taken to the first floor and the circus was back to normal. When we left, the child was still there asking for his mother so we went back in and the illusion was back. We found the mother who still looked like a spider, but she said she had her arms and legs back and disappeared. We couldn't leave though and I had to use the move area cheat to get out of the circus. When we got out the kid thanked us for saving his mom and left so I figured it was weird, but ok.

We then went to the Den of the seven vales, but every time I try to fight the mages upstairs the game quits to the desktop and gives me the following error code: "An Assertion failed in CGameEffect.cpp at line number 1536. Can anybody tell me what's wrong? I really don't want to go any further and find other problems later in the game - I had several problems playing BG1 tutu in the BG2 engine and really don't want to have to go through that again.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Karen :)

Offline Miloch

  • Barbarian
  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 1032
  • Gender: Male
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2010, 08:14:15 AM »
This seems to be a common error on Macs but I don't know what causes it. There's a report here that the Fixpack's Game Text Update caused it but I find it highly unlikely that anything textual could cause an assertion error like this.

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2010, 05:11:26 PM »
Thanks for letting me know. I'll give it a try and see if it works.

Thanks again,

Karen  :)

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2010, 11:14:18 PM »
It didn't help. I had to restart the game (I had a vanilla back up in my external drive). I didn't use fixpack 9 this time (I couldn't find the earlier version I used the last time I played), but did install the dungeon crawl and it's working for the most part.

After an hour or so some of the characters stop walking so I have to quit, and restart my computer. There are two other weird things: i can't remove one of the keys from the dungeon (from Esme's room), and sometimes when I save it doesn't work and I loose that save (it says it saved, but it doesn't and then asks if I want to quit the game or continue. I'm saving a lot now under lots of different names which is a pain since it takes so long to save the game.

Any idea as to what is going on? I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but I should mention that I used the cheat where I kept Imoen by using the console to exit the dungeon. Could that mess up the game? At least this time the circus quest worked correctly and I was able to do the fight in the Den of 7 vales.

Thanks again for any advice you can offer

Karen  :)

Offline devSin

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 1632
  • Gender: Male
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2010, 01:57:39 PM »
After an hour or so some of the characters stop walking so I have to quit, and restart my computer. There are two other weird things: i can't remove one of the keys from the dungeon (from Esme's room), and sometimes when I save it doesn't work and I loose that save (it says it saved, but it doesn't and then asks if I want to quit the game or continue. I'm saving a lot now under lots of different names which is a pain since it takes so long to save the game.
The issue with characters suddenly failing to move occurs in versions of Mac OS X past 10.3. There is no workaround for it; you have to quit and relaunch the game to continue playing, sorry.

The issue with saving is caused by Spotlight indexing the temporary data at the time the game tries to delete it (the game quickly copies data to the tempsave folder when building the save file and tries to delete it almost immediately; the way it does this can fail if Spotlight is still indexing those files). You can add the entire Baldur's Gate II directory to the Spotlight exclusion list (in the Spotlight pane in System Preferences) to solve this.

You can also ensure that your temp folder is actually a folder and not a file (some versions of the Mac port will create temp as a file, which will affect the game's behavior and cause saving the game to fail). If it is a file (it's in your Baldur's Gate II folder), you can delete the file and create a new "temp" folder in its place.

Any idea as to what is going on? I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but I should mention that I used the cheat where I kept Imoen by using the console to exit the dungeon. Could that mess up the game? At least this time the circus quest worked correctly and I was able to do the fight in the Den of 7 vales.
Likely not, but this is the reason you have that undroppable key still in your inventory (correctly taking the dungeon exit triggers a script that cleans up some of the opening dungeon items and starts the battle cutscene for first entering the Promenade; these things won't fire if you cheat past it).

Your initial assertion error was caused by an incorrect effects index in an item or spell introduced by one of the mods (we shouldn't have any more of these in the fixpack, I hope). I think the trouble you had with the circus tent may have been caused by UB (certainly, we shouldn't change enough of it in the fixpack to have it fail for you), since it touches the sequence to add some quest for Kalah or something.

If you search around, you should find links to a mod you can run after installing all your normal mods that will scan all your items and spells and correct the effect indexes so that that particular assertion will never come up.

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2010, 05:56:42 PM »
Thanks for the info! I would really like to know what program you're talking about that will check the game. Could you please leave a link or the name?

I thought I'd leave this info in case it helps anybody else. I already exempted the game from Spotlight so that can't be a problem and it looks like I got rid of the other problems (except for the key in Imoen's backpack which isn't so bad). In any case, I reinstalled the game without the fixpack and deleted the temp file. Now, before I start playing I delete the temp folder and the temp save folder along with anything inside them. I am no longer having any problems with saving - and the game saves a lot faster! I should also mention that so far I have not had one error message since reinstalling without the fixpack! I'm a happy camper - we'll see if anything pops up later.

Karen :)


Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2010, 07:03:25 PM »
Things were going along just fine until I went back to the circus after getting the message that Uncle Quale needed help. When we enter the circus the illusion is back like it was before we killed the gnome. Is there any way to use the console to "teleport" into the "normal" circus so we can get the new quest - and if so, does anybody know the X/Y? Or is there anything else I can do to fix the problem?

Thanks for your help!

Karen :)

P.S. I would love the name - or url - of any program that can check my game for problems and hopefully fix them!

Offline Miloch

  • Barbarian
  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 1032
  • Gender: Male
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #7 on: October 23, 2010, 04:22:53 PM »
See the first 2 links here (for Resource Fixer and Creature Fixer). I can't guarantee they'll solve your particular problem but they're unlikely to bollox up anything worse than they are already.

For console area codes, see the IESDP. Not sure which exact one you need - ar060x something I guess.

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #8 on: October 23, 2010, 05:53:55 PM »
Thanks, I'll give it a try.

Karen :)

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #9 on: October 24, 2010, 07:51:33 PM »
I was able to use the console cheat to get into the circus and got the quest - thanks for the list of codes! As to the resource fixer, it's an exe and I'm on a Mac, so I can't use it. The only other thing I could find is the G3 Debugging suite, but it doesn't work. I keep getting a message that the file does not exist. Any suggestions on that?

Thanks again,

Karen :)

Offline Miloch

  • Barbarian
  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 1032
  • Gender: Male
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #10 on: October 25, 2010, 02:27:34 AM »
It is fairly easy to convert a Win mod to Mac format.
Quote
Extract the contents of the mod to the folder of the game you wish to modify. On successful extraction, there should be a (modname) subfolder in your game folder. Download the OS X version of WeiDU (or copy another mod's launcher) and rename it setup-(modname). Put the setup-(modname) launcher and the setup-(modname).command file within the (modname) subfolder in your main game folder. To install, double-click on setup-(modname).command and follow the instructions on screen.
Substitute (modname) with the mod's name of course (such as crefixer or resfixer). If there's no .command file delivered with the mod, you can make one by opening a file in a text editor and putting the following in it:
Quote
#!/bin/sh

command_path=$(0%/*)
cd "$command_path"
./setup-(modname)
exit 0
Save that and execute as indicated above. Mind you, I'm operating mainly by hearsay - I don't actually have a Mac, so I'm sure some Mac guru can give better instructions.

As for the G3 Debuggerer, what exact message are you getting?

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2010, 02:47:22 AM »
Miloch , thanks for trying to help! Trying to use the exe sounds too complicated for me - I'm not even sure I understand your instructions lol!

I just tried the G3 Debugging Suite again and here's the message I got:

karen$ /Applications/BGII\ -\ TOB/setup-g3_debugging_suite.command; exit
/Applications/BGII - TOB/setup-g3_debugging_suite.command: line 5: ./setup-setup-g3_debugging_suite: No such file or directory
logout
[Process completed]

I'm not sure what file or directory it's talking about - I put the 3 things in the debugging folder into my game folder.

Thanks again,

Karen :)



Offline Miloch

  • Barbarian
  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 1032
  • Gender: Male
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #12 on: October 25, 2010, 10:58:03 AM »
setup-g3_debugging_suite.command: line 5: ./setup-setup-g3_debugging_suite: No such file or directory
Make sure there's a folder called g3_debugging_suite in your BGII game folder. Then open that setup-g3_debugging_suite.command file with a text editor and change that line 5 from this:
Quote
setup-setup-g3_debugging_suite
to this:
Quote
setup-g3_debugging_suite
Note the debugging suite won't actually fix anything in your game. It just reports potential issues, primarily of interest to modders.

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #13 on: October 25, 2010, 06:46:06 PM »
Thanks again for the info. Is there a Mac program that will actually fix any problems?

Karen :)

Offline Miloch

  • Barbarian
  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 1032
  • Gender: Male
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #14 on: October 27, 2010, 08:15:08 PM »
Well, basically you can run *any* mod with the OS X version of WeiDU and a .command file that references the mod (which is only a few lines, what you can basically copy and paste, as I described above). Unless there are real compatibility issues with the mod (like if it's got soundclips to convert), but that isn't really the case here. I could do it but my time is kind of limited right now and in any case, I haven't got a Mac on which to test it. You might also just ask in topics like this because from the looks of it there, someone has already got an OS X version working.

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #15 on: October 28, 2010, 12:35:10 AM »
Thank you for the link! I'm not a hacker and would probably just mess things up even more lol.

Thanks again,


Karen :)

unreserved_Steve

  • Guest
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #16 on: October 31, 2010, 12:52:11 PM »
There's a tool for MacOSX that will automatically de-archive and install mods: http://home.comcast.net/~shorter18/Install-tools.zip
Double-click Install-tools/Install-mod.sh and then drag-and-drop the mod you want to install and press RETURN.  It also repairs the mod similar to res_fixer.

After installing all the mods you want you should run cre_fixer: http://www.shsforums.net/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=862

unreserved_Steve

  • Guest
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #17 on: October 31, 2010, 01:01:22 PM »

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #18 on: October 31, 2010, 06:41:28 PM »
Thank you so  much for the info and the links!!!

Karen :)

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #19 on: November 06, 2010, 05:35:09 AM »
I've really hit a wall this time and need help lol! I'm trying to get the illithium for the artist and have been sent to the copper coronet to talk to Unger. But, instead of sending us to find Neb who stole his ore, he tells us to find his brother who is in a temple far to the east. Our map is supposedly updated, but it just shows the temple we cleaned out during the quest in the the Umar hills. We went to the house in the bridge, but it's empty. Do we have to go back to the temple? I don't  remember this from playing the game before and it isn't mentioned in any walk-thru. What's up???

Thanks!

Karen :)

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #20 on: November 06, 2010, 06:17:52 AM »
Oops, sorry! Please erase my previous message. It's part of unfinished business and I do have to go back to the temple north of the Umar hills.

Karen :)

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #21 on: November 06, 2010, 06:11:18 PM »
More problems. We went to the temple, but  Gorje Hilldark isn't there. Does anybody know how to continue this part of the Unfinished business storyline? Can he be "created" as a creature and would that work? We still need the illithium and I'd like to be able to kill Neb.

Thanks again,

Karen :)

Offline Miloch

  • Barbarian
  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 1032
  • Gender: Male
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #22 on: November 06, 2010, 08:51:55 PM »
You'll probably get a better response if you post questions like that in the relevant mod forums (UB etc.). Most people see a title like "BGII mac crash help" and don't bother even reading it because they know nothing about BGII on mac (though somehow, that didn't stop me :o).

Offline Karen

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 27
Re: BGII mac crash help needed
« Reply #23 on: November 06, 2010, 10:59:12 PM »
thanks - I'll try elsewhere.

Karen :)

 

With Quick-Reply you can write a post when viewing a topic without loading a new page. You can still use bulletin board code and smileys as you would in a normal post.

Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.

Name: Email:
Verification:
Type the letters shown in the picture
Listen to the letters / Request another image
Type the letters shown in the picture:
What color is grass?:
What is the seventh word in this sentence?:
What is five minus two (use the full word)?: