Serious Error Has Occurred

Hi,

I really hope someone can help me, I have just about finished my first season and every time I go past one game an error message pops up saying:

A Serious error was encountered and the application will close. An error file has been generated in:

JONNY-PC/F:/Game Data/Football Manager/crash dumps

However there isn't a error file and I cannot do anything in my game. I have also tried to move the user data to the default location but again there is not error file created.

I hope someone can help because I have spent a long time on this game.

Many thanks in advance.

Are you patched upto 8.0.2?

That used to happen to me on FM07 i think it was to do with memory on your computer

Hi yes, patch to 8.02 and I am not sure if this could be memory here I have 4GB, I will try and run it again and look at my memory usage. Thanks for the suggestion

I am going to start a new game aren't I?

You will probably have this problem, even with a new game.

When super lampard talked about memory, I think he meant that it may be damaged. If it is damaged, it can work for most things but cause problems for other software. So you may do well to run memtest86, can be found with a quick search on google.

Crash Dump Potential Causes:-

1. FM issues => Install the patch and see if it helps. Alternatively if it happens repeatedly on the same date if the patch does not help try holidaying past the date.

2. Bad RAM => Run whatever memory diagnostics that came with your machine (or google 'memtest86')

3. Bad sectors on hard drive => Run chkdsk (google chkdsk or check the help and support section of your Windows operating system).

4. Corrupted game due to antivirus interference => turn off antivirus when playing FM or add the FM folders to the AV's exclusion list. This won't fix your current save but it will prevent it from happening in the future.

5. Corrupted game due to 3rd party issues:-

(i) Using FM Modifier or Mini Scout to access/modify data stored in memory may corrupt the save

(ii) It could be a problem with an installed custom skin => switch to the default skin in game, tick load skin on confirm and press confirm, delete the custom skin completely or move it away from the user folder if you want to keep it, restart FM and see if it helps.

(iii) It could be a problem with custom graphics upgrades => delete any logo packs/facepacks/kitpacks etc. or move them out of the user folder if you want to keep them, restart FM and see if it helps.

6. Dirty computer. It is only one user but according to this http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=34170 cleaning your machine can help stop crash dumps. Possibly overheating corrupts the data as it moves around your machine. You can download Speedfan or I8kfanGUI for Dell machines both of which can be used to check the temperature of your CPU, and Speedfan can be used to check your hard drive temperatures (google these to find them). If either of these are above the operating range for your components for extended periods this can cause problems (short term and long term).

7. Overly fragmented drive may affect FM in reading from/writing to it's temporary location in it's cache folder => defragment the drive if the Windows tool suggests it is necessary (Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter).

8. Turn off the bells and whistles. This one is a very long shot but you never know. Go to Preferences and disable everything in Display Settings and Sound Settings. Press confirm, load your game and see if it helped.

To prevent these crash dumps from losing you alot of game time set up multiple rolling saves in Preferences so that if it happens again you can roll back to the last save date instead of losing an entire save game.

I don't work for SI and I don't know exactly what causes these crash dumps so if anyone reading this wants to add to the list or dispute one of the possible causes then flame away

If you want (and your save game isn't too big) you can upload it to a host site (megaupload/filefront, but not rapidshare as it's too slow). I'll download it and see if it works on my machine. Normally you could do this in the Bugs Forum but the FTP sticky hasn't appeared yet. Don't forget to save the game compressed before you upload it (Preferences > General > Tick 'Compress save games') if you decide to.

EDIT: Posted after you did Neji. I'm leaving the memtest reference in for cut and pasting if needed

Hi again,

Many thanks for the suggestions so far I will give them a go tonight. I think from what you have said it could be a bad database I am using because I downloaded a beta version of FMUpdates most recent one. I played a game before this well into a second season on a differnet database so I hope that is all it is!

I will let you know how I get on, but I really appreciate your efforts so far

Hi Everyone,

Unfortuantely nothing has worked, my memory is OK which is prob the main thing. But the game is dead.

Ah well never mind, I will download a more stable updated db and try again.

Tahnks again for all your help

This is what 3 file monthly autosave was invented for.

monthly??? lol thats pushing it! i do mine every week!! saves replaying tons of games, most i lose is 2!

lol, it's only gutting when the month you miss is july.