Range Check Error & Access Violations

Panaxiom · Space Emperor Joined: Sep 28, 2012 Location: Denver, CO

Hey guys! I don't suppose anyone knows a fix for SEV on Windows 8? Whenever I try to load the program I get hit by a "Range Check Error" and a series of "Access Violation" popups that seem to go on forever.

Netwatcher · Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 8:18 pm Post subject: Same here

I had no problems playing on Windows 8 for weeks, but I fired it up recently and got the range check error and endless pop ups that required a trip to the task manager to shut down. So far I've found no solutions; if I do I'll post it here. I'll keep checking this thread to see if someone else has the skills to come up with a solution too.

ekolis · Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 11:32 pm Post subject:

Do you have it installed in Program Files? You might need to install it elsewhere or grant your user account full access permissions to the SE5 folder. (Though I thought that would manifest itself more in an inability to load or save the game, it's been a while, so I thought I'd suggest it.)

Netwatcher · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 2:35 am Post subject: Success...so far.

Tonight I got the empire running again. First I manually searched for an installed all updates for Windows 8, then I switched my screen resolution to 1600x900 finally I set windows to run the program as administrator. When I fired the game up it worked, no errors.

I did not see any indication that the windows updates would affect game play, so that might not even be relevant. Also I have tried running it in compatibility mode for Win7/XP and as an admin before and it didn't work. If I had to guess, and I do, I would say it was switching the screen resolution before I tried running the game.

ekolis · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 4:48 am Post subject:

Were you running below 1024x768? That's the minimum resolution required to play SE5.

Panaxiom · Space Emperor Joined: Sep 28, 2012 Location: Denver, CO

Installing the updates for Win8 seems to have solved the access violations. However, now I keep getting stream read errors whenever I enter combat. I'm not sure where that is coming from...

FlutterBrave · Space Emperor Joined: Sep 08, 2013

Well, at least a similar one. I play on windows 7 and have been experiencing something very similar to this for quite a while now. This happened after installing a custom-mashed mod pack to my severe dismay, since SE:V is one of my all-time favourite games. Perhaps this will finally fix the problem to some degree (since the whole game was rendered inexplicably unplayable, and remains so at it's current state, even after trying everything else I could think of including deleting the entire file multiple times).
Cheers Very Happy

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marc420 · Space Emperor Joined: Jul 29, 2009

Sounds like it was likely setting the program to 'run as administrator' that did the trick. That's pretty typical for games. Game programmers never have figured out microsoft's "new" system (new as in Vista that is) where for security reason MS didn't want files under Program Files to be modified. That's why installing outside of program files helps. Setting the compatibility mode to run as adminstrator also usually cures this. Although to me it always seems silly to give a freakin game such privileges. I suppose I should probably get in the habit of putting my games outside of Program Files for that reason.

But, in general, this is a very common thing to have to do with game programs. Especially ones that might still be using some old code from pre-Vista windows. Although I see seemingly brand new projects that make the same programming mistakes.

DXM · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 20, 2012

Anybody know how to fix this problem in XP SP3?

I just tried running SE5 on my 'new' refurbished XP comp, and got the almost-never-ending access violations... I'm already running as admin, and I tried moving it out of Program Files, no joy... Same thing happens with Starfury. But not SE4...

DXM · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 20, 2012

(maybe) Nevermind! Wink

It would seem that this copy is defective...

I lost the CD I bought years ago... I had it installed on an XP SP2 system that has since died on me... Since I couldn't find the disc, I bought a used copy off Amazon... It gave me this problem on my XP SP3 system... But, right after I posted my request for help, I decided to clear off enough space on an older XP SP2 system to install it there...and I got the same problem! Rolling Eyes

But, it turned out I had the old install directory backed up, so I copied and pasted it, and it works! So, I'm guessing that, for some reason, my used copy has a problem all its own...

Although... That doesn't explain Starfury not working, does it...? Hmm... Perhaps there is an incompatibility with "DirectX June 2010 Redistributable" -which I had to install to get my various 3D apps working...? But, that doesn't explain how an old XP SP2 laptop had both the DX/3D stuff & SE5 installed and all working properly... I dunno. All I do know is that I have a serious headache... Crying or Very sad

DXM · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 20, 2012

Ugh... I can't make sense of any of this... It does work on XP SP2 laptop. It doesn't work on XP SP2 desktop. It doesn't work on XP SP3 desktop. It does work on Win7 laptop. WTF? Confused

marhawkman · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 24, 2008

Hmm... seems like an erratic problem all right. I hate to say it but SE5 is legacy software and has been for years. :/