So you have an i7-920, 12GB RAM, GTX 275, Windows 7 64-bit, Samsung SyncMaster 226BW (1680 x 1050) monitor, Logitech Mouse & G15 keyboard, CD/DVD SH-S223L, 40GB and 111GB hard drives. Couldn't tell if the sound was from the motherboard, or a Creative SoundBlaster (maybe just the speakers are SB?).
I don't see anything wrong there, offhand.
Each game has crashed to desktop and corrupted the database within a few hours of starting
My first question is what kind of crashes? BSOD? PSOD?
There might be some issues with windows 7, IIRC, however, I think the best way to figure out what is going on is for Maltay to describe in detail what was going on in the games prior to the crashes, and how the crashes occurred (you are on the right track, AndonSage).
Maltay, your experience is not typical. I have been playing this game for some time now, as evidenced by my campaign writeups, and have not had the problems you are describing except possibly with one of the earlier versions. What version are you using?
Kurt
I was using 5.02 and had the game crash 9 times. I used 5.11 and had the game crash once. I used 5.12 and had the game crash twice. I have not tried older versions like 4.77, etc.
In each case, I will click to advance time. Either 5 days or 30 days. The game will process the turn advance for about 30 - 40 minutes and then exit to desktop without any error messages. When I check the process list, Aurora will no longer be running. When I restart Aurora and try to advance time, invariably something has gone wrong with the database. Eight of twelve times the database corrupted itself such that it could not access rows or columns and I was forced to delete the current game and start over. The other four times introduced a variety of error dialogues. The easiest to deal with was a pair of commercial freighters whose orders were messed up. But I could not clear their orders and grew weary of the error messages. The most difficult to deal with was a division by 0 error whenever I clicked on a ship in the ship view or whenever I clicked on a ground unit in the ground unit tab. That particular error dialogue would cycle 20 - 30 times each click and made playing the game impossible.
I have started eight TN games and 4 standard games. Nothing special in generation, sometimes an NPR or two at the beginning, once missile bases for a standard game, and never the easy options like jump gates on all jump points or a lack of maintenance cycles for military ships. I start at 2025 and the errors rear their head sometime between 2031 and 3047. I have never made it past 2047. In general, I am just beginning to build real military ships, explore other solar systems, and stand up a series of commercial mining colonies in Sol when things go sour. I have occasionally spent a few years running into Precursors and once was just about to enter a Precusor system with a flotilla of frigates in what would have been my first military experience.
In terms of play style, I probably make more use of the notes feature for personnel, ships, and ship designs than many people. I like to have backstories and explanations to establish context for each of my commanders and their respective forces. I also tend to break up my fleet into multiple fleets and layer task groups and task forces three of four levels deep to accomodate what I feel is a realistic order of battle. I tend to manually manage my personnel assignments and edit their service histories to reflect the reasons for their advacements, re-assignments, etc. In terms of naming ships, ground forces, vehicles, and electronics systems, I have been closely modelling my naming conventions on the naming conventions Steve uses in his campaign stories. Finally, I have not played multiple empires at the same time.
Are there any other details I can provide?
