RIGHT THATS IT!!!!

[Acorncomputer]

This is interesting as I simply do not have the problems with RS that you are describing. Certainly never any error reports on closing.

[Wikkus]

Perhaps someone who knows a bit about computers could draw up a survey sheet that we could all complete giving details of our systems, anti virus software, hardware, etc, and this may help to identify exactly what circumstances cause what errors. The solution may be simpler than we think.

All the pertinent information is likely to be present in a DXdiag report. Then you'd need to get all that reported info into a database. The difficulty arises when you begin collating it to see if there's any sort of pattern, e.g. whether people with XP and using version XYZ123 of an Nvidia driver set have more problems than those on Vista with ABC456 ATI drivers, etc. There are myriad combinations of hardware AND drivers here. This is why the very first thing that we do to troubleshoot problems is to ask if the user has the very latest drivers for the devices in the machine.

The flaw in this logic is that there are occasions where having "the latest" is not the smart thing to do, e.g. when there are 'beta release' drivers available. Always best to try and seek out WHQL- (Windows Hardware Quality Labs) approved driver sets as these are the ones that are supposed not to cause the OS to have a brain-fart...

I think that part of the problem you'd see in this particular case is the likely small (relative) size of the sample set -- the numbers of RW users -- and the equally small team that would have to review and collate said data, i.e. the RS.com team... Were this Microsoft, there'd be literally millions of test cases and potentially hundreds of devs to work on the data. I do not know the user-base size of RW, but I'd hazard a guess it's in the thousands rather than the tens-of-thousands...

Rik.

[Basherz]

Perhaps someone who knows a bit about computers could draw up a survey sheet that we could all complete giving details of our systems, anti virus software, hardware, etc, and this may help to identify exactly what circumstances cause what errors. The solution may be simpler than we think.

The difficulty with this idea is that not everyone has the knowledge to necessarily give accurate information about thier machine.

Personally, for the "RailWorksProc error", and because of the way my machine has behaved since Mk2 release back in August last year, then I'd go for the "RailSimEditor.exe" as the root cause. (It's only had minor changes to allow incorporation into the product of Railworks)

[growler37]

Hi
Being from an engineering background,i am well aware of how difficult intermitant problems are to solve,the probs with proc.exe error is that it never happens doing the same thing twice,such as using a certain asset,or carrying out a certain task,i have run RS on XP and Vista with no problems i have never had to reinstall RS or Railworks,i wondered if the error was caused by addons,but some people have had problems with clean installs so bang goes that theory! so it must be in the Railworks program,that narrows it down a bit
Regards
Kevin

[Acorncomputer]

so it must be in the Railworks program,that narrows it down a bit

...... or Steam (it is bound to be Steam ) or perhaps the opening gui.

[Basherz]

But if it were Steam, they would have noticed this in testing ........ wouldn't they?

I've ruled Steam out of the equation if I go back to my previous statement as Steam wasn't involved with RS back in August 2008.

[Darpor]

Perhaps someone who knows a bit about computers could draw up a survey sheet that we could all complete giving details of our systems, anti virus software, hardware, etc, and this may help to identify exactly what circumstances cause what errors. The solution may be simpler than we think.

I like that idea, as difficult as it probably is to accomplish. Surely we can direct the members who are not sure how to find the details to do it and compile some sort of list, no matter how useless it may turn out to be. Even some sort of checklist for each person to determine the main area of the game that gives the proc error for them the most might bring up some sort of pattern. I believe that what we do by sending off our errors to RS.com will be an enormous help already in trying to understand what causes it but I feel that we could be more proactive in trying to help speed up the process, I mean, is everyone sending errors off or just recounting experience in threads like this one?

I realise this probably wont sit well with some people as they will see it as some form of "testing" for RS.com and remark "it should have been already done before release" but maybe now is the time to step forward and try and help in any way possible. That way we can have all those lovely little things that we want included in future releases.

Like mentioned above, I am not getting these errors and think there may be more to learn from why they don't happen than why they do. I have heard instances of RW crashing for certain people when using Fraps so the underlying cause may not even lie with RW itself, but another program running simultaneously with it, who knows????

[Acorncomputer]

I am happy to answer questions if someone can work out the right ones to ask.

BTW - I have just spoken to my 'computer builder' who is building and testing a new high spec laptop for me which has XP and Windows 7 installed, but very little else other than RailWorks. He has only carried out limited testing so far but he has not had one single error from RailWorks, not even on exit. Again, interesting stuff. Perhaps it needs someone to start on a clean computer and work out what added software might start causing the problems.

[Basherz]

I've just re-installed Railworks, although the remainder of the machine remains the same. So with just the 7 basic routes and stock, I get the RailWorksProc error ONLY when being in edit mode of any route.

Get your guy to test that Geoff, first with a "locked" route, and then with an "unlocked" one.

[npcleary]

BTW - I have just spoken to my 'computer builder' who is building and testing a new high spec laptop for me which has XP and Windows 7 installed, but very little else other than RailWorks. He has only carried out limited testing so far but he has not had one single error from RailWorks, not even on exit. Again, interesting stuff. Perhaps it needs someone to start on a clean computer and work out what added software might start causing the problems.

Interesting Geoff. I have followed the RailWorksProc error story since the start with some bafflement. I've run RW on Windows 7 since RW release with no RailWorksProc errors at all at any stage. I'm 'playing', editing, tweaking, all sorts of things but no error. Beginning to think there's something wrong with my PC. It's got to be a PC issue, hasn't it?????

Nick

[Acorncomputer]

I've just re-installed Railworks, although the remainder of the machine remains the same. So with just the 7 basic routes and stock, I get the RailWorksProc error ONLY when being in edit mode of any route.

Get your guy to test that Geoff, first with a "locked" route, and then with an "unlocked" one.

I will try that out myself when I get it.

[Blackpatch]

I can report that on my 64-bit Vista rig I only get processor error on exit. I've spent a lot of time in editor without problem.

[Neptune50006]

I am running XP sp3. I get the proc error on exiting, but only if I've been in one of the editors.

[Wikkus]

XP 64-bit here, RW procerror only on exit after editing.

Rik.

[Basherz]

I am running XP sp3. I get the proc error on exiting, but only if I've been in one of the editors.

Me too. (plus Railsimeditor.exe)