After Minidump Crash: Reloaded game without most visuals

from Sins Forums

Hello, I have been playing Sins for about a month and really liking it. I have had a number of minidump crashes, but it hasn't bothered me too much up until now. I play SP, and usually, I just reload, and continue from last point, usually having lost a half hour or so.

Last crash however is odd, when I reload, I cannot see jump lanes or any planet information (the displays around planets in "global" mode which show hash marks for ships etc.). So far, I havent been able to play this game because of that. I have exited and restarted Sins twice without any luck. Any tips?

(Also, I am a computer idiot, so I am not able to follow jargon. I tried reading as many posts on these forums before hand, but some of it is too technical for me. I do not know what a minidump is, only that this is the message I get when Sins crashes. I do not have any mods or special "LAA" thingies going. I play on a win7 64 machine. I should also say that I do not play on huge maps with billions of ships; in this case, it's a medium map, and not late game either.)

For your help many thanks in advance.

technical
4,165 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Argh, I started a new game, just to test, and the same thing. I'm stuck in what appears to be cinematic mode. At least that's my guess. I've never used cinematic mode, but I think this is it. When I try toggling cinematic mode, in any loaded game or in any new game, nothing happens (no change if on or off). This happened, apparently, as a result of the "minidump" crash (see above). HELP please, any tips?!?

thank you muchly

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Try navigating to the following folder:

XP: C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_USER_NAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting
Vista/7: C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting

Try moving the 'user.settings' and 'diplomacy.user.settings' files to a different location, run the game again, and see if the issues persist.

 

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Sorry, like I said in my original post, I'm using Windows 7, and I am a computer idiot. If I have to move files to a different location, I will need to find them and know exactly where to move them to. Can you please help me?

Also, I have restarted the computer and restarted the game a couple of times, and one time I was able to load a saved game and see things as I have usually, but the keyboard wouldn't work; I couldn't pause the game, for instance.

Can you tell me where I can find the file in Windows 7 and where I should move the file to? Thank you.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

It really doesn't matter where you move the files to, you can actually delete them if you'd like.  This will simply force the game to recreate the settings files using the defaults.  Try that and see if the issue persists.

 

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Can you tell me where I can find the file in Windows 7? Thank you.
End of quote

AppData folder is hidden by default but the method for unhiding it for 7 is different than Vista.

This is definitely something the DEVs should make a pinned post for. Hiding such needed files is just lame IMO. Not even to mention the Galaxy Forge maps location which the community must answer multiple posts per week.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Sorry for my incompetence. I was able to search the forums and find how to unhide things. I moved the file diplomacy.settings (I didn't have the other one!) to my desktop, loaded the game, and it worked. (My other video settings, like resolution, were all screwed, but I could re-set those without problem.)

you.

(I actually read the sticked FAQ and searched the forums before I posted, but I did not find anything like this. Maybe it can be added to the FAQ?)

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Check your effects settings in the game options. This happened to me before where a minidump caused my settings to get messed up and I couldn't see phase lanes, ship icons, ect.

 

edit: nm, seems like you got things fixed already

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

What *IS* a "minidump" crash by the way? What causes it? Can I do something to prevent this in the future?

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

Any crash can cause one, the minidump is just the game's inbuilt crash handling so that the devs have something to work with to troubleshoot them.