"Access Violation Error" - real fix!

[BlackRedDead]

browse to "...\Documents\SpellForce2" in your userdata folder and delete or rename the "config.xml" - at least that worked for me and comparing the old with the new generated one shows much less lines! (10 in the old, 5 in the new) - hope it helps you too :-)

Upd.:
Sadly it only solved my startup issue, i got an "Access Violation" again at loading the 4th map!, so i suggest to safe before travel to new maps! ;-) (As the game sadly has only an arriving autosave and won't safe while playing!)
I try another fix and report back when i reached that point again :-)

Upd.2:
what seems to help is the following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7RZdx7Ytwk
i've played & loaded several maps by now and no access violations so far :-)

Warning

be cautious using the "patch" provided by NeoX, he behaves very suspicious trying to convince you that it will solve your problems while he didn't go into further details of it's content and how it works! - be sure you know the risk you're taking trying it out! ;-)

Originally posted by NeoX:

This patch would have extended your hardware database of the game with your hardware date and included some engine fixes.

i never heard or saw that a game requires a "hardware database", as it takes that information from the system! - all hardware controlling is the task of the driver, wich means the game has nothing to do with hardware but communicating with the system's drivers!
"engine fixes" is pretty superficial stated, not going into further details! - idk enough of the game to say if thats possible with this game, but mostly the engine itself is shipped as already "encoded" (i don't remember the exact term yet, but as a program is packed into usable code it's no longer editable and thus you actually can't do "engine fixes" without having the source files! - as far i know!) - so unless he decided to get down to the technical aspects of his patch i will ignore it! - i have used many fanmade software over the years and even did some on my own, i might have not the technical knowledge he might have - just to be fair, i'm just a modder! - but if he has that knowledge he pretends to have it would be easy to just explain it instead of playing the drama queen because someone refused to take his "patch"! - if he has no underlaying interest in spreading it... ;-)
just look around the internet, others at least state what their patches do and even provide changelogs - here you download a magical fix for any problem with no details what it actually does - no thanks!

[NeoX]

If you want to play the "classic" version (vanilla Gold) then i recommend to just use the Community Hardware Patches:

https://www.moddb.com/games/spellforce2-shadow-wars/downloads/spellforce-2-hardware-patch-111

[wahl35]

Originally posted by (}-:< BlackRedDead >:-{):

browse to "...\Documents\SpellForce2" in your userdata folder and delete or rename the "config.xml" - at least that worked for me and comparing the old with the new generated one shows much less lines! (10 in the old, 5 in the new) - hope it helps you too :-)

thanks for that info! I only have about 8 hours invested in the game and all of a sudden the game was not even starting up. It attempted to load and then poof , nothing. Eliminating the xml did the trick.

[BlackRedDead]

well, bad news, it hasn't fixed the access violation error entirely, i got it again while loading a level and lost all progress made in the previous one (tough, i got to used to automatic saving that i forgot to save for myself, so somewhat my bad!^^ - save your game before your travel to another map is my suggestion! ;-)
i have to play to that point again to reproduce the error but i try another solution i found and report back until sunday - but nice it at least fixed the startup error! :-)

btw. if you have no sound in video, try to edit that file, even if the content remains the same it strangely fixed this issue for me - i reproduced several times and no matter what i did in the options menu, afterwards no sound in video - if i edit the config.xml and even with just same content as before, sound back in video's! (tough only video sound is issued - ingame everything's fine!)

and i still found no fix for that damn strange shadow lighting issue, tryed all shadow settings, light corection on/off and even different resolutions! - still looks strange as if they where prerendered, wich cannot be as gras on/off is clearly taken effect!

[NeoX]

i highly request you to use this here:
https://www.moddb.com/games/spellforce2-shadow-wars/downloads/spellforce-2-hardware-patch-111

on a clean installation!

[BlackRedDead]

i suffer from capped internet, that's why i ignore the advice to install third party software that is not especially made for the patched steam version! - bad things can happen when you try to apply an old community patch to a newer version of the game! ;-)

it depends on the content the patch changes and how it does this, but most community patches have no spell check and even just replacing files instead of code! - so eighter way, don't do it when you're not like risking to reinstall!!!

(Tough to be fair, patches in general mostly only check the version and not the actual code! - wich would take much longer depending on the size but is possible and i already seen such a clever solution!^^ - so official patches refuse to patch a newer version, community patches often even overwrite themself! - both has their advantages and flaws, an version checking patch can never ruin files in a consistend developing environment, but is prone to ignore and kill already made modifications - i once killed one of my mods with it because i thought the patch won't touch my files as i knew wich would it update, but nope, it cleaned the whole directory deleting my files - byby mod xP - lesson learned, unless you deconstructing the patch you never know what it actually does! - while patches without version checks are great to just clean an installation if you made changes you're not happy with and have forgotten to make backups of edited files! - but can ruin a newer version!)

[NeoX]

Everything about your comment is wrong. This patch would have extended your hardware database of the game with your hardware date and included some engine fixes.

I am the main-developer of all these fixes and patches, i know what they do and thats why i offer them in cases where they will help.

This "Anniversary Edition" is just Demons of the Past with the campaign files of the Gold Edition. I know all this because i support and fix this game for many years by now. But if you don't want help or fixes, then there is nothing i can do for you.

[BlackRedDead]

that just shows how inexperienced you are, as it's how patches work and instead of feeling offended - wich i haven't - you could just take the technical aspect as how it is and go further into details just as i did!

i can read, and nice that you know but i don't, and unless deconstructing your executable i won't get to know because you have not stated any details and your behavior is pretty suspicious!

so unless you coming down to the technical level i hell'a stay away from your "patch" and would suggest that others too! - better be cautious than sorry! - as a developer you should understand that!

[NeoX]

i just link this here:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/39550/discussions/0/1651043320645868186/

[Blue Dragon]

well, finally another fix other than changing graphics o config file or compatibility mode or admin mode. I'll try it whatever the source is as long as it contain no viruses

BTW, BlackRedDead : I think your issue is the same as mine, the crash occur when I try to visit previously visited territory in dragonstorm campaign which must happen in the level after the ship where there that enemy you can't defeat & shadow warrior apper & tell you to get away & return to ship so basically I can't progress in the campaign,I finished the shadow war campaign normally without issue while this occured in dragon storm with 3 different saves & after doing clean install & trying everything previously suggested for this issue on steam & all other forums & on 2 different pcs with 1 running windows 7 & the other windows 10

Edit:applied the patch & still it didn't work, got the same error again.
I will never finish this game:(

[NeoX]

Originally posted by Blue Dragon:

well, finally another fix other than changing graphics o config file or compatibility mode or admin mode. I'll try it whatever the source is as long as it contain no viruses

BTW, BlackRedDead : I think your issue is the same as mine, the crash occur when I try to visit previously visited territory in dragonstorm campaign which must happen in the level after the ship where there that enemy you can't defeat & shadow warrior apper & tell you to get away & return to ship so basically I can't progress in the campaign,I finished the shadow war campaign normally without issue while this occured in dragon storm with 3 different saves & after doing clean install & trying everything previously suggested for this issue on steam & all other forums & on 2 different pcs with 1 running windows 7 & the other windows 10

Edit:applied the patch & still it didn't work, got the same error again.
I will never finish this game:(

You could roll back to the classic "Gold Edition". Just Right-click on your game, select the "Beta" tab and choose there "SpellForce 2". After that the old native Gold Edition of 2008 will be loaded with less bugs since as the current version.

If you have performence issues with that, just apply the patch again, since it gets rewoked that way.

[BlackRedDead]

@Blue Dragon:
you could try this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7RZdx7Ytwk
seemed to help me :-)

@NeoX:
That's the behavior i wished you would show earlyer! - giving concrete informations ;-)
(tough still unknown what your "patch" does and thus not trustworthy!)

[sinedd16]

Originally posted by Blue Dragon:

well, finally another fix other than changing graphics o config file or compatibility mode or admin mode. I'll try it whatever the source is as long as it contain no viruses

BTW, BlackRedDead : I think your issue is the same as mine, the crash occur when I try to visit previously visited territory in dragonstorm campaign which must happen in the level after the ship where there that enemy you can't defeat & shadow warrior apper & tell you to get away & return to ship so basically I can't progress in the campaign,I finished the shadow war campaign normally without issue while this occured in dragon storm with 3 different saves & after doing clean install & trying everything previously suggested for this issue on steam & all other forums & on 2 different pcs with 1 running windows 7 & the other windows 10

Edit:applied the patch & still it didn't work, got the same error again.
I will never finish this game:(

Hello. A similar problem in the same place. Have you found a solution to the problem?