Tricks to cut down on CC crashes?
One thing I've sort of lived with with Campaign Cartographer since I've used it is somewhat frequent crashes. I've learned not to use the scroll wheel to zoom. I've also learned to move slow with it, not doing things to fast. Sometimes, however it crashes regardless, just when I click a random tool or click to zoom out. I save often, though I hate when I get on a roll and suddenly, a whole section is gone.
I recently built a new computer with some pretty stellar specs and I was pleased that this reduced the amount of crashing this program did.
It occurred to me one day though, that maybe there is something more I can do. Does anyone know if there's a way to allocate more resources to the program or something along those lines that would also cut down on it???
I have plenty of memory, so I can afford to allocate more if that's the case or is this just a quirk of the software to deal with?
I recently built a new computer with some pretty stellar specs and I was pleased that this reduced the amount of crashing this program did.
It occurred to me one day though, that maybe there is something more I can do. Does anyone know if there's a way to allocate more resources to the program or something along those lines that would also cut down on it???
I have plenty of memory, so I can afford to allocate more if that's the case or is this just a quirk of the software to deal with?
Comments
Please post some of your crashing maps, the fcw file, and we can look over it and offer sugestions.
CC3+ is flagged to allow use of 4GB of RAM when run on a 64-bit OS. However, I haven't seen a case yet where total memory usage was the cause of a crash.
Core i5-4690K @3.5GHz
16GB DDR3-2400
Solid State Hyrbrid Drive
Windows 10
I'm primarily using CC3+ but I've had similar issues with CC3 running through the TUM3 tutorials.
Are fractals the cause of my constant crashing? I like having one large map for all but regional detail and I admit I'm likely a bit heavy on the fractals (dense nodes, coast, rivers) on these bigger maps. I try to work without effects on when I am not actually focusing on how the effects look but I swear I crash more frequently than I am prompted to auto save. I am a perfectionist (relative to my own tastes at least) and I undo, re-attempt, and tweak things A LOT. This makes saving before every action a painful distracting because I do things over and over until I like it and it often crashes before I get something I actually like. When CC crashes, I have to open the program again , navigate to and open my map, precision delete what I WAS working on and didn't like, find the symbol or recreate the tool I was working with, and then get back to work. This combination of my behavior and the program crashing makes it so that after the 4th or 5th crash I just walk away having accomplished very little work over 30-40+ minutes of time and feeling drained of all motivation.
Partly I know I need to learn what Eru0101 has learned which is to lay off the mouse wheel zooming. It is very difficult because I am so used to using it all the time and I usually do it by instictively thinking it will scroll the selection window..then I correct it with the mouse wheel instinctively... Beyond that, is it just my use of fractals or are there other things I need to do differently to prevent this oh-so-frequent crashing? Is it really just a Windows problem with the fractal nodes, despite my system specs?
Thanks!
I have exactly the same specs in my machine as your's paradox (nice coincidence) and mine crashes a lot less than it did when I tried to run it on a laptop, but it still does. I've never been able to prevent it from happening, but I have learned to deal with it
1. Never ever use the scroll wheel on the mouse to zoom. Always use the zoom buttons on the tool bar within the program. Also, wait 3 seconds before using it again each time. For example, if you click to zoom out a piece, and want to zoom out again, wait 3 seconds in between each click. Use the scroll sliders on the side and bottom to move and use the same rule. 3 seconds between clicks. Of course, I often zoom all the way out, then use the tool to draw a square to zoom in on an exact spot I want to view.
2. Make sure your effects are disabled when you want to move or zoom in or out on your map. You can re-enable them once you have it where you want.
3. Set your autosave to 5 minutes tops, My friend sets his to 2 minutes. If it crashes, and you haven't manually saved for awhile, look for the autosave file in the list of files in your CC3 folder. You can often recover a more recent version from there. If you do this, don't forget to manually save as the file name you want it to be immediately. If you continue working with it after opening autosave and hit save, it just keeps saving it on the autosave file.
Having more RAM and a better graphics card seems to help, though that is totally speculation on my part. I don't know if they really have much to do with it or not. I just know that most of my crashes seem to stem from changing zoom to quickly (which means any speed that isn't really slow and patient). I've also learned that being too fast even when you are confident with the controls. You seem to have to be slow and deliberate with everything on this program.
To be fair, It could be the way I use it as well. I'm not sure how much fractalizing you do. For me, I am heavy on sheets. I do topographical overland maps where instead of drawing mountain symbols, I put elevations on sheets with various shadowing and bevel effects to create a sort of overland relief appearance. Maybe that's why I get some hard crashes when I move around as well. Who knows.
But I've had good luck following those 3 rules above in minimizing my crashes and dealing with them.
I think I'm just going to disable my scroll wheel when I use CC since it really just helps me crash the program and nothing else.
As a test I would recommend disabling hardware acceleration on your video card and seeing if that makes the software more stable for you.
I don't use auto save.
I open a template, or do my own settings, save as filename01_001, do some amount of mapping. Then save as filename01_002, etc. I keep going until the map is complete, or I have to do something else like laundry. Save as often !
If I get up to filename01_0075, and find I need to go back, I can. And this method goes back further than undo can.
Also, I have folders under my CC3, and CC3Plus, folders laid out like my sites are.
So under crestar; I have arcology, northern, southern, etc. Then more folders under them.
In each of those I have a folder named 'done' and a folder named 'variations'.
So the completed map goes in done folder, and the filename01_002, etc, go in the variations folder.
I do not try to scroll, it always messes up with that one.
Other than those two, not to many incidents.
i am running cc3+ on my mac using crossover (wine) which is limited to 2 gig as wine is only 32bit
i would guess you problem is windows based rather than cc3+ based
Rob
I've only had the rare crash in all of the years I've been using the software. I really wonder if it is graphics acceleration. My laptop only kicks in the graphics card when it runs a 3d app, otherwise it uses the onboard hd card. My old XP laptop only had the standard onboard graphics. Crashes were rare even on 1gig of ram on the old laptop.
I may load CC back onto the gaming rig when i get a chance, just to see if it crashes .
But I think my crashes are due to the scrolling thing and me sometimes over fractalizing.
There are a few things I do differently than others that may affect that:
I rarely download anything and only from reputable sources that I know.
I maintain top-rated anti-virus programs.
Other than PF software and MS Office, I don't install much else.
I almost never have anything else running at the same time when working on maps.
As a result, I don't have to alt-tab between programs. (It seems that many crashes, here and in other programs, result from alt-tabbing).
I almost never print (to paper or to PDF - it seems that many reported crashed have to do with printing).
I've always installed PF software in "c:/ProFantasy".
Whenever I install a new PF program/annual/new version, I always install the latest CC3/CC3+ update when I'm done.
Oh, and I always use the best nvidea geforce video card that I can afford.
I don't know if any of that helps anyone but, like Shessar, I suspect that video card is a likely culprit.
It crashes if I try to use the print wizard.
If I just print normally, it works great!
Everything comes out absolutely awesome.
I wonder what Profantasy is benchmarking it off of?
It would give me a better idea of what kind of computer I should have.