Hi, I have played Worms Armageddon on Windows XP for years and around 5 months ago, I moved to Vista. Since the move to Vista, I did not have Worms installed until last week. I installed worms, applied the V1 to V3 patch, then got the latest v3.6.29.0 patch. The game works fine at 1920x1200 resolution, however problems occur when I try and access the map editor...

The first time I right clicked the map to access the map editor, the game crashed to desktop (CTD). I tried again and again but the same thing happened. Often vista would show me a ballon in my taskbar saying Data Execution Prevention (DEP) has closed Worms down (something about inproper memory usage or something). I found this odd as when I installed Vista 5 months ago, I used a run command to disable DEP for good. I decided to remove all custom maps in the SavedLevels folder and try the map editor, and the map editor worked like a charm. I pasted several custom maps into the SavedLevels folder and again, map editor worked fine. I added more and more, but it seems, the DEP CTD error is caused by maps of larger than default dimensions (dimension allowance that was first introduced in patch v3.6.28.0)

I entered the DEP window in Control Panel, and discovered that all settings were greyed out, but a bullet mark was placed next to disabled. I renabled DEP using a different run command, rebooted and now my DEP settings are fully changeable again. DEP gives me 2 options:

- Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only

- Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select

I selected the "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select" and added Worms Armageddon exe to the list. Now everytime I access the map editor, it does not crash, however when I select a larger dimension map in the drop down list, it sometimes works fine and I can play the map, but 50% of the time, Worms will CTD.

To get Worms Armageddon's map editor to work 100% (including the drop down list) I have to go to DEP settings, select option 1, hit apply, select option 2, tick Worms Armageddon, hit apply then almost always, Worms will work perfectly. However, when I quit Worms and return later, I have to go through the above process again (selecting option 1, then option 2) or I will almost certainly experience CTD.

I have tried running Worms in different compatibility modes, but this has not helped. Any ideas?

Leave DEP set to option 1, theres not many programs out there that 'require' DEP. I believe it is well knnown that DEP causes old programs/games to fail lots because well, it stops the most common memory issue that existed in Windows 9x and a fair few things back then depended on it o_o including viruses and such, but XP and Vista should be secure enough without DEP protecting every piece of software.

Also, disabling Hardware DEP in your BIOS (if your CPU/Motherboard supports it) will further improve compatibility.

Leave DEP set to option 1, theres not many programs out there that 'require' DEP. I believe it is well knnown that DEP causes old programs/games to fail lots because well, it stops the most common memory issue that existed in Windows 9x and a fair few things back then depended on it o_o including viruses and such, but XP and Vista should be secure enough without DEP protecting every piece of software.

Also, disabling Hardware DEP in your BIOS (if your CPU/Motherboard supports it) will further improve compatibility.

Hi, did you read all my post?

I have option 1 selected now in DEP and worms crashes just like I explained in my original post. Here is a cropped screenshot:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephanie.mirza/Worms%20DEP%20Error.jpg

W:A does not load the image files when the map editor is opened, it just enumerates the file list. Could it be some kind of image shell extension?

It would help if you could narrow down which combinations of files/file parameters triggered the crash.

W:A does not load the image files when the map editor is opened, it just enumerates the file list. Could it be some kind of image shell extension?

It would help if you could narrow down which combinations of files/file parameters triggered the crash.

When map editor does crash, 50% of the time it crashes as soon as I right click the map to access the editor and 50% of the time it crashes as I select a map on the drop down list. When it crashes when I select a map from the drop down list, most of the time it's a large dimension map, but it has happened on custom small maps too (those at the default dimension)

Well, this is the first time I've heard of such a problem, and I've heard of W:A working on many other Vista machines - thus I believe it to be a problem specific to your system's configuration. I have DEP enabled myself and never experienced similar issues.

Ok, the trick that worked before (changing DEP settings back and forth everytime I run Worms) no longer works. No matter if I have DEP on for windows services only, on for everything expect specific programs or disabled using a run command, the map editor will not work.

Most of the time I can access the map editor without Worms crashing to desktop but it will always crash when selecting a map from the drop down list. I am only able to play default maps.. custom maps no longer work.

Here is my error log http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephanie.mirza/ERRORLOG.txt

You should have mentioned that you were getting an error log in the first place, I thought W:A crashed to desktop without an error message other than Vista's DEP notification.

The error log is not enough, though. Could you please also provide the file CRASH.DMP from your W:A folder?

You should have mentioned that you were getting an error log in the first place, I thought W:A crashed to desktop without an error message other than Vista's DEP notification.

The error log is not enough, though. Could you please also provide the file CRASH.DMP from your W:A folder?

Hi, originally (and when I made this thread) it crashed to desktop with no error message, but recently it has given me a fatal error message box as well as the DEP nortification in the corner.

Below is the crash.dmp file you requested:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephanie.mirza/CRASH.DMP

Thanks, the problem is much clearer now. It looks as if the file Data\Custom\Hospital\Level.dir on your CD is corrupted, which is causing W:A to crash when trying to load it (it needs to load it for the soil thumbnails).

Check if you can open the file with the directory editor (http://worms2d.info/WA_directory_editor), or upload it somewhere and I'll take a look if it's corrupted or not.

Thanks, the problem is much clearer now. It looks as if the file Data\Custom\Hospital\Level.dir on your CD is corrupted, which is causing W:A to crash when trying to load it (it needs to load it for the soil thumbnails).

Check if you can open the file with the directory editor (http://worms2d.info/WA_directory_editor), or upload it somewhere and I'll take a look if it's corrupted or not.

Hi, I am amazed with how you knew what the problem was, how did you know? If I really do have a corrupt file on my CD, why did Worms work flawlessly on my PC under XP?

I own the genuine CD but I don't like having my CD drive in use all the time. I cloned an image of the disc and mounted it to a virtual drive using Daemon Tools. This allows me to play the game without the need of inserting the CD. If there is a corrupt file on my disc, then it's on the cloned image file as well. I don't understand how this can be so, since I run Worms the exact same way as I did under XP.

I don't have access to my computer at the moment but I will try and upload the SOIL file in C:\Team17\Worms Armageddon\DATA\Custom\Hospital tomorrow

Thanks and please don't forget about me lol, I think you're the one who can fix my Worms game.

Copying the file from the CD image to your W:A folder won't help. I meant that you could upload it somewhere on the Internet so I could check if the file is OK. It's possible that the CD was copied with errors, and thus the crashes.

I determined the problem because the crash happened when the map editor was trying to load all the map thumbnails, and it crashed when reading the Hospital directory file. It's possible that the problem is somewhere else and processing that file triggered the crash, though.

It can also be a bug with Daemon Tools under Vista :)

Copying the file from the CD image to your W:A folder won't help. I meant that you could upload it somewhere on the Internet so I could check if the file is OK. It's possible that the CD was copied with errors, and thus the crashes.

I determined the problem because the crash happened when the map editor was trying to load all the map thumbnails, and it crashed when reading the Hospital directory file. It's possible that the problem is somewhere else and processing that file triggered the crash, though.

Yeah, I understood what you meant, I just don't understand how the file got corrupt (if it is corrupt). In fact, I don't even think I installed Worms from the disc this time around, I think I copied the Worms Armageddon folder from my XP installation over to Vista. Could this be the reason? Does Worms enter any enteries into the registry?

Here is the file you've requested:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephanie.mirza/SOIL.IMG

Thanks

It can also be a bug with Daemon Tools under Vista :)

It's possible but I have no problems with other games that use Daemon Tools.

That's not the file I was talking about. I meant the file Data\Custom\Hospital\Level.dir from your CD, not soil.img from your W:A folder.

Never mind, I didn't read the crash dump correctly. Yes, the crash happened because the file soil.img that you uploaded is corrupted. Try reinstalling the game and all updates.

That's not the file I was talking about. I meant the file Data\Custom\Hospital\Level.dir from your CD, not soil.img from your W:A folder.

Never mind, I didn't read the crash dump correctly. Yes, the crash happened because the file soil.img that you uploaded is corrupted. Try reinstalling the game and all updates.

I'm sorry, I misread. I won't be home now until next Thursday but when I do, I will reinstall the game and reapply the patches. Thanks for your efforts, I will report back here next week.

I reinstalled the game and reapplied the patches and my map editor works perfectly now (so far). Thanks for your help!