Since quite a few people seem to be having problems with BVE lately, I thought it might be a good idea to have a tread listing trouble shooting ideas. Ideally this could be stickied, and others could add to it if they had anything else to say.
Before you start, it is always a good idea to check if the problems still occur running BVE in different display modes. Try different resolutions, and also 16bit colour. This is especially important if it is a display related problem (e.g transparency problems). Also, see if the same problem occurs with different routes or trains.
If this doesn't work though, there are many things you can do to try and get BVE working.
Firstly, make sure you have the latest version of BVE. To see which version of BVE you have, open BVE, cancel the route selection, right click them select "About", and make a note of the version number. Then go to the BVE site and check this against the number of the latest version.
If you need to reinstall the latest version, make sure you uninstall the old version first, by going to Control Pannel, Add/Remove Programs, selecting BVE and "Remove". This will only remove BVE, not any routes or trains you have installed. This is a good idea to do whenever installing a new version of BVE, or any other program where an update or patch isn't provided.
Make sure you have the latest drivers for you're graphics card. To check the version go to the Control Pannel, System, "Hardware" tab, and "Device Manager". Find "Display Adapters" and click the + to bring up the list of adapters (there should only be one), the right click it and go to "Properties". Go to the driver tag and make a note of the Date and Version. Go to the site of the manufacturer of the card, usually Nvidia (www.nivida.com), or ATI (www.ati.com). If it is anything else this might be part of the problem, since most other graphics cards arn't designed for "games", but it's worth a try.
Before installing the new drivers, get rid of any trace of the old drivers. A good utility for doing this is DH Driver Cleaner from http://www.drivercleaner.net . Follow the instructions that come with this carefully (I recommend you print them off) before installing you're new drivers.
Do the same for Sound Drivers.
Use Windows Update to make sure you have the latest bug fixes for windows, and service pack 2.
Run some of the built in Windows fault finding Software such as Scandisk, and also defragment you're hard disk (might be a good idea to do this before reinstalling BVE and Drivers). Run a Virus Scanner and Spyware scanner. AVG from http://www.grisoft.com is a great free Virus Scanner. Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoft.com) and Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org) are very good Spyware Scanners when used in combination.
Make sure you have the latest version of Direct X. This is currently 9c. This should be done automatically though if you use windows update. Check Direct X is working fine using DX Diag. Go to "Run" on the start menu, type dxdiag and press "run". Go through the tests on each tab, in particular Direct 3d.
If the problem if that the computer re-starts, and this has not been solved, you need to disable automatic re-starts. Go to the Control Pannel and System. Go to the Advanced Tab and click "Settings" in "Startup and Recovery". Go down to the box called "System Failure" and uncheck the checkbox marked "Automatically Restart". This will not stop the crash, but will instead bring up a traditional Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), which will help in finding the problem. When a BSOD occurs, make a note of the line after the bit about you're computer being shut down to prevent further damage. This will say the type of error, accompanied by a code, and usually the driver involved. The rest is of little use to anyone who doesn't know the windows system inside out. Post here with the details, and hopefully someone will have an idea of the problem. By this time though it is most likely to be hardware related.
It is helps if you can provide details about any changes you made before the problems occured, as well as you're system specs, and as much detail about what the problem is and when it occurs, and if any other software is related.
Before you start, it is always a good idea to check if the problems still occur running BVE in different display modes. Try different resolutions, and also 16bit colour. This is especially important if it is a display related problem (e.g transparency problems). Also, see if the same problem occurs with different routes or trains.
If this doesn't work though, there are many things you can do to try and get BVE working.
Firstly, make sure you have the latest version of BVE. To see which version of BVE you have, open BVE, cancel the route selection, right click them select "About", and make a note of the version number. Then go to the BVE site and check this against the number of the latest version.
If you need to reinstall the latest version, make sure you uninstall the old version first, by going to Control Pannel, Add/Remove Programs, selecting BVE and "Remove". This will only remove BVE, not any routes or trains you have installed. This is a good idea to do whenever installing a new version of BVE, or any other program where an update or patch isn't provided.
Make sure you have the latest drivers for you're graphics card. To check the version go to the Control Pannel, System, "Hardware" tab, and "Device Manager". Find "Display Adapters" and click the + to bring up the list of adapters (there should only be one), the right click it and go to "Properties". Go to the driver tag and make a note of the Date and Version. Go to the site of the manufacturer of the card, usually Nvidia (www.nivida.com), or ATI (www.ati.com). If it is anything else this might be part of the problem, since most other graphics cards arn't designed for "games", but it's worth a try.
Before installing the new drivers, get rid of any trace of the old drivers. A good utility for doing this is DH Driver Cleaner from http://www.drivercleaner.net . Follow the instructions that come with this carefully (I recommend you print them off) before installing you're new drivers.
Do the same for Sound Drivers.
Use Windows Update to make sure you have the latest bug fixes for windows, and service pack 2.
Run some of the built in Windows fault finding Software such as Scandisk, and also defragment you're hard disk (might be a good idea to do this before reinstalling BVE and Drivers). Run a Virus Scanner and Spyware scanner. AVG from http://www.grisoft.com is a great free Virus Scanner. Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoft.com) and Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org) are very good Spyware Scanners when used in combination.
Make sure you have the latest version of Direct X. This is currently 9c. This should be done automatically though if you use windows update. Check Direct X is working fine using DX Diag. Go to "Run" on the start menu, type dxdiag and press "run". Go through the tests on each tab, in particular Direct 3d.
If the problem if that the computer re-starts, and this has not been solved, you need to disable automatic re-starts. Go to the Control Pannel and System. Go to the Advanced Tab and click "Settings" in "Startup and Recovery". Go down to the box called "System Failure" and uncheck the checkbox marked "Automatically Restart". This will not stop the crash, but will instead bring up a traditional Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), which will help in finding the problem. When a BSOD occurs, make a note of the line after the bit about you're computer being shut down to prevent further damage. This will say the type of error, accompanied by a code, and usually the driver involved. The rest is of little use to anyone who doesn't know the windows system inside out. Post here with the details, and hopefully someone will have an idea of the problem. By this time though it is most likely to be hardware related.
It is helps if you can provide details about any changes you made before the problems occured, as well as you're system specs, and as much detail about what the problem is and when it occurs, and if any other software is related.
;-)
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