GOG version of DK2 (1.7) crashes during multiplayer every 30 tot 90 minutes

[Xendelaar]

Hi there,

I'm playing the GOG version of the game (with GIM) and it is fantastic.

I'm currently trying to finish the multiplayer co-op levels of Crafty and it is great! however, the game randomly crashes every 30 to 90 minutes... which is reaaly frustrating if you can't save your progress.

After reading the sticky for troubleshooting my only option is to try and force the affinity to only one CPU:

- If you're using a computer with multiple cores (Dual Core, Quad Core), you must know that Dungeon Keeper 2 dislikes that. You'll have to temporarily disable some of your cores to allow the game to run better. Follow these steps:
1. Run DKII like as usual and then, press simultaneously on ALT+TAB (or Windows key if it doesn't work).
2. Once on the desktop, press simultaneously on CTRL+ALT+DEL to open the "Task Manager".
3. Click on the "Process" tab and right-click on "DKII.exe" into the list. Select "Set Affinity".
4. Uncheck all the boxes EXCEPTED for "CPU 0". Then, click "OK".
5. Close the "Task Manager" and press ALT+TAB to return back to the game (or click on its button into the task bar).

Is this the only solution or are there more ways of reducing the chances of a crash?

Edit: I also found in another post that lowering the graphics option should be useful

[Crafty]

Hey, which level is crashing for you? Or does it happen on any level? Keeping graphics resolution at 800x600 is strongly recommended, along with shadow detail at 0. Also, if you're using the built multiplayer chat system that causes crashes 90% of the time.

[Xendelaar]

Hey, which level is crashing for you? Or does it happen on any level? Keeping graphics resolution at 800x600 is strongly recommended, along with shadow detail at 0. Also, if you're using the built multiplayer chat system that causes crashes 90% of the time.

hey there! The legend himself! thanks for the awesome level! Me and my brother are both stuck in level one!

So the other tips (single core and low graphics options) are also valid? We don't use the chat ever. We communicate like old people by using our phones.
Also, we're playing via hamachi. In the beginning I thought it could be a problem with the connection.. but later i figured this isn't a time out problem. Our ping is very steady and is less than 20 ms. we also never had any issues with an out of sync error and being out of sync wouldn't crash both our games.

I will try again later tonight. We'll be trying level 2 now, since we already played the first level many, many times (without winning).


The first level was perfect btw! Very challenging, but doable with the right strategy. how many hours did you spend on building and testing these levels? I made a level once and it was difficult to find a sweet spot between too simple or near impossible.

[Crafty]

hey there! The legend himself! thanks for the awesome level! Me and my brother are both stuck in level one!

So the other tips (single core and low graphics options) are also valid? We don't use the chat ever. We communicate like old people by using our phones.
Also, we're playing via hamachi. In the beginning I thought it could be a problem with the connection.. but later i figured this isn't a time out problem. Our ping is very steady and is less than 20 ms. we also never had any issues with an out of sync error and being out of sync wouldn't crash both our games.

I will try again later tonight. We'll be trying level 2 now, since we already played the first level many, many times (without winning).


The first level was perfect btw! Very challenging, but doable with the right strategy. how many hours did you spend on building and testing these levels? I made a level once and it was difficult to find a sweet spot between too simple or near impossible.

Glad you and your bro enjoy the level, thanks!

Yes, the single-core does help quite a bit with crashes along with the graphic options. You can leave the actual graphic settings to high, but I highly recommend a resolution setting of 800x600, along with everything else disabled. (Water translucency, hardware acceleration, etc.)

Good luck with level 2, it can be very overwhelming at the start

Thanks again, the biggest thing is to help each other out with the invading hero parties in the beginning!
I normally spend around 15+ hours designing and scripting a level, then another 5-10 hours testing and editing. Some levels that are on the borderline of impossible difficulty I've spent an ungodly amount of time working on them. Like the infamous level 3 in my veteran campaign.

[Xendelaar]

Glad you and your bro enjoy the level, thanks!

Yes, the single-core does help quite a bit with crashes along with the graphic options. You can leave the actual graphic settings to high, but I highly recommend a resolution setting of 800x600, along with everything else disabled. (Water translucency, hardware acceleration, etc.)

Good luck with level 2, it can be very overwhelming at the start

Thanks again, the biggest thing is to help each other out with the invading hero parties in the beginning!
I normally spend around 15+ hours designing and scripting a level, then another 5-10 hours testing and editing. Some levels that are on the borderline of impossible difficulty I've spent an ungodly amount of time working on them. Like the infamous level 3 in my veteran campaign.

We tried level 1 again. We lowered the resolution, we removed shading details and the water stuff. We even lowered the texture quality but that frankly made my eyes hurt. We didn't deselect hardware acceleration though...
Anyway.. After 1.5 hours of playing the game crashed again. This time it happened when I tried to enter the second North facing door in the North. That's the door above corridor which leads to the other players fighting area, so to say.
Last night the game crashed at the same moment.. I think..

We were so disappointed when the game crashed again tonight. We were on fire!! Two players with each having 8 level 10 warlocks and 6 high level dark elves is the bees knees!
I don't think we will play level 1 again soon... we need to recover from our losses..

Next time we will try level 2 with hardware acceleration disabled. If the game crashes again, we will give up and find another game to play co op in.

In any case we had a lot of fun exploring your dungeons. I hope we will be able to play them all without any errors.

Take care.

BTW. 15 hours of making and scripting a level is a lot of work! But it really shows! The level design and attacks from the heroes are very well thought out. ????

[Metal Gear Rex]

So I'm unfamiliar with Crafty's campaigns but, do they use modified creature stats / spells, or vanilla?

How many unique types of creatures exist on maps? Like, 5 Knights and 5 Fairies would be considered 2 unique types: Knight and Fairy.
Does it use the Maiden of the Nest?

Both things could be leading to a crash but not necessarily at the start of the map. Could be "randomly".

Is one player crashing or both simultaneously? (although I'm less familiar with Multiplayer crashes tbh)

[YourMaster]

The CPU thing certainly does help for some.

[Xendelaar]

So I'm unfamiliar with Crafty's campaigns but, do they use modified creature stats / spells, or vanilla?

How many unique types of creatures exist on maps? Like, 5 Knights and 5 Fairies would be considered 2 unique types: Knight and Fairy.
Does it use the Maiden of the Nest?

Both things could be leading to a crash but not necessarily at the start of the map. Could be "randomly".

Is one player crashing or both simultaneously? (although I'm less familiar with Multiplayer crashes tbh)

Well. The level is quite basic. You only get goblins warlocks and dark elves. I don't know about heroes stats though.

Both our games crash at the same time. So this makes me think it is more of a scripting bug than a pc hardware setting bug. Wouldn't you agree?

[Metal Gear Rex]

Both our games crash at the same time. So this makes me think it is more of a scripting bug than a pc hardware setting bug. Wouldn't you agree?

Could be, definitely sounds more on the side of "something is happening ingame that causes the crash" rather than an issue of struggling multiplayer or hardware itself.

It's why I also ask about modified settings - I have found that certain effects for example can cause a crash, and only in specific circumstances. I once gave a Dark Elf a special effect for a heavy bolt that knocked down enemies, and that ended up causing a crash if multiple shots were fired at the same target at once. Could be happening anywhere on the map and it would crash - so on multiplayer, that would probably cause a simultaneous crash. Without knowing what's causing it, it would seem pretty random. I was able to isolate it using save states, and even then didn't know what was happening until I could bring it all into a test map and had to try multiple theories. Finding out that it was an effect surprised me.

Of course, multiplayer so no saving. Would have to run tests in single player to identify the issue, try and catch it with a good save and try to replicate the crash.

I don't believe you answered this already but is it only this map that crashes?

[YourMaster]

When one player in multiplayer crashes, the other usually crashes too. That's not dependent on the map.