Are you crashing like crazy still? Let's compare hardware.

Note that I'm only including the "System Information" section and the "Display Devices" section. Just include those, otherwise the thread becomes too painful to read through.

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 4/22/2010, 20:56:00
       Machine name: Machine001
   Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090206-1234)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
       System Model: System Product Name
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 09/19/07 18:38:59 Ver: 08.00.12
          Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+,  MMX,  3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
             Memory: 3072MB RAM
          Page File: 665MB used, 4291MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series
     Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
        Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9490)
         DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9490&SUBSYS_E101174B&REV_00
   Display Memory: 1024.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1152 x 864 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: Default Monitor

I beleive all the DXDiag info can also be found at the top of your DEBUG.ERR files.  Thanks for starting this thread, TCores :)  Good idea!

A few thoughts...
- We don't do much XP testing...i'll be curious how many people are running that OS.
- We only have a handfull of AMD machines...will have ot test more on there.
- 3DNow...is that an intergrated video card that is being ignored in favor of the ATI card?

I'll have the team keep an eye on this thread...try and sniff out some clues!

Here's my info: I just noticed that I only have 1 Gig of Ram even though I'm supposed to have 3 Gig. I guess I need new ram stick.

System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 4/19/2010, 15:15:52
       Machine name: PTR-0238
   Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
       System Model: MP061                           
               BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A08
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T7200  @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs)
             Memory: 1022MB RAM
          Page File: 1128MB used, 1838MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode


---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS
     Manufacturer: NVIDIA
        Chip type: GeForce Go 7900 GS
         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0298&SUBSYS_019B1028&REV_A1
   Display Memory: 256.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: Default Monitor

Here we go and adding the notes-

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 4/23/2010, 11:27:22
       Machine name: MAUKTANTRIL
   Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.               
       System Model: Dell DXG061                 
               BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 1.1.3
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU          6400  @ 2.13GHz (2 CPUs)
             Memory: 2046MB RAM
          Page File: 538MB used, 3399MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

DxDiag Notes
------------
  DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
          Music Tab: No problems found.
          Input Tab: No problems found.
        Network Tab: No problems found.

Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX
     Manufacturer: NVIDIA
        Chip type: GeForce 7900 GTX
         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0290&SUBSYS_22101682&REV_A1
   Display Memory: 512.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor

No problem!

3DNow! is a processor instruction set. It's AMD's implementation of some floating point math that is in SSE1/MMX which you can find on intel.

I do have an integrated video card, but it's disabled in favour of the ATI discrete one.

You guys should be able to figure out how many people are using windows XP for gaming by checking telemetry data for Sins of a Solar Empire if you have access to it. : )

We actually got an XP machine up and running (and crashing) already. Hopefully a fix is soon to follow!!!

ty BoogieBac, think I'll be using WinXP for  a while still.  Think there are still quite a few of us

Thought 3DNow was a set of AMD chip instructions... similar to MMX, from quite a long time ago.

Sorry, just saw this thread, and want to add my (now much less than) $0.02; I'm also a Windows XP Home edition user.  Thanks, guys, I thought I was alone in the wilderness here!  DXDIAG link pasted below

http://pastebin.com/Q905nrsP

DirectX Version: DirectX 11

here are the spec of my laptop:

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 4/24/2010, 16:53:56
       Machine name: CAMELOT
   Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100226-1909)
           Language: German (Regional Setting: German)
System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
       System Model: Satellite L550
               BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBLD
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     P8700  @ 2.53GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
             Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4060MB RAM
          Page File: 1607MB used, 18835MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
 System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
     DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
          Card name: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4600 Series   
       Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
          Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x9480)
           DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
         Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9480&SUBSYS_FFA01179&REV_00
     Display Memory: 2792 MB
   Dedicated Memory: 1018 MB
      Shared Memory: 1774 MB
       Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (75Hz)
       Monitor Name: PnP-Monitor (Standard)
      Monitor Model: LCD1770GX
         Monitor Id: NEC6682

------------------

System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 4/24/2010, 14:44:44
   Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090804-1435)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
       System Model: System Product Name
               BIOS: Phoenix - Award BIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+,  MMX,  3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
             Memory: 2046MB RAM
          Page File: 968MB used, 2970MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: Radeon X1900 Series
     Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
        Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x7249)
         DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_7249&SUBSYS_01601043&REV_00
   Display Memory: 512.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: LG L1750SQ

Up until I got Win 7 I was FIRMLY planted in the Win XP court. I hated Vista like it was the plague and avoided it as such. Win 7 is amazing in comparison though. It did take me a little while to get used to the slightly newer configuration and they tended to hide a lot of the useful things but mainly that was so people who didn't really know what they were doing couldn't mess things up as easily.

System Info
Time: 4/23/2010, 00:15:03
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: DKSXE-GX270
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: OptiPlex GX270               
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A03
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Physical Memory: 1534MB RAM
Page File: 874MB used, 2559MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce 6200  
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce 6200
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0221&SUBSYS_A4033842&REV_A1
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1600 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.9107
Driver Date: 9/27/2009 16:12:22
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes

  Well Raven X, you are one of the posters here I trust for a review of hardware/software(we all have some differences).  Right now I am just behind the times.  It will take me some time before I start switching over(I think).  Thank you for that input .  Most of you on this forum(but not all) have probably already made the migration.  I just don't want to spend more on another OS that in another few years I will have to upgrade yet once again.  Funny argument huh for someone who likes the whole upgrade with technology process.      Think I'm just in a rut at the moment.  Also I haven't had any serious compatibility issues yet with the switching over of OS's.  So I will probably stay with XP until I can't play a Elemental mod or something. 

Actually, my 64bit vlited Vista ultimate is faster and more stable than Win7...but again this isn't some ordinary Vista, the full install is like 1.2GB compared to the original 4+GB.

I appreciate the vote of confidence, my friend. Even my reviews are tainted though some times. A professional reviewer needs to keep his or her personal feelings out of a review if they are to be a impartial judge of what they're reviewing. I often can't or won't do that and my reviews show for it. Keep in mind that no matter how good (or bad) something is, there will always be part of the population that loves (or hates) it. Even the worst product on Earth will have one or two die hard fans that stick up for it even if they are proven wrong on every level.

Speaking of "the worst product on Earth"....

Indeed the v'lited version is WAY better then vanilla Vista. That was one of the lessons they learned between Vista and Win 7. They took out half the crap that was bogging the OS down and heavily reduced it's "foot-print". They also greatly improved on some things like Start-Up time. My PC boots up and is in perfect running order in about 15-20 seconds. That would be a bit faster but it takes me about 3-4 seconds to type in my password.

Now, I'm no Microsoft fanboy, quite the contrary in fact, but even I have to give it up to Win 7. The only, ONLY problem, that I've had with Win 7 64 Premium is that I can't install a few of my older programs that install with a 16 bit installer. The 32 Bit version of Win 7 can run those, but for some reason the architecture isn't there on the 64 bit version to run the 16 bit installers. Aside from that Win 7 runs like a dream and switching over from XP has ultimately saved me hours of work and hardship in the long run. I don't think I could be happier with it aside from maybe them moving a few things back to where they used to be, like the Start-Up Configuration Utility.

Fully agree.  Three years ago when my beloved desktop w/XP died and I decided to get a laptop, the only OS offered was Vista.  I loved the laptop but hated Vista.  Now I've got a new laptop with Windows 7, and it's so much easier to set up and use, and so much faster.

Not sure if this is a general cause for the crashes, but I just noticed that I stopped crashing if I unchecked the "Enable Event Music" and "Enable layered music."

I'm not having as many crashes as some of the rest of you, but I am having some.  So for what it's worth:

System Info
Time: 4/24/2010, 18:56:03
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Machine Name: ALIEN2
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100226-1909)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: M17x
BIOS: Ver A02 1.00
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU       Q 820  @ 1.73GHz (8 CPUs), ~1.7GHz
Physical Memory: 8192MB RAM
Page File: 2730MB used, 13629MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip Type: ATI display adapter (0x945A)
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_945A&SUBSYS_043A1028&REV_00
Display Memory: 3826 MB
Current Display Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution:
Driver Name: atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver Version: 8.14.0010.0716
Driver Date: 11/25/2009 21:14:24
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes

I disabled these and made it to turn 100 without crashing. Anyone else to confirm?

Maybe I will buy Win7 sometime, but it's kinda pointless if my tweaked Vista works like a charm.

Oddly this seems to have fixed another problem I was having (my units were not moving properly) but unfortunatly I am still crashing shortly after I research farming.

This is true. I wouldn't spend the money if I didn't need to. Between XP and the changes made to Vista and then Win 7 there's a lot of differences. Aside from some improvements there really isn't all that much change between Vista and Win 7. If that version of Vista works good for you then I'd use it until I had no choice but to upgrade. That's what I did with XP. I used XP and stayed with it for years quite happily and I didn't really care what anyone said or how good they said Vista was. I liked XP, everything I ran was running fine on XP, I had no reason to upgrade so I didn't. Not to mention the fact that you practically have to sell a body part to afford a OS upgrade these days (or have that Fat bank roll laying around like Frogboy).

My game ist still crashing 10 to 20 turns into the game so i thougt to post my spec´s:

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 4/25/2010, 17:27:55
       Machine name: TELOMEN
   Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
           Language: German (Regional Setting: German)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
       System Model: M56S-S3
               BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+,  MMX,  3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
             Memory: 2046MB RAM
          Page File: 716MB used, 3222MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
     Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
        Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9442)
         DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9442&SUBSYS_080110B0&REV_00
   Display Memory: 1024.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: SyncMaster 226BW(Digital)
  Monitor Max Res: 1680,1050
      Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
   Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6983 (English)
      DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
 Driver Date/Size: 7/15/2009 04:27:52, 336896 bytes
      WHQL Logo'd: Yes
  WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
              VDD: Nicht zutreffend
         Mini VDD: ati2mtag.sys
    Mini VDD Date: 7/15/2009 06:20:10, 4407808 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-D702-11CF-4768-0B28A1C2CB35}
        Vendor ID: 0x1002
        Device ID: 0x9442
        SubSys ID: 0x080110B0
      Revision ID: 0x0000
      Revision ID: 0x0000
      Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D
 Deinterlace Caps: {6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
                   {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
                   {6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
                   {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
                   {3C5323C1-6FB7-44F5-9081-056BF2EE449D}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
                   {552C0DAD-CCBC-420B-83C8-74943CF9F1A6}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
                   {6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
                   {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
         Registry: OK
     DDraw Status: Enabled
       D3D Status: Enabled
       AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
 D3D7 Test Result: Not run
 D3D8 Test Result: Not run
 D3D9 Test Result: Not run