Slitherine

My guess would be that there is some corrupted data in there somewhere. Your first possible solution thus might be to try copying the save game directory, then reinstalling the game. Then copy the saves back in and you should be able to continue as before.

Cheers

Pip

Thanks. Uninstalling and reinstalling did the trick.

I have the same problem and can't play past Vercalle. I also have the patch installed, and played with the patched game up to Vercalle and couldn't get past it. I did not try and play the unpatched game up to Vercalle.

Therefore, I will save the saved games, uninstall and reinstall LA as JCG did and hope it works.

Also, when I click on the desktop icon to start LA it starts up fine, but the LA pop-up has no words or phrases on its click boxes!!! However, by clicking on the top box LA does start up and play.

Then upon exiting LA I get the Windows pop-up saying this:

Windows pop-up box entitled 'Arena' shows this illegal operation after exiting from Arena and returning to desktop:

This progeam has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.

If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

ECX=00000000 DS=016f ESI=008e3eb0 FS=417f
EDX=0272fa78 ES=016f EDI=bfc0573d GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
a1 10 9d fc bf 50 e8 96 95 fe ff ff 76 04 e8 35
Stack dump:
bff8abfa 0043e487 008e3eb0 00875960 0040752e bfc0573d 036c04a0 bfc05769 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

After returning to desktop, the computer runs OK and I can click on the desk top icon and start LA again without any problem, except I can't get past Vercalle.

Therefore, to reiterate again (redundancy is fun) I will save the saved games, uninstall and reinstall LA as JCG did and hope it works.

If not, I will materialize as a mad Gallic Fanatic at Ian's favorite tavern, although there are probably plenty of those there already. Mad Poles of Sicillian adaption can be a bit wild though.

Thanx, Magobarca

By the way, I did NOT reinstall the patch - I am playing on the original version. I may install the patch and see if I can continue - after I save the games. I'm a couple of battles beyond Vercellae now.

It is odd that we both hit a wall at that battle with the patched version. I wonder if there is something unstable that is created at that point in the battles, or if the patch instigated something that corrrupted the exe file in such a way that it occurs at the same place?

Hi JCG,

I think it is the patch, because the game worked without the patch. I can't play my 'After Vercalle' save with the patch. So, there is a big problem here and I hope Slitherine can fix it. This is becoming depressing and frustrating and is a waste of time to have to keep uninstalling and reinstalling.

I started the slave campaign in unpatched form after I uninstalled and then reinstalled LA. So now I have to do this again, besides reading what the patch did and seeing if I can implenment that myself in the text files, which I doubt. think the patch can be unistalled so I'll try that first.

I also downloaded the patch from Strategy First, so it should be OK. However, I checked the 1.01 patch at other sites and there is a size difference, So maybe the Strategy First patch is no good, if so, that would be surprising.

Slitherine, can you correct this major problem??

Thanx, Chris

If you uninstall the patch you basically uninstall LA, which just happened to me. uninstalling the patch wipes out the .exe and other data and important files, leaving you unable to play LA.

This is rotten. So I will install LA again WITHOUT THE PATCH.

Thanx, Magobarca

Hi Possum and Speedius and all Legionaires and Barbarians,

I just got LA running again without the patch, and I have defeated Crixus at Grannacus in 52 seconds, since 8 seconds are lost do to the bug in the original game. It took about 8 tries though, until a massed cavalry charge on Crixus' right flank proved the way to do it, for me anyway.

If I had that extra 8 seconds, it would have been eadier. Might be possible to download the patch to another folder like LA patch folder, and try finding the Grannacus battle file and putting it in the regular LA folder.

Here is the Legion I did it with:
Legio Silva 1
Legate Flavius Silva (22 or so)
Roman Legion:
Roman Triari 1 (Level 12 - 16 or so)
Roman Princeps 1 (17 or so)
Roman Hastati 1 (17 or so)
Sabine Auxillia 2 (14 or so)
Sabine Militia 1 (22 or so)
Roman Velites 1 (16 or so)
Syracuasean Archers 1 (6 or so)
Equites (18 or so)
Allied Legion:
Latin Spearmen 1 (21 or so)
Volsci Auxillia 1 (20 or so)
Latin Militia 1 (20 or so)
Hernici Peasants (20 or so)
Latin Skirmishers 1 (17 or so)
Etruscan Auxilliary Cavalry (14 or so)
Latin Scouts Cavalry (21 or so)

Magobarca

I can't think of any reason why it would happen on that mission except for corrupt unit data. It's very strange, as the patch doesn't contain any unit data that would cause things to break. We'll keep an eye open and see if anyone else has problems.

Installshield is a bit flakey and often causes problems during the install process and other than trying it again there is no solution. I don't think we'll be using it for much longer. We paid a lot of money for it, but they wont fix any problems unless you pay to upgrade constantly, which is unbelieveably shoddy. Imagine if we tried to charge you for a patch to fix a critical error - you'd be furious and rightly so.

If you guys having problems could all post your system details (version of windows, CPU, etc), as well as the version of the game you have (publisher, boxed copy -vs- download) then that would be very useful to us.

Thanks a lot.

Cheers

Pip

Hello Pip,

It seems another fellow here, Honvedseg I think, has patched his game and is not having an problems.

Then upon exiting the unpatched LA I get the Windows pop-up saying this:

Windows pop-up box entitled 'Arena' shows this illegal operation after exiting from Arena and returning to desktop:

This progeam has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.

If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

ECX=00000000 DS=016f ESI=008e3eb0 FS=417f
EDX=0272fa78 ES=016f EDI=bfc0573d GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
a1 10 9d fc bf 50 e8 96 95 fe ff ff 76 04 e8 35
Stack dump:
bff8abfa 0043e487 008e3eb0 00875960 0040752e bfc0573d 036c04a0 bfc05769 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

After returning to desktop, the computer runs OK and I can click on the desk top icon and start LA again without any problem, except I can't get past Vercalle with a patched LA.

I have a boxed Strategy First copy here in the USA, and it is version V1.0100:857, so you know what, it may already be patched straight out of the box, but when I patch I get a different nomenclature as such, V1.0101:1249, so it may just be that it is not patched straight out of the box after comparing version nomenclatures (ID numbers as shown here).

The CD disk itself has the number 90227 CD on it, and the manual has the code LAIP20052 on the back cover.

My system is this: Windows 98SE, 1.8Ghz Pentium4, 512MB RAM, 128MB AGP nVida GeForce 4000 video card, regular Soundblaster sound card, Western Digital Hard Drive, Acer (A Open) motherboard, and any further nomenclature I would have to look-up.

The game works fine without the patch, except when I exit the unpatched game I get that Windows Error Message as shown above. With the patch, the game runs fine until the game after Vercalle, and then it CTD's. Patching the game is doing somethin to some game data file on my computer.

I read and appreciate and like the improvements in the patch, and would like for the patch to work on my computer.

Thanx for any help that you can give.

Magobarca

Pip,

Here are my system specs per your request:

Alienware Custom PC
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.0 GHz
2 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
Creative Soundblaster Audigy
XP Professional (Service Pack 2)

Running the boxed retail version of the game, unpatched as noted before.

Hi JCG and Pip,

From JCG's last post we now know it is not the OS, since I have WIN 98SE and he has WIN XP. It could be that Strategy First's patch is corrupted, not we customers.

Someone at Slitherine might just want to make a somple Zip file download so we can manually install the files ourselves, that would be VERY NICE and good for business. I am not interested in Multi-player, so in my case most of the patchis not necessary, but I need to change the starting time problem in the Grannacus scenario because the loss of those 8-seconds makes a big difference in game play.

Bes tof the best, Magobarca

The title of the 'CLaudine Forks' scenario is wrong, it should be 'Caudine Forks', without the 'L'.

Magobarca

Hi, Magobarca.

You should try my army in the Grannicus scenario, I had a few seconds to spare without the patch:

Legate (Level 54) + 8 Legions (Levels 18-20), all with substantial armor, weapon and standard upgrades. A tough lot.

I actually dumped my inherited army after the first scenario, and bought some Hastati. I then won at least 10 more with just one unit and the legate. I simply added another legion every 800 denari, and once I had 5, started spending on unit upgrades. Then, when I had each Legion up to at least grade 2 or 3 in weapons, armor and standards, I added another Legion and upgraded it. I just added my 9th legion and will stop at 10, with the balance of denari spent maximizing upgrades.

I was surprised to win so many of the initial scenarios with only one unit. At this point, my Legate is so powerful that I send him alone against light units when I'm bored and he's actually broken a few on his own.

Ahistorical, but fun in an RPG sort of way.

Hi JCG,

A level 54 Legate!??! Yow!! My level 20+ Legate sometimes just about breaks a lighr unit, in fact I think he may have done it once or twice. To get to that level 54 I can see how it happened by using only 1 unit of Hastati and the Legate to fight all those early battles. A good name for your Legion would be Legio Sanguine Gladius or something like that.

I keprt the original units and tried to add more units in a historical manner, using Allied troops to represent the paired Allied legion that always accompanied a Republican Roman Legion. Whne you read of a Legion in Republican times, this is usually referring to to both the Roman Legion and its paired Allied Legion.

Some of rome's Italian Allies seem to have fought in larger Cohort sized units rather than Maniples, although many Italian tribes did use the maniple and I believe Rome adapted the maniple type unit from the Samnites, volsci, and/or Latins, but this is not actually positively known I think. not sure.

The Romans of Republican times used the term Cohort as an administrative unit, for pay, supplies and an easy accounting of troops. This administrative Cohort would consist of a full size - 2 approximately 60 man strong Centuries or 120 men - Maniple of each of Hastati, Principes, and a 1/2 sized Triari Maniple of about 60 men. Each Maniple had about 40 Velites or Leves attached as Skirmishers. When a Legion was picked to be oversized in manpower, it was usually the Hastati, Principes, Velites, and sometimes the Cavary components that were increased, and supposedly the Triari maniples were never increased in size and always remained about 60 men strong for a total of 600 Triari in a Republican Legion.

Scipio did use the administrative Cohort in combat in Spain, and there may be other rare examples of its use in combat during Republican times.

Marius permanently introduced the Legion organization of 10 cohorts used by Caesar, although Scipio and possibly other earlier Roman commanders and the Allies used Cohorts in battle. With the Allies, the size of a Cohort seems to have varied in size depending on what tribe it came from.

You just might know this already, but I felt like blabbing, and perhaps someone can use this info.

I like ALL of Slitherine's games, and am going to start a legion Gold campaign I think, with some old modded files that both other people and myself made at the old legion Forum. You can still get some of these files, particularily new skins of the troops at the old Legion site that Slitherine still maintains. I just downloaded a bunch the other dau, although I have all these saved on disc.

With Legion Gold, the Legionaires throwing their Pilum .pcx and .text files are included, so there is not a problem with Legion Gold concerning this aspect. I am just going to replace some skins so I can have Legions in chainmail and a few other troop types such as tan-colored Tribal Javelins instead of the vanilla blue. Plus I will modify some unit stats and whatnots.

I ahve a hankering to play the Germans, or the romans against the Germans. I like the Spanish and Carthaginian and Gallic campaigns as well.

I can't wait until I unlock the gallic campaign in LA, although it is explained in the LA modding forum how to do this by altering Text fles, at least fro the Demo, so it should work with LA.

If I had the know-how, a good graphics program and/or CAD software, and the TIME, I would try and make some Sea Maps and try getting some Naval action in Legion Gold, Spartan and GoT. This should be possible to do, but the icon Graphics would require a lot of work and time. The land battle stats and other text files could be used in an altred state for Naval battles, its the graphics that would be much harder to do I believe.

Magobarca

Hi, Magobarca,

We should proably move this off tech support at this point, but one last reply. My rationale for sticking to legionary units was telling myself that in effect, the "48 man" units represented cohorts and that I wanted enough to build one real legion, then start adding auxilia and other types beyond the core legion. Probably not a realistic interpretation but it gets me through the day.

MEanwhile, if Slitherine would translate Spartan/Troy and Chariot Wars to the Legion Arena format, I would buy them. They would also have no competition in those eras. (Pip, can you pass this on?) I played them but didn't find the resource building very interesting. I'm an old grognard so I wanted a battle simulator.

It would also be nice for them to build a battle generator like the one in Rome: Total War, in which you can create units and play a battle based on whatever orders of battle you might have.

Final suggestion would be to add a campaign map in which to move your army from point to point, and provide some flexibility for size, shape and entry to the battle area.

Done.

We have found problems in the patch and it has been withdrawn. Instead please use download V1.0101b and install. If you get the option to Repair then choose this, otherwise just install normally.

Download the patch from http://www.slitherine.com/files/patches ... .0101b.exe

If you are having problems with the installer version we also have a backup in zip format available here. If you use the zip you will have to manually copy files to the correct place so we suggest you use the installer unless you know what you're doing! The zip file has one sub directory per language, and to get your copy working properly you need to ensure you copy the .str files from the appropriate language directory to the LegionArena\data directory on your PC.

If the problem persists, please let us know ASAP.

Errmm, interesting, and the L54 Legate is very impressive.

But I can't see an army of nothing but heavy infantry as being a good idea...

Well, just finished the Roman campaign as Caesar Augustus. No problems with the new patch so far.

Fame 108535
Legate (74)
First Legion (26)
Second Legion (25)
Third Legion (23)
Fourth Legion (22)
Fifth Legion (24)
Sixth Legion (23)
Seventh Legion (22)
Eighth Legion (21)
Ninth Legion (14)
Tenth Legion (14)

All units with many armor, weapon, standard upgrades - no problems.

Just wish I could keep going ...