Astroids/Zap 2000!

[ArchiveGuest]

(This post was originally by K-Man)
Both of my AW games are hanging! Has ne1 else had this prob? Could it be free Mem (26%)? I love these games...HELP!

[planders]

Did you do or install anything in particular prior to noticing the crashes?

Try doing a soft reset (paperclip in the back of your Palm.) Zap! in particular is very demanding of Palm resources and this might fix it.

If not, try deactivating any hacks. Again, these will sometimes interfere with a demanding program like Zap! In particular, I\'ve found that ScreenShotHack blocks several large games from Astraware.

When all else fails, a hard reset (paperclip in the back while holding the power switch) will probably fix everything, but you\'ll have to reinstall all of your Palm software.

[ArchiveGuest]

(This post was originally by K-Man)
Peter,

Thanks for your quick response. Unfortunately, I did not notice the problem until after I had done several installs. The problem forces a soft reset each time it happens. I have also tried disabling all hacks as well as exiting SilverScreen 2.4 which I surmised might be the problem. I am beginning to think resources may be a problem. I am running a Palm M505 with X-Master, Teal Tools, PocketWatch, Sidelight Hack and Keeplit Hack (I\'ve tried disabling them all). I have only 20% free resources which I am beginning to suspect is the problem. Do you have any idea how many free resources are required?

Thanks,
Kevin

[planders]

I\'m not sure what percentage of free resources would be required, but Zap! runs on my m505 with my full complement of hacks active (see signature.) Once in a while I\'ll start the game and the title graphics will appear in streaks and a fatal exception occurs when I tap to play; a soft reset fixes this. I can always trigger this problem by running the game from an SD card, so I keep Zap! in RAM.

I did a bit of testing on my Palm.

TealMemBrain tells me the following before loading Zap!:

- File RAM: 4785k/7943k free
- Data Heap: 192k/250k free (largest 188k)
- Stack Space: 5640/6095 free

With Zap!2016 running (showing title screen), the results are:

- File RAM: 4603k/7943k free
- Data Heap: 32k/250k free (largest 30k)
- Stack Space: 5692/6095 free

So, it would appear that Zap! uses 182k of RAM and 160k of heap space, just to load. After starting a new game, the free RAM drops to 4161k, so an additional 442k is used by gameplay processes. Yikes!

So, in addition to the space required to store the game file on your m505, it appears that you need at least 624k of free memory.

Hope this helps,
Peter

[ArchiveGuest]

(This post was originally by K-Man)
Peter,

If you believe Palm, I have 2145K of free memory

[planders]

Well I hate to suggest it, but the only other thing I can suggest would be to do a hard reset. If you do a Hotsync first, all of your data and programs will be backed up.

Hold the power button and poke the reset hole on the back of your m505; let go of the power switch when the Palm logo appears onscreen. Push the UP button to clear memory, go through the system setup, Hotsync and you should be up and running...

Good luck!
Peter

[Howard]

Just to add to what Peter has already said, it seems that sometimes small amounts of memory in the heap area get used up, and not de-allocated. (Its pretty common for people who use hacks).
A soft or hard reset should clear them.

Astraware games really push the memory and performance of these little machines beyond their design, so its no great surprise that problems like this show up most for people using our software!

Peter - thanks for the help and explanations in the thread - perhaps I should consider outsourcing my support to Peter Landers Consulting ? ;-)

Regards to all,

Howard.

[planders]

Peter - thanks for the help and explanations in the thread - perhaps I should consider outsourcing my support to Peter Landers Consulting ? ;-)

AARGH! You keep me busy enough with all of those #@!$% betas! ;)

Really, I don\'t mind doing this once in a while, at least when a problem sounds a bit like my own occasional experience--and when it lets me reiterate that I STILL can\'t get Zap! to run from an SD card! This despite the fact that Zap!2016 has been sold on Palm\'s SD Game Collection... :P

Peter