Microsoft KB Archive/315733

Knowledge Base

MechWarrior Black Knight: Game Quits and You Receive an "Access Violation" Error Message

Article ID: 315733

Article Last Modified on 12/5/2002

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft MechWarrior 4: Black Knight

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This article was previously published under Q315733

SYMPTOMS

When you play a game in MechWarrior 4: Black Knight, the game may quit and return you to the desktop, or you may receive an error message similar to the following:

Access violation in MW4X! (+0x16ACD8)
Address : 0x0056BCD8
Location : MW4X! (+0x16ACD8)

NOTE: This issue has been known to occur most frequently during play in Mission 5.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if either of the following conditions is true:

• The game you are playing is a saved mission that has become corrupted.
  

-or-

• MechWarrior 4 has become corrupted.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, use the following methods in the order presented.

Method 1: Before You Start the Mission

Before you start the mission, remove all the weapons from your mech and your lancemate's mechs, save the game, and then reload your mech and lancemate's mechs with their weapons.

Method 2: Remove the Corrupted Mission

To remove the corrupted game, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then point to Run.
2. In the Open box, type the following (including the quotation marks)

   "c:\program files\microsoft games\mechwarrior vengence\resources\pilotssx\pilot name\games"

   where pilot name is the name of the pilot that you are using.
   
   

3. Delete the last saved game in this folder.
4. Close the dialog box, and then try the game again.

NOTE: If you delete the saved mission, you must start that particular mission over from scratch. If these steps do not help, try the next method.

Method 3: Remove and then Reinstall the Games

The program may have become corrupted. If this is true, you may be able to resolve this issue by removing and then reinstalling both MechWarrior games (MechWarrior 4: Vengeance and MechWarrior 4: Black Knight) in clean-boot mode, as follows.

NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.

Remove MechWarrior 4: Black Knight

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
3. Click MechWarrior Black Knight, and then click Add/Remove or Change/Remove.
4. Click Uninstall.
5. Click Remove saved games files.
6. Click OK.
7. Follow the instructions on the screen to remove MechWarrior 4: Black Knight.

Remove MechWarrior 4: Vengeance

Repeat the steps from the "Remove MechWarrior 4: Black Knight" section of this article, but replace step 3 with the following:

• Click MechWarrior Vengeance, and then click Add/Remove or Change/Remove.

Delete the MechWarrior Vengeance Folder

1. Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files or Folders.
2. In the Named box, type MechWarrior Vengeance.
3. In the Look in list, select My Computer.
4. Make sure that the Include subfolders check box is selected.
5. Click Find Now.
6. Right-click the MechWarrior Vengeance folder, click Delete, and then click Yes.
7. Close the Find: Files Named MechWarrior Vengeance window.

Clean-Boot the Computer

NOTE: The following steps pertain to Windows XP.

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type msconfig, and then click OK.
3. On the General tab, click Selective Startup, and then click to clear the following check boxes:
   • Process SYSTEM.INI File
   • Process WIN.INI File
   • Load Startup Items

   
   NOTE: You cannot clear the Use Original BOOT.INI check box.
   
   

4. On the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.
5. Click OK. When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Restart.

For additional information about how to clean-boot Windows XP, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

310353 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

NOTE: To restore your original Startup options, click Normal Startup on the General tab in the System Configuration utility.

Reinstall the Games

Insert the MechWarrior 4: Vengeance Disc 1 CD-ROM into your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then follow the instructions on the screen to reinstall MechWarrior 4: Vengeance.

Insert the MechWarrior 4: Black Knight Expansion CD-ROM into your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then follow the instructions on the screen to reinstall MechWarrior 4: Black Knight.

Return from a Clean-Boot State

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type msconfig, and then click OK.
3. On the General tab, click Normal Startup - load all device drivers and services.
4. Click OK. When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Restart.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about how to perform a clean boot, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

281770 How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 2000

267288 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows Millennium Edition

192926 How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98

243039 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 95

Additional query words: msgame drop

Keywords: kberrmsg kbprb KB315733

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