Empire Earth III (3) Errors and Problems

As I try and figure out what the problem is with Empire Earth III and my setup I'll use this space to document and link to other pages where errors with Empire Earth 3 are being discussed.

My setup includes:

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6000)
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Motherboard: Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe/Wireless Edition
Memory: 4094MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
Sound: (SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio)
Microphone (SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio)
DVD Drive Model: PLEXTOR DVDR PX-800A ATA Device

I've applied every applicable driver and update I can find for Vista and all hardware.

The issue I'm having is that after 20 - 40 minutes of game play the screen goes black for a second, Vista says there's an error, and the game is closed. No error message is presented but when I dig into the error logs on Vista I see 3 different error reports:

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: EE3.exe
Application Version: 1.1.0.0
Application Timestamp: 4730f1e3
Fault Module Name: EE3.exe
Fault Module Version: 1.1.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 4730f1e3
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00626860
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 8d13
Additional Information 2: cdca9b1d21d12b77d84f02df48e34311
Additional Information 3: 8d13
Additional Information 4: cdca9b1d21d12b77d84f02df48e34311

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 560931511

The second error report

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: EE3.exe
Application Version: 1.1.0.0
Application Timestamp: 4730f1e3
Fault Module Name: kernel32.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.0.6000.16386
Fault Module Timestamp: 4549be94
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00010dc9
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: fc44
Additional Information 2: a7fbc974a97f83c66289e57af3d5cc54
Additional Information 3: 3eaf
Additional Information 4: b55ffaa671ae81ef57d50110cdd81a0a

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 561069899

The third error report:

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: EE3.exe
Application Version: 1.1.0.0
Application Timestamp: 4730f1e3
Fault Module Name: StackHash_fc44
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00000000
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: fc44
Additional Information 2: a7fbc974a97f83c66289e57af3d5cc54
Additional Information 3: 3eaf
Additional Information 4: b55ffaa671ae81ef57d50110cdd81a0a

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 561951025

I've seen each error report a few times.

Here are some links to threads/sites where problems and errors with Empire Earth III are being discussed. I will add more as I find them. Hopefully the answer to your Empire Earth 3 problem is in here somewhere.

- Why won't the game work?
"Empire Earth III has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available."

- Choppy Naval Unit Problems
"This issue is more annoying than anything and I was wondering if anyone else was experiencing it. Naval Ships movement is choppy as hell, where as I have no framerate problems with anything else when playing I can turn everything on everything to max and everything to its lowest,, the Naval Units are always moving in the same choppy way. "

- Odd Error, Can't Play Game
"Not sure what's up, to be honest. I can play most PC games just fine. Some have issues, but those were resolved, like CNC 3. Anyway when I start up EE3 I get the Sierra Splash screen stuff. Then the intro video, which is where it gets wierd."

- Funky Errors
"a couple bugs keep frequently happening: My game keeps crashing seemingly at random, the ships seem to teleport inch by inch, and it freezes every now and then.. my computer is completely up to date and ran it fine before the patch (aside from a couple crashes) on cranked high graphics."

Video/Memory Resource Leak
"Was playing some multiplayer tonight... after about 20 minutes, I got a message saying the game was low on video memory, and it reduced texture quality.

FYI, I have an 8800GTX with 768MB of video memory. This definitely seems like some type of memory leak."

No Start Menu Shortcut or Desktop Icons
"This appears to be a bug in the EE3 installer. I am running Vista 64 bit.

I've been running the EE3AutoRun.EXE it installed in the Program Files (x86) directory - not sure if that's right since I have never successfully run the game yet! "

Empire Earth 3 Stops Playing
"Anybody having problems with EE3 not working with graphics set on anything higher then lowest settings.I have a NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT which meets and exceeds the recomended requirements.I have concated tech support via E-mail"

EE3 Game Patch 1.1 and Downloaded Game Won't Work
"Title says it all. Purchase downloaded game from gamestop. Game worked. Installed patch today and now game will not start. Get message to insert CD/DVD. Will not load program. "

Problem with EE3 1.1 Patch
"After downloading the patch and double clicking it I get an error dialog: "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have appropriate permissions to access the item." "

Memory Leak
"Is there a known memory leak in this game? If I play world domination the game runs fine for the first few maps. But after playing 3 or so battles it becomes extremely laggy."

Empire Earth III and Vista 64 Ultimate
"I recently built a new PC with Vista. I installed Empire Earth III and am running into problems - mainly the game just closes after 20 - 40 minutes of play."

Optimal Image Quality
"Do not use the Anti-Aliasing settings within your video card, for some reason this game doesn't like them. I'm using an Nvidia 8800, put your settings on "let the application decide" and then in EE-III DO NOT set the Anti-Aliasing beyond the first quarter of the slider."

Unable to play Empire Earth 3
"This application has failed to start because PhysXLoader.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."

Help EE3 Not Working
"Picked a map, Clicked Launch. Then after a few seconds, the game crashes back into windows with only message "Empire Earth III has stopped working" Windows will find a solution if available... then nothing. I can't play the game"

Illegal Operation Crashes
"Thought my issues were resolved with my new graphics card. Spoke to soon I guess."

Empire Earth III and Vista
"I have an AMD 4000+, 2G Ram and a 7900GS and am having loads of crashes with vista apart from totally slowing down on resolutions greater then 1024 * 768."

Empire Earth 3 Released

Empire Earth 3 started shipping on November 6, 2007. I opted to just download Empire Earth III from DirectToDrive. It's 5 GB so don't bother unless you have a fast connection. I have cable Internet service and was able to average about 1600kbps. Pretty quick.

Here are a few notes and resources seeing as this game is new and info can still be difficult to find.

Empire Earth III Free Public Demo - I wouldn't bother - it's a 1.6GB download and is so stripped down compared to the real game it's hardly worth it. You can't even save a game and there's no multiplayer option. Missing TONS of other stuff too.

Official Empire Earth 3 Site - The official Empire Earth III site.

Official Empire Earth III discussion forum
- Empire Earth III Single Player FAQ
- Early player opinions on the full version of the game (did i mention the demo sucked?)

Empire Earth III Patch 1.1 - The patch fixes a number of bugs along with a number of balance changes. Here's everything addressed with this patch.

Empire Earth III system requirements:

Minimum System Requirements
• 1.7 GHz Intel® Pentium® 4, AMD® Athlon™ XP processor or equivalent
• NVIDIA® GeForcecard or equivalent DirectX® 9.0c-compliant 128 MB 3D video card supporting Hardware T&L and Shader Model 2.0 or higher
• 512 MB RAM
• 1.5 GB Virtual Memory paging file recommended as well
• 6.5 GB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files
• Microsoft® Windows® 32-BIT XP or Windows Vista™ operating system
• DirectX® 9.0c (included)
• DirectX®-compatible sound card and speakers or headphones
• DVD drive
• Microsoft®-compatible mouse and keyboard
• Internet Connection: Cable/DSL or faster for online play

Recommended System Requirements
• 3.2 GHz Intel® Pentium® 4, AMD® Athlon™ 64 3500+ or faster processor (dual core Pentium® D, Core™ 2 Duo or Athlon™ X2/FX processor recommended).
• NVIDIA® GeForce® 7000 series graphics card or equivalent DirectX® 9.0c-compliant 256 MB 3D video card supporting Hardware T&L and Shader Model 3.0 or higher (512 MB SLI compatible 3D video cards recommended)
• 1 GB RAM or more
• GB Virtual Memory paging file recommended as well
• 6.5 GB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files
• Microsoft® Windows® 32-BIT XP or Windows Vista™ operating system
• DirectX® 9.0c (included)
• DirectX®-compatible sound card and speakers or headphones
• DVD drive
• Microsoft®-compatible mouse and keyboard
• Internet Connection: HIGH SPEED Cable/DSL/LAN for faster online play

Common problems people will run into with EE3 are video or sound card drivers as well as DirectX issues. Here's an outline from Sierra of how to correct those problems:

A cause of many problems is outdated or incompatible driver software for the video/sound card.
Always be sure that you have the latest drivers for your video and sound cards along with latest DirectX® update.

Drivers frequently updated to keep the hardware current and to fine tune performance.

Please note: Each manufacturer has a different method of updating device drivers. When contacting a manufacturer to get a driver, you must also get specific instructions for updating those drivers.

1. Determine the current driver version, which installed in your system, so that you can verify if there are newer ones available.

•Click Start, and then Run. Type "DXDIAG" into the Open box and click OK.
•The DirectX Diagnostic Tool will open, and will start on the System tab.
•On this tab, the bottom half of the screen is encased in a box labeled “System Information".
•The third line in this box starts with "Operating System,” and tells us what version of Windows you are running.
•Click the Display tab. The upper left corner is a box named Device. The first three lines are the Name, Manufacturer, and Chip Type of your video hardware.
•On this tab, in the upper right corner, box named Drivers.
•The second line is the video driver’s version number, and the third is the date of release.
•Click the Sound tab. the Name on the top line of the Device box in the upper left.
•In the upper right corner is also a Drivers box, with the version number and dates in the same place.
•Click Exit in the lower right hand corner of the window.

Once you have the information about your Operating System, video/sound card name & manufacturer, driver version, you can go online and see if newer drivers are available from your computer or hardware manufacturer.

Where you go depends on whether the computer is a name brand (such as Dell, HP, Gateway, Compaq, etc.), and whether the hardware in the machine been upgraded since you bought it.

2. Listed below is some PC manufacturers’ web information along with sound and video hardware manufacturers.

If your manufacturer is not in a list, you must consult your Owner’s Manual for the company’s specific contact information.

If you have built your machine from component parts, or you have updated the video/sound card in your name-brand system, then you will need to go to the Web site of the manufacturer.
Check and see if the driver available for your particular video/sound card is newer than the one you have, based on the information you took down from above steps.
If so, then you will want to download and install it.

Computers

Alienware http://www.alienware.com
Compaq http://www.compaq.com
Dell http://www.dell.com
Gateway http://www.gateway.com
HP http://www.hp.com
NEC http://www.nec.com
Sony http://www.ita.sel.sony.com
Toshiba http://www.toshiba.com

Sound Cards

If your computer was configured with a sound card when you purchased it, you should try to obtain the appropriate drivers from the computer manufacturer.
Many companies supply sound chipsets, which often customized by computer manufactures.
If you purchased a separate sound card, and cannot obtain the appropriate drivers, try from the following companies:

Creative Labs
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/
Realtek
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/

-Video Cards-

If your computer was configured with a video card when you purchased it, you should try to obtain the appropriate drivers from the computer manufacturer.

Many companies supply video chipset, which often customized by computer manufacturers.
If you purchased a separate video card, or cannot obtain the appropriate drivers through the computer manufacturer, you may be able to obtain updated drivers from the following companies:

ATI Technologies Inc.
http://www.atitech.com/support/driver.html

Nvidia
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

DirectX® update

If DirectX files missing or corrupt that can cause game not to run properly.

Install or reinstall the newest version of DirectX, follow these instructions:

- Go to Microsoft’s DirectX download site: http://www.microsoft.com/directx
- Click on the Download the latest DirectX link.
- Next, click on the Continue button to validate your current version of DirectX.
- Install the Microsoft DirectX validation software by clicking on the Run button.
- Once the validation completed, you will be on the download page.
- Click on the Download button to continue.
- On the File Download popup, select Run. This will begin the install for DirectX.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to install the latest version of DirectX.

3. If you need technical assistance regarding your game, please go back a page and select the Contact US web link to submit a question by filling the Web form.

DISCLAIMER: Updating video and sound card drivers is computer maintenance and is something for which we do not support. We assume no responsibility for the effects that changing the driver for your video or sound card may have on your system.

They also have a help section you can check out...right now for EE3 it's basically empty:
http://sierra.com/en/home/support/sierra_support.html - (just select Empire Earth III from the product menu and hit search to see all the items)


Enjoy Empire Earth III and some screen shots of my own to follow after I get a chance to take it for a spin.