Patrician 4 Message Board  

I am new to the CH site, and would appreciate a little advice.

I am using Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. I have a purchased copy of the Retail Box version of P4 that is properly registered and updated to the latest version, V.1.3. The game runs fine when not using Trainer. When using the Trainer (v.1.3), the game crashes after a few minutes of game play. The time before crash varies from only a couple minutes to 10-15 minutes. Changing game speed has no effect.

I have tried running the Trainer as Administrator. I have tried placing the Trainer within the P4 game file in Programs. I have exempted the P4 game file and Trainer from Norton 360. Not all Trainer function appear to work, but the Highest Reputation and Ship Editor do work. Whether I actually have made changes with the Trainer or just have it running in the background prior to use, the game still crashes after a few minutes.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Are there any suggestions for a solution?

Another question I have is about the Ship Editor, which is really what I wanted the Trainer for, has to do with my lack of being able to save changes made to a ship when doing doing a game save. When I reload the game save, the edited ship is back to its original values. Is this normal, or am I not doing something properly?

Any information or suggestions would be appreciated.


[Edited by Tom703, 1/21/2011 10:47:55 PM]

I have not had this problem. Are you using the latest video and audio drivers for your system as well as the latest chipset and mobo drivers? Have you updated DirectX to the latest version and downloaded the entire Direct X SDK? My specs:
Windows 7 Premium Home 64 bit
EVGA X58 SLI Bios 77
Intel Core 7 I920 2.67 MHZ Overclocked 2.85 GHZ
6GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600 RAM 8-8-8-8-24-72-2T
Creative Titanium XFI 2.17.8
Galaxy Geoforce 460 GTX 768MB
WD 1TB green
WD 150 GB
Maxtor 190GB
Samsung Syncmaster 226BW
NVidia 266.58 WHQL
Intel chipset 9.1.2.1008
PSU Corsair TX 850W

[Edited by Cohnman5, 1/24/2011 3:12:36 PM]

Thank you for the reply Cohnman5,

I want to make sure I was clear that the P4 game runs fine all day long when not running the Trainer. It also runs fine all day long when running CoSMOS for money. It is only when running the Trainer that I have crashes.

My computer is a Gateway that originally had a Vista Home Premium 64 bit operating system with integrated graphics and sound. I upgraded to Windows 7 Pro, changed the power supply to a 620 Watt, and installed the graphics and sound cards. This upgrade was about two weeks ago, at which time all the drivers were updated. When downloading the latest video drivers, it supposedly upgraded me to the latest version of Direct X 11, which is supported by this card.

If any of the above were a problem, wouldn't the problems occur all the time, not just when running the Trainer?

If you and others are not having a crashing problem when running the Trainer, then I obviously have a problem. What I am wondering is when upgrading did I actually get the Direct X SDK? This I need to check out as I don't know if that comes with the standard installation. This raises the question, is the SDK package necessary to properly run the Trainer?

Since the system was factory, I don't readily have all the data. Here are the basics:

Processor Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66 GHz 2.67GHz
RAM 6.00 GB
System Type 64-bit Operating System
Video Card HIS Radeon HD5770 (1GB DDR5)
Sound Creative Blaster Audigy SE

Here is what I get from running the Windows Experience test:
Windows Experience Index out of a max of 7.9:
Processor - 7.2
Memory (RAM) - 7.2
Graphics (Aero) - 7.4
Gaming Graphics - 7.4
Primary Hard Disc - 5.9

Another question: During the short period of time I have before crashing, the Trainer function for Highest Reputation worked for my home city, but not at any of the other cities. Is that normal, or am I not doing it correctly?

Thanks again for any advice.

Glad to be of help. You need to manually install Direct X 11 after you have upgraded the video drivers. You also may want to do a clean install because you may have "leftover" drivers from your previous configuration. Download The latest Radeon 64 bit drivers for Windows 7 . Then install Direct X11, but install the full SDK. I would also download the latest bios for your mobo, which can be a little tricky. Also make sure that the integrated video controller on the motherboard is disabled. Go to Control panel, System and check. You can disable it thru windows and some motherboards allow you to do this thru the bios. I also upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 and Microsoft FINALLY got it right with Windows 7 64 bit. As far as reputation, I use the money cheat to give oodles of money to the church(kind of ironic, since I'm Jewish) and that dramatically increases my reputation in all of the cities that I trade in. Also make sure that you are not depleting any commodities in each city because that will lower your reputation.

Hi Cohnman5,

I have done all of that. The recent upgrade to Windows 7 pro was a Hard Drive Format and clean install. Everything was updated at that time. I also did as you recommended and installed the full SDK developers package.

I am not having trouble playing the game. I have played it twice without problem. The only time I have a problem is when using the Trainer. The only thing I really wanted the Trainer for was to play around with the Ship Editor. I don't remember you mentioning using the Ship Editor, but if you have, are you able to save changes you make to the ships? I cannot. After saving, when I next load the game the ships all revert back to original stats.

I also have P2 and P3, so I have been playing this franchise for a long time.

Which version of P4 are you using? I am using the Retail Box version. I am now hearing that the Trainer works well with the Steam version, but not the retail box version. There may very well be a general problem with the Trainer not being compatible with the retail box version. I would like to know for sure if that is the case.

Interesting, I am using the Steam version and no, I do not use the ship editor. Maybe a memory issue. I would send a private e-mail to one of the developers(owners) of Cheathappens.com. Have you read carefully thru the troubleshooting guides for the trainer? I also love the franchise and have been playing since P3. The manual for P4 is much clearer and more extensive than for P3. Have you visited the Kalypso web site for P4? Pretty good website!

I have the retail box version too and the trainer also crashes when I use the trainer. So I guess this trainer may be incompatible with the retail version. I had been waiting for others to write about this problem as I wasn't sure if it was just me. Glad to find out Im not the only one here.

if someone wants to send us the retail 1.3 exe then we can look at it