Zookeeper's Lounge

I have the 3 Original Zoo Tycoon games but because of trouble with them I went & bought the Complete Collection. Only to find that the problems are still there. So I formatted my system, no drivers or updates, installed CC and I keep getting the same errors. grrrrrr.
The error is:
AppName zoo.exe
AppVer 12.4.0.9
ModName zoo.exe
ModVer 12.4.0.9
Offest 00014340
and a couple of 00014072's to add to the fun.
I don't have any downloaded objects or hacks, completely original.
So then I thought I'd install my updated hardware drivers, still the same though.
I have just spent $225.00 for a game that quits on me soon after I start to play.
I have sent an error message to Microsoft and emailed them too, but that was over a month ago and I haven't had an answer.
Can anyone here help?

Welcome to the Lounge.

The "Game Crashes, Loading Issues, Errors" topic near the top of Technical Support has a number of possibilities and things to try. Without knowing anything else, the Windows XP SP1 patch might be one possibility (or turning off the playing of introduction movies); the video driver might be another.

What Windows version are you using? What video driver and version are you using? How much actual memory does your computer have? How far does the game get before the crash? Does it crash before showing any introduction movie and also before getting to the first menu? Were there any errors while installiing CC?

Hi Jay, thanks for the reply.
I have Windows Patch SP1 installed.
I run Windows XP, have a MSI GForce 4 440 video card, the Nvidia driver version is 4.1.0.9. I had XP version 5.3.0.3 installed before I formatted and it still crashed.
I have 384 MB Ram, 1.2 Athlon Thunderbird processor.
DirectX version 9.0b
I didn't have any installation errrors, the game never crashes when loading, only when I'm playing a game.
Many thanks
Cathi

I don't see anything unusual in those specifications. A number of people had crashes with nvidia 4.1.0.7, but 4.1.0.9 has worked better. Does it crash at the same point all of the time? For example, on a certain game day? Or when you are trying to do the same thing? When you clicked on the option to send the error report to Microsoft, the Microsoft web site checks its database for the error. Did it say that it did not have a workaround for the problem?

The "Game Crashes, Loading Issues, Errors" topic mentions a number of possible things to try. The particular ones I would probably try next:
- Uninstall Complete Collection. Then make sure C:/Program Files/Microsoft Games/Zoo Tycoon is gone. It might not be. If not, delete it. This is extremely important because it is known that the uninstall does not always delete everything and, when it doesn't delete everything, problems will occur. This also makes sure that there are no user downloads in there somehow. Then install Complete Collection again, without doing or installing anything else. Run the game and see if it crashes.
- If it crashes, turn off the introduction movies and run the game again. Go into the options. Then turn off the sound, turn off the blending, and set the resolution to the lowest possible. Play the game and see if it crashes.
- If it still crashes, restart the computer and go into Safe Mode. Run the game while in Safe Mode and see if it crashes.
- If it still crashes, you might want to try upgrading the nvidia driver. There is another topic near the top of Technical Support concerning nvidia drivers. Although noone mentioned crashes with 4.1.0.9, people said that they were having some slowness and display jerkiness but the newer versions fixed these. However, they also said that upgrading the driver can be tricky.

Since you have the original Zoo Tycoon, you could try to download the patch for the original Zoo Tycoon and install just the original Zoo Tycoon without any expansion packs, then use the patch to see if it runs any better.

If it still crashes, it is quite possible there is a hardware problem. Zoo Tycoon taxes and uses more of the system more than nearly any other program does.