CTDs,+Why+They+Happen,+and+some+fixes

Crashes to desktop, when your game refuses to start or simply quits and the screen goes blank, usually have a single cause: A similar cause is that the file may be there in name, but it is corrupted. The game checks its list of required files and will quit if they don't work. Often, it will give you a message about a missing file. A "7217" error message is not a missing file, but a graphics card problem. See elsewhere here on the Wiki for information on that. If you have just installed the game and it won't work, carefully check the directory "properties" and your operations on install. Do you have the right directory for your desktop link? Try a re-install as a last resort. Have you installed either the 1.2 patch or the new 1.26 patch? You have to play the game ONCE before installing the 1.2 patch because that creates a vitally necessary **eaw.ini** file. **DO NOT** play the game before installing the 1.26 patch. It handles the matter differently. If the **eaw.ini** file is bad for some reason, EAW will create its own version. Unfortunately, this version will not let you use your joystick or other controls you chose. If you have changed your eaw.ini file recently, open it with a click (it's a text file) and go over it carefully for anything odd. It should have such entries as "Joystick=1", not "Joystick=0" Remember, don't save it as eaw.txt, but eaw.ini Other places to look for missing files: If you have another copy of the game, compare the basic files in your EAW directory folder. Look especially at the list of CDF's (Compressed Data Files). Usual missing files are the eaw.ini file and the movies.cdf files. The Music directory and Savedata directory must be there as well for the game to run. Did you know you can get a copy of the contents of a directory by using the DOS command line? The "Command Prompt" is under Accessories in Windows. Enter this command when you drag the DOS command prompt to your EAW directory and then hit "Enter". Often, players may open the eaw.ini file, which is the main control file for the various "Configure Game" settings, and forget to save it as **eaw.ini** A popular shortcut is for the Movies.cdf file to be changed so it has no movies inside. Normally, Movies.cdf is a very large file, which is why people change it to something tiny. Check its size to see what version you have (and why it may not work). The **extra.spt** is another commonly missing file that will CTD the game. The SmackW32.dll and other .dll (digital library) files are necessary. Watch for minor files that seem unimportant. You can have MORE than the necessary files in your main EAW directory as extras, because that's the way you get different aircraft and other mods. If those "extra" files are bad, normally EAW will revert back to its standard CDF files and substitute its originals for the "modded" files. This can be a little surprising if you were expecting Japanese aircraft and wound up with German instead. Very rarely, the extra bad files will CTD the game. You'll have to remove them. -submitted by Wudpecker
 * 1. The game cannot find a file it needs to run.**
 * 2. What to do:**
 * DIR /B >Directory.txt** (or you can name it "anything" .txt after the > arrow. ) It will make a text file with all of the directory inside for easy printing or comparing.