Bug Reports - Help wanted

[DOCa Cola]

posted on September 6th, 2011, 8:37 pm

Last edited by DOCa Cola on September 21st, 2011, 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I normally go over to Megadroid's Mission Mod (MMM) a site by Megadroid for help on these type of things, but for months that site has been down with the same page popping up when I go to it "Maintance Mode". I have tried to post these bug reports at Armada Fleet Command - The Ultimate Star Trek: Armada Series & Birth of the Federation Download resource on the web! but that hasn't had any results yet either and there I can't even attach a document so it is just more text for the message I am trying to post.

Well I have solved the first bug reports problem that I had to post at Armada Fleet Command because that one involved the techtree (tech1) and the Romulan Race file (rom.odf) the Enterprise Era Romulan Starbase was spelt wrong as a starting unit. I was testing each Era at a time with everything else commented out in the other eras until the testing for each era was done.

Well for the TMP Era for the Romulans (since the ENT Era is mixed with the TOS Era) is when the problems that I am about to report occurs.

Here is the problem:
1) The game crashes on loading on about a quarter of the way in after attempting to load.
2) The bug reports are showing the offending file as a few different things. If it was a ship/station or special weapon, I'd comment it out of the tech1 file. If it was something else, I'd remove it.
3) That hasn't stopped the crash, it continues, I keep getting units and files as the offending files that aren't even related to my Romulan Race and I don't know what is causing this.

Ok, in the following download link is a .ZIP file to all of the Bug Reports that I am mentioning with this problem for those who rather get all of them at once. I'll attach the individual ones and the tech1 file.
MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

Attachments

strange bugreport 1.txt

(21.19 KiB) Downloaded 317 times

strange bugreport 2.txt

(21.26 KiB) Downloaded 329 times

strange bugreport 3.txt

(21.21 KiB) Downloaded 309 times

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posted on September 6th, 2011, 11:00 pm

I don't know what's causing your crash (techtree seems to be fine), but here are a few pointers you might like,

There are some odfs mentioned in the stackdump, did you check them? The stackdump shows the top of the stack, it tells you (for example) which files the program has accessed shortly before the crash. There might be some errors in there (typos are the most common one).

If you think that a ship or station is faulty (that means, there is an error in one of its ODF files), try to create one in the map editor. See if it can move (physics files) and shoot (weapon ODFs) and build (techtree). Its very effective and it can be done pretty quickly.

Hope that helps.

posted on September 7th, 2011, 9:13 pm

I don't know what's causing your crash (techtree seems to be fine), but here are a few pointers you might like,

There are some odfs mentioned in the stackdump, did you check them? The stackdump shows the top of the stack, it tells you (for example) which files the program has accessed shortly before the crash. There might be some errors in there (typos are the most common one).

If you think that a ship or station is faulty (that means, there is an error in one of its ODF files), try to create one in the map editor. See if it can move (physics files) and shoot (weapon ODFs) and build (techtree). Its very effective and it can be done pretty quickly.

Hope that helps.

Tried that, that was one of the first things I have done. Good advice though. I know that some of the files are physics files and I went back and checked them but there was no errors and they work fine in the other races for of one thing I am sure I got ships from the Federation, Klingons, Cardassians (Dominion Alliance), Romulans, Remans, Terran Empire Starfleet, Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, Borg, Ferengi, Gorn-Tholian Alliance, Vulcans, Hirogen, Species 8472, PTF-Federation (Starfleet Museum Federation Race), PTR-Romulans (Starfleet Museum Romulan Race). (See Races.odf below)
Races.odf

Code: Select all

numberOfRaces = 16
race0 = "borg.odf"
race1 = "fed.odf"
race2 = "kling.odf"
race3 = "rom.odf"
race4 = "card.odf"
race5 = "tpact.odf"
race6 = "reman.odf"
// this for a certain reman special weapon & now a full race too
race7 = "terran.odf"
race8 = "alliance.odf"
race9 = "vulcan.odf"
race10 = "ptf.odf"
race11 = "ptr.odf"
race12 = "species8472.odf"
race13 = "ferengi.odf"
race14 = "hirogen.odf"
// this one is 'uninhabited' for planets
race15 = "norace.odf"

Ironically, the AI can play the Romulans without the game crashing, their Starting Units are from the Enterprise Era, and they do not have access to the TNG Era stuff though, aka, their rconst.odf ship isn't available to them at this point until later (need to make an AI first).

I have all of the ships for the Whole Romulan Race as a whole in the Map Editor Files and have been attempting to test them, the game loads fine for the Map Editor and many of the ships work just fine or have some minor weapon errors, like the weapon files don't exist because they were from another mod and need editing. Thos e are the only crashes that I get within the Map Editor, the ships are actually moving just fine, so that makes me believe that the Physics Files are being mentioned for some unknown reason especially since some are actually from the Stock Version of the game and I have never changed them.

By any chance, are there any files that you want to see to check out that the Bug Reports mention? If so, please name them, and I'll attach them. After all, another set of eyes are better than one at times.

posted on September 8th, 2011, 3:17 am

I hate to have to add more to this right now before someone has had the chance to review the above information in the Bug Reports and also everything else that I tried to fix the problem.

Well I got another Bug Report and first I like to say that I have edited the zunit.odf file now hoping that could fix the problem but that didn't work. That file, zunit.odf was another file showing up in the Bug Report recently but there was nothing wrong in that file either. I gave the ship some better weapons though and have sent it on its way.

In fact until I come up with more ideas why this crash is happening or it happens to other races besides the Romulans, I have now moved on to working on my Gorn-Tholian Alliance Race.

Here is one more Bug Report from the Romulans though and also a screenshot from a crash that involved the game loading the Gorn-Tholian Alliance, the game crashed on a quarter of the way in for loading and then turned my desktop background black and removed some of my desktop icons from view as well.

Attachments

Strange Bug Report 4.txt

(21.23 KiB) Downloaded 324 times

posted on September 8th, 2011, 6:41 am

If just a human player crashes and the AI works fine, it might be worth a try to take a look at the stuff only necessary for humans, like the race gui

posted on September 8th, 2011, 11:10 am

It's possible you're running too many races, stock Armada 2 can only run a max of 14 (including the scavenger and planet race odf files).

posted on September 8th, 2011, 8:27 pm

If just a human player crashes and the AI works fine, it might be worth a try to take a look at the stuff only necessary for humans, like the race gui

Ok, I'll check that out. I was able to play as the Romulans prior to this crash happening well everything for the Romulans was commented out except for the ships and stations of the first starting era, the Enterprise - TOS Era. Once I commented in just a few of the TMP Era and the only Alternate Reality Romulan Ship, that is when the crash started and the game wouldn't allow me to play but the AI could. The only thing is the AI didn't have anything to build and was stuck with the starting units for the Enterprise - TOS Era. Could an era have occured with the GUI at that point? I haven't edited the GUI Files for the races, that is why I ask that.

Attachments

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posted on September 8th, 2011, 8:37 pm

I encourage you to study the Crash checklist in the guide.  Pretty much every cause of a crash is located there.  If you can narrow down the crash to a specific instance, or race, or even simply how long it takes before it crashes, it will help you to figure out what specifically is wrong.

Bug / Crash Checklist - The Hitchhiker's Guide to Fleet Operations

Also, how long are your reference names?  If your names are too long, like a ship odf name or the name of sprites or races or whatever, it can cause random crashes.


And is this FO or stock a2?  If its stock a2, make sure you have all those #include ship files as those can cause problems while loading.

[jetnova16]

posted on September 8th, 2011, 8:38 pm

Last edited by jetnova16 on September 8th, 2011, 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's possible you're running too many races, stock Armada 2 can only run a max of 14 (including the scavenger and planet race odf files).

Ok, I just find that stange though since I found a mod that was using 16 races just like I am, in fact, that mod was the Armada II Version of Klingon Acadamy II: Empire At War By SquireJames. In fact, some of the ships for my mod, especially the TMP Era comes from this Mod since he replied to my request/question on his thread at MMM (Megadroid's Mission Mod)'s Forums when I asked about the last ship in the posted picture, he gave me permission to use it and any others in my mod. I am almost at times wondering if there isn't anything in Klingon Acadamy II: Empire At War that could be interfering with my game because I have given almost ever race something from that mod if not alot.

I got the idea from there though for the 16 Races in my race.odf file, and haven't had problems with it before and this crashing problem has only recently started occuring. The 16 races have been in my game far longer than that. Before I seperated my Terran Empire-Klingon-Cardassian Alliance Race into 2 races, the other race was "ancients.odf" (from StarGate, but I have a new plan there to put the Ancients and all the StarGate Races into another mod remove the Star Trek Races from that mod's race.odf file, thus a new game.

Edit/Addition: Majestic, one question I thought of well replying to another post here. Could a race not listed in the Races.odf file cause the game to crash on loading for a ship or station that isn't even a starting unit? I ask this because for my tpact.odf, it is a race combined with 2 races, (The Tholians and the Gorn = The Gorn-Tholian Alliance). Well today well going through some Tholian ships, I noticed that some of their ships and stations were under the

Code: Select all

race = "tholian"

amd not

Code: Select all

race = "tpact"

.

[jetnova16]

posted on September 8th, 2011, 8:50 pm

Last edited by jetnova16 on September 8th, 2011, 8:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I encourage you to study the Crash checklist in the guide.  Pretty much every cause of a crash is located there.  If you can narrow down the crash to a specific instance, or race, or even simply how long it takes before it crashes, it will help you to figure out what specifically is wrong.

Bug / Crash Checklist - The Hitchhiker's Guide to Fleet Operations

Also, how long are your reference names?  If your names are too long, like a ship odf name or the name of sprites or races or whatever, it can cause random crashes.


And is this FO or stock a2?  If its stock a2, make sure you have all those #include ship files as those can cause problems while loading.

One question, will the Guide help out when the game being modded itsn't a Fleet Ops Mod? My game is the original Star Trek Armada II with Vanialla Ultimate 2.0 and the Patch Project 2.5 Patch.

For crashing problems in the game and loading the game, I have alittle knowledge, maybe not perfect but from what I learned from other modders in the Armada II Community is:
Loading Crashes:
1) Usually are because of an era in the Tech1 file if the game either freezes on loading, the loading bar doesn't move or the game crashes after a quarter of the way into loading.
2) I am not sure about this one, but I heard something that some crashes could involve the GUI_Global file. I haven't really had a crash that involved that yet though.

In-Game Crashes:
1) Are usually for me related to weapons (either not being correct as in the .odf file is missing or has a problem or a sprite isn't in the game) so that is what I come to expect.
2) Possibly with ships not moving.

Anything that I am missing that might cause a crash?

Well, I am going to download/save a copy of the Crash Checklist Quide to find out if it only works for FLeet Ops or as a quide to crashes in Star Trek Armada II as a whole. Either way, it might be a good thing to have handy.

posted on September 8th, 2011, 8:58 pm

When it comes to stock A2 crashing, starbase34 has an extensive crash correction checklist. While most of it is covered in the guide's article on crashes, you might want to check those, too - you never know. It's what I use when I can't figure one out. Here's a link. http://www.starbase34.net/modding-your-odf-s/crash-correction-checklist

Concerning the max number of races, I think it's fifteen, though I'm not sure whether that includes the ferengi npc or not. You might want to check - just comment some of them out. The whole race should be disabled then, and if that's the problem, it should work then.

posted on September 8th, 2011, 9:02 pm

Ok, I saved this part for last, so sorry about tripple posting, I just wanted to get replying to the individual posts out of the way without being "too" lengthy in my replies.

Here is another Bug Report that I have had just sitting around on my laptop in another file for my mod. This report is from "8/23/2011, so might be mostly related to my Terran Empire Starfleet Race or the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance Race for they were being worked on then. It just seems that this Bug Report isn't saying anything related to either of those races, there are no .odf files mentioned or anything that I can see connected to a race. But just maybe, maybe it has something connected to the problem with the Romulan Race loading if it is connected.

Attachments

bugreport - unknown crash.txt

(21.86 KiB) Downloaded 356 times

posted on September 8th, 2011, 9:12 pm

I believe the guide's list should work for stock as well, but I would take anything starbase34 says over the guide, if I were you, just because the guide is made with FO in mind.

posted on September 8th, 2011, 9:13 pm

When it comes to stock A2 crashing, starbase34 has an extensive crash correction checklist. While most of it is covered in the guide's article on crashes, you might want to check those, too - you never know. It's what I use when I can't figure one out. Here's a link. http://www.starbase34.net/modding-your-odf-s/crash-correction-checklist

Concerning the max number of races, I think it's fifteen, though I'm not sure whether that includes the ferengi npc or not. You might want to check - just comment some of them out. The whole race should be disabled then, and if that's the problem, it should work then.

I'll give that a try too.
Right now I don't have my disc with me to play the game. I'll get back to you on that when I test it though.

posted on September 8th, 2011, 9:40 pm

Yes, the guide's list is designed for use with FO, which accesses some files earlier than A2, thus changing where some crashes are. However, the list should be the same (just not the order necessarily) .

Be wary of some things that the crash list says at SB34.net that don't match with the guide (like hardpoint things), as some of the SB34 fact checking was less rigorous...