Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post bug reports and ask for game support here.
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »


I edited a scenario in the HUCE. In TF AOC when I launch an ASW Patrol the came crashes. Attached in the Zip file are the edited scenario and a word document of the screen shot I captured.

I realize that I have pushed the game to its limit, but I like to make my scenarios more challenging. I know that I have used multiple units of the same ship type name. The latest edition of the scenario editor allows for this to be done. I don't know if this was was a bug from when the game was updated or if this was planned. I will make for some very interesting game if this was intended. In other versions that have worked of this scenario I have gotten the ASW patrols form AOC to work. In one version of the game I accidentally found that the Kidd Class DDG's were the problem. In other versions they weren't the problem.

This version of the HDS9 scenario 10 was a completely stripped version. I started out from scratch and placed all the units and removed all of the previously placed Air Patrols form the CIS Side and added my own.

Over the years I have enjoyed playing all of the different versions of Harpoon. I have also built myself an 8 CPU core PC so I have all the power I need to play the edited scenarios. I hope in any future update of the HUCE that some time will be taken to fix the bugs in the scenario editor and make it compatible with Windows 7/8 64 bit edition. I have an XP machine just so I can edit the scenarios. I have a virtual XP machine on my windows 7 PC however it runs real slow.

Thanks again for creating an excellent game. I also enjoy and have spent many hours playing the other games I have purchased from your web site. I have purchased all of the Harpoon games since they were on floppy disks, 5 1/4 that is!

If you have any questions I can be contacted at: eeustice70@cox.net.

Have a great day and Thanks for your time,

Eric Eustice

Attachments
HDS910.zip
(347.05 KiB) Downloaded 4 times
User avatar
TonyE
Posts: 1571
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

RE: Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by TonyE »

Thanks Eric, I'll have a look today and get back to you with some preliminaries.

I am able to reproduce the error though I'm not yet sure what action is causing it.

Sincerely,
Tony Eischens
Harpoon (HC, HCE, HUCE, Classic) programmer
HarpGamer.com Co-Owner
User avatar
TonyE
Posts: 1571
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

RE: Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by TonyE »

ORIGINAL: eeustice70
I realize that I have pushed the game to its limit, but I like to make my scenarios more challenging. I know that I have used multiple units of the same ship type name. The latest edition of the scenario editor allows for this to be done. I don't know if this was was a bug from when the game was updated or if this was planned. I will make for some very interesting game if this was intended. In other versions that have worked of this scenario I have gotten the ASW patrols form AOC to work. In one version of the game I accidentally found that the Kidd Class DDG's were the problem. In other versions they weren't the problem.

Eric, unfortunately in this case you pushed the game beyond its limits. I'm surprised the scenario even loads. Group AOC starts the scenario with 101 Units. The maximum # of units a group can have is 100, hence my surprise that you could save the scenario in the SE or load it in the GE. Note in the Unit window there are only two digits for unit ids, AO00 - AO99 so 100 possible units.

The crash happens thanks to a wrap-around (aka overflow) error. The carrier actually tries to launch the SSN USS Houston instead of the helo/aircraft. That is where the GetAnnex error comes in since the game eventually realizes it can't catapult a SSN off the deck of a carrier.

Increasing the maximum units per group will probably never happen but if you split the group in two that will buy you room for a bunch of formation patrols in each group.

Sincerely,
Tony Eischens
Harpoon (HC, HCE, HUCE, Classic) programmer
HarpGamer.com Co-Owner
User avatar
TonyE
Posts: 1571
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

RE: Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by TonyE »

Well, famous last words. If you are willing, give the 2009 series stable beta a try from: http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.ph ... ent-files/

It allows a maximum of 255 units per group and does not crash for me when launching formation patrols in group AOC. The only gotcha is you can't use existing saved games with this new version. You can keep both GEs (game engines/winharp32.exe) though and use the 2009.050 for your existing saves and play new ones with the newer GE.

Sincerely,
Tony Eischens
Harpoon (HC, HCE, HUCE, Classic) programmer
HarpGamer.com Co-Owner
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

RE: Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »

Tony,

I hadn’t seen the posts on the forum. I have now downloaded 2009.072.

Do I just extract the files into my HUCE directory and replace the old files.

I went through the Release notes and I didn’t see how to install the updates to the game.

Sorry I tried to launch a Sub off of a DD or FF. It sure would have looked funny if you could have seen that. I hope it gave you guys a little chuckle!

I figured I had pushed the gam past it’s limits. I didn’t know that there was a 100 unit limit. I don’t remember reading it in the manuals. It makes sense because in some of the games I have played all of the ASW patrols I launched wound up in 1 air group. I would have 6 or 8 helo’s in one group. I was trying to figure that one out too.

Thanks for updating the of each air group and TF to 255 units. This sounds like fun!

Can’t wait to give this a try.

Tony, thanks for taking the time to look at my scenario and updating HUCE. I will be trying it out shortly.

I will let you know what happens after I recreate the scenario in the new scenario editor.

Have a great weekend.
Eric Eustice
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »

Tony,

I was playing a watered down version of the scenario I sent you last week and I had another crash. I am not exactly sure when the crash occurred because I got wrapped up in the game and forgot to do more multiple saves. I was using the 2009.072 I download last night.

Attached are the files and a copy of the error I had.

Thanks again for your time.

Eric
Attachments
NewCrash..nario10.zip
(287.3 KiB) Downloaded 9 times
User avatar
TonyE
Posts: 1571
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by TonyE »

ORIGINAL: eeustice70

Tony,

I was playing a watered down version of the scenario I sent you last week and I had another crash. I am not exactly sure when the crash occurred because I got wrapped up in the game and forgot to do more multiple saves. I was using the 2009.072 I download last night.

Attached are the files and a copy of the error I had.

Thanks again for your time.

Eric

Hi Eric,

It appears you have gone beyond the maximum number of groups the game can handle at one time. That is not something I can easily expand at this time. Your save game has 756 groups. In a perfect situation the game would work correctly with 676 groups split equally between Blue and Red.

The limit comes from the group names AA through ZZ (26 x 26 = 676).
Sincerely,
Tony Eischens
Harpoon (HC, HCE, HUCE, Classic) programmer
HarpGamer.com Co-Owner
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »

Tony,

I kind of figured it was something like that. Without knowing the parameters of the game it's a little hard for me sometimes to edit a scenario. I was thinking that it was either missile groups or airplane groups.

In the past I have tried to combine carrier air groups but when they land the always land on the carrier the first group came from. That makes sense because the 2nd group loses its identity so to say when it is combined with another air group if it came from another carrier in the asame TF. I will try and water down the scenario CAP patrols from the bases and that should cut down on the number of active air groups.

If I would have played through the error condition would the game have saved itself and then worked properly again?

I can't thank you enough for taking the time to look at my scenarios and answer my questions. Had I known years ago how good you guys were I would have contacted you a long time ago with my questions.

If I can help in any way to make HUCE better please let me know. I really love this game and all the possibilities that can be created.

Eric Eustice

One question. What are the chances of adding air to air refueling in the battle sets of HUCE that don't already have it?
User avatar
TonyE
Posts: 1571
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by TonyE »

ORIGINAL: eeustice70
If I would have played through the error condition would the game have saved itself and then worked properly again?
There is a small chance things would have returned to a playable state once a bunch of groups went away. The game would not have let you play through, it exits when there is any GetAnnex error assuming that the data corruption is bad enough that things would just get worse.
I can't thank you enough for taking the time to look at my scenarios and answer my questions. Had I known years ago how good you guys were I would have contacted you a long time ago with my questions.
We see very very few decent issue reports, yours have been good (with room to go for great <g>). You also happened across situations that were easy to analyze. We've been struggling with a submarines stopping when they shouldn't problem for a couple of years and just can't get the reproduceable situation that I'm looking for on that one.
If I can help in any way to make HUCE better please let me know. I really love this game and all the possibilities that can be created.
Come join us over at harpgamer.com, Thursday we are even trying to revive IRC chats http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.ph ... -irc-chat/

Wishlists are great, we'd love to see you make one:
http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.ph ... ish-lists/

I think we could slowly produce some aids to your large scenarios (a way to count groups in the GE (winharp32.exe/game engine) for instance. I also tinkered with multithreading some of the game processing functions about five years back but nobody was interested. You might be interested with these monsters, and your beefy machine!
One question. What are the chances of adding air to air refueling in the battle sets of HUCE that don't already have it?
Right next to zero chance of this happening. Editing the database for those 'legacy' battlesets is extremely difficult, when we have to make changes to fix crashes we hard-code them in the game rather than edit the database if that gives a relative comparison of difficulty. The counter-question is why aren't you interested in using one fo the commondb battlesets (EC2003 and newer)?
Sincerely,
Tony Eischens
Harpoon (HC, HCE, HUCE, Classic) programmer
HarpGamer.com Co-Owner
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »

Tony,

I have a new crash in the watered down scenario. What is interesting is that the game still continues to play throught the error. I have saved the zup file for you and will send it if I can figure out how I got the other file in a msg the other day! I will email it to you if I can't get

Attachments
New Crash ..0 2-6-13.zip
(211.37 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
User avatar
TonyE
Posts: 1571
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by TonyE »

ORIGINAL: eeustice70
I have a new crash in the watered down scenario.
Thanks for posting the zip file. Eric and I covered in chat that the error was in the simple IRC chat application, not in the game so all is good in the saved game. My kind of action 20 Tomcats in a single formation!
Sincerely,
Tony Eischens
Harpoon (HC, HCE, HUCE, Classic) programmer
HarpGamer.com Co-Owner
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »

Tony,

Here is a new crash.

Thanks,
Eric
Attachments
Crash2713.zip
(195.94 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »

Tony,

Here is the new file.

Thanks,
Eric
Attachments
Crash27132.zip
(195.94 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
User avatar
TonyE
Posts: 1571
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by TonyE »

That seems to have the same saved game in it as Crash2713 so it isn't any more helpful.
Sincerely,
Tony Eischens
Harpoon (HC, HCE, HUCE, Classic) programmer
HarpGamer.com Co-Owner
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »

Thanks for checking. I didn't realise it was the same evethough the time was different. I will go back and play again and see if it happens again.
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »

Tony,

I went back and played from a good point in the game. The crash didn't happen again. My guess is that something got out of sequence when I combined 2 air groups together. To cut down on the # of air groups I launch 2 sets of planes and combine them after they take off. This reduces the launch time of an air group.

This has works good so far. I haven't crashed the game yet.

Thanks
User avatar
TonyE
Posts: 1571
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by TonyE »

Eric, you are probably right on the group joining, the crash was trying to join a null group to another group but I would have needed to be able to reproduce that joining command to understand how to fix the problem. Thanks for giving it a try, I know there are plenty of bugs left!
Sincerely,
Tony Eischens
Harpoon (HC, HCE, HUCE, Classic) programmer
HarpGamer.com Co-Owner
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »

Tony,

I had something interesting happen this evening.

Take a look at air group DTA and CDA by the ST. Mawgan UK base.

DTA has 0 planes in it. It has just been sitting there. CDA some how got over 250 planes in it some how. It started with 260 when I firsr saw it. The planes are landing.

Thanks,
Eric
User avatar
eeustice70
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by eeustice70 »

Tony,

I messed op the attachment the first time. Here is the file. I checked on my other PC and the game is still working.

Thanks again.
Eric
Attachments
Tony22213.zip
(207.52 KiB) Downloaded 8 times
User avatar
TonyE
Posts: 1571
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: MN, USA
Contact:

RE: New Game Crash in Edited Scenario HUCE HDS9 Scenario 10

Post by TonyE »

I'll have a look on Monday Eric but don't get your hopes up here, sounds like plain running past the game limits.
Sincerely,
Tony Eischens
Harpoon (HC, HCE, HUCE, Classic) programmer
HarpGamer.com Co-Owner
Post Reply

Return to “Tech Support”