Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post bug reports and ask for game support here.

Moderator: Shannon V. OKeets

joshuamnave
Posts: 967
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:51 am
Contact:

Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by joshuamnave »

Apparently I've engaged in one of the two classic blunders - never get involved in a ground war in Asia. Only slightly less well known, never buy a game from Matrix.

Japanese moves in China are causing frequent game crashing mad excepts. I'd be happy to provide a saved game (actually, that's a lie... I would begrudgingly supply one) but it wouldn't help as reloading the game fixes the problem. Of course, it means having to go back to the start of the Axis land move phase, which can be a real pain in the ass once Barbarossa has started, particularly since the horrible lag time while moving German units in Russia also seems to have returned.

Still have yet to complete a game thanks to game ending bugs and multiple crashes. Think a year and a half is long enough to fix this mess you sold me. Get it right, or give me my money back.
Head Geek in Charge at politigeek.net - the intersection of politics and all things geeky
User avatar
gw15
Posts: 942
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 4:29 pm

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by gw15 »

Game works great for me.
User avatar
Centuur
Posts: 9013
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2011 12:03 pm
Location: Hoorn (NED).

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by Centuur »

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

Apparently I've engaged in one of the two classic blunders - never get involved in a ground war in Asia. Only slightly less well known, never buy a game from Matrix.

Japanese moves in China are causing frequent game crashing mad excepts. I'd be happy to provide a saved game (actually, that's a lie... I would begrudgingly supply one) but it wouldn't help as reloading the game fixes the problem. Of course, it means having to go back to the start of the Axis land move phase, which can be a real pain in the ass once Barbarossa has started, particularly since the horrible lag time while moving German units in Russia also seems to have returned.

Still have yet to complete a game thanks to game ending bugs and multiple crashes. Think a year and a half is long enough to fix this mess you sold me. Get it right, or give me my money back.

I hope you send your Mad Excepts, because I don't have these problems in China...
Peter
joshuamnave
Posts: 967
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:51 am
Contact:

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by joshuamnave »

Still happening with the newest version. Only happens with Japanese moves in China, doesn't seem to be any discernible pattern to when they happen.
Head Geek in Charge at politigeek.net - the intersection of politics and all things geeky
User avatar
paulderynck
Posts: 8356
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:27 pm
Location: Canada

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by paulderynck »

Just curious if when loading a save when MWiF is already running, do you exit out and restart MWiF?
Paul
Shannon V. OKeets
Posts: 22135
Joined: Wed May 18, 2005 11:51 pm
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Contact:

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

Still happening with the newest version. Only happens with Japanese moves in China, doesn't seem to be any discernible pattern to when they happen.
I am not seeing any Mad Excep0t reports emailed to us, so I really don't know what is happening.

If you can upload a saved game with instructions, I should be able to fix this. I already fixed the invasion bug about hex control (and the mistaken message about hex control when a country on the same side enters a factory hex).
Steve

Perfection is an elusive goal.
joshuamnave
Posts: 967
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:51 am
Contact:

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by joshuamnave »

I can't. The good news is I can't replicate it - good news because it means reloading from the start of the phase is an effective work around. However every single time it's happened to me it's been when Japan has been the third Axis power to do their land moves and there were far too many moves made ahead of it to be sure of an exact repeat. This also means that every single time it's happened, I've had to reload from the start of a long and complex turn - much like the mad excepts in naval combat that have now almost completely (but not completely) gone away.

I've tried skipping straight to the move that caused the crash but again, the good news is there was no crash, the bad news is that uploading a save isn't useful.

I use gmail and I don't know how to configure the program to email mad except reports via web based email.

No, I don't exit all the way out every time I reload a save. Reloading a save remains the best way to work around most bugs and I have to reload far too often to make doing so palatable.
Head Geek in Charge at politigeek.net - the intersection of politics and all things geeky
User avatar
TeaLeaf
Posts: 440
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2014 3:08 pm

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by TeaLeaf »

I must admit my game suffers from frequent crashes as well. Not sure if they are related to Japan/Asia though.

I feel a bit ambivalent about this problem.
It is indeed very annoying when it happens and it happens about 1nce or twice every turn.
Maybe that is because I usually only play about 1 impulse per day (so I save + reload very often), or because I have an x64 system...
On the other hand I am very happy about the time and energy Matrix is spending on the game to make it right.
Maybe there should be more time allocated to fixing stability issues than fixing rules-issues? But if there's not much complaints about stability (I know I never used the mail-option that pops up during a crash)... I can understand there's also not a lot of fixin' it.

All in all I am positive about the game (also very happy that there IS a computer version at all).
Anyway, my work around the frequent crashes I encounter is to save the game a lot. Perhaps every 5 or 10 minutes or so. Maybe that's an idea for the game too:
add an autosave-feature that saves every x minutes, or let players decide on several interval options.
joshuamnave
Posts: 967
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:51 am
Contact:

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by joshuamnave »

Jul/Aug 40, near the end of the rather busy impulse. I moved the circled unit and the game crashed. Now I have to go back to the start of the land moves (and all 3 axis powers took land moves this impulse) and do the whole turn again.

Image
Attachments
chinacrash.jpg
chinacrash.jpg (215.88 KiB) Viewed 208 times
Head Geek in Charge at politigeek.net - the intersection of politics and all things geeky
User avatar
paulderynck
Posts: 8356
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:27 pm
Location: Canada

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by paulderynck »

It is difficult to understand why this problem is so prevalent with some and not with others. It could be environmental so what are your and TeaLeaf's operating systems and memory? Are you 64-bit as well?

We have been playing a Hot Seat Game on a virtual server in Amazon-land using version 1.3.3 on a 64-bit virtual machine. The OS is Windows Server 2012. Between SO39 and now (MJ42) I'd guess we've had less than half a dozen MadExcepts in total, and I can't remember one where the Continue button did not work. I play Japan and had no particular problem with land moves in China. I'm not saying all this to lord it over someone who has difficulties with game stability, I'm trying to understand why experiences are so different.

What I can tell you is there are certain things I've trained myself to do (or not do) with MWiF due to early experiences as a playtester with generating MadExcepts:
1. Never close a form (or even MWiF) with the top right 'X' button - use whatever button (or menu:exit) is on the form for closing it.
2. Never use the top right underscore button to minimize MWiF if you want to see something else on your desktop - use the task bar button instead.
3. If you do get a MadExcept, first try continuing. If you can do so, then immediately save the game and reload.
4. When you do reload, always exit MWiF completely and start again from the launch icon where you click on Play to get the splash screen where you choose Restore or New game, etc. It may seem this is more time consuming and a PITA but compare that with re-doing all your land moves.
5. Only use CTRL-left click to move a unit when you absolutely must tell MWiF the path it needs to take (usually you do this to ensure hex control or maybe avoid entering a Chinese city)
6. Try to switch back and forth between major powers during land moves as little as possible (especially when combined with #5 above).
7. It seems to me (and this may be confirmation bias) that high use of the undo function increases the risk of a MadExcept.

If you hit the same Madexcept repeatedly then please zip a game save and upload it to Tech Support along with instructions for how to repeat it. That is the only way this kind of problem will ever get solved.
Paul
User avatar
paulderynck
Posts: 8356
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:27 pm
Location: Canada

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by paulderynck »

Another thing about suffering this problem, if you were working on some massive spreadsheet or word doc, wouldn't you save it every now and again in case of a power failure or some other mishap?

Here we know the risk of an application crash is greater, so why not get in the habit of saving the game after each power's land move, or even periodically as a manual process? Once you've done it once in a session, it's CTRL-S and click on Yes. One key combination and one click. Seems to me that's a small insurance premium against having to redo a hundred land moves (navals are even worse, I can testify to that).

Of course, in a perfect world it shouldn't be this way, but we don't live in a perfect world.
Paul
User avatar
TeaLeaf
Posts: 440
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2014 3:08 pm

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by TeaLeaf »

Thanks for the list, paul. I realise I did a lot of the things you listed. it might help a bit.
Do you think it helps if we actually start using the 'send bug report' in the MadExcept pop-up?

What info about our systems can be helpful exactly? Since you asked for operating system and Memory, here's what:
-Windows 7 Home Premium NL x64
-6,00GB RAM Kingston HyperX (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz C9 XMP
-Little extra info: HDD RAID 0
User avatar
Centuur
Posts: 9013
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2011 12:03 pm
Location: Hoorn (NED).

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by Centuur »

Any MadExcept is usefull to adress these kind of problems. So please, send them. They give Steve at least some information what has happened. Even when you can't send a saved game or can't recreate the MadExcept later, it is important to send those.

It always comes back on the fact that the more information Steve is getting on strange behaviour of the program, the higher the chance that he will be able to clear those bugs.

When I get a MadExcept, I always send it, no matter in what situation it occurs.

The things Paul has stated are also things I tend to avoid doing too. It has become something of normal behaviour for me. You know: "that can give trouble, so lets save in between" or "there's another way and that's giving me the results I want". After a long time, those solutions simply become the way I play the game. Call it sort of a tunnelvision...
Peter
Shannon V. OKeets
Posts: 22135
Joined: Wed May 18, 2005 11:51 pm
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Contact:

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

Jul/Aug 40, near the end of the rather busy impulse. I moved the circled unit and the game crashed. Now I have to go back to the start of the land moves (and all 3 axis powers took land moves this impulse) and do the whole turn again.

Image
If you click on Show Bug Report, it will display information I could use to debug this. Here is a recent example. Note that I XXXX the information about the player. You might want to do that as well. Otherwise it is a simple TXT file that can be uploaded, or you could take a screenshot of the top of the form. From the example, I can see that the problem is with a specific line of code in the UnitMenuLoad module.

date/time : 2015-06-06, 23:24:58, 877ms
computer name : TWO
wts client name : ONE
user name : xxxx
registered owner : xxxx
operating system : Windows XP Service Pack 3 build 2600
system language : English
system up time : 3 days 13 hours
program up time : 1 hour 43 minutes
processors : 2x Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5200 @ 2.50GHz
physical memory : 722/3037 MB (free/total)
free disk space : (C:) 195.85 GB
display mode : 1680x1050, 16 bit
process id : $2e0c
allocated memory : 535.30 MB
largest free block : 330.95 MB
executable : MWIF.exe
current module : madExcept_.bpl
exec. date/time : 2015-06-04 08:43
version : 1.4.0.11
compiled with : Delphi 2010
contact name : xxxx
contact email : xxxx
madExcept version : 4.0.8.1
callstack crc : $5b29f4e7, $e3ed6327, $e3ed6327
exception number : 1
exception class : EAccessViolation
exception message : Access violation at address 0074D77E in module 'MWIF.exe'. Read of address 000003F4.

main thread ($330c):
0074d77e +11a MWIF.exe UnitMenuProcs 1171 +58 UnitMenuLoad
007df296 +0d6 MWIF.exe Main 2070 +27 TMainForm.ALoadExecute
5007570b +00f rtl140.bpl Classes TBasicAction.Execute
502b1915 +031 vcl140.bpl Actnlist TContainedAction.Execute
502b26f0 +050 vcl140.bpl Actnlist TCustomAction.Execute
500755cf +013 rtl140.bpl Classes TBasicActionLink.Execute
7e418a0b +00a USER32.dll DispatchMessageW
502c8775 +11d vcl140.bpl Forms TApplication.ProcessMessage
502c87ba +00a vcl140.bpl Forms TApplication.HandleMessage
502c8ae5 +0c9 vcl140.bpl Forms TApplication.Run
007f29e4 +054 MWIF.exe MWIF 423 +5 initialization
Steve

Perfection is an elusive goal.
Steve1924
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2015 7:28 am

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by Steve1924 »

I am having the same problem. It started after the latest patch. My game crashes after I a JAP unit takes a Chinese city and causes a US entry event. I crash shortly after every time. If I don't take a city, I can complete the move. I can't complete the first game turn. I have completely uninstalled and deleted all files, I even dug through the registry to make sure. Started a new game and I still can't get by the first JAP land move.
Shannon V. OKeets
Posts: 22135
Joined: Wed May 18, 2005 11:51 pm
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Contact:

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

ORIGINAL: Steve1924

I am having the same problem. It started after the latest patch. My game crashes after I a JAP unit takes a Chinese city and causes a US entry event. I crash shortly after every time. If I don't take a city, I can complete the move. I can't complete the first game turn. I have completely uninstalled and deleted all files, I even dug through the registry to make sure. Started a new game and I still can't get by the first JAP land move.
I believe this should be fixed in version 1.4.5.0. Is that what you are running?
Steve

Perfection is an elusive goal.
Steve1924
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2015 7:28 am

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by Steve1924 »

I uninstalled it again and am reinstalling so I am not sure what version it was, but I ran the update last week and that's when the problem started. I still have the error log for the last crash though.
User avatar
paulderynck
Posts: 8356
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:27 pm
Location: Canada

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by paulderynck »

Once the program is up and running you can click on Help/About the program and see the version number.
Paul
Steve1924
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2015 7:28 am

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by Steve1924 »

just reinstalled and I still have the same problem I am on version 1.4.5
User avatar
rkr1958
Posts: 27449
Joined: Thu May 21, 2009 10:23 am

RE: Frequent crashes during land moves in China

Post by rkr1958 »

This is a major bug. I was able to recreate it too with the latest version, 1.4.5.

Well actually, it happened with me 2 out of 3 times with the game turn which I will attach in my next post.

To recreate the bug, I've enabled, "set die rolls". I then carry out the land combat against Nanyang, China. For the fractional odds I set the roll to 0. I then choose assault and set the die roll to 10. I move the Japanese 2-3 division into Nanyang. I then set the US reaction die roll to 1 and the chit die roll to some high value (e.g., 3000). I then continue to advance the other two units into the city. And then in 2 out of 3 games I got the below mad exception error.

FYI: in the 1 of the 3 games I didn't get the mad exception on this attack I was able to get it on my next attack on Chengchow. This is indeed a game stopping bug with no possible workaround that I can see. The first one that I've actually encountered.

Image
Attachments
11ChinaBug.jpg
11ChinaBug.jpg (934.83 KiB) Viewed 214 times
Ronnie
Post Reply

Return to “Tech Support”