Game crashed

[noissy]

Hi,
I'm playing the scenario 'hot knife through butter' against Mike.
All was going well until I received his turn a few turns into the game.
I watched the replay but then, No report box displayed for the start of my turn,
although the game was ready for me to take my turn as the IDF.
I was able to fire my Jeep w/TOW ATGM at one of his tanks then the game crashed?
Mike is looking into it at the moment and has my last log files to check.
Just thought I'd bring it to your notice as I've already experienced the crash
that occurs with off-board artillery that you have identified I understand.
Just a heads up, I'll let you know if Mike can resolve the problem.

[noissy]

Should add, after the crash it changes my windows desktop appearance
with changes to the colours. I seem to remember this happened with
JTCS and there was a fix applied to stop this happening?

[berto]

ORIGINAL: noissy

Hi,
I'm playing the scenario 'hot knife through butter' against Mike.
All was going well until I received his turn a few turns into the game.
I watched the replay but then, No report box displayed for the start of my turn,
although the game was ready for me to take my turn as the IDF.
I was able to fire my Jeep w/TOW ATGM at one of his tanks then the game crashed?
Mike is looking into it at the moment and has my last log files to check.

I look forward to receiving any save files to investigate the crash.

Just thought I'd bring it to your notice as I've already experienced the crash
that occurs with off-board artillery that you have identified I understand.
Just a heads up, I'll let you know if Mike can resolve the problem.

The OBA crash bug has been fixed. Available in the forthcoming 1.01 update.

ORIGINAL: noissy

Should add, after the crash it changes my windows desktop appearance
with changes to the colours. I seem to remember this happened with
JTCS and there was a fix applied to stop this happening?

That shouldn't be happening if you have toggled on Options > System Colors.

[noissy]

Thanks Berto, I've just PM'd you.
Let me know your email address and
I'll send you the .bte file and my
password so you can see what happened,
along with the log files.

[noissy]

email sent Berto !

[berto]

@Everybody, words to the wise: Do not toggle off Options > Backup Saves

There is no good reason to do so!!

[noissy]

Unfortunately berto, since the option was inserted into JTCS, I just couldn't get on with it. I found it confusing as to which file I needed to send back to my opponent so turned it off.
I have a folder on my desktop where I save the last turn that I send to my opponents, in case it is needed again. Works ok for me.

[berto]

With the Options > Backup Saves toggled on

[*]foo.bt? is the current version,
[*]foo OLDER.bt? is the previous version, while
[*]foo OLDEST.bt? is the version before that

So foo.bte being the current version, that is the file you would send to your PBEM opponent.

The Backup Saves option was created primarily for situations like this one: where, for whatever reason, your current game cannot proceed (because of a crash, etc.), so you fall back on your OLDER save (renamed with the " OLDER" removed); and if that one fails, you have one more chance to try the OLDEST save (renamed with the " OLDEST" removed).

Using your one save file (the one you provided me), and single stepping through the code with the debugger, this shows signs of indicating a buffer overrun (where, in the code, insufficient storage space has been allocated, and data overwrites beyond the allotted space). I have looked around, tried increasing several buffer sizes, turned on verbose logging, etc., but so far without success. (In your turn, when the control returns back to you, the Israeli player, it doesn't matter at all what you try to do. Any action, with any unit, will crash the game, always in the same way, buffer overrun.)

If I had a backup save or two, I could compare the differences. This is a huge scenario, so the .bte file is quite large. Extremely difficult to see what might be wrong in the turn playback data. At this point, I don't see at all where the save file might itself be corrupted or mangled. But in addition to the code itself, also the log files, having the full save file set would be additional evidence, helpful clues.

This is like trying to find a needle in the proverbial haystack. Thus far, I can't find it!

Try your home-brew save file backup, else coordinate with your PBEM opponent to revert to his backup save. One or both of you might need to replay the last turn. But at least -- with backups -- you have the option to retry from earlier save, you are not to the point of simply having to give up altogether.

I will continue my investigations, but I don't promise anything. It doesn't look good. Meanwhile, given your options, try to recover from this situation the best you can.

[MrRoadrunner]

ORIGINAL: berto


@Everybody, words to the wise: Do not toggle off Options > Backup Saves

There is no good reason to do so!!

Only you would think this?
Like others I did not want the "old older oldest" back up saves cluttering my game folder and causing confusion.

Thought it was a silly waste ... and still do.

Word to the silly: don't call us unwise.

RR

[noissy]

Hi Berto,
Luckily, I save all my emails as well, until I complete a game so,
if you want any previous .bte files before the crash, whether they
are sent or received, let me know and I'll send them to you, Berto.
BTW, Mike and myself have resumed the game fro the previous file and
all is running well so far.
Thanks for checking this out, Berto, I'd like to do my bit to get this
great game going right.

[berto]

ORIGINAL: noissy

Hi Berto,
Luckily, I save all my emails as well, until I complete a game so,
if you want any previous .bte files before the crash, whether they
are sent or received, let me know and I'll send them to you, Berto.
BTW, Mike and myself have resumed the game fro the previous file and
all is running well so far.

One way or the other, however you handle your save file backups, you've been able to recover your game, and proceed. That's the important thing.

Thanks for checking this out, Berto, I'd like to do my bit to get this
great game going right.

Thank you.

[noissy]

Oh-oh ! Just got the turn back from Mike again and it's crashed
as I went to watch the replay. Error message 'me.exe has stopped working'.
I'll send you the log files and the .bte file, Berto.

[berto]

@Mike, please send your save files (all versions; don't forget the password) to me also (e-mail preferred).

[noissy]

I've let Mike know, Berto.

[berto]

I think I have a fix for this.

(As it happens, no, not a buffer overrun. Rather, a seemingly gratuitous, needless nulling of a pointer.)

With the fixed me.exe, I was able to process Mike's .bte file, and begin the Israeli turn without crash.

Now for some Dev Team testing...

[noissy]

Well done Berto! What a team!