Hey guys. So for the past month or two, there's been this really obnoxious crashing issue that I've been encountering with my mod.


Important notes about the crash:
- It only happens right before a map begins to load or right after the map is completely or nearly finished loading. To be specific about the former scenario, the crash occurs during the time in which the following buttons are clicked and when the map begins loading (i.e., the loading screen appears): the Launch button in the Instant Action menu, the Yes button in the dialog created by the Restart Map button in the pause menu, and the Done button in the post-game Team Stats page.
- It never occurs in the middle of a match (thank GOODNESS lol).
- It isn't caused by math.random functions - I know this because it also occurs in online matches, and I have my scripts set up to never use math.random in such matches.
- It happens regardless of the side variation, map, or game mode.
- It doesn't seem to crash dedicated servers, but connected clients do crash.

Normally I would be able to figure this kind of thing out by myself (and believe me, I've tried), but considering how massively complex/complicated my mod is, I've resorted to asking my community of fellow modders for help because I trust you guys and I feel someone who hasn't seen the scripts before might be able to find stuff that I may gloss over.


Example Mission Script: http://pastebin.com/GjTVx50C
ME5_Master: http://pastebin.com/vZgEbhT9
ME5_ConfigCheck: http://pastebin.com/NCxqLnWp
ME5_MiscFunctions: http://pastebin.com/m07UKWws
ME5_RandomSides: http://pastebin.com/46MdcQHK
ME5_AudioFunctions: http://pastebin.com/Xsvakn3Y

BFront2.log (no crash): http://pastebin.com/QQcUREYy
BFront2.log (crash): http://pastebin.com/xzKTPg8Y

Note regarding the scripts: All of the "ME5_" scripts are loaded in master.lvl, so in other words, yes, I am sure I have those scripts. :V Also, if I didn't have them, the maps would *always* crash.


It would be fantastic if I could get this ironed out and destroyed before the 5th of May, so any and all help is very welcome and very appreciated. Let me know if you need any more information than what has already been provided.

Does the error log always end in that same place? If not could you post some different ones?

How have you tried testing for it? E.g. have you tried adding one map to the list and restarting it over and over to see if it crashes? Or maybe the same thing but with different combinations of 2 different maps in a row? In my map I have an annoying bug that causes it to crash at the end of loading when you play the map after another map that has a terrain (even after playing maps without a terrain in between, such as Tantive IV or Death Star).

And when it crashes online, does every client crash or just some of them?

LRKfm946 wrote:Does the error log always end in that same place?

No. Here are some slightly-older logs:

http://pastebin.com/ZDdjPNmT
http://pastebin.com/xxiGJnuR
http://pastebin.com/Ykza8ySb
http://pastebin.com/ppEupW0x

Note: The "Check XXX" messages were messages that I placed after every single non-empty line in cor1n_con to check for patterns in the crashing, but no patterns were found if I recall correctly.

LRKfm946 wrote:How have you tried testing for it? E.g. have you tried adding one map to the list and restarting it over and over to see if it crashes? Or maybe the same thing but with different combinations of 2 different maps in a row?

I've tested it by restarting the same map over and over. I'm not entirely positive, but I *want* to say it crashes in the middle of map playlists with multiple maps, too. I'll check.

LRKfm946 wrote:And when it crashes online, does every client crash or just some of them?

Not sure. I tested it by repeatedly sending 'restart' commands to the server. I was alone while testing, though I can probably make time today to perform further tests with WULF.


EDIT:

Still crashed with multiple maps in a playlist.

Could it be that you've hit a stability limit? Some mods (mostly maps) just have so much content they load that you can only play it once before it crashes. It could be that some combinations of maps and your sides are just too much for the game to play in succession.

I was thinking the same thing. You do have a lot of warnings in there about big files. Normally I only have 2 or 3 of those, and they're just the 1.33MB warning.

Maybe, but I doubt it. The reason why I don't think that's the case is because the crash sometimes occurs before a map can even be loaded once. Like I'll start up the game, attempt to load a map, and the map will crash either after pressing the Launch button or after the progress bar is finished or nearly so. There's also the fact that the rate of crashing is all over the place.

I'm also nowhere close to running over any of the memory heap limits:
Compared to the stock cor1c_con:

Don't want to point on the obvious, but:

Message Severity: 3
C:\Battlefront2\main\Battlefront2\Source\HUDManager.cpp(619)
HUD unable to find HUD element type 0x16ce484a
ME5_MiscFunctions: fShieldPickup()
ME5_MiscFunctions: Configuring Shield Functionality for AUTO-REGEN...
ME5_MiscFunctions: Configuring Health Functionality for PICKUPS...

I'd love to get rid of that message, but it comes shipped with the game.

I still think it's a stability error. It doesn't really have a pattern (as for which maps, units, etc.) and it still happens when you're online and everything is set. Could it be that the game isn't capable of loading the mod file size?

Huh. The only Sev3's are about a missing shell.lvl file, a missing core.lvl file, and the HUD. I remember an issue early on with the Convo Pack where if the map's core.lvl had some of the same strings as the main core.lvl it would crash if it was second in the list of maps to play, or sometimes at the end of playing a single map. I never was sure if it was a string conflict (since addons don't actually contain the stock strings from the main core.lvl) or if it was just too many strings to load up at once. There's technically not a "string" memory pool, so you might look into those issues. Try a really simple core.lvl for the mod with just 1-2 strings in it and see if it stabilizes any.

Holy crap. It *is* an issue with one of the strings! I don't get any crashes when I don't load the main core.lvl. I think it's the "STAFF CREDITS" load screen tip, which is pretty large and has recently-iiiiish increased in size! :O!!!!!

Here's the current key: EDIT!:

YUP CONFIRMED THE KEY AS THE ISSUE, YES! Bug fixed!!! !!!!!!! Thank you SO much, Tean! I'm not sure I ever would have thought about messing with the strings! (That is until the next time I would have updated and then attempted to test the credits tip, but still!)

So here's the new key:

Are you saying the max string limit is somewhere between 871 and 928 characters?

I've had crashes due to string length, but I only saw the crash in the regular version of the game - I couldn't duplicate the crash in the Modtools. It didn't manifest like this, though - it happened as soon as the string was called. When is this string actually called, just for reference?

[RDH]Zerted wrote:Are you saying the max string limit is somewhere between 871 and 928 characters?

Yeah, probably. (Maybe 900? ) I have another feeling that it might actually be a line break limit, but I'm not positive.

Maveritchell wrote:I've had crashes due to string length, but I only saw the crash in the regular version of the game - I couldn't duplicate the crash in the Modtools. It didn't manifest like this, though - it happened as soon as the string was called. When is this string actually called, just for reference?

It's just one of the loading tips, so I guess you could say it's called in the addme when the lvl file is loaded. The string's path is level.common.tips.30. Also, side-note, this crash occurred in the debugger as well.


EDIT:

"Small" update regarding this issue.

Old:

Special note from the developers:

If you have not done so already, then please, if you enjoy playing this mod, go out and purchase the Mass Effect trilogy (PC, Xbox 360, or PS3)! As magnificent as Mass Effect: Unification may be, this mod cannot satisfy the glorious insanity that is embedded within and exclusive to the trilogy. Like, seriously. Not only do we, the developers, want as many people as possible to experience what we have, we don't want our creation (or adaptation, if you prefer) to be a cost-free excuse to *not* play the games.

By reason of insanity, of all that is good, support BioWare - they really deserve it! To loosely quote Philip J. Fry, "SHUT UP AND [give them your] MONEY!"

(Yeah, yeah, the third game's endings suck, blah blah blah - just only choose one ending, don't go back and look at the others!)

New:

Special note from the developers:

If you have not done so already, then please, if you enjoy playing this mod, go out and purchase the Mass Effect trilogy (PC, Xbox 360, or PS3)! As magnificent as Mass Effect: Unification may be, it cannot satisfy the glorious insanity that is embedded within and exclusive to the trilogy. Like, seriously. Not only do we want as many people as possible to experience what we have, we don't want our adaptation to be a cost-free excuse to *not* play the games.

By reason of insanity, of all that is good, support BioWare - they really deserve it! To loosely quote Philip J. Fry, "SHUT UP AND [give them your] MONEY!"

Old string is 840 characters and does crash the game. New is 656 characters and does not crash the game. I looked into it a bit more and found that the character limit *appears* to be 673.

Works:

Special note from the developers:

If you have not done so already, then please, if you enjoy playing this mod, go out and purchase the Mass Effect trilogy (PC, Xbox 360, or PS3)! As magnificent as Mass Effect: Unification may be, this mod cannot satisfy the glorious insanity that is embedded within and exclusive to the trilogy. Like, seriously. Not only do we, the developers, want as many people as possible to experience what we have, we don't want our creation (or adaptation, if you prefer) to be a cost-free excuse to *not* play the games.

By reason of insanity, of all that is good, support BioWare - they really deserve it! To loosely quote Philip J. Fry, "S

Doesn't work:

Special note from the developers:

If you have not done so already, then please, if you enjoy playing this mod, go out and purchase the Mass Effect trilogy (PC, Xbox 360, or PS3)! As magnificent as Mass Effect: Unification may be, this mod cannot satisfy the glorious insanity that is embedded within and exclusive to the trilogy. Like, seriously. Not only do we, the developers, want as many people as possible to experience what we have, we don't want our creation (or adaptation, if you prefer) to be a cost-free excuse to *not* play the games.

By reason of insanity, of all that is good, support BioWare - they really deserve it! To loosely quote Philip J. Fry, "SH

And that's weird, considering the following string is 707 characters (according to Notepad++) and does not crash the game.

http://pastebin.com/mfBjet1q (see Raw Paste Data)

Mayhaps the game treats multiple indentations in a row as one character? If so, the string is only 632 characters, which *would* make sense for it to not cause a crash.

String with indentations replaced with a single space:

MASS EFFECT: UNIFICATION -- STAFF CREDITS

-Lead Developer- -Voice Acting-
Marth Mark Meer
Keith Szarabajka
-Co-Lead Developer- WhiteFire
THEWULFMAN Marth

-Engineering- -Sound Design-
Marth Marth
AQT THEWULFMAN
Rancor Freesound.org
archer01 Hollywood Sound Library

-Level Design- -Product Testing-
Marth Marth
Willinator THEWULFMAN
AQT AQT
Fiodis
-Art Design- Maveritchell
Marth RogueKnight
THEWULFMAN Willinator
The Nasal Abyss yuke5
chadaface
Scott_W.Pilgrim -Public Relations-
Cerfon Rournes THEWULFMAN
RogueKnight RogueKnight
AQT
CG Textures

-Animation-
Marth
Kinetos Impetus
DarthD.U.C.K.