[FIXED] Minidumps when AI uses custom race

from Sins Forums

This is regarding and Entrenchment mod.

I'm posting because I've been wracking my brain trying to chase down the cause and coming up with nothing.

I can playtest using the custom race(s) without any problem what-so-ever.  I've tested every ship and structure in Dev mode and everything works when I spawn it, no crashes.  I can give myself all research, no crashes.  I can even play a game for hours using any of the custom races and no crashing at all.

Assign any of the custom races to an AI in a game and crashes occur anywhere after 10 minutes of play.  These will usually be repeatable within a few seconds after a reload.  If I reload and take control of the "problem" AI faction, the crash generally does not occur.  It is something the AI is doing that causes the crash.  It does not appear to be research based, as I have reloaded a crashing game with dev mode and given all research and it does not crash instantly as you would expect but rather still at the "expected" time for that reload.

I did locate a very sneaky crash bug resulting from auto-placement and different structures using the same role type.  I corrected the error and verified the fix, but the seemingly random crashes still happen even after fixing that particular problem.

I have spoken to a Dev about the issue and he suggested I submit a sample minidump for analysis.  Tech support responded saying it had something to do with command points and probably an incorrect squad def.  I have gone over all capships, frigates and structures multiple times now looking for problems with command points.  I cannot find any.  I even went so far as to assign verified correct squad defs to everything whether it had command points or not, just to be safe.  The crashes still occur.

I'm opening the floor to any suggestions as I have gone over things so many times now with still no solution.  Any help would be appreciated, particularly if you've encountered something similar before.  Dev input is more than welcome as well if any happen to read the thread.

-dolynick

modding
9,834 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Could be that you've created new factions or modified the "Role Type" of a ship. Sort of like giving the "Siege" role to a LRF. Now like you point out, it makes no difference when you play it as you know exactly what you want but for the AI, who follows a strict "code of conduct" path, it might cause errors when his system asks him to create some LRFs and all he finds is a bunch of "Siege" ships! So he gets stuck......CRASH!

+To be investigated+ :)

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Have you tried running it with showErrors TRUE in user.setting? Even though it's AI causing it, it might still give a more descriptive error.

Or, if you could post the response from IC support so I know exactly what they said, not "something with command points" :P

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ShadowMastiff2468, reply 1
Could be that you've created new factions or modified the "Role Type" of a ship. Sort of like giving the "Siege" role to a LRF. Now like you point out, it makes no difference when you play it as you know exactly what you want but for the AI, who follows a strict "code of conduct" path, it might cause errors when his system asks him to create some LRFs and all he finds is a bunch of "Siege" ships! So he gets stuck......CRASH!

+To be investigated+

There are certain roles missing as these races are intended to play a little differently from the stock races.  I will look into that.  The 1.15 compatible version of this mod does not cause crashes like this though and is more or less the same when it comes to fleet composition.

-dolynick

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Annatar11, reply 2
Have you tried running it with showErrors TRUE in user.setting? Even though it's AI causing it, it might still give a more descriptive error.

Or, if you could post the response from IC support so I know exactly what they said, not "something with command points"

I have loaded games that give crashes in Dev mode for the ShowErrors ability and to be able to better check out what is going on.  There is no error prior to the minidumps.  It just crashes.

E-mail response from tech support:

It looks like you have given something strike craft command points (likely a
capital ship but we can't be sure) but you didn't setup any squad defs. If
there are command points, the AI expects to find valid squad definitions so
he can build them.

As I said though, I have gone over things repeatedly.  I have no assigned squad defs to every capital ship and frigate/cruiser whether or not they have command points just to be extra safe.  It still happens.

 

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

I have no assigned squad defs to every capital ship and frigate/cruiser whether or not they have command points just to be extra safe. It still happens.

Is there a typo in this? Did you mean you have assigned squads to every ship?

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

I provided squad definition entry to all capable entities is what I meant.  I did not give them command points unless they should have them.   Not everything has command points though.

Tech support's response was that something didn't have valid squad defs despite having command points.  I could not find any command points on anything that didn't have squad defs already but just to be extra sure I filled in the squad def info on everything.

-dolynick

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

I believe I have found the answer.  It has something to do with the Capitalship_PhaseScout model.

I can state for certain that if you try to use a deploy mines ability with a ship using the Marauder model, the game will minidump as soon as it tries to fire the mines out.  Every time.  If you just change the model used on the entity, all is well.  It most certainly has something to do with the model.

Working from that, I changed the model on a capital ship for another race that used the Phase Capital Scout model as well.  I updated the entity, reloaded a game in progress with an AI that was using that captital ship and scuttled the ship.  I then saved and reloaded, going back to my original team.  The crashing stopped.

I have no idea what is wrong with that model but it appears to be the cause of all my woes.  I have a lot more playing to do to be sure but so far it looks like simply not using the Marauder model is the answer.  At least not for custom ship entities.  The stock Vasari ship doesn't seem to cause any problems.

-dolynick

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

Well, I spoke too soon it seems.  I'm still getting crashes as before, at least until I take control of the AI to see what it's up to.  Then it's fine.

Can someone confirm the issue with Capitalship_PhaseScout.mesh with deploying mines at least?

-dolynick

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

I'm still not having much luck tracking this down. :(

I redid the custom model for the fighters/bombers of the particular race that is causing the crashing today to fix a few mesh point errors.  That didn't help resolve it.

I think it's safe to say it's not caused by a lack of frigates in any particular role either.  The race did not have dedicated LRM or AntiFighter frigates but I made some quickies for them and started a new game and it still crashes even with them.  The only role they don't have filled is an AntiModule frigate but the Vasari don't have one either and it doesn't seem to bother them.  In older versions of vanilla, including 1.15, a missing role didn't cause a crash, it just caused the AI to stall and not expand or do much of anything.

I do not seem to have any problems with the other two custom races are in play with an AI.

Still looking for suggestions.  Any Devs reading this?  I can make the current build version of the mod available to anyone who wishes to help troubleshoot the problem.

-dolynick

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

This is a popular one in the support email. If you define command points for something you have to define the corresponding squad defs. Its like defining N many elements in an array and then not filling them out (a very common operation in many of the Sins data files). Not filling them out will crash the game.