Crash to Desktop

[Mattygerst]

Hi all,

I have a mod-mod of KMod that I have created called MMod. Until tonight, I have never had any issue with regard to crashes.

I have recently added the leaders from the mod Civ Gold and Civ Gold Nature of Man.

Tonight I played a game on my Giant Earth Map scenario, which I have done dozens and dozens of times from start to finish. However; tonight, at turn #112 my game crashes to desktop. When I re-load the game and attempt to view WorldBuilder just to view what might be causing this, the game crashes also.

I have never had a crash to desktop before, and have even played 112 turns in my current game with no issues until my game suddenly crashed. Would someone be willing to please help me by downloading my mod (here: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B6VuHphw5zHzc0w1bC1UOHB3NU0&export=download ), upload my attached save, and tell me why the game is crashing?

Thank you,
Matt

 

[Leoreth]

Have you only added leaders or also some other art that can show up on the game screen? Because a crash when opening WB leads me to suspect that the game attempts to reveal something to you for which it doesn't have the graphics for some reason.

 

[Mattygerst]

Have you only added leaders or also some other art that can show up on the game screen? Because a crash when opening WB leads me to suspect that the game attempts to reveal something to you for which it doesn't have the graphics for some reason.

I have added the new civs UB/UUs, however; I saw a unique unit for one civ on my screen for some time before the crash. To me, that means it shouldn't be this issue.

 

[Leoreth]

One of them lacking appropriate graphics would be enough, I suggest making sure in the Civilopedia.

 

[isenchine]

4 things you could do:

1) check the new units/buildings/leaders in Civilopedia

2) ask Karadoc to provide you with a debug dll - it might give you a good hint on what is going on, even on simple art missing.

3) enable Python exceptions (although in this case it is unlikely that it will help you)

4) run CivChecker and ArtDef Checker.

EDIT: and a 5th one!

5) check the buttons of your newly added art. The paths should NOT start with a comma, unless they come from an Atlas.

 

[Mattygerst]

Thank you for the prompt replies Leoreth and isenchine.

After checking all units/buildings/civilizations/leaders in civilopedia everything looks ok. No missing art (nif files) or wrong animation (kmf files).

Edit:
Ok, after removing all other Art def XML except the civ I was playing with, the game doesnt crash. Now I suppose I need track which civilization and art style is creating bug and which art file is wrong (unit/building/button, kmf/nif/dds file)?

Edit2:
I entered world builder and added each new civ and leader and placed all of their unique units and unique buildings on the map. No crash. Any thoughts? The only thing left I can think of is "meeting a leader" and it crashing and not having met each leader to check. But...I don't know. Any thoughts are welcome..

 

[Mattygerst]

Ok, I played the game again until it crashed. I was not able to end turn #131 (last time it was #112).

This time, though, I was able to save my games. Interestingly, the WorldBuilder crashes each turn starting with #128. Turn #127 is the last time you are able to open WorldBuilder even though the game does not officially crash until turn #131.

I have uploaded:

Turn #126: 2 turns before worldbuilder crash, 5 turns before game crash
Turn #127: 1 turn before worldbuilder crash, 4 turns before game crash
Turn #128: worldbuilder crash, 3 turns before game crash
Turn #129: 2 turns before game crash
Turn #130: 1 turn before game crash
Turn #131: game crash

Can someone help me identify the problem, please? You'll need to download MMod here: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B6VuHphw5zHzc0w1bC1UOHB3NU0&export=download

Thank you,

Matt

 

[isenchine]

So you have done 1). What about 2, 3, 4 & 5?

Yes, meeting a leader is crucial and is a possible source of crash. The wrong paths for buttons are usual culprits too.

If you have WB crashes, you should definitely enable Python exceptions.

If you don't know what I mean by enabling Python exceptions:

under My Documents/My Games/Beyond the Sword folder (or similar), you have a file called CivilizationIV.ini. Change the file like this:

; Set to 1 for no python exception popups
HidePythonExceptions = 0

The 0 setup will bring popups ingame if there are Python problems. Note them and report, particularly the last one.

Plus a debug dll could be essential to trace a ctd. If you don't know what it is, Karadoc knows.

 

[Mattygerst]

Hi isenchine,

Thank you for all of your help. I am actually quite proud of myself because I've accomplished a lot on this recently thanks to your guidance. I'm running into one last issue that I need some help with. I will do my best to explain the situation.

First: the error was in: Civ4CivilizationInfos -> ArtStyleType & UnitArtStyleType

Next: MMod is merged with Varietas Delectat. This creates new artstyle types, one of them being: GRECO_ROMAN (Rome, Greece, Byzantium, Carthage).

It needs to be noted that this UNIT_ARTSTYLE works 100% correctly in MMod. However, after I added additional civs, it does NOT work with them even though the ARTSTYLE_GRECO_ROMAN (for the civ, itself) does work.

I am able to verify this because when I change the UNIT_ARTSTYLE to from GRECO_ROMAN to 'EUROPEAN,' the game works properly and does not crash. My next step is to figure out why the UNIT_ARTSTYLE_GRECO_ROMAN breaks the game with the new civs but does not with the old regular civs?

What steps can I take to fix this?

Thank you for any and all advice

 

[isenchine]

You should tell us what you found out already and corrected. Firstly because we have invested some time and are curious to know and secondly because it can increase our experience in tracking down crashes.

It's great that you narrowed down the last problem to a Unit Art Style.

UNIT_ARTSTYLE_GRECO_ROMAN is already in BtS, it's not a new feature of Varietas Delectat. What they did is adding new units, so you know where to search. Also, you have an approximate indication of the unit implied by the time when your mod crashed. If you were still in Classical era, look for those units.

The best way would be to start a game with Greece, Rome, Byzantium or Carthage and to build all sorts of units. The culprit will appear sooner or later. For the sake of the experiment, make sure that the AI is not using this Unit Art Style.

When you find the unit (s?), check if the Art Def entry is correct, if the button path is correct, if all Art files have been properly copied. Sometimes, the Art for a unit might be corrupted.

Tell us what you found out and good luck!

 

[Afforess]

I see your project contains a CvGameCoreDLL. Do you have the source code for this?

The fastest way to debug a crash is to build a DEBUG dll, which when run with a debugger in Visual Studio, will point right where the issue is.

 

[Mattygerst]

Afforess.....yes, here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6NKC5s_viEmYjdFSVNYTnBfQzg/view?pli=1

However; I am unsure how to do what you suggest... Would you please download the link I provided and help?