Crashes and Hangs fixable with World Builder?

[Morkonan]

I've noticed several posters submitting files and having them "fixed" by knowledgeable forum members. (A hugely altruistic act on their part and they're to be thanked!)

But, what can us "unknowledagle" types do in order to try to fix games that are crashing or hanging using World Builder? How can we lighten the load by fixing our saves ourselves? What is it that people who can fix these games look for?

What are the "known fixable bugs" in FFH2 (Patch M atm) and how does one go about fixing one's own saved game? A list along with World Builder fixes would be nice or, at the least, a list of things to look for that are probably causing the problem.

 

[Breunor]

I try to keep a list of reported bugs, which I update roughly monthly.

Here is the list for the time since patch k ws released:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=353687

Here is a list for items before patch k:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=329991

The general rule that I use is to delete nations in the worldbuilder, essentially with a manually applied binary search. If you can find that eliminating a nation resolves the bug, then you delete smaller parts of that nation, usually a manual binary pattern on cities. At that point, you can usually focus on nearby units. So start eliminating stacks nearby to see if you can find which unit is the culprit.

Unfortunately, for me the hardest part is finding which unit is the cause once I've localized the problem - this can take very long. On earlier versions, many WoC's were caused by the interaction of hidden nationaility units and 'regular' units. Hidden nationality (HN) is different from hidden. A hidden nationality unit can be controlled by a player, but appears to enemy untis as a barbarian unit. There are complex rules that don't allow HN and regular units to 'group'. For instance, an HN unit cannot go on a 'regular' ship. This kind of coding is complex and appears to have lead to a lot of WoC's.

For instance, before patch K, by far the majority of crashes and WoC's came from units with animal AI with hidden nationality (tigers, hill giants, etc.). However, there were other causes.

Hidden units may be even more complex. It is illegal for units at war to be in the same square, but this doesn't apply to hidden units; a hidden unit can be in the same square as an enemy unit. But then if the hidden unit is revealed, the code has to ensure that enemy units aren't in the same square, and if the code has some loopholes crashes will occur.

Hidden and hidden nationality units have been a major source of crashes and WoC's over time, but we have had and probably will continue to have some that get introduced in new releases.

Like most skills, those of us who fix files often start developing an 'eye' for what to look out for.

Unfortunately, we have had some very bizarre and complex issues since patch k. The best way to see what is likely to cause crahses is to read through the bug list and learn from other people's experience.

I hope this explanation helps.

Best wishes,

Breunor

 

[Morkonan]

Thanks.

I've reviewed your latest bug compilation thread every time it gets updated. It certainly helps.

As I thought, it appears to be a skill gradually learned, not something that one can simply write down as a process.

Debugging a save is more intuitive than that.

But, good tips, nonetheless.

I suppose what I'm looking for is a list of "The most likely suspects" that one can "fix" using World Builder. I may have to comb through some "HALP! FIXIT!" threads and watch the buglists in order to compile my own list of squashable bugs.

Just an idea but.. is it possible to run a python script from some sort of console in the World Builder that would locate simple things like HN units according to certain rules, such as within a stack of Declared units? Sort of like an ad hoc "bughunter" script?

 

[Emptiness]

Anyone with the programming skill necessary to write a script like that would be able to help the mod more by going through the current code to find the source of the bug(s) and offer suggested solutions.

 

[Morkonan]

Anyone with the programming skill necessary to write a script like that would be able to help the mod more by going through the current code to find the source of the bug(s) and offer suggested solutions.

Possibly. But, they wouldn't have to understand the engine as much to write such a script, given that executing it would be possible in World Builder without a bunch of other modifications. Highlighting or locating a unit with "attribute_x_" on a map might not be too difficult, again, given that such a command is available/usable while in World Builder. I'd be surprised if there wasn't something in WB already that performed a similar function. I admit, I know very little about WB and am only just now looking at using it. The point of the thread was to try to develop a database of sorts listing out various "fixable" bugs using worldbuilder and not having to patch code directly or wait on a fix that would probably break saves anyway.