incremental patch discussion

[Jester Fool]

Same here. I tried both DLLs and also ran Dune Wars as an admin (which I didn't have to do with 1.7.3).

 

[davidlallen]

Well, I was able to use both the new and old dll's fine. 1. Delete everything. 2. Install 1.7. 3. Install 1.7.3. 4. Install 1.7.3.2. (Be sure you get lots of messages about files being overwritten to make sure you are installing the zip into the right area. Watch your paths.)

This works fine. I tried both archipelago and arrakis maps, brought up the game and autoplayed 10 turns. Then I installed the new dll over the old one. Please note there is an original *file* with the exact name "Dune Wars/assets/cvgamecoredll.dll", and you want to unzip the new file on top of this one, so you get the message about overwriting the file. Ignore the *directory* "Dune Wars/cvgamecoredll", there is nothing to see there (waves hand.) I was able to run with this also.

 

[Jester Fool]

Well, I was able to use both the new and old dll's fine. 1. Delete everything. 2. Install 1.7. 3. Install 1.7.3. 4. Install 1.7.3.2. (Be sure you get lots of messages about files being overwritten to make sure you are installing the zip into the right area. Watch your paths.)

I did exactly this and still get CTD. FYI - I have installed incremental patches before and this is the first time this behavior has occured. I guess I'll have to just go back to 1.7.3. Too bad since the new material looks to be outstanding.

 

[davidlallen]

In 1.7.3.2, civchecker finds several problems.

1. Missing button (assets/xml/builds/build_melting_lens.dds) and a missing art file (assets/Art/Structures/Buildings/research_facility/assemblyhall.nif). These could cause a crash, but not at startup.

2. Undefined symbol UNIT_GINAZ_SWORDMASTER in assets/xml/units/civ4unitclassinfos.xml. This could cause a crash at startup, I suppose. But it doesn't for me. For people who are getting a crash, does the crash go away if you edit this file and remove the lines from UnitClassInfo to /UnitClassInfo around this symbol?

3. A previous problem has either re-appeared or was never fixed, in assets/python/revolution/revdefs.py is a reference to BUILDINGCLASS_WEATHER_SCANNER. I do not think this will cause any crash.

 

[Jester Fool]

1. Missing button (assets/xml/builds/build_melting_lens.dds) and a missing art file (assets/Art/Structures/Buildings/research_facility/assemblyhall.nif). These could cause a crash, but not at startup.

There was no folder 'builds' so I created one and copied/renamed a .dds file into it. There was no folder 'research_facility' so I created one and copied/renamed a .nif file into it.

2. Undefined symbol UNIT_GINAZ_SWORDMASTER in assets/xml/units/civ4unitclassinfos.xml. This could cause a crash at startup, I suppose. But it doesn't for me. For people who are getting a crash, does the crash go away if you edit this file and remove the lines from UnitClassInfo to /UnitClassInfo around this symbol?

Removed it from civ4unitclassinfos.xml and then removed it from civ4civilizationinfos. I still get a CTD.

 

[Jester Fool]

I downloaded civchecker and ran it on my copy of Dune Wars 1.7.3.2. There were 851 art files in Dune Wars. There are 679 missing art files and 200 undefined symbols found. I uninstalled and then re-installed 1.7.3. Now civchecker shows 298 art files, 720 missing art files and 177 undefined symbols. Not sure what to make of this. Any suggestions on what to try next?

 

[Deliverator]

Ah, sorry about the mess. I need to remember to run civchecker...

Sorry, I don't understand how these files work. This file has a CvGameCoreDLL.dll file.

For future reference, CvGameCoreDLL.dll is the compiled SDK code. This sits in the folder Dune Wars/assets. The folder Dune Wars/CvGameCoreDLL contains the uncompiled C++ source code and is only useful for those wishing to work on SDK changes - it is not actually needed for the mod to run.

Now civchecker shows 298 art files, 720 missing art files and 177 undefined symbols.

To actually get these art errors to not show up you need to unpack the file dune-wars-17.fpk using the PakBuild utility. This is best done after you install 1.7 before installing any patches. If you do this then any remaining missing art are real issues.

To sort out the confusion and fix the issues I have made an installer for 1.7.3.2.
Steps to install:
1. Download 1.7.3.2 installer here.
2. Delete or rename your Dune Wars directory.
3. Run dune-wars-1-7.exe. (Say "OK" to do you wish to uninstall)
4. Run dune-wars-patch-1-7-3.exe.
5. Run the newly downloaded dune-wars-patch-1-7-3-2-incremental.exe.

Fixes in this installer version:
+ Fully removed Ginaz Swordmaster unit references from XML.
+ Fixed RevDef.py reference to BUILDINGCLASS_WEATHER_SCANNER.
+ Fixed missing art assets: missing button (assets/xml/builds/build_melting_lens.dds) and missing art file assets/Art/Structures/Buildings/research_facility/assemblyhall.nif)
+ Removed all "Celebrity Happiness" functionality that was brought in with TLOTags in 1.7.3.1.

 

[Ahriman]

1. Download 1.7.3.2 installer here.
2. Delete or rename your Dune Wars directory.
3. Run dune-wars-1-7.exe. (Say "OK" to do you wish to uninstall)
4. Run dune-wars-patch-1-7-3.exe.
5. Run the newly downloaded dune-wars-patch-1-7-3-2-incremental.exe.

Did all this. Still get CTD on starting a game (during the "initializing" phase).

 

[Jester Fool]

Still get CTD. Is this patch compatible with Vista? What operating system are the screenshots taken from?

 

[davidlallen]

Did all this. Still get CTD on starting a game (during the "initializing" phase).

This is sad. If you use just 1.7.3 without the patch, does it (still) work?

We have had a problem before where some users don't have write access to their c:\ root directory, and there is a symbol which is undefined in the DW python. Then during startup, one of the python routines attempts to write a logfile into c:\ with the name of the missing symbol and fails. Usually it throws some kind of message about a write permission error. I have checked using 1.7.3.2 and this file is not being written and there is no undefined symbol in the DW python. (The logfile is only written regarding the DW python, not other python such as revdcm.)

I highly doubt this is the problem, but (a) deliverator, do you have any info in your file c:\stats.csv? (b) others who are having the crash may try editing assets/python/dunewars.py. Find the lines in black and add the line in red. Those are all tab characters at the start of the lines, make sure your text editor leaves them all as tabs.

	# Print a debug message to file
	def DebugPrint(self, txt):
		[COLOR="Red"]return[/COLOR]
		f = open(self.DebugFilename, "a")

This problem should be caught by running civcheck before the release. But I have thought it would be better to throw these as alerts instead of printing to a file. That would draw more attention. The related python function is GetCheckInfo, which I wrote as a simple wrapper around gc.getInfoTypeForString. The wrapper can be changed to throw exceptions instead of calling DebugPrint.

 

[davidlallen]

Still get CTD. Is this patch compatible with Vista? What operating system are the screenshots taken from?

The operating system requirements are not going to change as the result of a patch. If 1.7.3 worked on your OS, then the OS is not the reason for any 1.7.3.2 failure.

 

[Ahriman]

This is sad. If you use just 1.7.3 without the patch, does it (still) work?

Yes.

Running as Administrator does not have any impact.

b) others who are having the crash may try editing assets/python/dunewars.py. Find the lines in black and add the line in red.

Tried this, no impact, same crash.

 

[Jester Fool]

Edited Dune Wars.py but, as you suspected, that wasn't the problem. 1.7.3 still works after a fresh install. The crash occurs during the 'initialization' process. Has new code been added in 1.7.3.2 that would execute at that time? If so, maybe I could comment it out and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[Deliverator]

This seems like quite a strange issue. I have had some crashes during the mapscript initialization when I was working on the patch, but I don't get them at all now.

It would seem that it happens while the mapscript is running.

1. Does it happen with both mapscripts? Archipelago and Arrakis?
2. If you get a crash and then try again does it happen every time?

The only two things I can think of that have changed around terrain is the new Forest feature and the new tag for Terrain called bRequiresFlatlands which isn't set for any terrain. Could you post the contents of the logs directory so we can see what the last thing the mapscript was doing before the crash that might help. We can see if it is adding Terrain or Features or whatever.

I have Windows XP as does David I think. It would be odd if the operating system was making a difference somehow, but not impossible I suppose.

Did the 1.7.3.1 patch work for you guys? If not then it is definitely a problem with something in the TLOTags merge I did.

 

[Ahriman]

1. Does it happen with both mapscripts? Archipelago and Arrakis?

Yes.

2. If you get a crash and then try again does it happen every time?

It crashes *every* game. This is not an occasional thing.

Could you post the contents of the logs directory so we can see what the last thing the mapscript was doing before the crash that might help.

Which log files do you want? Here are the only logs that seemed to be updated by starting a game. (Attached.)

Did the 1.7.3.1 patch work for you guys?

I don't *think* I tried that one.

I can reinstall 1.7 -> 1.7.3 -> 1.7.3.1 and retest.

 

[Jester Fool]

1.7.3.1 starts just fine. I'll try patching to 1.7.3.2 and see what happens.

 

[Ahriman]

1.7.3.1 seems bugged for me.

I did a clean install 1.7, 1.7.3, 1.7.3.1, and the mod has several XML errors for the new techs (supertensile materials etc) and then CTDs during the mod loading (as opposed to 1.7.3.2, which was causing CTD during new game loading).

This did not happen when I ran 1.7, 1.7.3, 1.7.3.2.

 

[Deliverator]

Could you try removing the entire FeatureInfo FEATURE_FOREST from Civ4FeatureInfos.xml and see if that makes a difference? This would cause python errors for terraforming, but it is worth seeing if the game at least starts.

This is tricky to diagnose since I cannot recreate.

 

[Deliverator]

Something else to try. I have uploaded my entire Dune Wars directory here. Delete or rename you existing Dune Wars folder and put this one in its place. If you still get an error then that will eliminate the fact that it is an install issue or a missing file change.

 

[Jester Fool]

Did that and still get CTD. I have time to help debug anyway you think would be helpful. I fear that new features may have to be added one by one to find out where the problem is occuring. I don't think missing art files, etc. are the problem. Usually, CTD occurs from a logic problem (e.g. incorrect definitions, functions returning invalid or unexpected results etc.) That may not be the problem but 1.7.3 definitely works. If I knew the changes I wouldn't mind testing them out one by one. I have plenty of time. If this bug slips into 1.7.4 it would be a shame.