Random crash

[X.ray]

Was playing the Greyhound scenario using a sav file I saved 3 days ago. The game randomly crashed at several points 5 minutes into the game. I didn't notice I did anything abnormal. Was assigning move orders to a few units / checking units status when it crashed. Happened several times but I couldn't find a particular pattern, as I was not doing the same routine every time.

Anyway, may not be that useful as a report but still attach the auto save file here in case it's helpful. autosave #9 is the old save file and #1 is the latest auto save after I load #9. It went as far as this much before crashing, for a few times. If I find more pattern in the next game play I'll add here.

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

Could it have been an "empty" Task Edit dialog - ie with no task selected? That was a known bug that I have fixed for the next build.

 

[X.ray]

Could it have been an "empty" Task Edit dialog - ie with no task selected? That was a known bug that I have fixed for the next build.

I'm pretty sure it's not (btw I reported that crash...), as I made sure I select a unit before clicking on dialogue box or command. In fact the crashes happened at random points after I loaded the game. The first time it happened right after I load, and selected a unit. I was trying to change its path finding preference (sorry not at my desk so forgot the term) from "unspecified" to avoidance. Then it crashed. I thought it must be because the unit didn't have a command and was "waiting" (in fact it should have a moving order before I saved last time but maybe aborted), so I load again and gave a move order first, then it was fine. But afterwards there are also a few crashes, each at a different time but all within 5-10 minutes after I load. And they did not all at times happen when I click on the task edit dialogue. Sometimes it happened when I was clicking the tool box, sometimes when viewing the objective / status of a unit, etc. Anyway I know my description is probably not that helpful. Let me try a few more times in the next few days and see if I can find a pattern.

BTW, this is after I installed the 5 campaigns. Last time when I played (& saved) I only had the core engine installed.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

X.ray,

I'm really going to need more detailed steps. I have to be able to make it repeat. As I say in this thread:
http://forums.lnlpublishing.com/threads/how-to-report-a-bug-or-issue.886/
a screen shot showing what dialogs are open would help no end. To narrow it down try closing all of the dialogs and see if that eliminates the problem. Then you know its probably related to one of the dialogs. Then close half the dialogs and so on to bracket the problem.

 

[Crazer]

Ok, I narrowed down a crash that seemed to be random at first. The CTD happens only when a Task Edit dialog is open. How to reproduce: load a save, select Arty Bty 153 Gds in any way available, order a bombard mission, then click on an empty space to deselect order, the game crashes. The same happened in tutorial mission, but I couldnt track it at the moment, seems to be related to arty somehow, though I might be wrong.

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

Ok, I narrowed down a crash that seemed to be random at first. The CTD happens only when a Task Edit dialog is open. How to reproduce: load a save, select Arty Bty 153 Gds in any way available, order a bombard mission, then click on an empty space to deselect order, the game crashes. The same happened in tutorial mission, but I couldnt track it at the moment, seems to be related to arty somehow, though I might be wrong.

This has already been fixed for 5.0.12, which will be out next week.

 

[X.ray]

I think I probably find why. See the two screenshots and where the red circles are:




So, I gave a move order to the unit H Coy 3/33 Arm Regt, and edited the order to give it some specific instructions. Then I selected some other units and gave some orders. Then I change back to H Coy, selected the unit, looked at the task edit window, and realized that all instruction I gave are gone, and the status shows the unit has no task. So I tried to click the instruction buttons again, boom! crash! That's what happens on the first screenshot.

After a few iterations, I realized that when I select the unit, the task edit window will not display anything, only when I also select the task icon itself (see upper RHS red circle on the 2nd screenshot), the task will be displayed and my instructions are there. And this time I can click on any button on the task edit window and no crash.

While this makes sense, I found it's counter-intuitive, since people (at least myself) tend to select the unit to give orders, rather than select the order to give orders. In the case that a sequence of orders are given to one unit, the tendency is still to select the unit to give instructions in relation to the CURRENT order. I understand the task edit window crash bug, when no tasks are selected, has already been fixed, by disabling the buttons on the TE window. That should solve the problem above as well, but I also feel that if in the case a unit is selected, the current task can still be edited, it will be more intuitive and easier to control, especially when you have a lot units to control (hence a lot orders were given).

 

[X.ray]

In fact, I realized it's even worse. When I select the next unit after I edited the task of a previous unit, the TE window still shows the previous unit's task. Although in this situation it would cause any crash, you may be editing your previous unit's task while you thought you are editing for this one!
Can the TE window be always automatically refreshed to show the current unit's current task?

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

FYI hitting the up arrow key on the keyboard will select the order of the current selected unit.

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

Can the TE window be always automatically refreshed to show the current unit's current task?

If we were to do this then it would preclude an option that I want to implement in the future. This option would have multiple tabs on the Task Edit dialog. One of these would be the controls we see now. A second tab would show the force group assigned (ie under command). A third would show the forces in support - ie not under command for movement but under command for fire support. The intent would be to simply drag and drop units from either the map or the OB display. That way you can issue an order and then assign the forces rather than the current system where you have to group the forces before issuing the order. Trouble is though that if the above change was implemented then when you clicked on a unit prior to dragging it, it would change the Task Edit dialog and thus prevent the drag and drop. Perhaps one way around iit is that if either of the force group tabs were currently being displayed then the behaviour to sync the task edit with the selected force would be turned off. However, this may take a fair bit of getting used to for users.

What do others think of this idea?

 

[X.ray]

If we were to do this then it would preclude an option that I want to implement in the future. This option would have multiple tabs on the Task Edit dialog. One of these would be the controls we see now. A second tab would show the force group assigned (ie under command). A third would show the forces in support - ie not under command for movement but under command for fire support. The intent would be to simply drag and drop units from either the map or the OB display. That way you can issue an order and then assign the forces rather than the current system where you have to group the forces before issuing the order. Trouble is though that if the above change was implemented then when you clicked on a unit prior to dragging it, it would change the Task Edit dialog and thus prevent the drag and drop. Perhaps one way around iit is that if either of the force group tabs were currently being displayed then the behaviour to sync the task edit with the selected force would be turned off. However, this may take a fair bit of getting used to for users.

What do others think of this idea?

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the detailed feedback. My suggestion (which I'm not sure if feasible) is that when you click (select) on one unit, the tab would display this unit's current task. However, if you click on an unit and drag it to the task tab (without releasing the mouse button before moving to the tab), the task tab remain unchanged. This is similar to what is under the Windows system, when you drag a file from a background window to a foreground window, the background window will remain deactivated as long as you don't release the mouse button before dragging.

Thanks again.