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Kurohyou Studios
Kurohyou Studios
Join Date 06/2007
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(Resolved) Latest patch = Instability

Graphics bug crash

August 31, 2007 9:53:17 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
So i love the gameplay additions and the new AI and I enjoy the pirate planets even though they need to be tweaked a little.

What I'm not so fond of about the new patch is the fact that it has completely killed the stability (i.e. lack of crashes) that the beta had before the patch. I have yet to play a game that does not involve a serious crash that completely locks my computer up. The only thing that I can think of that all these crashes have in common is special effects being triggered (i.e. explosions, phasejump effects, etc.). Every crash has happened when I was zoomed in close enough to be below the icon view hence I was seeing the graphical effects.
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Kurohyou Studios
Blair Fraser
Join Date 10/2006
+292 moderator
Reply #1 August 31, 2007 10:18:02 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
It's to be expected when we add a lot of new stuff, especially now as the game gets more and more complicated. It took a couple quick patches and hotfixes after all of our large releases to stabilize the game. Once we recieve enough dump files from this patch we'll release a hotfix to bring the stability back up (hopefully next week). Be sure to send any minidump files you get to support@ironcladgames.com
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Kurohyou Studios
Schod
Join Date 10/2006
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Reply #2 August 31, 2007 10:20:17 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
the odd thing is that I've had the crappiest computer (well below the specified limits) and one of the better computers (well above double the recommended limits) and I've never had a single crash.

all the more reason to fix this i guess, if its a mid-range issue.
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Kurohyou Studios
Blair Fraser
Join Date 10/2006
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Reply #3 August 31, 2007 10:22:54 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Could be Schem good point. We won't know until we recieve enough dump files though. *crosses fingers*
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Kurohyou Studios
Kurohyou Studios
Join Date 06/2007
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Reply #4 September 1, 2007 2:59:00 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I just replicated the crash. This time though I let the computer sit for awhile and was able to access what I thought was the Minidump notification. It turns out that its a Minidump failed notification instead. The error reads as follows:

DBGHELP.DLL not found. Please ensure that DBGHELP.DLL is in your working directory. I'll try reinstalling sins tomorrow morning and see if that fixes the problem since it looks like this might be a corrupted install instead of a game bug.

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Kurohyou Studios
Blair Fraser
Join Date 10/2006
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Reply #5 September 1, 2007 3:41:03 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Weird, dbghelp.dll is part of the operating system so I don't know why you wouldn't have it. It's usually found in c:\windows\system32\. It can be downloaded from a variety places on the net.
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Kurohyou Studios
Kurohyou Studios
Join Date 06/2007
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Reply #6 September 1, 2007 3:54:16 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Well I don't know what was up with DBGHELP.DLL but a reinstall of Sins appears to have fixed it. Now i'm getting a new error that also says that the minidump failed. The weird thing is that I do actually have minidumps in the minidump folder even though it says that it failed to do so. I will send the most recent one to minidump@ironcladgames.com. Hope you find it useful.
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Kurohyou Studios
RonLugge
Join Date 05/2004
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Reply #7 September 1, 2007 10:51:39 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
BTW Daishzen -- congrats on making it crash

Despite my best efforts, I've failed in making it do so...
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Kurohyou Studios
Stratteggi
Join Date 01/2007
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Reply #8 September 1, 2007 11:34:47 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Yeah, I haven't gotten it to crash, despite it always saying it couldn't convert something into an enum value every time I start the game.
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Kurohyou Studios
EBITAD
Join Date 07/2007
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Reply #9 September 14, 2007 8:59:36 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I just replicated the crash. This time though I let the computer sit for awhile and was able to access what I thought was the Minidump notification. It turns out that its a Minidump failed notification instead. The error reads as follows:

DBGHELP.DLL not found. Please ensure that DBGHELP.DLL is in your working directory. I'll try reinstalling sins tomorrow morning and see if that fixes the problem since it looks like this might be a corrupted install instead of a game bug.



The beta is unplayable for me. It was fine until the patch. I receive this same DBGHElp.DLL error on two different computers. I have tried reinstalling the game, reloading saved games

I checked, I too have the dbghelp.dll file in my system 32 file. I also get the mini dump error with the dbghelp.dll error when my system crashes. This is occuring mid game

Would a game file of this crash help? Otherwise is there a target date for the hotfix?
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Kurohyou Studios
Blair Fraser
Join Date 10/2006
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Reply #10 September 14, 2007 9:22:19 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Are you loading a save game?
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Kurohyou Studios
Polluxo
Join Date 09/2007
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Reply #11 September 14, 2007 10:02:41 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I get this problem too. It always happens during a fairly large fleet battle, and ends when the other guy phase jumps out. It usually crashes right before one of his capital ships begins to phase jump.
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Kurohyou Studios
EBITAD
Join Date 07/2007
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Reply #12 September 14, 2007 10:40:54 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
My saved game causes my computer to freeze. I started playing from a previous save and turned autosave back on. Game successfully autosaved twice then froze; "Minidump Failed". I started the game back up and chose the most recent save; autosave 15000. The game froze again within a minute; "Minidump failed-DBGHelp.dll not found".

I had no crashing or freezing prior to the most recent patch. I did remove the uimapping file so that I would be able to scroll but no other changes to the download.

I thought I had fixed it but it refroze with the same mini dump error. I reloaded the autosave 15000 save game and then manually saved it prior to the freeze. Then loaded the manually saved game and got past the point where it would have froze. Played for a while and then it froze again, probably when the game went to autosave.

I get this problem too. It always happens during a fairly large fleet battle, and ends when the other guy phase jumps out. It usually crashes right before one of his capital ships begins to phase jump.


This crash first occured when ai is invading with a capital ship and it is entered the gravity well. Any suggestions would be appreciated, otherwise I guess I will try the hotfix when it is available to see if I may rejoin the beta test.
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Kurohyou Studios
Blair Fraser
Join Date 10/2006
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Reply #13 September 14, 2007 11:28:59 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Certain conditions can cause saved games to become corrupt. When you try to load them the the corruption will eventually get hit, cause an infinite loop, cause your computer to run out of memory and then fail to find certain key dll files and it won't even be able to dump. We've fixed this problem and it will be included in beta 3 which is coming shortly.

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Kurohyou Studios
psugar
Join Date 03/2007
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Reply #14 September 14, 2007 11:30:48 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Save games are broken at the moment, unfortunately.

Stratteggi, your message sounds like you have a broken install... almost certain to be fixed by a full uninstall/reinstall.

Any minidumps or savegames would be really helpful, as we haven't been able to reproduce this crash, and can't fix it until we do!
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weasello
Join Date 02/2006
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Reply #15 September 14, 2007 11:32:15 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I just got the crash too! Error was "Could not generate dump file," so no help from me. I did send the MS error report, however.

I was withdrawing from a large battle and can echo the "probably sometime around phase jumping" suggestion, but I was zoomed out far enough to not see it (or maybe the phase jump graphic was *just* in visual range, but the ships were definitely icons).

Caveat though, I had opened the game, played a full round on a medium universe, and started a large universe all in one start of the EXE. I swapped in and out several times, and all of my gaming happened over 4 days of play (I paused to go to bed, yes, but the EXE stayed open).
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Polluxo
Join Date 09/2007
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Reply #16 September 15, 2007 12:14:24 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Certain conditions can cause saved games to become corrupt. When you try to load them the the corruption will eventually get hit, cause an infinite loop, cause your computer to run out of memory and then fail to find certain key dll files and it won't even be able to dump. We've fixed this problem and it will be included in beta 3 which is coming shortly.




I just played a game from new, and eventually got the crash after a bunch of enemy frigates phase jumped from my planet in the near vicinity of my LoS.
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EBITAD
Join Date 07/2007
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Reply #17 September 15, 2007 1:31:41 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Thanks Blair. I thought I had read in the forum that there would be a "hotfix" for this error soon, but from your comment it may not be available until Beta 3 is ready? If Beta3 is going to be a few more weeks and you have this bug fixed and it is not too difficult you may want to consider undating the patch since there may be other players like myself that have had to stop playing altogether until this bug is fixed. I just to not have time to play this game at one setting and without the ability to play a saved game my beta experience is over until the fix. You may also want this bug thoroughly test prior to the release of beta3 as it may be a show stopper for many players.

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RonLugge
Join Date 05/2004
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Reply #18 September 15, 2007 11:36:21 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Last I heard, beta3 is due out this week.
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weasello
Join Date 02/2006
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Reply #19 September 18, 2007 1:55:46 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I spent an hour doing nothing but phasing fleets back and forth, and when an enemy fleet warped in everything was cool. I took out all his ships except his malkuth capital ship, and as it attempted to warp out I think I fired my warp-inhibition ability on him. Locky-crashy! Right as that shimmering blue cone appeared off the bow of his ship. It was the only one warping at the time.
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RonLugge
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Reply #20 September 18, 2007 10:14:34 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

I spent an hour doing nothing but phasing fleets back and forth, and when an enemy fleet warped in everything was cool. I took out all his ships except his malkuth capital ship, and as it attempted to warp out I think I fired my warp-inhibition ability on him. Locky-crashy! Right as that shimmering blue cone appeared off the bow of his ship. It was the only one warping at the time.


Malkuth capital ship? Warp-inhibition ability? Are you playing a mod?
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weasello
Join Date 02/2006
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Reply #21 September 18, 2007 1:42:01 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Crap, I may have the names wrong, and I'm perpertually saying "warp" instead of "phase."

What's that big ship that looks like a hand giving the middle finger? (from the top down)
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RonLugge
Join Date 05/2004
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Reply #22 September 18, 2007 8:24:20 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Ok, what phase-space inhibition ability are you talking about then? Only thing I know of is the phase space inhibitor, which you can't fire at will, its either built or not, and the Sova's blockade which only stops trade ships.

And do you mean the Dreadnought? I don't remember the name they gave it, but I suppose it might fit your description.
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Stratteggi
Join Date 01/2007
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Reply #23 September 18, 2007 9:34:42 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Crap, I may have the names wrong, and I'm perpertually saying "warp" instead of "phase."

What's that big ship that looks like a hand giving the middle finger? (from the top down)


Sounds like the Marza.
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