Bug: Saving a map causes Terranx.exe to 'crash'

[Vidsek]

  Originally posted this in the PRACX thread but since it happens with PRACX set to disabled, that is probably the wrong place for it.  However it may be the same issue mentioned by vonbach in that thread back in March.

  The "lock" or "crash" is that Terranx.exe goes into a loop or whatever and starts using 98-99% of processor time.
  Only happens with map saving, not regular game saving or scenario saving (even if map edits have been made but not saved to the base map).
  Opening up the 'save' window by clicking in the menu or by keystroke does -not- cause the problem, it usually occurs when I type in the save name (or click on a previous save to enter that name), but sometimes allows typing/file name entry to occur and then crashes when I click the 'save' button or hit enter to save.
  Have now tried various settings in PRACX including disabling it.  Also several different maps, small to huge, modified and new random ones.

  To get it shut down, I have to ctrl-alt-del to open taskmanager and 'end process' it there, since nothing else is getting enough cycles to work.
  To confuse the issue, the bug does not occur all the time, rarely everything works normally, and more rarely, an initial save works but subsequent attempts fail.  Mostly, tho, it's been happening.
  I'm trying to watch (and remember...) everything I'm doing and what else is running on my rig in hopes of seeing any patterns that might give a clue, but so far I'm, uh....clueless.  Will continue to look for one, tho.

  I remember reading about other bugs in SMAC/SMACX that caused an endless loop/100% processor time crash back when I was learning how to set up the game on a modern comp and OS a year or more ago.  Don't know if the same wrong calls or whatever might be involved here, but I suspect it's something simple and basic that I just don't know enough to recognize yet.

  Windows 7-64, patched to current.
  Yitzi's 3.4
  PRACX 1.06
  Any other pertinent system info can be provided if you think it might help


  I'm an avid modder at heart (with a pathetic skill set so far), so this save bug is particularly frustrating,

                                                                        Vidsek Fayfisten

[Mart]

Interesting, my saving of the map in scenario editor (this is CTRL+F5) works ok, both clicked from menu and by keyboard shortcut. In Yitzi 3.4

And no matter if in ini file the entry is 0 or 1:

WindowsFileBox=1
WindowsFileBox=0

I need to load map with game FileBox and save it with windows WindowsFileBox.
So I have no control over which filebox is used.

[Vidsek]

  Map saving used to be flawless for me as well, and the problem could easily be something I did wrong.

  I'll try switching various files with my unmodified master copies and see if I can narrow down the source when I have a few minutes.

  Nothing else about the game gives me any trouble so it's likely to be something tiny and specific like a missing comma or whatever.  I'm just hoping someone else ran across the same thing and can save me all the work
Bughunting can be educational, maybe I'll learn something useful along the way.

By the way, my WindowsFileBox is set to the default 0, since I had no idea what changing it would do....

                                                                             Vidsek
 

[Mart]

...
By the way, my WindowsFileBox is set to the default 0, since I had no idea what changing it would do....

                                                                             Vidsek
 

Have you tried with set to 1?
Is the problem still there?

[Yitzi]

Freezes are a lot harder to track down than "true" crashes.

If you can test with Kyrub's patch and see whether it happens there, or only with my patch, that might help figure out whether something can be done.

[Vidsek]

     Yitzi,
   On the chance (probably pretty good) that my modded alphax file might be involved, I switched in a clean one, then:

   Tried using the windows file box...same mapsave problem but in addition, Terranx.exe freezes when I try to open a save game .  In fact, just trying to go from the maps folder and open the saves folder causes a freeze. 

   I did notice that while most of the menus were using Windows file boxes, the Load Map one was still using the game filebox.  So, I put WindowsFileBox back to 0 and discovered this: all the file boxes are game, except the map save one, which is the windows one.  I realized at that point that that has been the case all through this mess.  Game boxes work, windows freeze.
   I checked with a backup complete install that has only the official and GoG patches: same there, all menus are game except for the save map one (which with the clean install, allowed a save without the slightest problem).
   Is that true of other folks installs: the save map popup is always windows even when the others are game?

   So at this point it looks like something has changed in the files I'm currently using that doesn't play well with the windows file boxes.  Next step: switch all my modded for stock master ones, and work up from there one by one till I find where the culprit is hiding, if it is, in fact, among them.

   I'll post what I find tomorrow.

                                                          Vidsek, who never really liked Windows anyway.... 

[Yitzi]

     Yitzi,
   On the chance (probably pretty good) that my modded alphax file might be involved, I switched in a clean one, then:

   Tried using the windows file box...same mapsave problem but in addition, Terranx.exe freezes when I try to open a save game .  In fact, just trying to go from the maps folder and open the saves folder causes a freeze. 

I checked with a backup complete install that has only the official and GoG patches: same there, all menus are game except for the save map one (which with the clean install, allowed a save without the slightest problem).
   Is that true of other folks installs: the save map popup is always windows even when the others are game?

If the official and GoG patches are enough to cause the problem, and it's a freeze, then I probably can't do that much to help you...

[Mart]

It may be actually this problem:
Link

[Vidsek]

     My tests so far: basic official+GoG patches only - works just fine  (so probably not my mouse software or
                            other non-SMACX apps)
                          : those plus Yitzi 3.4 and PRACX 1.06 - Works fine (so not either of those patches)
                          : adding back in my edited .txt files - can no longer make the freeze happen.....

   Restoring my configuration to what it was with the problem should have returned the problem, but (thankfully) did not.   Somehow something changed but I haven't a clue what.

   So....until I can get the freeze to return and do more research on it, I'll live with the mystery and happily go on map making.  Till then I guess we can consider this a dead thread, and good riddance  .

   I did learn some things, mostly what I yet need to learn.  First that comes to mind is what all the flags in Alpha Centauri.ini do.  Base Sort=2 ?  We can sort the bases by something other than alphabetic?  And so on...
   I'll post those questions in another more appropriate part of the forums.

   Lastly, my thanks to folks for taking the time to consider my problem and offer suggestions, it was a pleasure to meet you all  .   Hopefully we can talk again, but on more interesting and useful topics.

                                                               Vidsek Fayfisten

[Buster's Uncle]

   I did learn some things, mostly what I yet need to learn.  First that comes to mind is what all the flags in Alpha Centauri.ini do.  Base Sort=2 ?  We can sort the bases by something other than alphabetic?  And so on...
   I'll post those questions in another more appropriate part of the forums.

That would be greatly appreciated - the main way people find the community is searching for information about something.  There are always newbs in need of tutorials.  -There are always, for that matter, long-time vets stumbling over something they'd never noticed before when people organize and write up what they've worked out.

[Vidsek]

      Well, the first thing I looked for with the AC ini was a wiki page on it....there isn't one.  So if I can find the info I want, I'll just write it up and make that page    Mom was an English teacher before the Navy, so I should be able to make it legible at least.

                                                                Vidsek, who just discovered what those rows of citizens in the Psych
                                                                            window signify (after a year+ of wondering).