Crash debugging

[Wayland1]

Hello,

I have a problem with my game crashing at some point from 1942 to 1944. It runs fine up until that point. I've fixed all the errors using advanced debug mode, and the game still crashes.

The game in question is a mod for Darkest Hour, with an enhanced map.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...the-draka-mod-for-darkest-hour-1-051.1135722/

I don't think the crash is caused by any particular event, as it each time it crashes, the log shows a different last event.

The crash doesn't happen every time, but it does most times. And so I believe the problem may be with the game engine itself. Most games have a handling mechanism so that minor errors don't result in a crash.

The problem could also be something to do with the new map the mod uses, such that my system doesn't have enough memory to handle all the unit movements. I need to know if this is the case.

This is the map the mod uses:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/mod-darkest-hour-in-the-e3-fn-map.1021330/

Has anyone else had similar problems?


Regards,

Wayland1

 

[^_AC_^]

Hello,

I have a problem with my game crashing at some point during 1942 or 1943 when Japan and the USA are at war.

The game in question is a mod for Darkest Hour, with an enhanced map.

I suspect it's something that happens in the pacific theatre that causes the game to crash. When Japan and the USA are not at war, the crash doesn't happen.

Is there a way to find out what event was being called, or what the game was doing, at the time of the crash?

I just want to have the tools that will enable me to debug this myself.


Regards,

Wayland1

settings.cfg -> raise debug level to 1 or even 2
play the game, wait for crash
check debug.txt for log and maybe history.txt to see last event fired.

 

[Wayland1]

settings.cfg -> raise debug level to 1 or even 2
play the game, wait for crash
check debug.txt for log and maybe history.txt to see last event fired.

Thanks for your advice. However, I don't think the crash is caused by any particular event, as it each time it crashes, the log shows a different last event. I used the advanced debug mode, but it's still impossible to know what the problem is.

The crash doesn't happen every time, but it does most times. And so I believe the problem is with the game engine itself. Most games have a handling mechanism so that minor errors don't result in a crash.

BTW, this is the mod in question:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...the-draka-mod-for-darkest-hour-1-051.1135722/

It's a pity as I've put a lot of work into this mod.


Regards,

Wayland1

 

[MartinBG]

Start the game (load the campaign or the saved game where the crash occurs) with debug level set to 2 and search in savedebug.txt for "ERROR".
If there are any, fix them and see if the crash problem is gone too.

 

[Wayland1]

Start the game (load the campaign or the saved game where the crash occurs) with debug level set to 2 and search in savedebug.txt for "ERROR".
If there are any, fix them and see if the crash problem is gone too.

Will do that.

But keep in mind that these 'errors' only cause a crash at some point between 1942 and 1944 at very different stages in the game each time, and they don't cause a crash every time I play the mod.

 

[Wayland1]

Start the game (load the campaign or the saved game where the crash occurs) with debug level set to 2 and search in savedebug.txt for "ERROR".
If there are any, fix them and see if the crash problem is gone too.

I've fixed all the remaining errors using advanced debug mode, and the game still crashes at some point from 1942 to 1944. It may be something to do with the new map the mod uses, such that my system doesn't have enough memory to handle all the unit movements. I need to know if this is the case.

This is the map the mod uses:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/mod-darkest-hour-in-the-e3-fn-map.1021330/


Regards,

Wayland1

 

[Wayland1]

Has there been any progress in addressing this problem?

 

[ConjurerDragon]

Has there been any progress in addressing this problem?

If the error only happens if you use a modded map there is no problem in Darkest Hour so normally you would have to ask in the forum of the mapmode or the modding subforum.

Despite that you were adviced twice how you would have to report and describe the error so that someone else can check what the cause of the error might be, by providing the error log.

Without that and with an error that happens only occasionally in certain times during a longer game AND with your game using a mapmod AND with your game already suffering from several other not specified errors that you assume you have removed anyone could only guess what the cause might be.

Have you ever played Darkest Hour without the mapmode and got that error? If not then the problem is in the mapmode.

Have you as the very first thing made sure that you use the latest patch for Darkes Hour and if using the Steam version verified the local files for errors?

 

[Wayland1]

To answer your questions,

If the error only happens if you use a modded map there is no problem in Darkest Hour.

If the game crashed immediately upon loading, I would agree the problem was with the modded map. But it runs absolutely fine for five to six game years before it just suddenly crashes. For this reason, I expect the problem occurs due to a small anomaly somewhere, not as a result of a general problem with the map.

I've put a lot of time and effort into this mod, but sadly it's unplayable due to this seemingly small glitch.

Normally you would have to ask in the forum of the mapmode or the modding subforum.

I told the maker of the map about the problem two weeks ago. They haven't responded yet.

Despite that you were adviced twice how you would have to report and describe the error so that someone else can check what the cause of the error might be, by providing the error log.

I did use the advanced error logging system to clean up all the errors, but the crash still happens.

Have you ever played Darkest Hour without the mapmode and got that error?

The game does sometimes crash with the normal Darkest Hour map, but not almost every time after five to six game years.

Have you as the very first thing made sure that you use the latest patch for Darkest Hour?

Yes, I have the latest patch, version 1.051.

If using the Steam version verified the local files for errors?

I do not use the Steam version.

 

[Wayland1]

By the way, I've now found out that an event was executing even after I had temporarily disabled the event's file, and even though "BEN" didn't exist in my game.

This was the last line in my savedebug file:

"Executing event 8300063 BEN"

Why is this happening?

 

[ConjurerDragon]

...
If the game crashed immediately upon loading, I would agree the problem was with the modded map. But it runs absolutely fine for five to six game years before it just suddenly crashes. For this reason, I expect the problem occurs due to a small anomaly somewhere, not as a result of a general problem with the map.

Not necessarily. Depending on what a mod changes it might immediately crash or crash only much later when some obscure specific conditions are met (e.g. all is well until ownership of a specific province changes or something like that).

I've put a lot of time and effort into this mod, but sadly it's unplayable due to this seemingly small glitch.

I opened the link in your first post. Do I understand you right, that you installed Darkest Hour, then the
Darkest Hour in the E3-FN map
mapmode, and using that mapmod you created your own mod based on someone elses mod that was made for DH 1.04?

In that case problems might come from every of the changes at God knows where location and is clearly not a problem of Darkest Hour itself but the multiple modding.

Yes, I have the latest patch, version 1.051.

Did you install the 1.051 patch over the 1.05 patch? If you had an earlier version installed (e.g. 1.04) and used the 1.051 patch that might have caused problems too.

I do not use the Steam version.

In that case register your game here
https://accounts.paradoxplaza.com/redeem

 

[Wayland1]

Not necessarily. Depending on what a mod changes it might immediately crash or crash only much later when some obscure specific conditions are met (e.g. all is well until ownership of a specific province changes or something like that).

Your debug system doesn't seem to be working correctly. I've found out that an event was executing even after I had temporarily disabled the event's file, and even though "BEN" didn't exist in my game.

This was the last line in my savedebug file:

"Executing event 8300063 BEN"

Why is this happening?

Did you install the 1.051 patch over the 1.05 patch?

Yes.

In that case register your game here
https://accounts.paradoxplaza.com/redeem

Where can I find my redeem code?

 

[ConjurerDragon]

Your debug system doesn't seem to be working correctly.

If it did not work correctly, then how did it detect the multiple errors caused by the modded changes in your game that you wrote to have already corrected?

I've found out that an event was executing even after I had temporarily disabled the event's file, and even though "BEN" didn't exist in my game.

This was the last line in my savedebug file:

"Executing event 8300063 BEN"

There is no single event’s file. HoI games have several files containing events.
A simply Windows search for 8300063 in my (unmodded) Darkest Hour folder shows that this event number is found in two files:
Mobilization.txt
AI_mobi.txt

Where can I find my redeem code?

That depends on where you bought the game. For GOG games there is a submenu in your games library under each game containing that info.

 

[Wayland1]

If it did not work correctly, then how did it detect the multiple errors caused by the modded changes in your game that you wrote to have already corrected?

It did not detect any errors, only the events executed.

There is no single event’s file. HoI games have several files containing events.
A simply Windows search for 8300063 in my (unmodded) Darkest Hour folder shows that this event number is found in two files:
Mobilization.txt
AI_mobi.txt

I know. Both those files were disabled. And "BEN" didn't exist in my game.

 

[ConjurerDragon]

It did not detect any errors, only the events executed.

The events executed are listed in the file history.txt, the errors or problems in debug.txt or savedebug.txt but only if you did set
that entry in settings.cfg to 2 instead of 0:
0 # Extra debug logs (savedebug.txt): 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled, 2 = enabled + extra map statistics

I know. Both those files were disabled. And "BEN" didn't exist in my game.

If all files were disabled that contain events, then no event could have fired.
So either you did not disable those two files (how did you "disable" them?) or that event number exists somewhere else (not in Darkest Hour itself, but in one of the modded files).

 

[Wayland1]

The events executed are listed in the file history.txt, the errors or problems in debug.txt or savedebug.txt but only if you did set
that entry in settings.cfg to 2 instead of 0:
0 # Extra debug logs (savedebug.txt): 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled, 2 = enabled + extra map statistics

I set the debug level to 2.

If all files were disabled that contain events, then no event could have fired.
So either you did not disable those two files (how did you "disable" them?) or that event number exists somewhere else (not in Darkest Hour itself, but in one of the modded files).

The event files were disabled in the mod. Are you suggesting that events enabled in the vanilla version will happen even when they are disabled in a mod? And I know that "BEN" stands for Benin-Sahel. It did not exist in my game, so why did an event happen for it?

 

[ConjurerDragon]

I set the debug level to 2.

And did that get saved? Depending on your installation you might need administrator rights to successfully save the change.
If it did get saved, then yes you did not only get a list of last events fired (history.txt) but of errors too (savedebug.txt).

The event files were disabled in the mod. Are you suggesting that events enabled in the vanilla version will happen even when they are disabled in a mod? And I know that "BEN" stands for Benin-Sahel. It did not exist in my game, so why did an event happen for it?

That depends. Files that are not part of a mod will be used by the game from the vanilla installation. If it had done so that would be shown in savedebug.txt

However we are now clearly in modding problems and not anymore in problems with Darkest hour itself, so I suggest that this thread either be moved to the modding subforum or should be closed and discussion continue in the modding subforum.

 

[Mr. Capiatlist]

Please move further discussion of modding to the user mods section, thank you.

 

[Wayland1]

And did that get saved? Depending on your installation you might need administrator rights to successfully save the change.
If it did get saved, then yes you did not only get a list of last events fired (history.txt) but of errors too (savedebug.txt).

Yes, I checked savedebug.txt afterwards.

That depends. Files that are not part of a mod will be used by the game from the vanilla installation. If it had done so that would be shown in savedebug.txt

So are events.txt in the vanilla version executed as well as events.txt in the mod?

 

[ConjurerDragon]

Yes, I checked savedebug.txt afterwards.

So are events.txt in the vanilla version executed as well as events.txt in the mod?

No. When a file is present in the modfolder then it overrides the file from the vanilla game - that is if the mod is working properly and reading from the file in the modfolder, which would be reported in savedebug.txt if it would not work and fall back to the vanilla file.