Blair Fraser Blair Fraser

Multiplayer Crashes

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Multiplayer Crashes

from Sins Forums

I apologize for the MP dumps. I've addressed this multiple times in other threads but they've been buried so it isn't because we are ignoring it or trying to hide it - its just impossible to comment on it everytime it reappears in a new thread. Tech support has also been in email contact with a variety of people (including some in this thread).

The MP bug is 1 of 2 major bugs we are aware of and its a sync bug. Statistically, it is very rare which is why it is so difficult for us to track down (we have yet to see it ourselves but we have something going out soon that will help us find it from those who do get it). Also, any multiplayer fixes are scheduled to go out in 1.1 not 1.04. They are in seperate code paths and completely seperate systems being worked on by completely seperate people. This isn't a matter of just throwing the fix into 1.04 and 1.04 development is not slowing down 1.1's development so don't feel we are wasting time on 1.04 (balance + misc) when the *real* bug is in 1.1 (multiplayer).

Now, to save you all a lot of headaches - the nature of the sync bug is that once you've had a game where it happens it is very unlikely you can recover from a MP save game. If you load the MP save game and continue to play you will crash again. You will then load a more recent save game and crash again. The crashes will come more and more frequently. If you see this behavior just start over as its very probably that its the sync bug and the crash is nothing to do with your machines, network, or drivers. If you don't see this behavior, its likely a driver problem or you are running out of memory or you are running a bad mod (at least based on the data we've collected through tech support).

As soon as 1.04 is out I am going to make a post looking for volunteers. I have a special 1.04 build that will track the synchronization info we need to track it down. Since we can't recreate it we need to have a few players who it happens to regularly to play 1.04 with this build and then send us their logs when it goes out of sync.

P.S Minidump is the generic term for a general crash - it could be anything and is not caused by any specific problem. We can decode the minidump to get useful information on the true nature of the crash.

technical
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Reply #126 from Sins Forums Top
This isn't a matter of just throwing the fix into 1.04 and 1.04 development is not slowing down 1.1's development so don't feel we are wasting time on 1.04 (balance + misc) when the *real* bug is in 1.1 (multiplayer)..Does that mean that I have to have 1.1 to solve this problem or can I just have 1.4?


I meant 0.1 sry
Reply #127 from Sins Forums Top
So is the sync error fixed now? Still testing? I am not playing until I KNOW its fixed!!
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Reply #128 from Sins Forums Top
The hotfix has not been released yet.

-HM
Reply #129 from Sins Forums Top
But I mean, will syncfix 'fix' it to the extent that a full game might be playable? Isn't it the same thing as the 'hotfix', just a BETA release?
Reply #130 from Sins Forums Top
Since the developers are taking quite a bit of time to release something official, I suspect that the hotfix, in some way, will be different than the test fix that is in this thread.

You are of course welcome to use the test fix. But remember that it is just a test file, and that it can only be used to play games against others that are also using the test file.

-HM
Reply #131 from Sins Forums Top
From my understanding, the hotfix patch will address some other issues as well, not only the sync bug. So while the sync fix test build is posted in this thread and fixes that particular issue, the final patch release should have additional tweaks.
Reply #132 from Sins Forums Top
But I mean, will syncfix 'fix' it to the extent that a full game might be playable? Isn't it the same thing as the 'hotfix', just a BETA release?


if you were having synch problems, then the synch fix patch should help you.. if you were having resource/driver/processor/etc problems, and you never sent in any minidump and dxdiag files for the devs to evaluate, then you might or might not get a fix for what ails you..

when ironclad/stardock programs a game, they have to deal with 2 tiers of fubar. the first is microsoft, it keeps pumping out newer and newer versions of it's directx 3d modeling and programming language.. they don't do a very good job of insuring backwards compatability.
the second is that nvidia/ati are responsible for makign sure that their drivers do what microsoft thinks it is telling them to do so that any given programming directive would do the same thing on either/any set of hardware apparently, for the last couple of years, nvidia has been having problems keeping their drivers in synch with what microsoft has been doing.

looks like nvidia 175.16 is out and not beta anymore, everyone with nvidia cards should update their driver appropriately
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us
Reply #133 from Sins Forums Top
I have been playing sins single player and have never had any form of problem, as soon as ive tried to play online it crashes at some stage of gameplay! ... infact ive tried about 5 online games now, and allll of them have crashed! as opposed to my 200 single player games that have all run perfectly? clearly the issue is multiplayer only related and needs to be fixed... today when it crashed, it came up with a message that said "mini dump" error something... im running the latest version 1.04 and all my drivers pc and stuff is fine, it runs every other game perfectly, so clearly an absolutely terrific game is being completely wasted and spoiled, please fix it guys i cant wait to actually try this game out properly! :CONGRAT:
Reply #134 from Sins Forums Top
I have been playing sins single player and have never had any form of problem, as soon as ive tried to play online it crashes at some stage of gameplay! ... infact ive tried about 5 online games now, and allll of them have crashed! as opposed to my 200 single player games that have all run perfectly? clearly the issue is multiplayer only related and needs to be fixed... today when it crashed, it came up with a message that said "mini dump" error something... im running the latest version 1.04 and all my drivers pc and stuff is fine, it runs every other game perfectly, so clearly an absolutely terrific game is being completely wasted and spoiled, please fix it guys i cant wait to actually try this game out properly!


Did you send the minidump file and a copy of the dxdiag output in to [email protected]?
and.. are you using any mods?
Reply #136 from Sins Forums Top
have been playing sins single player and have never had any form of problem, as soon as ive tried to play online it crashes at some stage of gameplay! ... infact ive tried about 5 online games now, and allll of them have crashed! as opposed to my 200 single player games that have all run perfectly? clearly the issue is multiplayer only related and needs to be fixed... today when it crashed, it came up with a message that said "mini dump" error something... im running the latest version 1.04 and all my drivers pc and stuff is fine, it runs every other game perfectly, so clearly an absolutely terrific game is being completely wasted and spoiled, please fix it guys i cant wait to actually try this game out properly!


I usually play singel player game and i have seen the mini dump on a few ocation(<-- i do think i spelled that wrong) but its nothing to care about 4-5 times in 300+ games...so i do not think its just multiplayer...
Reply #137 from Sins Forums Top
A minidump is a generic crash log, basically. It can be created by any game crash and thus not all minidumps are the result of the same problem.

What's discussed in this thread is a multiplayer specific sync bug that eventually results in a crash (which in turn produces a minidump).
Reply #138 from Sins Forums Top
guys im a humble gamer that plays once a week, i dont know how to do any of the test version etc, im sorry.. also i dont actually know any friends or people that would be willing to play the test version with me to try it out.. (not many people in australia seem to be playing this game)



i hope those who are able can do the test version, they will find the mini dump problem, out comes version 1.05, and i'll be able to try this game online for the first time since i bought it... you've got to get it fixed guys! this game is to good to be left for dead..  :) 
Reply #139 from Sins Forums Top
Could we get an update on the status of the fix?


(I would like to use the update to determine whether or not to apply the SinsSyncFix patch or wait for the official update....)


Thank you.
Reply #140 from Sins Forums Top
The official update that includes this fix is being released tomorrow.
Reply #141 from Sins Forums Top
I've gotten 4 of my buddies who have the game to help us track down this bug. Thanks for the info Blair. We'll send any the necessary files as soon as we can.

Reply #142 from Sins Forums Top
FYI the patch has been delayed a few days :(
Reply #143 from Sins Forums Top
Ok well I had crashes today when I hosted. I didn't get a minidump or anything. The other person I was playing with got a minidump the second crash. After the second crash I just gave up
Reply #144 from Sins Forums Top
GOD WHERE DOES THE EDIT BUTTON GO?

Stang it! The patch was set for tomorrow! :(
Reply #145 from Sins Forums Top
pray to god 1.5 has fixed multiplayer crashes!  :HOT: 
Reply #146 from Sins Forums Top
Im getting this crash every 45-50 min on the T.

The games just closes itself. Any game i play online does this. But normal games on my PC does not.
Reply #147 from Sins Forums Top
Im getting this crash every 45-50 min on the T.


The games just closes itself.


Then it is not "this" crash. The sync issue, by all accounts, is resolved :P
Reply #148 from Sins Forums Top
Annatar,

I have downloaded 1.05 and played online for the first time. CRASH! I don't know where to get the data for Stardock to asset. But I feel bad for the people I have been playing with. What could it be on my computer. My virus program is Avast. There are so many post to help, knowing where to start look is the best one. Thanks for reading.

Jae
Reply #149 from Sins Forums Top
everyone seems to say about like it being 4+ hours when they get the minidump or building alot of ships.... i get it the second the game loads a map before i can do anything. and thats when im doing a 1v1 against a computer :(
Reply #150 from Sins Forums Top
Once again.... "minidump" is a a generic term for crash! There are literally hundreds if not thousands of reasons why/how your game could crash.

1. Outdated/bad/corrupted drivers for the ooooodles of hardware in your respective systems

2. MP game de-sync......which by all accounts has been fixed.

3 memory related issues...... Personally I have found that SINS likes more than 1 GB of physical RAM and a pagefile that is at least 2.5 X the amount of installed RAM. I've used the "2.5 X installed RAM" rule for pagefile size for many many years now, and all of my systems run smoothly. Might be something to look at.


At the end of the day, all I can say is........I've never once had a crash of any kind, and SINS runs beautifully on the various machines I've tested it on; including the various different hardware configs in my test-lab.

Of course all of my systems are vanilla OS (whatever that OS might be) and games. Nothing else, no other piece of software not even AV etc. I do my browsing, posting, e-mailing from my notebook machines. My desktops are pure gaming machines only so maybe that's why they never crash.  ;p 

the Monk