Random Crashes Options

[Galactygon]

Ever since I have my used version of Baldur's Gate II, I have been plagued by random crashes in BGII. They are too random to replicate and fix, but they happen pretty often so they are a pain.

Usually they happen when a creature is summoned (especially if you hit the pause key at that moment), but sometimes they just happen. I noticed they happen more often with creatures from mods, and when the override folder has more files.

Is it just me or have other people experienced them as well? Do you think biffing the override folder would help?

-Galactygon

[Baronius]

Even though it may seem to be random, something regular could surely be observed.

Biffing Override can just improve performance in certain circumstances, though if the problem is somehow related to Override files, it might accidently help, but they are certainly unrelated. (For example, if you have a tis file in your Override folder but not with all the associated files for that area, and its owner bif file isn't in the Cache folder, the game crashes while loading the area that uses the tis.)

Did you test it with a completely new, clean, "unmodded" BG2 installation?

It might have to do with animations (problematic animations are known to cause crashes).

[Galactygon]

In a vanilla installation, they happen less often, but still do.

What I am most curious about is does this happen for other people with X mods installed, or is it something that happens only to me? If it's the latter, then I don't have to worry about it when coding my mods. If it's the former, then it should be addressed in some shape or form, at least in GemRB.

-Galactygon

[Baronius]

Did you test it on more computers?

[Moongaze]

I've had them on rare occasions, not nearly many enough to actually worry about. That goes for vanilla games as much as modded games. Mind you, that's with the latest ToB patch and latest non-WeiDU Baldurdash Fixpack and GameText Update installed. The one time I tried a vanilla game with only the current version of the G3 Fixpack installed, my game crashed more often under seemingly random circumstances (at least, I couldn't detect a pattern). I'm not interested in another long debate about that particular fixpack (Baronius, please close this thread if that happens ), I'm just stating my experience.

[Baronius]

There is no need for a debate anyway, since -- as we can read in Sikret's Improved Anvil FAQ -- it's an open question whether G3 fixpack introduces more fixes than bugs at all. The random pattern of crashes would be typical to G3 fixpack (even if we can't be sure without further research), because G3 fixpack changes a lot of different things. Did you have G3 fixpack installed when you had more crashes, Galc? (I know you have crashes in vanilla game too, but you said there are fewer.)

A giant project such as G3 fixpack would require 3-4 experienced modders with at least as much devotion and free time as Sikret sacrifices for Improved Anvil; not 10-15 hobby mod makers who are just interested in increasing the popularity of their favourite site by adding as many untested things to the fixpack as possible.

It is like a surgical operation; if it's done by 15-20 people, the patient will most likely die, while 3 good doctors who focus on the work will succeed.

Nonetheless, you're right, this thread shouldn't be hijacked, so I won't continue my train of thought (I told the most important thoughts anyway). Of course, anyone interested in this particular topic (= the problems of G3 "fixpack") is free to PM me for more information.

[Tervadh]

Nonetheless, you're right, this thread shouldn't be hijacked, so I won't continue my train of thought (I told the most important thoughts anyway). Of course, anyone interested in this particular topic (= the problems of G3 "fixpack") is free to PM me for more information.

Heh. I think we're all well aware of your thoughts on this subject .

But your first post most accurately addressed the problem described:

It might have to do with animations (problematic animations are known to cause crashes).

This is a known issue in the unmodded games. I've seen it happen with wyverns in unmodded BG1 (see the fourth post down here) and it was known to happen with dragons in IWD-HoW before a patch addressed it, and it's known to happen with other creatures such as BG2 dragons, perhaps at seemingly "random" times but probably more related to video hardware and settings than anything else. (And AFAIK the Fixpack does nothing with animations.) If you have a mod that does (such as LCBA) that probably doesn't help matters.

Apart from that, I've had seemingly random crashes in an unmodded BG1 that went away when I did a full reinstall, so it could've been an installation glitch or media defect in that case.

[Baronius]

The fact there are crashes in the original game too doesn't exclude the possibility that G3 Fixpack also introduces crashes (hence the increased number of crashes). As far as I know, Galactygon often has it installed, and Moongaze's experience also seemed to confirm the assumption. Of course, G3 fixpack's primary threat isn't that it might cause crashes for very few players (provided the assumption is correct), but rather the unnoticeable bugs it introduces, which may negate the features of other mods (and break complex mods due to dependency violations). The latter things have been proved both theoretically and practically (unlike the crashes which haven't been researched).

[Tervadh]

As I said, the fixpack does nothing with animations. You're just getting further off the track from your original guess, which is probably the most likely one based on the symptoms described.

I don't advocate modding with the fixpack btw, or with any mods, as they can introduce false positives. So you can probably stop using it as a scapegoat for this example - unless it's definitively proven to be a culprit with this issue. It's been done to death in other threads anyhow.

One thing that might help, Galactygon, is if you can replicate a crash on a particular creature or animation or even note one that happens with any frequency. And if you get an error message (such as an "Assertion error") it might be worth noting that too. We've had some success pinpointing these types of issues. It could be a defect in the original game, it could be a mod - any mod - but why not find out which before making assumptions without conclusive evidence.

[Baronius]

As I said, the fixpack does nothing with animations. You're just getting further off the track from your original guess

Galactygon didn't say that all crashes happened during animations (that is, we can't state that crashes only happen during animations, though various animations are played all the time so they might be a possible reason). Moongaze didn't specifically mention it either. So just because the fixpack does nothing with animations (I haven't checked it, but I believe you), it doesn't mean it can't be responsible for a part of crashes experienced by Galc or Moonie.

So you can probably stop using it as a scapegoat for this example

I haven't used it a scapegoat. It's just a strong assumption (beyond animations), which may either prove true or false (but I have no time or intention to do any research regarding a mod such as G3 "Fixpack").

By the way, Galc, did you enable Debug Mode and check the content of baldur.err after the crash? Its content might be totally irrelevant/misleading (I experienced it once and can reproduce it), but it may also help (in fact, it should be relatively helpful in most cases).

[Galactygon]

This has nothing to do with G3's fixpack, as the only mod I have installed right now is SpellPack.

I still suspect this has to do with the number of files of the override folder.

By the way, Galc, did you enable Debug Mode and check the content of baldur.err after the crash? Its content might be totally irrelevant/misleading (I experienced it once and can reproduce it), but it may also help (in fact, it should be relatively helpful in most cases).

I have set DebugMode=1, but baldur.err was always blank.

-Galactygon

[Tervadh]

So just because the fixpack does nothing with animations (I haven't checked it, but I believe you)

Actually, I was wrong about that. It does have a "Corrected Demon Animations" component, and possibly similar ones. But these are existing ToB animations; what I meant was it doesn't introduce new ones.

it doesn't mean it can't be responsible for a part of crashes experienced by Galc or Moonie.

In the second case, he said it "goes for vanilla games as much as modded games." In the first, he hasn't got it installed, so I don't think the discussion is relevant anymore (if it ever was).

I still suspect this has to do with the number of files of the override folder.

Usually that would cause lagging rather than outright crashes. You could try biffing it, but if it's a buggy spell animation (for example) the only change would be that it's now a biffed buggy spell animation and there's little you can do to reverse it after biffing, short of restoring a backup.

You're not getting any pop-ups with assertion errors, just a CTD?

[Galactygon]

I was able to catch one right now. The error signature says:

CODE

AppName: bgmain.exe     AppVer: 2.5.0.2     ModName: bgmain.exe
ModVer: 2.5.0.2     Offset: 005c9385

And then sometimes there is no error signature.

-Galactygon

[Galactygon]

I doubt this will help, but here is a snippet of a several lines (there are thousands) when I check for the technical details. But here is something that might help a few people see what is happening.

A series of text files are generated in the "Temp" folder each time BGII crashes. I have included one of them in the attatchment. They are all #b#_appcompat.txt. Sometimes more than one file and folder is generated in the "Temp" folder. Examples of folders might be "WER8a28.dir00" with the files "BGMain.exe.hdmp" and "BGMain.exe.mdmp" inside, and some files might be "imageio50898.tmp" or something like that.

The worst part, is, they all seem to be random.

-Galactygon

Attached File(s)

 01.jpg ( 329.73k ) Number of downloads: 5
 4b95_appcompat.txt ( 3.77k ) Number of downloads: 3

 

[Baronius]

It seems to be an incompatibility with your system, operating system.

What operating system do you have exactly?

First of all, let's try something simple:

Righ-click on the shortcut you use when running BG, click the Properties option of the popup menu, and select the Compatibility tab. Then select a different compatibility mode than your OS, and try running the game with that. (Don't forget to apply the settings, i.e. make sure not to accidently leave the settings with a Cancel or something similar.) Of course, you might have to keep trying with other settings as well.