BoA Crashes: Magus of Cattalon

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AuthorTopic: BoA Crashes: Magus of Cattalon
Redstart
Shock Trooper
Member # 6666
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 09:29 Profile #0
Since the designer has gone AWOL from the boards, I'm directing my plead of assistance to anyone who can help:

In Magus of Cattalon, in the town of ye olde Fahrango, once I've defeated the giants, identified Polonius and talked to the sarge, I'm apparently supposed to get a bump on the noggin. The problem is, at that point, I get the following message from the game (?): "Unhandled Exception: c0000005, At address: 004492b8". After this message, the game crashes, and I've found no way to go stop this from happening.

Any help, maybe through modifying the script? I'm using Windows XP, in case it matters.

Oh, and even though I'm officially a newbie here, I hope that we can skip the bit about my sanity and the door. I have been lurking here for a good time now.

[ Wednesday, January 11, 2006 09:30: Message edited by: Proud Owner of: ]
Posts: 353 | Registered: Monday, January 9 2006 08:00
Jumpin Salmon
? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 09:35 Profile #1
That sounds like a graphic isn't loading properly. I'll spare you the garbage suggestions (download again, reinstall, blah blah) and suggest you try a different route. I had success when I approached the fight from the north, this may or may not work for you.

I'm also used by windows, but never encountered the UE error in this particular scenario.

*this message sponsored by the chironomini family*

--------------------
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

Well, I'm at least pretty sure that Salmon is losing.
Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00
Redstart
Shock Trooper
Member # 6666
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 09:49 Profile #2
Nope, didn't work. I tried approaching the problem from all directions, but still nothing. I noticed that all the NPCs disappear from the area right before I get the error message.

EDIT: Having dug around, I found this bit of code:
beginstate 15;
if (get_flag(3,5) == 2) {
message_dialog("The next thing you feel is a hard hit in the head. Apparently a group of soldiers
snuck up behind you and knocked you unconscious.","Why? Being unconscious, you never had the
opportunity to ask.");
set_flag(7,5,1);
clear_town();
set_town_status(5,3);
move_to_new_town(6,9,7);
Could the problem be with moving to the new town?

[ Wednesday, January 11, 2006 09:55: Message edited by: Proud Owner of: ]
Posts: 353 | Registered: Monday, January 9 2006 08:00
Jumpin Salmon
? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 10:30 Profile #3
That bit looks okay, and other people haven't mentioned the issue. I looked at the scenario files, but nothing jumped out at me, and since I'm at work there is no BoA on the computer. Just to verify though, you extracted the zip all into the BoA Scenarios folder? There should be 33 files with names similar to G500.bmp in that folder.

Anyone else have ideas?

--------------------
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

Well, I'm at least pretty sure that Salmon is losing.
Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00
Redstart
Shock Trooper
Member # 6666
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 10:55 Profile #4
Yes, all the graphics are present, and can be opened with other programs. I tried re-downloading the scenario, but that didn't work either.
Posts: 353 | Registered: Monday, January 9 2006 08:00
Dikiyoba
Councilor
Member # 6600
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 14:30 Profile Homepage #5
Sometimes there are just random, unexplainable bugs. I have two spots with unexplainable error messages in Bahssikava, despite re-downloading and trying to work around them. Since no one else gets these bugs, it must have something to do with the computer.

For the record, Dikiyoba had no error messages in Magus of Cattalon.
Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00
*i
The Establishment
Member # 6
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 14:33 Profile #6
Oh that, I pity the designer. APF had a similar problem with a move_to_new_town node. It works fine on the Mac and most of the time on the PC; however, once in a while PC users get this strange and otherwise undetectable and unfixable error.

I'm guessing it is a systemic engine problem, beyond the reach of us designers. If anyone could prove me wrong, please do as it would be great to fix the damm thing.

--------------------
Your flower power is no match for my glower power!
Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
Kelandon
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 15:04 Profile Homepage #7
Every time I've been able to reproduce a consistent Unhandled Exception, I've been able to solve it. It's hard reproducing them, though, because sometimes they just randomly happen. But if you can say, "I always get an Unhandled Exception when I turn this corner and see this monster" or something like that, I can probably solve it.

I'll have access to a Windows machine with BoA on it on Sunday and following, though. If anyone has a save file that can consistently reproduce an Unhandled Exception in a scenario made by a Mac-using designer (who therefore can't reproduce the problem himself), I'd be willing to take a look at it.

[ Wednesday, January 11, 2006 15:04: Message edited by: Kelandon ]

--------------------
Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens.
Smoo: Get ready to face the walls!
Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr.

Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me
The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever
Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
Dikiyoba
Councilor
Member # 6600
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 15:09 Profile Homepage #8
Maybe. Excuse the newbness, but how could I send it to you?

Dikiyoba.
Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00
Kelandon
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 15:10 Profile Homepage #9
By e-mail: tomwatts (at) berkeley (dot) edu

--------------------
Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens.
Smoo: Get ready to face the walls!
Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr.

Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me
The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever
Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
Dikiyoba
Councilor
Member # 6600
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 15:26 Profile Homepage #10
Never mind. I redownloaded Bahssikava again and now I can't get either of the errors. That makes me mad because of all the time and number of downloads I spent trying to get it to work before. But if it does happen again in any scenario, at least I know what to do.

On the plus side, Dikiyoba can now complete Bahssikava without any workarounds. Yaaay!
Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00
*i
The Establishment
Member # 6
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 16:40 Profile #11
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

Every time I've been able to reproduce a consistent Unhandled Exception, I've been able to solve it. It's hard reproducing them, though, because sometimes they just randomly happen. But if you can say, "I always get an Unhandled Exception when I turn this corner and see this monster" or something like that, I can probably solve it.

I'll have access to a Windows machine with BoA on it on Sunday and following, though. If anyone has a save file that can consistently reproduce an Unhandled Exception in a scenario made by a Mac-using designer (who therefore can't reproduce the problem himself), I'd be willing to take a look at it.
How nice of you to be specific of being able to solve these things.

--------------------
Your flower power is no match for my glower power!
Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
Kelandon
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 21:25 Profile Homepage #12
quote:
Originally written by Dikiyoba:

Never mind. I redownloaded Bahssikava again and now I can't get either of the errors.
Exactly. This is what I'm talking about.
quote:
Originally written by *i:

How nice of you to be specific of being able to solve these things.
I hate to say this, Stareye, but I have no idea what you mean.

--------------------
Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens.
Smoo: Get ready to face the walls!
Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr.

Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me
The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever
Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
The Immortal
BANNED
Member # 4
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 22:33 Profile Homepage #13
Stareye's saying that not all of us have this luxury.

I, for instance, have no idea how to get some of the errors out of MA.

Heck, sometimes people tell me that Canopy is still bugging up!

--------------------
*
Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
Redstart
Shock Trooper
Member # 6666
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 01:01 Profile #14
quote:
I'll have access to a Windows machine with BoA on it on Sunday and following, though. If anyone has a save file that can consistently reproduce an Unhandled Exception in a scenario made by a Mac-using designer (who therefore can't reproduce the problem himself), I'd be willing to take a look at it.
Would this generosity then extend to my case? I have a save file with a consistent Unhandled Exception, and a designer who is currently learning to kill peop- er, defend his country, and can't therefore reproduce it himself.

Pretty please?
Posts: 353 | Registered: Monday, January 9 2006 08:00
Kelandon
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 01:05 Profile Homepage #15
I s'pose. I've been trying to compile a list of things that can cause an Unhandled Exception on the multifarious Bugs threads, and examining more cases can only help.

EDIT: Uh, that's a yes, in case that wasn't clear. But again, I won't be able to do it until Sunday at the earliest, but more likely Monday.

[ Thursday, January 12, 2006 01:06: Message edited by: Kelandon ]

--------------------
Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens.
Smoo: Get ready to face the walls!
Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr.

Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me
The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever
Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
Redstart
Shock Trooper
Member # 6666
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 01:17 Profile #16
Aw, crud.
Well, I sent the mail. Unfortunately, it only occurred to me later, that maybe the save file would have been smaller if zipped. Turned out it would have. About 98 percent smaller. Sorry about that.
Posts: 353 | Registered: Monday, January 9 2006 08:00
I Am Damo Suzuki
Warrior
Member # 4204
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 17:15 Profile #17
I've also encountered an error in that same location in Magus of Cattalon. I reached the point where the giant attack was supposed to occur. All the soldiers formed ranks at the western edge of town and waited. I immediately followed and waited for the attack to commence. However, nothing happened. No giants were present anywhere on the map, none of the townsfolk would speak with me, and I was unable to leave town. In frustration, I busted into a few houses and eventually found the wizard's corpse. Soon after, I got knocked on the head and woke up in jail. The story proceeded as usual after that.

The strange part is that several characters have made references to my participation in repulsing the giant attack, despite the fact that I haven't actually fought them anywhere in the scenario at this point.

[ Thursday, January 12, 2006 17:16: Message edited by: Wotan ]

--------------------
What really went on there, we only have this excerpt...
Posts: 68 | Registered: Sunday, April 4 2004 08:00
Jumpin Salmon
? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 17:38 Profile #18
I also encountered that issue during beta testing, but the second time through, with a newer version, that didn't happen.

I'll just go ahead and assume that everyone here is running the latest version of BoA...

--------------------
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

Well, I'm at least pretty sure that Salmon is losing.
Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00
John S
Agent
Member # 5814
 written Thursday, January 12 2006 20:07 Profile #19
I had that problem when I entered town from the west, but not any other direction. I've already given up, though; I'm not redownloading that game, even if I can play around the bug.

Moral of story: don't enter town from west.

--------------------
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon
Well, I'm at least pretty
Posts: 1115 | Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Kelandon
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
 written Tuesday, January 24 2006 16:28 Profile Homepage #20
Okay, I've finally reproduced the bug and found the problem line of code. Here's the thing: I have no idea why this line is a problem.

In t5Fahrango.txt, line 233 is the problem. It is the one in the middle.
set_flag(7,5,1);
clear_town();
set_town_status(5,3);
If you remove the clear_town, the Unhandled Exception does not come up, and the rest of the state runs smoothly. If you delete everything else but the clear_town, the Unhandled Exception will always show up.

This led me to wonder if there's a problem with the clear_town call. I guessed that perhaps it might need some sort of arguments in the parentheses, despite the indication in the docs to the contrary. I tried -1, 0, and current_town, and all of them gave me the error that there were too many arguments passed to the call. No luck here.

My next guess was that the entire call is just fubar and crashes all the time. I made a clean scenario with nothing in it but a clear_town call. The new, empty scenario did not produce an Unhandled Exception when running clear_town, but it did slow down considerably and give the party a couple of levels (even though there was nothing in the town). No luck here, either.

I have absolutely no idea what this means, but I think there's something wrong (or at the very least undocumented) with the clear_town call, and I know that it is the source of these problems in MoC.

[ Tuesday, January 24, 2006 16:32: Message edited by: Kelandon ]

--------------------
Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens.
Smoo: Get ready to face the walls!
Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr.

Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me
The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever
Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
John S
Agent
Member # 5814
 written Tuesday, January 24 2006 16:45 Profile #21
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

My next guess was that the entire call is just fubar and crashes all the time. I made a clean scenario with nothing in it but a clear_town call. The new, empty scenario did not produce an Unhandled Exception when running clear_town, but it did slow down considerably and give the party a couple of levels (even though there was nothing in the town). No luck here, either.
It leved up the party? Sounds slightly suspicious, to say the least...

Also, does clear_town() have a BoE equivalent? If so, is that call known to be buggy?

Finally, maybe it has to be called from a special script or state? Maybe a creature script or the INIT_STATE, just to give examples.

[ Tuesday, January 24, 2006 16:45: Message edited by: Not Why ]

--------------------
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon
Well, I'm at least pretty
Posts: 1115 | Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Kelandon
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
 written Tuesday, January 24 2006 17:38 Profile Homepage #22
It was in a town script in state 15 when it killed MoC. It was in a town script in state 10 when it didn't kill my test scenario. It seems unlikely that the state matters (although it was a good guess).

--------------------
Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens.
Smoo: Get ready to face the walls!
Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr.

Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me
The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever
Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
Redstart
Shock Trooper
Member # 6666
 written Tuesday, January 24 2006 23:44 Profile #23
Thanks Kel, it worked like a charm.
Heh, it seems that the piece of code I posted earlier was the culprit (obviously, since that's where the crash always occurred). Well, back to the gaming.
Posts: 353 | Registered: Monday, January 9 2006 08:00