Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 2:34 pm Post subject:
How to determine an error? Demoralized.
Hello everyone, I'm an underground modder of over 12 years, modding on and off. I always end up back here, and I've done some pretty crazy mods for me and my family (who also plays RA2) in my time.
I've come here because, despite all my best efforts and logging quite literally every change/mod I've made to my game, I will always end up with an unknown crash, and I have no way to determine what it is. I was lucky enough to discover that using FreeUnit= for other than it's intended purpose generates an infantry-linking EIP (Who knew?) but beyond that, I get unrecognizable EIPs and Error codes that I don't know what to do with. Even mod-scanner tools can't detect discrepancies, and after over 50 scrapped mods, I'm reaching a point where I feel like I can't do it anymore.
Sorry for the long rant, but is there any way to definitively locate what might be causing an error? I imagine professional modders have a tool or method beyond what I'm aware of, but I could be wrong. QUICK_EDIT
Well for starters you speak to other people.
Ideally you ask a reverse engineer in the community to check the except.txt/minidump/ares exception log _________________ Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert, Tiberian Sun ,Red Alert 2,Renegade, Command & Conquer 3,Tiberium and Tiberium Wars and Westwood related image & video archive
https://picasaweb.google.com/113361105083292812413?noredirect=1
Skype live:tomsons26
Don't forget to state who are you otherwise i'll ignore the invite QUICK_EDIT
How to determine an error? Let's do a quick tutorial:
1. Get VS Code (there are others that will do the job, but I like VS Code)
1a. Get an extension for VS Code that lets you compare files.
2. Use the aforementioned extension to compare your modded rules(md).ini and the unmodded (or UMP version, if you started with that), or even the last working version you have.
You'll get a very readable list of changes you've done, including all the typos, the lines you've removed, the lines you've added, etc.
I've found on more than one occasion, a game breaking change that turned out to be nothing more than accidentally deleted line, or an extra character in a particularly key in [General].
For best effect, take regular back ups of the major files (rules, ai, art, sound, etc). Monthly back ups of these take only a few MBs and will save you a world of trouble. QUICK_EDIT
Well for starters you speak to other people.
Ideally you ask a reverse engineer in the community to check the except.txt/minidump/ares exception log
I'd rather know how to do it myself, frankly.
Musketmarine wrote:
FreeUnit only parses VehicleTypes, not AircraftTypes, InfantryTypes, or BuildingTypes
"Units" internally are VehicleTypes.
I'm well aware. Try using FreeUnit=HTNK on a Soviet War Factory. You should get an Infantry-Linking EIP within a few minutes. If not, that's what happened to me on a fresh install and removing that code for anything other than ore refineries fixed it.
G-E wrote:
*cough*AICHECK*cough*
This is the tool I used. No discrepancies. Still occasional crashes. Perhaps it's an Ares thing.
silverwind wrote:
How to determine an error? Let's do a quick tutorial:
1. Get VS Code (there are others that will do the job, but I like VS Code)
1a. Get an extension for VS Code that lets you compare files.
2. Use the aforementioned extension to compare your modded rules(md).ini and the unmodded (or UMP version, if you started with that), or even the last working version you have.
You'll get a very readable list of changes you've done, including all the typos, the lines you've removed, the lines you've added, etc.
I've found on more than one occasion, a game breaking change that turned out to be nothing more than accidentally deleted line, or an extra character in a particularly key in [General].
For best effect, take regular back ups of the major files (rules, ai, art, sound, etc). Monthly back ups of these take only a few MBs and will save you a world of trouble.
Ah, like Winmerge? I've used that before, and I'll use it again but a nasty gut feeling of mine is going to tell me I won't find anything wrong again. Regardless, I have fresh INIs that I keep untainted, in which I copy and use to start from scratch when it all goes wrong.
Unfortunate that I haven't seen anything as decisive as I was looking for, but perhaps it doesn't exist. QUICK_EDIT
Well the basics that cause generic crashes when nothing appears wrong are things like an overlay (or frame thereof) used on a map that's not in your mod, or the most common of all a corrupted mix because the tools are buggy.
The latter problem can be insidious because for example if the voxel file is damaged the game will still load an empty unit, but if the hva file is corrupted the game will crash. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
Meemo: Reading the EXCEPT.TXT files and being able to understand them is not an easy task. You need to have a very good understanding of the game engine internal structure and also at least intermediate knowledge of C++ and x86 Assembly.
The group of developers who work on the Ares and Phobos projects will be able to help you if you attach your EXCEPT.TXT. You can do that by posting it here, or jumping into the Mod Haven Discord and asking one of the developers directly. QUICK_EDIT
When you don't know what causes errors in the game, blame AI. Even vanilla RA 2 crashes sometime because of this, for example AI use Magnetron attack over it range when moving. QUICK_EDIT
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How to determine an error? Demoralized.
