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Stellar TacticsBug (0.725): Saving game causes freeze, plus other issues(10 posts)(10 posts)
(10 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 22, 2024
This could due to changes in the previous update, but any attempt to save a game in 0.725 causes the game to hang. Looking at the files created/changed, the sav.dat file (and its backup) is amended but the relevant .sts savefile is not (and if creating a new save, no new file is created). The final few lines of S3DClient file listed at end of post, suggests a memory issue (I'm using the 32-bit version) though there is plenty available, certainly more than the 20MB mentioned.

Some lesser issues: when scanning other ships, sometimes an incorrect range is shown which changes when DEL is pressed to start a scan. If a ship is successfully scanned with a higher percentage than the minimum, this seems to be lost when using Tab to cycle through ships (i.e. if the normal scan results in a 45% result, and you achieve a 75% scan on a vessel, this is reported as 45% when you return to that ship with Tab).

S3DClient contents follow:
------------------------------------------------
[01/21 21:39:20] ... Created generic linked program : 0x0000081820060101 - 0x0000000010000100
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! ENTERING OPTIONS_HUD.onHideOptionsHud
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! HOME DIRECTORY = D:/Games/Stellar Tactics
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! XML RECIVE OK IN OPTIONS_HUD.saveSettingsXML - file://D:/Games/Stellar Tactics/Save/sav_dat.xml
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! XML getReceiveStatus = 1
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! GOT ROOT ELEMENT IN OPTIONS_HUD.saveSettingsXML
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 1 - GORE SETTINGS = TRUE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 2 - CHARACTER VOICES = TRUE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 3 - SHADOW SETTINGS = 5
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 4 - nSETTINGS_VIDEO_ANISOTROPIC = 4
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 5 - SOFT PARTICLES = TRUE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 7 - VIDEORES WIDTH = 2560
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 8 - VIDEORES HEIGHT = 1600
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 9 - MUSIC VOLUME = 1
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 10 - SSA0 = 3
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 11 - ALTOBJECT GLOW = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 13 - FPS DISPLAY = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 14 - AUTO SAVE = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 15 - HIRES SKYBOX = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 16 - GROUND COMBAT DIFFICULTY = EXTREME
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 17 - GAMMA = 1.14
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 18 - TUTORIAL = TRUE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 19 - RESTRICT CURSOR = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 20 - SPACE COMBAT DIFFICULTY = HARD
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 21 - INCURSIONS = OFTEN
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 22 - HUDCLR: NOT USED!
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 23 - BACKBUFFER = TRUE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 24 - INVERT MOUSE = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 25 - FRIENDLY FIRE = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 26 - EDGE SCROLLING = TRUE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 27 - BLOOM = 2
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 28 - MOTION BLUR = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 29 - DEPTH BLUR = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 30 - EQUIPMENT WEAR = TRUE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 31 - VSYNC = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 32 - FRAMERATE SETTINGS = 1
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 33 - SPACE CAMERA ROTATION = 5
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 34 - GROUND CAMERA ROTATION = 5
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 35 - LANGUAGE = english
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 36 - SHARED EXPERIENCE = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 37 - DARK SPACE = TRUE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! SAVED SETTING - 38 - SIMPLE MINING = FALSE
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! WRITING XML!
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! DONE WRITING XML!
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! RETURNED FROM SETTING XML IN saveSettingsXML
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! LEAVING OPTIONS_HUD.onHideOptionsHud
[01/21 21:39:57] !!! HOME DIRECTORY = D:/Games/Stellar Tactics
[01/21 21:40:09] ... Created generic linked program : 0x0000080810000102 - 0x0000000010001301
[01/21 21:40:09] ... Created generic linked program : 0x0000088820040107 - 0x0000000010000101
[01/21 21:40:33] ... Created generic linked program : 0x0000081020060101 - 0x0000000010000100
[01/21 21:42:56] !!! HOME DIRECTORY = D:/Games/Stellar Tactics
[01/21 21:43:01] !!! SYSTEM NAME = Achmedius*
[01/21 21:43:01] !!! sLocationName = BOARDING_LOCATION
[01/21 21:43:01] !!! sStarSystemLocationName = Boarding ship: Raiders
[01/21 21:43:01] !!! sPlanetName.PlanetName = BOARDING_PLANETNAME
[01/21 21:43:11] !!! SAVE SLOT = save_12
[01/21 21:43:11] !!! SAVE SLOT = save_12
[01/21 21:43:11] !!! ENTERING MainMenu.saveGame_onEnter!
[01/21 21:43:11] !!! XML RECEIVE STATUS = 1
[01/21 21:43:11] !!! SAVING - UNIVERSE DATA FILE NAME FROM ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE = 5.9402e+007
[01/21 21:43:11] !!! SAVING - UNIVERSE DATA FILE NAME AFTER CONCATENATION = 5.9402e+007
[01/21 21:43:11] !!! HOME DIRECTORY = D:/Games/Stellar Tactics
[01/21 21:43:12] ... Saving current environment!
[01/21 21:43:12] !!! Not enough memory to allocate buffer (20169225 bytes requested)
Posted January 22, 2024
The save game issue is likely not related to disk space - it's more likely available RAM because a buffer cannot be allocated. I think the recent changes to pre-caching are causing the problem. The game just needs more RAM/VRAM now.

The 64bit version runs so much better. I've actually been considering dropping 32 bit support as it is mostly obsolete and likely more bug prone causing issues with script timing and various other core functions.

So, a few questions:

1) How much drive space on D:, though I don't think this is the issue.
2) Video card and video card VRAM.
3) How much RAM do you have?
4) Why the 32bit OS? Just curious more than anything.
Post edited January 22, 2024 by StellarTactics
Posted January 22, 2024
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StellarTactics: 1) How much drive space on D:, though I don't think this is the issue.
73.8GB free out of 823GB.
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StellarTactics: 2) Video card and video card VRAM.
Nvidia 580GTX with 1,536MB VRAM. Stellar Tactics was using 1,532MB according to MSI Afterburner.
avatar
StellarTactics: 3) How much RAM do you have?
3.49GB available for applications (3,668,328KB). 48GB total, with 12GB being used for ramdisks and 32GB for disk caching. Stellar Tactics was using 1.86GB according to Process Hacker.

I have subsequently tried this with the /3GB switch set in Windows (and the Stellar Tactics .exe file modified to make it Large Address Aware by setting byte $146 from $02 to $22) and games could be saved again, so there is now a workaround (assuming that the rest of Stellar Tactics is LAA-compatible - its memory usage did increase to 1.94GB).
avatar
StellarTactics: 4) Why the 32bit OS? Just curious more than anything.
You're asking for a full-blown lecture there. ;)

a) Security - using software like Process Guard and System Safety Monitor I can control exactly what programs can run and what they can do (e.g. run other programs, change registry keys, install Windows hooks, load drivers, access physical memory, etc). This type of software has to hook the Windows kernel (specifically the SSDT) to function, which Kernel Patch Protection (KPP) blocks in 64-bit Windows versions. Malware can bypass KPP but it is more difficult for security developers to do so since they then have to support every variant of KPP - malware writers don't have to worry about customer complaints. ;) In addition, Win10 comes with effectively compulsory spyware (Windows Telemetry can be disabled, but now-compulsory updates often re-enable it), adware ("use Edge now, use Edge now, USE EDGE NOW!") and foistware - which themselves pose a security risk.

b) UI degradation - WinXP started the rot with that stupid search dog, an overcomplicated Start Menu and teletubby screen themes, but these could be disabled. Later versions of Windows have not only completed messed up the UI (look at the "privacy settings" that are so numerous and spread about that you have to use a third party utility to manage them) but cut back on user choice (for the UI Win10 allows you to choose between a light/dark theme and an accent colour - compared to the "classic theme" in WinXP where you could set the colour of almost every element individually or use one of over 20 colour schemes).

c) Speed - Win10 is horrifically slow (seemingly due to background disk access by a whole host of updaters and installers), and lacks the features that XP provided to control background and startup programs (Msconfig refers you to Task Manager's Startup tab which only covers a small portion of startup entries). The UI is so messed up that using the search function is almost compulsory (of course, the original 512 item limit might have been MS' way to fix that).

d) User Choice and control - with Microsoft pushing Edge (extraordinary steps have to be taken to uninstall it, Bing, OneDrive and their other services, a computer running Windows is no longer "your computer" but Microsoft's advertising platform. I would not accept that for free, let alone pay what MS is asking for it.
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StellarTactics: I've actually been considering dropping 32 bit support as it is mostly obsolete and likely more bug prone causing issues with script timing and various other core functions.
This is clearly your choice to make and I have little idea of the overheads involved. It would be a shame as I've considered this one of the sterling examples of user (and OS) support that other developers would do well to follow.

At least consider making 32-bit support dependent on users making use of the /3GB switch - there is precedence for this with Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity.
Post edited January 22, 2024 by AstralWanderer
Posted January 22, 2024
Thanks for the detailed answers. As far as 32bit, I'll put some thought into this. I think at least for GOG, there may be a good sized group of players that would appreciate having 32bit support. The /3GB switch is something I wasn't aware of - very interesting. I'd be interested to know how the game functions with this enabled.

"Not enough memory to allocate buffer (20169225 bytes requested)" - I am very interested to know how the save grew to this size so a few questions and a request if you don't mind. The largest save I have is a 580 hour save that is currently at 6 MB. That particular save had a lot of bloat that was trimmed a few years back. I'm thinking there is work that can be done to reduce or eliminate redundant data in the saves.

When you have time, would you be willing to share your saves? I would need the entire save folder which you could host on a file share somewhere and forward the link to support@stellartactics.com. I think once your save reached 20MB+, the 32bit EXE or the OS reached a allocation limit which you were able to get around with the /3GB switch. Having the save will let me look into this.
Post edited January 22, 2024 by StellarTactics
Posted January 22, 2024
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StellarTactics: The /3GB switch is something I wasn't aware of - very interesting. I'd be interested to know how the game functions with this enabled.
I've seen no problems so far, but since I'm role-playing a character suffering from superluminalphobia (fear of FTL travel), I'm probably not the best test subject. :)
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StellarTactics: "Not enough memory to allocate buffer (20169225 bytes requested)" - I am very interested to know how the save grew to this size so a few questions and a request if you don't mind. The largest save I have is a 580 hour save that is currently at 6 MB.
The largest savefile I have is 1.37MB in size. I did try compressing it (using .zip and .rar formats) and only shrunk it by 10% so it seems to be pretty dense information-wise already (maybe the file is already compressed and 20MB referred to its pre-processed state?).

Given these two items, I'm dubious that my savegames would be of much interest, but if you still want them I could probably email them. However emails I've sent in the past to support (at) stellartactics (dot) com have never been answered (emails sent on 12/04/2020, 17/04/2020, 03/11/2020 and 06/05/2023 in DD/MM/YYYY format) - they would all have had the sender address real (dot) stellartactics-com (dot) 10 (dot) anon100 (at) spamgourmet (dot) com if you want to check your spam filter.
Posted January 22, 2024
Ok, yes, the error message is displaying the uncompressed save data size in memory.

As far as your e-mails, I checked the spam folder and could not find them so they are likely being blocked by my service provider. Not sure why.
Posted January 28, 2024
Well, this workaround turns out to have a slight hiccup - I couldn't load a previously saved game. :D However loading worked after a reboot (log details of failed load at end). I'm 95% certain that this was due to a shortage of kernel paged pool memory which graphics drivers make heavy use of (using the /3G switch lowered the amount available from 360MB to 160MB - game loads crashed when 50-55MB was available but worked when 85MB was available). Some games do need /3G to work (Pillars of Eternity, Dreamfall Chapters) while others crash with it (Grim Dawn), so it isn't a perfect option.

I'm wondering, if the pre-loading of assets is behind this, might it be feasible to make that an in-game option? While faster area transitions are nice, they aren't that frequent an event and the extra time it adds to game start is significant (it now takes over a minute to reach the starting menu on my system, which has an SSD RAID for storage capable of over 2GB/s sequential read speed). In fact I was going to suggest having a full loading progress indicator on startup (rather than just the "LOADING RESOURCES...." message) for this reason.

As for the email issue, could you try sending me one at the (munged) address given previously? If I reply to it, and you receive that then it might just be over zealous spam-filtering at ISP-level.

--- Copy of logfile end follows
[01/26 03:55:09] !!! Cannot load object model 'PAK_SIN/AMBIENT_SOUND_005'
[01/26 03:55:09] !!! Cannot load object model 'PAK_SIN/AMBIENT_SOUND_007'
[01/26 03:55:09] ... Scene 'PAK_SIN/SHIP_INTERIOR_3_3' loaded in 3.1s (1278 objects, memory used: 535268Ko, allocs count: 1295607)
[01/26 03:55:09] ... Total persistent resources loaded: 7223
[01/26 03:55:09] ... Total temporary resources loaded: 48
[01/26 03:55:09] ... Total models loaded: 572
[01/26 03:55:09] ... Preloading statistics:
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - Textures: 154 files, 1.94 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - Meshes: 180 files, 0.71 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - Materials: 72 files, 0.00 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - Scripts: 90 files, 0.00 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - XML: 9 files, 0.02 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - AIModels: 11 files, 0.06 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - Skeletons: 83 files, 0.00 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - Sounds: 28 files, 0.12 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - Musics: 1 files, 0.00 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - Particles: 2 files, 0.00 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - TextureClips: 2 files, 0.00 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - SoundBanks: 4 files, 0.00 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - RenderMaps: 1 files, 0.00 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... - Total: 637 files, 2.86 seconds
[01/26 03:55:09] ... Scene 'PAK_SIN/SHIP_INTERIOR_3_3' reinitialized
[01/26 03:55:09] !!! NEW SCENE LOADED
[01/26 03:55:09] ... Registered AIModel 'PAK_GNL.CURSORS'
[01/26 03:55:09] ... Registered AIModel 'PAK_SIN.PC'
[01/26 03:55:10] ... Registered AIModel 'PAK_SIN.OBJECT_code'
[01/26 03:55:10] ... Registered AIModel 'PAK_SIN.DOORS_code'
[01/26 03:55:10] !!! Not enough memory to allocate buffer (894705 bytes requested)
Post edited January 28, 2024 by AstralWanderer
Posted February 17, 2024
I'll take a look at several options after chapter 3. A revised low resolution texture option and a no-preload option.

I sent an e-mail to the address you provided.
Posted February 18, 2024
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StellarTactics: I sent an e-mail to the address you provided.
Message received and response sent.
Posted March 06, 2024
Just sent a second response as I presume the first (sent Sun, 18 Feb 2024 02:15:11) wasn't received.

Looking at the headers of the email I received (those unfamiliar may find this article useful) shows the following:
(personal information redacted)

Received: from gourmet8.spamgourmet.com (gourmet.spamgourmet.com
[216.75.62.102]) by mx.emailarray.com (Haraka/2.8.21) with ESMTPS id
5E43635E-8D84-42EA-A889-558698D7D4D4.1 envelope-from <> (version=TLSv1/SSLv3
cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 verify=FAIL); Sat, 17 Feb 2024 08:30:33
-0500
Received: from spamgourmet by gourmet7.spamgourmet.com with local (Exim
4.94.2) (envelope-from
<SRS0=1YEurN=J2=<YOUR EMAIL>>) id
1rbKlz-0000Fk-Iq for <MY EMAIL>; Sat, 17 Feb 2024 13:30:31 +0000
Received: from walmailout05.yourhostingaccount.com ([65.254.253.45]) by
gourmet7.spamgourmet.com with esmtps (TLS1.2) tls
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.94.2) (envelope-from
<SRS0=1YEurN=J2=stellartactics.com=<YOUR EMAIL>>) id
1rbKlz-0000FU-Au for <MY EMAIL>; Sat,
17 Feb 2024 13:30:31 +0000
Received: from mailscan05.yourhostingaccount.com ([10.1.15.5]
helo=walmailscan05.yourhostingaccount.com) by
walmailout05.yourhostingaccount.com with esmtp (Exim) id 1rbKlx-0007cW-Tz for
<MY EMAIL>; Sat, 17 Feb 2024 08:30:29
-0500
Original-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=stellartactics.com; s=dkim; h=Sender:Content-Type:MIME-Version:Message-ID: Date:Subject:To:From:Reply-To:Cc:Content-Transfer-Encoding:Content-ID: Content-Description:Resent-Date:Resent-From:Resent-Sender:Resent-To:Resent-Cc :Resent-Message-ID:In-Reply-To:References:List-Id:List-Help:List-Unsubscribe: List-subscribe:List-Post:List-Owner:List-Archive; bh=2sODnx91NB2CK02vOQrnPy27j/C+i4hY0KPFWiwUYjg=; b=WdJK..<truncated>.JzSw==;
Received: from [10.114.3.21] (helo=walimpout01) by
walmailscan05.yourhostingaccount.com with esmtp (Exim) id 1rbKlx-0002QC-M4 for
<MY EMAIL>; Sat, 17 Feb 2024 08:30:29
-0500
Received: from walauthsmtp55.yourhostingaccount.com ([10.1.18.55]) by
walimpout01 with id oDWS2B0011BHSKu01DWVTF; Sat, 17 Feb 2024 08:30:29 -0500
X-Authority-Analysis: v=2.3 cv=MKf7ZPRl c=1 sm=1 tr=0 a=mlU0NoEniGbFwgVt2QZi2A==:117 a=iwucpbHrT/SkeuhapVzNyQ==:17 a=8A7brI4kjU8C6ETGAX3PRdgeao0=:19 a=k7vzHIieQBIA:10 a=DAwyPP_o2Byb1YXLmDAA:9 a=G-btvF-W-TNFFVL0dzUA:9 a=CjuIK1q_8ugA:10 a=yMhMjlubAAAA:8 a=SSmOFEACAAAA:8 a=81I7azVSHPEjENA4tE4A:9 a=gKO2Hq4RSVkA:10 a=UiCQ7L4-1S4A:10 a=hTZeC7Yk6K0A:10 a=frz4AuCg-hUA:10
Received: from 99-102-100-244.lightspeed.wepbfl.sbc-global.net
([99.102.100.244]:50215 helo=DESKTOPM1P0MGI) by
walauthsmtp55.yourhostingaccount.com with esmtpa (Exim) id 1rbKlu-0006oO-CQ
for <MY EMAIL>; Sat, 17 Feb 2024
08:30:26 -0500

(note: had to hyphenate sbc-global since it is apparently a banned word).

Email headers have the most recent data first, so my response should have gone through the above servers in reverse order. As such, it seems likely that emails are being dropped by either yourhostingaccount.com or sbc-global.net. The Spamgourmet server is not showing on email blacklists, so there should be no reason for these providers to discard email.
Post edited March 06, 2024 by AstralWanderer
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This is my favourite topic
Community
Stellar TacticsBug (0.725): Saving game causes freeze, plus other issues(10 posts)(10 posts)
(10 posts)