stay at sea/return to base lockups

[AxelNL]

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

Since the last patch, the game has frequently locked up at the end of various stay at sea or return to base phases. Usually, reloading the game fixes the problem and I'm able to continue. Now I have one that locks up even after a clean reload.

This save game is the US stay at sea phase. Load the game, and end the phase. The game will not move on to the next phase.

I can end the phase without problems, and have tried to progress through the German phase. After sending all the subs home, and the portuguese cruiser to casablanca I go stuck in the Bay of Biscay. There is a Ju188E in the 4 SeaBox with a range 6 (which can be doubled). You probably got it in there using its extended range. My guess is that the program calculates the RTB wrongly in this case. The Main Form gives info that the nearest hex to return is Brest, but hovering over it gives the warning "out-of-Range".

I think you have run into a bug here. The extended range works fine if you return immediately in the same impulse, but not in the case of naval air returning much later. The status indicator that you have used the extended range is not seen either.

.....

I tried the right mouse command to send it back to where it came from and it jumped back to Brest. I could progress again and cleared the Italians (what a lot of submarines!)

During the Jap phase I ran into problems: Picking up a transporter in the Bay of Bengal went wrong. Program went into a loop maxing out one of my threaded cores and not responding anymore. Windows gave the following errors after trying to kill it: Description:
A problem caused this program to stop interacting with Windows.

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: AppHangB1
Application Name: MWIF.exe
Application Version: 1.1.6.3
Application Timestamp: 53166007
Hang Signature: 32c5
Hang Type: 0
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1043
Additional Hang Signature 1: 32c5bd3de21a7a22bcf09f6e760ac2b2
Additional Hang Signature 2: 1921
Additional Hang Signature 3: 1921f23e7fe71359c74e02361466deb1
Additional Hang Signature 4: 32c5
Additional Hang Signature 5: 32c5bd3de21a7a22bcf09f6e760ac2b2
Additional Hang Signature 6: 1921
Additional Hang Signature 7: 1921f23e7fe71359c74e02361466deb1

Edit: After that a MadExcept happened - and I sent the report to Steve.

There is absolutely something wrong with this gamesave. The junker can have caused problems, but I will reload and try again.

[AxelNL]

If I click on a US naval unit and than try to close the phase the same happens you described. Game goes into a loop and does not responds anymore.
After reloading I could get every Jap unit in a port, but as Truk was indeed taken I had to overstack in one of the minor ports. Closing the phase and same problem as you.

Other than the "Nav extended range RTB bug" which can be overcome via the "Return from Whence" function, your theory is correct, I think. The problem is the RTB calculations which go wrong because there is no large enough port to get the main fleet back into.


Edit: I reloaded. Removed the US marines in Truk, and gave the hex back to Japan. (via debug tool)
Closing the RTB phase for Japan gave the same problem. Game hanged. Theory is not correct, I'm afraid. There's something else which is the problem. I have the feeling it is supply related, this is a gamesave we will need to use in the supply beta release.

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: AxelNL

If I click on a US naval unit and than try to close the phase the same happens you described. Game goes into a loop and does not responds anymore.
After reloading I could get every Jap unit in a port, but as Truk was indeed taken I had to overstack in one of the minor ports. Closing the phase and same problem as you.

Other than the "Nav extended range RTB bug" which can be overcome via the "Return from Whence" function, your theory is correct, I think. The problem is the RTB calculations which go wrong because there is no large enough port to get the main fleet back into.


Edit: I reloaded. Removed the US marines in Truk, and gave the hex back to Japan. (via debug tool)
Closing the RTB phase for Japan gave the same problem. Game hanged. Theory is not correct, I'm afraid. There's something else which is the problem. I have the feeling it is supply related, this is a gamesave we will need to use in the supply beta release.

Now, that's a little too fast to conclude. Using the debug tool for such a thing is dangerous, because there might be residu things when you use it. So you might be right, but I wouldn't exclude this theory totally.

[joshuamnave]

It's happening to me almost every turn after the US enters the war, and occasionally before that as well. Most of the time a reload will fix it. Some of the time, it takes a reload + cycling through the units and/or moving then undoing a unit. But sometimes, nothing seems to work, and the game is just unable to progress. Here's another save file of a game I can't progress in. This has become game breaking for me.

[GaPete_slith]

I've just encountered the exact same problem at the end of the Japanese Return to Base Phase. I've tried doing a cold boot, so far nothing. I'll keep at it. If anybody wants the game to look at it, I saved and zipped it.

[AxelNL]

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

It's happening to me almost every turn after the US enters the war, and occasionally before that as well. Most of the time a reload will fix it. Some of the time, it takes a reload + cycling through the units and/or moving then undoing a unit. But sometimes, nothing seems to work, and the game is just unable to progress. Here's another save file of a game I can't progress in. This has become game breaking for me.

This leads me to believe we should look at US first as the source for the loop - which I now think is supply related.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

I ran a dozen different games (including the ones posted here and at places in Tech Support) from the Stay at Sea and Return to Base phases, with most of them not having any trouble. A couple of times the program went into an infinite loop, but I was unable to see any pattern. The next time I ran those saved games, everything worked fine.

After some delightful conversation with the computer about its behavior, I finally let the program run all the way to the time our (MadExcept error). That let me identify where it was contemplating its navel - consuming enormous amounts of CPU cycles.

I've made a mod which should fix this by eliminating the infinite loop (for 1.1.7.0 - which should be available for customer beta testing tomorrow). But it bothers me that the problem isn't reliably reproducible.[:(]

[joshuamnave]

There are some patterns (from my end) that may or may not help isolate the issue.

Post US entry, when the Axis powers have the initiative, the game will almost always lock up for me at the end of the US stay at sea phase (before/while switching to the Axis RTB phase). If a reload fixes it (or a reload combined with cycling through units, which may or may not be incidental), then it will almost always lock up for me again at the end of the Japanese RTB phase. It almost never locks up other than those two times.

My guess is that after the USSR and the US are both in the war, the number of potential (if always fruitless) supply paths increases to the point where checking supply status at the start of the new phases is causing some kind of loop.

[AxelNL]

Just tested the fix in the new 1.1.7.1 alpha: Zartacla's gamesave could progress throughout the RTB phase. The fix is now in the torture chamber being tested further.

[paulderynck]

deleted - wrong forum