PBEM game unable to continue

[Warhorse]

Per this thread at the Blitz-http://www.theblitz.org/message_boards/showthread.php?tid=68780&pid=406184#pid406184. Unable to advance past the Resume Game menu, where the me.exe locks up, and requires a reboot of the computer, evidently!

[berto]

ORIGINAL: Warhorse

Per this thread at the Blitz-http://www.theblitz.org/message_boards/showthread.php?tid=68780&pid=406184#pid406184. Unable to advance past the Resume Game menu, where the me.exe locks up, and requires a reboot of the computer, evidently!

No. That's not how I understand it. He clicks on the "Resume a Saved Game" button, and the frontend freezes/crashes.

me.exe never comes into play.

How do I additionally know this? Because look at the (privately supplied) log file modified dates:



He ran Middle East.exe on 12/4. Which never handed off to me.exe, which last ran on 12/2. It's a frontend issue, not an engine issue.

From The Blitz:

From the frontend.log I received (over at the Matrix forum), it appears that the Middle East.exe reads the first two .bte files, then ... nothing. The issue could be with (1) the file name(s), (2) the contents of the .bte file(s), or (3) something else.

And from our dev forum discussion:

From what I can tell, in the Middle East frontend, when he clicks on Resume a Saved Game, the frontend freezes/crashes. As I indicated at The Blitz, the tail end of the supplied frontend.log indicates processing of 2 out of 5 of his games, "then ... nothing". There is a problematic file name among those 5, else a problematic .bte file among those five. More likely it's a file name issue, or perhaps an empty file. We had a problem like this within the Dev Team before. AFAIK, this has nothing to do with me.exe, hence the pbem.xxx or pbem.yyy files, since this is a frontend crash, not an engine crash.

[berto]

Furthermore, the tail end of his frontend.log:

---

2015-12-04 17:09:37 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in GetDirDetails(), reading !!Ambush at Khatima Pass.bte
2015-12-04 17:09:37 Middle East.exe: [DEBUG ID 0] (misc.cpp, line 1928, GameFile()) in GameFile, filetype 7, file !!Ambush at Khatima Pass.bte, havelognam 1, dirfile saves\!!Ambush at Khatima Pass.bte
2015-12-04 17:09:37 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in LoadScenarioThumbnail(), reading saves\!!Ambush at Khatima Pass.bte
2015-12-04 17:09:37 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in GetDirDetails(), reading !!Biferno Bridge.bte
2015-12-04 17:09:37 Middle East.exe: [DEBUG ID 0] (misc.cpp, line 1928, GameFile()) in GameFile, filetype 7, file !!Biferno Bridge.bte, havelognam 1, dirfile saves\!!Biferno Bridge.bte
2015-12-04 17:09:37 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in LoadScenarioThumbnail(), reading saves\!!Biferno Bridge.bte
[that's it, nothing more]

---

Note: It stops at processing 2 out of his reported 5 ongoing games.

There is no frontend exit entry, for example

---

2015-12-05 10:14:39 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] Middle East.exe exit

---

which you would expect to see as the frontend exits and hands off to the me.exe engine.

[berto]

Once you get to here



you should expect to see something like this at the tail end of frontend.log:

---

2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in GetDirDetails(), reading !!!RichvMike firstME.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [DEBUG ID 0] (misc.cpp, line 2060, GameFile()) in GameFile(), filetype 7, file !!!RichvMike firstME.bte, havelognam 1, dirfile saves\!!!RichvMike firstME.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in LoadScenarioThumbnail(), reading saves\!!!RichvMike firstME.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in GetDirDetails(), reading !!PetriVsBerto_IntoAfricaCSME.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [DEBUG ID 0] (misc.cpp, line 2060, GameFile()) in GameFile(), filetype 7, file !!PetriVsBerto_IntoAfricaCSME.bte, havelognam 1, dirfile saves\!!PetriVsBerto_IntoAfricaCSME.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in LoadScenarioThumbnail(), reading saves\!!PetriVsBerto_IntoAfricaCSME.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in GetDirDetails(), reading !!YemenPetriVsBerto.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [DEBUG ID 0] (misc.cpp, line 2060, GameFile()) in GameFile(), filetype 7, file !!YemenPetriVsBerto.bte, havelognam 1, dirfile saves\!!YemenPetriVsBerto.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in LoadScenarioThumbnail(), reading saves\!!YemenPetriVsBerto.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [DEBUG ID 0] (misc.cpp, line 2060, GameFile()) in GameFile(), filetype 7, file !!PetriVsBerto_IntoAfricaCSME.bte, havelognam 1, dirfile saves\!!PetriVsBerto_IntoAfricaCSME.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [INFO ID 1] in LoadScenarioThumbnail(), reading saves\!!PetriVsBerto_IntoAfricaCSME.bte
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [DEBUG ID 0] (misc.cpp, line 2060, GameFile()) in GameFile(), filetype 0, file !!PetriVsBerto_IntoAfricaCSME.bmp, havelognam 1, dirfile graphics\!!PetriVsBerto_IntoAfricaCSME.bmp
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [DEBUG ID 0] (misc.cpp, line 2060, GameFile()) in GameFile(), filetype 0, file CSLegion.bmp, havelognam 1, dirfile graphics\CSLegion.bmp
2015-12-05 11:46:31 Middle East.exe: [DEBUG ID 0] (misc.cpp, line 2060, GameFile()) in GameFile(), filetype 0, file graphics\CSLegion.bmp, havelognam 1, dirfile graphics\CSLegion.bmp

---

As I understand it, Boisforas never reaches the Scenarios screen. He clicks on the previous screen's "Resume a Saved Game' button, then ... crash.

ORIGINAL: Warhorse

Per this thread at the Blitz-http://www.theblitz.org/message_boards/showthread.php?tid=68780&pid=406184#pid406184. Unable to advance past the Resume Game menu, where the me.exe locks up, and requires a reboot of the computer, evidently!

Doubtful. A Task Manager kill action would probably suffice.

[Warhorse]

I'm just quoting what he said, he might think he needs to reboot, not my words!![:-]

[ewbonner]

Boisforas here, thats right, I cannot view the scenario screens as the program crashes when I click on the "Resume..." What, in layman's terms do I need to do? How do I reboot my computer? Or, whats a task manager kill action?

[berto]

Try any of these, in this sequence:

[*]In Windows Explorer, cut-and-paste your PBEM file(s) with Warhorse (who, as I understand it, is using a different game version from you) out of your saves folder to some other same place. Then retry.

If that doesn't work:

[*]Cut-and-paste all of the files in your saves folder to some other safe place, then restore them to the saves folder, one by one, retrying after every restore.

If that doesn't work:

[*]Package together and either (a) post here or (b) send via e-mail a .zip file containing your entire saves folder, also your logs folder.

Warhorse has told me that he will be walking you through these experiments. Good luck to both of you.

[berto]

Note to both of you (you and Warhorse): We on the Dev Team have seen this sort of frontend freeze in development. As a test, I recreated the condition giving rise to the bug:

[*]Created a zero-length, empty .bte file in the saves folder.

As expected, I then see a frontend freeze (and frontend.log entries) exactly like yours: After pressing the "Resume a Saved Game" button ... nothing, frontend freeze.

I strongly suspect that you have a zero-length, empty .bte file in your saves folder. Maybe it got there by mistake in your e-mail processing Warhorse's last PBEM turn. The solution would be to delete the offending .bte file.

There may be some other cause. But this is the likeliest explanation.

(Oh, and BTW, Warhorse can walk you through the steps to do a "task manager kill action" also.)

[VPaulus]

ewbonner emailed us his saved files, and I don't see any 0 size bte file. (look at the screenshot)

[berto]

Okay. Then he should pursue the steps outlined in Post #7.

[berto]

For fastest resolution of this issue, I really need:

ORIGINAL: berto

[*]Package together and either (a) post here or (b) send via e-mail a .zip file containing your entire saves folder, also your logs folder.

More than a week after this problem was first reported (at The Blitz), I still can't debug this problem directly, only offer advice and conjecture.

[Warhorse]

Okay, situation resolved after a phone call with Eric! Was helping him navigate Windows Explorer to the saves folder, made a new folder, and was trying to tell him how to drag/drop the save games into that. He had said something about 4 games, but I said I thought you said 5, he said, oh, looks like a WF game got in here too, BAM!! I said, well dude, problem solved right now, get that puppy out of there and fire that game up, and it did/does!! That's all it was!

[ewbonner]

Boisforas here, to the support group; Thank you all for your help with this problem. I got on the horn to Warhorse & between us, we fixed it. The root of the problem turned out to be that a PBEM turn from a WF game I was playing some how got placed in the Middle East saves which confused the ME(please excuse the layman's intepretation)game. I was hoping it was something simple so Im back on the battlefield. Eric

[berto]

Much relieved to hear this! Thanks for your help here, Mike! [&o]

[Warhorse]

Glad to help out, of course now my poor Egyptians are going to suffer punishment at the hands of his Para's!!

[noissy]

Just playing a guy, both patched with the new patch.
He suddenly had the same problem, i.e, could not resume
a pbem game. I referred him to this thread and he copied
and pasted the file and put it back in his save folder, as above.
He was then able to play it but, the next turn round he had to do
it again for it to run, possibly means he will have to do it each
turn?

[Jason Petho]

Are you zipping the turns when you send them?

[noissy]

They weren't first turn but, subsequent turns are zipped, Jason.