Help me fix Intense X! Win some Free models along the way :)

Hello everyone,

Many of you should already know that I've been working for many years now on several plugins for Gamestudio, mainly revolving AI and Pathfinding. About 7-8 months now, I've hit a major slump. There's been some seemingly random E1513 error messages popping up and I've been trying to get rid of them ever since. This started happening on my latest plugin, Intense Ai - Copper edition. It's preventing me from releasing the almost completed Silver and Gold editions of Intense Ai and have pretty much destroyed my sales on Intense Ai Copper, not to mention my reputation. Now, with the release of the latest A7 private beta (which produced some interesting results with Intense Ai) and the next release candidate version coming up, I'm giving it another go on fixing the bloody bug. But I will need your help.

Anyone that has some free time, please download this file:

http://www.intense-i.com/files/WhyAmICrashing2.zip (78mb)

You won't need to have Intense Ai, or any of my plugins installed to test this. What this is, is a small game containing two levels, completely open sourced. When you try to run this game, it should compile fine and then crash a few seconds after the level loads. What I'm interested in, is what error message you get and if it even crashes at all in your computer.

Now, here's something interesting (if you can call any bug interesting..) about this infamous bug. After you extract the zip file, open Backyard.wmp in WED and run it. After it compiles ok, you should get one of the following E1513 runtime error messages:

Crash in is_ai_Npc_Event or
Crash in ActionManager or
Crash in ix_AgentAttributes_Loop or
etc..

Now, close WED and open main.c with SED. Now click the blue arrow (Run current Script). The game will compile and run just fine! You will get no crashes at all, although you're running the exact same level and the exact same main script file! Which is why I believe this has nothing to do with my code and heavily relies on something going wrong with the engine.

Of course, since I'm the only one getting this atm (although there have been other E1513 random crashes reports every now and then) there must be something I'm obviously not doing right, but if it runs fine when i run it with SED and crashes when I run it with WED, you can tell how it can be nearly impossible to debug this myself. But I digress..

If you want to help, please reply with the following information:

Current Gamestudio edition: (Non-beta, like A7.82.3 or earlier or a private beta, like A7.83.5b. If you have the latest A7.83.6b then don't test this at all since you'll get a lot of errors. Check this thread for more on this)

Your System Specs: Operating System, RAM size, # of processors and gfx card type.

Open Backyard.wmp from WED and run it (don't build the level or anything). Does it compile? Yes/No. Does it crash? Yes/No. If it crashes, what is the crash message?

If it crashed, run it two more times. Do you get the same crash message (does it crash in the same function or a different one each time?). From my tests, if you have the A7.83.5b beta you should get the same errors, but if you run an earlier non-beta version you may get crashes in different functions each time.

If you get the same function crashing each time, please also try the following. Open a heavy application (irrelevant to gamestudio). It could be Photoshop, or Blender, or you could try opening WED 2-3 more times. With this application(s) open, run the level from WED again. Do you get a crash in the same function again, or a different one this time? (Here, with A7.83.5b I will get consistent crashes until I open up Photoshop, then another function will start crashing. If I run it again and again, the same different function will be crashing until I close or open another heavy application, indicating that this bug is definitely related to a memory problem.).

Finally, open main.c from SED. Run the blue arrow (Run current Script). Does it compile? Yes/No. Do you get a crash after the level loads? Yes/No. If you get a crash, what does it say?


I understand that this is a cumbersome test so as a little thank you, if you do the test also type in your Full Name either in the reply or through a PM. You will be allowed to use any of the models from this game for your own commercial (or non-commercial) projects, even if you haven't purchased Intense Ai Copper. These include 2 humanoid models and 4 weapons with both normal and 1st person camera modes (with hands), all with a LOT of animations. You can check them out from here.

Which brings me to my last point.. You can't use any of the Intense Ai Lite-c Scripts for your own projects, if you don't own Intense Ai Copper. But I left them open so you can get some ideas from them if you want to. Lots of Ai code in there..

Any help would be very much appreciated. Me and jcl are trying to figure this out and it's really important to have as many test results as possible.

Thanks again,
Aris

Aris, I don't own Intense-x Copper , but I am using Intense Pathfinding 3... I will wait until u release intenseX Silver then I will buy it.... I will do my best to help with this ...
Now I just have one problem .... I use 3dgs extra ... so decals are not supported... the game is crashing at the beginning because it is not a supported feature... so can u please help me turn the decals off in ur demo level so that I can give u some results ???



I'm really happy to hear that u are working together on this issue...

Thanx

Hello basharsj,

Thank you for your help and support!

Here's how you turn off the blood decals for the demo. Normally you'd use the Intense X panels from WED (like you do for Intense Pathfinding 3) but since I haven't included the Intense Ai dll you'll need to do it manually.

Inside the WhyAmICrashing2 folder you'll find a file called IntenseX.dat. Double click it and it will probably ask you how to open this file. Choose "Select a program from a list of installed programs" and from the list, select Notepad. Once opened, go to Edit->Find and type in: blood decal

You'll see something like this:

...
Miscellaneous: Step Up=0.25
Miscellaneous: Sounds LOD=60
Miscellaneous: Wall Dumpness Division Factor=3
Miscellaneous: Blood Decals Enabled=1
Miscellaneous: Headshot Damage Multiplier=5
Miscellaneous: Bypass Armor=1
Miscellaneous: Short Range Npc Activation=3000
Miscellaneous: Long Range Npc Activation=5000
...

So as you see, IntenseX.dat is just a complex .ini file. Just change 1 to 0 in the red line, and decals will be deactivated.


Looking forward for your results

I tested this demo using:
ASUS P5N-E nForce SLI motherboard
Intel Duo 2.66G
4G DDR2 PC6400 RAM
Vista Home Premium 32-bit DX11
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512
SB X-FI Xtreme

GameStudio Commercial 7.82/WED V6.941

Ran the demo 15 times in WED and 15 times in SED without a crash or problem. (I exited the demo and restared each time). I started the demo and moved around until the character was killed or the enemy AI were.
I have a registered version of IX Copper.
I will continue to restart the demo through out the day.

my system specs:
Geforce 8400m g
AMD turion 64 x2 1.9 ghz
win 7
3gb RAM 320 gb HDD

Gstudio version 7.82.3

I don´t have any problems with SED, but with WED i get these problems:

Crash in :
ix_produceaistuckscan
AddMe
CalcFixedGoal_GetUnstuck
ix_PlayerInterface_Loop


hmmm... Thats really wierd.

My system:
Core2Duo E6850 2*3.00(ghz)
4096MB RAM
Geforce 8800GTX
Windows XP Professional x64

1) WED: I get an error everytime I run the level: Error E151: "Crash in NaO-fAwareness", however the level starts, but the AI is not attacking.
2) SED: When i run the script via SED it works just fine without any errors!

my system specs:
GPU: ATI HD4870 1GB
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3200
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 7 Professional x64

3DGS: A7 Commercial 7.82.3

I have neither problems with SED nor with WED.
But I only tested with no significant background tasks and Firefox as background task.
No errors in both cases. I also started it multiple times.
I might try again.

Hello Aris,
i never get an error with sed. And if i use "-nx 300" command with wed(this is standart in my wed), i get en error. But there is no problem with wed, if i increased nexus(like "-nx 400") Edit: or without nexus parameter. Sorry for bad english.

Edit:
Specs:
intel e7500(c2duo), 2GB ram,WinXP(sp3).

HMmmmm.............

Somehow emre is right .
i also have 300 nx. then i got the errors lited above, but if i increade the nx to 400 i get no errors. hmm... very strange

Runs fine from Wed (with and without nexus parameter)
and SED, no crashes or errors

no shootsounds are played (actually their volume is really low), only backroung music and ambient


only makes a nexus error when i put the nexus below 25

3dgs,Com 7.80.1

Vista, 3070MB Ram, Intel 2 Quad Core

---

It could be related to using a newer gamestudio build.
Try it out with an older update. Maybe the errors
came in more recent versions.

No problem what so ever , done everything and no crashes

Radeon 4770
Athlon X2 6000
4 Gig Ram
Win 7
GS 7.82

Current Gamestudio edition: A7.82.3 (Pro)
My System Specs: Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 3
RAM size: 2,0GB
# of processors: 2 @ 2,0GHz
gfx card type: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX @ 512MB
DirectX 9.0c

Open Backyard.wmp from WED and run it. Does it compile? Yes. Does it crash? No. [...]
Open a heavy application. It could be Photoshop. With this application open, run the level from WED again. Does it crash? No.
Finally, open main.c from SED. Run the blue arrow (Run current Script). Does it compile? Yes. Does it crash? No.

Tested with Nexus from 30 to 300.

I will perform your tests on two of my computers at home when I get the chance.

BTW, when I try to follow your "If you have the latest A7.83.6b then don't test this at all since you'll get a lot of errors. Check this thread for more on this)" link, I get "Access denied."

@Pighunter: you need to be a pro user with beta forum access

it doesnot crash when running from wed or sed.

I didn't get crashes using WED or SED.
The only thing which is to mention is that if i open the wmp file I get a message that it can't open IntensX.h

System
Windows Xp 23bit Home
intel Core2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz
Nvidia 260 GTS260
3.25GB RAM

3.82 Free decals dissabled

muffel

I don't think you must worry about your reputation; everyone realizes that indipendent efforts are challenging.

Disabled decals in dat file:

Version
7.82.3 Extra


Machine specs:
1GB Ram
Win Xp SP3
82845G Integrated Intel GPU
Dell
P4 2.66

First Run:
Sed:
Worked fine after decals set to 0 for Extra

Second Run:
Wed:
loading into wed error "Can't load intensex.h"
Compiled in a few mins and ran without engine error.

Third Run:
Sed:
Error after a few seconds of play:
Error E1201
Nexus too small (0)

Fourth Run:
Sed:
Same error:
Error E1201
Nexus too small (0)

Fifth Run:
Sed:
same as last two

Sixth Run:
Wed:
3 Browser Windows open:
loading into wed error "Can't load intensex.h"
Run fine

Seventh Run:
Wed:
Photoshop Running
Demo ran fine with photoshop in background.

(Would ensure that non player characters are optimized with LODs for low end PCs.)

Looks cool, keep at it. You'll get it worked out.

Good morning Larry,

I did some quick checks on your code and I'm pretty sure what causes the problem (not that you're able to solve it, but at least it should be a good hint for jcl).

Started your level from WED and it crashed - as you said.
Started the level from SED and it worked perfect.

==> Checked the different parameters for the engine with -diag.
Paramters when running from WED: -nx 300 -diag -wnd
Parameters when running from SED: -diag -wnd -ta -debug

==> Removed -debug & -ta from the command line / did not change anything
==> Added -nx 300 to the command line ==> crash
==> Removed -nx 300 from the WED commandline ==> no crash

The -nx statement for its own does not cause the crash (-nx40 is working smoothly) - but it seems as if the high value leads to the crash.

As the error seems to happend randomly on different computer-settings I would suggest you to check if the crash is in relation to the height of the nexus value (e.g. if it doesn't crash, just set a value like -nx 1200 ).

Greetings,
Timo Stark

PS: just saw that this problem was already reported - so it might be the magical number 300 aaand
PS2: pretty amazing, but it don't seem to stand in any relationship to the available memory

System specs:
Windows XP (SP3)
Genuine Intel CPU 585, 2.16 GHZ
2 GB ram
Mobile Intel (R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family (yeah integrated gpus rocks )

But what can be stated is, that this is an engine bug,
not a bug in the application programming.
It runs on some systems and crashes on others, with
the engine beeing responsible for the management.

So its (as discussed before) Conitecs turn to fix that!

How about a developer planning with a large project reads
on the product page:

"For large projects, the game might crash on some systems.
Its your not our responsibility to fix that."

From manual;

So i don't understand why default nexus parameter of the wed is 300. it must be 30. Also it's 30 in the a6. Maybe the problem is just this or maybe not, because game is crash Between nx190 -nx340 but doesn't crash more than "nx340" or less than "nx190". Very strange...

@Damocles_:

I tested it again with a nexus of 30, too. It now works just fine, without any error!!

Everything running perfectly fine with A7 Pro 7.82.3

Athlon XP 3800
2 Gig Ram
Win XP Home


But now it comes...
I jsut tried with the brand new beta 7.83.7 where the string bug was fixed. It crashes wildly. An invalid memory area ix_import_GameData message popped up, problems with st_stencilBlur.fx (can't open file), and afterwards an E1513 in ix_Npc: SYS - endless loop.
A second time no E1513 popped up and I was able to play. But it was extremely jerky compared to the public release. Also the script compiled twice as long as with the public release.
Also .

Works with no problems on A7 Pro, Versions 7.80.1 and 7.82.3 from both WED and SED.

On the following Systems.

Mobile intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.2 GHz
1.12 Gig Ram
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 IGP 128MB
Win XP Home SP3
Was running at 1.7gig total commit charge.

Pentium 4 CPU 3 GHz
2 Gig Ram
Radeon 9550 SE 256MB
Win XP Home SP3

300 is not the default nexus in WED, this is set by map properties in WED for the specific level that is open.
SED Will then use this from the published WMB file to set the Nexus when the level is run from SED, also (I
think)
I also remember reading somewhere that from A7.?? up the nexus will be made larger at runtime if required, by the engine.

Jethro.

Aris, could the Local string declaration issue be the problem?? I guess your looking into this now.

Also the 1800 frames of vertex animation in your models, JCL once commented this would require a large nexus.

Here's the thing I thought the nexus increase fixed the problem, because I have 6 mini games at beta3, ready to go to release candidate, with my publisher now. I use a nexus of 310 for all games. All games do not miss a beat on 3 computers here and 5 computers that the publisher has tested it on. With OS's XP, Vista, Windows 7 NO Crashes at all.

Needless to say I'm getting a bit edgy, or maybe a published game doesn't crash?
Aris, Have you tested a published game for the crash??
I can't do it here with standoff, because it doesn't crash on my systems.
Is there somewhere I can upload one of our games for you to test on your crashing system, (If I get the ok from my publisher.)

JCL.. Whats the go with the vertex animations of 1800 frames needing a large nexus, and could this multiplied by 2-3 different models all havinbg 1800 frames make the problem worse. (However we don't have any problems here in Australia, on 8 systems. Thats it!!! the Southern Hemisphere fixes the problem :-)

I dunno, keep on it Aris and JCL I believe you are getting very close.

I'll see if my publisher can test it on some more systems.

Jethro..

Thanks for information. i forgot it. Because i've started my game only from SED, never from WED. All my maps has 300 nexus. Because i just copied and pasted it. And Larry's map nx300 too. Sorry for confusion.

Specs:
Operating System: Win XP 64-bit
RAM size: 8GB
# of processors: Intel core2Extreme (4CPU's) @ ~3.0GHZ
gfx card type: Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTX 768MB

Gamestudio Edition: A7.82.1 Pro edition

From WED
Does it compile? Yes. Does it crash? Yes. If it crashes, what is the crash message?

Error E1513
Crash in calcGoal_CombatTactic_SearchAndDestroy

Same Error with Maya and Photoshop running in the background.

From SED
Does it compile? Yes. Does it crash? No. If it crashes, what is the crash message? Doesnt Crash

Mostly information you knew already, but cant hurt to have more info.
regards,

I had no problems with 400 nexus.

Using nexus at 300 I get the same error as already stated by others : "Crash in NaO-fAwareness" in Wed.

A7.82 Commercial Wed V6.941
IntenseX Copper 1.0

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name COMPUTER2
System Manufacturer HP Pavilion 061
System Model DY152A-ABU t590.uk
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~3400 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 3.22, 19/03/2004
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
User Name COMPUTER2\Owner
Time Zone GMT Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 716.56 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 3.83 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys


Hope that helps

Hi

I got:
3DGS Comm V7.82.3, Copper 1.0
Vista, Core2 1.86 MHz, RAM 2G, GeForce 8500 GT

Run in WED: Crashes "Error E1513 Crash in is_ai_Senses_Update..."

Run in SED: No crashes, played to the end, all works fine!

System specs:
GeForce GTS250GS
Intel i5-750 (4x2.66 Ghz)
6 GB RAM
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
A7 Commercial 7.82.3


WED:
Does it compile? Yes
Does it crash? No

SED:
Does it compile? Yes
Does it crash? No

GeForce 9600GT
Intel Q6700 (4x2.66 Ghz)
8 GB RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
A7 Commercial 7.82.3


WED:
Does it compile? Yes
Does it crash? No

SED:
Does it compile? Yes
Does it crash? No

System specs:
GeForce 8800GTS G92 512MB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
4 GB RAM
Soundblaster X-Fi
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

A7 Commercial 7.84.2 Public Beta
Intense Pathfinding 3

WED -nx 300 :
Does it compile? Yes
Does it crash? No, works perfectly

SED -nx 200 :
Does it compile? Yes
Does it crash? No, works perfectly

WED -nx 800 :
Does it compile? Yes
Does it crash? No, works perfectly

WED -nx 1024 (!):
Does it compile? Yes
Does it crash? No, works perfectly (!)

Background tasks for all tests: itunes, wed, magix music maker 15, windows live mail, norton antivirus, fiefox, nvidia 3d vision setup driver menu, 3dgs manual x2, steam, rockstar games social club, free download manager, creative console for soundblaster

Just try it with the new public beta, it works fine for me. Maybe they changed something in memory management.

EDIT: You should really use the newest version, Aris: The sys_marker function can be used to indicate memory areas that were overwritten due to a script bug. This can help fixing hard-to-locate bugs that result in random crashes.

So far... And whats gonna happening now???

Hey can someone test this with the A8 beta version?? maybe something changed?