FAF Client crashing in Vista

[thygrrr]

Well, I loaded it and got at least 12 starts in a row with no crashes, so maybe the map preview is what was crashing. I can live with this version, but if we could figure out how to include a fix in the regular code stream, that would be great.

Important: If it's the map previews, it's NOT the starts, but it's rather the generation of map preview images for games with maps you haven't got a preview for yet. Since you get a large batch of games told by the server directly after login, the chance of crashing is highest directly after login, of course.

These can be caused by three types of maps:

1. official maps, freeimage needs to read the .DDS data from them, that has been known to fail (most likely cause)
2. local maps you have but that are not in the vault (again, DDS data needs to be extracted, but these games are rare)
3. any vault map (but since you were able to see games before, general preview downloads and scaling just must have worked - freeimage is used to scale these down)

Anyway, knowing it's most likely related to freeimage or to the map preview generator, I can now look for alternatives or the root cause.


Can you use the BETA menu, click "show logs", and then look into the cache folder in that directory and tell me what's in there?

[SiliconKnight]

Thanks. I'll check the cache tonight and let you know what I find.

[SiliconKnight]

Here's the contents of the FAF Cache directory (hope this is helpful):

Code: Select all

Volume in drive C is OS
Volume Serial Number is 7AF9-5E44

Directory of C:\ProgramData\FAForever\cache

03/16/2012  10:40 PM    <DIR>          .
03/16/2012  10:40 PM    <DIR>          ..
03/13/2012  11:10 AM            19,052 2v2 sand box.v0001.png
03/13/2012  10:50 AM            20,059 3v3 chaos.v0001.png
03/14/2012  08:39 PM            19,369 3v3 croesus 13.v0001.png
03/13/2012  10:51 AM            19,019 3v3 sand box.v0001.png
03/14/2012  01:00 PM            20,927 4a4 a good place to die.v0001.png
03/13/2012  09:24 PM            17,417 4v4 confrontation.v0001.png
03/14/2012  12:44 PM            18,025 a road to thermopylae.v0001.png
03/14/2012  08:40 PM            17,749 artys paradise v1.v0001.png
03/13/2012  10:50 AM            14,652 battle of thermopylae v2.v0001.png
03/13/2012  09:24 PM            20,676 big_blasted_rock.png
03/14/2012  08:40 PM            19,071 birth canal.v0001.png
03/13/2012  10:50 AM            13,661 bunnyroanokev3.v0001.png
03/14/2012  05:26 PM            16,003 desertoasis.v0001.png
03/14/2012  08:15 PM            15,379 devastation.v0001.png
03/13/2012  09:24 PM            18,040 duel.v0002.png
03/14/2012  08:57 PM            18,976 fight of the giants v3.v0001.png
03/13/2012  09:24 PM            20,513 fredouz battle 2.v0001.png
03/14/2012  05:26 PM            18,485 gap of rohan.v0001.png
03/14/2012  12:44 PM            19,647 hrungdaks canyon rage.v0001.png
03/13/2012  09:31 PM            19,117 paradise 3v3.v0001.png
03/14/2012  05:26 PM            15,333 rockstone4v4.v0001.png
03/14/2012  08:56 PM            16,336 rush me if u can v2 ep.png
03/13/2012  10:50 AM            17,498 rush me more.v0001.png
03/14/2012  08:51 PM            16,778 rush me now.v0001.png
03/13/2012  09:24 PM    <DIR>          scmp_003
03/13/2012  09:24 PM            17,924 scmp_003.png
03/13/2012  11:12 AM    <DIR>          scmp_007
03/13/2012  11:12 AM            17,466 scmp_007.png
03/13/2012  09:24 PM    <DIR>          scmp_009
03/13/2012  09:24 PM            16,837 scmp_009.png
03/13/2012  09:24 PM    <DIR>          scmp_011
03/13/2012  09:24 PM             4,632 scmp_011.png
03/13/2012  09:31 PM    <DIR>          scmp_012
03/13/2012  09:31 PM            13,160 scmp_012.png
03/13/2012  09:24 PM    <DIR>          scmp_015
03/13/2012  09:24 PM            16,352 scmp_015.png
03/13/2012  09:24 PM    <DIR>          scmp_020
03/13/2012  09:24 PM            12,048 scmp_020.png
03/14/2012  12:46 PM    <DIR>          scmp_023
03/14/2012  12:46 PM            10,880 scmp_023.png
03/14/2012  12:47 PM    <DIR>          scmp_031
03/14/2012  12:47 PM            19,502 scmp_031.png
03/13/2012  11:10 AM    <DIR>          scmp_033
03/14/2012  05:26 PM    <DIR>          scmp_034
03/14/2012  05:26 PM            14,694 scmp_034.png
03/13/2012  11:11 AM    <DIR>          scmp_035
03/13/2012  11:12 AM    <DIR>          scmp_036
03/13/2012  11:12 AM            17,203 scmp_036.png
03/14/2012  05:28 PM    <DIR>          scmp_037
03/14/2012  05:28 PM            11,092 scmp_037.png
03/14/2012  05:26 PM    <DIR>          scmp_039
03/14/2012  05:26 PM            14,095 scmp_039.png
03/13/2012  10:50 AM            21,385 scmp_di_509.v0001.png
03/14/2012  08:39 PM            12,525 scmp_mvcx_05.png
03/14/2012  12:51 PM            21,293 tabula rasa v3.v0001.png
03/16/2012  10:40 PM                 0 temp.txt
03/14/2012  05:26 PM            21,157 twin rivers ep.png
03/13/2012  05:27 PM        20,274,176 update.msi
03/14/2012  05:26 PM            18,761 weqqw.v0001.png
03/14/2012  12:44 PM    <DIR>          x1mp_001
03/14/2012  12:44 PM            17,854 x1mp_001.png
03/14/2012  08:08 PM    <DIR>          x1mp_005
03/14/2012  08:08 PM            16,792 x1mp_005.png
03/14/2012  12:44 PM    <DIR>          x1mp_007
03/14/2012  12:44 PM            18,825 x1mp_007.png
03/14/2012  12:44 PM    <DIR>          x1mp_008
03/14/2012  12:44 PM            19,365 x1mp_008.png
03/14/2012  08:08 PM    <DIR>          x1mp_014
03/14/2012  08:08 PM            19,030 x1mp_014.png
03/13/2012  11:13 AM    <DIR>          x1mp_017
03/13/2012  11:13 AM            18,856 x1mp_017.png
              50 File(s)     21,097,686 bytes
              23 Dir(s)  100,456,583,168 bytes free


Here's some additional info:

• The 0 byte temp.txt file is the text file that I piped this directory listing into, so it can be ignored (I've deleted it).
• I viewed all of the PNG files in the root of this structure, and they all appear relatively normal (using Windows Photo Gallery). However, the "birth canal.v0001.png" did have an odd looking background (looked like a planet in space) instead of black. Not sure if it's any indication of corruption.
• I checked all of the sub-directories, and most appear to have a .DDS file and another copy of the .PNG preview except for the following (these were empty): scmp_033, scmp_035

If I had a small program that called that DLL (even command line based), I could tell you which ones of these PNGs are causing it to crash.

What version of FreeImage are you using? I looked into FreeImage.dll on SourceForge and it looks like it is relying on LibPNG for reading PNG images. There were no known crash warnings specified on LibPNG since v1.2.24 in 2008, so unless we are using a very old version, this is likely an unknown bug or implementation oversight in FreeImage.dll. Not knowing what the source code looks like, is it possible that weird things like the MSI file or Folders are being fed to FreeImage.dll which might cause a crash?

[thygrrr]

The issue is, there are no subdirectories for the stock maps there. These are created when dds previews from official maps are generated. The others are from the web, though they too get piped through freeimage.

Where is your Supcom installed on that machine?

[SiliconKnight]

Sorry for the delayed response, life got busy this week.

I'll check this evening to see in what directory SC is installed. Are you recommending that I copy/move some map previews into the "cache" directory for FAF so that it can find them, or do we think that this should've been accomplished already (e.g. during an install)?

[Raging_Squirrel]

try out the latest update first, some changes have been made there
I don't think it'll affect anything considering your problem, but give it a shot.

[thygrrr]

try out the latest update first, some changes have been made there
I don't think it'll affect anything considering your problem, but give it a shot.

Well he's FORCED to use the new update.

But I think it should work better for him unless he plays a lot of non-vault maps (or has those).

[SiliconKnight]

Looks like FA is installed here:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\THQ\Gas Powered Games\Supreme Commander - Forged Alliance\

and the stock maps are here (although, I don't see any PNG preview files in this directory structure, only the LUA and SCMAP files):

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\THQ\Gas Powered Games\Supreme Commander - Forged Alliance\maps

I'm DLing and trying the latest update, and I'll let ya know how it works.

TIA for all of your help.

[SiliconKnight]

Five successful starts of FA Lobby, and I can see map previews in Find Games tab and Map Vault tab. I would say that's a successful test so far.

I only play stock maps or what's in the Map Pack that we loaded many years ago (not even sure what it's called at this point, or if they are vaulted).

[Raging_Squirrel]

Ok I think I know why it's all working now. Previously it did try to make previews for standard maps, and now, as we have them uploaded in the vault, it downloads the previews first.

So basically the only crash scenario I see is that you trying to upload a map, or someone hosts a map which you have but it's not in vault (unlikely but possible)