Speed

Please elaborate. I'm pursuing a bug with servers crashing on loading/reloading a mission, and I need all the info I can get.

There's currently a crash for server host when you load a new mission (or restart the current), if the new mission is sufficiently complex. Could this be the problem?

Alrighty- Quax, I haven't a clue why I didn't get this crash yesterday when you were, but here is the crash I get: 1) Load a mission 2) Let that mission run a few seconds 3) Load a sufficiently complex mission 4) When the mission is finished loading, unpause the game. It will crash immediately. What exactly is a "sufficiently complex" mission? No idea where exactly boundary lies between not complex enough and sufficiently complex, but Slmod has nothing to do with it. If you take an Slmod mission that is crashing, uninstall Slmod from your computer, and remove all Slmod components from the mission, you will still crash. The thing is, generally, most of the commonly used Slmod missions fall within the "sufficiently complex" boundary, which is why you sensed the false correlation, Quax. Anyway, the bug has been forwarded to ED so all we can do now is wait.

What I can't understand is how this crash didn't start happening to me until now. Literally, yesterday, I was fine. Now I can't reload certain missions without the game crashing. Ok, good news for me- this crash is not related to Slmod, or Lua in any way. This crash is somehow related to mission size, I think, but it could even be a specific trigger. Still investigating...

Good news- I've been able to get the crash on reloading now. Looks like the mission needs to run for some time before reloading in order to get a crash. I'll try to keep you guys updated, but I will also be out of town for a while starting soon, so I might not get a chance to investigate fully.

Well, as far as I knew, it always did preserve the folder structure- but might there have been a bug? Maybe.

Nothing unusual in dcs.log. Try the attached mission, see if it crashes too. DS KBM v1_1 for DCSW.miz

Well, generally, these little auto-updates aren't changing much- these auto-updates seem to be bug fixes so far, not content additions. It's very unlikely for a bug fix to break a mod, and even content additions don't normally break mods. It's the major release versions that you need to worry about more with regards to mods. And even major patch releases don't usually cause problems (though, that's highly dependent on the mod). So you're kinda worrying about a problem that doesn't exist. Just restore all your mods after an auto-update- there's a 99% chance you'll be just fine and dandy. And it only takes like 5 seconds to restore your mods. But yes, a change log would definitely be useful, for many reasons, including the ones you outlined. And some mods, such as radio mods, modify areas of the game that are in constant flux, so we need to know when those areas get modified.

I cannot reproduce your crash. I can restart the mission you gave me as many times as I want and I won't get a crash. Please give me dcs.log. A crash log might also be useful- it might at least tell me what .dll was responsible for the crash (Lua cannot cause crashes itself). Also, exact steps to reproduce would be appreciated, as well as info such as server settings (is "pause_on_load" true or false), are clients connected, operating system, DCS version (1.2.1.6120, for example), etc. Basically, any or all of the info I requested in post #325 ( http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1567918&postcount=325 ). Are you absolutely sure it is ONLY Slmod missions that crash? The game has no way of knowing if a mission uses Slmod or not until a trigger action that causes an Slmod function to run goes off. I do notice that you are using Slmod functions on mission start. Slmod functions are not supposed to be used "Mission Start" type triggers. That you are using them on "Mission Start" is probably my fault- I need to clearly state this more often. Slmod may not function correctly when used with a "Mission Start" trigger. Instead, use Once->Time More. I recommend Time More (5), but I've never seen any problems caused by Time More (1). While it's nearly impossible for Lua to directly cause the game to crash, it is possible for it to indirectly cause it. Perhaps, for example, there is some kind of Lua error being thrown up by the game at mission start for some reason, and it could be that the game's C++ code is currently not handling Lua errors at mission start correctly, causing a CTD. After you duplicate the crash and upload dcs.log and a crash log, convert your Mission Start Slmod triggers to Time More. See if that solves your CTDs. But first, since I can't reproduce this crash myself, I want to see your dcs.log and a crash log so that at least, I can see if I can identify what went wrong and prevent it in the future. If converting the Mission Start triggers to Time More triggers does not fix the problem, then load a bunch of other, non-Slmod missions. It should CTD on one of them too. Basically, if the problem isn't related to some kind of Lua error at mission start that the game cannot handle correctly, I cannot imagine how it is possible for Slmod to be responsible for these crashes, either directly or indirectly.

Only if the actual files that Slmod replaces (server.lua, MissionScripting.lua) are changed in the update. They haven't been changed for quite a while.

Verify you are forwarding port 10308.

I do not doubt you, but it hasn't happened to me a single time today, not since I installed the update. I've connected at least a dozen times over a 12 hour span. In 1.2.0, I would literally crash 30% of the time when trying to display server list. So either: a) I am lucky b) The problem is much less severe than before c) A combination of both? ??? Anyone else care to comment? Just trying to gauge where the severity of the problem now resides.

It is only feet if you have selected the s*** measurement system instead of the metric system :thumbup:

Not good- sounds like a general DCS issue. If you could give me the info I ask for above (minus the bit that is specific only to Slmod) I'll look into it. OH YES ALSO: Rename the C:\Users\<Your Account Name>\Saved Games\DCS folder, and see if your server still crashes on reload.

Oh, so this is on loading or restarting a missions with the -admin tools? I thought you just meant in general. Like I said- I need more info. When I test out the -admin restart and mission loading sub menu on my own local machine, I get no crashes- that's as of 10 minutes ago, and after 10 mission restarts/loads. Understand though, that the function used to load a mission in the net environment, net.load_mission, has a history of problems. It caused occasional server CTDs back in 1.1.1.1 or 1.1.1.0 if I remember correctly. It seemed to occasionally CTD a client or two in 1.2.0. However, I have yet to witness a server-side crash caused by the net.load_mission function in DCS World. Anyway, if the problem persists, upload your C:\Users\<User Account Name>\Saved Games\DCS\Logs\dcs.log file, a crash file out of this directory, and also give me any pertinent info you can think of, such as: 1) How long had the mission been running? 2) Where there any clients connected? If so, how many? 3) Do you use an unusual file structure for DCS? 4) Did you modify the config.lua file in \Saved Games\DCS\Slmod\? 5) Operating system? 6) Are you running DCS as administrator? Even if you are administrator on your machine, you have to manually grant programs admin rights in Windows 7.

Good idea- this should be workable as an additional, optional variable.

You left out something vital: does it happen without Slmod installed too? I need lots of additional info before I can investigate a bug like this.

Yes, you can't accurately count hits with the units hitting function. Unfortunately, it's not possible to make a Slmod function that returns a value. This is because there is no path through Lua/memory from the mission scripting Lua environment into the environment where Slmod operates, so there is no way to return back a value. The closest thing Slmod could do to return values would be to allow the specification of a variable name. Slmod could then use the a_do_script function the "mission" Lua environment to create a new global variable in the "mission scripting" Lua environment.

Everything I've tested so far with Slmod works in 1.2.1, this is no surprise. ;) After doing an auto-update, you will notice that Slmod, and any other mods, are uninstalled after the update completes. Do not worry, it is very easy to reinstall them. Look in your main DCS directory, there will be an _backup folder. Find the most recent _backup folder, copy everything in this folder, and paste it back into your main DCS directory. Say "yes" to any folder mergers, and chose to "copy and replace" (overwrite) all duplicate files. There- you've just re-installed all your mods :) Slmod version 6.2 should be coming soon- main obstacle is finishing the documentation. I've begun work on stats-keeping code I hope to include in Slmod version 6.3.

"Follow" and "Escort" work exactly as they sound. You can even specify offset directions from the aircraft being followed/escorted. Just be advised... these actions probably do not work on multiplayer clients. Known issue.

This function does work, I use it frequently. Upload the mission, and C:\Users\<your account name>\Saved Games\DCS\Logs\dcs.log.

Yea, I wish the LAN method worked for me too. I wanted to play some last night, but after a forty-five minutes of crashing on trying to display the server list, I had to give up. Like you, all that I get when trying to bypass the display of the server list using "LAN" or "History" source, and connecting to a server with direct IP, is the "Can't Connect" message. The purported direct IP connection "work-around" is not a work-around, not for the vast majority of us.

In my experience, DCS is much more stable on 64 bit. On a 32 bit machine, you often have do some memory tweaks just to give it enough memory to operate, and sometimes even that might not be enough. First of all, upload dcs.log and me.log from C:\Users\<Your User Account Name>\Saved Games\DCS\Logs. Secondly, some common trouble-shooting solutions I can think of are: 1) You are installing the right thing. You want to install DCS World 1.2.0. Wipe out your install if you installed anything else. 2) If there is a folder at C:\Users\<Your User Account Name>\Saved Games\DCS, delete or rename it to wipe the game's settings out and start afresh (after uploading dcs.log and me.log of course). 3) If you never installed them, you should install the DirectX 9 files that the game prompts you to install at the end of the installation process (even if you have DX11). 4) If you never installed them, you should install the Microsoft Visual C++ libraries the game prompts you to install at the end of the installation process. 5) You have UAC disabled. 6) You are running the game as administrator (it will not run as administrator unless you tell it to, even if you are an administrator. Real intuitive, right? That is the nature of Windoze 7). I miss anything?

Actually, I said the same thing weeks before, but this forum is a big place.