Report - Current Bugs and Issues

[Captainspire]

1. I remember there being various types of music, but I think I keep hearing the same in battle and on the star map?
2. Some systems will not allow me to build an artificial planet when there is an open spot
3. some lag? when selecting single ships in combat
4. Ships with no damage and out numbering the enemy fleet, retreat when auto combat is selected.

[sven]

1. I remember there being various types of music, but I think I keep hearing the same in battle and on the star map?

We did retire some of the battle music at the start of the EA; and there's now only 1 battle theme. However, you should hear varied background music on the main galaxy screen (but the diplomacy, tech, and ship designer screens all have unique themes). I have encountered a bug where the music will simply stop playing altogether in the main screen; this one can be fixed by disabling music entirely (setting volume to 0 inside options), and then re-enabling it. But a better fix is hopefully en-route.

2. Some systems will not allow me to build an artificial planet when there is an open spot

Can you upload a game demonstrating this? Orbital slots are a little fancy; as different star types can support different numbers of planets. Specifically, only orange and yellow stars have 4 slots, the rest are limited in some way.

4. Ships with no damage and out numbering the enemy fleet, retreat when auto combat is selected.

This is the expected behavior if the ships have no weapons. If you have an armed-fleet that is retreating inside auto combat, could you upload the game?

Many thanks.

[Captainspire]

I'll have to get back to you on the uploads, I started a new game, but now Im encountering this and this And YES I finally uploaded a game file
Game_4053.

The lock up happens right after I attack the 4th planet where the fleet is

I uploaded Game_4054 because the problem seems to be very random, but can happen at any action.

[sven]

I'll have to get back to you on the uploads, I started a new game, but now Im encountering this and this And YES I finally uploaded a game file
Game_4053.

Hrm. These look suspiciously like the kinds of problems that could be created by my general resistance to redistributing the official visual studio runtime packages. I may be being too clever for my own good by trying avoid forcing these installers on people (most of the big game companies do use them as part of their install processes). I've updated the current stable build so there are now 2 new .exe files in the Stars in Shadow/ dir: vc_redist.x64.exe and vc_redist.x86.exe. Would you try installing both those packages, and then let me know if the random crashes still persist?

Many thanks.

[Captainspire]

Always glad to help anyway I can!

I didn't know if it was note worthy or not but I ran into this http://i.imgur.com/EceGW9I.jpg this morning just before you sent the update you asked me to test. I haven't seen it again.

vc_redist.x64 - installed the package

I uploaded Game_4056 prior to this patch for comparison.

When using this update I got this:

I tried the game again to see if it was a fluke

Uploaded Game_4057 where the issue happened after the battle at Proxima was over. No windows error beep, the game just locked up. Tried it again and locked up again. Only way to exit was a control Alt Del to end the sis

I'm going to try the vc_redist.x86now.

Also there is an sis.exe and sis64.exe. Does it matter which one I star the game with?

*Edit* Just experienced the same game lock up with the vc_redist.x86 patch and same "too old" Error popup. I did use the sis64.exe and it seemed to move things along faster if that means anything. Still the lock up occurred.

[sven]

Also there is an sis.exe and sis64.exe. Does it matter which one I star the game with?

In theory, it shouldn't. Which one have you been using up until now? (If you've been using sis.exe, then it's vc_redist.x86 that's most likely to help with these crashes.)

[bjg]

Hope you don't make installing additional packages mandatory (and automatic) - there is always a chance to break something important relying on older (or newer) libraries you (unintentionally) override.

[Captainspire]

Also there is an sis.exe and sis64.exe. Does it matter which one I star the game with?

In theory, it shouldn't. Which one have you been using up until now? (If you've been using sis.exe, then it's vc_redist.x86 that's most likely to help with these crashes.)

I uses the sis.exe for the 1st and last part, then the sis64.exe in the middle.

Also the patches are not automatic or mandatory.

And to confirm the error (locking up when pressing the next turn button) happens with the sis.exe too

[sven]

I uses the sis.exe for the 1st and last part, then the sis64.exe in the middle.

So to clarify: have you experienced any crashes since installing both versions of vc_redist?

If so, the next time the game freezes or pops up a 'serious bug' notice, before closing the game, could you open the windows task mannager, go to the 'processes' tab, rightclick on sis.exe (or sis64.exe), and select 'create dump file'. In this case, the contents of that file may be an important clue to what's going on. And if you could send me one (via Dropbox or some other large file sharing service, I'd very much appreciate it.

[Captainspire]

I uses the sis.exe for the 1st and last part, then the sis64.exe in the middle.

So to clarify: have you experienced any crashes since installing both versions of vc_redist?

If so, the next time the game freezes or pops up a 'serious bug' notice, before closing the game, could you open the windows task mannager, go to the 'processes' tab, rightclick on sis.exe (or sis64.exe), and select 'create dump file'. In this case, the contents of that file may be an important clue to what's going on. And if you could send me one (via Dropbox or some other large file sharing service, I'd very much appreciate it.

Give me a bit on the file part. I am seeing that the issue happens after I attack an enemy planet or fleet, then I hit the turn button. When I had little or no contact with an alien race, the game ran without issues

[sven]

Give me a bit on the file part. I am seeing that the issue happens after I attack an enemy planet or fleet, then I hit the turn button. When I had little or no contact with an alien race, the game ran without issues

Many thanks for the dump file. The hint about an apparent connection to tactical combat has proven quite useful as well.

I've now tracked down a couple different bugs / poor design choices that I think may have been behind these crashes. (All of them are issues introduced by the new "spinning planets during ai turns" feature). Please let me know if the latest stable versions (r20608+) prove less crash-prone on your system.

[Captainspire]

http://i.imgur.com/ZUvcn2b.jpg

It's not a massive issue but when you 1st start the game, it seems all the text jumbles and pixilates. When you press the windows key to window -size the game, or if you start in a windowed size, then make the game full screen it goes away and never comes back.

[sven]

It's not a massive issue but when you 1st start the game, it seems all the text jumbles and pixilates.

Is this still happening in r20682? (I think there's a chance that some of the changes that went in to address the memory leak may have fixed this behavior as well.)

[nweismuller]

In r20686, clicking on Factories, Labs, or Markets no longer brings up the Scrap Improvements dialogue for those improvements. Farms and Mines can still be scrapped, however.

[sven]

In r20686, clicking on Factories, Labs, or Markets no longer brings up the Scrap Improvements dialogue for those improvements. Farms and Mines can still be scrapped, however.

Should be fixed as of r20697. Thanks for the report!