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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0003872AI War 1 / ClassicCrash/ExceptionJan 30, 2012 8:10 pm
ReporterTechSY730 Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Status closedResolutionunable to reproduce 
Product Version5.017 
Summary0003872: Fatal Error in GC
DescriptionI am sometimes getting a crash accompanied with a message box with the title "Fatal Error in GC", and message "GetThreadContext failed"

Nothing from that crash is in the unhanded errors file.

OS: Ubuntu Linux 11.04 (kernel version 2.6.38-11-generic)
Wine 1.2.3 using Windows XP mode

OK, I realize this is not a supported configuration, so I may be on my own, but I am wondering if others are getting this message.
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal WeightNew

Relationships

related to 0005059 resolvedChris_McElligottPark Valley 1 Fatal Error in GC 

Activities

keith.lamothe

Sep 20, 2011 6:51 pm

administrator   ~0013260

I remember that GetThreadContext funnybusiness from back when we were doing the Unity port. I just forget what it was about. Possibly about how on the Mac version the Mac OSX wouldn't let us check to see if another copy of the process was running to see if we needed to not do certain networking things.

TechSY730

Oct 17, 2011 12:05 am

reporter   ~0016629

Update on the issue. It seems to happen most often when switching views from one planet to another.

TechSY730

Oct 28, 2011 9:43 am

reporter   ~0017278

Due to its similarity to the AVWW wind crash, I'll answer the same question here.

In this game, it seems much more varied about when the crash happens. Typically its after like 2-3 hours before I get this crash, but one time it was a mere 30 minutes before it happened.

Chris_McElligottPark

Nov 6, 2011 12:28 pm

administrator   ~0017449

Thanks!

* Previously it was still possible for the mono garbage collector to suicide itself during save operations if it had to resize a large buffer and the transient memory happened to be too low at the time.
** At core, this is a bug in the way that unity 3d handles lack of heap space, and it's something that we've had to work around with all our games during memory-intensive operations (rather than just garbage collecting automatically any choosing to get on its day -- which it could easily do -- the engine instead throws a fatal error and dies if you use more than 800MB of heap space).
** Preventative code has now been put in place to prevent these sorts of errors during buffer resizings, basically forcing a GC collection if there is more than 500MB of heap currently in use just to be on the safe side.

TechSY730

Nov 8, 2011 2:03 pm

reporter   ~0017460

Just a heads up. This change has not been added to AI War 5.021 release notes yet.

Chris_McElligottPark

Nov 8, 2011 2:14 pm

administrator   ~0017461

Wasn't planning on putting this in AI War. AI War has its own ways of serializing data which are completely unlike those of AVWW. It also already has its own GC handling to prevent this sort of issue whenever possible. To my knowledge it's working very well except when players have really super extreme scenarios.

TechSY730

Nov 8, 2011 2:25 pm

reporter   ~0017463

Then you probably shouldn't mark this issue as resolved, as this is the copy of the issue for AI War. The related issue is the one for AVWW which you have fixed.

Chris_McElligottPark

Nov 8, 2011 2:28 pm

administrator   ~0017464

Oh, whoops, I see. Man I keep missing that. Well, I can mark it as "unable to reproduce" if you like. I think your OS really is a factor.

TechSY730

Nov 8, 2011 2:37 pm

reporter   ~0017466

Yea, status of "feedback" or "closed" with "unable to reproduce" as the resolution seems like the way to go. I guess this will have to wait around until someone with a supported configuration gets GC problems as well. Or worse, this may be a Wine bug.

I can't use the latest beta's of Wine as even though they fix so many things, they have introduced a bug with mouse input. Though it has been fixed for normal mice, it still is affecting touchpads, which I use. (Yes, I play all my games on touchpad. It's not as bad as you might think.)

If they ever fix it, I will update Wine and try to see if this error comes up again.

Chris_McElligottPark

Nov 8, 2011 2:44 pm

administrator   ~0017467

Given that we have a LOT of people playing both AVWW and AI War these days, and you're playing on an unsupported platform and running into these issues with greater frequency compared to anyone else (on AVWW) and in general when others are not (AI War), I'd have to put my money on it being some form of WINE bug. Unfortunately. :(

TechSY730

Jan 30, 2012 8:09 pm

reporter   ~0018431

Good news, the latest versions of Wine fix both the touchpad input things and GREATLY improves the audio subsystem's implementation.

So far, under this new version, no GC problems.

Chris_McElligottPark

Jan 30, 2012 8:10 pm

administrator   ~0018432

Woohoo! That is indeed really excellent news. :)

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Sep 20, 2011 6:07 pm TechSY730 New Issue
Sep 20, 2011 6:51 pm keith.lamothe Note Added: 0013260
Oct 17, 2011 12:05 am TechSY730 Note Added: 0016629
Oct 27, 2011 11:25 pm TechSY730 Relationship added related to 0005059
Oct 28, 2011 9:43 am TechSY730 Note Added: 0017278
Nov 6, 2011 12:28 pm Chris_McElligottPark Internal Weight => New
Nov 6, 2011 12:28 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0017449
Nov 6, 2011 12:28 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status new => resolved
Nov 6, 2011 12:28 pm Chris_McElligottPark Fixed in Version => 5.021
Nov 6, 2011 12:28 pm Chris_McElligottPark Resolution open => fixed
Nov 6, 2011 12:28 pm Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark
Nov 8, 2011 2:03 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0017460
Nov 8, 2011 2:14 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0017461
Nov 8, 2011 2:25 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0017463
Nov 8, 2011 2:28 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0017464
Nov 8, 2011 2:37 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0017466
Nov 8, 2011 2:44 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0017467
Nov 8, 2011 2:44 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status resolved => closed
Nov 8, 2011 2:44 pm Chris_McElligottPark Resolution fixed => unable to reproduce
Nov 8, 2011 2:44 pm Chris_McElligottPark Fixed in Version 5.021 =>
Jan 30, 2012 8:09 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0018431
Jan 30, 2012 8:10 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0018432
Apr 14, 2014 9:27 am Chris_McElligottPark Category Bug - Crash or Exception => Crash/Exception