Diagnosing CTD's in SH 5

[Raven Morpheus]

Hey all

I did a fresh install the other day to install Sober's Mega Mod, downloaded from the bonus mods section, and I've used the .mep jsgme file included in the pack, however I've encountered a couple of problems with it.

I was given a mission to recon Bergen docks, I plotted a route through the channels leading to Bergen (you can see the route I roughly plotted in the pic below) however when I reached a certain point (marked with the 4 sided shape I drew on the screengrab below) in the channel I was going down the game CTD'd on me. I reloaded and tried again, same result.

At the time there were some neutral ships coming towards me, although too far away to see visually, and I was using TC, probably 256.

I loaded up my save again and re-plotted my course so I took the channel above the one I originally travelled down and managed to get into Bergen harbour just fine, however on the way out I incurred some seemingly random damage, CO2 levels kept rising, to 91%, despite being surfaced with the bridge hatches open (I have no idea on how to enact damage control and repairs and I've never needed to?!), and then I had a further CTD in the open ocean coming towards Heligoland where friendlies were travelling up from Heligoland (presumably to invade Norway). I loaded up a save just prior to the 2nd CTD and magically the CO2 issue had gone and I was able to get back to port.

The save I made in the Bergen area CTD's on loading for me now, I was going to use it for the screengrab below as it had my exact route plotted. I have a later save in port so I should be fine to continue my campaign and that earlier save CTD'ing isn't such a worry.



I'm concerned however that I'll encounter similar CTD's in the future and they might prevent me from making any progress (it also concerns me in SH IV as I've experienced similar CTD's at times in that), so is there any way I can diagnose the cause of the CTD's, short of taking out one mod at a time and guessing, some kind of log file or something with error messages?

Thanks in advance for any advice on this.


Screengrab marked (roughly) with the route I took and the area I CTD'd in -

https://s17.postimg.org/5x4qqflkf/sh5_2016_10_21_14_34_41_55.jpg

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi RM
Ctd's are usually now self inflicted.
Running TC256 around port areas where there is loads of traffic is an accident waiting to happen.
sobers and the TWOS mega mod are extremely stable.
Try making a game save around 100-200 metres from the port.
Exit the game and reload it.
This will help to reduce the amount of data being carried and building up.
Keep your TC down to a much lower level and you should be ctd free.
Peter

[Raven Morpheus]

OK thanks I will try that, I assume when you say 100-200 meters from the port you mean home base, not Bergen.

Unfortunately I found today that SH V with Sober's Mega Mod was just a CTD fest, I had about 3 or 4 CTD's in a row after the ones I posted this thread about.

I gave up after patrolling the Irish Sea and trying to make my way back home because I picked up a DD shadow me and TC keeps defaulting to 8 so it's taking me ages to get back to home base - when I left the game I was almost at the top of Scotland...

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi RM
No, from the port you are trying to enter.
Try TWOS it is 99.99% reliable and I have done over 150 game saves without a ctd.
Download link latest version TWOS RC3.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2442119&postcount=6084
Installation instructions are in the Word icon or from the TWOS post #1
Peter

[Raven Morpheus]

Ah right, OK, thanks. I've passed that mission, I did manage to get into Bergen, by taking another route through the channels.

I'm concerned I'll get other CTD's though where I can't take another route to bypass a problem area.


Could the CTD's be because I'm using campaign saves (even though I started in port) from when I was using another group of mods before changing over to Sober's Mega Mod? Is this another case where I have to restart the campaign all over again (for the nth time)?

I'll try downloading TWoS (and follow the install instructions) but I don't like the fact it has German Voices, I can deal with German accented voices (like the stock voices) but I don't speak or understand German, apart from a few specific words. I also don't really want whatever it is in the mod that makes the "submarine very vulnerable to enemy fire and annoyingly sluggish and slow underwater". It's slow and vulnerable enough as it is for me.

[vdr1981]

Large percentage of modded SH5 CTDs are user related or a consequence of large number imported but inadequately tested SH3/SH4 units. In your case it's probably combination of both (since you use old gamesaves with new modlist ect).


I'm afraid that with constantly updated custom modlist like yours, there is no much things that you can do except to check few tips for stable gameplay and hope for the best...

On a side note , the problem of "large number imported but inadequately tested SH3/SH4 units" is the main goal and especially addressed in new TWoS 1.06 so, hopefully, issues like yours will become things of the past...
:yep:

Happy hunting!

[Raven Morpheus]

OK well I just installed TWoS, followed the instructions to the letter, and went and tried to do the historical mission "Tutorial TDC" to make sure all was running OK and get a quick look at some of the changes.

I got to the point where I had 4 fish in the water heading for the tanker, and then the game CTD'd on me!! Loaded the game and tried it again, same result. I'm sure if I try it a 3rd time I'll get the same result again.

I fire all 4 fish, then have my WO set to follow the target, and about no more than 30 seconds after all 4 fish are in the water it CTD's on me!!

The mod list I originally used, before trying Sober's Mega Mod recently and now TWoS, was more stable (either that or I never got into the game much because I kept having to restart the campaign), but didn't include as many changes to the stock game.

Seeing as there doesn't appear to be a way of troubleshooting these issues via log files (? how to modders troubleshoot their mods?) I'm going to give SH III another go (I found it clunky and not easy to work out what where things are when I picked it up the other week) as I'm getting fed up with SH V being so, problematic.

[vdr1981]

I got to the point where I had 4 fish in the water heading for the tanker, and then the game CTD'd on me!! Loaded the game and tried it again, same result. I'm sure if I try it a 3rd time I'll get the same result again.

I fire all 4 fish, then have my WO set to follow the target, and about no more than 30 seconds after all 4 fish are in the water it CTD's on me!!
Just tried exactly the same , but with different outcome , of course...:yep:
https://s6.postimg.org/kmu4fdbsh/SH5_Img_2016_10_22_20_08_35.jpg

Can't say why exactly , but your issues are definitely not game or mod related...:yep:

I'm going to give SH III another go...
Fair enough... I would recommend SH4 1.5 + OM supermod too...:yep:

[Raven Morpheus]

Thanks, yes I already play SH 4, on and off when I need a break from Das Boot. I am keeping that for my US SUBPAC operations though. I have installed Operation Monsun and taken a look at the U-Boats - I don't like the lack of TDC dials in the attack scope and the other night when I was trying mods to change that I broke my US Subs TDC dials and stuff in the attack scope (I'm using the OTC mod so that may be a reason) - I couldn't find a mod that worked properly for adding TDC dials to the U-Boats attack scope without messing up the US Subs.



I've tried again to get TWoS working, because I suddenly had an idea. I went back to the install I've been using with Sober's Mega Mod and I removed all the mods using JSGME, so it should have been back to stock SH 5...

I installed TWoS again, and went back and tried that Tutorial TDC mission again, this time with success - no CTD with my fish in the water (I think the CTD was happening as they hit the ship?). So, no idea why that problem happened (it wasn't just that 1 mission either, I tried the other tutorial mission with the freighter coming from the east and had the same issue), as I followed the same procedure, but apparently it's now working...

The ship did jump fully out of the water as it exploded though. :roll::rotfl2:

I'll start a new campaign (again! :roll:) and see how stable it is.


EDIT - I spoke too soon. Was ordered to relocate to Kiel, upon getting near Kiel the game CTD'd on me!!!

[Raven Morpheus]

Success at last! I finally managed to get TWoS working and get into Kiel after being told to rebase there. The CTD was caused it seems by TC being too high on approach to Kiel, I reloaded the save I made a short way before the game CTD'd and went in on TC 32 and that seemed to work just fine - I managed to get into and dock at Kiel with no CTD's.

I guess I have to learn to manage my TC usage a bit better!