Save game crash important discovery!

[Marko_Ramius]

That's interesting, Stiebler .

Just for info :

In my last tests , the saved games crashes even when a lonely ship was sunk, with anything else around.

My rig is :

Core-I7 2600K
8gigs Ram
Nvidia 660 ti
Wind 7 x64

So in my case, i fear it's not a "not enough Ram" problem. Witch doesn't mean it's not related to ram, anyway.

And thing very weird in my case : Saved games will be allways corrupted after sinking something .. it doesn't seem to be a random failure, that's why it's driving me nut, lol !!

[brett25]

@Marko, remove the Lifeboats and Debris 4 from your mod list, and return to your game with a good save, sink a ship and let it sink completely, then save again....see if that save works

also remove these as well: TheDarkWraith_DC_Water_Disturbance_V4.0_SH3, TheDarkWraith_Ship_Plane_Fire_Damage_V1_4_SH3 as Stiebler recommends.

@Stiebler, wow if your working on the problem too, maybe there is hope for us after all!

[rudewarrior]

Originally Posted by brett25

also remove these as well: TheDarkWraith_DC_Water_Disturbance_V4.0_SH3, TheDarkWraith_Ship_Plane_Fire_Damage_V1_4_SH3 as Stiebler recommends.

AFAIK there is no issue with TheDarkWraith_Ship_Plane_Fire_Damage_V1_4_SH3 mod, only with TheDarkWraith_DC_Water_Disturbance_V4.0_SH3, with the caveat that different machines work different ways. If you get it working put the fire damage mod back in and see if you have success with that.

Good luck!

This is my take on the whole thing. It appears crashes will always occur right after a save after a ship has sunk.

If this is so, I think there is a flaw in the game programming here, as I think the program is confused as to whether the ship is afloat or is sunk.

I think the error occurs in the .sav files in the SH3 folder in Documents.

These files are save specific and tell the program what is happening at the time of the save, instead of just reloading the campaign layers and assuming everything is vanilla and no ships are sunk.

What I think happens here is that the sunk or sinking ship is not written correctly in the .sav file. Thus the ctd. I think in the code it is written as being in pergatory, not sunken not still afloat. Thus the confusion between the engine and the save.

Of course ctd will happen for many reasons, like little ram, but I think the sunken ship issue is a problem with how the engine outputs the .sav files. Because it reads the .sav file, which contradicts with the campaign layer saying there is a ship there and its still afloat. But if its in the process of sinking or just after sunk, perhaps the engine can't understand that.

Can we find the mentioning of the sinking ship with hex editor in the .sav files?


However, as a control, I'd suggest everyone to remove all the mods for testing. Because if this specific ctd occurs during vanilla, then we need to be sure of that and attack the issue from there knowing no other mods create this ctd.

[Marko_Ramius]

So, i removed those mods :

- LifeBoats&Debris_V4
- GWX-Ehanced Damaged Effects
- Torpedo Damage Final V.2.0
- TheDarkWraith_DC_Water_Disturbance_V4.0_SH3
- TheDarkWraith_Ship_Plane_Fire_Damage_V1_4_SH3
- SH4StyleFlags_GWX

and i loaded a good saved game from my last test patrol (with 1 convoy).
Game loaded fine as expected, and i moved my sub in position and wait for the targets ; i sunk one ship and 2 was wounded and sunk a bit later. I evade the convoy deep and slow, and when they get some distance, i surfaced the boat. No visual contact ; I let the sub moving away from them a few miles more and saved the game.

I quit SH3 and reload and guess what --> Game loaded fine

Of course, i should begin again the thing for confirmation, but still, it's a big step forward (in my particular case, maybe), this is the first saved game (after sinking ships) who works ok since a lot of hours/days/week of playing !!

So, i will now re-activate mods, one by one, and repeat the shoot on this convoy. i will of course let you know the results.

[Jimbuna]

^ Best course of action.

Originally Posted by Marko_Ramius

So, i removed those mods :

- LifeBoats&Debris_V4
- GWX-Ehanced Damaged Effects
- Torpedo Damage Final V.2.0
- TheDarkWraith_DC_Water_Disturbance_V4.0_SH3
- TheDarkWraith_Ship_Plane_Fire_Damage_V1_4_SH3
- SH4StyleFlags_GWX

and i loaded a good saved game from my last test patrol (with 1 convoy).
Game loaded fine as expected, and i moved my sub in position and wait for the targets ; i sunk one ship and 2 was wounded and sunk a bit later. I evade the convoy deep and slow, and when they get some distance, i surfaced the boat. No visual contact ; I let the sub moving away from them a few miles more and saved the game.

I quit SH3 and reload and guess what --> Game loaded fine

Of course, i should begin again the thing for confirmation, but still, it's a big step forward (in my particular case, maybe), this is the first saved game (after sinking ships) who works ok since a lot of hours/days/week of playing !!

So, i will now re-activate mods, one by one, and repeat the shoot on this convoy. i will of course let you know the results.

I think it was sucessful because you left the rendering radius of the sinking ship. SH3 renders ships and 3d models within 40km of the uboat, I think. Even though it grabs the initial data from the campaign layer upon mission load. It's not rendered until you are 40km within the 3d object.

So, I think you were out of the rendering radius of that sinking ship, and thus the save didn't have to mention it. Therefore, good working save and no ctd.

Because now I bet if you load your save and go back to the sinking ship location, the ship will be there again. Because sunken ships only stay sunken within the rendering radius. If you leave that radius and come back, forcing the game to reread the data it pulled from the campaign layer, the ship will reapper good as new.

[brett25]

my experience with Life boats and Debris was this: game crashes apon sinking ship...remove LB@D, ship sinks...save works, I ddidnt leave the radius of the ship in either case.

Originally Posted by brett25

my experience with Life boats and Debris was this: game crashes apon sinking ship...remove LB@D, ship sinks...save works, I ddidnt leave the radius of the ship in either case.

Others say it happens in vanilla. odd.

Originally Posted by Marko_Ramius

So, i removed those mods :

- LifeBoats&Debris_V4
- GWX-Ehanced Damaged Effects
- Torpedo Damage Final V.2.0
- TheDarkWraith_DC_Water_Disturbance_V4.0_SH3
- TheDarkWraith_Ship_Plane_Fire_Damage_V1_4_SH3
- SH4StyleFlags_GWX

and i loaded a good saved game from my last test patrol (with 1 convoy).
Game loaded fine as expected, and i moved my sub in position and wait for the targets ; i sunk one ship and 2 was wounded and sunk a bit later. I evade the convoy deep and slow, and when they get some distance, i surfaced the boat. No visual contact ; I let the sub moving away from them a few miles more and saved the game.

I quit SH3 and reload and guess what --> Game loaded fine

Of course, i should begin again the thing for confirmation, but still, it's a big step forward (in my particular case, maybe), this is the first saved game (after sinking ships) who works ok since a lot of hours/days/week of playing !!

So, i will now re-activate mods, one by one, and repeat the shoot on this convoy. i will of course let you know the results.

Try to stay within viewing distance of the sinking ship when you save it too. This will help eliminate one possible issue.

[Marko_Ramius]

Hi again guys,

I reloaded SH3 with all the mods i was used to, except one :

TheDarkWaith_DC_Water_Disturbance_V4_SH3

I sunk two ships and evaded ; I made one save with the ships sunk within 10 kilometers, and one far way later.

I reloaded the first save (within 10Km) : Game loaded fine !!
I reloaded the second saved game : Game loaded fine !!

So, for me, it seems that particular mod is the culprit, BUT :

After reloaded the second saved game, i decided to go over my patrol and sank a few ships ( 3 in another convoy) and an other lonely ship later in the patrol. After that last hit, i saved and quit the game.

Today, i reload SH3 and load that last saved game : Crash at the "Not so long ago "

This time, i do nothing and reload SH3 but i choose a saved game just before the last and : Game load fine ( The state of the game is after the second convoy was hit by me, at about 12 Kms of the ships i killed.


So, i don't know what to think .. Things are definitely better for me without this particular mod, but not "perfect"

I will continue testing but it takes so much time !! But i just don't want to give up, not yet

The next mod which i will remove is " TheDarkWaith_Ship_Plane" and see what happens.

Next ship i sink, i will stay within visual range and save the game.

[DrJones]

Originally Posted by Marko_Ramius

Hi again guys,

I reloaded SH3 with all the mods i was used to, except one :

TheDarkWaith_DC_Water_Disturbance_V4_SH3

I sunk two ships and evaded ; I made one save with the ships sunk within 10 kilometers, and one far way later.

I reloaded the first save (within 10Km) : Game loaded fine !!
I reloaded the second saved game : Game loaded fine !!

So, for me, it seems that particular mod is the culprit, BUT :

After reloaded the second saved game, i decided to go over my patrol and sank a few ships ( 3 in another convoy) and an other lonely ship later in the patrol. After that last hit, i saved and quit the game.

Today, i reload SH3 and load that last saved game : Crash at the "Not so long ago "

This time, i do nothing and reload SH3 but i choose a saved game just before the last and : Game load fine ( The state of the game is after the second convoy was hit by me, at about 12 Kms of the ships i killed.


So, i don't know what to think .. Things are definitely better for me without this particular mod, but not "perfect"

I will continue testing but it takes so much time !! But i just don't want to give up, not yet

The next mod which i will remove is " TheDarkWaith_Ship_Plane" and see what happens.

Next ship i sink, i will stay within visual range and save the game.

What mod is this?? -> " TheDarkWaith_Ship_Plane" ???

[rudewarrior]

Originally Posted by DrJones

What mod is this?? -> " TheDarkWaith_Ship_Plane" ???

TheDarkWraith_Ship_Plane_Fire_Damage_V1_4_SH3 mod. It allows ships and planes to take damage from fires. Excellent mod. One cool thing about it is that you never know if the fires are actually causing damage to the ships are not. On top of that you still get credit for the sinking.

Originally Posted by machiavelli

SH3 renders ships and 3d models within 40km of the uboat, I think.

Can anyone confirm this? I'm curious as to what the actual number is.

Originally Posted by rudewarrior

TheDarkWraith_Ship_Plane_Fire_Damage_V1_4_SH3 mod. It allows ships and planes to take damage from fires. Excellent mod. One cool thing about it is that you never know if the fires are actually causing damage to the ships are not. On top of that you still get credit for the sinking.



Can anyone confirm this? I'm curious as to what the actual number is.

The easiest way to ensure what the distance is is to launch at Kiel, then go to external view using Shift to move fast, and follow the canal all the way up until the end of the map. Then find that end point on the nav map, and see what the distance is from there to the boat.

[sublynx]

Originally Posted by MLGathome

The second solution in this thread worked for me:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//sho...d.php?t=166283

NO CTD sinds then.

Good Luck, Marcel

That's a solution that worked for me too. After that I've only had a couple CTD's. Went from a crash in maybe one in every three saves to almost no CTD's at all. The CTD's (maybe 4 or 5 since the summer of 2012) I've had after the change have all par one been after doing something really stupid like installing a mod during a patrol. I have had one unexplainable CTD after implementing the change though and IIRC the solution Marcel pointed out has not worked for everyone.

Do try the solution described if you haven't already