Technical Problems (CTDs, Bug Reports, etc.)

[Molon Labe]

From Neal's FAQ:

Troubleshooting: If the game crashes on you, it might leave a dump file (.dmp) in the "My Documents/Sonalysts Combat Simulations/DW ACTUV directory. If you get one, we'd appreciate it if you could send it to "computergames(at)sonalysts.com". That would help with debugging efforts.

In the same directory, there is a "dangerouswaters.ini" file. It's a standard .txt file, so you can look at it and edit it with Notepad or Wordpad. This has most of the options from the options screen in-game, and if you're having trouble getting the program to run, or it minimizes itself, you can find in the [Graphics] section the "RunInWindow" entry. Change it to "Yes". This will sometimes allow the program to run. If you mess the file up somehow, you can delete the file and run the game. The game will rebuild the default file.

I'm sure I'm not the only one so I've generalized the thread topic so others can post here too.... maybe it'll get stickied.

1. I've had 2 CTDs on Maximum Effort at mission end. One when the cutscene was being loaded, the other when I clicked 'show truth' in the replay. In both cases, the CTD prevented the mission log from being created and prevented the data upload to DARPA. No error/crash message was provided. EDIT: I found the dmp files and emailed those.

2. aTMA is generating erroneus solutions in high-contact-density environments, a holdover from DW. This is more problematic in DW because we do not have access to the raw data for a manual solution. The situation this is occurring in is as follows: A valid track is maintained, and then broken off. Target changes course. Target is reacquired at its new location and course. aTMA plots the new solution in the position of the read reckon for the previous course----even though the new location has been discovered.

3. In some cases, aTMA is not reporting a detected SSK. The green track light will illuminate when contact is made, but the contact is never displayed on the NAV map. This occurred for me in the 2nd mission.

[Molon Labe]

Note to SCS/DARPA mission designers:

The hostile Freighter is frequently colliding with civilian traffic. You can probably fix this by changing the assigned tactic of the merchies from Transit to Transit Search. This should allow merchies that find themselves in the line of fire to take evasive action instead of plowing dumbly ahead.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

Note to SCS/DARPA mission designers:

The hostile Freighter is frequently colliding with civilian traffic. You can probably fix this by changing the assigned tactic of the merchies from Transit to Transit Search. This should allow merchies that find themselves in the line of fire to take evasive action instead of plowing dumbly ahead.

Of course... this does add element to the sim.... using the merchies as cover.... But I really don't think that's what they are going to program into the real drone. The Human_Shield() Subroutine probably wouldn't fly too well if the public found out.

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Gargamel

Of course... this does add element to the sim.... using the merchies as cover.... But I really don't think that's what they are going to program into the real drone. The Human_Shield() Subroutine probably wouldn't fly too well if the public found out.

You don't need to use them as shields for the collisions to occur. It's a lot of traffic in a small area, and the freighter isn't staying in his lane.

[zakarpatska]

I'm seeing some screen corruption with ACTUV. Please check out the area under the coordinates in the lower lefthand side of the screen.



I also have a more severe problem when playing Dangerous Waters.

I'm running the application on an ASUS G73Jh with an ATI 5870 Mobility Radeon. Any help would be appreciated.

[Frying Tiger]

Try shutting off Full screen antialiasing for ACTUV and DW. See if that helps.

[zakarpatska]

Thanks for your reply Frying Tiger.

I did try setting the anti-aliasing settings to the minimum allowable by the "Catalyst Control Center" which is 2x. I also ticked the "Use application settings" box, but it did not make any difference.

If you have any additional suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.

[zakarpatska]

Hi Frying Tiger,

For what it is worth I found out that the problem occurs if I have my desktop in 16 bits per pixel. Once I switched my desktop to 32 bits per pixel the problem went away.

Thanks,
Zakarpatska

[Frying Tiger]

thanks for the update. Glad you got it going.

Originally Posted by zakarpatska

Hi Frying Tiger,

For what it is worth I found out that the problem occurs if I have my desktop in 16 bits per pixel. Once I switched my desktop to 32 bits per pixel the problem went away.

Thanks,
Zakarpatska

[elephantium]

This is completely offtopic, but I absolutely LOVE your username, Frying Tiger. It made me burst out laughing when I saw it in this thread!

[Frying Tiger]

Originally Posted by elephantium

This is completely offtopic, but I absolutely LOVE your username, Frying Tiger. It made me burst out laughing when I saw it in this thread!

Heh, thanks. I've had it since the early '90's when I played AirWarrior on the GEnie network (yes, I'm old!)

[zakarpatska]

Thread Hijack On!

I used to love Air Warrior and played it an awful lot. My handle was "Waldo" and my ELO was usually between 1400 and 1500 though I never made it up to 1700 like some folks. I did eventually become a member of DFA and I was the winner of the first (and only?) Mega Campaign. Good Times, those.

I do sometimes wonder what happened to Dave, Merkin and the other people I used to fly with.

Sorry for the Hijack, but at the mention of Air Warrior I couldn't help myself. Thanks for the sudden rush of pleasant memories.

Thread Hijack Off.

[NoJoe]

I've been having problems on the 4th mission with the Shark: the mission never ends. It says to wait for the P-8 to be on station, but he never shows up... I let the game go for 3 hours past the time the P8 is supposed to show, but nothing happens.

Bug, or did I not do something right in the mission? I really want to finish it, because my overall score should be good enough to get me up on the leaderboards.

--NoJoe

[TerminatorSub]

Originally Posted by NoJoe

I've been having problems on the 4th mission with the Shark: the mission never ends. It says to wait for the P-8 to be on station, but he never shows up... I let the game go for 3 hours past the time the P8 is supposed to show, but nothing happens.

Bug, or did I not do something right in the mission? I really want to finish it, because my overall score should be good enough to get me up on the leaderboards.

--NoJoe

I finally finished a mission 4, with Seahorse. No actual plane shows up. If you have completed the 30 and 60 minute tasks successfully ( check Mission Status) and are maintaining contact light constant on, haven't chased a decoy, or allowed the sub to dip under your sonar depth ; you get a radio/text message before 0912 telling you good work, and back off 1000 yards or more, and await word on the torpedo drop. The sub & its companion surface vessel then may try to close range. About 0914 or later the mission ends itself. The screen goes black. The submit screen shows and tells you the score, and reading down you find that the SSW was destroyed successfully. Until then the mission status read unsuccessful on target destruction. I guess they want to keep the user in suspense.

If the drop cannot be completed, you hear a verbal radio transmission that tells you to end the mission about 0914. The game will keep playing. On my system, I had to turn down the music, turn up voice response in the options, and turn up the knob on my speaker to hear the various radio voice transmissions.

Hope this helps. You will eventually succeed, keep trying and don't give up the ship!

[TerminatorSub]

Originally Posted by NoJoe

I've been having problems on the 4th mission with the Shark: the mission never ends. It says to wait for the P-8 to be on station, but he never shows up... I let the game go for 3 hours past the time the P8 is supposed to show, but nothing happens.

Bug, or did I not do something right in the mission? I really want to finish it, because my overall score should be good enough to get me up on the leaderboards.

--NoJoe

I finished a mission 4 on Triton. After a successful mission, they play a movie with the P8 dropping a torpedo and destroying the sub. In my previous post, the blank screen probably occurred because the Seahorse got runover by the surface vessel at the end. That will cause a blank screen.

However, I was unable to successfully transmit the latest result. This happens often. It would be nice if the simulation could actually resubmit a file later. Does anyone know if there is a schedule that says when the server is down?