Crashes and how to fix them

[Noobio]

so here's my case...i'm making hero abilities , so i only added-edited entries for those in battle.sd.XML

-i made a new battlepage_04 from scratch and put it in all culture folders
-i accordingly edited battle.sd.xml (it now has like 220 sprite entries ,instead of 164 and i did count also 0 when numerating in the file)

1) in battle , when selecting ONLY a hero-general (that is one with an assigned hero-ab) i get a crash ...so i guess it has something to do with battle.sd (the one with the funny-square symbols)

2) after deleting battle.sd ,the game doesn't crash , the abilties do work but i get an ui bug ,as in no hero-button ,just a dislocated upper frame (of the right battle-control box where all round buttons are )...funny thing is that all other round buttons that share the same position (like spear wall and flame arrows) work perfectly...

ps
just read in another thread that battle.sd should regenarate on its own...mine hasn't...and i'm sure i have eveything correct in its xml...

WTF ??? any help-hint-advice would be most appreciated...

i've also included my error log (with level = error )...i can't really understand anything of it
just saw that my game's last words were

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

10:50:01.710 [game.script.exec] [trace] exec <if> at line 17699 in mods/Third_Age/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/campaign_script.txt
10:50:01.710 [game.script.exec] [trace] exec <if> at line 17706 in mods/Third_Age/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/campaign_script.txt
10:50:04.160 [system.rpt] [error] Medieval 2: Total War encountered an unspecified error and will now exit.

said... and then it died ! went to the according lines in campaign_script and found these

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

if I_ConflictType Siege
and ! I_BattlePlayerArmyIsAttacker
and I_BattleEnemyArmyNumberOfSpecialAbility rally > 0
and I_CompareCounter fire_labels = 2
set_counter protect_general 1 .....................(this is line 17699)
end_if

if I_BattleIsSallyOutBattle
and I_BattlePlayerArmyIsAttacker
and I_BattleEnemyArmyNumberOfSpecialAbility rally > 0
and I_CompareCounter fire_labels = 2
set_counter protect_general 1 .................(this is line 17706)
end_if
end_monitor


so what's is it "set_counter protect_general" ?

edit..additional info after setting level=script error , don't know why but i got different results..here's the latest info with *script error

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

12:23:15.265 [game.script.exec] [trace] exec <if> at line 8244 in mods/Third_Age/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/campaign_script.txt
12:23:15.265 [game.script.exec] [trace] exec <if> at line 8249 in mods/Third_Age/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/campaign_script.txt
12:23:15.266 [game.script.exec] [trace] exec <if> at line 8254 in mods/Third_Age/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/campaign_script.txt
12:23:23.672 [system.rpt] [error] Medieval 2: Total War encountered an unspecified error and will now exit.

and here's what those lines refer to in campaign script

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

if ! I_ConflictType Siege
set_counter fire_labels 1
end_if

if I_ConflictType Siege
and I_BattleEnemyArmyNumberOfMountClass elephant > 0
set_counter fire_labels 1
end_if

if I_CompareCounter fire_labels = 1

prepare_for_battle

[Gigantus]

As long as it doesn't say [error] it is just a message telling you what happened, not an error. Search through the log using [error] as search criteria will help you to locate potential crash causes.
As described in another thread of yours: load your custom TGA files and your edited XML file into "Bare Geomod" and generate the SD files by starting the mod. Happened once to me that one of my mods didn't want to generate the SD files (and I never found out why..) and that way it worked.

[sputnik]

Please can someone help me I have read throughout this thread and searched everywhere on the forums but I cant find any advice about this.

My problem is every time a spy is about to infiltrate an enemy settlement I get CTD, there is never a CTD if the spy is unsuccessful.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

21:16:51.306 [system.rpt] [always] CPU: SSE2
21:16:51.306 [system.rpt] [always] ==== system log start, build date: Feb 25 2008 version development ===
21:16:51.312 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_0.pack
21:16:51.314 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_1.pack
21:16:51.315 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_2.pack
21:16:51.317 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_3.pack
21:16:51.318 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_4.pack
21:16:51.319 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/localized.pack
21:16:55.346 [game.script] [error] Condition parsing error in mods/RestlessNatives/data/descr_faction_standing.txt, at line 1571, column 44
faction name not recognised
21:16:55.346 [game.script] [error] Condition parsing error in mods/RestlessNatives/data/descr_faction_standing.txt, at line 1580, column 43
faction name not recognised
21:16:55.811 [script.err] [error] Script Error in mods/RestlessNatives/data/export_descr_ancillaries.txt, at line 180, column 11
Could'n find ancillary name string <dearmad_inverness_disloyal>.
21:17:27.317 [script.err] [error] Script Error in mods/RestlessNatives/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt, at line 7363, column 5
The castle core building level should be EQUAL the settlement level!

21:17:27.317 [script.err] [error] Script Error in mods/RestlessNatives/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt, at line 7386, column 5
The city core building level should be one less than the settlement level!

21:17:27.317 [script.err] [error] Script Error in mods/RestlessNatives/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt, at line 7386, column 5
The city core building level should be one less than the settlement level!

21:18:04.508 [system.rpt] [error] Uh oh. This isn't good. No idea why, but exiting now. Sorry pal.

As you can see there are a few minor errors in the log but the game is playable until a spy infiltrates a settlement.

Does anyone know what the problem could be? If not, could someone tell me which files relate to this activity?

[Gigantus]

Possibly these errors cause a crash once they trigger:

21:16:55.346 [game.script] [error] Condition parsing error in  mods/RestlessNatives/data/descr_faction_standing.txt, at line 1571,  column 44
faction name not recognised
21:16:55.346 [game.script] [error] Condition parsing error in  mods/RestlessNatives/data/descr_faction_standing.txt, at line 1580,  column 43
faction name not recognised

Otherwise change your log to trace and submit another (compressed) log - as attachment.

[sputnik]

I'm pretty sure it isn't these errors, they were present in the original mod (Sicilian Vespers) and have never caused me a problem before.

This looks suspicious, its from script trace log:

19:30:09.376 [game.script.trigger] [trace] Trigger <0050_UI_Scroll_Other_Faction_Settlement_Trigger> fired
19:30:10.089 [system.rpt] [error] Uh oh. This isn't good. No idea why, but exiting now. Sorry pal.

I have attached the full log, I would be very grateful if you could have a look.

Attachment 176041

[Gigantus]

[trace] exec <set_counter> at line 10548 in mods/RestlessNatives/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/campaign_script.txt
[trace] counter <Gotenburg_siege> = 0
[trace] Trigger <0050_UI_Scroll_Other_Faction_Settlement_Trigger> fired

- Something happened in the script after the last siege counter (after line 10548)
- I am not exactly clear which scroll is being opened here, but judging by the speed between the counter and the trigger it is done via script.
A popular crash when opening a scroll is when a building description is missing or a pic for a building is in the wrong format (greyscale, indexed instead of TGA)

At what point in the game does the crash happen, before the actual start of the game (after clicking 'start')?

[sputnik]

A popular crash when opening a scroll is when a building description is missing or a pic for a building is in the wrong format (greyscale, indexed instead of TGA)

That's great, I will check these out. It is quite possible I have lost or deleted a file when transferring directories, its been a messy business.

The CTD happens directly whenever the start of a successful settlement infiltrate by a local spy, so during the human players turn whenever the spy tries to enter the settlement and is successful. It never happens if the spy is killed when unsuccessful. I thought it may be the video clip but it still happens when I disabled this in config, it sounds more likely that the problem lies where you suggested. Theoretically I could play the campaign and as long and as I don't use spies to infiltrate settlements.

[sputnik]

..and thank you for the excellent resources and tutorials regarding building maps and Geomod

These have been indispensably useful for me lately and I have finally got my new map to work

[Gigantus]

That's great, I will check these out. It is quite possible I have lost or deleted a file when transferring directories, its been a messy business.

The CTD happens directly whenever the start of a successful settlement infiltrate by a local spy, so during the human players turn whenever the spy tries to enter the settlement and is successful. It never happens if the spy is killed when unsuccessful. I thought it may be the video clip but it still happens when I disabled this in config, it sounds more likely that the problem lies where you suggested. Theoretically I could play the campaign and as long and as I didn't use spies to infiltrate settlements.

This seems to confirm my suspicion as immediately after a successful infiltration a 'limited' building window will show up.

..and thank you for the excellent resources and tutorials regarding building maps and Geomod

These have been indispensably useful for me lately and I have finally got my new map to work

One is glad to be of service

[sputnik]

Great, it works now

It was a text file I hadn't replaced properly, probably export_buildings like you suggested.

Thanks again

[Gigantus]

Glad you got it fixed. Enjoy the game.

[David93]

Hi
I just added a new faction to third age, the faction works fine in the campaign, including battle etc, but when i click on the custom battle menu the game crashes.
Any ideas?
Ive heard that you can only have so many faction icons in the custom battle screen or something, but dont know if its true or how to fix it?

Cheers

[Ishan]

If it's happening just as you click the custom battle button then make sure you disable one faction from the custom battle from the descr_sm_factions.txt file.

[David93]

Yes it happens just like that, soon as you click your custom battle button, i disabled 2 of the factions now but the ctd is still happening, any other problems it could be?
Thanks Ishan

[OPASEH]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=474863
How fix it..........engage_armies dont work in the save game

[Ishan]

Yes it happens just like that, soon as you click your custom battle button, i disabled 2 of the factions now but the ctd is still happening, any other problems it could be?
Thanks Ishan

Check if something is logged in the system.log file otherwise sounds like the faction logo or something is missing for the new faction, can be verified by disabling that faction in custom battle to make sure it's connected to that faction only. Check all the .tga files for that faction in the loading_screen and menu folder.

[David93]

Theres nothing in the system log afaik, i disabled the new faction in custom battles but the crash is still happening, does that mean its not conected to that faction?

[Squid]

Its more likely you're missing an entry in a file in data/text for the new faction. Missing an entry there usually results in an errorless CTD.

[Ishan]

Yup Squid is right here match your new faction as per this tutorial you might find some inconsistency.

11:00:06.325 [system.io] [trace] file open,,mods/Third_Age/data/menu/battlefield_pics/khand.tga,161849
11:00:06.325 [system.io] [info] open: found mods/Third_Age/data/menu/battlefield_pics/khand.tga (from: C:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)
11:00:06.325 [system.io] [info] exists: found mods/Third_Age/data/menu/battlefield_pics/near_rhun.tga (from: C:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)
11:00:06.326 [system.io] [trace] file open,,mods/Third_Age/data/menu/battlefield_pics/near_rhun.tga,161849

& that's the last part of the log, any idea why it would go like this when reading these pics, could one of them be missing for a custom scenario, Squid?

[David93]

Ok thanks squid, could it be the menu_english file?
Is there anyway i can narrow down which one?

thanks again

Edit thanks ishan will do and see what i can find