Game Development Community

Blue Screen of Death on startup - Help!

by Vern Jensen · in Torque Game Builder · 11/24/2009 (2:37 pm) · 5 replies

Just had a user tell me that he is getting the blue screen of death on his setup, when he starts up my game Insectoid (www.actionsoft.com):

Windows XP latest sp
nVidia 7800gt
e4500

He send me the console log below. From this log, it is apparently executing the code below when it crashes (from main.cs in the common folder):

function onStart()
{
	$gSplashScreenTime = getRealTime();
	
	Parent::onStart();

	echo(" % - Initializing Common");
   
		// Load preferences.
	exec("./preferences/defaultPrefs.cs");   
	exec("./gameScripts/xml.cs");
	exec("./gameScripts/properties.cs");
   
	_defaultGameconfigurationData();
	_loadGameConfigurationData( expandFileName("./commonConfig.xml") );
      
		// Initialise stuff.
	exec("./gameScripts/common.cs");
   
	initializeCommon();

The console log so you can see for yourself:


//-------------------------- 11/24/2009 -- 17:18:46 -----
Processor Init:
Intel (unknown, Pentium Pro/II/III family), ~2.20 Ghz
(timed at roughly 2.20 Ghz)
FPU detected
MMX detected
SSE detected

Math Init:
Installing Standard C extensions
Installing Assembly extensions
Installing FPU extensions
Installing MMX extensions
Installing SSE extensions

Input Init:
DirectInput enabled.

Initializing chunk mappings...
o 'TEXT' maps to TextChunk
o 'SCHK' maps to UnknownChunk
o 'SCHK' maps to SimChunk
Loading compiled script C:/igre/insectoid/common/main.cs.
Loading compiled script C:/igre/insectoid/game/main.cs.
% - Initializing Common
Loading compiled script C:/igre/insectoid/common/preferences/defaultPrefs.cs.
Reading Display Device information...
Primary Display Device Found:
Vendor Id: VEN_0000
Device Id: DEV_0000

Using OpenGL rendering. Fullscreen: 0

Loading compiled script C:/igre/insectoid/common/gameScripts/xml.cs.
Loading compiled script C:/igre/insectoid/common/gameScripts/properties.cs.
Loading compiled script C:/igre/insectoid/common/gameScripts/common.cs.
Loading compiled script C:/igre/insectoid/common/gameScripts/audio.cs.
Loading compiled script C:/igre/insectoid/common/gameScripts/canvas.cs.
Loading compiled script C:/igre/insectoid/common/gameScripts/cursor.cs.
Video Init:
Accelerated OpenGL display device detected.
Accelerated D3D device detected.
Voodoo 2 display device not detected.

Activating the OpenGL display device...
Activating the OpenGL display device...
Setting screen mode to 800x600x32 (w)...
Creating a new window...
Acquiring a new device context...
Pixel format set:
32 color bits, 24 depth bits, 8 stencil bits
Creating a new rendering context...
Making the new rendering context current...
OpenGL driver information:
Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Renderer: GeForce 7800 GT/PCI/SSE2
Version: 2.1.2
OpenGL Init: Enabled Extensions
ARB_multitexture (Max Texture Units: 4)
EXT_blend_color
EXT_blend_minmax
EXT_compiled_vertex_array
NV_vertex_array_range
EXT_texture_env_combine
EXT_packed_pixels
EXT_fog_coord
ARB_texture_compression
EXT_texture_compression_s3tc
(ARB|EXT)_texture_env_add
EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic (Max anisotropy: 16)
WGL_EXT_swap_control
OpenGL Init: Disabled Extensions
EXT_paletted_texture
3DFX_texture_compression_FXT1

Max Texture Size reported as: 4096

#1
11/24/2009 (4:12 pm)

BSODs always indicate system-level components messing up--most usually drivers but it can also be triggered by bad hardware. Even when an application triggers a BSOD, the actual problem lies with the system components.

The user should make sure all his/her drivers are fully up to date.
#2
11/24/2009 (8:03 pm)
As said above mine, it is the end-user's problem if it is something like that. Tell him/her to update their drivers.
#3
11/25/2009 (2:55 pm)
Okay, I have written back to him telling him to look at his drivers. But, one thing doesn't make sense to me. This user can run other TGB games (older version of the engine, like 1.3 or 1.5) just fine. My game, which uses 1.7.x (whatever the latest is), gives BSOD. But I've also made various source-level changes to the engine, including one from Melv that was designed to reduce memory consumption. Another, where I tried to upgrade the version of OpenAL to the latest. I can't help but wonder if one of these source-level changes is causing the problem. It'd be a pain to try to figure out which one though. :-(
#4
11/25/2009 (2:56 pm)
Side-note: in the console log above, it cuts off right before audio is initialized, in other comparable logs. So I can't help but wonder if it is my "upgrade" to OpenAL at the source level that is screwing things up.
#5
11/25/2009 (5:56 pm)

Well, your changes could be triggering a bug in the audio drivers, but that's still a bug in the audio drivers.

BTW, did the user also upgrade to the latest OAL? Anything but the latest OAL is only a source for endless troubles.