Crash on exporting cathedral

#1 Works on our side if you export to the new format (File->Export As DIF...). We've tested it on a few different machines. My only guess as to why it doesn't work for you is that it can be really memory (RAM) hungry and if you don't have very much memory or have some bad memory (it does happen) it would possibly crash.

#2 Might be the case, I only have 512meg of Ram. Might be time for an upgrade :)

#3 It exports fine for me (takes awhile) but crashes TGE 1.5 when I insert the dif.

#4 It is only going to work with TGE 1.5.1 (in the new format).

#5 Is there a newer version of TGEA that supports the new DIF format? I tried with 1.0, but it doesn't recognize the new DIF format.

#6 Not yet. It is in the works.

#7 That explains it:)

#8 OK, did not even realize that my laptop had 1g of RAM on it. I loaded up constructor on it and exporting the cathedral as any one of the dif exports makes it crash in the exact spot as before. Is it possible that there is just a problem with the cathedral project?

#9 Hmm, I just exported it from the version of Constructor (mac) on the site with no crash. Weird that it happens on both of your computers with different OSes.

Can you describe the crash in more detail? Is it hard crashing, or simply appearing to lock up? Is it possible that it is just taking a very long time of the spot in question (the cathedral is a very, very complex object for DIF format - intentionally built as a stress test for the tool.)

#10 I was able to export as legacy TGEA just fine, but when I walk inside the cathedral with my player TGEA crashes. I thought I was being excommunicated for trying to walk in to a cathedral with a gun but it turns out to be a bug. lol

#11 Right at the end of calculating lighting it sits for a minute before the program crashes hard and pops up the dialog box asking if I want to send an error report. I went ahead and sent it but am not sure if those things actually go anywhere.

#12 That sounds a *lot* like you ran out of virtual memory...do you have your page file disabled or set particularily small?

#13 I have 768Meg - 1536Meg setup on my C Drive.

#14 I have the same problem (more or less). It exports to new DIF format just fine, however when I try to export to legacy TGEA DIF, it crashes when "Exporting lightmaps" (if my memory serves me right). I have 1 gig of RAM, and somewhere around 5 gigs for virtual memory.

#15 I too can recreate this problem.

First system specs:
WXP SP2
2 gig of memory
virtual mem 1.5 gig to 3 gig

I found that the first export I do works. If I then immediately select another export, the export starts in the export lighting phase. The last time it crashed I took better notes and the second export crashed in the "creating bsp tree branch" stage. Just as a matter of curiosity I exported both time using the Export as DIF menu selection. So it seems the second export is consistently crashing on my machine.

I am wondering if some pointer is not getting reset and is crashing because it is not in an expected state on the second export since earlier code is not being executed.

Another interesting thing to note is when doing the first export the progress bar for "Export bsp tree branches" appears to work in the reverse of how I expect progress bars to go. The overall effect is the progress bar appears to go from being colored to not being colored with the coloring decreasing from right to left.

Hope that helps.

#16 Ah! A crash on the second export does make more sense (can't say I've ever explicitely tested that).

Yeah...the progress bars were a somewhat last minute hack because testers were thinking the program was hanging (or crashing) during long exports. The problem with exporting the bsp tree is that it is a recursive function which makes it really hard to calculate any real "progress". I do have some ideas to help with that though and will be making some changes.

In the meantime you'll just have to enjoy my "Microsoft time" progress =P

#17 Hello all,

I am loving this applicaiton and cannot tell each of you enough about the wonderful job you have done and the type of work that it demonstrates GG delivers. It certainly is head and shoulders above any other Map based editor that I have ever used. - tried everything, even maya2map!

On to the Cathedral - If I export if using "export dif" or legacy dif - the export completes, and imports to TGE 1.5.1 fine, but when I get close to it, or sometimes just walking around it, TGE crashes - this happens very quickly after loading up barebones.
For TGEA - 1.0.1 (is this Constructor build, i done think so), the export to legacy also crashes when near the map.

I cannot export it using map2dif plus - It crases on creating the surfaces - this holds true for both TGE and TGEA.

(oh would it be to much to request a 64 bit compile?)

system specs:
Vista Ultimate x64
4 gigs ram

Kind Regards,
Sean

#18 Yeah I've done some pretty complex models (no conversions either) just to get a feel of in-game runs (and fps) and have similar issues with crashes in tge 1.5 and 1.5.1. I think i've narrowed many of those crashes to corrupt faces using csg tools, like hollow, intersect, etc.. One way that might fix some of this is a "merge brushes" tool or "correct face to face placement" it would also help with any weird lighting issues where faces overlap and seem to let global lighting pass. Tge seems very fickle about face to face placements. Oddly enough, to many overlaps in general seem to wipe out or otherwise cause tge to crash.

I can very easily get these issues making a cylinder with say 32 sides and using the hollow tool at around .5, typically this is kosher practice when there is a way to merge the objects (brushes).

#19 Just to confirm, I tried the cathedral on a mac pro and no luck there either (no matter how i try to export it). Crashes around "removing hidden faces".

#20 I finally got around to updating TGE 1.5.1
Been too busy lately
Did all my code merging, everything went flawless
Test run seems to work as expected
Now I crack open Constructor and twiddle around with it
All seem well and I am liking my first visit.
Then I see I can load up a cathedral, and it looks rather data intensive, good test, so i give it a shot
All is still well.
So I try to export it just for the fun of it, planning to load it up into the barebones example for kicks
All seems to be going well, then when it appears to have made it to the end of processing, Constructor crashes and gives me the microsoft error report. I tried it several times and there isnt a particular place it crashes, just sometime in the export process.
So I reboot and try it again.
This time it works, so i load up the barebones demo and import the cathedral.dif
TGE1.5.1 boots me out of the mission and tells me i dont have the correct art to play on this server.
So now im really confused because everything else works fine.
I go back into Constructor and try again, now Constructor crashes again whenever i try to export.
Seems like if i reboot i get 1 export to work but no more
Im not sure if its me or the dif for the other art issue but ill worry about that later
Im not sure whats going on, but it is very repeatable
I have plenty of ram, 2 gig and plenty of virtual mem
No other software on my system crashes, that im aware of, except Constructor
I am using a ATI X1950 pro video card.
Would any one happen to know what catalyst version Constructor plays nice with ?
Or if there is any know issues with ATI drivers ?
I dont know what else to do other than to try disabling software and see if there is some sort of conflict going on

Thanks for any help in this matter

Mike