User can't get any game to launch. Has weird workaround.

Started by Dave Gilbert, Wed 16/05/2018 21:54:40

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Dave Gilbert

So one of our Unavowed testers has had a very strange problem. He launches the game and nothing happens. The task manager lists the game as active, but the game isn't displaying. I asked the user to open winsetup to change the display driver, but the same thing happens when running winsetup. On a whim, I asked him to try running Shardlight (made in the non-openGL version of AGS) and he had the same problem. What's weird is that he used to be able to play Shardlight just fine.

He found a weird workaround -- he went through the Windows compatibility troubleshooter and set it to "Windows XP Service Pack 3" -- and now it's working.
We asked him to try launching Shardlight and see if the same thing happens. So it seems like either something has changed in Windows or something changed on his computer that's causing a problem. But no one else has reported this, so I'm confused!

Any light shedding would be appreciated! Thanks.

-Dave

edit: Here's his DxDiag.txt, just in case that's helpful.

Crimson Wizard

#1
Hmm, no immediate ideas, but in the past "Windows XP compatibility" helped when game files, or save files, were in directory with non-latin characters. This is not necessarily related, only something I remembered.

What about anti-virus, does he/she run any?

E: strange thought, but how many active monitors this person has?

morganw

It sounds quite similar to this:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_apps-insider_other-insiderplat_pc/171341-build-have-so-many-bugs/60064892-1b85-4e85-a207-176c3b858468
Potentially, since it is affecting winsetup too, it is new automatic display scaling features which is breaking it.

If you search release notes for this version of Windows, it includes:
Quote“Advanced scaling” has been added under Display and allows you to enable “Fix scaling for apps”
...so I'd probably try to find where you can fix the scaling for the game and winsetup, and try again without the XP compatibility mode.

Dave Gilbert

The non-latin thing probably isn't the case since he is a native English speaker. I'll ask him about the rest.

Dave Gilbert

So the user says he does use anti-virus (AVG free version), but the games folder is ring-fenced to avoid such issues. And he only has a single monitor.

He actually was mistaken and it turns out that our old games DO run just fine, so it's something specific to Unavowed.

eri0o

I have nothing to add except to point that DxDiag has the event below as reported error.

EventType: BEX

Indicates a buffer overflow (/GS) or DEP exception (BEX64 indicates a buffer overflow (/GS) or DEP exception on 64-bit versions of Windows)

DEP is related to data execution prevention.

Dave Gilbert

Does that mean there's a problem specific to his machine? Or with how the game is interacting with his machine?

I admit this is worrying. One user having this problem at testing time usually translates to several hundred once the game comes out. :)

ManicMatt

Why does it bring up Unforeseen Incidents in that text file guys? Doesn't that suggest this was running at the same time??

+++ WER4 +++:
Fault bucket 1367982366222296850, type 5
Event Name: RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: Unforeseen Incidents.exe
P2: 0.0.0.0
P3: 10.0.17134.2.0.0
P4:
P5:
P6:
P7:
P8:
P9:
P10:

Crimson Wizard

#8
Quote from: ManicMatt on Tue 22/05/2018 17:45:08
Why does it bring up Unforeseen Incidents in that text file guys? Doesn't that suggest this was running at the same time??

Not necessarily at the same time, these errors are stored in system log.
You may notice Unawoved.exe is mentioned 3 or 4 times, probably run in different time. There is also chrome.exe mentioned.

Dave, do older versions of Unawoved cause same issue for him? What was the version of AGS Shardlight made with? Maybe do few experiments and see if other games made with AGS 3.4.1 cause this also?

I tried turning on DEP on my system (Windows 7 64bit) and Unawoved runs fine, but I have last year version.
Have anything significant happened to the game, like you started using some plugin?

ManicMatt

Oh okay, I thought they were processes running in the background. So they're presumably retries on the .exe.

Dave Gilbert

Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Tue 22/05/2018 17:57:28
Quote from: ManicMatt on Tue 22/05/2018 17:45:08
Why does it bring up Unforeseen Incidents in that text file guys? Doesn't that suggest this was running at the same time??

Not necessarily at the same time, these errors are stored in system log.
You may notice Unawoved.exe is mentioned 3 or 4 times, probably run in different time. There is also chrome.exe mentioned.

Dave, do older versions of Unawoved cause same issue for him? What was the version of AGS Shardlight made with? Maybe do few experiments and see if other games made with AGS 3.4.1 cause this also?

I tried turning on DEP on my system (Windows 7 64bit) and Unawoved runs fine, but I have last year version.
Have anything significant happened to the game, like you started using some plugin?

Haven't used any new plugins. Shardlight was made with one of the 3.3s. This is the only user this has happened to so maybe it's an isolated incident? Hoping so.

Dave Gilbert

Well, another tester had the exact same problem so it's not an isolated incident. Couldn't get the game or winsetup to launch, but running in XP compatibility mode fixed it.

Crimson Wizard

#12
Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Tue 29/05/2018 02:02:44
Well, another tester had the exact same problem so it's not an isolated incident. Couldn't get the game or winsetup to launch, but running in XP compatibility mode fixed it.

So, is this something related to Unawoved, or other games too?
Is it possible to narrow problem down by trying
a) games made with previous versions of AGS
b) other games made with AGS 3.4.1?

Additionally, you may ask testers to turn the log on by putting
Code: text

[misc]
log=1

in the acsetup.cfg.
The log will be found in C:\Users\YourUserName\Saved Games\.ags
Maybe it will contain some hint.


EDIT: There is another thing, winsetup actually initializes graphic drivers to be able to get list of supported resolutions. If this crash is related to one of them, that could explain why winsetup also does not run.

What about changing driver in acsetup.cfg by hand and trying if any of them works?
List of possible options is here: https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/blob/master/OPTIONS.md

Dave Gilbert

I'll ask them to create a log!

Quote
EDIT: There is another thing, winsetup actually initializes graphic drivers to be able to get list of supported resolutions. If this crash is related to one of them, that could explain why winsetup also does not run.

What about changing driver in acsetup.cfg by hand and trying if any of them works?
List of possible options is here: https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/blob/master/OPTIONS.md
Since running it in compatibility mode works, would running winsetup in compatibility mode and changing the settings that way work just as well?

Dave Gilbert

Sorry the the double post. This has happened to two more testers. Hopefully one of these two will help me out and generate that log file for me!

Crimson Wizard

Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Tue 29/05/2018 12:41:31
Quote
EDIT: There is another thing, winsetup actually initializes graphic drivers to be able to get list of supported resolutions. If this crash is related to one of them, that could explain why winsetup also does not run.

What about changing driver in acsetup.cfg by hand and trying if any of them works?
List of possible options is here: https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/blob/master/OPTIONS.md
Since running it in compatibility mode works, would running winsetup in compatibility mode and changing the settings that way work just as well?

I believe it should, but then they will need to turn compat mode off to try if that another renderer works (in game) without it.

Dave Gilbert

#16
OK here's the log file. It looks very strange to me. I'm not sure if the tester did it right.

Code: ags

Adventure Game Studio v3.4 Interpreter
Copyright (c) 1999-2011 Chris Jones and 2011-2018 others
ACI version 3.4.1.13

Installing exception handler
Initializing allegro
Initializing game data
Looking for the game data file
Located game data file: c:/PROGRA~2/Steam/STEAMA~1/common/Unavowed/Unavowed.exe
Opened game data file: game28.dta
Game data version: 49
Compiled with: 3.4.1.13
Setting up game configuration
Running Setup
Built library path: d3d9.dll

eri0o

Actually it's cut short, it probably crashed right after Built library path: d3d9.dll

Crimson Wizard

It's the log of running winsetup. "Running Setup" tells that.
"Built library path: d3d9.dll" should currently be the last line, it does not write anything else after that.
Also, was this log run with or without compatibility setting?

Dave Gilbert

I told him to run it without, but I asked him to confirm.

Dave Gilbert

COnfirmed. The tester turned off compatibility and was running fullscreen in openGL.

Crimson Wizard

#21
Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Wed 06/06/2018 20:14:33
COnfirmed. The tester turned off compatibility and was running fullscreen in openGL.

But this is not log from running fullscreen, it's a log from running setup.

Anyway, I don't really believe log will show much.

If I had possibility to test this issue, I'd try to find out answers on the questions asked earlier:
Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Tue 29/05/2018 02:46:21
So, is this something related to Unawoved, or other games too?
Is it possible to narrow problem down by trying
a) games made with previous versions of AGS
b) other games made with AGS 3.4.1?

Dave Gilbert

From what I've been told, the testers tried running other games and had no problem. So it's something specific to this version of AGS.

And I didn't see your post about it being from the setup file. Will ask him to send another one!

Crimson Wizard

Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Wed 06/06/2018 20:26:21
From what I've been told, the testers tried running other games and had no problem. So it's something specific to this version of AGS.
What about other games made with 3.4.1? Also, is it possible to build test version without steam plugin?

Dave Gilbert

I can compile a non-steam version and see if that will work!

Crimson Wizard

#25
Hmm, on the other hand, running winsetup does not load plugins, so probably not related...

I was trying to remember what has changed in 3.4.1 in regards to how program is built, and only thing I could figure out is that we now link opengl32.lib.

Oh, and the Allegro libraries are now self-built, not using old ones built by CJ.

Dave Gilbert

Sigh. The user now says the game is running with no problems, but has no idea what he did to fix it. This game is gaslighting me. It's happened to seven people so far, so there's a good chance it will happen again. When it does, I'll tell them to make a log before making any other changes.

Chicky

AVG Free version gives me no end of trouble with running AGS games, double click the exe and nothing happens par a Windows loading cursor. Even after turning off AVG the same issue happens until I've rebooted. I know anti-virus permissions often do not come into effect until after a reboot, could this be the same issue? If the user 'ring-fenced' the folder, could they have missed the part where you reboot for the permissions to take place?

Crimson Wizard

Regarding antivirus, there is one dumb idea. Instead of using compiled exe, take acwin.exe from Editor program files, and YourGame.ags file from the Compiled/Data, put them into same folder and try running acwin.exe. See if antivirus will behave differently. In the past I was suspecting that it does not like that game data is appended to exe and program has to be constantly opening executable for reading.

I was planning to add a compile option to not attach game data to exe, but forgot.

NicolaGs

Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Fri 08/06/2018 12:50:33
take acwin.exe from Editor program files, and YourGame.ags file
I used this solution for my game in order to prevent a false positive alert with Avast.
But this solution may not be perfect :
mygame.exe was detected by avast both at runtime (on a computer running Avast in realtime) and at scantime (when scanning files with Avast or with an online antivirus such as VirusTotal.com).
(acwin.exe + mygame.ags) were not detected at scantime but they were still detected at runtime for some users.

As there's a silent mode on some AV (like Avast, iirc), it's possible that the AV blocks the game without even displaying any pop up alert... so it could be the issue with some of Dave's testers.
My first game : I Want Out!

Dave Gilbert

So now everyone who reported this problem is now telling me that the game now works perfectly. I have no idea how this happened. Maybe a windows update?

Problem solved, I guess.

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