AGS AV crashes when Software Renderer is selected (Solved)

Started by Volcan, Fri 21/02/2020 21:39:15

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Volcan

For some reason, AC crashes when Software Renderer is selected.

Graphics = 8 bit (256 colour)

I use AGS studio 3.5.0 patch 1.


Crimson Wizard

Please tell any additional details. Is there an error message?

Volcan


---------------------------
Illegal exception
---------------------------
An exception 0xC0000005 occurred in ACWIN.EXE at EIP = 0x0052CD7C; program pointer is -199, ACI version 3.5.0.23, gtags (0,0)

AGS cannot continue, this exception was fatal. Please note down the numbers above, remember what you were doing at the time and post the details on the AGS Technical Forum.

Crimson Wizard

Hm, this kind of errors indicates there's a problem in the engine. Is it acceptable for you to send your compiled game exe to me for a test?


Crimson Wizard

#5
I do not yet know what is wrong exactly, but this is somehow related to sprites 2001, 2002 ... which are 32-bit in this 8-bit game.
Normally AGS is supposed to convert these down somehow, but fails.
I will continue investigating, but maybe you could try removing these sprites if they are not necessary, or replacing with proper 8-bit ones.

UPDATE: I narrowed down to this happening only if you have 32-bit sprites with AlphaChannel property. Engine crashes after trying to convert these to 8-bit.

Besides replacing them with proper 8bit sprites you may also try setting AlphaChannel = false for these sprites in the editor for now.

Volcan

#6
I replaced everything with 8 bit sprites and backgrounds.

At least, I can now run 8 bit with Direct3D 9 but it still crashes with Software Renderer. :(

Crimson Wizard

I tried your new version, and it does not crash on start. Do I need to do anything to make it crash?

Volcan

In setup, select Software Renderer then press "save and play" button.

Crimson Wizard

Quote from: Volcan on Sun 23/02/2020 00:05:38
In setup, select Software Renderer then press "save and play" button.

I did this, and it does not crash. I can see a character made of a purple triangle and other shapes.
Do you have same error message when you run it?

Volcan

Yes. It's the same message in my second post here.

I just tried it and it crashes.

I guess my computer is faulty since yours works fine.

I use windows 10, 64 bit.

Is your windows 10 64 bit too?

Crimson Wizard

#11
REDACTED

I guess it's okay to post here, since this is just a test game at the moment?

Could someone else try it to see if it's works or not on their system?

Quote from: Volcan on Sun 23/02/2020 00:05:38
In setup, select Software Renderer then press "save and play" button.

Hmm, looking in the crash dump, the crash happened while in winsetup? Does it also crash if you simply run the game exe?

Volcan

#12
Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Sun 23/02/2020 14:02:12
Here's the second link you sent me: https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/42e84c65a9fec5c3a035b11e6debcb10

I guess it's okay to post here, since this is just a test game at the moment?

Could someone else try it to see if it's works or not on their system?

Quote from: Volcan on Sun 23/02/2020 00:05:38
In setup, select Software Renderer then press "save and play" button.

Hmm, looking in the crash dump, the crash happened while in winsetup? Does it also crash if you simply run the game exe?

It's a kind of both. The character is meant for testing. The customise iconbar is for upcoming game.

Maybe you should ask permission first before posting a link.

Here the link for testing.
https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/fe9429df838d50451f68622be8daf9cc

Here a link for my video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLFXYqHUXow

Crimson Wizard

#13
Quote from: Volcan on Sun 23/02/2020 14:57:57
Here a link for my video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLFXYqHUXow

Oh, so it crashes in winsetup, at the moment when you switch to the "Software renderer".
I was testing the game itself.

From video it looks like it has a problem acquiring supported modes. It's also probable that Windows 10 does not properly support DirectDraw 5, which is necessary for software renderer.

Volcan

Software renderer works fine if the game uses colour 16bit or 32bit.

Can it be fixed?

Crimson Wizard

Quote from: Volcan on Sun 23/02/2020 15:31:43
Software renderer works fine if the game uses colour 16bit or 32bit.

That's interesting.
Well, since it's crashing like that, there's definitely a mistake in the program, when it cannot handle some unexpected situation.
I will need to investigate to see what's wrong. Maybe I could make a test build which writes step-by-step log of events in winsetup, and then see where it breaks.

Crimson Wizard

Aha, I found a potential crash in winsetup, it happens when the software driver reports 0 supported modes for the given colour depth.
Don't know if this is what had happened in your case, but here's the test build with some fixes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2xjfbkdd3ajb528/acwin-3.5.0-p2-8bitfixes.zip?dl=0
You may replace this acwin.exe in your editor's installation and recompile the game.

If that was the case though, it may mean that it won't be able to run the 8-bit game with software renderer and switches to something else. But in the past we had at least one case when Software driver reported as not supported in winsetup, yet worked when running the game, so could be also some glitch in the system.

I hope that in the future versions we will redo 8-bit software mode to work on modern systems without these weird problems.

Volcan

It works.

Even with Software Renderer with graphic 8bit.

Thanks Crimson Random.

:cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:

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