FreeOrion

Posted: **Sat Jun 07, 2008 2:09 pm**

*sigh*

I've been having this problem for a while (a version or two back, I forget exactly) but I can't actually start a game after reaching the main menu. Start new game, loads, then crashes. Also the splash screen poster is being called a "missing file", but I swear I haven't changed anything. It just comes that way whenever I reinstall the program, it uses the missing file.png instead of the poster.

So I deleted the config.xml and I tried again. same thing.

the message reads:
freeorion.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

I went searching for the information I could, but I'm not very computer savvy, so all I found were a few logs.

freeorion.log wrote:2008-06-07 06:49:52,296 DEBUG Client : OpenAL initialized. Version 1.1Renderer SoftwareVendor Creative Labs Inc.
Extensions: EAX EAX2.0 EAX3.0 EAX4.0 EAX5.0 EAX3.0EMULATED EAX4.0EMULATED AL_EXT_OFFSET AL_EXT_LINEAR_DISTANCE AL_EXT_EXPONENT_DISTANCE

2008-06-07 06:49:52,515 DEBUG Client : SDLInit() complete.
2008-06-07 06:49:52,515 DEBUG Client : GLInit() complete.
2008-06-07 06:49:54,015 DEBUG Client : Limited FPS to 60

AI.log wrote:2008-06-07 06:50:03,734 DEBUG AI : AI_1 logger initialized.
2008-06-07 06:50:04,281 DEBUG AI : Python stdout and stderr redirected
2008-06-07 06:50:04,390 DEBUG AI : Traceback (most recent call last):
2008-06-07 06:50:04,390 DEBUG AI : File "E:\FreeOrion\default\AI\FreeOrionAI.py", line 2, in <module>
2008-06-07 06:50:04,437 DEBUG AI : import pickle # Python object serialization library
2008-06-07 06:50:04,437 DEBUG AI : ImportError: No module named pickle
2008-06-07 06:50:07,171 DEBUG AI : AIClientApp::HandleMessage : Received JOIN_GAME acknowledgement
2008-06-07 06:50:08,015 DEBUG AI : AIClientApp::HandleMessage : Received GAME_START message; starting AI turn...
2008-06-07 06:50:08,187 DEBUG AI : Message::GAME_START loaded_game_data: 0
2008-06-07 06:50:08,187 DEBUG AI : Message::GAME_START Starting New Game!
2008-06-07 06:50:08,187 DEBUG AI : AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'startNewGame'
2008-06-07 06:50:08,250 DEBUG AI : AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'generateOrders'
2008-06-07 06:50:08,250 DEBUG AI : AIInterface::DoneTurn()
2008-06-07 06:50:08,515 DEBUG AI : AIClientApp::HandleMessage Message::SAVE_GAME
2008-06-07 06:50:08,515 DEBUG AI : AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'prepareForSave'
2008-06-07 06:50:24,859 FATAL AI : Initiating Exit (code 0 - normal termination)

Is there some other sort of information I can provide? I'm not sure what to do, except hope it's not something stupid like an ant chewing on the wires.

P.S. When I installed freeorion v.0.3.7 (I think) for the very first time, everything ran fine. Problems started cropping up with v.0.3.8 (like the missing splash screen). Of course, now it doesn't seem to matter which version I install.

Posted: **Sat Jun 07, 2008 2:44 pm**

Damn, does strace exist on windows machines?

- Could it be a problem with file-access rights?
- Could it be a virus-scanner?
- Does this message "import pickle # Python object serialization library" mean anything? I have seen that before, but did not seem to be leading to a crash.
- Can you deactivate the "gassy stuff" in UI tab of options?

Posted: **Sat Jun 07, 2008 5:27 pm**

It looks like Python calls are failing on your system.

Try (re)installing python 2.5. I would have though the dll that comes with the installer would be sufficient, but apparently it's not in your case...

Did you install or uninstall or otherwise modify Python on your system in the time these issues have started appearing?

As for the splash screen issue, I have no idea...

Maybe whatever's causing Python to fail is also preventing art from being loaded?

Make sure your video drivers are updated.

Posted: **Sat Jun 07, 2008 11:47 pm**

I downloaded and installed updated VIA/S3G Unichrome drivers and python 2.5.2 (no straight 2.5 was listed) And the UI doesn't list any options for disabling gassy textures. There is no virus scanner running to my knowledge.

But the AI log readout changed when I did those things.

AI.log wrote:2008-06-07 16:40:11,906 DEBUG AI : AI_1 logger initialized.
2008-06-07 16:40:14,218 DEBUG AI : Python stdout and stderr redirected
2008-06-07 16:40:14,734 DEBUG AI : Initialized FreeOrion Python AI
2008-06-07 16:40:14,734 DEBUG AI : Initialized Python AI
2008-06-07 16:40:15,109 DEBUG AI : AIClientApp::HandleMessage : Received JOIN_GAME acknowledgement
2008-06-07 16:40:16,484 DEBUG AI : AIClientApp::HandleMessage : Received GAME_START message; starting AI turn...
2008-06-07 16:40:16,671 DEBUG AI : Message::GAME_START loaded_game_data: 0
2008-06-07 16:40:16,687 DEBUG AI : Message::GAME_START Starting New Game!
2008-06-07 16:40:16,687 DEBUG AI : New game started
2008-06-07 16:40:16,796 DEBUG AI :
2008-06-07 16:40:16,796 DEBUG AI : TURN: 1
2008-06-07 16:40:16,937 DEBUG AI : Generating Exploration Orders
2008-06-07 16:40:17,000 DEBUG AI : Systems being explored (fleet|system): {684: 89, 668: 22}
2008-06-07 16:40:17,000 DEBUG AI : Generating Colonisation Orders
2008-06-07 16:40:17,000 DEBUG AI : Current colonise missions: {}
2008-06-07 16:40:17,015 DEBUG AI : Available colony ships: [674, 675, 676, 677, 678, 679, 680, 681, 682, 683]
2008-06-07 16:40:17,015 DEBUG AI : removed planet 612
2008-06-07 16:40:17,015 DEBUG AI : Colonisable planets:
2008-06-07 16:40:17,046 DEBUG AI : AIInterface::DoneTurn()
2008-06-07 16:40:17,062 DEBUG AI : AIClientApp::HandleMessage Message::SAVE_GAME
2008-06-07 16:40:17,093 DEBUG AI : Preparing for game save by serializing state
2008-06-07 16:40:31,593 FATAL AI : Initiating Exit (code 0 - normal termination)

It occured to me that maybe some system specs might be useful?

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:24 am**

And does it run now or does it still crash?

I forgot that the current "release" version for windows does not have that option to be checked of.

On linux, I use python2.4.4 and that works. This pickle problem must be related to having installed python and let the game use the shipped python dll, then the pythin-modules are not loaded correctly (same problem for linux if I link python statically).

Did you install both python and the drivers and then tried, or did you try after each install on its own? It would have been important to know, if that problem came from python2.4 or from the drivers.

Do these VIA-Drivers include a driver for graphics-card? If so, as far as I know VIA chipsets do not support the full range of openGL.

Another question: which windows version are you using, and is that a 64bit one?

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 3:52 pm**

Just reading it off the device manager here; I'm running windows xp professional version 2002 32 bit, an AMD Athlon XP 2800+ processor, 448MB RAM. Also, I think I don't have any special graphics card, and VIA/SG3 UniChrome IGP is all that's listed.

I tried it with just python first and it still crashed. Then I installed the video drivers and it still crashed. I presume it's crashing at the same spot it crashed every other time.

What I know for sure is that everything started going downhill exactly when I installed v.0.3.8 over the previous version v.0.3.7. Everything worked perfect until then, and I was unable to return even v0.3.7 to it's original state. Didn't tinker with anything else up to that point. There is a "vcredist_x86.exe" that was included with FO that I opened up afterwards. I figured it couldn't hurt to try it. Also tried installing FO to different directories. All the same result.

Perhaps I reinstalled python incorrectly?

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:09 pm**

The crashes likely aren't python-related. You appear to have had two separate problems, one of which was python not working, but reinstalling appears to have fixed that, based on the logs. The AI client does exit, as noted in the AI log file, but I think that's because the human client has crashed, and thus the server terminates the AIs, as it's supposed to.

Have you uninstalled FO and deleted the directory you installed to, and then tried reinstalling v0.3.7 ? Maybe there are files from later versions that aren't being overwritten by the old installer?

Do you have XP service pack 2 installed?

If you click the credits or license buttons on the main menu, do you get credits or the license dialog with all the expected text?

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:54 pm**

I uninstalled 0.3.9 and deleted the directory, installing 0.3.7 and....

...

OK... This is strange. I'm running RC7 (v0.3.7 or whatever it's called) and... it works. The splash screen is still missing, and the ship category is colored a shade of blue slightly higher than the learning category:

Learning
Ships

I thought ships was this color.

Then I installed v0.3.9 right over it, no uninstalling. The window opens, blurts out a long list of stuff at 3 billion feet per second, and closes the window. Didn't even get to the menu screen.

RC7 more or less works, but what did I do now?

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 5:37 pm**

The window opens, blurts out a long list of stuff at 3 billion feet per second, and closes the window. Didn't even get to the menu screen.

Delete the config.xml.

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:11 pm**

Deleted config.xml, now I'm back to square one

[quote="AI.log" for v.0.3.9"]2008-06-08 10:59:28,375 DEBUG AI : AI_1 logger initialized.
2008-06-08 10:59:29,578 DEBUG AI : Python stdout and stderr redirected
2008-06-08 10:59:29,750 DEBUG AI : Traceback (most recent call last):
2008-06-08 10:59:29,750 DEBUG AI : File "E:\FreeOrion\default\AI\FreeOrionAI.py", line 2, in <module>
2008-06-08 10:59:29,765 DEBUG AI : import pickle # Python object serialization library
2008-06-08 10:59:29,765 DEBUG AI : ImportError: No module named pickle
2008-06-08 10:59:30,343 DEBUG AI : AIClientApp::HandleMessage : Received JOIN_GAME acknowledgement
2008-06-08 10:59:32,390 DEBUG AI : AIClientApp::HandleMessage : Received GAME_START message; starting AI turn...
2008-06-08 10:59:32,500 DEBUG AI : Message::GAME_START loaded_game_data: 0
2008-06-08 10:59:32,500 DEBUG AI : Message::GAME_START Starting New Game!
2008-06-08 10:59:32,531 DEBUG AI : AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'startNewGame'
2008-06-08 10:59:32,671 DEBUG AI : AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'generateOrders'
2008-06-08 10:59:32,671 DEBUG AI : AIInterface::DoneTurn()
2008-06-08 10:59:32,984 DEBUG AI : AIClientApp::HandleMessage Message::SAVE_GAME
2008-06-08 10:59:33,000 DEBUG AI : AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'prepareForSave'
2008-06-08 10:59:44,218 FATAL AI : Initiating Exit (code 0 - normal termination)
[/quote]
I hate to say it, but that looks really familiar. I think I've just had a nice helping of circular logic.

I can still install the XP service pack, but it doesn't seem like that's the problem if RC7 runs.

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:30 pm**

Josh wrote:The splash screen is still missing...

Based on a bit of googling, your graphics card, "VIA/S3G Unichrome" looks to be rather underperforming. notebookcheck.net says it's a directx 7 card, which is a very out of date version. It may just not be able to handle images as large as the splash image in OpenGL. I believe FO used to separately load the splash image as four or six parts, which may have been because older cards couldn't handle the full size image...

...and the ship category is colored a shade of blue slightly higher than the learning category:

The current colour of the ships category wasn't implemented yet in RC7.

...

I don't know why uninstalling and reinstalling FO would cause Python to stop working, but presumably re-reinstalling Python would fix that. That won't help your crashes though, which remain unrelated to Python.

...

Installing the XP service pack 2 (only if you haven't already) might actually help. RC7 uses various different verions of dependencies, like the MSVC runtime files, that might require SP2 to work properly. It's worth a try anyway.

...

However, the crashes with v0.3.9 might be just due to graphics card incompatibility with the newer rendering stuff. Some of that (but not all) is turned off by the UI option kroddn mentioned, but that wasn't added in time for v0.3.9.

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:41 pm**

448MB RAM? Looks like 64MB of shared memory. If the crash is related to missing capabiliies, you can do exacltly Nothing

Try increasing the shared memory to 128MB. But I do not think that changes everything. Maybe version 0.3.10 will run if you disable the gassy stuff.

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:45 pm**

Okay, thanks anyway

FreeOrion

v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

Re: v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

Re: v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

Re: v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

Re: v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

Re: v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

Re: v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

Something peculiar has happened...

Re: v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

Re: v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

Re: Something peculiar has happened...

Re: v0.3.9 : Crash on game start

Re: v0.3.9 : Crash on game start