Cause of scale-loss bug found!

IndyPendant · #1 November 28th, 2007, 04:15 PM

Heh. This bug is starting to seriously annoy me. --In a good way, though; I love a true troubleshooting challenge! : )

I can still reproduce the error, but now with only about a 50% success rate. Still, I've got a game I've created, copied to another folder, then ended the first turn. Got the bug, copied that same game--the exact same files--back into the savedgames folder, ended the first turn again, no bug. Then no bug, bug, bug, no bug, no bug, bug, bug, bug.

I've attached the files for anyone to try that would like to. Game folder is 'Bug1', just as it is in the archive. I'm using the default Silent Seas wraparound map that came with the game. I'll be interested to see if anyone can reproduce this bug. If the bug doesn't occur, please try ending the first turn at least five times total to see if you can reproduce it. (Note: DO NOT end the same game five times, to reach Turn Six! I mean delete, recopy, and end the first turn up to five times to see if you can reproduce the bug.)

K.O., it didn't matter if I gave orders or not. If the bug kicked in, it *always* kicked in after ending the very first turn. When I first encountered the bug, I was giving my first-turn orders then ending the turn. But when I began my troubleshooting, I would just create the game and immediately End Turn, and I still got the bug. The bug takes three forms, so far as I can observe: 1) loss of all positive scales, which will come back slowly similar to converting from enemy dominion; 2) loss of all positive scales, that only come back very slowly, so that even after two years and more it still hasn't returned to normal; and 3) slight loss of positive scales, which spend the next year or two 'making up their minds' whether to go up or down, but never quite vanish or return to normal.

I have checked a few other nations, but could only reliably reproduce it with MA R'lyeh.

I'm sick again today, so I'm going to be around for at least another four hours, and I'll probably be around tomorrow as well with the way I'm feeling. So I've got time to work back and forth on this if you'd like. Gives me something to do. ; )

Edit: Took me a short bit to figure out how to upload it, since it wouldn't take the .trn file. Zipped it is!

IndyPendant · #2 November 28th, 2007, 04:39 PM

Well, this is a bit annoying.

I've just tried a few dozen more starts, and I can no longer reproduce the bug on the Aran and Silent Seas (nonwrap) maps. Just in case the previous file doesn't work though, I've attached a zip of a Glory game I've created where I can also reproduce the bug. My Glory .map file is heavily edited, if it matters. ; ) --And after doing all that, I went back and copied Bug1 in again and tested it: still getting the bug semi-reliably.

Oh, another detail, in case it wasn't clear: if the bug doesn't show up after ending the first turn, then it never shows up.

IndyPendant · #3 November 28th, 2007, 04:45 PM

...and now Cradle is bugged for me, when it never showed after dozens of tests earlier today. *sigh*.

Here's yet another file for you to try. Cradle is also heavily edited by me btw. When I tested this file, I got bug-no bug-bug-bug.

I'll stop for now, and see what happens when you try these files, before I continue troubleshooting on my end.

IndyPendant · #4 November 28th, 2007, 04:57 PM

Okay, I lied. I also remembered reading somewhere about the diagnostic command. Here's a log file of Bug1. To generate this log file, I created a Dom3.bat file with the command "Dom3 -dddd". Then I ran the batch file, selected "Bug1", ended the turn without entering any commands whatsoever, selected "Save and Quit", and then quit Dom3 entirely. I did nothing else.

Turn 1 I had Order-3, Prod-3, Cold-3, and Growth-3. At the start of Turn 2, all I had displayed was Cold-3.

Hope all this helps you track it down! --Now I'm really done, for now at least. ; )

Kristoffer O · #5 November 28th, 2007, 05:22 PM

You wouldn't have zip (instead of rar) perhaps

IndyPendant · #6 November 28th, 2007, 06:18 PM

Hmm...I don't. WinZip costs money, and I only pay for things I'm going to use reasonably regularly. I almost never bother compressing things any more. ; )

WinRAR is available for download here. The version I have is quite old, but also completely safe; I'm a bit of a paranoid when it comes to spyware and viruses. The new version should be safe too.

Alternatively, someone who has both WinRAR and WinZip might be willing to download all three of my rars, and zip them up together into one file to upload...?

In the meantime, here's the Bug1 .trn file. I just renamed it .txt; the data should remain the same. Hopefully you can change the extension back to .trn and take a look at it. If this works, and you need me to, I could upload the other two files this way as well...

Edi · #7 November 28th, 2007, 06:22 PM

WTF? You can create zip archives just fine with WinRar, I do that all the time.

Hadrian_II · #8 November 28th, 2007, 06:23 PM

I played the game on my pc, and the scalbug happend 4 out of 5 times, so its quite reliable, i attached the output from:

./dom3_x86 -dddd > scalebug.txt

i hope you can use the file

thejeff · #9 November 28th, 2007, 06:27 PM

And there is an "unrar" available for linux if that's the issue.