Crash at specific in-game time - Possibly caused by CAG?

HappyGunman · Post by **HappyGunman** » Sun, 9. May 10, 11:47

Hi all,

I'm having an issue which i've concluded appears to be being triggered by something specific ingame, and caused by the AI rather than my own actions - Having recently returned to TC after a long hiatus the game has been running 100% stable for a little over 8 ingame days, but will now *always* crash at roughly 30 seconds in to 8-00:42 ingame time.
At this time, the game simply locks up and needs to be alt-f4'd to close, having tested 4 savegames ranging from 2 to 15 ingame minutes before the crash time, the same always occurs - It'll run perfectly stably for between 2 and 15 minutes until 8-00:42 is reached, then crash.
Additionally, a save of a different game (at 2 ingame days in) and a fresh game do not appear to produce a crash, after testing both for approximately 2 hours each.
As such it would seem to me that something ingame is occuring repeatedly at this time and that is an action specific to this game is causing the game to crash - It doesn't matter where I personally am in the universe at 8-00:42 or what i'm doing, it'll crash regardless.
Could anyone possibly shed any light on what might be causing this?

My game version is 2.6, and using the Bonus Pack but with no other scripts or modifications - The game was started as Nostalgic Argon, I have quite a few local traders buzzing round and a few complexes with CAG traders.

My system's running Win7 x64, my video and audio drivers are at their latest versions, and both are WHQL certified - DxDiag is here:

http://www.ratherdisturbing.co.uk/DxDiag.txt

Any assistance would be very much appreciated.

Edit:
As an update to this, it would tentatively appear that the crash is being caused in some way by CAG traders - I currently have 9 CAG's running split between 2 complexes and a solo SPP, and having tested issuing all 9 of the CAG ships with a stop command to shut down CAG, i'm now able to play past the 8-00:42 time. If I leave them all doing their thing though, the game will 100% crash at ~30 seconds past 8-00:42.
For what it's worth, here're 3 screenshots of what my CAG's are doing at the moment the game feezes up 3 times in a row:

http://www.ratherdisturbing.co.uk/crash1.jpg
http://www.ratherdisturbing.co.uk/crash2.jpg
http://www.ratherdisturbing.co.uk/crash3.jpg

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Sun, 9. May 10, 13:24

As your evidence points to a CAG problem and there has not been a flood of complaints from the many CAG users, I suggest that you try downloading and installing the bonus pack again in case there was a download or install error.

Also have a read of this and maybe post your concerns there if nothing works. http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=275924

HappyGunman · Post by **HappyGunman** » Sun, 9. May 10, 14:08

Heya,

Thanks for the suggestion - I've just reinstalled the bonus pack, has not helped and it seems unlikely that this is an error caused during the download/install as i've had my CAG's running for several gametime days now without problems (7 of the 9 are Major Dealers, 2 are still training).

Having done a bit further trial-and-error i've managed to isolate the crashes to one specific cag, and what it's doing at the time, as follows:

http://www.ratherdisturbing.co.uk/thiscag.jpg

The above is taken at the moment the game freezes, the ship "OB Plex Demeter CAG 1" has just that second docked at Crystal Fab M alpha in Home of Light having jumped from Ore Belt, to buy some crystals - The instant that CAG docks, the game crashes - If I tell that individual ship to stop before docking, it doesnt crash, if I let it go try to buy it's crystals while on this particular journey, it does, 100% of the time.

It's worth noting that that individual CAG is a Major Dealer and has been running trades all through the Ore Belt area for several game days, as such this would appear to be the result of some unique set of factors rather than a general problem with this particular ship/CAG instance - I'll post a mention of this in the CAG thread (though I assumed being a technical issue causing a crash with no non-bonus-pack scripts the Tech forum would be the best place for it) but is there any way to retrieve any more specific info on the CAG's status and what it was up to / output from the crash that might help isolate the exact cause of this?

Carlo the Curious · Post by **Carlo the Curious** » Sun, 9. May 10, 14:22

Check if you have an X3Crash.log in the TC install folder.

Also, it might be useful if you could provide a savedgame from just before the crash.

HappyGunman · Post by **HappyGunman** » Sun, 9. May 10, 14:37

Carlo the Curious wrote:Check if you have an X3Crash.log in the TC install folder.

Also, it might be useful if you could provide a savedgame from just before the crash.

Thanks for the reply - There seems to be no X3Crash.log within the game's install folder that I can see.
In case it makes any difference to anything, this is a Steam-installed game, rather than from disk.

I've uploaded a savegame to the following, the save is about 2 in-game minutes prior to crashing - The ship "OB Plex Demeter CAG 1" is in space in Ore Belt at the time the savegame starts, it'll dock at "Ore Belt Complex", then decide to buy Crystals from Crystal Fab M alpha in Home of Light - It'll jump to HoL, travel to the fab, then crash as soon as the ship docks.

http://www.ratherdisturbing.co.uk/X08.sav

Carlo the Curious · Post by **Carlo the Curious** » Sun, 9. May 10, 16:50

Your save freezes up for me as well (with no useful error logs).

HappyGunman · Post by **HappyGunman** » Sun, 9. May 10, 17:05

Carlo the Curious wrote:Your save freezes up for me as well (with no useful error logs).

Cheers for confirming - On the basis of the advice given to me in the CAG thread I see you've also posted in, I came up with a theory on exactly what situation might be causing the crashes - Would it be possible to give that a read and see if it sounds remotely plausable?