Netgame crash error message

[moblet]

Have experienced quite a few crashes playing online in the past week (on pak64 B). An error report should be attached. I'm getting so much lag (up to several minutes) that I can't accurately attribute it to any specific game action.

[Ashley]

http://entropy.me.uk/simutrans/sim64b.log

Log file for that server, if you know the time(s) when you get these crashes maybe something can be tracked down.

[moblet]

OK, will record the time when they occur in future.

[prissi]

THis looks like either your computer or the server cannot handle the savegame any more, i.e. is already maxed out. (Most likely your computer.) Does it reduce, when you play with a smaller window?

[moblet]

THis looks like either your computer or the server cannot handle the savegame any more, i.e. is already maxed out. (Most likely your computer.) Does it reduce, when you play with a smaller window?

Thanks 
This is definitely possible because I am using a low-power notebook that is barely bigger than a netbook, CPU is an AMD E-450 @1.65GHz. I have just tried playing again with a smaller window and lag is greatly reduced, and as I increase the window size, lag increases. The crashes were not occurring every hour so it will take some time to see if they are reduced.

[prissi]

THis really sound like you CPU is maxed out. It might be a little better if the server would use the 111.3.1, as multihtreading of the display thread may definitely help.

But you can try the following. Add/change to simuconf.tab
simple_drawing_tile_size = 128

This will give more artefacts, but will draw 3x faster.

[Dwachs]

Imho the fatal error in the first post has nothing to do with lagging and computer running at maximum performance. It looks like memory corruption.

If the server did not crash, then the problem is with the client's computer. What do you think?

[moblet]

After some more play, using a smaller window I can report the following:
- Lag problems are greatly reduced
- The crash has re-ocurred a couple of times, but usually when I have left the game or computer unattended for some minutes
- Desyncs are more common than before

RAM trouble is a possibility as I have just added a new 4Gb stick in the past week. I will try some runs with the RAM removed and maybe also run a RAM check.

[prissi]

The wrong state looks indeed like a memory corruption. Although I wonder how it could survived so far, with so many other pointer could have been broken before ...

[moblet]

I ran memtest86+ and it found no RAM errors. I am in a warm climate at present and this machine doesn't have great cooling, perhaps this is what happens when it gets hot. I should mention that I have played many hours of single player with this machine and while I've had the occasional crash (as I always have with Simutrans with any computer I've used) I haven't had this kind of error, so I assumed it was associated with netgaming and thus posted it as such.

[Ters]

I bought my current laptop with 4x4 GB RAM. It crashed a lot, typically with bluescreens after a while under load. Memtest found nothing wrong. After removing half of the RAM, the problem went away. I think I also swapped them around to see whether I could find the faulty one, but I didn't keep good enough track. In the end I concluded that there was inadequate ventilation when all four slots were filled, or at least for two of the slots that faced into a cramped space away from the nearest ventilation slits. I haven't look any more into it, as I don't need more than 8 GB, and it was cheaper to buy the 16 GB version than the standard edition with 4 or 8. (I don't think it was cheap because it failed a lot, because the RAM came separately.)

My problems affected everything, though, not just Simutrans.

[jamespetts]

Moblet - if you have an Intel machine, try the Intel Burn test utility, which should help you to trace whether crashes are related to your machine's thermal performance under very heavy load.

[moblet]

Thanks for your replies. Running Simutrans is the hardest thing I ask this computer to do at present.

I had a couple of BSOD events the other day and immediately opened the case and felt for heat. The RAM was too warm. I removed one stick (so I now have 4Gb instead of 4+2Gb, which is quite enough for my current purposes), started using the machine on a better ventilated surface, and have had no crashes since.

I'll put the machine through the Intel Burn wringer next time I'm feeling evil [insert unavailable Satanic emoticon]