I am having the same problems, running service pack 2 on windows XP.
Could I make a suggestion ?
Could you make the foldit core programme do a clean shutdown routine when the user closes it and write to a small data file when it closes correctly. Then, whenever the programme starts, get it to read the contents of the data file, and if the previous run of foldit crashed, send out a notification across the internet to you guys ? That way you will be able to see how big this problem is. I had at least 20 crashes a couple of days ago but have not got the patience to report them.
Im sure you understand this, but in case its badly written I will explain it in another way
Data file contents : "Closed correctly"
I start the programme and it checks the data file, sends no message and ammends the data file to
Data file contents : "Programme Running"
I get a crash, and restart. The programme reads the data file and sends out an error message to you guys.
Data file contents : "Programme Running"
I continue playing and close the programme down when finished. Programme ammends data file to
Data file contents : "Closed correctly"
That way you get all the problems logged automatically
The game options were not the issue before the updates appeared, I have not changed my game optins since. The big problems started right after the update a while ago. Were these client updates compiled with a different data alignment / packing option for the compiler ? This would be a common mistake.
To reproduce the error:
Load 273.
- Run Overnight and cancel the script while it is shaking
- Run Overnight and cancel while it is rebuilding
- Run Overnight and cancel while it is wiggling.
- just run Overnight for 15 minutes or so.
That should reproduce the issue with little effort. Repeat a few times if needed.
Also, if you cannot reproduce the issue, please post here sooner. It is counterproductive to wait over 10 days and find out that you cannot reproduce the issue that is hampering many of your top folders performance. In the end it bites the project because we might have come up with better solutions had we had the working tools to investigate.
Again I offer to run a debugger or examine the source if it is open. I have over 20 professional years of software development experience and specialize in x86/SSE assembly language.
Attached is a screen shot of a recent crash on my machine.
There are two fantom elongated tubes on the screen which may help in diagnosing the problem
I have posted a debug version of the game to hopefully gather more information. To use it, you'll need to be on Windows, and follow the procedure for switching to the developer preview, but instead of "beta" use "main_debug". Hopefully there will be more useful information at the end of the log file with this version.
Debug version does not work.
"There are no puzzles available in this group" appears on the startup screen.
steveB, edit the options.txt file again and reset it to group main, then start the debug client and press the skip update button when it starts, that way you will keep the debug version, yet are able to run puzzles.
The puzzles should appear in game_debug now.
First try was running the debug version on a larger puzzle ran a script for at least 4 hours, but visually, fold.it was running very slow. I decided to cancel the script, which it did without crashing.
I started the same script ( the famous "overnight_script") on one of the smaller puzzles and let it run - well - overnight.
It's still running this morning without crashing, but fold.it is still obviously executing much slower.
Should I assume this slowness is somehow related to having the debug code in place?
I'm going to let this run all day to see if it can catch a crash.
Thanks for helping out. Yes, I would expect the debug version to run slower than the release.
