Post by JadeusGames in Bewildebots comments

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Thank you again for reporting this issue, and for providing that additional info! I'll be making some time to start digging into this tomorrow.

If you use discord, could you please join the Jadeus Games server? Depending on what I find, I may request a copy of a crash log or try sending you an experimental build of the game to determine whether the crash is fixed.

I also wanted to say thank you for playing Bewildebots, and congrats for having completed so many of the puzzles so far!

EDIT: Could you please download and try the [EXPERIMENTAL] Bewildebots_1.4_Windows.zip build? The only real change here is an upgrade to the Unity version used to build the game. The likelihood that this resolves the issue seems low to me, but it is the quickest and easiest potential fix to test.

I'd like to be completely transparent in letting you know I am not able to reproduce the crash myself with the build you are using currently (I no longer have a Windows 7 PC), so attempting to find a fix for this specific crash may be a challenge. . I'm more than happy to work with you on a resolution though, if you don't mind my requesting you download and test experimental builds. I'm very sorry again that you are experiencing this issue!

jdelible5 years ago

I tried the newest build and it sadly did not fix the issue.

If you cannot fix the issue due to it being either an oddity on my end or simply because you no longer have access to a windows 7 PC don't drive yourself nuts over it. I understand that it's a year past release now and as it's not really a "live" game requiring constant maintenance (i.e. online multiplayer etc.) that you've likely moved on to other things and it doesn't make a lot of financial sense to chase down random bugs in a game that's probably made most of its sales already. I just mentioned it as a point of record and on the off chance it was a well known issue with the unity engine that has an already discovered solution.

JadeusGames5 years ago (1 edit)

Thank you for trying out the build and letting me know! I greatly appreciate your understanding in all of this!

While there is a possibility that the issue is tied to Unity on Windows 7 or your GPU, I'd still like to try to see if I can find a fix. The fact that this is happening for you consistently after the puzzles reload lead me to believe there's a strong chance that this is a something I could fix.

Is there any chance you could upload and send a zipped copy of your "C:\Users\username\AppData\LocalLow\JadeusGames\Bewildebots\" folder to joesycalik@jadeusgames.com? The output_log.txt file and the "Crashes" sub-folder should be the most important data

And just to ensure I have exact steps to reproduce the crash, does loading 5x5-01-07 and running into the walls consistently cause this crash for you (right turn, move forward)?

jdelible5 years ago

Okay, I sent a zip of that folder to that email address.

FWIW I couldn't actually get the game to crash on that stage (5x5 1-07), I tried a few dozen times and nothing happened. Crashing it intentionally seems tricky as just doing one or two move fails repeatedly seems to take a bit longer, although it seems quicker on the bigger, more complicated levels. I had the most luck with 9x9 2-3 doing right turn then forward, on subsequent loads it took 6 tries, 3 tries, 9 tries then first try before crashing.

JadeusGames5 years ago (1 edit)

Thank you very much!

Unfortunately there does not seem to be any crash data available. 9x9-2-3 is also not yielding a crash for me, and I'm not seeing any evidence that there may be a memory leak.

I will be continuing to look into this, but could you also try out the new [Experimental] Bewildebots_1.4_Windows_x86.zip to see if that fixes the issue? It seems unlikely, but I had seen this was a fix for a Windows 7 crash with an older Radeon GPU in at least one instance.

I've also seen some mention that the AMD Radeon HD 5570 was moved to legacy status and the last driver released for it was Catalyst 15.7.1 (from July 2015) or the beta Crimson 16.2.1 (from Feb 2016). As a result, it's possible the crashes are a result of a driver issue, but that there are no new available drivers due to the GPU's legacy status.

jdelible5 years ago

Tried the new experimental build and loaded up 9x9 2-3 and the crashes still persist.

Thank you again for taking the time to try and fix this. That card is old but I've only once previously ran into a legit problem with it, but I would not be surprised if it is the culprit.

JadeusGames5 years ago

Thanks for giving it a try! I'm going to see if I can get Windows 7 and Bewildebots running on an old desktop I have lying around to see if I can at least reproduce the crash and determine whether any useful information is being logged. Once again, I am so sorry you've had to deal with these crashes; I truly feel terrible that this is the experience you've had! Nonetheless I greatly appreciate that you chose to play the game and that you've been able to enjoy what it has to offer!

I had recently started to work on a sequel, though this issue and some insight from a game development podcast I listen to have me strongly considering using some time to work on a mass rewrite of Bewildebots to improve maintainability. I can't make any guarantees about the timeline should I move forward with that decision, or that it would solve the issue, but I would be more than happy to send you an early build to try once the core loop is functional if you would favor potential stability/ability to play without crashes over visual polish. If the issue is tied to Unity 2017.4 or to the specific implementation of the game's logic, then I presume the rewrite should fix the issue.

jdelible5 years ago

That is a very generous offer, but as I've generally been knocking out ten puzzles a day as part of my gaming routine (it's like brain exercise, but fun!) if I don't get completely stuck near the end I have about five days left before I finish the full three hundred. Given how close I am to the finish I'd rather not put it on hold for an indefinite period of time, and I'm sure you'd rather potentially take on that level of rewrite without any additional bits of pressure as small as they might be.

That said, if you do get around to that level of rewrite and are curious if this particular crashing issue is resolved or not feel free to reach out to me as I'd be willing to go run into a wall repeatedly for a few minutes to check :)

JadeusGames5 years ago

Sounds great! Just wanted to throw that out there since I wasn't sure what your pacing was. Thank you once again for being so understanding, and best of luck with the rest of those 9x9 puzzles! =)

If you'd be willing, I'd really love to hear your completely unfiltered, brutally honest feedback regarding what you believe the game does well, where you think it falls flat, and anything you'd like to see improved upon or included in a sequel! While I have a lot in mind for the follow-up, I love gathering as much feedback as possible and I don't believe I've been able to pick the brains of any of the few players who have completed all 300 puzzles. I'd also be very interested to know what the time to complete the game was in your stats page if you're open to sharing it, since I've been quite curious to find how accurate or inaccurate my estimate for overall length of the game was.

jdelible5 years ago

Sure thing, I'll make sure to collect my thoughts and share them once I finish the remainder of the puzzles!

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