Server getting memory error

[CmdrQuartz]

So I started up again after a long long while after noticing the new update and got a server running great but now all of the sudden the server is having issues. When it's just me the server transitions just fine but when it's me and my brother it crashes with Unhandled Exception While Deallocating Memory. It's also fine when it's just him, through multiple transitions , and reasonable play time. If it were an item issue seems like it would be more consistent but we can both play alone just fine. The only other thing that's changed is health and mana totals since we've started new. Not sure where the log files are and the "new policy on reporting" post doesn't exist, when I click on it, so I can't give much more useful information.

 

[Thothie]

Bug reports yonder (unless it's an exploit, in which case, plz PM instead).

The transition buggery has been going on since a Steam update changed how the HLDS cycles maps and shuts down, in addition to blocking certain commands, critical to avoiding this, from being sent from the server to the client (supposedly for "security" reasons). Not figured what to do about it, save for some mitigation attempts - one of which failed, but I suspect it's simply in the wrong place. Transition in groups does risk the infamous "5hp bug" - and once in a blue moon, you may get it when alone. Either way, if this happens, follow das procedure.

Log files are msc/log_cldll.log and, for servers, msc/log_msdll.log. (In addition to msc_chatlog_MM_YYYY.log). Sadly, with a Deallocating error (otherwise known as "MSC generic error #5"), rarely will anything useful survive.

 

[zeus9860]

I'm not sure if you are changing maps via votemap/changelevel/transition but i recall back in the days some issues would show up when you used changelevel to change map, so we would had to use votemap and transitions more often to avoid listed server crashes. I'm not sure if this is the case anymore.

Alternatively you could restart server every mapchange to avoid it, or have everyone but you leave the server before map change occurs (basically vote for mapchange and leave).

 

[CmdrQuartz]

Nope, logs don't have anything useful. msdll ends with finding spawn locations and the chat log just ends at the spot it crashed, server init at blah blah on sfor and then nothing. So yay for generic errors. I suppose I was manually leaving for a while because exiting the game is the only way to avoid the terrible lag that happens after transition, been reported already by others, where you can't do hardly anything without dropping massive frames, but then I wasn't having that issue and everything was fine and then the server decided everything shouldn't be fine *sigh*

Also as we aren't playing FN enabled characters I'll have to set up a script in the start up batch file to backup character files, that way we wouldn't lose more than a day.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[Thothie]

Meh, I wouldn't invest time in non-FN characters, as you can't transfer them to FN, and leveling is a whole lot slower, and lewt a whole lot crappier.

zeus9860 is correct in that you want to avoid using the changelevel command, but for other reasons. You can use admin_map XXX to force a map change. (Depending on how you've rigged your server, you may need to setup admins.txt first.)

Best way to avoid the issue is to touch the transition, have all but one disconnect, activate it, and (for extra paranoia) have the guy who activated it disconnect as well, and wait for the server to cycle manually. (I know, it sucks.)

 

[CmdrQuartz]

Problem is my family is internet paranoid. the community is small enough I'm sure there's a distinct lack of trolls and ***holes but they'd still prefer to play privately. Maybe private FN server are possible, I didn't really look into it, and at this point my brother is too invested in his character. I realize we could get to where we're at now in half the time but I reeeeally doubt he'd go with it.

Also observing when it happens, it tends to happen if there are items on the ground more than any other time. Tends to recover in a lot of cases as well, as in it will continue to load the map after the error is dismissed.

I find it odd that the "changelevel" command is a no no when that's the command that gets executed when a proper transition is done, at any rate we exit completely on the client and the fact is the server and client start so quickly it really is first world problems as far as inconvenience goes.

 

[Thothie]

The game normally saves, shuts down, and resets a whole lotta stuff before it executes the engine's internal changelevel command. Using it directly bypasses that sequence, often leading to both graphical and character corruption, thus it is a no-no. (...and using the "map" command is even worse.)

The error is not always fatal though, tis true, but it tends to lead to further corruption for, as the error suggests, something wasn't deallocated, thus there is a leak - which would also explain the lag after a map change.

Items in the world are still "tied" to the character last had them, so I could see where that might increase the potential for fskery.

You can password FN servers via votelock, but yes, the game will eventually become neigh impossible off FN, and be slowed down by lack of inside knowledge, in addition to the massive XP and more massive treasure reductions, both of which will get exponentially worse as you progress. Some of the later bosses are pretty much undefeatable in that state.

 

[TheOysterHippopotami]

Unhandled Exception While Deallocating Memory

This is the exact same error I was getting testing my maps under the alpha patch.

 

[Thothie]

And the exact same error you will get for 65,536 other fubars.

Sadly, it's the MSC standard "I don't know wtf happened, I'm dropping this." error, that as always, tells us, nothing.