Game freeze "BADRANDSYNC"

[Garnier]

Apparently four big MP games have ended in a freeze in the last day. (By "freeze", I mean the clock stopped. All players could look around the battlefield, no one CTDed, the clock just stopped running.)

This is the end of the log file from one of the players in the last game. It's the only log file I've got so far.

Code: Select all

14575446,LOWFRAME,10,1,4370,4373,6,0:544 will1993
14575446,LOWFRAME,10,0,4371,4373,1,0:544 cjay
14575446,LOWFRAME,10,0,4372,4373,1,0:544 cjay
14575446,GOODFRAME,10,0,4373,4373,1,0:544 cjay
14575446,LOWFRAME,10,0,4370,4373,1,0:544 cjay
14575446,BADRANDSYNC,544 cjay,876,2318,0

14543754,12lb Napoleon      Sgt T Samples,123,10,2,1000,1000,90,55,110,9,139008.00,122624.00,0.63,0.78,139008.00,122624.00,0.63,0.78,1
14543754,PREAI,0,1,3330,0,9,9,1000,1000
14543754,ENDUPDATE,10,2,1000,1000,55,110,9,139008.00,122624.00,0.63,0.78,139008.00,122624.00,0.63,0.78,1
14543754,12lb Napoleon      Sgt J Griffith,124,10,2,1000,1000,90,55,100,9,139520.00,122624.00,0.63,0.78,139520.00,122624.00,0.63,0.78,1
14543754,PREAI,0,1,90,0,9,9,1000,1000

If anyone has an idea what might cause it, do let us know.

Thanks

[norb]

I would start by removing all mods. This could only be caused by some sort of game mismatch which is usually caused by an asset mismatch. Somewhere something doesn't match. We test a ton of stuff in the engine, but not all mods. I realize that people want stuff opened up, but this is my fear in doing that.

So somewhere the game went out of sync. Which goes to somewhere someone is using more random numbers than someone else. I would find out what just changed, if it's something that recently has happened. A new player joined, new mod enabled. If you compare the logs, you should find out where it went out of sync. Or at least some idea. I took out a ton of logging once we fixed these errors with the base files because the logs were getting too large. I would be interested in seeing the logs if you get a good sampling.

[NY Cavalry]

I am fairly certain that we have discovered how it was happening. All games at present are working correctly as before.

It seems it is a certain player that is somehow out of sinq.

[Barrow]

Here's a screen capture of the mods I had enabled during the weekend. I had turned off the GCM_terrain.
Thanks.

cjay.

The attachment screen0138.jpg is no longer available

[Garnier]

I would start by removing all mods. This could only be caused by some sort of game mismatch which is usually caused by an asset mismatch. Somewhere something doesn't match. We test a ton of stuff in the engine, but not all mods. I realize that people want stuff opened up, but this is my fear in doing that.

Don't let this discourage you in that direction. The few problems we've had with mods are far outweighed by how much better the game is because of them. The vast majority of the games work perfectly, heavily modded.

I'd never seen this error before which is why I posted -- so we have a record of it.


cjay, those are the same mods I have enabled. GCM_Terrain is an older terrain mod -- it's not the best one anymore but it shouldn't matter if it's on or off. What you can do is play through a full 1v1 game -- if it freezes, upload the log files. If it doesn't freeze, you could try joining a big game.

[Barrow]

>cjay, those are the same mods I have enabled. GCM_Terrain is an older terrain mod -- it's
>not the best one anymore but it shouldn't matter if it's on or off. What you can do is
>play through a full 1v1 game -- if it freezes, upload the log files. If it doesn't freeze,
>you could try joining a big game

If there are a few other volunteers out there I'm willing to try a 1v1 or 2v2, but see my next comment...

>I'd never seen this error before which is why I posted -- so we have a record of it.
>14575446,BADRANDSYNC,544 cjay,876,2318,0

I realize this error has my username next to it, but does this message prove that
I'm the generator of the bad random number, and not the recipient? A few weeks ago I played
several GCM games, such as 13545 and 13621, and didn't have any problems. Are these random number
syncs being broadcast between players in packets which are used for handshakes?
Just checking...

Thanks,
cjay

[Garnier]

Nothing's proven. But the log was from NY Cav, and he's played in many successful games recently, while all the games you were in (for the last month) froze, as far as I know. It's possible that this is the same issue that froze game 13616 but we have no logs from that.

Yes, it's circumstantial -- but I still wouldn't risk freezing a big game when we can try a small one first.

[KG_Soldier]

cjay,

You've certainly played a lot of GCM games, probably hundreds, a few hundred. So I think we can safely say that even if something was going on the other night with your connection or whatever, it's not a terminal illness.

[norb]

No, just because the error has your name does not mean that the number was yours. It just means that this was where it was first caught by the engine. Could have been anyone that was in the game that caused the problem. It does not know why it happened, just that the number don't match when they should.

[Kalliser]

About sync problem due to extra content installed which can differ from a player to another why not use the same way than paradox do with their game like heart of iron.

The basic idea is to generate a key based on the content used by the game (core file because they can be altered and mod files) the result is a checksum number who is displayed on the startup page of the game, so if 2 players doesn't have the checksum number it mean their activated content differ which can be the cause of trouvle in multiplayer.
This can be a simple way for player to check who had a problem ( like the wrong version of a mod)