Macromedia Projector Bug=Constant Crashes

[Andrew Lonon]

Lord Hammer

Thanks for bringing this up in the first place. I am dismayed that there is another case of this problem (McBan) but I am also determined to find a solution.

Please take a look at my reply to McBan, and see if any of the items there help.

I will have an alternate SALVO.EXE file for you soon.

[McBan]

I should be at work, but I had to check Salvo! out some more. I just played The Sultan's Honor to completion with no crashes, even when using the arrow keys while a ship is selected. Great game so far. I can't judge the AI fairly yet, but so far, so good.

Anyway, back to the crash problem. I tried the Turbo mode suggestion, but it had no effect. Being a scientist, I created a hypothesis that the problem had to do with the fog effect, since the crashing always occurred with the Edward Teach battle which has fog and not The Sultan's Honor which lacks fog. So, I changed one of the settings that seemed relevant, the smoke opacity setting, under the belief that it affects fog too. I increased it to 3 (from the default 2) and had no crashes after briefly testing it under the conditions that cause the crash. I decreased it to 1 and again it had no crashes. I increased it back to 2 and interestingly it still doesn't crash. I saved the settings, exited the game, restarted the game, and tested it. Still no crashes. Very curious. Anyway, the problem seems solved on my system after those manipulations. I suppose there could have been some bad number associated with the default smoke opacity setting that gets cleared out when the setting is changed, even when back to 2. I really need to get to work and I won't have time to test Salvo! again until Monday late afternoon/evening. Happy bug hunting!

[McBan]

Last minute final checks on the crash problem indicated that I was hasty in thinking that the crash problem is solved by what I did above. The problem re-occurred at all smoke opacity settings, so disregard my earlier tests. It seems that I previously did not test with enough arrow presses because the crash is inconsistent in that sometimes it takes pressing the arrow key once when a ship is selected when fog is present to cause the crash, sometimes it takes more, maybe up to 5 or 6 or so.

So, I tried the other setting that I should have tried first, the fog of war override setting. Setting it to 5 seems to mostly solve the crash problem, after some testing of arrow pressing of about a dozen or more. A setting of 4 also seems to work, but I tested that less. However, even with a setting of 5, I am able to get the same type of crash under slightly different, more elaborate circumstances, by doing the following, again under fog conditions.

1. Select a ship, and use the arrow keys to rotate the view around the ship multiple times, going the whole way around the ship to be certain.

2. Immediately, while the ship is still selected after doing number 1 above, clicking either the ship list (and then clicking the screen to return to the main view causes the crash), or click the settings button immediately causes the crash.

This crash doesn't always occur, but usually does. I have not been consistent with the number of arrow presses beyond doing about 10 or more, so that may be a factor, or some other variable I haven't thought of could be causing the inconsistency. I didn't check any further because clearly the problem is somewhat complicated. However, the problem is clearly fog-based, so maybe that will help you. Again, good luck bug hunting!

[Lord Hammer]

Wow! Some comments:I have tried Turbo Mode, my wireless has been disconnected since school let out(kids ), the demo that i tried(1st one) didn't have the arrow keys implemented.
I too had thought the keys were the "key" until it started happening randomly(perhaps a delayed reaction to arrow press) in the Pirate campaigns but with McBan's input i know it's only a matter of time...hopefully [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif[/img].
I too considered trying a game without using the key but frankly it is just too frustrating using my mouse to constantly change perspective.

[Lord Hammer]

Re-installed Salvo, left default settings with same results. Certain Campaigns are just un-playable...period. McBan is onto something, Sultan's Honor has worked without crashing, so i'm up to 2 playable.

[Andrew Lonon]

Lord Hammer & McBan

I got your notes, and I expect to have a new build for you on Monday. It may be late Monday, but I’ll try…

[Miguel]

Hi,

I've got the game two days ago, played some campaign, and in some of them the macromedia bug don't even let me play a minute. :-((((

[McBan]

Andrew, you are welcome. It felt good to "experiment" again, even if it wasn't in my field. I gave up biotech research to examine biotech patent applications at the Patent Office, and now I am applying to be a manager there. There is too much to do professionally, and too little time to spend playing Salvo! right now, unfortunately. I appreciate how fast the game plays so when I do have a little time, I can actually play a meaningful amount.

Miguel, try the fix 8 posts above and play the Edward Teach campaign, see if you still get the crashes on that campaign, or wait for the formal update that fixes all of the battles. Also, if you get crashes on non-foggy battles, then you need to post Andrew about the problem.

[Andrew Lonon]

Miguel-

If you are experiencing the same things as are disused in this thread, then help is on the way. McBan and Lord Hammer have been instrumental in solving this problem - & I am working on making single download and install solution. You can try the stopgap for immediate results, or hold on just a few days for the official download.

If you are experiencing something other than what McBan and Lord Hammer have described – please let me know!

Hope this helps…

[xerxes]

Any word on the official patch? Salvo is pretty much unusable without it.