Bug Report on Beta 1.06 patch

[milo]

Region support building creation doesn't seem to build department stores. This may be a bug in 1.05 as well.

... Actually, it seems to be part of the building definition.

[milo]

B3 is out. I haven't made this one crash yet. As usual, fixes everything reported so far. List of changes is in the announcement in the 1.06 main thread.

[Hawk]

Gibraltar Straits and Michigan 1830 work fine now. Got that fixed.
One thing I did notice is that there is a discernible pause whenever an AI starts up or whenever the yearly status report opens or when a newspaper pops up. I don't recall seeing that before on this new rig, although it did do that on the old rig but a lot worse.

I s'pose I should mention I have the graphics maxed out but it shouldn't matter on this new rig. I didn't notice the pausing before the install of this patch.
I also have it set to save yearly.
Any other details you need milo?

[milo]

Not really. I've noticed similar problems on saving or loading scenarios. Unfortunately I don't have a profiler (a tool for measuring how much time is spent in each part of the code), so unless it's something obvious, this probably won't get fixed.

[milo]

Copying from the release thread...

Beta 2 still causes a crash with the scenario I'm testing. Seems to be due to a "Deactivate" event. A company has been set up when the game starts, and a startup event is scripted to deactivate it. The game crashes when this event is encountered. It doesn't look like that is addressed in beta-3.

I'll do some more troubleshooting and include a small sample scenario if you want me to milo. Didn't have time to research it much this morning but if I don't hear back from you by the end of the day, I'll do some more on it tonight.

In the process, I noticed that the cheat codes no longer work. I wanted to use them in testing the CTD to give me money in the editor, but they don't work. They also don't work in normal play mode.

Good work! Please upload the test scenario to the engmod account - I don't get much time anymore. I reproduced the cheat codes problem, darn it; must have used them dozens of times during development, so it's rather surprising I managed to break them.

Edit: Found and fixed the cheat code problem, and figured out why I didn't hit it during testing. Can't reproduce the CtD on deactivating a pre-built company yet - even managed to deactivate the player's company, which I didn't think the game permitted.

[Hawk]

Not really. I've noticed similar problems on saving or loading scenarios. Unfortunately I don't have a profiler (a tool for measuring how much time is spent in each part of the code), so unless it's something obvious, this probably won't get fixed.

No big deal. Just a little surprised to see the pause on this new rig.
I can live with it though.
I'm still amazed at the detail I was missing before on my old computer. I never realized the steam cocks opened and closed on the steamers. Never saw it before.

[Wolverine@MSU]

I've posted a testmap in the "Patch" folder on the FTP site. It appears to be a problem with allocating buildable track pieces when there are multiple companies. The same map with only one company does not crash.

I noticed some other strange behavior with the file:

1. The .gmp map was not recognized by the 1.05 (CtoC) version of the game. In fact, any maps saved in the Editor with the 1.06-2 patch were not seen in the 1.05 version.

2. The ZIP file made from the map is only ~20Kb in size (it's posted too). Opening the ZIP file shows a packed file of the right size, and unzipping it yields a .gmp file that purports to be the correct size, but it only takes a fraction of a second to zip and unzip.

3. WinImp seems to work on packing the file (takes about the right amont of time to zip it up) but then terminates with an error something to the effect of "Cannot set modification date of D:\trackbuildbug.zip"

[milo]

Cool. The track pieces crash was fixed in B3, and I'm surprised that it doesn't crash with one company. 1.05 does not recognize 1.06 maps, because there's enough new stuff in the file that I had to bump the version number; I'll build a utility later that lets a scenario writer override this if he's sure his map works under 1.05. Not sure what's up with the compression, but I may get a chance to look at it this evening.

Thanks for your help!

[Wolverine@MSU]

Just downloaded B3 today. Will give it a try tonight and let you know what happens. I'll also try compression with a map edited in B3 to see if it still behaves funny.

[milo]

The trackbuildbug case ran fine under B3 here and crashed B2, so I think it's fixed. As for the compression, I'm not surprised after looking at the testfile - the vast majority of the file is storing empty 64x64 grids and would compress superbly.

[Wolverine@MSU]

New bug to report: The steel mill building doesn't show up as a sink for coal in the cargo overview map. The red arrow is present, but the building isn't shown. It shows up OK for iron.

I'll make a test map with all buildings/cargoes and see whether any other buildings show the same behavior. May be a day or two until I get to it. I have a bunch of lab reports to grade :(

[milo]

Huh, so they aren't. What a curious bug!

Found three buildings missing from the steel map: auto plants, ammunition factories, and weapons factories. I think everything else is there. Will take a look - I didn't think I'd messed with this code, but perhaps the warehouse express patch overwrote part of it. Problem does not occur in 1.05 vanilla.

I think it's the buildings that require multiple inputs to make one output that are affected - they don't show up on the first input's map.

[Wolverine@MSU]

I also found that even after the date that Tool & Die shops no longer accept iron, there was still a blue "sink" arrow above each T&D when viewed in the cargo overlay with iron selected. The building itself didn't show up, but the arrow was there.

[milo]

I also found that even after the date that Tool & Die shops no longer accept iron, there was still a blue "sink" arrow above each T&D when viewed in the cargo overlay with iron selected. The building itself didn't show up, but the arrow was there.

I think that's supposed to happen - it's there even in 1.05 vanilla. When a building is destroyed, or when it stops accepting a certain resource, the demand doesn't vanish immediately, but fades over the years - presumably representing the slow spread of knowledge that the resource isn't demanded there anymore. Similarly, when you drop a new building in, its demand arrow doesn't appear immediately. Admittedly, it's a little weird seeing a Tool&Die demanding .03 loads of iron/year in 2000. I'm inclined to leave this the way it is because a fix is likely to break something else, but I could be talked into fixing it.

[JayEff]

It takes two or three years for changes in demand to equilibrate. It also happens when you place a factory. That is why there is a three year startup cycle.

[milo]

Found the missing-building problem - I had to compact some code to make room for express production, and I didn't do it quite right. Fixed in the next release.

[Wolverine@MSU]

Found the missing-building problem - I had to compact some code to make room for express production, and I didn't do it quite right. Fixed in the next release.

Does this include Weapons and Munitions Factories not showing up in the Steel cargo overview? I tested all buildings with all cargoes and only found:

Steel Mill doesn't show in Coal
Auto Plant, Munitions and Weapns Factory doesn't show in Steel

[milo]

Yeah, they were all the same issue. If a building had a production chain that required multiple inputs, it was visible only on the economic page for the last input. (Tech details: a Production Record contains up to five Demand Records, and my replacement code was getting lost after reading the first. When a building displays its function, the inputs are drawn backwards from how they're stored.) It's possible this bug could affect other aspects of production, such as long-term prices or demand for coal at a steel plant.

Thanks for your research!

[bombardiere]

Great work Milo. However first bug report on b4. GPs' skins aren't correct ones. This could be me messing. I had new skins, PK4 files dated 11.3 and 14.3. Do you have these files? These improve the original skins. I can't remember what was the story with profiles... Sorry I am terrible at organising... And I have wrong beautyshot at Sm2 EMU.

But otherwise great. extra skins work and I still have a long way to loco max... And my test map stayed at noon :D

[milo]

Oops - my fault. I have your files, but somehow they didn't make it into B4. Fixed for the final release. The profile issue is that the double-GP7 should be orange and white rather than blue and red.

If that's the worst we get in the beta, I'll be VERY happy... :D

Never noticed that the GP7 railings lit up at night. Cool!