Endless hourglass

bulldog · Post by **bulldog** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:20 pm

Hi guys,

It is April 18, 1942 and I'm approaching the 2nd capital of the USSR and the Brits are landing in France. When I click the arrow for the end of turn the Allies go through their moves, but then an endless hourglass appears (I've waited 20 minutes for something to happen, but nothing). I rebooted and loaded the last saved game and it allows me to again finish my turn and watch the Allies move, but again I get an hourglass that doesn't go away. I can move the hourglass around the screen so it's not a complete lock, but it won't let me click on anything of course. Great game otherwise. Any ideas?

I'm using the Slitherine version and upgraded to v1.02.

Post by **IainMcNeil** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:32 pm

Sorry you are having problems. Can you mail the saved game that is causing the problem to info@slitherine.co.uk and we'll investigate. You'll need to verify yourself to our spam filter.

We thought we had fixed this issue before the patch released so maybe we missed a cause.

firepowerjohan · Post by **firepowerjohan** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:49 pm

There should be a error.txt file created in the folder where you have CEAW installed, whenever game freezes or crashes. Please mail that one too.

bulldog · Post by **bulldog** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:34 pm

Thanks guys, I have e-mailed the save game file along with the text to the error.log error. Not sure if it matters, but I did capture the Suez Canal on the turn right before it hangs.

Here is the error.log also:
Exception in thread "Thread-13" java.lang.NullPointerException
at game.Game.targetAroundUnit(Game.java:5417)
at game.Game.decideWhereToAttack(Game.java:2323)
at game.AI._$11630(AI.java:1349)
at game.AI._$11611(AI.java:144)
at game.AI.run(AI.java:1567)

Thanks again.

firepowerjohan · Post by **firepowerjohan** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:37 pm

bulldog wrote:Thanks guys, I have e-mailed the save game file along with the text to the error.log error. Not sure if it matters, but I did capture the Suez Canal on the turn right before it hangs.

Here is the error.log also:
Exception in thread "Thread-13" java.lang.NullPointerException
at game.Game.targetAroundUnit(Game.java:5417)
at game.Game.decideWhereToAttack(Game.java:2323)
at game.AI._$11630(AI.java:1349)
at game.AI._$11611(AI.java:144)
at game.AI.run(AI.java:1567)

Thanks again.

Rgr, that bug has already been fixed and will be in next patch

bulldog · Post by **bulldog** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:29 pm

Ok, I reloaded the game from a previous save game several turns beforehand. This time I got up to May 8, 1942 before getting the endless hourglass. Do I need to restart the game from the very beginning again? I don't mind if that will fix it. Is there a workaround that I can use or something not to do to prevent it from locking up? Thanks. I did e-mail my save game, but received no spam blocking notification yet.

mattp · Post by **mattp** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:46 am

Hi,

I'm having the same problem with the exact same error log. I realize that the bug is fixed already as per the messages here and that I have to wait until the next patch to get it, however, in my mind unless I know what game event is causing the bug the game is no longer playable. I've put in hours to get to where I am (July 27 '42), I too am in russia and fighting the americans/brits in europe, and I too recently took the Suez. Is there any particular set of events that is causing this endless hourglass that I can avoid doing such that I can start a new game and play it through by avoiding the conditions that cause it?

The thought of starting again only to run into the same problem after 10 hours or what not of play is pretty disheartening. If it's as simple as "don't do this" then at least I can play and work around it.

Thanks,

Matt

Post by **IainMcNeil** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:18 pm

We have found and fixed this problem and built it in to a small hotfix patch (99kb).

This zip contains 2 files. Find the dir you installed the game to, probably Program Files/Slitherine/Commander and look for the dir called "game". In this you will see a number of files with the extension .class. Copy the 2 files from this zip to that dir overwriting the old versions. Now when you load your game it should process normally.

http://www.slitherine.com/files/ceaw/pa ... v1.02a.zip

You will still be able to load saved games and play multiplayer without any issues.

bulldog · Post by **bulldog** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:24 pm

Thanks guys, that did the trick for about 6 months of game play. I really appreaciate the help. I was able to get past the problem, but then another one crept up about an hour later. Here's the error.log it produced:

{edited out the wrong exception. Here is the exception causing the error}:

Exception in thread "Thread-13" java.lang.NullPointerException
at game.Game.decideWhereToMove(Game.java:2199)
at game.AI._$13133(AI.java:1259)
at game.AI._$13114(AI.java:143)
at game.AI.run(AI.java:1568)

firepowerjohan · Post by **firepowerjohan** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:49 pm

That one is a standard exception on the drawing loop which happens from time to time and do not crash the game, on the drawing routine sometimes when you scroll. For consistency I should try to fix that one so that it does not appear on the error.txt

bulldog · Post by **bulldog** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:01 pm

Sorry Johan, I copied the wrong exception this last time. The real exception (see below) is causing the lockup and was actually the culprit (it was listed after the graphics exception). I sent it via e-mail.

So, to recap, after applying the hotfix (but 6 months later in the game), I am still getting an endless hourglass. But, this time it is on a different routine:

Here it is:

Exception in thread "Thread-13" java.lang.NullPointerException
at game.Game.decideWhereToMove(Game.java:2199)
at game.AI._$13133(AI.java:1259)
at game.AI._$13114(AI.java:143)
at game.AI.run(AI.java:1568)

And unfortunately, it doesn't let me get past it this time.

mattp · Post by **mattp** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:47 pm

Yeah, I appreciate the effort guys, but I wasn't able to get past the current month I was in for any of my saved games. Endless hourglass with each try. The error I'm getting is:

Exception in thread "Thread-13" java.lang.NullPointerException
at game.Game.decideWhereToMove(Game.java:2199)
at game.AI._$13133(AI.java:1262)
at game.AI._$13114(AI.java:143)
at game.AI.run(AI.java:1568)

Thanks,

Matt

firepowerjohan · Post by **firepowerjohan** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:03 pm

Wow, this is amazing. We had no crashes for a month and now everything shows up right after the patch. Ok, will deal with it...

Post by **IainMcNeil** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:36 am

Once again we have found and fixed this problem and built it in to a small hotfix patch (99kb).

It's exactly the same 2 files as before and you need to follow teh same procedure.

This zip contains 2 files. Find the dir you installed the game to, probably Program Files/Slitherine/Commander and look for the dir called "game". In this you will see a number of files with the extension .class. Copy the 2 files from this zip to that dir overwriting the old versions. Now when you load your game it should process normally.

http://www.slitherine.com/files/ceaw/pa ... v1.02a.zip

You will still be able to load saved games and play multiplayer without any issues.

Let us know if this fixes the problem.

bulldog · Post by **bulldog** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:57 pm

Thank you. I replaced the files. Went to load the game and received same hourglass...with slightly different error now:

Exception in thread "Thread-13" java.lang.NullPointerException
at game.Game.decideWhereToMove(Game.java:2202)
at game.AI._$289(AI.java:1264)
at game.AI._$259(AI.java:143)
at game.AI.run(AI.java:1571)

Post by **IainMcNeil** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:45 pm

We're unavble to load the saved games for some reason so are trying to treat the symptom which is not ideal

We've updated teh zip to try and attempt a fix

http://www.slitherine.com/files/ceaw/pa ... v1.02a.zip

Let us know if this fixes the problem.

firepowerjohan · Post by **firepowerjohan** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:47 pm

Can you guys mail me all of those saves again

firepowerjohan@gmail.com

I need to save those for later so that I can get to the bottom of what is causing them, but they should be fixed now in the latest hotfix3.

Also, make sure you ZIP the data files before mailing them since Some of those saves I cannot even open. Are you using Vista machines because we have some problems with Vista still apparently.

bulldog · Post by **bulldog** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:27 pm

Ok, applied latest fix and appears to be working for the time being. I was able to get past this last time. I'll send you the latest save game via e-mail.

No, I'm on an Windows XP w/ SP 2 machine.

firepowerjohan · Post by **firepowerjohan** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:30 pm

bulldog wrote:Ok, applied latest fix and appears to be working for the time being. I was able to get past this last time. I'll send you the latest save game via e-mail.

No, I'm on an Windows XP w/ SP 2 machine.

Wow, thats great!

Samichlaus · Post by **Samichlaus** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:44 pm

Hi Johan
I am experiencing this bug on both, my own Vista OS, and (right now) the XP Home OS of my daughter. When I installed the hotfix on Vista, it first solved the problem and I could go on playing. But after a few turns, the hourglass returned (and stayed...).