[BUG] Can you PLEASE fix the *&^%! crashing!

[Llewen]

I'm annoyed. Really really annoyed. We were told months ago that the devs were aware of this problem and were implementing more advanced technical information gathering to track down this problem(s).

I am crashing on average at least once for every hour I pvp. And that's where it happens most often, in pvp. I'm guessing it is some kind of instability associated with the loading of dynamic objects, because it seems to only happen during movement, and the faster the movement, and the more dynamic objects there are in the area, the more likely it is to happen.

It may well be associated with the degradation of video performance that this client is also prone to. I will start with 100+ fps, and before long I will be down to 8-10 fps. I'm assuming there is a graphics associated memory leak here.

Why the *&^%! are we still dealing with these issues six months later? Why is this client still in beta? What the %^$#! is going on here?

 

[Ivor_MacGregor]

I have to agree. I second your frustration. If they want more people to go to the beta client then this issue must be resolved. This is the number one reason I hear from people as to why they refuse to use the EC. It is a shame really because there is so many good things about it, especially with Pinco's UI.

 

[Llewen]

It's gotten so bad that some of the people I pvp against will deliberately try to keep me chasing them as long as possible, because they know I'm eventually going to crash if they do that...

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

It may well be associated with the degradation of video performance that this client is also prone to. I will start with 100+ fps, and before long I will be down to 8-10 fps. I'm assuming there is a graphics associated memory leak here.

Didn't they start auto flushing the memory every step? (not that this would improve anything, but it seemed as if that's what they did from how people were describing how things were working for them, I don't have any problems like that but my wife might?)

I do experience the crashes as well. And doesn't it still have a beta tag? Or did I miss an announcement? lol.

I realize none of that really helps you or anyone, but perhaps figuring out what is going on may help us to reduce it from happening until someone actually fixes it.

 

[Llewen]

What's really weird is this seems to vary depending on the character I am running. My two dexxers crash what seems all the time. My tamer mage doesn't crash very often. My crafter is constantly hit by really serious video performance degradation. It's just weird...

 

[Pinco]

melle fighting also have a sync problem... sometimes you get moved by 1-2 tiles automatically while fighting...

 

[lucitus]

melle fighting also have a sync problem... sometimes you get moved by 1-2 tiles automatically while fighting...

Thats no problem in general, if you are dead you are moved back otherwise the client crash guranteed system (ccgs) does the rest by forcing a relogin.

And also a new feature of this system is macros and settings you have done before would not be saved, so that the long time fun can be guranteed and you didnt forget where to find the correct setting.

 

[Woodsman]

Have you tried setting the EC cache to 0MB?

It fixed some of my problems

 

[Ludes]

Have you tried setting the EC cache to 0MB?

It fixed some of my problems

This also stopped the crashing for me.. well almost.

But the lack of a cache makes running in heavily populated areas look reall jerky.

 

[Llewen]

Nothing has helped, including setting the cache to 0. It will go for days without crashing, then suddenly it will crash two or three times within an hour. Most often though I will notice a certain degree of "choppiness" in movement before I crash, and the crashes always seem to occur when I am moving, and even more often if I am moving through areas with a lot of dynamic objects, such as an area with a lot of player housing.

 

[Ludes]

Definitely is a memory leak.. they put in a memory flush every three or four steps to try to band-aid it.

I think the problem is the video software somewhere because the crash seems to be orientated around the drawing of dynamic objects. Recalling three or four times quickly can cause it. Running around or just moving quickly can cause the leak to overflow the V-ram on your GPU and down you go.

Sadly there is noone at EA tat can even read the old code much less actually fix it.

 

[iamSnippa]

Nothing has helped, including setting the cache to 0. It will go for days without crashing, then suddenly it will crash two or three times within an hour. Most often though I will notice a certain degree of "choppiness" in movement before I crash, and the crashes always seem to occur when I am moving, and even more often if I am moving through areas with a lot of dynamic objects, such as an area with a lot of player housing.

I set the cache to 0 and it got far worse for me. Not that I crashed, but it generated more lag for me.

 

[lucitus]

I set the cache to 0 and it got far worse for me. Not that I crashed, but it generated more lag for me.

I found out that this value determines when the client begins to clear the memory, if you set it to 0 the client instantly after login begins with clearing the cache. It also seems that the cache not determines a screen or something, it only determines how many textures can be loaded in the memory before the clearing function begins to work. But it does not use the cache again i cannot tell you why, but everytime you enter the same screen again the memory once again get adressed. The clearing function works in another way it looks for parameters like how long it is adressed and is it still on the screen and this over and over again, thats why it costs much performance. A higher value here keeps you longer running performant, but when the function then do its job the longer it takes to finish. The result is a laggy and unperformant client after a while of gameplay. You can manually execute this function by doing a logout, with a higher value you should see a longer logout process.

I thought much about the problem with the Enhanced Client and the memory managment and the problem i see which differs it from other games is that you have a lot of individuals things which everytime have to been reloaded from the server. Items on the ground and the customable houses are the main problem, you can not simply cache these things, how would you determine which items has been moved or picked up, which wall has been changed since the last enter of the screen and if you then begin to check every item you can also load it anew.

When you think about it, you know why EC player can see one player who has casted invis 3 seconds ago, when entering the screen, the animation will played from the beginning on the place where the hidded player is located.

You can also draw the conclusion if you set the cache value higher you stop the client todo this unperformant clearing function, as higher as longer it takes to begin, but this costs memory.

I have tested a lot of things with this value, but one thing is clear, it doesnt not mean only because the clearing function is off the client would not crash, the crash bug is another thing, which has todo with the client server communication and the resulting things, world item creation i would say, but it crashes only if you have a non static item on the crash screen, house or also the little ant holes, also i think the client doesn't like Felucca, but this can only be a feeling of me.

 

[Llewen]

...also i think the client doesn't like Felucca, but this can only be a feeling of me.

No, it's true, it crashes more often in Felucca. Not only that, but it crashes more often when I am playing a dexxer than when I am playing my mage tamer. These pieces of information should be a clue as to what exactly the problem is.

Possible explanations for this are that there are more dynamic objects in Felucca, with the desolation. However, those objects don't show in the enhanced client, but perhaps they are still being loaded in some way, in spite of the fact that you don't see them. As for crashing more often on dexxers, that might have to do with the nature of dexxers in that they move more than a mage would, because you are constantly having to try to close with your opponent.

Whatever the reasons are this is currently the number one problem with the enhanced client, and it should be a priority. But I fear now that the enhanced client itself is no longer a priority with the departure of Calvin Crowner...

 

[jack flash uk]

I still crash in Navrey alot, going mainly form the west pillar to the north very annoying STILL

 

[Kim Li of LS]

deconstructor? garbage collection issue? if memory overrun is the problem it seems to me either there isnt a deconstuctor (objects not removed from memory once the move out of scope) or no general garbage collection-basically the same thing, just bigger scale........

that is assuming that oop is used at all.

(is a sr in computer science)

 

[Pinco]

The problem is only 1: devs are not testing for this issues and they are not fixing client side... seems they think the game is only server side
Bad audio, bad video, instability, I still asking to myself if they know that the game contents worth nothing if there is no client to use them....

 

[lucitus]

The problem is only 1: devs are not testing for this issues and they are not fixing client side... seems they think the game is only server side
Bad audio, bad video, instability, I still asking to myself if they know that the game contents worth nothing if there is no client to use them....

True words, but which content This easy script system of cleanup is no content in my eyes, this few copy and paste theme packs?

For me the biggest problem in all that years i have played Ultima Online is that it makes no fun, in KR times okay it crashes often and i were frustrated, but i played more than today, because of the content and graphics. But today i have reached all i need, i have the best suit, a good house, much gold and if iam true with the cleanup i dont know what to bless.

In the past there were also times with the lack of content, but the PvP was there also with KR, but with this Enhanced Client it feels as tough as bubblegum. Everytime i like todo fast keyboard interactions "it tells me no grandpa you have to wait 1 second todo this!" urgh!, the players are hopping over the screen, the sound is buggy i cant hear a riding player and if all that is not enough when i get ganked and the enemie is near me it crashes. Then i think thanks UO for that good feeling and good bye!

 

[Pinco]

True words, but which content This easy script system of cleanup is no content in my eyes, this few copy and paste theme packs?

For me the biggest problem in all that years i have played Ultima Online is that it makes no fun, in KR times okay it crashes often and i were frustrated, but i played more than today, because of the content and graphics. But today i have reached all i need, i have the best suit, a good house, much gold and if iam true with the cleanup i dont know what to bless.

In the past there were also times with the lack of content, but the PvP was there also with KR, but with this Enhanced Client it feels as tough as bubblegum. Everytime i like todo fast keyboard interactions "it tells me no grandpa you have to wait 1 second todo this!" urgh!, the players are hopping over the screen, the sound is buggy i cant hear a riding player and if all that is not enough when i get ganked and the enemie is near me it crashes. Then i think thanks UO for that good feeling and good bye!

cleanup requires to map all the items with a point value and it's also balanced so with their times it tooks 2-3 months of work
Also as Cal said, the new britannian ship took 6 months of work... wasted (IMHO) just because the ship is useless and the main advertised activity (pirate hunting and sea pvp) has nothing fun due to the huge time and cost for ammunition vs the no reward....
Arenas for sure are a good improvement if provides a reward...
EM events are not a good thing just because not everyone can partecipate due to the low level communication about them... They should use something like an RSS feed or a newsletter system to improve it...

Ultimately, I think the game is bigger than the actual dev team can handle. Surely if they don't increase their personnel we will keep losing people...

 

[lucitus]

cleanup requires to map all the items with a point value and it's also balanced so with their times it tooks 2-3 months of work
Also as Cal said, the new britannian ship took 6 months of work... wasted (IMHO) just because the ship is useless and the main advertised activity (pirate hunting and sea pvp) has nothing fun due to the huge time and cost for ammunition vs the no reward....
Arenas for sure are a good improvement if provides a reward...
EM events are not a good thing just because not everyone can partecipate due to the low level communication about them... They should use something like an RSS feed or a newsletter system to improve it...

Ultimately, I think the game is bigger than the actual dev team can handle. Surely if they don't increase their personnel we will keep losing people...

The biggest problem for me, there could be the coolest addon comming, it makes no fun to play with the current UO clients.

I want shaders, i want shadows of the enviroment, rain, clear graphics and cool effects and not such a 2d pseudo client, which looks much worster than the original one. i can understand why ppl loving their 2d client, with that bad option. i would also accept the old 3d client, old but finished and crash and bugree, there i had no fear that every patch a new crashbug comes in.

 

[Pinco]

They should improve the security for speedhacking and other illegal things server side and make the client open source... with an open source client in few months we will have the best client ever seen

Unfortunaltely it will never happen since the client open source can be a too dangerous thing in the wrong hands

 

[Ivor_MacGregor]

Open source would certainly be a god send in the right hands. I could just imagine every bug being fixed within a few months time...talk about teamwork

 

[Woodsman]

They should improve the security for speedhacking and other illegal things server side and make the client open source... with an open source client in few months we will have the best client ever seen

Unfortunaltely it will never happen since the client open source can be a too dangerous thing in the wrong hands

Besides the security issues, the client engine is owned by a third party.

Although if Wikipedia is right, the company that owns Gamebryo is trying to sell it off. How you can go from being the engine for Fallout 3, RIFT, all three Mythic MMOs, etc., etc. to the company being nearly bankrupt is beyond me.

 

[Merion]

err... yeah, whatever...

back on topic: I had no crashing issues whatsoever for a very long time (months at least) but recently it's gotten worse again. Especially at Navreys Lair.

 

[Ned888]

I continue to have crashing issues. I mostly PvM, so my crash is not directly related to the OP.

My client crashes about 75% of the time when I use a moongate. Step through and it crashes while loading the destination. It's kind of annoying....

 

[CosmicRebirth]

is there any way we can contact specific devs? lol

 

[Llewen]

Yes, another patch, and still no mention of any stability fixes or fixes for memory leaks. But apparently we did get higher res terrain, although I don't see much difference...

 

[Kons]

I continue to have crashing issues. I mostly PvM, so my crash is not directly related to the OP.

My client crashes about 75% of the time when I use a moongate. Step through and it crashes while loading the destination. It's kind of annoying....

well the crashing problem is related to dynamic objects loading
i did tests on a map with high density tiles and could barely run

 

[Gilmour]

Try this if you are crashing

Find your UO Enhanced client root folder.
Right click it, select properties
Click advanced
Untick "Allow files in the folder to be indexed in addition to fileproperties" if it is ticked
Apply to folder and subfolders

then repeat the process for Documents\EA Games

when it was ticked it made me crash hardcore.

 

[CorwinXX]

Find your UO Enhanced client root folder.

Is it :
"c:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Ultima Online Stygian Abyss"

 

[Gilmour]

can be yea, if you installed it in default folder