Unity Crash Patterns

06/13/2019 18:38
Title: Unity Crash Patterns
Reproduction Rate: Ridiculous
Blocker? Yes
Details:

I haven't complained much about the Unity crashes; I was assuming my (normal but not old) computer just wasn't up for handling the game and there was nothing to be done about it. But I've seen a lot of other people complain about Unity crashes, and they never seem to include as much detail as I'd like. And my crashes are very very predictable. So here's what I experience -- perhaps the devs know all this already, but perhaps not and hopefully they can use it to narrow down some of the problems.

When I started, in offline mode on Linux with release 63, the crashes were too often, but not often enough to drive me away. Some patches were worse than others. Release 64 was particularly bad. But when I moved to online mode on Windows with Release 65, the crashes became almost constant. BUT they don't happen randomly. They follow three very specific patterns:

(1) The crash sequence is always the same. First the graphics freeze, but the game itself does NOT. The sound continues, and the game continues. A mob that was heading towards me when the graphics froze will reach me and attack, I can hear the combat, I can hear myself auto-attacking in response. I can click the inventory button and hear the open-inventory sound. I just can't see what's going on past the point where it froze. This state may last for only a few moments, or for several minutes. But eventually the sound will cut out as well, then the sound comes back for a brief moment before the Unity crash app kicks in.

(2) When I reload the game after a crash, I can NOT "Resume" play where I left off. Well, I can try... but invariably it will result in another immediate Unity crash. The only way to avoid that is to resume on the world map instead of where I was. This is particularly annoying given that...

(3) The crashes do not occur across scenes equitably. They almost never happen in private-mode adventure zones. I'd like to blame it on forced-multiplayer, which certainly causes me plenty of other problems, but in truth, they rarely happen in busy towns either.

However, they happen CONSTANTLY in the Outskirts. Constantly, as in it took me weeks to complete Solace Bridge Outskirts, and I'm still trying to complete Highvale Outskirts, because I spend more time crashing or reloading after a crash than I do playing.

They also don't happen equitably across the zone. The crashes are far more likely in some specific parts of the zone than in others. In Solace Bridge, there's an area of the main road where it starts heading up to the farm and graveyard, then curves around to the farm. This area here:

Area: Solace Bridge Outskirts (Novia_R1_Forest04_01) Loc: (251.067, 2.423, -2.223) DBG: Tm92aWFfUjFfRm9yZXN0MDRfMDF8fCgyNTEuMDY3LCAyLjQyMywgLTIuMjIzKXwoMCwgMSwgMCwgLTAuMDAyKXw1NDAuNjM0N3wxNy4zOTIyN3wxLjI1

That is not in the actual danger zone, but it's as close as I'm willing to get to pull the location coordinates, because I KNOW that if I continue trying to walk further up that road, I WILL crash. A rough guess would put probably 95% of my Solace Bridge crashes in the Y between the broken wagon you can see from there, the point halfway between the farm itself and the turnoff to the farm, and the point halfway between the turnoff and the graveyard. To complete the quests at the farm, I had to travel all the way around the beach and come up the back way to the farm. To complete the quests at the graveyard and village, I had to hug the cliffside and meadow to the right, staying as far from the road as possible. I have had crashes elsewhere in Solace Bridge Outskirts, but at nothing close to the same frequency and predictability.

In Highvale Outskirts, the crashes are scattered over a wider area -- I just had one happen as soon as I materialized inside the entrance. But there is still a distinct danger zone; here it's the approach to the abandoned mine and the mine itself. I don't remember ever crashing there when I first explored it offline, but now? In six weeks online only once have I been able to get inside that mine without crashing, and that time I crashed on the way out. And this is a quest area and one fairly far from any entrance, so as in Solace Bridge, trying to complete the quest without being able to resume from where you were is a serious hassle. If I had to pull numbers out of the sky, I'd say probably only 65-70% of my Highvale crashes are related to that mine, but that attempts to get into the mine are far more likely to fail.

I know my computer isn't a fancy gaming setup. I know I need more RAM. But I can not believe that the same computer with the same RAM somehow has it in for these two particular areas while running fine in other zones. There must be something about these specific areas that are making the crashes more likely here than elsewhere.

Steps to Reproduce: ---

User Specs:
OS: Windows 10 (10.0.0) 64bit
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-8130U CPU @ 2.20GHz (4) System RAM: 8089
GPU: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 GPU RAM: 2150
SotA.Win.64.992.Date.06.11.19

 

Your PC doesnt really meet the minimum spec

• OS: Windows 7 64 bit or newer
• Processor: Quad Core 2.4 GHz or faster
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: DirectX 11 Compatible NVIDIA 960 / AMD 560
• Network: Broadband Internet connection (Not required for Offline Mode)
• Hard Drive: 22 GB available space

Your graphics card is a little under spec, so is your CPU, however..

It could be that the memory needed in some areas is greater than others, one thing you can do is look in the log files to see what caused the crash, it may help identify further specifically what causes the problem - in a way the fact that its predictable (to a level) would make the check easier.

 

Have you also updated your video drivers as well?

 

Bedawyn, first off, thanks for the post. Stability has been an issue with the Unity engine for some time now. I do think stability would increase with more system RAM. You probably should consider 16GB for a good play experience. I know, not what you wanted to hear.