Errormessage during online play with a Friend --> match freezes

[Mordred]

Hello,

i just bought the game yesterday (it nearly passed by....but only nearly) and wanted to try it out with a friend of mine.

So yesterday we tried the trial together and everything went fine, today i'm on another PC and the game !seems! to be fine too, but in the multiplayermatch we got an errormessage after several minutes of play (i think about 20 minutes).

The short term solution was to save the game, restart it and load the savegame. That went good for a few minutes, but than the same message occured again.

It reads like this:

Error! The System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.
   at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal)
   at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles, NumberFormatInfo numfmt)
   at System.Convert.ToInt32(String value)
   at AIWar.GameCommand.CreateFromStateString(String StateString)
  at AIWar.GameForm.ServerReceivingData(Int32 ConnectionIndex, Int32 FromPlayerNumer, StringMessage)

Some informations besides.

I'm Using a Dualcore intel with 1gb of RAM. My OS is Windows XP SP2 with most (if not all) available Updates for that SP, i had to install the SlimDX as a standalone, as the installer didn't do that by default.

I have added a savegame called Testsave.sav in this mail. Maybe someon of you can help me or tell me what i did wrong.

P.S. I have an Firewallrouter running, but the port from AI War is opened and it's the games default port.

[Revenantus]

Hi Mordred,

Welcome to the forum.

Thank you for attaching the error log. I've placed this issue on the critical list, so hopefully it will be resolved by the developer swiftly.

In the interim, You are welcome to try the latest prerelease version of the game to see if this fixes the issue, though I am uncertain if it will help. The prerelease also contains a number of other gameplay and graphical enhancements. To install, simply extract This file into your AI War directory.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards,
Revenantus

[Mordred]

Hello Revenantus,

that was quite a fast response.

But it seems, that i'm unable to use any prerelease version, since i bought the game via Impulse

on the other hand, i'm not even sure if this is a bug of the game, or a problem with my PC. I wondered that this PC hadnt installed the SimpleDX Engine automatically, since my other PC had no problems with that (but to be honest, i'm not sure if i may have installed SimpleDX before for another game...) Impulse didn't install the engine by itself...

It could although be any other missing driver or the graphics card. But the strange thing is, that this message occured only after several minutes of gameplay (that was about 40 minutes i think).

P.S. Please forgive me my bad english....i can understand it quite well, but i'm stupid in writing it

[Revenantus]

But it seems, that i'm unable to use any prerelease version, since i bought the game via Impulse

Impulse users are able to install the prereleases. Extract the zip archive into your Program Files/Indie Games/AI War directory, then launch the game from there. If you wish to return to the current Impulse version, uninstall the game then reinstall via Impulse.

on the other hand, i'm not even sure if this is a bug of the game, or a problem with my PC. I wondered that this PC hadnt installed the SimpleDX Engine automatically, since my other PC had no problems with that (but to be honest, i'm not sure if i may have installed SimpleDX before for another game...) Impulse didn't install the engine by itself...

It could although be any other missing driver or the graphics card. But the strange thing is, that this message occured only after several minutes of gameplay (that was about 40 minutes i think).

This isn't an issue we've seen before, so I'm not certain what the cause may be either. Hopefully we'll have a fix available for you soon, though you might fortunate in that the prerelease could resolve the problem. Note that both players will have to install the same prerelease to play multiplayer.

[Mordred]

Nevertheless a big thanks Revenantus.

I'll try the Patch tomorrow with my friend and i'll reply if the error occurs again, or if it doesnt.

But i gotta go  to bed now its about ~ 00:30 here in germany

[x4000]

Hopefully the patch will resolve this issue -- if not, it may be something to do with a foreign language copy of Windows, or differences between two different foreign language versions at any rate.  I'd need to see the UnhandledExceptions.txt file from the patch to really be able to pinpoint this if it still occurs, but as I say hopefully that will resolve it for you.  Thanks for your support of the game!

[Mordred]

Good Day X4000.

Thanks for your reply, i'll see what i can if i am back at home this evening. But: The last time i looked into unhandled exception there only was an message, that files from SimpleDX were missing after i installed the game and wanted to launch it for the frist time. Since i installed the SimpleDX there where no other messages logged.

I think i'll try that beta Patch at first this evening with my friend. Maybe there is no more error after installing it

P.S. Is it any problem to run the game on German Windows / with German programs?

The strange thing is, that no error occured on my other PC, but to be honest, i had no multiplayergame launched with that PC.

[Revenantus]

Thanks for your reply, i'll see what i can if i am back at home this evening. But: The last time i looked into unhandled exception there only was an message, that files from SimpleDX were missing after i installed the game and wanted to launch it for the frist time. Since i installed the SimpleDX there where no other messages logged.

When the game crashes it writes the error to the UnhandledErrors.txt file in the AI War directory, if the game still crashes after you've installed the patch then attaching the error file will be required for x4000 to resolve the issue.

P.S. Is it any problem to run the game on German Windows / with German programs?

Not in general so far as we're aware, we have a couple of German players playing multiplayer games without issue, but that certainly doesn't rule out the possibility of the issue being related to the particular version of Windows.

Hopefully the patch will resolve the issue!

[Volatar]

Does the version of AI War sold through impulse give the buyer a CD key? I bought my copy through GamersGate. Though GamersGate provides an installer, I just took the CD key I recived from them and plugged it into my already existing demo copy downloaded from elsewhere. If Impulse does provide a CD key a similar solution may help in this case. If not, trying a non-impulse copy of the demo, and seeing if it has the same issues may be a good troubleshooting idea.

If installing the beta update fixes your problem, please ignore me. 

[Echo35]

Does the version of AI War sold through impulse give the buyer a CD key? I bought my copy through GamersGate. Though GamersGate provides an installer, I just took the CD key I recived from them and plugged it into my already existing demo copy downloaded from elsewhere. If Impulse does provide a CD key a similar solution may help in this case. If not, trying a non-impulse copy of the demo, and seeing if it has the same issues may be a good troubleshooting idea.

If installing the beta update fixes your problem, please ignore me. 

It does. Right Click > View Registration. Though the Impulse version is identical in every way to the regular version except the "Check for Updates" button is grayed out, so this probably won't fix your issue, but it never hurts to try.

[Mordred]

Hi

When the game crashes it writes the error to the UnhandledErrors.txt file in the AI War directory, if the game still crashes after you've installed the patch then attaching the error file will be required for x4000 to resolve the issue.

The game does'nt really crash, the multiplayergame just "hangs" (the Units are frozen and wont move any more, the message "Waiting for players" occurs). I can exit the game without problems, i can make a new savegame and start a singleplayergame, after restarting the game i'm able to launch a new multiplayergame and load the savegame, to play it for ... maybe 5 more minutes, but the Multiplayergame wont move any further. That's the strange thing of it.


@Volatar
Yes, i already found the CD Key, but till now i had no clue to do it like you did maybe another possibilty to get it running.

[x4000]

Hi

When the game crashes it writes the error to the UnhandledErrors.txt file in the AI War directory, if the game still crashes after you've installed the patch then attaching the error file will be required for x4000 to resolve the issue.

The game does'nt really crash, the multiplayergame just "hangs" (the Units are frozen and wont move any more, the message "Waiting for players" occurs). I can exit the game without problems, i can make a new savegame and start a singleplayergame, after restarting the game i'm able to launch a new multiplayergame and load the savegame, to play it for ... maybe 5 more minutes, but the Multiplayergame wont move any further. That's the strange thing of it.

Okay, that is almost certainly fixed by the patch, then.  This is an issue with the older TCP method of networking in high-packet-loss situations.  The newer UDP solution should work just fine for you.

[Mordred]

Hi X4000

that sounds quite good. i'll see it this evening (hopefully my mate is online

[Mordred]

Hi People,

i tried the latest (Beta-)Patch today to play with my friend.

Well.....the Gamefreez didn't occur this time, but instead of that i got a total crash with reboot after about 45 minutes. The game startet to run slower and slower befor it crashed.

So.....i'll give the multiplayersession another try at the weekend, when i'm back @ home with my better PC (Quadcore machine, 4 gig of RAM) and the faster internetconnection (up to 1mbit upstream instead of 150 at max).

Don't worry, this PC didnd reboot for the first time today. Sometimes he does it....i think because he's sometimes getting to hot, but I'm not 100% sure

I'll let you know if the patch worked better on my other PC when i tried it out.


Untill than i just want to thank you for this Game. - I have to admit, that i havent played a full match till now, but i tried several starts and the tutorials and i kinda like the game. Maybe it's not the best with its graphics, but i think we all do know, that grapics alone won't make a good game

P.S. The graphics update (Buttons etc.) from the latest (Beta-)Patch are great! Much better than before

[Fiskbit]

Hi, Mordred. Seems you've not been active in a while, but if you visit again, please let us know if you're still having problems and we'll do what we can to help. I apologize for the troubles you've had, but I hope you've been enjoying the game despite them!