Crash in Options menu in alpha 2557

**Gold Knight** · December 25th, 2021, 10:17

Just installed Alpha 2557 and I'm getting a hard crash when I try to alter any of the sliders in the options screen via the main menu.

I've also noticed a usability issue; when I try to alter the camera angle (via CTRL + Q/E) while digging, the CTRL modifier enlarges the selection / digging tool instead of rotating the camera and ruins my tagged tiles. A solution to this might be to lock the tool size when the user first presses the left mouse button, rather than allowing CTRL to alter the tool size while digging. This would then be consistent with the tag / untag behaviour, which remains locked for the duration the mouse button is held down depending on whether the user initially clicked a tagged or untagged tile.

After further playing around with the CTRL modifier, it's trickier than I thought. It's impossible to move the camera around (via WASD) with the enlarged tool active (but not yet digging), due to the CTRL modifier altering the camera's behaviour. And while it is apparent that the camera is not affected by the modifier while digging, it is still not enough if users just want to move the camera to an area without tagging / untagging in the process. There is also a single frame when toggling CTRL - while digging - where the camera rotation input is triggered for a single frame. To observe this behaviour, while digging (the left mouse button is held), hold down any of the WASD keys to move the camera and toggle CTRL on and off.

Because there are so many conflicts here, I think it would be best to just remap the tool size adjustment behaviour to another key. I'm thinking the default mapping of the mouse's scroll wheel could be better used to alter the tool size, instead of zooming the camera. The CTRL + W/S combination can already be used for zooming the camera, plus it is a lot more likely that users will adjust the tool size than the camera zoom level. Simply swapping CTRL + mouse wheel with mouse wheel so that CTRL instead zooms the camera would likely work well. This would also better allow the tool size to persist, rather than being lost when toggling CTRL as it currently behaves.

**YourMaster** · December 25th, 2021, 11:34

Originally Posted by Gold Knight

Just installed Alpha 2557 and I'm getting a hard crash when I try to alter any of the sliders in the options screen via the main menu.

Could you first share your keeperfx.log, and then try to delete your \save\settings.dat and see if that fixes the crash?

Originally Posted by Gold Knight

I've also noticed a usability issue; when I try to alter the camera angle (via CTRL + Q/E) while digging, the CTRL modifier enlarges the selection / digging tool instead of rotating the camera and ruins my tagged tiles. A solution to this might be to lock the tool size when the user first presses the left mouse button, rather than allowing CTRL to alter the tool size while digging. This would then be consistent with the tag / untag behaviour, which remains locked for the duration the mouse button is held down depending on whether the user initially clicked a tagged or untagged tile.

After further playing around with the CTRL modifier, it's trickier than I thought. It's impossible to move the camera around (via WASD) with the enlarged tool active (but not yet digging), due to the CTRL modifier altering the camera's behaviour. And while it is apparent that the camera is not affected by the modifier while digging, it is still not enough if users just want to move the camera to an area without tagging / untagging in the process. There is also a single frame when toggling CTRL - while digging - where the camera rotation input is triggered for a single frame. To observe this behaviour, while digging (the left mouse button is held), hold down any of the WASD keys to move the camera and toggle CTRL on and off.

Because there are so many conflicts here, I think it would be best to just remap the tool size adjustment behaviour to another key. I'm thinking the default mapping of the mouse's scroll wheel could be better used to alter the tool size, instead of zooming the camera. The CTRL + W/S combination can already be used for zooming the camera, plus it is a lot more likely that users will adjust the tool size than the camera zoom level. Simply swapping CTRL + mouse wheel with mouse wheel so that CTRL instead zooms the camera would likely work well. This would also better allow the tool size to persist, rather than being lost when toggling CTRL as it currently behaves.

Yes, I found it hard to find an optimal solution, since there's only so many modifier keys. So yes, we now prioritize the camera, and only when into a specific mode do we keep on that mode. We've listed an issue already to at some point fully refactor all the input related code, but truth be told it's on a low burner.
If you find a key definition you think works better than the current default, be sure to share it though.
You seem to not have the default controls already though, Ctrl+Q/E is not default.

**Gold Knight** · December 25th, 2021, 13:15

Originally Posted by YourMaster

Could you first share your keeperfx.log, and then try to delete your \save\settings.dat and see if that fixes the crash?

The game crashes every time, whether I delete the settings.dat file or not. Here is the log file from after I deleted the settings:

Code:

Dungeon Keeper FX ver 0.4.8.2557 Alpha (standard release)
LOG CREATED  @ 00:09:50  26-12-2021

Sync: LbMouseChangeMoveRatio: New ratio 256x256
Sync: CPU GenuineIntel type 0 family 6 model 167 stepping 1 features bfebfbff
Sync: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11700F @ 2.50GHz
Sync: Operating System: Windows NT 10.0.19042
Sync: PhysicalMemory 32
Sync: Memory-demanding features enabled.
Sync: LbScreenSetup: Mode 640x480x32 setup succeeded
Sync: Moon phase 0.4039
Sync: LbScreenSetup: Mode 640x480x32 setup succeeded
LbDataFree: freeing "*PALETTE"...done
LbDataFree: freeing "*SCRATCH"...done
Sync: LbMouseChangeMoveRatio: New ratio 128x128
Sync: GraphicsHeap Size 8388608
Sync: SoundHeap Size 8388608
Sync: init_sound_heap_two_banks: Got sound buffer of 8351456 bytes, samples in banks: 1035,126
Loaded 141 object types
Loaded 141 object types
Sync: Pentium Pro polygon rendering on
Sync: setup_game: Speech recognition disabled: KeeperSpeech module not found
Warning: Couldn't load Map Pack "legacy.cfg", no .LIF files could be found.
LbDataFree: freeing "data/pointer64.dat"...done
LbDataFree: freeing "data/pointer64.tab"...done
Sync: LbScreenSetup: Mode 640x480x32 setup succeeded
Sync: LbMouseChangeMoveRatio: New ratio 256x256
Sync: get_startup_menu_state: Standard startup state selected
Sync: Frontend state change from 0 into 1
Sync: Created menu ID 18 at slot 0, pos (0,0) size (640,480)
Sync: Frontend state change from 1 into 27
Sync: Created menu ID 39 at slot 0, pos (0,0) size (640,480)
=== Crash ===

Originally Posted by YourMaster

Yes, I found it hard to find an optimal solution, since there's only so many modifier keys. So yes, we now prioritize the camera, and only when into a specific mode do we keep on that mode. We've listed an issue already to at some point fully refactor all the input related code, but truth be told it's on a low burner.
If you find a key definition you think works better than the current default, be sure to share it though.
You seem to not have the default controls already though, Ctrl+Q/E is not default.

Hmm, not sure why I wrote Q/E instead of A/D. Though perhaps Q/E would be better suited to rotating the camera instead of CTRL + A/D? This is a common configuration in other games.

**YourMaster** · December 25th, 2021, 13:44

Could you try configuring the menu resolution of your game to your native windows resolution? So, not the 640x480x32 you have now, but perhaps something like 1920x1080x32.
Also, a common reason why the game crashes for people is if they put the 0.4.9 Alpha version over an 0.4.8 or older installation file, might this be the issue for you too?

**Gold Knight** · December 25th, 2021, 14:18

Originally Posted by YourMaster

Could you try configuring the menu resolution of your game to your native windows resolution? So, not the 640x480x32 you have now, but perhaps something like 1920x1080x32.
Also, a common reason why the game crashes for people is if they put the 0.4.9 Alpha version over an 0.4.8 or older installation file, might this be the issue for you too?

I changed the menu resolution to match my monitor resolution but to no effect - the crash still occurs. The installation is entirely standalone and not overwriting a previous version (extracted 2215 to a new directory, imported DK Gold data via the launcher, then extracted the 2557 patch into the same directory).

**YourMaster** · December 25th, 2021, 15:12

Do you have a new log for me then?

And does it only crash in the menu, or can't you play either? Did you install it to a folder with proper write access, so not on your desktop or something?

**Gold Knight** · December 25th, 2021, 15:26

Originally Posted by YourMaster

Do you have a new log for me then?

And does it only crash in the menu, or can't you play either? Did you install it to a folder with proper write access, so not on your desktop or something?

I can play the game fine - it only crashes when I try to drag one of the sliders in the main menu options screen. The game is installed in a directory adjacent to where I have 0.48, with the same permissions.

New log:

Code:

Dungeon Keeper FX ver 0.4.8.2557 Alpha (standard release)
LOG CREATED  @ 02:23:31  26-12-2021

Sync: LbMouseChangeMoveRatio: New ratio 256x256
Sync: CPU GenuineIntel type 0 family 6 model 167 stepping 1 features bfebfbff
Sync: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11700F @ 2.50GHz
Sync: Operating System: Windows NT 10.0.19042
Sync: PhysicalMemory 32
Sync: Memory-demanding features enabled.
Sync: LbScreenSetup: Mode 1920x1200x32 setup succeeded
Sync: Moon phase 0.4102
Sync: InitializeMusicPlayer: Music player using folder initialized
Sync: LbScreenSetup: Mode 640x480x32 setup succeeded
LbDataFree: freeing "*PALETTE"...done
LbDataFree: freeing "*SCRATCH"...done
Sync: LbMouseChangeMoveRatio: New ratio 128x128
Sync: GraphicsHeap Size 8388608
Sync: SoundHeap Size 8388608
Sync: init_sound_heap_two_banks: Got sound buffer of 8351456 bytes, samples in banks: 1035,126
Loaded 141 object types
Loaded 141 object types
Sync: Pentium Pro polygon rendering on
Sync: SetMusicPlayerVolume: Music volume set: 29
Sync: setup_game: Speech recognition disabled: KeeperSpeech module not found
Warning: Couldn't load Map Pack "legacy.cfg", no .LIF files could be found.
LbDataFree: freeing "data/pointer64.dat"...done
LbDataFree: freeing "data/pointer64.tab"...done
Sync: LbScreenSetup: Mode 1920x1200x32 setup succeeded
Sync: LbMouseChangeMoveRatio: New ratio 768x768
Sync: get_startup_menu_state: Standard startup state selected
Sync: Frontend state change from 0 into 1
Sync: Created menu ID 18 at slot 0, pos (160,0) size (1600,1200)
Sync: Frontend state change from 1 into 27
Sync: Created menu ID 39 at slot 0, pos (160,0) size (1600,1200)
=== Crash ===

**YourMaster** · December 25th, 2021, 20:31

Ok, I'll have a think, but at the moment I have no idea. There have been no changes to the menu in ages and ages. Did you first install this alpha, or did you have other 0.4.9 alpha's before that did not crash here?

**Gold Knight** · December 26th, 2021, 01:22

Originally Posted by YourMaster

Ok, I'll have a think, but at the moment I have no idea. There have been no changes to the menu in ages and ages. Did you first install this alpha, or did you have other 0.4.9 alpha's before that did not crash here?

I just tried 0.48 and the slider options work fine, so something has changed between then and now. I wonder if changes such as this one below would have any effect?

Originally Posted by YourMaster

Scrollbars can now be dragged

For now I will try extracting 2215 without applying patch 2557 and see if the crash still occurs.

Update: So after extracting 2215 and applying each patch incrementally, it looks like the crash only occurs with patch 2557.

Spoiler

**YourMaster** · December 26th, 2021, 09:16

Originally Posted by Gold Knight

I just tried 0.48 and the slider options work fine, so something has changed between then and now. I wonder if changes such as this one below would have any effect?

For now I will try extracting 2215 without applying patch 2557 and see if the crash still occurs.

Update: So after extracting 2215 and applying each patch incrementally, it looks like the crash only occurs with patch 2557.

Spoiler

So, the crash is new for you in the latest alpha. Well, let me rephrase, we have not made any conscience choice to the menu there at all, just look at the changelog of the latest alpha. Would you be willing to narrow it down to the specific version it started?
You can make a github account (free) and download any version from here: https://github.com/dkfans/keeperfx/a...flows/Push.yml

Say, open 'Light properties of Objects configurable' and scroll down, to see keeperfx-0_4_8_2551_Alpha-patch.

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