SERIOUS stability issues with GZ / Ultimate Doom Builder

[Szuran]

I started experiecing HUGE stability problems with GZ Doom Builder Bugfix and Ultimate Doom Builder. It either freezes or closes without notification. I believe this is caused mostly by 3D floors. I have about 10 different 3D floors in the level, and the problems started when I added maybe the last 3. Is there anything I can do to increase stability?

[Nevander]

Ten 3D floors is nothing. That should not cause any such issues. First thing to try is restart your PC.

[elend]

This can also be caused by overlapping linedefs and vertices. Check out the map analysis for overlapping vertices and overlapping linedefs. There's a bunch of other stuff you can check, too but I'd un-check everything first and focus on this.

[Kappes Buur]

What @Nevander and @elend said.

10 3D floors is nothing to be concerned about, unless your computer is not up to snuff.

 

 

The first step is always running F4 to find a possible error in the map structure.

[Szuran]

1 hour ago, Kappes Buur said:

What @Nevander and @elend said.

10 3D floors is nothing to be concerned about, unless your computer is not up to snuff.

 

 

The first step is always running F4 to find a possible error in the map structure.

Will do, thanks. And by the way, how is this even possible? I thought you can't have more than one 3D floor on the same vertical plane.

[Szuran]

I took care of all the map errors, the F4 analysis shows 0, but it still crashes. Can it be caused by insufficient memory? I am using a crusty old laptop after all.

EDIT: or should I update the framework..? I'm not into that much into computers.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Szuran

[Kappes Buur]

1 hour ago, Szuran said:

I am using a crusty old laptop after all.

 

For UDB a relatively fast CPU and a graphics adapter capable to run at least OpenGL 3.3 is a necessity.

 

1 hour ago, Szuran said:

EDIT: or should I update the framework..? I'm not into that much into computers.

 

See The UDB webpage for Prerequisites .

GZDBBF still used DirectX 9.0.

 

1 hour ago, Szuran said:

And by the way, how is this even possible?

 

Just add more 3D control sectors for a specific sector but with different heights.

 

[Szuran]

5 minutes ago, Kappes Buur said:

Just add more 3D control sectors for a specific sector but with different heights.

 

Thanks, I'll revert to some older version of DB.

As for the floors... That's brilliant!

[Maggle]

3 hours ago, Kappes Buur said:

What @Nevander and @elend said.

10 3D floors is nothing to be concerned about, unless your computer is not up to snuff.

 

 

The first step is always running F4 to find a possible error in the map structure.

Daaaamn. It's still surreal to me what can be done in Doom nowadays.

[Bauul]

Can you tell us more about when the crash occurs? Are you in Visual Mode or normal mode? Are you trying to do something specific, or does it just happen randomly?

 

I have very occasionally come across maps that can cause UDB to frequently crash by looking in a rough location in Visual Mode. I never quite worked out why, but it always seemed to be after a lot of complex sector and 3D Floor work. Copying and pasting the map to a new file helped fix it.

[Szuran]

 

35 minutes ago, Bauul said:

Can you tell us more about when the crash occurs? Are you in Visual Mode or normal mode? Are you trying to do something specific, or does it just happen randomly?

 

Only in visual mode. Usually when I am nearby a slope.

[Bridgeburner56]

It's definitely not caused by 3d floors. I'm at 1250 in my current map
 

Spoiler

Behold my field of control sectors and see that the harvest is bountiful

 

[Kappes Buur]

13 hours ago, Szuran said:

I am using a crusty old laptop after all.

 

What laptop are you using?

 

I just dug out my 12 year old laptop (Acer Aspire 6920G) just to see if it could run UDB.

Response time to just about any mouseclick is anywhere from 5 to 20 secs. :)

 

 

The graphics adapter is capable of running OpenGL 3.3, but when in Preview Mode 

performance is not great, 6fps. But at least it is usable for editing maps.

[Szuran]

A Win7 Lenovo with 4GB Ram, i5-5200U 2.20 GHz and some Radeon inside @Kappes Buur. It has an SSD, so it works quite well for most stuff I need it for.

[Bauul]

Did you manage to work out if this happens when you're in proximity to a specific part of the map, or is it just anywhere?

 

If it's a specific part of the map, if you copy and paste that section to a new map, does it still happen?

 

And if it does, can you share that section with us?

[Szuran]

I'm pretty sure it's a memory issue. It happens all around the map but mostly when I switch to visual mode without waiting for a couple of seconds. It freezes and when I open task manager, it shows 95% memory use.

[Szuran]

@Kappes Buur and @Bauul, still happening, but once it 'recovered' from a freeze and showed me this:

 

    Unable to make file image. BadImageFormatException: DevIL error: IL_LIB_PNG_ERROR
    Unable to make file image. BadImageFormatException: Incorrect format of .exe or .dll.

 

What do you think?

[boris]

If you get that error in UDB you're using an ancient version and should update ASAP.

[Szuran]

20 minutes ago, boris said:

If you get that error in UDB you're using an ancient version and should update ASAP.

Can you give me the link to the correct version? I've already tried on 3...

[boris]

https://devbuilds.drdteam.org/ultimatedoombuilder/

 

The topmost one. At the time of this writing that's r3530.

[Bauul]

I'd suggest doing a fresh install if the Auto Updater wasn't working for you too. That got overhauled a few versions back and needs replacing with the version in the download zip.

[Kappes Buur]

It might be worth mentioning that, when you reinstall the editor to recover from some problem, to also delete GZBuilder.cfg beforehand. It can be found in C:\Users\computername\AppData\Local\Doom Builder and let the editor regenerate a new cfg file.

 

Since I always install a new editor version manually (Check for updates at startup is unchecked)

 

 

I do not know if the settings in the cfg files for each editor are updated during an automatic update.

 

While I remember it, another possible cause for your problem could be the setting for View Distance. The higher that number, the more 'image' the CPU has to process. With not enough RAM to work with, that bottleneck could be the culprit. I would try several distances to see which works best for you.

[Szuran]

I did what you advised: uninstalled UDB, removed every trace of it, downloaded and installed the latest version (which requried me to update the framework).

 

Zero crashes since then!

 

Many thanks to everyone who replied here.