Hard Light Productions Forums

General FreeSpace => FreeSpace & FreeSpace Open Support => Topic started by: The E on June 13, 2011, 11:52:24 am

Title: Lore of the Support Ninja II: The debug_filter.cfg of DREAD
Post by: The E on June 13, 2011, 11:52:24 am

One day, the apprentice came to the Ninja Master, seeking enlightenment once more.
"Master," he said, "I have studied the log according to the ancient scriptures, and have learned much. But still there are nuances that escape me, crashes that remain unsolved, errors that I cannot explain. How can this humble student divine more information from the log?".
For a moment, the Master sat in silence. Then, with the slightest move of his index finger, he commanded one of his tigers to bring forth a tome of ancient knowledge. "Read, and be enlightened," he said. "May you find all the information you need."

This is what the apprentice read:

Hello, and welcome. We at Logomatic Industries are glad that you chose to invest in a LOGOTRON 3000 system to fill your logging requirements for <PRODUCT NAME HERE>. To help you customize the LOGOTRON 3000's output to suit your requirements, a filtering facility has been added for your convenience.

When starting the debug executable, a file named "debug_filter.cfg" will be looked for in %APPDATA%\HardLightProductions\FreeSpaceOpen\data (if you're on windows). If it is not found, only "General" debug info will be displayed. If the file exists, but is empty, all options are treated as being "on", and the exe will automatically add options as it encounters them during execution. Using this file, you can add more debug output options. This is what it looks like:

Code: [Select]

+General
-Parse
-OpenAL
+SHADER-DEBUG
+Error
-BmpMan
-Paging
-Network
-Sandeep
-BmpFastLoad
-Sound
-Maps
-Model
+SEXP
+Warning
-wash
-AB TRAIL
-Weapons
-BmpInfo
-BMP DEBUG
-Alan
-lethality
-Joystick
-Particles
-AI
-ModelAnim
-Messaging
-Beam
+Physics
+allender
+CSG
+Fred routing
+EVENTMUSIC
+OpenGL
+missionlog
+Jim
+lightning

Options are always preceded by a "+" or "-", with "-" indicating that a given category will be filtered out.

Here's a breakdown of the various options, and what they signify:

• General: This option prints all messages that aren't assigned to any particular filter.
• Parse: When this option is enabled, all bits of text parsed by the engine during the tbl and mission parsing stages will be printed to the log. Use only when necessary, and never when reporting an engine bug or trying to get troubleshooting support, unless told to do so, as this will make logs basically unreadable.
• OpenAL: Displays error messages and information generated by the OpenAL driver.
• SHADER-DEBUG: Displays messages that get generated during Shader compilation. Useful when writing shaders.
• Error: Causes all Error messages to be copied to the log. Rather redundant.
• Bmpman: Displays status messages generated by the bitmap manager
• Paging: Prints information regarding whether assets are loaded from disk or paged in from system memory
• Network: Messages generated by the netcode
• Sandeep: Messages regarding joystick support
• BmpFastLoad: Status messages from the bitmap manager regarding access to already loaded bitmaps
• Sound: More detailed status messages from the sound subsystem
• Maps: Error messages for optional textures that haven't been found
• Model: More detailed information for some model file bugs
• Sexp: Diagnostic messages from the sexp system
• Warning: As "Error" above, copies warning messages to the log
• wash: Messages pertaining to engine wash effects
• AB TRAIL: Messages when afterburner trails are in use
• Weapons: Shows when a weapon is not loaded
• BmpInfo: Not used currently
• BMP DEBUG: Memory usage information from the bitmap manager
• Alan: Various debug messages. Don't ask me about the reasoning, it's a :v: original
• lethality: How much danger the player is in currently
• Joystick: Various status messages for force feedback
• Particles: Displays the max number of particles used per frame
• AI: AI status messages
• ModelAnim: Information about animated submodels and triggers
• Messaging: Information about ingame messages
• Beam: Beam weapon status info
• Physics: Lists physics effects
• allender: Various debug messages used by Mark Allender
• CSG: (Antipodes 8 builds only) Information for the new pilot files
• Fred routing: FRED-specific status messages
• EVENTMUSIC: Messages regarding the dynamic soundtrack system
• OpenGL: OpenGL status messages
• Jim: Weapon detonation info
• lightning: Information about lightning effects