[dragonsniper]

I've tried to use build 3.6.10 debug of FreeSpace open and it's been giving me a lot of errors when i try to open a custom made mission. The other normal 3.6.10 build runs the missions perfectly but the debug version keeps crashing when I try. Here is one of the errors (most of them are different.)

Warning: Couldn't fix up turret indices in spline path

Model: cruiser01.pof
Path: $path02
Vertex: 1
Turret model id: 13

This probably means that the turret was not specified on the ship table(s).
File: Ship.cpp
Line: 9378

Call stack:
---------------------------------------------------------
parse_create_object_sub()   parse_create_object()   mission_parse_maybe_create_parse_object()   post_prcess_ships_wings()   post_process_mission()   parse_mission()   parse_main() 
mission_load()   game_start_mission()   game_enter_state()   gameseq_set_state()   game_process_event()   gameseq_process_events()   game_main()
WinMain()-------------------------------------------------------


Any help with this would be nice.

[chief1983]

There are many 3.6.10 development builds currently, there is no final one yet.  Could  you please clarify which you are using, and if it's not the latest Nightly build, go to the Nightly Builds forum and grab the latest one for your OS?  However based on your error, it sounds like the mission doesn't quite match the data you're using.  Debug builds complain when regular ones don't for just that reason, they're for debugging.  Just because the regular doesn't complain doesn't mean there's something wrong with the debug build, it usually means there's something wrong with the data.  If the mission is the only custom data it's probably the mission that needs to be fixed.

[dragonsniper]

If the file version is what you want, it's 1.03.01

I used Turey's (amazing) downloader and took what it gave me. It's not a HUGE deal if I can't use it (I never really do,) it's just I can't say that such and such a mission is compatible with debug until it's fixed.

[karajorma]

That particular bug is a model error. You can click no to ignore it and continue most likely.

[Jeff Vader]

Uh... are you trying to play with a debug build for the sake of playing with a debug build? I can't seem to figure out why you'd do that. Debug builds are meant for tracking bugs and are also useful whenever one needs to provide some information about his FreeSpace installation during tech support. But they're not meant to be used with casual FS playing.

[dragonsniper]

Uh... are you trying to play with a debug build for the sake of playing with a debug build? I can't seem to figure out why you'd do that. Debug builds are meant for tracking bugs and are also useful whenever one needs to provide some information about his FreeSpace installation during tech support. But they're not meant to be used with casual FS playing.

I'm not using it for casual playing, I'm just wondering what's wrong with it. It's just a weird thing that I would like an answer to.

[Jeff Vader]

Well, as I tried to explain, debug builds in general are meant for bughunting. They often pick up bugs and puke out errors (like this model error you have) that do not affect actual gameplay in any way. It's just a tool for people who want to track down bugs. Or, as I also sais, it is useful during tech support since it can produce fs2_open.log files which contain a lot of useful data that we can use when solving problems.

No one plays FreeSpace with a debug build. They all play with the normal builds.

[dragonsniper]

Thanks for the help.

NOTE: I've never used the debug build for normal play. I guess if I did, I would be the first.

[Jeff Vader]

And you'd experience a lot of errors. It is good to get this over with now so you won't panic if you, for some reason, decide to play with a debug build in future.

[chief1983]

Well, if you get errors from a debug build, that means there is a bug, in something, in this case it appears to be a model.  There may not be a warning about it in a regular build, but that's not to say the bug won't lead to unpredictable behavior.  Many times debug errors can lead to things not being parsed as you would expect, strange behavior from models, etc.  If the turrets don't match up between a model and a table, then the table info could behave unpredictably.  Ignoring debug messages when developing a mod is just asking for trouble later on and could create a lot of headache.  But it's right that it's not normal to simply play casually with a debug build.  Whoever is making the custom tables, missions, etc should probably test with one though.

[dragonsniper]

Thanks