[AV8R]

So, after a messy situation that cost me a motherboard (in trying to diagnose my frame rate issue I removed my i5 processor to replace it with my Pentium and when I removed it, some of the excess Arctic Silver paste from the cooler fell into the CPU socket, rendering it socket useless. Trying to clean it just made it worse). I got a new motherboard and video card and I'm doing testing in FSO and my other oft-played games. All work perfectly, except for when I try to load some missions - including my FRED-created mission.

When I try to load my FREDed mission, FSO will crash to the desktop with the following error:

Malloc Failed!

ntdll.dll! KiFastSystemCallRet
kernel32.dll! WaitForSingleObjectEx + 67 bytes
kernel32.dll! WaitForSingleObject + 18 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! long SCP_DumpStack(class SCP_IDumpHandler *) + 354 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
fs2_open_3_7_2_RC5-DEBUG.exe! <no symbol>
kernel32.dll! BaseThreadInitThunk + 18 bytes
ntdll.dll! RtlInitializeExceptionChain + 239 bytes
ntdll.dll! RtlInitializeExceptionChain + 194 bytes

The video card is an NVidia GTX 750 Ti with latest driver running all default settings. I get this message running either the Debug or non-Debug EXE (3.7.2 RC5).

Log file is attached. Any ideas/suggestions?


[attachment deleted by nobody]

[AdmiralRalwood]

Malloc Failed!

How much RAM do you have?

[AV8R]

PC has 2GB DDR3 RAM

Vid card has 1GB GDDR5

EDIT: Complete specs:

Windows 7 SP1 x86
Intel i5 3350P (3.1Ghz)
2GB DDR3 @ 1600Mhz 9-9-9-24
NVidia GTX 750 Ti 1GB GDDR5 (PCIe 3.0)
Monitor resolution 1440x900 @ 32-bit

[AdmiralRalwood]

Delete/rename MV_Advanced.vp and see if it still crashes.

[AV8R]

This may be of help - after trying the Easy Setup selection "Default FS2 (All Features Off)" with success, I began from this point and starting adding features. What I discovered was a problem with 2 settings under Graphics:

1) Enable 3D Shockwaves
2) Enable Post Processing

The first one causes a CTD when enabled. The second causes the Malloc error posted above. With either setting unchecked, any mission loads and runs just fine - with no frame rate lag.

Does the MV_Advanced.vp file have something to do with this?

[AdmiralRalwood]

Does the MV_Advanced.vp file have something to do with this?

Huge textures; take up a lot of memory. Generally "Malloc Failed" means you ran out of memory to allocate (or, more accurately, there was no usable block of memory to satisfy the request; you can actually have lots of unused RAM and still not have usable blocks due to fragmentation, for instance).

Presumably, post-processing is increasing your memory usage enough that you're getting malloc failures.

[AV8R]

Thanks for your replies. When you mentioned lack of RAM, do you mean system RAM of video RAM?

Strange - this never happened before. My system is exactly the same as before (I even ordered the same MB) except for the video card - even though it has the same amount of VRAM as the last one (1GB). I never had this issue with the other video card (ATI FirePro 3D v4800) - with all other things being exactly the same. Hmmm.

What's your theory on why enabling 3D Shockwaves would cause a CTD?

[AdmiralRalwood]

Thanks for your replies. When you mentioned lack of RAM, do you mean system RAM of video RAM?
[...]
What's your theory on why enabling 3D Shockwaves would cause a CTD?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We have reached the limits of my understanding of this matter.

[AV8R]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well said.... well said.   

[AV8R]

Ok, further testing has revealed this (after once again using "Default FS2 (All Features Off)" and adding features many times and after many reboots):

Post processing is not the culprit, but 3D is. If anything is enabled that has 3D in the name (i.e.: 3D Shockwaves, 3D models, 3D warp) the game will give a Malloc error or black screen freeze and CTD during either initially loading the mission (before command briefing) or loading the actual briefing. Seems the video driver doesn't like the 3D settings. I tested loading missions with all FSO bells and whistles turned on under Graphics except 3D options and everything loads fine. If I include any one of the 3D options mentioned above, I get either a CTD or a Malloc error.

I'll continue to test to see if I can narrow down selections any further.

[jr2]

On a lark, you could run memtest86 or Windows memtest to make sure you don't have bad memory.  (Although, I would think you would also experience system instability if that were the case).

[AV8R]

On a lark, you could run memtest86 or Windows memtest to make sure you don't have bad memory.  (Although, I would think you would also experience system instability if that were the case).

You sir, are a semi-genius. I ran MemTest86 and sure enough, I was getting a few memory errors. Not having any before with the same memory, I popped out the RAM, switched memory slots and made sure I reseated them good. Reran MemTest and no more memory errors. Good call. Ok, that's taken care of.

Unfortunately, the 3D issue remains. Although now I've narrowed it down to 3 options:

1) Use 3D Shockwaves (causes black screen after loading mission and before command briefing appears - pressing ESC causes CTD, no error)
2) Use 3D models for ship selection (see below)
3) Use 3D models for weapons selection (see below)

Using "3D Warp" or "3D Radar" has no detrimental effect on loading or playing any mission.

Options 2 and 3 cause a serious crash that forces a system reset (3 errors will appear):

a) Malloc error
b) DWM.EXE App Error - The instruction at 0x679cdf4f referenced memory at 0x0000a568. The memory could not be read.
c) FS2_Open_3_7_2_RC5.exe App Error - The instruction at 0x004984ad referenced memory at 0x00000000. The memory could not be written.

After closing the dialog boxes I will be back to an unresponsive desktop (at 640x480 resolution) and unable to restart the PC, forcing a push of the reset button.

What's more confusing is that the crashes don't happen on every mission - if the mission is not complex (has few resources/ships) most will play ok. More complex missions (lots of resources/larger ships) seem to aggravate the issue.

FSO does not seem to like my choice of video card.   

[AV8R]

Well, after playing FSO for several hours with no crashes simply by not using any 3D effects in the launcher, I'm quite pleased with the new video card's performance. The FPS display shows no deviation from 75FPS at any point no matter what is going on in the game or what is on the screen at any given time - and not just for FSO but all of my other games as well. So I may have to give up a few features to make FSO reliable on my system, but it's a small price to pay for such good performance.

Is anyone else out there having any issues with NVidia-based cards - specifically the 700-series? If so, perhaps we can collaborate and help the community by trying to isolate the cause of the instability while using 3D effects in FSO. Maybe we can find a solution together.

If there's any specific testing one of the SCP programmers would like me to try, just let me know. 

Edit: Using the latest nightly build still produced crashes while attempting to use 3D effects.

[jr2]

You could perhaps check to be sure that all of the FS files were downloaded correctly.   Bad memory gives me the creeps; lots of things can start to go wrong.

Might also want to do

Code: [Select]

sfc  /scannow from an elevated command prompt to give your Windows system files an inspection as well (any Windows updates manage to install while using the bad memory?).  (Start, type cmd, right-click it, run as admin)

I think you could use QuickHash to do the job for FS2 (you'll just have to ask someone else to run it or a similar program and compare notes).

[AV8R]

Ok, I'll run the Windows system file check and make sure the OS is intact. I'm pretty confident about my FSO files since I downloaded them a while ago before I was having any issues and I have them backed up to my NAS for safekeeping. I corrected the memory issue thanks to your suggestion so now everything is running super stable on my system.

I wouldn't mind checking my hash values against someone else's. Maybe that would be a good post in the wiki so people would have a reference to check against. Just update the wiki when new versions are released.

The only issue I still have, which I think is video driver related, is with the 3D effects in FSO. I did a search on the forum because I could have sworn I saw a post from someone a few weeks ago about issues with an NVidia GTX 700-series video card - but now I can't find it. Does anyone remember seeing this?

[jr2]

I PMmed Goober, and he said re-running the FSO Installer will double-check the hashes of the FSO files, so go ahead and try that.  (I'm suspicious that those 3D- files you mentioned got corrupted somehow).

It could also be something overriding those files (such as, you put in custom files or something and forgot), so you could take a look and see if there are any non-vp files in your directories.

[AV8R]

Ok, I'll re-download tonight just to be safe. The Windows system file check found nothing out of place, so that checks out.

As far as any other mods or files in other folders, I run FSO pretty lean (only the minimum files I need to get the maximum benefit). I run all of the 2014 VPs at default with visual tweaking only done in the Launcher 5.5g - which is all just typical stuff (nothing changed externally by adding files in any of the DATA folders anywhere). In the past when I downloaded updated VPs or ports I would delete the old folders and download all files fresh after creating a fresh VP folder - I'm super careful about this - as I said, I want the maximum benefit from the minimum number of files and no reconfiguration. I NEVER change what's been downloaded.

Thanks again, and I'll let you know how the download comparison goes.

[Macfie]

You said you are using Launcher 5.5g.
That may be your problem.
Try downloading and using the wxlauncher-0.9.4

[AV8R]

Download comparison complete. Other than missing some special feature files (.OGG movies, a music file for FSPort and such) everything that matters - all of the VP files were hash-confirmed. No broken or corrupt files. The wxLauncher made no difference either - I even eliminated the launchers and started RC5 with a batch file and all of the pertinent switches (which I stole from the launcher.ini file). FSO never gives me an issue starting up, no matter what options I choose from the launcher - it's loading missions that sometimes blows up depending on which options (switches) I choose from the loader - especially 3D options, as stated above.

I actually tried loading a bunch of missions in both FSO and FSPort with all bells and whistles turned on in the launchers and found that 99% load with no issues (I randomly selected them based on what kind/how many ship were in each mission - the more the merrier). Most loaded and played just fine (this is with all options turned on, including 3D options). Some, like Bearbaiting, High Noon and Their Finest Hour will sometimes CTD before the command briefing if the 3D effects are enabled in the launcher. This is also true of my FREDed mission which will ALWAYS crash if 3D Shockwaves are enabled and give a memory error if 3D models are enabled.

I don't know what these missions have in common, other than they all feature a Sathanas. Interestingly, I had no trouble loading any FSPort missions, even those with multiple capital ships and the Lucifier (and this is with all 3D effects turned on in the launcher; 3D Shockwaves, 3D models, etc).

Is there anything you would have me try next?

Edit: BTW, the new FSOInstaller is the bomb-diggity....

[jr2]

Do missions with the Sathy crash with 3D on when using 2012 MVPs?  If so, what about previous MVPs?  No MVPs? (Wondering if there's a hard to find bug with the Sathy model??)