Is it Possible to Overload the Engine?

[PFunk 198]

I'm working on the Operation Darius reboot (a little at a time) and I'm noticing I'm getting a LOT of CTDs, but usually only well into the mission and with a lot of activity going on.  Is it graphics settings?  It is the number of air units I have?  What's the right number of air units to have in play at any one given time?

Thanks.

[+daddyairplanes 10,248]

not knowing that specific answer, but using basic problem solving

are you adding alot to it without taking out?

try comparing it to other mega campaigns like NF5,  see how many it has vs Darius

for the viewers at home, what are your graphics settings typically when this happens?

is the activity close to the ground or at altitude (thinking along the lines of the slowdowns in SF2NA's Iceland)?

sorry, more questions when you want answers but hopefully it gets ya closer to an answer

[PFunk 198]

No, no.  That helps outline some possible culprits.

[+Crusader 2,101]

Too many hi-poly lods of aircraft and ground objects .. + hi-res textures .. there will be a point where the game goes CTD.

You can test it the easy way by temporarily moving out aircraft and GO's from the folders, this should reduce or eliminate CTDs

[+yakarov79 11,105]

CTD might be a mystery sometimes. Not so long ago I've made SEAD mission in an editor. The main strike was carried out by B-1B. I run scenario 7 times always somewhere i had CTD...each time i was checking in editor what is wrong..going back to aircraft folder ..to check maybe I eft some bug... 8th attempt I've changed loadout for B-1 to [iron|strike] - setting - meaning a standard bunch of mk82...Then I flew SEAD..B-1 smashed factory...nothing happened.  After all I've checked loadout that was 'causing ' CTD -  weapon - GATORS were f***d in ini file. 

1 hour ago, Crusader said:

Too many hi-poly lods of aircraft and ground objects .. + hi-res textures .. there will be a point where the game goes CTD.

And this sometimes also occurs.

[+daddyairplanes 10,248]

[+dtmdragon 2,704]

The 2048 x 2048 and 4096 x 4096 textures in some of the newer mods out seem to be crashing my game when flying custom campaigns with lots of these aircraft or even ships involved. I reduce all my textures of this size to 1536 x 1536. That seems to be the sweet spot between performance and keeping the high level of detail on the skins of fighter/ bomber sized aircraft. Bump and spectacular textures don't need to be any bigger than 1024 x 1024 even with 1536 size skin textures.

[+Menrva 4,201]

I have reason to believe it could be mostly due to the .ini files. Surely a weak PC will have trouble to render such high-res stuff, but I had numerous CTDs at loading, especially with some custom terrains. Turns out that it could be either the terrain's .ini files, or the ground objects' .ini files, etc.

Someone a lot of time ago posted a thread about using Microsoft Sysinternals Suite to find the exact reason of CTDs. Not really user-friendly, but it seemed to work. I'll search for it and post the link if I am successful.

EDIT: Here's the link: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/90077-sf2-loading-crashes/?tab=comments#comment-728035

I hope you can find it useful, PFunk! It talks about CTDs during loading, but the same approach applies to in-game crashes.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Menrva

[Wilches 1,172]

Inside the FLGHTENGINE.INI set this parameters:

[LowDetailOption]
HorizonDistance=30000.0
DetailMeshSize=2
DetailLevel=0
WaterEffect=0
NoiseTexture=0
MaxTextureRes=1024 <--------

[MedDetailOption]
HorizonDistance=42000.0
DetailMeshSize=4
DetailLevel=1
WaterEffect=1
NoiseTexture=0
MaxTextureRes=2048 <--------

[HighDetailOption]
HorizonDistance=50000.0
DetailMeshSize=12
DetailLevel=2
WaterEffect=2
NoiseTexture=1
MaxTextureRes=0 <--------

[UnlimitedDetailOption]
HorizonDistance=62000.0
DetailMeshSize=18
DetailLevel=2
WaterEffect=2
NoiseTexture=1
MaxTextureRes=-1 <--------

[PFunk 198]

It's like trying to find an electrical short in a classic car that you're in the middle of restoring.  I get about 20 minutes into a mission in campaign mode and BAM.

[+yakarov79 11,105]

which terrain are you using?

 

Im having similar problems on a single mission on latest Kamchatka. Not always...but at time to time...when usually all goes well...game blacks out...and freeze....Am blaming some ini file perhaps in terrain.

[+Sundowner 4,837]

Check the windows error logs, they usually point to the area where you need to start looking, terrain, missile, etc etc.

 

[PFunk 198]

Found the error.  It's definitely something wrong with the terrain engine.

Faulting application name: StrikeFighters2 NorthAtlantic.exe, version: 13.7.5.35, time stamp: 0x51d221e5
Faulting module name: TerrainEngine.dll, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x51d21fa0
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000baa4
Faulting process id: 0x28f8
Faulting application start time: 0x01d3ebbff683301d
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\ThirdWire\Strike Fighters 2\StrikeFighters2 NorthAtlantic.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\ThirdWire\Strike Fighters 2\Core\TerrainEngine.dll
Report Id: 7305208f-1043-40c9-96f1-e925a6194652
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

Does this mean I need to uninstall SF2 and reinstall it?

[+Menrva 4,201]

26 minutes ago, PFunk said:

Found the error.  It's definitely something wrong with the terrain engine.

Faulting application name: StrikeFighters2 NorthAtlantic.exe, version: 13.7.5.35, time stamp: 0x51d221e5
Faulting module name: TerrainEngine.dll, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x51d21fa0
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000baa4
Faulting process id: 0x28f8
Faulting application start time: 0x01d3ebbff683301d
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\ThirdWire\Strike Fighters 2\StrikeFighters2 NorthAtlantic.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\ThirdWire\Strike Fighters 2\Core\TerrainEngine.dll
Report Id: 7305208f-1043-40c9-96f1-e925a6194652
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

Does this mean I need to uninstall SF2 and reinstall it?

Could also be a bug TK never bothered to fix. Or it could be a fault exception caused by the custom terrain you're using, which seems more probable to me. Of course it points to the TerrainEngine.DLL, the terrain's working logic is in that library. Which terrain are you using? In some custom terrains I made, I had to limit mission types for instance, or they would CTD (a lot of reasons, missing large airbases for bombers, no bombers spawn for one side during Escort or Intercept missions, etc.)

Edited May 14, 2018 by Menrva

[PFunk 198]

I literally just dumped the whole thing and I'm starting over from scratch.

[+Menrva 4,201]

11 hours ago, PFunk said:

I literally just dumped the whole thing and I'm starting over from scratch.

It's a pity. The CTD's cause might be a "stupid" one. For anything that's terrain related, I'm here to help! Just let me know.

[PFunk 198]

Thanks.

I’ve come to the conclusion that modern warfare simply just doesn’t work well in the SF2 environment; you go past about 1993, you’re just playing whack-a-mole with the limits of the engine.

I’m looking at the existing terrains to see what we have.

[+dtmdragon 2,704]

Agreed, the Desert Storm, Falklands, KAW and Vietnam expansion are where this game is at its best. Particularly with air to air aircraft.

[Stratos 3,192]

8 hours ago, PFunk said:

Thanks.

I’ve come to the conclusion that modern warfare simply just doesn’t work well in the SF2 environment; you go past about 1993, you’re just playing whack-a-mole with the limits of the engine.

I’m looking at the existing terrains to see what we have.

Unfortunately I agree with you. AHM, EO pods, etc are represented very poorly in the sim. Wish TK had made a post 1991 expansion but I will have to use DCS for that.

[+daddyairplanes 10,248]

PFunk, curious have you considered doing an Eagle Claw campaign based off the Darius terrains and info? brings it back into the realm of game comfort zone, could be alt history'd into a wider campaign and one of our own  was on Gonzo station in '80 (a post o his on  FB is what made me think of this). would just have to get rid of most of hte Soviet hardware

plus the sides are fairly matched, if one "lets the infidel trained pilots and ground crews" out of jail to repulse the Americans.

[PFunk 198]

That might work.

[Stratos 3,192]

On 17/5/2018 at 3:24 AM, daddyairplanes said:

PFunk, curious have you considered doing an Eagle Claw campaign based off the Darius terrains and info? brings it back into the realm of game comfort zone, could be alt history'd into a wider campaign and one of our own  was on Gonzo station in '80 (a post o his on  FB is what made me think of this). would just have to get rid of most of hte Soviet hardware

plus the sides are fairly matched, if one "lets the infidel trained pilots and ground crews" out of jail to repulse the Americans.

 

And Yakarov RH-53 can be put to good service!!!

https://combatace.com/files/file/16273-sikorsky-rh-53d-sea-stallion/

Can I ask which map guys are you gonna use?

[+Menrva 4,201]

On 5/17/2018 at 3:24 AM, daddyairplanes said:

PFunk, curious have you considered doing an Eagle Claw campaign based off the Darius terrains and info? brings it back into the realm of game comfort zone, could be alt history'd into a wider campaign and one of our own  was on Gonzo station in '80 (a post o his on  FB is what made me think of this). would just have to get rid of most of hte Soviet hardware

plus the sides are fairly matched, if one "lets the infidel trained pilots and ground crews" out of jail to repulse the Americans.

That's a very cool idea! Reminds me of the yet to be released Ace Combat 7; in its storyline there is a penal air squadron/battalion made up of convicts and probably even captured enemy pilots.

5 hours ago, Stratos said:

Can I ask which map guys are you gonna use?

I hate advertising my own stuff, but my remade Iraq/Iran terrains seem the perfect scenario as they include Teheran. Spec Ops helo missions from the Gulf all the way to the Iranian capital!

The 1980-2003 version of the terrain has Iran set to Blue Side, but I think that through the campaign's .ini files there is a way to force Iranian bases as Red Side. At worse, I am always available to tweak the existing terrain and turn Iran to Red Side as default.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Menrva

[Stick 773]

On 18/05/2018 at 7:19 PM, Menrva said:

That's a very cool idea! Reminds me of the yet to be released Ace Combat 7; in its storyline there is a penal air squadron/battalion made up of convicts and probably even captured enemy pilots.

I hate advertising my own stuff, but my remade Iraq/Iran terrains seem the perfect scenario as they include Teheran. Spec Ops helo missions from the Gulf all the way to the Iranian capital!

The 1980-2003 version of the terrain has Iran set to Blue Side, but I think that through the campaign's .ini files there is a way to force Iranian bases as Red Side. At worse, I am always available to tweak the existing terrain and turn Iran to Red Side as default.

Totally support this-in fact if you turn Iran into ENEMY you can simulate the exodus of Iraqi aircraft into Iran-atleast thats what I've done in Single missions. Campaigns are a totally different beast but not impossible.

Suffice to say I've been having a total ball with both versions of this terrain from SCUD plinking ODS style to running B-one raids out of Al Udeid AB-the egress though the mountains with a posse of Persian Cats (or Tigers or Mirages) on your tail is the stuff that makes you keep coming back for more. Thank you Menrva!