Investigating the RGSS3 crash [Dev please read last post]

[Lumina]

Just wondering if there really is any chance of a fix for the random RGSS3 crashes. Rather curious that some people never experience it at all. I've been waiting almost two years for a fix now, with fervent searches on jp sites for any signs of hope. Tough luck, though.

When I first started (pre-Steam), there weren't any crashes up till a certain point, after which it kept happening incessantly. The strange thing is that I don't believe it's only save-related. I've tried deleting all saves and reinstalling the game, but even new games are suffering from the crash issue, which leads me to believe it's either RTP, driver, registry, or system related, since every new game henceforth becomes corrupted as long as a corrupted save is present. I'm not a programmer though, so it's just a somewhat educated guess.

Currently running Windows 8.1 on an Acer V17 Nitro. And yes, I've tried the pinned registry fix.

I'll list what progress and steps I've made to help the devs (if any are still lurking around here) troubleshoot the issue. Hope it's useful. Note that I'm running the free version of the game (2.8.2), because I don't want to pay for a game that frustrates me to no end. AFAIK, no game-breaking bugs have been fixed between 2.8.2 and 3.0.1, so it shouldn't matter anyways. The instant the issue is resolved is the moment I become a paying customer.


Edit: Managed to reset the game completely by removing all traces of RGSS3 in the registry and deleting all save files. Tested a few things from there.

-The game was completely crash-free until directly after defeating the first Dark Lord. Something unlocked in Chapter 2 is triggering the crashing.

-I only did three things of note after defeating the Dark Lord before the crashing started. I summoned Priscilla and Sakia (shouldn't be the issue), fed the Monster in the cave some EXP (and killed it once), and visited the Otherworld.

-After entering the Otherworld for the first time and doing a few battles, the game started to crash. I'm going to attempt another reset now without touching the Otherworld to see if this is the main issue. It may quite possibly be the Otherworld Points.

Edit: Tested the same save without entering the Otherworld by doing random things and entering a dungeon. It still crashed within minutes. However, this save was made after talking to the Otherworld NPC, so the appearance of Otherworld Points might still be the cause.



Other notes:

-Even starting a new game without loading a corrupted save (but it is still in the folder) causes the crashing to happen, so it shouldn't be related to any specific save, but that something occurs within the save to cause the game to corrupt.

-Tried replacing the RGSS3.dll. Didn't work.

-Reinstalled RTP. Didn't work.

-I highly doubt it's inventory-related as some people have speculated. I barely have anything in my inventory at the moment. Certainly not a number that RPGMaker VX can't handle. I've had more stuff in other RPGMaker games.

-If the summoned girls are the cause (highly unlikely), I currently have 18 party members including Ralph. Just in case there's a character threshold that's causing a bad bug.

-If anyone else is experiencing the same issues and would like to contribute, please post any findings or experiences here. I'm sure even the tiniest bit would be helpful.

-Would be nice if a dev replied, if only to show that there is still support for the game and I'm not completely wasting my time here.

[Lumina]

After resetting the registry, the save game is once again fine. This means that something in the game might be causing the registry to go haywire.

The game is still crash-free at the moment, and I've completely avoided the Otherworld. If I can make it to the end without crashing, I'll check out the Otherworld once again. At the moment I'm quite certain that it's the cause of the RGSS3 crashes.

Edit: It's probably not the Otherworld. I've avoided it this time, and crashed soon after starting the game again while heading to the Dark Ruins.

Note that I closed the game before I went to sleep (in which case there were no crashes for about two hours). After I reopened the game without editing the registry, the crash started happening again. I'm editing the registry now and trying the game once more. Hopefully the crashes don't start again, which would help pinpoint the error. (They did, unfortunately. The registry deletion no longer helps vs the crashing. Might be mutliple reasons for crashing, but highly unlikely.)

-All compatibility modes have no effect, but it is still likely to be a system specific issue, else every user would be experiencing crashes, but that does not seem to be the case.

-Watching Memory and CPU consumption. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with the crashes. Nothing abnormal detected.

-I've played other RPGMaker games since, and this is the only title where this particular issue occurs. A game script is probably causing conflict with a system-related process, or something about my system is unable to interpret the script correctly.

If this is helping at all, I'll try to troubleshoot the game again. But for now, the frustration of the crashing is getting to me, so I'll stop. Those experiencing crashing, it would be nice to know what your system specs are.

[Lumina]

I imported the English save file into the Japanese version. Game works silky smooth, meaning that the crashing is actually exclusive to the English version of the game, and is not caused by any of the core game scripts themselves! No wonder tachi hasn't done anything about it, it's just not caused by anything on his side.

That means that vgperson's translation/version might be the cause of the bug, as this crashing goes back to waaay before Degica picked it up. I'm going to reinstall the game font to see if it helps.

Feels like it might be a breakthrough here.

Edit: Okay, it doesn't seem to be a font issue. The JP version, playing the ENG save did not crash at all, but the ENG version still does after transferring the same JP save file back to the ENG game.

This all but confirms it has nothing to do with corrupted saves, as the JP version would've crashed as well if that was the case. I tried overwriting the game.exe file with the JP version, no effect. That basically means that the issue lies directly in the RGSS3a file, which is the main game file itself.

As far as I can tell, the JP RGSS3a file and and the ENG RGSS3a file are of different sizes, because the JP version does not integrate any graphics file into its RGSS3a, but instead keeps it in the System Library.

This is likely the problem, actually, as it seems to be the core difference between the two. I'm assuming there is some issue with pulling the assets from the RGSS3a file directly. This might be due to the encryption hindering the game files from reading correctly.

Again, this is just a guess, but it might be worth investigating. I'm going to look for a workaround.

[Corlain]

The game didn't crash at all when I was playing it, but yeah several people are saying it crashes all the time in their system. I wonder if it depends on the Windows version. I have Win 7.

[Lumina]

Yeah, I managed to pinpoint the cause. It apparently varies from case to case, and I found a page on the RPG Maker forums that details the problem exactly.

https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/hidden-game-exe-crash-debugger-graphical-object-global-reference-ace.17400/

Apparently there's an issue with the disposal of graphics, and it only affects certain setups at random! It also explains why the further you get into the game, the higher the chances of crashing becomes! (More/different sprites/animations to handle)

It's developer side, unfortunately, so there's nothing much we can do about it. tachi handled the graphics differently in the JP version, which is why there aren't any crashes. He did not package the Graphics data into the rgss3a file, which I assume makes a difference. (I have no idea how, I know next to nothing about programming.)

It would be nice if someone from Degica were to see this, as there is now a good chance that adding that line of code to the script or separating the Graphics folder as tachi does will fix the issue altogether!

I've emailed vgperson about it, and she's responded positively. Maybe we'll see something? :3

[Roberto Ignacio]

Try playing the game without speed up using Z button. I had the same issue and this solves the rgss3. The reason is that the game's codes and image are not seperated, having too many objects in a short time span will cause problem to processors...

[Lumina]

It doesn't work for me. The graphics disposal issue doesn't seem to be linked to the speed of the game. I've literally had it crashing just after five minutes once without even entering a single battle, just going around town opening menus and talking to girls, and I've had it not crash for a few hours playing regularly. My PC ain't a toaster either.

[Tomoebi]

in my case the game refuse to start, i cant even reach the start menu.
lets see if i can get a refund.
its a shame, since i really like this game. if the dev has fix this i'll rebuy this game.

[Lumina]

Do you have the RPGMaker RTP? Sometimes that's the cause of the problem.

[badlose]

I put 17 hours into this game in the last 3 days (ok a lot of them are idling perhaps) and now started getting the RGSS3 crash of doom. KILL ME. I WANT TO KEEP PLAYING.

[Lumina]

Believe me, I know that feel. Seems the devs don't really care for the game anymore though, even though I've already pinpointed the issue. Sigh.

[badlose]

Honestly, if it's ignored, it really turns me off on buying other RPGmaker games. I know it's an older game, but that's pretty bad when you're charging $10 for a product that is straight up broken.

[badlose]

Here's a screenshot of system specs, if it's helpful at all:

https://puu.sh/yoHVO/98f56d5cc9.png

[Lumina]

Not every RPGMaker game is broken to this point. Most commercial games aren't buggy at all. The problem with this one is that the original JP version is works perfectly, but the ENG version messed with that during the packaging, causing this bug to pop up. The original dev isn't to blame here.

[Sourcewalker]

@ Lumina
Really awesome work that you did there.
Thank you for all the trouble you went through. I hope that the developers will pick up yur work and put this bug to rest :)
I tried to install the japanese version to run a english save file but my japanese version doesnt start. I get an error message saying that the file "Audio/BGM/hiragana i cant reproduce" cant be found. I wanted to ask what you did to get the japanese version to run and then run the game in english on the japanese version?

[Lumina]

You can't run the JP version in English, unfortunately. You could probably run an RGSS decrypter and add the debug script to the English game code if you had RPG Maker VX Ace, but well... technically illegal.

Did you get the JP version from the official website?

https://gamemaga.denfaminicogamer.jp/had/download.html

Just dl and extract; JP game is legally free. You should be able to run it off the bat. If you can't, get the RPGMaker RTP, though I don't think HaD requires it.