"Multimedia Fusion Stand Alone has stopped working"

[Highly Inappropriate]

I ALWAYS get this message in a pop-up dialogue when I quit the game.
It doesn't hinder the game - it's just that it shouldn't do that.
Some other game had trouble with that message upon startup, and they said it was due to the Steam Overlay.
Is it just me? I don't see anybody else say anything about this message.

[Hempuli]

Yeah, this is a known issue (seems to happen only on some 64-bit Windows 7 computers). We tried to track its cause before release but there were no leads, unfortunately :( I think it's some obscure memory issue with MMF 2. It's a good thing it doesn't affect gameplay, but still, I'd love to be able to find out why it happens!

[Highly Inappropriate]

Originally posted by Hempuli:

(seems to happen only on some 64-bit Windows 7 computers).

I can confirm that I'm using 64-bit Windows 7.
Maybe you can read up on the Steam overlay somewhere. Maybe Valve has some manual on routines for exiting Steam games correctly.

[noby]

Multimedia Fusion is notoriously buggy especially if you use any extension libraries, which is pretty much required if you want to make anything but the simplest games. Many of these extensions are poorly tested, and are especially unpredictable sometimes when used in conjuction.

This is probably some sort of double deletion issue. The problem is that you have no ability to look under the hood, so it's pretty much impossible to fix except by accident, especially since it's not even realistically possible to debug MMF2 applications, especially memory leak related crashes.

The only way to exit an MMF2 application is to give it the "Exit application" command. It should do garbage collection and whatnot and close the process. The environment is so limited it's actually pretty difficult to make it crash on purpose. This is most likely an extension (or multiple of them) something bad, and there's little you can do about it.

[looki]

Hey noby, while you're generally right there's always hope, so don't be so pessimistic :) It's a bit hard to debug this issue if you don't have a computer that it crashes with, but if we can track it down to a single extension we can probably do something about it. There definitely are possibilities left. I wish it would crash on mine so that I could investigate it, but alas...

[noby]

Yeah right after I posted it I sort of realized how pessimistic I sounded :). But indeed, it's possible certainly to pin down the problem. The issue is that since it's most likely caused by an extension, and more specifically by something it does internally, which you can't affect. Still there might be a workaround available, so it's most likely worth at least investigating.

[Highly Inappropriate]

Trial and error can get you very far in determining bugs and crashes, but in this case, I'm guessing that little test routines would have to be continuously released on Steam in order to be validated. Here's hoping there's some kind of a Steam release sandbox somewhere.

[Hempuli]

I'll try to get this tested once I find a Win7 64-bit computer I can test this on properly :)

[codemacabre]

Just to note, I'm experiencing the same error on Windows 8.2 64bit.

[Highly Inappropriate]

Originally posted by MTL404:

Just to note, I'm experiencing the same error on Windows 8.2 64bit.

That's pretty helpful. Other people talk of it being specific to Windows 7, but now it seems that it may just have to be about 64-bit OS:es.

[Hempuli]

Then again I myself use a 64-bit OS, so it seems this is something more obscure. :( oh well

[Highly Inappropriate]

Originally posted by Hempuli:

Then again I myself use a 64-bit OS, so it seems this is something more obscure. :( oh well

Have you installed DirectX 11 as well? ...because I heard that being mentioned as well.

[looki]

I'm on Windows 7 64-bit DX11, but it doesn't crash for me.

[Highly Inappropriate]

Originally posted by looki:

I'm on Windows 7 64-bit DX11, but it doesn't crash for me.

Wtf??? *table flips*
Edit: There is a way to disable the Steam overlay. Maybe you have done that by default for all games somehow?

[Hempuli]

Actually I've already done that; the Overlay brought up other problems that we couldn't solve. The crashing is unrelated to Steam as it happens even if you run the game from the Steam folder.

[Highly Inappropriate]

Originally posted by Hempuli:

Actually I've already done that; the Overlay brought up other problems that we couldn't solve. The crashing is unrelated to Steam as it happens even if you run the game from the Steam folder.

I didn't mean by changing the code. You can apparently go to the properties of a Steam game, and turn off the Steam overlay for it manually. I never tried it.

EDIT:
I tried turning the Steam overlay off on my computer. That did NOT make the error go away. ...so you're right: It's something else entirely.