Game Freeze Issue

[Mercsn]

I really hate to have to do a negative review of this game, but it's simply unplayable due to the game freezing or locking up and having to close it manually through windows. So, before I do, is there any work being done to sort out the cause and establish a fix through the code to allow it to run properly on a normal windows machine using current drivers and no intrusive firewall software?

I've suffered through about 30 hours of play and averaged a freeze up every 12 minutes (sometimes 5, sometimes 30). Most notable is that "clearing data" fails or something goes wrong at that point and the game locks up. Second to that is space combat. Frequently in space combat, with nothing else odd to indicate an impending freeze, the game just stops and the screen freezes. I suspect this is a different issue than the "clearing data" freeze and this one is likely graphics related.

Early on, I simply adopted the "save after every friggin thing" strategy because the game is interesting and has a nice ambiance in both space and ground arena and feels a lot like someone added ground combat to an old favorite Starfleet Command II (2000, Interplay).

Incidentally, I highly recommend the developer look at Starfleet Command II (there was a 3, but I wasn't a Next Gen fan and skipped it). The space combat there is entirely in 2D and, since there's no dorsal or ventral shield facing it works without the annoying "where's the enemy ship, oh up there" thing that this game has going on when trying to find the enemy. Since the shields are 2D, there's simply no reason to have the pseudo 3D. This is compounded by the fact that there's no hotkeys for "up" and "down", and the player is required to take their eye off the enemy to look forward and steer the ship up or down if they want to have a reasonable camera angle on the enemy during the fight. It's probably the 2nd most annoying thing in the game, after the freezing issue. This is something that could really benefit from "the simplest solution is often the best solution". There's no reason for 3D with 2D combat mechanics and no way to maneuver "up" or "down" without looking away from the target.

Also, in the Starfleet game, you will find much deeper space combat where shield facings actually matter because weapons only have certain facings as well and the ships don't turn on a dime (with size and spec having a much more notable impact on player strategy in fights). Unfortunately neither space nor ground combat is very "tactical" in Stellar Tactics, but the foundation is there and would be easily cleaned up in something extraordinary.

In contrast, Star Trek Online has a much faster, more arcady (we'll call it "millenial") style of combat. It's so fast that you never actually get to see the ship and it's just a bright JJ Abrams-esque scene of razzle dazzle that's very unsatisfying (and also not very tactical) for anyone who wants to actually see their ship and see the action that's occuring. Fortunately, the space combat pacing of your game isn't that fast, but the more tactical feel of Starfleet command, where ship positioning really mattered was much better.

Yes, I did see the FAQ on troubleshooting. I did try things in there, however, anything that's not "turn off your antivirus" is basically a coding error somewhere and as intrusive and obvious as the freezing issue is, it seems like bug squashing related to game breaking freeze/lockup should be a priority.

This is a bit long, but wanted to leave feedback as well as directly ask if there's a fix in the works for the freezing issue before I have to leave a negative review because the game is simply unplayable, despite my best efforts at suffering through the freeze ups.

[Stellar Tactics]

I've been looking into this issue as a high priority. The last patch 0.578b had a few changes that I was hoping might resolve the issue. The problem is that I cannot reproduce the issues on any of my test systems here. That is, I cannot lockup in space combat, transitioning between areas, etc. even playing 2. 4 and 6-hour play sessions.

Are you locking up playing the latest version - 0.578b? The version is displayed at the bottom of the main menu at the starting screen and when pressing ESC in-game.

Would you be willing to send me your saves and log? I'll play through with those and see if I can reproduce the issue.

And to add to this, I think it may be an application or service that is stomping on game memory - however, there is no way of telling. Obviously, something is happening and it's likely the most frustrating problem that I have right now.

Up/Down keys for movement will be coming along with a visual target lock and some other enhancements to the space camera. I generally use the follow camera myself ( hold left and right mouse button) though I can see a lot of improvements needed for the current system(s).

[Reef]

don't know if its relevant but the game wasn't responding more often than i liked(during ground and space combat) and i did the vsinc thing in nvidia control panel and that stopped those from occurring. now i only get the occasional game not responding/locking up during the clearing data screen. hope that helps

[Mercsn]

Originally posted by Reef:

don't know if its relevant but the game wasn't responding more often than i liked(during ground and space combat) and i did the vsinc thing in nvidia control panel and that stopped those from occurring. now i only get the occasional game not responding/locking up during the clearing data screen. hope that helps

Thanks for offering a tip. I tried that and the freeze is just as often as before.

[Stellar Tactics]

I'll send you a PM Mercsn and see if I can help.

[Mercsn]

Originally posted by Stellar Tactics:

I'll send you a PM Mercsn and see if I can help.

I'd be happy to help, I just saw the pm.

[ppga]

Reading this thread jinxed me. I was looking at it thinking this has never happened to me. One hour later, froze while trying to dock at a station. Of course I have autosave turned off because the transition times are already a bit long.

[Stubbieoz]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread but rather than making a new one I just wanted to add that I am getting random freezes as well.
Can't pinpoint when it happens as it appears to be random. Has happened about 4 times during as many hours.
GPU/CPU/RAM (nVidia 1660 super/Intel E8500 i5/16Gig RAM) are all at a normal usage level when it happens as well on Windows 10.
I have the latest patch and I am playing the campaign again from the beginning.
I have to force shut down the game each time.

[Stellar Tactics]

Hi Stubbieoz - Was this during combat, level transition or just generally when walking around?

[Stubbieoz]

Both walking around and in combat. I will keep better notes from here on, and post again when I get more precise info.

[Stellar Tactics]

Ok, let me know if you have any more info. Meanwhile, moving this to the bug forums. Will send you a PM.

[Stubbieoz]

Originally posted by Stellar Tactics:

Ok, let me know if you have any more info. Meanwhile, moving this to the bug forums. Will send you a PM.

It has happened 3 times since I posted. Each time it has happened is when I load the map while doing a tactical mission. It happens if I open and close the map frequently during the mission.

Previously it would freeze at other times but I have not been able to reproduce that as of yet.