You were suppose to move around. Crashing was not suppose to happen. Sorry about that.

I hope this solves it! I got a few "overflow error writing string table baseline meleeweapons" & Can't recreate dictionary for maps/FNAF2.bsp, file must be writable!

Last crash happened when I tried to open one door in the basement that unlocks after night 1.

I just tested a few things, and here are my findings:

It seems the game crashes when a new player connects *after* night 1 started (usually after 1am/2am).

I tried on a dedicated server with no mods or add-on. When a new player joins, it gives the server error "Host_Error: Overflow error writing string table baseline Scenes" and the server shuts down.

This happens even if everyone involved has the downloaded map you posted.

Pretty much the same thing happens on a local host (listen) server, except the screen freezes for the host, and there are no error messages.

Thanks a lot for the heads up Guillaume! This narrows down the solution without giving me an aneurysm. I'll definitely look into it.

Yeah, if I'm right and the issue is related to people trying to join the game after it started, that would definitely explains why the crashes have been so hard to pinpoint.

Since there are no indication that a player is trying to join, the crashes just seem to occur randomly for those already playing.

Some others have reported being unable to load the map. These people may unknowingly be crashing the very server they are trying to join!

I'm currently researching the error. From what I read, it is somewhat frequent on source games. I found a few interesting comments:

• All models do you "use" goes to the precache, when the maximum of the table is reached and a client joins the server, then the server crashes, if the server a listen server then the client of the hoster crashes too.
  
  
• http://www.gamemaps.com/details/6963

I know when I start a fnaf2 server, it warns me that the stringtable dictionary is missing - maybe that's the cause of the problem? If so, I found a fix here, here and this[forums.alliedmods.net]

Ok, I fixed the stringdictionary issue, and I think that fixed it!

How to fix:

- extract the freddyfazbearspizzeria1987.vpk into the add-on folder ("Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2\addons\") by dragging it into "Left 4 Dead 2\bin\vpk.exe"
- make sure the folder isn't write protected
- run Left 4 Dead 4, run the fnaf2 map in either single player or listen server (local host) mode
- open up the console
- type "stringtabledictionary"
- type "buildcubemaps", wait until it is done
- quit
- move and replace fnaf2.bsp from "Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2\maps\" to "Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2\addons\freddyfazbearspizzeria1987\maps"
- repack the map into a vpk by dragging it into vpk.exe again

And that should do it!

Note that you'll only be able to play with other people who have thus corrected their maps.

Thanks for taking the time to do this Guillaume. I have some questions if you don't mind answering:

make sure the folder isn't write protected

Was the folder already write protected? (before you removed the .bsp from the maps folder)

I double checked my folder permissions (the one I used to compile the .vpk); nothing was write protected, everyone is allowed read, write and execute permissions.

type "stringtabledictionary"

Can you go back into the map and double check if the console is reporting "Map fnaf2 missing stringtable dictionary, don't ship this way!!!" ?

I've acknowledged this error more than once during the pre-alpha phase, and figured that it may have been the issue. I've typed it in more than once. The error kept coming back.

The interesting thing is that I've seen that error for every map. Moreover, I never typed it in for the FNaF 1 and 3 maps. But they're working it seems.

type "buildcubemaps", wait until it is done

(Not really a question:) I've done this more than once with this map. I did however execute that command with the FNaF 1 and 3 maps. But it wasn't before I released them, and they still seem to be working.

The reason I'm asking these questions is because I'm noticing contradictions between this map and my past mapping experiences. But, if it the solution is really that simple, than I can simply replicate those steps and reupload the map. But I'm still in denial nonetheless.

EDIT: have you tested this with anyone else? If not, I'd be more than glad to

tl;dr - send me a friend request and I'll ask you the questions there instead

Ok one last thing:

All models do you "use" goes to the precache, when the maximum of the table is reached and a client joins the server, then the server crashes, if the server a listen server then the client of the hoster crashes too.

Very interesting indeed. Considering I already faced numerous problems of trying to cut down on the map's expenses (passing the maximum allowed expenses causes permanent CTD no matter what), this tells me that there is still 1 particular domain that is surpassing those expenses; namely the models.
Even though the game's entity data graph tells me I reached the average amount of overhead, I might need to cut down on props anyway. The graph could be wrong in that case.

I'll let you know in advance if this works.

Originally posted by Deep Thunder:

Thanks for taking the time to do this Guillaume. I have some questions if you don't mind answering:

make sure the folder isn't write protected

Was the folder already write protected? (before you removed the .bsp from the maps folder)

I double checked my folder permissions (the one I used to compile the .vpk); nothing was write protected, everyone is allowed read, write and execute permissions.

I said that just to make sure it doesn't create a problem. It wasn't protected when I did it either.

Originally posted by Deep Thunder:

type "stringtabledictionary"

Can you go back into the map and double check if the console is reporting "Map fnaf2 missing stringtable dictionary, don't ship this way!!!" ?

After applying my method, it doesn't show the error anymore!

Originally posted by Deep Thunder:

I've acknowledged this error more than once during the pre-alpha phase, and figured that it may have been the issue. I've typed it in more than once. The error kept coming back.

Are you sure you typed buildcubemaps, and that you went and got the updated .bsp file from the /left4dead2/maps folder? If the map is not there then something went wrong. Maybe Left 4 Dead 2 needs admin rights?

In any case, the string dictionary might need to be reconstructed each time the map is updated.

Originally posted by Deep Thunder:

The interesting thing is that I've seen that error for every map. Moreover, I never typed it in for the FNaF 1 and 3 maps. But they're working it seems.

My understanding is that the FNaF2 map is the one with the most entities, so that could explain why it may crash the easiest.

In any case I'd suggest you make sure the stringtable is built for every map - that will make the map more stable and reduce lag on the map.

Originally posted by Deep Thunder:

Not really a question:) I've done this more than once with this map. I did however execute that command with the FNaF 1 and 3 maps. But it wasn't before I released them, and they still seem to be working.

The reason I'm asking these questions is because I'm noticing contradictions between this map and my past mapping experiences.

I know the FNaF1 map doesn't have the stringdictionary warning at all, so I assume the string dictionnary is properly constructed.

As to why it is properly constructed for FNaF1, but not FNaF2, I really don't know. I did hear however that Hammer can be configured to automatically build the string dictionary when building a map - perhaps something happened to this configuration and disabled it.

Originally posted by Deep Thunder:

Even though the game's entity data graph tells me I reached the average amount of overhead, I might need to cut down on props anyway. The graph could be wrong in that case.

I'll let you know in advance if this works.

My understanding is that without the stringtable dictionary, the game needs to send the full information on props to each client that connects, crashing the game.

With a stringtable dictionary however, the game only has to send a few characters (the dictionary indexes), drastically cutting down what needs to be sent.

My beliefs is that cutting down on props will neither be necessary nor sufficient to fix the crash, but building a string dictionary will.

Originally posted by Deep Thunder:

EDIT: have you tested this with anyone else? If not, I'd be more than glad to

Sure! You can try my .vpk at https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7i56-HzgeQXZ2pPdGE3ZUNEZzg&usp=sharing

I tested it out with a friend, and the map doesn't crash even if a player joins later than 2am on the first night (I tested it out up to night 2, and it still didn't crash then). To compare, on the original version the game would always crash if a player joined after 2am on the first night.

More from here [www.gamemaps.com]:

Created stringtable_dictionary.dct for all 6 maps. Only 2 maps had them before. When a map is run by the game and there is no stringtable_dictionary.dct, it will try to create one INSIDE the maps .vpk file and inside that individual map's .bsp file. This causes crashes when 2nd or 3rd etc etc players join after you have launched a campaign. 2 players could start a map from lobby and load in just fine, but when the 3rd one joins the server will crash as it tries to write this file in to a non-writable map .bsp. This is why GoldenEye 4 Dead crashes, Dead On Time 2, and a few others.

Seems to be this is a relatively frequent problem with maps. I can't wait for the map to be updated so that all may enjoy your awesome work :)

Hi, it's me again. And I'm happy to report your map fully works! Well, only if I manually enter the map through the console. But at least I can walk around in the flashback without no problems. course, that was three weeks ago. So I test it again today and... yeah. Still works. I dunno why this works but it's something. Sorry to bother ya, I just want to report something that might help for other players if they're playing it solo.

Thanks for contributing, Acejinjo!

Originally posted by Deep Thunder:

I would list other solutions, but since the addon just crashes while you're on the main menu, it's much harder to diagnose to the issue.

A few questions:

1) What are your PC specs? (if you know them)

2) Have you you tried unsubscribing and resubscribing? (in this order: quit Left 4 Dead 2, unsubscribe from the addon, re-launch L4D2, wait for the rest of your addons to load, minimize L4D2, come back here, and subscribe to the addon. This way, it gets a sure-fire re-install)

I know that may sound "too easy" or whatever but it's worth a shot

What if you cant even get into Left 4 Dead 2 to do the unsub and resub and then quit?