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FPSC Classic Product Chat / [LOCKED] FPS Creator is NOT currently fit for distributing games

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Marc Steene
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 08:20
Hi everyone,

I recently released a Slenderman game onto the internet and quite a few people have downloaded and played it. But the number of requests for help I've had due to crashes and errors has been unnacceptable. If these people were in the minority it would be fine, but it seems a large proportion of users will encounter and error of some sort.

FPSC Version: 1.20 BETA 2
Packer: FPSC V-Packer

Whether the issue lies on FPSC or V-Packer I'm not sure, but here is a screenshot of my mailbox from this morning.



I feel like this is beginning to have a serious impact on the distribution of my game.

Here I will list the errror messages and hopefully some people may be able to assist me:

Started the game once, worked, and when I lost to the operator I couldn't restart the game. End up with mainly a "Genre Unknown" error when starting up with default settings.

And then when I tried loading up the game, it gave me this : init error - genre unknown. I hope this is fixed, though I know it's really new and all, but I want to make a video of it

I'm trying to run Sanatorium, but it just doesn't launch. I've tried downloading the game 3 times and ran it as administrator and tried compatibility fixes but it just doesn't launch.

I can't play the game, it's really annoying i always get error messages like this one http://gyazo.com/0a8d1e3553694eadf06a434baab82ed5

I tried to play sanatorium and it keeps telling me d3dx9_31.dll in missing from my computer. Can you please help! Thank you, Steven. - I think this is actually the only error I can solve by installing DirectX9.

I'll post more as I get them, thanks for any help


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MrValentine
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 10:26
1.20 BETA 2

Mind you BETA 3 is out now...

Sting
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 11:40
Marc,

Genre Unknown is an error thrown when the game executable cannot load the 'files' path containing the files, not sure of the cause but from past tests it it usually when the fpscgame.exe is called from another executable and the launching executable's working directory is passed to the running one.

// EOF
Marc Steene
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 12:01
Quote: "1.20 BETA 2"


I understand it's a BETA but these are clearly more deep rooted issues. I do suspect the issue lies with FPSC V-Packer not working on some systems so I've also packed it with Vishnu. I'll let you guys know if this clears the errors up.


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maho76
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 12:03
some tips, even if i never have published:

never publish with a beta-version of the engine, especially when common errors are known and have to be solved.

you should distribute a dx9.0c-version with the game, for some unknown reason the common microsoft downloader for dx doesnt support all needed functions fpsc-games need to run. this stuff is 8 years old.

double and tripple-check final game on a minimum of 7 totally different machines with different hardware (non-fpsc-users) > final testing after beta.

Marc Steene
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 12:12
Thanks for the suggestion maho, I'll package directX 9.0c in future versions.


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MrValentine
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 12:54
Also make sure they are not using the downloads folder...

SPP has this ussue as it is a protected folder... Maybe get them to copy to Desktop or Documents folder...

mrniceguy
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 13:10
Just noticed this thread.

If a beta version of FPSCreator is used it could cause issues.

Would it be possible to use for testing a previous FPSC version?

Smart Packer Pro - Distribute games and applications
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ASTECH
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 17:44
Quote: "Mind you BETA 3 is out now..."


Yeah and its even worse then 2 IMO. Everything crashes for me.

Quote: "If a beta version of FPSCreator is used it could cause issues."


You see that is the thing about FPSC... it seems like in almost every "mainstreamed" FPSC game... there was always a solid majority of people who couldn't play it. I really don't know all the factors that stop people from being able to but it IS a big problem.

I think MrValentine might have a valid point. Where you launch the game from could have some sort of significance.

Quote: "Thanks for the suggestion maho, I'll package directX 9.0c in future versions."


And perhaps have an installer install the packaged files? Yeah, its a pain but they will KNOW they need it this way.

PC Specs: AMD X4 2.7Ghz, 8GB DDR3 RAM, Nvidia 9800GT, Win. 7 Pro 64 Bit
kingofmk98
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 17:51
I launched the game from my desktop and it worked just fine. I had no problems playing the game.

A lot of my FPSC media can be found here. Hope you guys stop in. http://fpscfree.webs.com/
uman
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 18:25 Edited at: 17th Aug 2012 18:27
All of the recent versions are have been somewhat unstable anyway at best and not really suitable for use at all.

FPSC seems to be in a bad way to me. I cant even use it for testing any more as its more hassle than the worth of it so its completely shelved with me.

Perhaps its best if you can go back to much earlier version and find a stable one if you can I guess where you have less performance but that may be better than stability issues that render working with FPSC a non starter. You exchange some issues for others so have to choose which best - worst option you can live with.

Where you go in that situation I don't know for older versions wont stand you in good stead in the longer term.

TGC dont seem to be into further development of FPSC themselves and sorting out and further developing FPSC is a big job for Scene Commader as a single guy on his own.

Not sure where you would be without him and his dedicated effort which is to be much appreciated by us all.

maho76
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 19:01
as far as i can see, most projects that have problems running on different machines have some major bugs created by the developer himself or common issues that you simply dont thought of out of lack of experience... wich will happen in every engine / when using stock-material.

bad written scripts, damaged/wrong-setup media (of any kind), totally offdriven levels near memcap (stay below 1650mb)... bad written scripts^^
(no joke, i have experienced it myself: game wont load, levels crash or did not load... was only a wrong written line in setuplevel and a bad but not wrong written mainscript that produces a useless hud-loop that i used in every level, in addition to oversize the ram of some levels, too > all my fault)

especially the most common problems as crashing when loading next level etc. can be handled with an experienced developer and expanded testing before launching it. and as a tip: write a developer chart with everything in it you do, test your finalbuild game completely minimum once a week to avoid not to know what causes problems now and then.

of course fpsc has some major issues, the main thing is the physics (fall through floors, collision etc) and performance, but as with each other engine you have to say "i have to live with that to get it done". dont try to brake the boundaries that the engine gives, you dont paint pictures outside the frame.

doesnt mean that you shouldnt try anything new, but dont blame the engine when it doesnt work as intended while the engine isnt made for it.
also if the advertisement says something different... you have to be a good developer (=someone who solves problems^^) to get a running game out of this. experience helps a lot, there are some proofs out there that work... more or less (the foxes, ertlov& wolf-games, alpha-project etc.).

Scene Commander
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 21:40
@Marc,

All of these issues sound very much like an installation problem. Please let us know if Vishnu and the inclusion of directX 9.0c help at all.

Quote: " further developing FPSC is a big job for Scene Commader as a single guy on his own.

Not sure where you would be without him and his dedicated effort which is to be much appreciated by us all.
"


Thanks for the kind words.
Mr illusionest
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 21:44
Quote: "totally offdriven levels near memcap (stay below 1650mb)"

That's what I wanted to ask about for a long time . I'm building a game right now , I started designing the first level and I'm not done yet . However the level used 710 MB ! Will that be the actual size of the level when it's built or it's RAM usage ? I only finished ONE ROOM so if this is the actual size the game will be like 8 GB !

"I am the night visitor when everyone is sleep , and when the last light fades"
The illusionest
rolfy
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 22:21 Edited at: 17th Aug 2012 22:35
Quote: "However the level used 710 MB ! Will that be the actual size of the level when it's built or it's RAM usage ? I only finished ONE ROOM so if this is the actual size the game will be like 8 GB !"

Its the virtual memory used to build a particular level, lightmapping etc takes up a lot of this and your completed level/game should not be as high. If this was so a ten level game' using the figures above from Maho, would be more than 16Gb which would make it impossible to distribute as folks don't want to download or even install a game that large unless it truly rocks! and the content matches the download size, in other words you expect it to have all the bells and whistles and its not all over in twenty minutes.
Twenty levels 32Gb....I don't think so, haven't you ever looked at a built level or game to see what size it is compared to the memory requirements to build it?

The problem others may be having could be numerous and entirely on their end, if you pack the game then there could be issues with that and nothing to do with FPSC game.The main problem is with people expecting if they have directx10-11 installed then they should not require directx9c, which you do.

Awesome! Its one of those threads.
Mr illusionest
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 22:32
Quote: "haven't you ever looked at a built level or game to see what size it is compared to the memory requirements to build it?"

I didn't use FPSC for a time now , so I didn't deal pretty much with the new features and didn't build a game using them . You're right though , I should've built a game and compared it . Sorry for the dumb question

"I am the night visitor when everyone is sleep , and when the last light fades"
The illusionest
rolfy
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 22:43 Edited at: 18th Aug 2012 00:03
The first thing is definitely to install directx9c if you dont already have it, if it doesnt cure it it might be the packing software not finding something it requires on their system or even a simple problem with administrative rights, it might take a while for you to narrow it down.
Do any of your friends comps have any problems with it? If so I would start there with giving them an unpacked copy to see if that runs.

Quote: "I should've built a game and compared it . Sorry for the dumb question"
Didn't intend to sound rude, just it seems a simple thing to do when you say you been wondering for a while

When I released Dark House demo it was found that even with an unpacked game it still had issues with some newer systems, this was cured by deleting the imageblock.bin for the game and then packing it.

Awesome! Its one of those threads.
Mr illusionest
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 23:04
Quote: "Didn't intend to sound rude"

I didn't find your answer rude , I reread the question and it's actually pretty lame , It seems like I didn't sleep well for a while

"I am the night visitor when everyone is sleep , and when the last light fades"
The illusionest
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 03:31
BTW, I wasn't beating down Scene Commander with what I said. Every Beta is going to have issues. Period. That is why it is still in beta.

PC Specs: AMD X4 2.7Ghz, 8GB DDR3 RAM, Nvidia 9800GT, Win. 7 Pro 64 Bit
Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 08:08
Thanks for the advice SC, sorry if my last posts sounded offensive to you, I was panicking a bit.

The main issues now seem to be the following:

-Visnu packer asks for a password when opening (only happens to some people)
-The game simply won't launch, with both FPSC V-packer and vishnu. They click launch and nothing happens
-FPSC game has stopped working


Slenderman's Shadow - Sanatorium
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=199408&b=35
Wolf
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 08:45
Ha! Noticed you gaining some popularity on this

I had to start a new mailaccount back when I released Euthanasia.

Forget viagra and dead princes of africa...we take spam to a new level

Do what I did: open a notebook file and write a little letter that you released it with an unstable tool/ a beta release and you do not know what the issue is and that you can't help.



-Wolf

"This thread has been locked for the following reason: Too much EPIC" - Thraxas
Scene Commander
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 11:08
Quote: "Thanks for the advice SC, sorry if my last posts sounded offensive to you, I was panicking a bit."


No offense taken . You're obviously experiencing an issue and it's important to try to fix it, I'm assuming that many if not all of those with problems are using Vista or W7?
Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 11:18
Yep, that's correct :/ Keep getting more and more by the day. Every time I wake up my entire inbox is full of people with problems. It's mainly due to the exe never appearing to start (crashes upon opening the FPSC Game file).


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Scene Commander
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 11:23 Edited at: 18th Aug 2012 11:24
Hi Marc, this is sounding very much like a problem with Dx9 not being installed on the users machines.
Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 11:30
Thanks Scene Commander - would it be possible for you to send me a download link to the exact version needed to run FPSC? I found Directx9.0c but I'm not sure if that's the right one.


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Scene Commander
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 11:39
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109

This is the version I'm running, so I'm assuming this is also the correct, most stable version for FPSC.
Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 11:54
Thanks


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Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 12:45
The other issue is with FPSC Game has stopped working - not sure what causes it, it's usually a memory issue isn't it?


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Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 13:12
Got them to install that DirectX, 3 have replied so far - game still crashes with no success launching it :/


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maho76
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 13:56
launcher crashes or installed game crashes? important question.

when game crashes, maybe you start a video in your intro? often a driver problem. or you use 3.0 shaders on a 2.0 graphicscard....
maybe the card-setup is wrong adjusted (often if no-nerd^^), maybe vsync turned off will help...
do you have minimum requirements for the game or just using ps2.0shaders (wich every gc should have nowadays i think)?

Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 14:03
Nope no videos :/ It must be an FPSC issue because Vishnu unpacks it, I just helped someone with Team Viewer, upon clicking launch the FPSC game exe shows up in the task manager, gets to about 30MB Memory, then vanishes.


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Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 14:37
SC, I think this is an issue with Intel Integrated Graphics cards. Just tried it on my old old laptop and the game crashes as well at 30MB RAM usage. Not sure what's special about 30MB though. Tried on an old old Intel HD card, and a newer Intel i3 card. I'm even starting to suspect it might be a file being loaded at around 30mb that is causing the error.


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Scene Commander
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 14:40
Marc, I've just tested the game (great automosphere BTW) and it's installing and running fine. I'll test it on my laptop which has an Intel Intergrated and let you know.
Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 14:47
Okay thanks The weird thing is I've built games with BETA 2 before and they also ran fine on my Intel graphics laptop :s Wonder why this one isn't working.


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Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 14:54 Edited at: 18th Aug 2012 15:10
SC, just checked with multiple FPSC game exes - one of the versions works but I can't remember which version it was as I have renamed them all.

The FPSC game exe is 18.9mb, any idea which one it is?

1.19 is 17mb so I don't think it's that one, 1.20 BETA 2 is 17.7mb.

EDIT2: Okay so turns out it's v.120 BETA 1 - Something has gone horrible wrong with BETA 2.


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Scene Commander
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 15:40 Edited at: 18th Aug 2012 15:41
Quote: " Something has gone horrible wrong with BETA 2."


Firstly, try Beta 3.

However, as this appears to work for some people and not others, the suggestion that it is soley an issue with Beta 2 does seem a little off to me. If it was a major bug in Beta 2, no one would be able to run it.
BlackFox
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 15:48
Better make a fresh batch of coffee, SC. Sounds like you may need it.


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Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 15:52 Edited at: 18th Aug 2012 16:01
With BETA 3 i keep getting a crash, object number illegal at line something or other (occurs during gameplay). Turns out this issue has been caused by a build The Zombie Killer made as the real BETA 2 works fine, but doesn't have setsyncrate, and as BETA 3 crashes for me, I can't release a new working build x.x

EDIT: Here is the errror: Runtime error 7006 - object number illegal at line 13163


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Scene Commander
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 16:12
Hi Marc,

Well, I can't comment on any unofficial build, but Beta 3 is out in the public domain, and as most users seem to be finding it stable (Or aren't reporting problems. ), I'd suggest downloading it if you haven't already. If you do find problems with the Official beta 3, please post in the beta thread with any issues so they can be investigated.

Thanks,

SC
Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 16:18 Edited at: 18th Aug 2012 16:22
Thanks for your help SC. I've tried BETA 3 but as I said above, my map crashes while playing, in the same place each time :S I know this is a lot to ask, and I understand if you won't do it, but would it be possible to add the setsyncrate command to the BETA 2 code and compile a version for me? I'm getting bombarded by a report every few seconds of issues with launching the game both in my email and on YouTube, and the issue with BETA 3 is rendering the level unplayable.


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veer
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 16:21
Vishnu unpack is detected sometime in Norton anti virus ..try something else

http://www.obsessiongames.co.in
Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 16:50
Quote: "Vishnu unpack is detected sometime in Norton anti virus ..try something else"


I have to stick with Vishnu I'm afraid, V-Packer has given me too many errors :/


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Marc Steene
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 17:55
Could a mod please close this thread - the issue has now been resolved and FPS Creator IS fit for distributing games - just make sure if you distribute you use official releases and not BETAs.


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BlackFox
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 18:34
The engine has always been fit to distribute games. We've done quite well with it ourselves. I can't imagine what or why others have so many issues with it.


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