Game crashing at "Creating Shortlists" / "Initialising Game Data" stage of new game start-up

Post by **xECK29x** » Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:49 pm

While doing my normal database editing I seem to keep doing something which is causing new sims to crash at 'Creating Shortlists' I believe it might have to do with a new club I created in an existing competition but even when I disable that club in the DB the game still crashes.

Does anyone have any idea what the game is doing at that stage of the loading process? I am happy to share my DB for troubleshooting.

Post by **xECK29x** » Fri Jan 11, 2019 5:35 pm

If anyone has any idea what 'Creating Shortlists' does involving the DB at the start of the sim I'd like to know why it would cause a crash. I am having sporadic issues with this. I though it was due to a logo I had removed but it's still popping up.

Post by **xECK29x** » Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:29 pm

Found the issue, it was due to a problem with a club logo, once I removed them it worked....weird.

Edit: Nope still having this issue, if anyone can help I'd appreciate it!

Post by **archibalduk** » Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:21 pm

Try temporarily deleting/removing your extra_config.cfg and record_config.cfg files.

Post by **xECK29x** » Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:36 pm

archibalduk wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:21 pm Try temporarily deleting/removing your extra_config.cfg and record_config.cfg files.

I don't use a record_config but I do use an import_config. Will try it out

Post by **xECK29x** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 3:05 am

Yea it does seem to be an issue with the extra_config.cfg.

Posted here for review, I don't see anything glaringly off: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h47ulwbh90ebp ... g.cfg?dl=0

Post by **archibalduk** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:33 am

We came across this same crash with the TBL Rosters a couple of weeks ago and I have been meaning to mention this for the benefit of others. There are two points we learned:

1. Game crash at the "Creating Shortlists" stage of the progress window when starting a new game: Commonly caused by an issue with the extra_config.cfg or record_config.cfg files.

2. The game appears to hang for a few moments during the "Initialising Game Data" and "Creating Shortlists" stage when creating a new game (usually when the progress bar is at about 95-100%): This occurs when the extra_config.cfg or record_config.cfg files are particularly large as it takes time to look-up each person/team/arena/etc in those config files with the data in the database and then parse the data. This isn't an issue but just a side effect of having large config files.

xECK29x - I would suggest removing all of the retirements from the extra_config.cfg file to see if this fixes the issue. We haven't narrowed down the exact cause of the issue with the TBL Rosters but the issue was fixed once we removed some old UK retirements (in each case, either the player no longer existed in the database or there was more than one player that matched the criteria - e.g. there were two Adam Jones' who were UFAs in the database - I've suggested to Riz that the config file include the date of birth in order to reduce the chances of duplication like this).

Post by **xECK29x** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:47 pm

Can confirm this did help, I noticed I had two retirements in there for players who are now coaches, just two entries I forgot to clean out. Once I cleaned that section up (removed all 2018 retirements besides the Sedins) and removed the players from the DB it helped.

Post by **xECK29x** » Wed Feb 06, 2019 2:06 am

Similar issue to my issue when creating shortlists: viewtopic.php?f=117&t=19930

It's 100% something in the extra_config.cfg as the DB loads fine with any option or league selected without it in the folder or with it renamed. It seems no matter how I pick apart the extra_config.cfg I can't quite get it to work and I'm really out of ideas. Anyone know what exactly the game is doing at that point? It crashes at about 90% of this stage.

Really hope Riz can add some better error handling if we do get a new patch.

Post by **xECK29x** » Wed Feb 06, 2019 3:26 am

Just a quick update here, it looks like this specific error is related to various Arena_Move clauses, if I remove them I get past this error but now the game crashes at Initializing Leagues. Again this has to do only with the extra_config, if I remove or comment out different bits I get crashes at different stages, and it's having issues with sections that have been in my extra_config for months now.

Post by **xECK29x** » Wed Feb 06, 2019 1:06 pm

Crash at initiating leagues has to do with draft pick assignments

Post by **archibalduk** » Wed Feb 06, 2019 7:19 pm

If you are able to narrow it down then let me know and I'll pass these to Riz. If he can repeat your crashes then perhaps the manner in which these are processed can be improved.

Post by **xECK29x** » Fri Feb 08, 2019 10:44 pm

Really it came down to human error, mostly typos with the club names.

RomaGoth · Post by **RomaGoth** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:42 pm

Is there a fix or resolution for this? I keep trying to start a new game with the latest TBL rosters (11.2) and the game just closes without any warning.

RomaGoth · Post by **RomaGoth** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:05 pm

I am still not able to get the game to start. It crashes every time it gets to the shortlists section. I have removed the various config files, no success. Anyone have a fix for this yet? Please?

Post by **archibalduk** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:16 pm

The erroneous entry in the extra/records_config file needs to removed or corrected to prevent the crash. This was fixed in v11.1. Try unsubscribing and re-subscribing in case Steam hasn't downloaded v11.2.

RomaGoth · Post by **RomaGoth** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 10:25 pm

I've tried everything listed in this thread, nothing changes. I can confirm it is 11.2 database that I am subscribed to. Ugh. I'm disappointed this game doesn't get better support.

Post by **nino33** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:44 pm

Sorry to hear you're having difficulties.
I just tried to start a game with 11.2 and it worked fine for me (I selected all teams and didn't touch anything on the Select Options page).

Are you sure you're subscribed to 11.2?
I actually had recent problems getting 11.2 to actually be in the workshop folder, and ended up having it show as being subscribed to despite it not being downloaded onto my computer. I ended up having to go into two different steam accounts I have EHM on and ensure I was not subscribed to 11.2 in either account, then remove every EHM database in my workshop folder (fortunately I have very little in the workshop folder), and then I turned my computer off and restarted it...I then subscribed to 11.2 and it worked

Hockeyiow86 · Post by **Hockeyiow86** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:21 pm

I get the same issue. And I have 11.2. Crashes at creating shortlist screen

Post by **nino33** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:13 pm

RomaGoth wrote: Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:05 pm I am still not able to get the game to start. It crashes every time it gets to the shortlists section. I have removed the various config files, no success. Anyone have a fix for this yet? Please?

Weren't the config files removed from 11.2? My folder for 11.2 in the workshop folder has no config files

Post by **archibalduk** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:09 pm

There should be an extra_config.cfg file included. Only the records_config.cfg file was removed.

I have been able to subscribe to the DB and am now getting the crash which is strange as I never had it before. I'm running a comparison against the subscribed DB and the master DB I uploaded.

Post by **archibalduk** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:18 pm

archibalduk wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:09 pm There should be an extra_config.cfg file included. Only the records_config.cfg file was removed.

I have been able to subscribe to the DB and am now getting the crash which is strange as I never had it before. I'm running a comparison against the subscribed DB and the master DB I uploaded.

So the database and extra_config are identical to those I uploaded. Weirdly, this is what fixed it for me: Locate the TBL Rosters v11.2 in your Steam Workshop folder (see this guide) and copy the database.db and extra_config.cfg file from the Workshop folder to a new sub-folder in your \Eastside Hockey Manager\data\database\ folder. For whatever reason, the game no longer crashes when I use that copy of the database.

Post by **nino33** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:46 pm

archibalduk wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:09 pm There should be an extra_config.cfg file included. Only the records_config.cfg file was removed.

I guess I must have somehow deleted the extra_config file (didn't mean to, and as noted above I was experiencing "computer weirdness" - but the most logical explanation is I must have deleted it HaHa)

archibalduk wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:18 pm So the database and extra_config are identical to those I uploaded. Weirdly, this is what fixed it for me: Locate the TBL Rosters v11.2 in your Steam Workshop folder (see this guide) and copy the database.db and extra_config.cfg file from the Workshop folder to a new sub-folder in your \Eastside Hockey Manager\data\database\ folder. For whatever reason, the game no longer crashes when I use that copy of the database.

I was curious why it worked for me earlier...I just unsubscribed (saw the folder disappear) and resubscribed to 11.2, and just/only deleting the extra_config file I was able to start a game with 11.2

P.S. I've always copied, renamed, and moved workshop databases to my Eastside Hockey Manager\data\database folder (I didn't like the long number as a database name, and I liked having all of the EHM databases in one place)

RomaGoth · Post by **RomaGoth** » Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:48 am

Thanks guys, but none of this helped either. It still crashes when reaching the shortlists part of creation. Guess I'll just play the 2017-18 rosters and cross my fingers that the new rosters next fall/winter work for me.

RomaGoth · Post by **RomaGoth** » Fri Apr 12, 2019 5:04 am

RomaGoth wrote: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:48 am Thanks guys, but none of this helped either. It still crashes when reaching the shortlists part of creation. Guess I'll just play the 2017-18 rosters and cross my fingers that the new rosters next fall/winter work for me.

I spoke too soon. Upon removing the extra_config file, the game starts with no issues. Apparently, there is still something wrong with that file.