[Solved] [Arch Linux] crash with no errors

[Legacy_lucasjung]

               I've been running NWN on Linux since the very beginning on various computers.  I recently upgraded to a new laptop and installed Arch on it.  When I installed NWN and tried playing HotU, the game crashed instantly when the dream sequence tried to load, but there are no error messages  in the terminal window after the game quits.  nwcllientError1.txt is empty.

I tried loading different modules and discovered that it only crashes on "cutscene" squences (the dream at the beginning of HotU, the battle scene at the beginning of Witch's Wake, the scene in the lower floor of Drogan's house at the beginning of SoU, etc.).  However, the game will crash the same way whenever I try to equip a ranged weapon, in any module or area.  There are probably other acts which will trigger a crash, but I haven't taken the time to find all of them.

Here are the last few lines nwclientLog1.txt when it crashes at the beginning of HotU:

[Fri Feb  8 21:21:50] Player  [] () Joined as Server Admin 1
[Fri Feb  8 21:21:50] Player  () Joined as Player 1
[Fri Feb  8 21:21:50] Loading Module: XP2_Chapter1
[Fri Feb  8 21:21:51] ***DTS-Debug: DTS Initialized - BaseChance: 50 StackVar:        0.500000000 MaxItems: 2
GENERIC SCRIPT DEBUG STRING ********** x2_q2drowscout1class 1 100
GENERIC SCRIPT DEBUG STRING ********** x2_q2drowscout1class 2 100
GENERIC SCRIPT DEBUG STRING ********** x2_q2drowscout1class 3 100
GENERIC SCRIPT DEBUG STRING ********** D100 Roll 44

Here are the last few lines nwclientLog1.txt when it crashes downstairs at Drogan's in SoU:

[Fri Feb  8 21:29:29] Player  [] () Joined as Server Admin 1
[Fri Feb  8 21:29:29] Player  () Joined as Player 1
[Fri Feb  8 21:29:29] Loading Module: XP1-Chapter 1
GENERIC SCRIPT DEBUG STRING ********** q1ggilfordclass 1 100
GENERIC SCRIPT DEBUG STRING ********** q1ggilfordclass 2 100
GENERIC SCRIPT DEBUG STRING ********** q1ggilfordclass 3 100
GENERIC SCRIPT DEBUG STRING ********** D100 Roll 30

Here are the last few lines when I started the Prelude of the original campaign and equipped a crossbow:

[Fri Feb  8 21:33:39] Player  [] () Joined as Server Admin 1
[Fri Feb  8 21:33:39] Player  () Joined as Player 1
[Fri Feb  8 21:33:39] Loading Module: Prelude

None of those log entries are particularly helpful, so I tried running the game under gdb, and this is what I get when it crashes (for any reason):

Reading symbols from /usr/games/nwn/nwmain...(no debugging symbols found)...done.
(gdb) set environment LD_LIBRARY_PATH ./miles:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
(gdb) run
Starting program: /usr/games/nwn/nwmain 
warning: Could not load shared library symbols for linux-gate.so.1.
Do you need "set solib-search-path" or "set sysroot"?
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/usr/lib/libthread_db.so.1".
[New Thread 0xf78ceb40 (LWP 3909)]
[New Thread 0xf2532b40 (LWP 3910)]
[Thread 0xf2532b40 (LWP 3910) exited]
[New Thread 0xf2532b40 (LWP 3911)]
[New Thread 0xf1bffb40 (LWP 3912)]
[Thread 0xf1bffb40 (LWP 3912) exited]
[Thread 0xf78ceb40 (LWP 3909) exited]
[Thread 0xf78d0700 (LWP 3905) exited]
[Inferior 1 (process 3905) exited with code 0177]
(gdb) bt
No stack.

I did some searching and found that this might be caused by a function exiting in a rather unconventional way, but when I tried following the accompanying advice on breakpoints, I got nowhere.

Has anybody encountered this bug before?  Or, does anybody have any other ideas on how I might glean additional amplifying information on what's going wrong?

EDITed because the formatting on these new (to me) forums kicked my butt at first.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par lucasjung, 01 mars 2013 - 02:54 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Skildron]

               Sorry, I never had that kind of crash, but crash on cut scenes usually mean that something is not quite right with your graphics drivers / settings. Which graphics board do you have? Driver version? Open source or manufacturer? 32bit versus 64bit troubles? If on 64bit, are all needed 32bit libs present?

You seem to be quite an experienced Linux user, so I posed the above questions just to make sure you thought of everything. On my Kubuntu 12.04 LTS box, nwn works flawlessly, but someone reported it did not on 12.10. I had no chance to verify that so far, but since the latest nwn patch is by now more or less 5 years old, maybe lib incompatibilities begin to show up?

Greetings
Skildron
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Skildron, 09 février 2013 - 02:16 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_lucasjung]

               Skildron,

    It's great to see you're still active in the forums!  You may not remember me, but you've helped me in the past, especially when I was a wee noob struggling to make nwmovies work.  Thank you for stepping in to help me again.

Skildron wrote...

Which graphics board do you have? Driver version? Open source or manufacturer? 32bit versus 64bit troubles? If on 64bit, are all needed 32bit libs present?

This is all stuff I should have mentioned to begin with; sorry.  I'm running 64-bit Arch on a Thinkpad T430 with the following hardware:
Intel Core i7-3520M
16GB RAM
Intel HD Graphics

I'm using open-source intel drivers.  My kernel version is 3.7.6-1.  My SDL version is 1.2.15-3 for both 64-bit and 32-bit.

Another thing I forgot to menion: I checked dmesg both before and after crashes; nothing new shows up as a result of the crashes.

Skildron wrote...

If on 64bit, are all needed 32bit libs present?

I think so, but maybe I missed something important?  Do you happen to know what dependencies there are besides SDL and ALSA?

Skildron wrote...

Sorry, I never had that kind of crash, but crash on cut scenes usually mean that something is not quite right with your graphics drivers / settings.

I hope it's that simple, but I suspect it's something else.  The cutscenes in NWN use the same graphics as regular gameplay, just scripted so that the player is watching passively instead of controlling it, so I'm thinking it might have something to do with the way those scripts operate.  Then again, when I try to equip a ranged weapon it seems to crash at the exact moment when the weapon would first appear on the screen, which would indicate some sort of graphics problem.

Skildron wrote...

...since the latest nwn patch is by now more or less 5 years old, maybe lib incompatibilities begin to show up?

I really hope not, but it very well might be.  That would make me very sad, but I'm not sad enough to start downgrading packages.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Skildron]

               Hi there,

nice to see you are back. There are two possible culprits for your issues: libSDL 1.2.15 - it's the same version that is used for Ubuntu 12.10 - and there've been reports that NWN does not work on Ubuntu 12.10, so it may be the libSDL version. I use Kubuntu 12.04 with libSDL 1.2.14 without any issues.
The other culprit may well be the intel open source drivers. IIRC, those drivers by default don't have s3tc enabled, so that might lead to crashes when nwn starts to use texture decompression. You can use the dirconf packge with the driconf program to force the s3tc options on. That's all I can think of ATM.

HTH
Greetings
Skildron
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Skildron]

               I just made a quick try with libsdl 1.2.15 from Ubuntu 12.10 on my system - nwn works flawlessly with that version, too. So the only source of your issues I can think of are in fact the intel graphics drivers.

Greetings
Skildron
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_lucasjung]

               Thanks for checking SDL 1.2.15.

I tried using driconf to turn on s3tc, but that didn't work.  I also tried installing the libtxc_dxtn package (it's also supposed to enable s3tc), but that didn't change anything, either.

If you have any other ideas, I'll give them a try.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Skildron]

               Is your nwn install up to date - patch 1.69? Perhaps you could try reinstalling the 1.69 critical rebuild patch.

Greetings
Skildron
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_lucasjung]

               I've already done multiple clean installs, upgraded to various versions (up to and including 1.69), and they all have the same problem.  I've tried just about every variation I could think of: NWN+SoU+HotU, NWN+SoU, NWN+HotU, and straight NWN, each left at the install version or patched to 1.69, each with or without nwmovies, installed from the original disks or from Diamond Edition, etc. etc.  I haven't re-done all of that since activating s3tc, but I doubt it would make a difference.  What I currently have installed is NWN+SoU+HotU (plus all premium modules) patched to 1.69 without nwmovies.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Skildron]

               Sorry, but that's all I can think of right now. One thing, might be a bit far fetched, but worth a try: Since NWN came out, the memory management of libc6 has been reworked thoroughly. Perhaps it will help with your issues if you place the following variable definition in your nwn start script right before the call of nwmain:

export MALLOC_CHECK_=0

The meaning of this and the values you can use for this you can find in the manpage:

man malloc

With some versions of libc6, this one helped on my system to reduce nwn crashes. Right now, I don't need it, but that may change with any newer or older version of libc6.

HTH
Greetings
Skildron
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_lucasjung]

               Unfortunately, that didn't fix it either.  Thank you for taking the time to help, though.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Skildron]

               I'm out of ideas for further trouble shooting, sorry. I still think it all is about graphics because you can start the game and it crashes on cut scenes. You could try to switch full screen mode of (or on if it's not) an see what happens then, but that's just plain guessing.

Greetings
Skildron
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               

Skildron wrote...
I'm out of ideas for further trouble shooting, sorry. I still think it all is about graphics because you can start the game and it crashes on cut scenes.

Been following this thread for a bit and wondering if the Intel graphics is integrated.  If not, what is the model number of the vcard?  How much memory is reserved for the graphics memory buffer?

I suppose i would attempt to backwards-engineer the solution by quantifying the differences between the latest previous trouble-free laptop installation and the current one, which you have likely been doing to some respect yourself.  The driver version is most obvious culprit.  Also, heat dissipation is another especially on integrated components.

Skildron can possibly address this driver version-related question better but I state it anyway as a prospective future Linux user trying to cover all bases before the transition...

--> Is OpenGL support just as much an issue with the newer drivers on Linux systems as with Windows-designed ones?  (I can't help but be skeptical of the constraints and low priority that newer hardware configs place on running ancient software and games like NWN.)
               
               

               

                     Modifié par HipMaestro, 17 février 2013 - 04:56 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_lucasjung]

               Sorry I took so long to reply; the last couple of weeks have been extremely busy for me.

Intel graphics are integrated.

I doubt if heat dissipation is the problem--it's brand-new hardware and the fan almost never runs fast enough to be audible.

About a week ago I got a message from another Arch user on the Arch forums with similar problems, so it sound like this is an Arch-specific problem, possibly even specific to some combination of Arch and certain hardware, or maybe we both have some particular package installed which is breaking the game.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               

lucasjung wrote...
About a week ago I got a message from another Arch user on the Arch forums with similar problems, so it sound like this is an Arch-specific problem, possibly even specific to some combination of Arch and certain hardware, or maybe we both have some particular package installed which is breaking the game.

Sounds like a plan to me..  64-bit systems don't easily mesh with NWN calls.  Can you emulate 32-bit with your OS architecture?  Just clutching at straws here.  '>

TBH, this is the first topic involving an Arch user I've seen on the NWN tech forum, so will likely have few, if any, recommendations posed by the community.  There are some Linux servers in the PW horizon but whether there are any Arch users among them is anyone's guess.  I suppose, there's always Ubuntu, but even with that, not all versions will run NWN smoothly and you may have a rigid reason for going with Arch in the first place.  Customization, I suppose?

However, should you stumble upon any effective remedy withg your current OS, please be sure to post it here for other prospective Arch users.

BTW, if i were you, I would edit the topic title to label [Arch] clearly to catch the eye of others in your situation.  For whatever good karma it may induce, I'll keep my fingers crossed that fortune smiles on your efforts to get NWN running. Keep the faith!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_lucasjung]

               

HipMaestro wrote...
Sounds like a plan to me..  64-bit systems don't easily mesh with NWN calls.  Can you emulate 32-bit with your OS architecture?  Just clutching at straws here.  '>

On Linux, it works like this: on a 64-bit system, you can also isntall 32-bit versions of any libraries and/or drivers needed for particular programs.  When those programs run, the system will use the 32-bit versions for them.  For example, I have SDL installed on my system, and it's 64-bit SDL since my system is 64-bit.  I also have a package called lib32-SDL, which provides the 32-bit version of SDL, which is what NWN uses.  To oversimplify a bit, from the perspective of NWN, it looks like a 32-bit system.

HipMaestro wrote...
...you may have a rigid reason for going with Arch in the first place.  Customization, I suppose?

My reasons aren't completely rigid, but they are important enough to me that I'm not going to give up Arch in order to get NWN running.  I have used many different distros over the years, and even currently have XBMC running on top of Ubuntu on a couple of machines, but for my main personal laptop, I have a very strong preference for Arch.

One reason I like Arch is that most other distros have become extremely bloated, and Arch allows for a very clean install.  I also prefer rolling releases as opposed to version updates.  However, the main reason I like Arch is The Arch Way.  After many years of using Linux, I realized that I had become a GUI-cripple: I understood the system and the command line significantly less well than I had in the past, and was ignorant of much of what was going on "under the hood" in my systems.  Switching to Arch forced me to re-learn everything that I had forgotten and regain lost proficiency.

HipMaestro wrote...
However, should you stumble upon any effective remedy withg your current OS, please be sure to post it here for other prospective Arch users.

Of course.  When I have some free time I plan to post a thread over on the Arch forums.  Based on my conversation with the other Arch user who had similar problems, I'm beginning to suspect that I have some particular package installed which is breaking NWN, as a recent upgrade fixed his problems but not mine.  Unfortunately, it will be very hard for me to figure out which of the many packages I installed prior to NWN is causing the problem.  I do have some suspicions, though.

HipMaestro wrote...
BTW, if i were you, I would edit the topic title to label [Arch] clearly to catch the eye of others in your situation.

Done.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par lucasjung, 27 février 2013 - 06:23 .