GE crashing whilst in attract mode

[stigzler]

Had this a couple of times now. Normally, GE is happy cycling through games in attarct mode - got it set to mame rotation. However, past 2 days, after a liong time running, get the following error (the previous was like this:

Spoiler

23:02:21.32  26/06/2018:  Display is running at: 1920x1200 32bit color, 59hz
23:02:22.22  26/06/2018:  Returning From Attract Mode
23:03:25.33  26/06/2018:  Starting Attract Mode
23:03:25.37  26/06/2018:  Shutting down display
23:03:25.41  26/06/2018:  Setting Up RawInput Hook
23:03:25.41  26/06/2018:  Launching RawInputHook.exe
23:03:28.01  26/06/2018:  Running: cmd.exe /c C: C:\Arcade\Systems\MultiSystem\Emulators\MAME\mame0198b_64bit\mame64.exe 4in1boot -rompath X:\Mame\MAME_0.198_ROMs_(split) -joy -skip_gameinfo -video d3d -noswitchres –triplebuffer -bezel -artpath artworkgameex
23:03:29.23  26/06/2018:  Shutting down RawInput Hook
23:03:31.22  26/06/2018:  initialized display
23:03:31.22  26/06/2018:  Display is running at: 1920x1200 32bit color, 59hz
23:03:32.12  26/06/2018:  Returning From Attract Mode
23:04:35.26  26/06/2018:  Starting Attract Mode
23:04:35.30  26/06/2018:  Shutting down display
23:04:35.34  26/06/2018:  Setting Up RawInput Hook
23:04:35.35  26/06/2018:  Launching RawInputHook.exe
23:04:46.30  26/06/2018:  Running: cmd.exe /c C: C:\Arcade\Systems\MultiSystem\Emulators\MAME\mame0198b_64bit\mame64.exe gtfore02 -rompath X:\Mame\MAME_0.198_ROMs_(split) -joy -skip_gameinfo -video d3d -noswitchres –triplebuffer -bezel -artpath artworkgameex
23:04:47.60  26/06/2018:  Shutting down RawInput Hook
23:04:49.64  26/06/2018:  Warning: Display is running in full screen compatibility mode.
23:04:50.18  26/06/2018:  21 Consecutive Exceptions Occured
23:04:50.18  26/06/2018:  Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
23:04:50.19  26/06/2018:     at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.d0()
23:04:50.20  26/06/2018:  Trying reinitialising the display after sleeping for 4 seconds
23:04:50.20  26/06/2018:  Exception count will be dropped to 15
23:04:54.38  26/06/2018:  Exception initializing display
23:04:54.38  26/06/2018:  Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
23:04:54.39  26/06/2018:     at SlimDX.Direct3D9.Device..ctor(Direct3D direct3D, Int32 adapter, DeviceType deviceType, IntPtr controlHandle, CreateFlags createFlags, PresentParameters[] presentParameters)
23:04:54.39  26/06/2018:     at Direct2d.Device.NewDevice(Form FormHandle, Int32 Width, Int32 Height, Boolean Windowed, Boolean VSync, Boolean Display16Bit, Int32 DisplayNbr, Int32 RefreshRate, Direct3D _Direct3d)
23:04:54.40  26/06/2018:     at Direct2d.Device.NewDevice(Form FormHandle, Int32 Width, Int32 Height, Boolean Windowed, Boolean VSync, Boolean Display16Bit, Int32 DisplayNbr, Int32 RefreshRate)
23:04:54.40  26/06/2018:     at Direct2d.Device.a(Form& A_0, Int32 A_1, Int32 A_2, Boolean A_3, Boolean A_4, Boolean A_5, Boolean A_6, Int32 A_7)
23:04:54.41  26/06/2018:     at Direct2d.Device..ctor(Form FormHandle, Int32 Width, Int32 Height, Boolean Windowed, Boolean VSync, Boolean Display16Bit, Boolean SecondaryDisplay)
23:04:54.42  26/06/2018:     at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.a(Boolean A_0, Boolean A_1, Boolean A_2, Boolean A_3, Int32 A_4, Int32 A_5, Int32 A_6, Boolean A_7, Boolean A_8, Boolean A_9)
23:04:54.42  26/06/2018:     at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.a(Boolean A_0, Boolean A_1, Boolean A_2, Boolean A_3, Int32 A_4, Int32 A_5, Int32 A_6, Boolean A_7)
23:04:54.43  26/06/2018:     at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.a(Boolean A_0, Boolean A_1, Boolean A_2, Boolean A_3, Int32 A_4, Int32 A_5, Int32 A_6)
23:04:54.43  26/06/2018:     at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.d(Boolean A_0, Boolean A_1, Boolean A_2, Boolean A_3)
23:04:54.44  26/06/2018:     at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.d0()
23:04:54.44  26/06/2018:  --**--
23:04:54.45  26/06/2018:  21 Consecutive Exceptions Occured: Exiting
23:04:54.46  26/06/2018:  Closing database connection
23:04:54.47  26/06/2018:  First Exception:
23:04:54.48  26/06/2018:  Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
23:04:54.48  26/06/2018:     at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.d0()
23:04:54.49  26/06/2018:  Last Exception:
23:04:54.49  26/06/2018:  Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
23:04:54.50  26/06/2018:     at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.d0()
23:04:54.80  26/06/2018:  Exiting GameEx!
23:04:54.81  26/06/2018:  Closing HideOS.exe
23:04:55.03  26/06/2018:  Disposing all videos
23:04:55.04  26/06/2018:  Deleting temporary Karaoke videos
23:04:55.04  26/06/2018:  Disposing Image List
23:04:55.05  26/06/2018:  Disposing Fonts
23:04:55.05  26/06/2018:  Disposing Surfaces
23:04:55.06  26/06/2018:  Saving Settings
23:04:55.07  26/06/2018:  Saving Settings
23:04:55.08  26/06/2018:  Shutting down Bass
23:04:55.14  26/06/2018:  Disposing Plugins
23:04:55.14  26/06/2018:  Disposing Plugins
23:04:55.19  26/06/2018:  Checking for applications to Launch On Exit
23:04:55.20  26/06/2018:  Bye

Attached usual..

 

log.txt

GameEx.ini

[RedDog]

The log says this:
Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.

This is the same PC that we were discussing in the other thread, isn't it? The one that might need a RAM upgrade? You should probably do some memory tests. Maybe it's not the amount of RAM or a memory leak that is giving you problems; perhaps one of the sticks is not working properly.

 

The log also talks about some plugins having to be turned off due to exceptions(QuickLaunch & LCD/LED). If the crashing is a consistent, reproducible issue, you may want to disable your plugins to see if you can get some stability...and then add them back in one at a time.

[stigzler]

Thanks RedDog - can you recommend any RAM testing software? Is it mainly that RAMTest (or whatever it's called) that you run in the DOS environment prior to windows?

50 minutes ago, RedDog said:

The log also talks about some plugins having to be turned off due to exceptions(QuickLaunch & LCD/LED). If the crashing is a consistent, reproducible issue, you may want to disable your plugins to see if you can get some stability...and then add them back in one at a time.

@Tom Speirs, @headkaze, @Adultery - dunno if you guys need to know - think this is you guys' plugins + Tom - know we had issues with my plugins recently - wonder if related to same issue?

Cheers chaps

[RedDog]

The memory test tool that is build into Windows is fine. See here. I will also use memtest86 free version.

Be sure to run them for at least several hours, overnight if you really want to be thorough.

Also consider reseating or mixing your sticks.

[Adultery]

Based on your logs, this is a SlimDX crash. I can say that Quicklaunch doesn't do anything that would result in any kind of D3D errors. I'd make the same assumption that the LED/LCD  plugin wouldn't either.

I'm guessing either one of your your RAM sticks is corrupt or you have issues with your video card RAM and/or IO buffer.

[stigzler]

yuck - that sounds horrible. Where the hell do I start with the differential diagnostics? I've also wondered whether it's one of my plugins with a memory leak (although I don't really know what that it) - would that cause this error?

[Adultery]

If you're doing any kind of drawing to the screen it's possible I suppose...

I would start with RAM tests, that's the most likely and cheapest thing you can do.

It couldn't hurt to double check your code... I've had memory leak issues with GameInfo, and ended up rewriting a ton of code to try to fix the issues. Something along the line caught it, because it just stopped happening.

I'm sure it was probably switching my forms to show with "using" instead of just loading them into memory and trusting the garbage collection to purge the stuff I'm not using anymore. But I made so many changes, it's hard to say exactly what I did to stop it. I will say my cab would typically run for about a week unattended before it would crash.

I've also never had that error exactly, but GameEx might have improved the error messaging since then. I'm fairly certain he switched to SlimDX since then, or at least made some changes to his renderer handling.

Hope that helps!

[stigzler]

thanks A. yeah, tom did switch to slimdx recently.