Re: RE: [Algorithms] Crash helper

The only other thing i can suggest (from our own experience with strange 
crashes like this) is to use a LOT of logging output that does the same 
basic thing that try loops do, except output human-readable output to 
the log (and soon in-engine console) when errors occur.

We do alot of things like this:

theGraphicsEngine = new CGraphicsEngine(bFullScreen, nWidth, nHeight, 
szTitle, hInstance, chTheDriver, bSoftware, UseDialog, szStartLevel);

if(theGraphicsEngine == NULL)
{
theGraphicsEngine ->ReportError("Can't create Graphics engine!\n", true);
return -1;
}

It's not rocket science, but used liberally throughout the engine it 
provides us with at least an idea of WHERE exactly the issue is 
occuring.  I've been going on a 'debuglog' wave of late adding as much 
of this kind of logging output to the various sub-classes as 
appropriate.  By setting a 'DEBUGLEVEL' define (either at runtime or 
compile), you could set it up to disable or enable the output logging, 
and can also set the debug to go to the console (ie in-game) if desired.

(by default i leave it on - personally i like seeing the various 
sub-systems fire up as the engine loads)

Our developers as a whole don't use any memory/crash dumps, stricly 
logging errors.  It's not the perfect solution, but debugging 
full-screen apps just isn't really fun, and the logging technique has 
been working for the 5 years we've been putting out releases.

Unfortunately none of our programmers speak native binary or hex and the 
protocol droid is in the shop...

Good luck, lookin forward to seeing the Suffering in stores soon ;}

Cheers
Mike W
www.realityfactory.ca

Jon Watte wrote:
> I'm copying this to gd-windows, which is where the question should be asked.
> ([email protected])
> 
> We wrap our game loop in __try / __except and do a crash dump in the except
> handler:
> 
> 
> static BOOL (WINAPI * MyMiniDumpWriteDump)(
>     HANDLE, DWORD, HANDLE, MINIDUMP_TYPE, PMINIDUMP_EXCEPTION_INFORMATION,
>     PMINIDUMP_USER_STREAM_INFORMATION, PMINIDUMP_CALLBACK_INFORMATION );
> static HMODULE hDbgHelp = (HMODULE)INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
> 
> void InitExceptionSupportAtProgramStart()
> {
>   hDbgHelp = LoadLibrary( "DbgHelp.dll" );
>   if( hDbgHelp != (HMODULE)INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE ) {
>     *(FARPROC *)&MyMiniDumpWriteDump = GetProcAddress( hDbgHelp,
> "MiniDumpWriteDump" );
>   }
> }
> 
> DWORD ExceptionHandler()
> {
>   if( MyMiniDumpWriteDump ) {
>     HANDLE hFile = CreateFile( ... );
>     ... GetExceptionInformation() ...
>     (*MyMiniDumpWriteDump)( ... );
>     CloseHandle( hFile );
>   }
>   else {
>     // walk the stack from esp up to stack base, looking
>     // for things that returns like return addresses into
>     // our executables and DLLS, using the ImageHelp library
>     // and address/code sniffing; dump into a text-mode file
>   }
>   return EXCEPTION_EXECUTE_HANDLER;
> }
> 
> 
>   __try {
>     while( 1 ) {
>       GameLoop();
>     }
>   }
>   __except( ExceptionHandler() ) {
>     UserMessage( "The computer hates you." );
>     ExitProcess( -1 );
>   }
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Tom
> Vykruta
> Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 4:48 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [Algorithms] Crash helper
> 
> 
> I apologize for a slightly off topic question, but it's advanced and
> hopefully someone has ideas.  I'm currently in the midst of running a PC
> game (The Suffering) through QA. Unfortunately when it crashes, there is
> nothing helpful besides "Crashed to desktop".  I want a crash report
> generated. I can ship the PDB along with the game, or not. The ideal
> thing would be to dump the stack, registers, and perhaps even
> disassembly at the crash site.  Are there any existing ways to do this?
> 
> I'm compiling under .NET 7.1 + D3D9, pretty standard setup.  Thanks all.
> 
> Tomas Vykruta
> Project Lead, The Suffering PC
> 
> 
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