BYOND 480 won't connect to games for many players in Bug Reports

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ID:110839
 
Mar 15 2011, 5:15 pm
Resolved
On Windows 2003, Vista, and 7, users running Google Chrome as their default browser had trouble connecting to games that use custom fonts.
BYOND Version:480
Operating System:Windows 7 Home Basic 64-bit
Web Browser:Firefox 3.6.15
Applies to:Dream Seeker
Status: Resolved (481)
This issue has been resolved.
Descriptive Problem Summary:
For the past week or so we've been getting tons of complaints from users who hang at the "Connecting to server...." splash page when trying to join NEStalgia. As it turns out, we realized that these complaints started immediately after BYOND 480 became available on the main download page.

Some users are hit with the problem temporarily (10 minutes to a few hours), and some have it permanently. Those same people report that they can sometimes still connect to BYOND games other than NEStalgia.

Downgrading to BYOND 479 fixes the problem for everyone. We're trying to let people know about the issue, but because this is turning away a fairly large chunk of new BYONDers, I suggest changing the download page to link to 479 until the glitch with 480 is fixed (people logging on with guest keys are also auto-downloading 480 right now from the NEStalgia.exe installer).

Note: Two of the NEStalgia servers are still running 479 Dream Daemons, but all current compiles of the game were made with 480. That doesn't seem to matter though, as players using 480 started to experience this problem while NEStalgia was still running on 479 compiles.
#1 Mar 15 2011, 5:52 pm (Edited on Mar 15 2011, 6:16 pm)
Can you tell these users to try running trace.bat to see what results they get? I'm curious if there's anything they can get from the connection process that would shed some light on the issue. Right now we really don't have anything to investigate except that something may have changed between 479 and 480, but that still leaves a lot of things to look at.

[edit]
Actually, also can you find out if some of those users are on 480.1087? There was an update, 480.1088, that went out to fix a problem with temporary cache files. Anyone who's already downgraded due to the problem can simply install 480.1088 to see if that fixes it. If they haven't downgraded yet, have them check the About... box on the pager.

[edit]
I'd also like to know which OS these users are running, which servers they're having trouble connecting to (or if it's all of them), whether clearing their cache fixes the issue, and so on. It'd be helpful if I knew their key names and could contact any of them tomorrow.
#2 Mar 15 2011, 6:26 pm
I went ahead and reverted the download page and installer to use 479. There is a "beta" section for 480. Obviously we'd like to get to the bottom of this ASAP, as we plan on rolling out 481 pretty soon, so please provide as much info from your users as you can.
#3 Mar 15 2011, 6:26 pm
Just another followup here, I can't actually find any threads on your forum where it's mentioned that downgrading to 479 works. All I've found so far are mentions that Google Chrome is interfering and that closing it fixes the issue.
#4 Mar 15 2011, 10:21 pm
I'll try to contact some of the users and see if I can put them in touch with you. Hopefully I'll be able to at least get their BYOND keys for you.


Here are some of the Silk Games forum topics on the issue. The Google Chrome "fix" only worked for some of them:

http://silkgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=4599

http://silkgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=4548

http://silkgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=4529


Lots of comments on the NEStalgia hub page have been about this issue lately (see #193 forward):

http://www.byond.com/games/SilkGames/NEStalgia#tab=discuss


The Reddit users were also hit, and downgrading worked for them:

http://www.reddit.com/r/NEStalgia/comments/g47bk/ troubleshooting_help/

http://www.reddit.com/r/NEStalgia/comments/g2qa1/arrgg/
#5 Mar 15 2011, 10:24 pm
Also, I'm pretty sure that 480.1088 also has this issue, because I had two different people who found NEStalgia for the first time today have this problem. Downgrading worked for both of them as well.
#6 Mar 16 2011, 5:23 am
Lummox JR wrote:
I'd also like to know which OS these users are running, which servers they're having trouble connecting to (or if it's all of them), whether clearing their cache fixes the issue, and so on. It'd be helpful if I knew their key names and could contact any of them tomorrow.

People were trying to clear their cache via the pager and uninstall/reinstall BYOND to no avail. I know that at least some of the people afflicted have been using Windows 7. I also had reports from users that all of the NEStalgia servers would hang at the "Connecting to..." screen, but other BYOND games still worked.

I myself am using Windows 7 Home 64-bit and had this issue happen once for a couple hours on just one server, but it resolved itself. I'm still running 480.1088 and haven't had any problems since.

UnknownPerson had this problem and was forced to downgrade to 479 to fix it (as far as I know, he discovered the "fix"). He may be a good person to contact. I'm also trying to get other users to post a reply to this bug report with their information for you.
#7 Mar 16 2011, 5:30 am
One last thing: I gave Google Chrome a try on my machine, and when trying to connect via the website I have the same weird issue that people reported where the game hangs at the "Connecting to..." screen until I close the Chrome browser.

If you need me to run some tests then let me know (again, I'm using Windows 7 Home 64-bit). I'm not sure if the Google Chrome issue is related to the other issues.
#8 Mar 17 2011, 9:13 am
Required conditions seem to be:

Google chrome has to be the first browser to start, or the game has to start from Google Chrome.
A browser or two in the interface.

The cause of this bug might be this fix:

"
If a game sent significant output before the skin loaded, parts of the interface could appear blank. In addition, winset() and similar commands sent too early did not work as expected. (Bloodmagekael)
"
What does byond do if the skin never loads because Google Chrome won't give it a browser?

It waits for Google Chrome to give it one.

What if Google Chrome never gives it one?

It gets one when Google Chrome is closed.
#9 Mar 17 2011, 10:28 pm
That sounds like a fairly reasonable hypothesis, Chowder, although I'm not fully convinced. I was thinking though that that's the only fix that could remotely impact this. I did find out Chrome has a plugin called Chrome Frame that can replace IE's embedded browser, but I can't find any clear information on whether it tries to do that for all apps. Try seeing if you can disable that, and if so if that fixes the issue.

There are a couple of things that still don't add up though. The fix in question merely delays any output, but it does not delay connection. Actual startup behavior should be unchanged. At the moment it's also setting the skin load flag before the skin elements are technically created, too (which is sort of a bug I think, but probably doesn't come up due to timing). It sounds like DS isn't actually starting at all, nor connecting to the server. Can you check and see if dreamseeker.exe is running when it's hanging like this?

And Silk, can you see if the people experiencing the problem are showing as fully logged in (at the server end) while their screen says they're stuck on "connecting"? That would be helpful information to know either way. I don't mean just showing up in DD, but actually having a mob and client and all that.
#10 Mar 18 2011, 9:56 am
AMD 64 Athlonx2 laptop
Vista
Chrome and Firefox tested

Hangs on the splash screen trying to connect.
#11 Mar 18 2011, 10:38 am
NapoleonGold wrote:
AMD 64 Athlonx2 laptop
Vista
Chrome and Firefox tested
Hangs on the splash screen trying to connect.

Can you clarify about the browsers? Was Chrome running when the issue happened for you, even if you tested in Firefox? In your task manager, does dreamseeker.exe show up when the splash screen is stuck?
#12 Mar 18 2011, 10:56 am
Lummox JR wrote:
And Silk, can you see if the people experiencing the problem are showing as fully logged in (at the server end) while their screen says they're stuck on "connecting"? That would be helpful information to know either way. I don't mean just showing up in DD, but actually having a mob and client and all that.

When I was having this problem for an hour or two at one point it had nothing to do with Google Chrome, but it showed me as logged in to the server on the DD while I was permanently hanging at the "Connecting to..." splash screen. I didn't check to see if the dreamseeker was running.

Once thing that I've noticed in 480 is that running a copy on my local machine (via clicking "Run" in the Dream Maker) now takes 1-2 minutes to even open up the DS window the first time that I do it. Before 480 it took maybe 5-10 seconds.

Trying to wrangle all of these new BYONDers to help me test this out has been really hard, but I'll keep trying. Ever since 479 was re-posted on the download page we've stopped getting new complaints.
#13 Mar 18 2011, 3:24 pm
Replacing byondwin.dll with the older version fixes it. Not sure if this has any relevance though. Dreamseaker.exe is running, when this occurs. Still occurs with all plugins disabled on chrome.
#14 Mar 18 2011, 3:27 pm
ooh, that's very good information, Chowder. So you are using all of the new programs except byondwin.dll? We'll have to see what changed there if that is the case.
#15 Mar 19 2011, 4:54 am
I don't always have this problem, using Byond 480, but this morning it kept me from logging in. I switched to Byond 479 and I managed to log.

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Firefox 4.0. Hope this helps.
#16 Mar 19 2011, 1:45 pm (Edited on Mar 19 2011, 1:56 pm)
I had this problem for a week, then it went away. It started while I was still running Byond 479. I then installed Byond 480 to see if that would help but it didn't.

I'm using Windows 7 32 bit, and google chrome. I also cleared the Byond cache. None of this had any effect on the problem. Let me know if you want any other info.

I was running 480.1088 when I had the problem. But I am still using it now with no issues.

Edit: All servers were affected.
#17 Mar 20 2011, 5:30 am
The problem came back, so I downgraded and that fixed it.
#18 Mar 22 2011, 3:34 pm
I was unable to reproduce this at my end after installing Chrome.

I do however have a theory to test regarding this issue, but I'll need someone to be online to work with me. If you'll be available during the day tomorrow (EDT), I'll be around on the pager, but you can also contact me on AIM as Lummox JR. The basic overview is that I have a test build that I think may resolve the issue (for reasons I absolutely can't fathom, but then none of this makes sense) and I'd like someone to verify they have the issue in 480, then try this build and see if it fixes it, and if so reverify in 480 to confirm it wasn't a fluke.

If you've already downgraded to 479, you can get a head start by installing 480's bin files from the zip into a directory called bin480. To test you'd just launch byond.exe from there and open NEStalgia from your recent links, without going through the browser.
#19 Mar 23 2011, 1:23 pm
I believe I have a fix standing by for this issue. Chowder was able to confirm on a Windows 7 64-bit machine, running Chrome as the default browser, that 480 does not start NEStalgia but a test build with the prospective fix does. I'm waiting to hear back from him later tonight when he can test on another machine, Windows 7 32-bit.

Based on his info that the default browser setting is required, I tried that and still was unable to reproduce the issue in XP. This may be limited to Vista+. If my information is all correct, then, these are the minimum requirements for the bug to occur (but based on JerryGarcia's feedback, maybe not all of them):

- The user must be running version 480.
- The OS must be Vista or later.
- Google Chrome must be set as the default browser.
- (to be confirmed) The game must use a custom font.

Chowder tested by launching from the browser window and also pager bookmarks and got identical results with both, so that is not a factor. He tested first in vanilla 480.1088, then in my test build, then again in 480 and again in the test build to confirm.

If anyone else wants to get in on this to expand the data pool, please let me know. You can reach me on AIM or the pager as Lummox JR. If you're a non-Member and don't have a way to reach me on AIM, you can reply to this bug report and I'll see the alert in my pager and get to you as soon as I can. Although I feel confident about this fix, all further help in testing it is greatly appreciated.
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