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Author Topic: Looking for testers  (Read 4675 times)
meep-eep
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Looking for testers
« on: March 11, 2006, 10:10:51 am »

I've just committed a big change to some really evil UQM code, and it could use some testing.
So if you've always wanted to contribute, but couldn't code, make music, or draw, here's your chance. Tongue

The code changed is primarilly about crew counts, but it touches saving and loading too.

Some remarks first:
  • When using the flagship in the full game, the captain is supposed to be added to the crew in the beginning of battle (after his ship is selected). His block in the life bar has its own color.
  • I'm interested in testing all these aspects (where relevent) both in supermelee and the full game, and with both the flagship and with other ships.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is as follows: play the game, and keep an eye on the following:
  • is the crew amount when going into battle correct?
  • is the crew amount when leaving battle correct? (Through winning, losing, or fleeing).
  • does everything still work as it should if the flagship has over 254 crew?
  • Crew still floating in space after the last battle should be added to the victor's crew. Is it? (I think this is only visible in the full game).
  • Does gaining crew (through picking up or regenerating) work as it should?
  • What if both ships are destroyed before the battle ends?
  • Does saving and loading still work? Does the game behave correctly afterwards?

Whenever I make changes to code, I try to assure myself that what I'm doing is entirely correct, and I've done many test on my changes myself, but there be dragons everywhere in this code... and to think it all sounded so simple.

Oh right, I almost forgot where you can get this new version. You can get it from CVS, or from the snapshots page. On the snapshots page there is a Windows binary too, so all you'd have to do is to replace the uqm.exe file by the one you can find there. No compiling required.

I'm preparing a little surprise for when this is done btw. Something I know many of you would be looking forward too if I were to tell you what it is. It's got something to do with this code change.
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2006, 12:27:33 pm »

Does this only apply to the main game's melee or the super-melee as well?

Anyway I downloaded a copy of the new CVS binary and will look over these things.

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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2006, 03:41:27 pm »

When downloading from SourceForge anonymous CVS, remember that it may be delayed by up to 5 hours. The changes Meep-eep mentioned ("Flagship crew numbers are no longer continuously synchronised during melee, but only at the beginning and end of the battle" in ChangeLog) are now in anonymous CVS; they weren't there about an hour ago.

I still have no idea what surprise this is leading up to. Sad
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2006, 05:06:24 pm »

I downloaded the file referenced at: 
http://uqm.stack.nl/files/snapshots/uqm-20060311.0922.exe.zip

Which is the same one that is the latest now...

I got done playing around, too.  To address the questions, at least in a preliminary way (especially since I'm not knowing quite *what* meep's wanting to know through a lot of questions - especially since the 0.50 release seemed to work right...)

is the crew amount when going into battle correct?

I went and pushed around a bunch of Mycon and VUX using a variety of ships, including the flagship.  I noticed no discrepancies out of line from what I expected.

is the crew amount when leaving battle correct? (Through winning, losing, or fleeing).

Ditto from above.

does everything still work as it should if the flagship has over 254 crew?

I created a flagship configuration with 350 crew and fought a Slylandro with it.  I let the probe knock me down to about 250 or so before I finally eliminated it.

Crew still floating in space after the last battle should be added to the victor's crew. Is it? (I think this is only visible in the full game).

How do you set this one up?  In the full game only or in super-melee too?

Does gaining crew (through picking up or regenerating) work as it should?

Several of the Mycon fights involved me piloting a Syreen.  Both the Mycon regeneration and the Syreen adding crew worked properly.

What if both ships are destroyed before the battle ends?

Like if you use a Shofixti to destroy the last ship you face in super-melee?  I notice the game won't mark the last ship as destroyed.  Otherwise, I don't know what you mean.

Does saving and loading still work? Does the game behave correctly afterwards?

Yes on all counts.

If you need me to check anything else, feel free to ask.


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meep-eep
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2006, 06:49:53 pm »

In answer to  your first question, it applies to supermelee too.

I got done playing around, too.  To address the questions, at least in a preliminary way (especially since I'm not knowing quite *what* meep's wanting to know through a lot of questions - especially since the 0.50 release seemed to work right...)
They are all things that may theoretically contain a bug. And you can do them in lots of different combinations (full game or supermelee, flagship or other ship, exit battle through winning, losing, or fleeing), which is too much to test by myself, which is why I asked for extra testers.

Quote
Crew still floating in space after the last battle should be added to the victor's crew. Is it? (I think this is only visible in the full game).
How do you set this one up?  In the full game only or in super-melee too?
With a syreen in your fleet, in the full game, use the special to lure the opponent's crew overboard, then kill the ship. If that was the last ship, the crew still floating in space should be added to your own. It should be visible after the combat.

Quote
What if both ships are destroyed before the battle ends?
Like if you use a Shofixti to destroy the last ship you face in super-melee?  I notice the game won't mark the last ship as destroyed.  Otherwise, I don't know what you mean.
That's a pre-existing issue, for which a bug report already exists. I'm more concerned of whether the ships are actually gone after the battle, which I guess it does.


Ok, thanks for the help. This should at least give me some confidence I made no mistakes.
Although there are many combinations that could still be wrong.

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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2006, 09:55:56 pm »


Quote
What if both ships are destroyed before the battle ends?
Like if you use a Shofixti to destroy the last ship you face in super-melee?  I notice the game won't mark the last ship as destroyed.  Otherwise, I don't know what you mean.
That's a pre-existing issue, for which a bug report already exists. I'm more concerned of whether the ships are actually gone after the battle, which I guess it does.


Just confirmed this bug, but the ship IS gone. Simpe setup in super melee: 1 Dreadnought against a couple of Shofixti. Keep blowing the Shofixti up until the UQ croaks. Works fine with snapshot: uqm-debug-20060311.0922.exe.zip
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2006, 11:45:34 pm »

With a syreen in your fleet, in the full game, use the special to lure the opponent's crew overboard, then kill the ship. If that was the last ship, the crew still floating in space should be added to your own. It should be visible after the combat.

OK I found a bug for you involving what I quoted.

The syreen ship limit is 42.  While within the game, if you manually pick up the crew, it doesn't seem to allow you more than 42.  However, if you suck out crew of a ship and then destroy it (being the last one), your code to add the floating crew to your ship will push this number above 42.  While this seems to be OK for continuing in the game (future damage dealt to this ship doesn't seem to take into account this inflated number, but it might - damage figures with a Mycon plasma ball are hard to guage accurately), it can cause the bug in the following steps.

1) Fight enough with a Syreen to suck in around 42 crew. 
2) Suck out crew and then kill something that will bring this number beyond 42 using the "floating crew at the end of match gets added to the victor's ship" coding.
3) Save the game.
4) Load the game.  UQM.EXE will then crash and knock you to desktop.

Hope this helps you.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2006, 11:51:27 pm by Captain Smith » Logged
meep-eep
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2006, 03:33:06 am »

Nice find. This is indeed the kind of thing I've been looking for. I'll investigate. I do however have the suspicion that I did not introduce this bug, and that it was present all along... the too much crew I mean, the crash is probably new.
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #8 on: March 14, 2006, 01:35:31 am »

I'm preparing a little surprise for when this is done btw. Something I know many of you would be looking forward too if I were to tell you what it is. It's got something to do with this code change.
I still have no idea what surprise this is leading up to. Sad
  • When using the flagship in the full game, the captain is supposed to be added to the crew in the beginning of battle (after his ship is selected). His block in the life bar has its own color.
  • I'm interested in testing all these aspects (where relevent) both in supermelee and the full game, and with both the flagship and with other ships.
The important parts of my theory are italicized above.   Oh goody goody goody.  Grin  Surprisingly, it would be a move away from the "straight port" goal.  Not that I'd complain.    Wink
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2006, 04:13:01 am »

Nice find. This is indeed the kind of thing I've been looking for. I'll investigate. I do however have the suspicion that I did not introduce this bug, and that it was present all along... the too much crew I mean, the crash is probably new.

You are right, the "Syreen has too much crew after the 'victor gets all crew in space' bug" is present in the 0.50 release version.  However, I assume the CVS version is a debug build and has a form of range checking on its variables and will crash if loading a game with a regular ship that has more than its limit (like the Syreen).  The 0.50 release will not crash upon loading such a saved game.  However, in either case, you will not get the benefit of having more than the 42 crew the Syreen ship is *supposed* to have as a maximum.

Sounds like the fix would be a simple thing, though.  Something as simple as adding "IF SHIP_CREW_SIZE > SHIP_MAX_CREW_SIZE, SHIP_CREW_SIZE = SHIP_MAX_CREW_SIZE" after the code that adds the crew floating in space.
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #10 on: March 14, 2006, 11:09:59 am »

Surprisingly, it would be a move away from the "straight port" goal.  Not that I'd complain.    Wink
That's why I'm presenting this as a patch (well, that and the fact that it's a hack), and not including it in UQM itself.
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #11 on: March 14, 2006, 11:12:30 am »

Nice find. This is indeed the kind of thing I've been looking for. I'll investigate. I do however You are right, the "Syreen has too much crew after the 'victor gets all crew in space' bug" is present in the 0.50 release version.  However, I assume the CVS version is a debug build and has a form of range checking on its variables and will crash if loading a game with a regular ship that has more than its limit (like the Syreen).
There are no such checks. I don't know why there's a crash. I'll have to investigate.

Quote
Sounds like the fix would be a simple thing, though.  Something as simple as adding "IF SHIP_CREW_SIZE > SHIP_MAX_CREW_SIZE, SHIP_CREW_SIZE = SHIP_MAX_CREW_SIZE" after the code that adds the crew floating in space.
Exactly.
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2006, 09:54:52 am »

I've fixed the too-much-crew bug, but I haven't been able to replicate the crash. Could you send me your savegame that crashed the game on load?

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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #13 on: March 17, 2006, 12:22:54 am »

I've fixed the too-much-crew bug, but I haven't been able to replicate the crash. Could you send me your savegame that crashed the game on load?

The game has been sent.  Hope I got the right e-mail.
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Re: Looking for testers
« Reply #14 on: March 17, 2006, 01:48:12 pm »

Game received, and bug fixed (in CVS).
It was unrelated to the "too much crew". Saving would go wrong if there were other ships in HyperSpace.

Anyone who used the bugged version should upgrade. Your new savegames may not be loadable otherwise. This includes people who used Kohr-Ah Death's build for the Flagship-in-supermelee patch.

« Last Edit: March 17, 2006, 01:52:39 pm by meep-eep » Logged

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