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[LazyWizard]

I've run into the white screen bug a lot; it is a memory error in the vanilla game caused from a build-up of memory over time due to something that has to do with the backgrounds the game eventually fails to load. The more mods (or modded stuff) you have the faster the memory bug seems to build up once you start the game, hence the bug not being discovered until recently when folks started using a whole bunch of modded factions at once. The time it takes for the white screen to show seems to vary by computer, and restarting starsector has proven to reset the time on the white screen'a death. It should be fixed in the next release of starsector, and until then the only real recommendation is to save often, and possibly restart starsector in between video episodes to keep the bug from cropping up during them.

Thank you good sir! This is nice to know. On the other hand it is a little unsettling because I just started up SS, only had the new Exerelin mod and lazylib checked and I got the old WSOD at my first battle... not good not good

It has been a couple of days since I restarted my pc so maybe that didn't help. I'll restart and see how far I can get.

If you have a 64-bit version of Java installed on your computer, you can tell Starsector to use that instead of its bundled JRE and allocate more memory. This would be especially useful for a LPer, since bugs like that are disastrous for a video.

If you're using Windows, you would edit starsector-core/starsector.bat to look something like this:

Code

"C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\java.exe" -server -XX:CompilerThreadPriority=1 -XX:+CompilerThreadHintNoPreempt -Djava.util.Arrays.useLegacyMergeSort=true -Djava.library.path=native\\windows -Xms512m -Xmx4g -classpath janino.jar;commons-compiler.jar;commons-compiler-jdk.jar;starfarer.api.jar;starfarer_obf.jar;jogg-0.0.7.jar;jorbis-0.0.15.jar;json.jar;lwjgl.jar;jinput.jar;log4j-1.2.9.jar;lwjgl_util.jar;fs.sound_obf.jar;fs.common_obf.jar;xstream-1.4.2.jar; -Dcom.fs.starfarer.settings.paths.saves=..\\saves -Dcom.fs.starfarer.settings.paths.screenshots=..\\screenshots -Dcom.fs.starfarer.settings.paths.mods=..\\mods -Dcom.fs.starfarer.settings.paths.logs=. com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher

In this example, the batch file points at my system's 64-bit Java 7 install, fixes a bug with Java 7 in the current SS version (the useLegacyMergeSort=true part) and allows the JVM to allocate up to 4 gigs of memory. Now I just run Starsector using starsector.bat instead of starsector.exe, and memory issues are a thing of the past.

[joey4track]

If you're using Windows, you would edit starsector-core/starsector.bat to look something like this:

Oh cool I might just do that. I assume I can edit a .bat file with notepad or something??

EDIT: I just changed it to txt and then changed it back. Works like a charm, thanks

[Reshy]

Reshy, I could be wrong but I don't think those issues sound like they could be caused by Exerelin. In fact the no error thing could mean it is an error beyond StarSector itself. It may be worth checking the windows event logs to see if there is something there.

It only happens with the mod installed, and I only have Lazy's Lib and Exerelin installed.  I don't know how to view the windows event logs so if you can tell me I'll find what's in there when it crashes.

[kupan9]

Reshy, I could be wrong but I don't think those issues sound like they could be caused by Exerelin. In fact the no error thing could mean it is an error beyond StarSector itself. It may be worth checking the windows event logs to see if there is something there.

It only happens with the mod installed, and I only have Lazy's Lib and Exerelin installed.  I don't know how to view the windows event logs so if you can tell me I'll find what's in there when it crashes.

Before trying to debug anything, I want to verify that you have rebooted since this has started happening to you, and it is still occuring after the reboot. Sometimes people leave their computer on for extended periods (is totally not guilty of this.. :Shifty eyes:) and occasionally the computer just legitimately just needs a reboot.

Assuming you have rebooted and still have this problem, here is how to use the Event Viewer.
It would help if you told us which version of windows you are running, but for XP and 7 you should be able to find the event viewer in Start menu -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer.
In Windows 7 you can also just type in 'Event Viewer' in the search box in the Start Menu.
Heaven Google help you if you are on Windows 8, because I can't.

I would check 'Application', 'Security', and 'System' logs under the 'Windows Logs' and the 'Hardware Events' under the 'Applications and Services Logs'
I would probably check it like this,
1. Take screenshots of the logs listed above, then close the Event Viewer.
2. Start the Game, When it crashes,
3. Close out anything the game has left (if it is frozen on white screen, then end process in the Task manager [push Ctrl + Shift + Esc, or Ctrl+ Alt + Del ->Task Manager])
4. Re-Open the Event Viewer and compare the entries to the screenshots and see if any new entries exist.

Good luck.

[joey4track]

Does anyone have any early game strategies or suggestions? I don't mean in combat or surviving/building up credits/ships I mean more with the campaign aspect, the colonization or expansion aspect of the game.

Is it best to just wait for your wages to roll in and build up a fleet until war is declared? Because it seems when I start a war with someone early on it never ends up good for me. The last time I started war with some pirates right away so I didn't have that many fleets. We took care of the pirates for the most part but ended up getting attacked back at our station and all my fleets not able to defend because they were over at the pirates station waiting for them to come out so they could beat on them. All the while my station at home was getting overrun and with no one but my pathetic little start ship to defend.

And about wages, does anyone else think they might be OP? Perhaps the pay period could be extended. I find myself to have an abundance of credits fairly early on in the game.

[kupan9]

Does anyone have any early game strategies or suggestions? I don't mean in combat or surviving/building up credits/ships I mean more with the campaign aspect, the colonization or expansion aspect of the game.

Is it best to just wait for your wages to roll in and build up a fleet until war is declared? Because it seems when I start a war with someone early on it never ends up good for me. The last time I started war with some pirates right away so I didn't have that many fleets. We took care of the pirates for the most part but ended up getting attacked back at our station and all my fleets not able to defend because they were over at the pirates station waiting for them to come out so they could beat on them. All the while my station at home was getting overrun and with no one but my pathetic little start ship to defend.

And about wages, does anyone else think they might be OP? Perhaps the pay period could be extended. I find myself to have an abundance of credits fairly early on in the game.

I tend to pick a faction that I don't like or that I want to get Capital ships from and hit them hard at the start. This does two things, one it levels me up some, and two is that it redirects alot of traders to them pretty fast. That usually ends up with them having the most capital ships pretty fast, and all condensed into one or two stations, so they are easy to track. The downside is that you need to either back off and fight something else, or hope you managed to get enough for a decent ship/fleet to combat the larger ones. Some factions will back you up decently during this stage so you can keep picking off fleets that have been damaged by your allies, but some factions just don't do that as well. Most factions fail against the Neutrinos at this stage, It is mostly up to Faction vs Faction autoresolve and spawning rates.
I am not saying this is a particularly good way to go about the early game, it is just what I find myself doing.

As far as Wages go, I am not sure it is accomplishing what it seems to set out to do. While having access to more funds does help get that ship or weapons a bit sooner, it doesn't help anything when you can afford that shiny new capital ship to find that no stations in your faction currently have enough crew to run it. This is particularly a problem with some of the ships that need 1k+ crew, or larger fleets. This tends to encourage me to play 'solo' as I can't find enough crew for a reasonable fleet without seriously hurting my faction's fleets and spending alot of time grabbing crew as soon as traders land at stations. Basically Money is pretty easy to get, supplies not to hard until you need alot of them, weapons just take a bit of time at war to get a good mix and omni factory means you only need to get one, Crew is hard to find and replace(which might not be a such a bad thing if cruisers and up didn't take so much more than frigates in most factions), with specific other faction's ships being the hardest thing to acquire.
If I had my way, wages would be given in the form of Supplies and crew at your personal Abandoned Station with maybe a 10%-20% chance of a random any faction weapon and a 1-2% chance of a random any below cruiser ship form any faction, with a .01% of a cruiser or better.


TLDR:
Hitting a faction hard at the start often helps make them more powerful pretty quickly, but limited to a smaller area (assuming lots of planets/stations)
Crew is hard to find sometimes, and hurts your faction to take.
Wages give to many credits, and might be better as Supply/Crew drops at your station.

[joey4track]

Hmm, so the faction you start to beat up on gets extra trade ships for some reason? And yes you usually run into a crew cap sort of and that's what really stops you from expanding your fleet progress..

[Zaphide]

Does anyone have any early game strategies or suggestions? I don't mean in combat or surviving/building up credits/ships I mean more with the campaign aspect, the colonization or expansion aspect of the game.

Is it best to just wait for your wages to roll in and build up a fleet until war is declared? Because it seems when I start a war with someone early on it never ends up good for me. The last time I started war with some pirates right away so I didn't have that many fleets. We took care of the pirates for the most part but ended up getting attacked back at our station and all my fleets not able to defend because they were over at the pirates station waiting for them to come out so they could beat on them. All the while my station at home was getting overrun and with no one but my pathetic little start ship to defend.

And about wages, does anyone else think they might be OP? Perhaps the pay period could be extended. I find myself to have an abundance of credits fairly early on in the game.

Potentially the wages are a bit much, but it is only 2500/5000 credits per ~10 days if at peace/war. I tend to play without saving/loading much so if I take a bad beat... they are handy

Normally when starting out I don't attack anyone until a few other wars/alliances have started (depending on the number of starting factions). Each faction starts out with an initial randomised like/dislike of each other faction and this normally plays out within the first week or two. Once a war or two is started, then I look at joining in or starting a different one myself. If you (the player) start a war, it will result in a negative to factions allied with the faction you attacked, a small negative to neutral factions and a positive to enemies of that faction. So, you can kind of drive your factions relations a bit by picking a certain faction to attack.

Hmm, so the faction you start to beat up on gets extra trade ships for some reason? And yes you usually run into a crew cap sort of and that's what really stops you from expanding your fleet progress..

Not really, all other factions should be fairly similar (at least in the most recent version). What can happen is a resource injection for the faction with least station via the Trade Guild event.

--- snip ---
As far as Wages go, I am not sure it is accomplishing what it seems to set out to do. While having access to more funds does help get that ship or weapons a bit sooner, it doesn't help anything when you can afford that shiny new capital ship to find that no stations in your faction currently have enough crew to run it. This is particularly a problem with some of the ships that need 1k+ crew, or larger fleets. This tends to encourage me to play 'solo' as I can't find enough crew for a reasonable fleet without seriously hurting my faction's fleets and spending alot of time grabbing crew as soon as traders land at stations. Basically Money is pretty easy to get, supplies not to hard until you need alot of them, weapons just take a bit of time at war to get a good mix and omni factory means you only need to get one, Crew is hard to find and replace(which might not be a such a bad thing if cruisers and up didn't take so much more than frigates in most factions), with specific other faction's ships being the hardest thing to acquire.
If I had my way, wages would be given in the form of Supplies and crew at your personal Abandoned Station with maybe a 10%-20% chance of a random any faction weapon and a 1-2% chance of a random any below cruiser ship form any faction, with a .01% of a cruiser or better.
--- snip ---

Thank you kupan, this is an excellent idea and solves a couple of issues I've not liked about the wages system. Initially I wanted a safety-blanket type mechanic, to get you back on your feet, but with money there can be either nothing to buy OR you can buy opposition resources. With a supply injection at the Storage Facility, it is up to the player to either save those resources, use them for themselves or give them to their stations to boost fleet sizes.

[sirboomalot]

Not enough crew for that shiny new capital ship!? Huh... having always focused my own fleets around an unstoppable frigate swarm, I never even realized that a lack of crew might be a problem for some...

Anyways, for the beginning of the game I've always just busied myself with putting anything and everything from my station into the omnifactory until my faction declared a war without me.

[Reshy]

Before trying to debug anything, I want to verify that you have rebooted since this has started happening to you, and it is still occuring after the reboot. Sometimes people leave their computer on for extended periods (is totally not guilty of this.. :Shifty eyes:) and occasionally the computer just legitimately just needs a reboot.

Assuming you have rebooted and still have this problem, here is how to use the Event Viewer.
It would help if you told us which version of windows you are running, but for XP and 7 you should be able to find the event viewer in Start menu -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer.
In Windows 7 you can also just type in 'Event Viewer' in the search box in the Start Menu.
Heaven Google help you if you are on Windows 8, because I can't.

I would check 'Application', 'Security', and 'System' logs under the 'Windows Logs' and the 'Hardware Events' under the 'Applications and Services Logs'
I would probably check it like this,
1. Take screenshots of the logs listed above, then close the Event Viewer.
2. Start the Game, When it crashes,
3. Close out anything the game has left (if it is frozen on white screen, then end process in the Task manager [push Ctrl + Shift + Esc, or Ctrl+ Alt + Del ->Task Manager])
4. Re-Open the Event Viewer and compare the entries to the screenshots and see if any new entries exist.

Good luck.

No I don't leave the game on for long, however sometimes when fighting large fleets with a large fleet it will close itself.  Loading saves also slows down to a crawl after about 5 loads.


Also I'm running windows 8 so I don't think those instructions work for me.

[Ambient]

Love the mod so far, but where are the weapons at?

No station seems to have any....

as well as ships....

[Sproginator]

Been playing this md for a while now, gotta say,


It's really too easy to get the higher level ships early on, try increasing their price?

Other than that, the ability to build my own fleets using special resources like in fleet control would be amazing

[Zaphide]

No I don't leave the game on for long, however sometimes when fighting large fleets with a large fleet it will close itself.  Loading saves also slows down to a crawl after about 5 loads.


Also I'm running windows 8 so I don't think those instructions work for me.

Reshy, give this a look , it should help. You'll want to look in Application or System for AppCrash (or similar) with Java.exe or StarSector.exe.

Otherwise, have a look at http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=6249.0. It lists how to change memory settings for Java under Windows (I assume the same for Windows 8 ). It may help.

Love the mod so far, but where are the weapons at?

No station seems to have any....

as well as ships....

Weapons and ships will be delivered to stations owned by the faction you chose at the start. They will predominantly be ships/weapons of you faction, but other factions ships/weapons can also be delivered from time to time.

Been playing this md for a while now, gotta say,


It's really too easy to get the higher level ships early on, try increasing their price?

Other than that, the ability to build my own fleets using special resources like in fleet control would be amazing

As in too easy to get capital ships? Due to lots of money, or boarding? Seeing as 0.6 will lower the boarding chance that should help fix that problem

I'm not sure if I'll go down the fleet construction way to the level of fleet control but I may look at a way to provide more direction to your factions fleets. It really requires a few UI elements but the idea would be to dictate preferences for defense/offense/patrol, small/large fleets, ideal fleet composition, an ability to assign stations to attack/defend. I don't know if you have ever played "Settlers II" but it had a very indirect way of managing your empires army. Ideally I would like to follow that route. A few of the changes I did to the station/fleet subsystems in the recent update should provide a way to do this, but yeah it really needs some custom UI elements to manage. But, I guess we'll also have to see what StarSector itself brings

[Silver Silence]

I'm playing as the Council at the moment and all I have for capitals is an Overlord which is a rather ponderous broadside ship. Recently captured theEND and a Nevermore. Using theEND with a pair of frigates but for some reason, the Council is at war with the Neutrino, Valkyrians, Blackrock and the Pirates. Starting base is gonna be lost pretty soon because there are capital fleets all over it, and the Council fleets have all jumped ship to another station that they captured recently.

[ValkyriaL]

The Council seem to hate me, They always start a war with me and my babies.