c0000005 crashes

Started by narvik, October 22, 2007, 09:10:31 AM

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narvik

***** UPDATE *****
If you are new to this thread, PLEASE either read the whole thread, or know that there was a relatively SIMPLE workaround to render
this animation, using a BATCH file and the command prompt. Read further to get all details....

***** END UPDATE *****


I'm trying to render an animation split into 6 projects, and all but one crash constantly, mostly immediately after writing the first frame.
Only project that doesn't crash is one with hardly any objects.

Error seems to be the c0000005 (access violation).
Haven't seen this error since Cinestream/EditDV days.

Computer is AMD Athlon 5600+ 2X, 2 GB, Win2000

Would upgrade to 4 GB, although: 1) not sure Win2000 will make use of that, and 2) TG2 might still crash as maybe the quantity of RAM might not be the issue.

What's the story on TG2 and memory leaks?

What's the "safest" way (read, set-up) for TG2 to handle larger projects.

Cheers,


Oshyan

If you're trying to render sequentially from the UI and are including objects, particularly populations, then you may be in for a lot of difficulty. There are some currently unresolved issues regarding sequential animation and object use that often cause crashes. One possible workaround is to use batch files and the commandline to render out your frames. Other than that you may just have to wait for an update that addresses these issues.

In terms of your specific problem and error, there really isn't nearly enough info to know what is happening. You would need to either provide the scene itself, including objects, or a lot more information on its specifics, including number of objects/populations, size of objects used (in polygons and MB), number of textures in use and their size, detail settings, etc.

- Oshyan

narvik

Thanks Oshyan,
dang, this already tuned into something that is far more complicated than it ought to be; but nevertheless, I will continue with it.


I'd much appreciate if someone could help me with writing a simple batch file to render the animiation. I am so lost on this, it is becoming rather frustrating.

Total of 1550 frames.



narvik

Tried using the command line, and that dfoesn't work. I get two small BMP files; it appears no terrain/heightfield is loaded, and no objects.

Is there a way to render an animation with TG2 using objects and populations?

Oshyan

The commandline should certainly work. It's possible you're just not passing the right arguments, or the paths are an issue. BigBen might have some good input here.

- Oshyan

narvik

Thanks again Oshyan.
Your help much appreciated as always.

Not sure what I could possibly change in the command line, as I tried many variations; and just to be sure, I even dumped all files into thew same folder, just to make sure TG2 would find them, but still no go.
Upgraded to 4GB RAM, still crashes using normal GUI.

I guess I might try Bryce after all this....sad really...


Oshyan

Narvik, a thought occurs - what version are you using?

- Oshyan

narvik

I'm using version 1.9.04.1


narvik

If there are any newer versions out there, I'll be glad to give them a try....

bigben

#9
It may be related to this post, particularly if frame 1 renders correctly - http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=954.0.

1: Definintely render frame by frame, not in the GUI.
2: Common problems people have with commandline include

  • not setting the Terragen_path environment variable
  • not calling tgdcli using the environment variable (it *IS* different to including the full path to tgdcli)
  • not including -p before the tgd filename (I found this switch necessary previously)

The commandline is a little sensitive to syntax so it pays to use nerdishly correct syntax. I also recommend moving all project files to the same directory and stripping out the path names from the TGD... (I also remove all spaces from directory names but that's just me  ;) ).

Here's a sample commandline from one of my animations.

%TERRAGEN_PATH%\tgdcli.exe -p C:\TGD\GrandCanyon\Project1\bb_grand_canyon.tgd -r -f 6973
now 6973 >> c:\render\frames\renderlog.txt


The secondline isn't necessary. I use it to log the render progress which is handy when you split the rendering among several computers. The now command is included in the Windows Administration Pack http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=C16AE515-C8F4-47EF-A1E4-A8DCBACFF8E3&displaylang=en

[edit]Forgot the memory aspect of the question...

In my experience rendering frame by frame via tgdcli is pretty solid once you sort out the other issues. Increasing RAM beyond 2Gb won't help too much. There is a physical limit at which Windows will spit the dummy. The total memory usage (RAM and VM) is the critical number here, so even with less RAM you can still successfully render relatively complex stuff... it's just slower because you use more VM.  My high res panorama test ran non stop for 3 weeks without any memory problems (running in the background at work without getting in the way!)  [/edit]

narvik

Thanks bigben,
I now added the -p switch (not done previously), and moved some more stuff around, and it seems to be rendering something, so that's positive.

Just a question about automation: is there a way to write a simple batch-file, that would allow the rendering of, say, 100 consecutive frames?

Many thanks...

narvik

Just saw your added RAM edit:

I have three identical computers for this animation, one of them with 4GB RAM, the other two with 2GB.

If this is successful in rendering a batch of frames, I am wondering if it is worth tring to run two instances of the commandline render on each computer....
Well, fist thing is first, and I need to see if this works....

Still rendering, so lets hope...

bigben

Quote from: narvik on October 24, 2007, 11:09:27 PM
Thanks bigben,
I now added the -p switch (not done previously), and moved some more stuff around, and it seems to be rendering something, so that's positive.

Just a question about automation: is there a way to write a simple batch-file, that would allow the rendering of, say, 100 consecutive frames?

Many thanks...

I use this: http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=1841.0

Not sure if the latest release includes the batch file exporting as there was an issue with ascii encoding (easily fixed by opening and saving with WordPad). It can split a sequence into separate batch files, with a progressive frame order (every 1/1024, 1/512, 1/256 frame etc...)

Documentation sucks... I should do some more on that....  ;)

Quote from: narvik on October 24, 2007, 11:12:39 PM
Just saw your added RAM edit:

I have three identical computers for this animation, one of them with 4GB RAM, the other two with 2GB.

If this is successful in rendering a batch of frames, I am wondering if it is worth tring to run two instances of the commandline render on each computer....
Well, fist thing is first, and I need to see if this works....

Still rendering, so lets hope...

If you have enough RAM to run consecutive renders (and they're dual core) then yes, this is a good idea. I do this for animation previews where there is just basic surfacing so memory isn't an issue.

narvik

#13
Great, thanks, I'll try those.

Well, the test render went fine....
EXCEPT: it didn't render the terrain/heightfield. Objects are there, except the land and plants....hmmm...

EDIT:
How do I modify the script to make tgdcli generate the heightfield before rendering, as I would using the GUI?

bigben

Pass ... I use TERs.  I did try auto generate once... it got stuck in a loop generating the heightfield. Someone else will have to answer this one.