BigBox crash while sitting idle doing attract mode

[megashub]

1 minute ago, Jason Carr said:

Yes, definitely. That's good news though. At least we're starting to narrow it down. I would test one of the vertical wheel views next. A wheel view with a video in there somewhere as well.

Okay. Moved to new test: Switched to a vertical wheel (text titles only), but with game details (static art and gameplay video). Stay tuned.

[MrSco]

26 minutes ago, megashub said:

45 minutes in now and not a single blip during the spin on this test. That's a pretty stark contrast from the previous tests. Only thing I changed was the theme, which shifted the view to this covers-only wheel. The test is still running and I'll keep monitoring, but I think the next test should be a view using the Default theme that includes the videos, if one exists. Yes?

It seems to only happens when videos are used (maybe just fullscreen video) and it doesn't matter what theme is used (unless the theme view has fullscreen video?)

[megashub]

1 hour ago, megashub said:

Okay. Moved to new test: Switched to a vertical wheel (text titles only), but with game details (static art and gameplay video). Stay tuned.

This test has been running for nearly 90 minutes. No problems at all. I'm going to try to find a view that uses both Clear Logos and videos in the default theme next.  

Edit: Found one. Starting a new test. If this one comes back clean there's no difference functionally between this view and the one that causes the machine to CTD, other than the Theme in use. 

If it does turn out to be Theme-specific, what's a way Theme makers can find the offending code?

Edited February 2, 2021 by megashub

[DOS76]

by you letting them know the issue exists and then hopefully them having the skills to fix it.

[Jason Carr]

22 minutes ago, megashub said:

This test has been running for nearly 90 minutes. No problems at all. I'm going to try to find a view that uses both Clear Logos and videos in the default theme next.  

Edit: Found one. Starting a new test. If this one comes back clean there's no difference functionally between this view and the one that causes the machine to CTD, other than the Theme in use. 

If it does turn out to be Theme-specific, what's a way Theme makers can find the offending code?

I will take a look at the theme to see if I can figure it out. If we can identify that it's definitely the theme that is the issue, then you can let me know what view(s) and I'll take a look. Did you download the theme from inside of the Big Box Themes Manager? Or did you get it from the forums?

[megashub]

3 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

I will take a look at the theme to see if I can figure it out. If we can identify that it's definitely the theme that is the issue, then you can let me know what view(s) and I'll take a look. Did you download the theme from inside of the Big Box Themes Manager? Or did you get it from the forums?

It was one of the 21 offered for download in the BB Themes Manager, so I grabbed it that way. It's AllNightLong. I'll go find the view after this test is over, but it's a vertical wheel of clear logos with game details and gameplay video. I was using it with an auto-populated Favorites playlist, if that matters. 

[megashub]

1 hour ago, megashub said:

If we can identify that it's definitely the theme that is the issue

Looking pretty likely that this is a Theme issue. I'm 1 hour in using the Default theme, with the exact same elements in use, and no problems at all. I was seeing issues as early as 30 minutes when using AllNightLong. 

Update: confirmed. 2 hours in now, and absolutely no performance problems.

Edited February 2, 2021 by megashub

[Jason Carr]

On 2/2/2021 at 12:56 PM, megashub said:

Looking pretty likely that this is a Theme issue. I'm 1 hour in using the Default theme, with the exact same elements in use, and no problems at all. I was seeing issues as early as 30 minutes when using AllNightLong. 

Update: confirmed. 2 hours in now, and absolutely no performance problems.

Sorry for the super late reply here. I haven't experienced those performance issues with AllNightLong, but it makes sense that it might require heavier hardware than the default theme. We've overhauled a ton with the latest betas, so it's possible that they may fix some thing as well.

[JohnnyK]

I am having the same issues with BigBox dumping me to the desktop after running attract mode for a few hours.  My system just sits in my office and I wanted to see/hear the videos playing while I work.  I am using the CoinOp theme because the default theme was kicking me out.  But now I am seeing the CoinOp theme is doing this as well.

New test is I just removed ALL the videos to see if that is the issue.  I already switched from VLC to Windows player.. and back and forth with no luck.  So I wanted to remove the videos entirely to see if it still crashes.  

[JohnnyK]

Update, last night before bed I removed ALL my video files from the folder... and for the first time since I installed Launchbox my system was not at windows desktop when I came to my machine in the morning.

So for ME at least, its definitely the videos....  

Things I have done (that havent helped)

• downloaded the latest codecs (K-lite I think they were called)
• Used both VLC and Windows to play the videos

 

What I will try next

• I am going to pick a chunk of 20 or so videos and see if it can play through the night tonight with those being added.  I have around 600 games, so I am hoping it will pick the games that have videos and we will see what happens.  

 

Possible issues I think it may be

• One (or more) of my videos is corrupt.  So since I have so many, I am going to add them back in chunks and run it for a few nights with each new chunk to see how it goes. 
• This Launchbox program cant play videos...  I had the same issue with Hyperspin where there was a memory leak.  It was only $70 though so I am not complaining too much.
• My computer sucks!  Specs below..

 

My system: (ONLY used for the arcade system, nothing except Launchbox installed)

Dell Optiplex 9020 MT Intel i7-4790

16GB Ram

500GB HDD

Win10

EVGA Gforce 1050 Ti SC Gaming (4GB)

 

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by JohnnyK

[MrSco]

4 minutes ago, JohnnyK said:

Update, last night before bed I removed ALL my video files from the folder... and for the first time since I installed Launchbox my system was not at windows desktop when I came to my machine in the morning.

So for ME at least, its definitely the videos....  

Things I have done (that havent helped)

• downloaded the latest codecs (K-lite I think they were called)
• Used both VLC and Windows to play the videos

 

What I will try next

• I am going to pick a chunk of 20 or so videos and see if it can play through the night tonight with those being added.  I have around 600 games, so I am hoping it will pick the games that have videos and we will see what happens.  

Yep. It’s definitely the videos for me too. Something with how launchbox handles loading and unloading video files. It eventually just can’t keep up. Doesn’t matter how much computer hardware you throw at it. It’s software. 
 

to work around the issue my bigbox launcher runs an ahk script that just keeps relaunching bigbox when it’s closed (or crashes) with a cancel button to keep it closed if that’s what you meant. I can share the script if you want to try it. I just gave up trying to have non-crashing software. At least bigbox is infinitely easier to setup then hyperspin ... it just is a super performance hog unfortunately 

[JohnnyK]

Yeah I have been trying to use "Restart on Crash"  which can be found below:

https://w-shadow.com/blog/2009/03/04/restart-on-crash/

But either I am an idiot, or it doesnt like the way that BigBox AND Launchbox has to be running to make it work.  

 

I would love to see  your script!  Btw, on Hyperspin I had the same issue and had to use the HyperRefresh program that would auto shutdown and restart Hyperspin every 10 hours or so.  But with my luck the timer would always work out to restart the program in the middle of my kids playing the system.. it was annoying.  But if your script just relaunches after a crash.. yeah that would be great!

Ofcourse the best scenario is they just fix this... it seems to be pretty clear what the issue is... ofcourse I am not a programmer so what do I know.  

But yes, even if Launchbox came with a Disclaimer that said  "Hey, be warned.. we cant get videos to work"  I would still have switched as its much easier to use than hyperspin.  However if I find another program that can actually play videos and work without crashing I am TOTALLY READY to spend money for it.  I dont care if its $300  I just want someone to make a front end that works.

 

[MrSco]

1 minute ago, JohnnyK said:

Yeah I have been trying to use "Restart on Crash"  which can be found below:

https://w-shadow.com/blog/2009/03/04/restart-on-crash/

But either I am an idiot, or it doesnt like the way that BigBox AND Launchbox has to be running to make it work.  

 

I would love to see  your script!  Btw, on Hyperspin I had the same issue and had to use the HyperRefresh program that would auto shutdown and restart Hyperspin every 10 hours or so.  But with my luck the timer would always work out to restart the program in the middle of my kids playing the system.. it was annoying.  But if your script just relaunches after a crash.. yeah that would be great!

Ofcourse the best scenario is they just fix this... it seems to be pretty clear what the issue is... ofcourse I am not a programmer so what do I know.  

But yes, even if Launchbox came with a Disclaimer that said  "Hey, be warned.. we cant get videos to work"  I would still have switched as its much easier to use than hyperspin.  However if I find another program that can actually play videos and work without crashing I am TOTALLY READY to spend money for it.  I dont care if its $300  I just want someone to make a front end that works.

 

If you look in the earlier posts in this thread I posted an older version of my script. I’ll try and post my updated script when I get back home later. 
 

most likely you’ll need to customize it for the startup apps you are launching but the relaunch feature is in there and you can rip out the rest

[MrSco]

@JohnnyK here ya go...

 

#SingleInstance ignore
SetWorkingDir, H:\Arcade\LaunchBox\

;get the exe we should run. launchbox or bigbox
target := A_Args[1]
if (target = "") {
	target = LaunchBox
}
targetExe := ".\" . target . ".exe"
targetName := target . ".exe"


Launcher:
	;launch the frontend and wait til it closes to continue
	RunWait, %targetExe%
	Process, WaitClose, %targetName%

if (target = "BigBox") {

	Gui, Font, s18
	Gui, Add, Text, x10, Relaunching BigBox in...
	Gui, Font, s32
	Gui, Add, Text, vCountdown_text x160, 5
	Gui, Font, s14
	Gui, Add, Progress, vMyProgress x10 w300 Range0-5
	Gui, Font, s24
	Gui, Add, Button, w300 h75 Center, Cancel
	Gui, Show, w320 h240, Relaunching BigBox

	while (A_Index <= 10)
	{
	    GuiControl,, MyProgress, %A_Index%
	    GuiControl,, Countdown_text, % 11-A_Index
	    Sleep 1000
	}

	Gui, Destroy

	Relaunch:
		;launch the frontend and wait til it closes to continue
		goto Launcher	
}

GuiClose:
ButtonCancel:
	if (target = "BigBox") {
		Gui, Destroy
	}

RunWait, %comspec% /c taskkill /F /IM autohotkey.exe, , Hide

ExitApp

 

[JohnnyK]

Just an update that my crashing is absolutely due to the video playing.  Ever since I've removed the videos 4 days ago, there hasn't been 1 crash to desktop.

With videos, it never got through the night. Sometimes just an hour before a crash.

@Jason Carr  Any ideas?

Edited April 22, 2021 by JohnnyK

[C-Beats]

What version of Big Box are you running. I'd be curious if after moving to 11.11 if you still encountered the issue (both with videos on/off). What theme are you running when doing this and what videos do you think are the cause for what you are seeing?

[JohnnyK]

I am using 11.10 and running the CriticalZone v2 BlueBox Theme.  If I remember right I picked it because it was one of the most popular themes so I thought it would be the most ironed out.

I have not updated to 11.11 ... I didnt see anything in there regarding any fixes to video playback.  And since everything else runs fine I was going to sit it out until others posted positive results.  Last thing I want is more shit to go sideways.

As for which videos are causing the issue.. I have no idea.   I have over 600 games in there and I am never staring at the screen when it happens.  I did think about setting up a video camera or something, but thats kind of a pain in the ass.  Not to mention I dont know how I would do that exactly.

[megashub]

17 minutes ago, JohnnyK said:

I am using 11.10 and running the CriticalZone v2 BlueBox Theme.  If I remember right I picked it because it was one of the most popular themes so I thought it would be the most ironed out.

I have not updated to 11.11 ... I didnt see anything in there regarding any fixes to video playback.  And since everything else runs fine I was going to sit it out until others posted positive results.  Last thing I want is more shit to go sideways.

As for which videos are causing the issue.. I have no idea.   I have over 600 games in there and I am never staring at the screen when it happens.  I did think about setting up a video camera or something, but thats kind of a pain in the ass.  Not to mention I dont know how I would do that exactly.

I don't know if this issue is specifically what was addressed, but there was this note in the 11.11 changelog, so it may be worth evaluating it

Quote

Fixed: Rare error related to Big Box videos (introduced in 11.10)

 

Edited April 22, 2021 by megashub

[JohnnyK]

ok, how the hell did I miss that? 

 

Will upgrade now.  Stick all my videos back and see what happens.

Thanks!

5 minutes ago, megashub said:

I don't know if this issue is specifically what was addressed, but there was this note in the 11.11 changelog, so it may be worth evaluating it

 

 

[JohnnyK]

Updated!!  Videos added back...  Fingers crossed!

Thanks again for the heads up!

 

I should note... I doubt it matters.  But I noticed a few things while copying back my videos into the folder.

• All of my videos except like 5 were .FLV instead of MP4 ...    so I just deleted those
• I also had a lot of images in there before it seems.  I sorta doubt this matters, but I removed them anyhow.

So now its just MP4 Videos.. and I can hear it playing in the other side of the office.   Real test is if I can make it through the night.

Cheers!

Edited April 22, 2021 by JohnnyK