Yet another Mac crash problem

[SilentSwan]

Problem:
BZFlag 2.0.0 crashes apparently randomly during the game. This is not just a simple crash - this takes out the entire GUI. If I login to the machine via ssh from another system and attempt to kill the BZ pid, nothing will kill it (not even kill -9). The only solution at this point is a hard reboot.

NOTE: This problem existed in the previous version of BZFlag when the "Lighting" option was turned on. Turning this off in that version solved the problem. Needless to say, I've played around a bit with various display-related options in the current version to see if something similar is happening, but this does not appear to be the case.

System Information:

Mac OS X Version 10.3.7 (Build 7S215)

Machine Model: Power Mac G4
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 800 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.3.3f2

Type: display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 32 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x5157
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-91701-222

[Scorch]

sry but i have to post this, THANK YOU! ok i think we have exactly the same computer, lighting did not fix my problem on 1.10.8. the guys at apples "genius bar" (grr!) said to do a full re-install of the system and if that didn't work then wipe the disk and re-install (in your dreams "genius") and i can't re-install because my disks are fried, can you try if you want and see if it works? (i kinda hope its something else)

[SilentSwan]

I may be able to do a re-install some time in the near future. I recently did an "upgrade" install from 10.2.x to 10.3.x. I suppose it is entirely possible that some old libraries are hanging around that *might* be the cause.

First off, I need to get another disk. Once I've got that, I can install fresh and see what happens.

[SilentSwan]

Does anyone have *any* ideas on this? If not, I give up. There's no reason any application should be able to lock down the entire GUI, and then on top of that not respond to a kill signal from the commandline.

Personally, I don't care for the new version anyway. The additional flags (Wings, for example) and the extra effects (Snow, Rain, Ice) are just annoying or slow down the display.

I can possibly learn to live with the new flags/display effects if someone can figure out what is causing the Mac version to necessitate a hard reboot.

[Scorch]

are you my clone? i need new discs too. I'll se what it does when i get around to re-installing.

[SilentSwan]

Thanks. Unfortunately, I'm unable to do a full reinstall at the present time - I've got several projects on this machine that I can't risk (even with backups) or take too much time.

Hope it works out for you - let me know what happens.

[Valumzie]

Heya!

hum, i also run on the same OSX version as u, but the comp doesnt crash anymore. Only had one "huge" crash at the beginning and now its a lil more quiet.

If i can be of any help with configs (like sending u what i have on my comp and my settings), just tell me!

[zongo]

hello,

im sorry for that problem...it seems annoying...i have the same machine with 10.3.7 installed but everything works fine for me...only once or twice i had some trouble with 2.0 and had to hard reboot.

Now i play with cvs version which should work better. I am no wizard so i cant tell u the problem but i suggest u to ask directly the devs:

go to irc channel #bzflag and shout/call for a apple dev

Try learner or brlcad, they are apple guys.

Soon there will be no more 1.10.8 servers so it will be a pity not to upgrade...

btw i think 2.0 is good, there are many improvments, but future versions should be more playable!

Keep on playing

Cheerz

[SilentSwan]

Ok, well... I was feeling adventurous, so I downloaded the cvs copy, built that. Still the same problem, only now we can add on some serious display lag as well. I tried running in windowed mode, but that's just unplayable. That lovely "wrap-around" mouse pointer problem in window mode is a work of art, I must say.

I give up. It was a nice game. Too bad v2 had to come along and spoil it. I have no patience and no time to play with broken software. Maybe I'll wait for the next release, maybe I won't bother.

's been a slice.

[ao_]

i got the updated drivers from ati's site thinking that might help, but to no avail. It really sucks cause its my favorite game.

[SilentSwan]

Yes, I've also made sure the drivers are up-to-date here as well. No luck either. I've been keeping relatively current with the latest CVS releases. Odd thing is, it'll run fine for a couple days, then totally poop out again. Not sure if that means anything. Also, i've made it a point, when testing, to make sure all other applications are closed, just in case...

Anyway, since the game doesn't appear able to generate a crash log or coredump or anything, I'm running it for a while with full debugging turned on. Thanks Tegan for suggesting this. I hope it turns up something useful, but I havn't had it crash just yet...