ROMS which cause lockup/freeze/crashes in Stella?

[+stephena]

This discussion started in the HSC thread for 'Stay Frosty'. It seems that quite a few people are having freezing/lockup issues with certain ROMs in Stella, and there seems to be some vague pattern (it's happening more with some ROMs than with others). I'd like reports in this thread to list all such problems you've had. Please include as much detail as possible, such as ROM name, version of Stella, operating system, and any other things that might help me narrow down the problem. For instance, does it only happen after playing for a certain length of time? Or maybe only when a certain goal is reached within a game??

 

Basically, I'd like as much info from different people as possible, so I can determine a pattern and hopefully fix this issue for good. Reproducing the error is the most important step for me; if I can't see it, I can't fix it. Remember, Stella can only be as good as the bug reports it receives. I have limited hardware and time, so please help out with testing as much as possible.

 

EDIT: I forgot to add, please upgrade to the latest version of Stella before submitting any reports, so we don't end up searching for problems that are already fixed in a later release.

 

EDIT2: Also include any info on external hardware you're using, such as Stelladaptor (and what's plugged into it), other controllers (name/manufacturer, interface- serial/USB/other), etc. Basically anything that I can use to differentiate your case from someone elses.

Edited September 25, 2008 by stephena

[+Random Terrain]

I don't remember any games freezing up so far on my Windows XP or Vista computers and I've tried a lot of games. Maybe you have to play longer for it to happen.

 

 

EDIT: I forgot to add, please upgrade to the latest version of Stella before submitting any reports, so we don't end up searching for problems that are already fixed in a later release.

Will Stella ever be able to automatically update itself like so many other programs can do?

Edited September 25, 2008 by Random Terrain

[+stephena]

I don't remember any games freezing up so far on my Windows XP or Vista computers and I've tried a lot of games. Maybe you have to play longer for it to happen.

 

 

EDIT: I forgot to add, please upgrade to the latest version of Stella before submitting any reports, so we don't end up searching for problems that are already fixed in a later release.

Will Stella ever be able to automatically update itself like so many other programs can do?

If you mean when a new version comes out, it will let you know, then I really don't see the need. Releases are usually 5-6 months apart, so it's not as if stuff is changing so quickly that you miss something. And new releases are always mentioned here anyway, so if you're 'into the scene', you'll find out relatively quickly on this website.

 

Also meant to mention that this thread is for lockups/freezing/crashing only. I welcome all suggestions and feature enhancements, but there's another thread in Emulation for those.

[DarthCalvin]

Earlier today I downloaded the latest version of Stella, 2.6.1 and attempted to play Stay Frosty, the .bin taken from the HSC

 

I am using an older model of hp compag with 1.24 gig ram running windows xp. While the emulator was running I had 2 instances of IE and the Stella folder running.

 

I am using a Gamemon universal usb converter purchased from Wal-mart. It supports PS2, Xbox and GC controllers. I'm using a GC controller. The game froze after approximately 20-30 minutes of actual play, a few screens into the second round. I had paused the game probably 5 times during play (got interrupted a lot). I typically don't pause, but play straight through. The only changes I've made to default settings are switching to full-screen mode and mapping buttons. The only constant I've seen so far is that it hasn't done it even once on the first level, it's ALWAYS after I've gotten the "You stayed frosty" message, but it varies between 2nd through 4th level. I have yet to get past the 4th.

 

Buttons mapped as follows

 

start = pause

A = fire

L trigger = reset

R trigger = snapshot

Z = enter Rom launcher

all directions are mapped to analog stick

 

I now beleive that it is impossible to finish a single game, as this is my 5th consecutive failed attempt to play it. This one crashed at 80k, the rest were 100k+

[aftermac]

Here is a screenshot of my game after it froze. I was able to take this using Mac OS X's built-in screenshot function. Print Screen may work for Windows users if screenshots are helpful.

 

In this picture I was jumping from the wide center platform to the upper moving platform when it froze. This is my first game of the day. I had only been playing about 10 minutes. Yesterday, Stella froze at ~11,000 points and after maybe 3 minutes, also my first game.

 

Here are my specs:

 

-Apple iBook G4, 1.2 GHz, 768 MB RAM

-Mac OS X 10.4.11

-Logitech Precision USB controller

-Stella 2.6.1, using OpenGL (default)

 

[aftermac]

Just had Stella lock up on Chase the Chuckwagon. I had been playing for about 20 minutes and I was on my second game with about 1600 points. Same specs as above.

[+stephena]

Just had Stella lock up on Chase the Chuckwagon. I had been playing for about 20 minutes and I was on my second game with about 1600 points. Same specs as above.

Could you try playing both ROMs without the gamepad (ie, unplug it completely). I have a nagging feeling that it might be causing a problem. Not that exact controller, per se, but any external controller.

[aftermac]

Just had Stella lock up on Chase the Chuckwagon. I had been playing for about 20 minutes and I was on my second game with about 1600 points. Same specs as above.

Could you try playing both ROMs without the gamepad (ie, unplug it completely). I have a nagging feeling that it might be causing a problem. Not that exact controller, per se, but any external controller.

 

It just froze while playing Chase the Chuckwagon with the keyboard. My gamepad was unplugged.

[DarthCalvin]

Just had Stella lock up on Chase the Chuckwagon. I had been playing for about 20 minutes and I was on my second game with about 1600 points. Same specs as above.

Could you try playing both ROMs without the gamepad (ie, unplug it completely). I have a nagging feeling that it might be causing a problem. Not that exact controller, per se, but any external controller.

 

It just froze while playing Chase the Chuckwagon with the keyboard. My gamepad was unplugged.

 

I'm almost afraid to say it, but I haven't had chuckwagon lock up on me once (knocking on wooden desk) I've already played chuckwagon about 30-40 times so it's had plenty of opportunity. Are your roms in the same directory as your stella? I was opening mine from an entirely different folder and finally got tired of clicking 5 times to get to the roms. I know it's pretty far out in left field but that's the only thing I've changed recently.

[aftermac]

Just had Stella lock up on Chase the Chuckwagon. I had been playing for about 20 minutes and I was on my second game with about 1600 points. Same specs as above.

Could you try playing both ROMs without the gamepad (ie, unplug it completely). I have a nagging feeling that it might be causing a problem. Not that exact controller, per se, but any external controller.

 

It just froze while playing Chase the Chuckwagon with the keyboard. My gamepad was unplugged.

 

I'm almost afraid to say it, but I haven't had chuckwagon lock up on me once (knocking on wooden desk) I've already played chuckwagon about 30-40 times so it's had plenty of opportunity. Are your roms in the same directory as your stella? I was opening mine from an entirely different folder and finally got tired of clicking 5 times to get to the roms. I know it's pretty far out in left field but that's the only thing I've changed recently.

 

I've probably played about the same number of games and it's frozen up on my 6 or 7 times, so far. I keep my ROMs in a sub directory in my Stella directory. I set the default path in Stella to the ROMs folder, so I don't have to search for them.

[+stephena]

Just had Stella lock up on Chase the Chuckwagon. I had been playing for about 20 minutes and I was on my second game with about 1600 points. Same specs as above.

Could you try playing both ROMs without the gamepad (ie, unplug it completely). I have a nagging feeling that it might be causing a problem. Not that exact controller, per se, but any external controller.

 

It just froze while playing Chase the Chuckwagon with the keyboard. My gamepad was unplugged.

OK, now perhaps try to use software rendering mode instead of OpenGL for both ROMs. I know that isn't the default for OSX, but it should still work (albeit more slowly).

[+SpiceWare]

That could be it - I never have lockups and I see that Stella's set to Software Rendering. I'll have to try OpenGL mode this weekend and see if it locks up.