I'm having stablilty issues with ZC on Windows 7!

[XMuppetSB]

Okay, I'm playing ZC on Windows 7, and for some reason, I keep getting random crashes, which I think have a lot to do with the keyboard!

[Saffith]

Why do you think they're related to the keyboard?

[XMuppetSB]

Well, for example, when I press the Enter Key to reset the system or go to the file select screen, it sometimes crashes ZC.

[Nicholas Steel]

Pressing enter to reset the system... are you rebooting your computer and wondering why Zquest crashes? D:


edit: I realize what you mean, your other post explained it better.

[XMuppetSB]

Okay, there are all sorts of countless actions that keep randomly crashing ZC! It crashed once when I tried to close the program, it crashed once when I tried to enter a cave, and it crashed once when it tried to scroll to the next screen! Furthermore, I use the hot keys a lot! Does this have something to do with the allegro.dll file being unstable, or is it a memory leak, or does Windows 7 just hate ZC?

[Nicholas Steel]

It shouldn't have anything to do with Allegro.dll as afaik they don't code it themselves so the problem would lie in one of the other files interacting with Allegro.dll badly.

[XMuppetSB]

What kind of files would be interacting with the allegro.dll file?

[Gleeok]

What kind of files would be interacting with the allegro.dll file?

zc, zquest, and romview all use allegro. It's cheaper size-wise to just dynamically link them all to use the same dll. (Though it's probably not too big of a difference really.)

[XMuppetSB]

Would re-downloading Build 1256 fix the stability issues in any way? Furthermore, the flames Armageddon Games logo animate much faster on Windows 7, and it takes a much shorter time for the title screen to appear.

[Saffith]

Probably not. If it were a bad download, it's unlikely it would be usable at all.

[XMuppetSB]

Uh... no, it wasn't a bad download at all. It's fully functional. The only reason I'm using ZC on Windows 7 is because my old XP crapped out for good. And another thing, Windows 7 switches to Basic Mode whenever I run ZC or ZQuest.
And would this line in the change log have anything to do with a possible memory leak that would cause the programs to randomly crash?

Seemingly fixed a bug where null enemies were being instantiated and not being put in the guy list... presumably causing a memory leak.
Or is there something else causing a possible memory leak? Also, I never use the debug version, because I'm too lazy to do so.

[Saffith]

And another thing, Windows 7 switches to Basic Mode whenever I run ZC or ZQuest.
Not much we can do about that, I'm afraid. It'll do that for any program that runs in less than 32-bit color.


And would this line in the change log have anything to do with a possible memory leak that would cause the programs to randomly crash?
Or is there something else causing a possible memory leak?
I don't think the memory leaks were ever bad enough to cause crashes, and most of them were fixed for build 1256. _L_ may have fixed an actual leak, but if so, it's one I never saw any sign of. There've definitely been some crashes fixed since 1256, though, so maybe the next one will work better for you.


Also, I never use the debug version, because I'm too lazy to do so.
Well, if you ever feel like it, it could be very helpful. Or we might be past the point where it'll do any good. Hard to say.

[BFeely]

Not much we can do about that, I'm afraid. It'll do that for any program that runs in less than 32-bit color.

It happens whenever the front buffer is locked. See http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kamvedbrat/archive/2006/04/02/566788.aspx
Try using the Blt function instead of writing directly to the front buffer, if Allegro will let you.

[Saffith]

Huh, guess I was misinformed. Eh, either way, probably best not to mess with it. We're in bad enough shape as it is. :p

[XMuppetSB]

Well, even after I updated to 1266, I did get one crash in ZC, while I was abusing the cheat system and while ZQuest was running at the same time.

[XMuppetSB]

Okay, there are all sorts of countless actions that keep randomly crashing ZC! It crashed once when I tried to close the program, it crashed once when I tried to enter a cave, and it crashed once when it tried to scroll to the next screen! Furthermore, I use the hot keys a lot! Does this have something to do with the allegro.dll file being unstable, or is it a memory leak, or does Windows 7 just hate ZC?

Now, one note about the program crashing while to scroll to another screen. It randomly happens on screens that use secret sound effect on entry! And to tell you the truth, all these random crashes I keep getting are due primarily to the fact that I keep playing around in ZC for too long, because in the past, I would get such random crashes cheats or no cheats!

To verify, I've seen this random crash at least twice when playing LOZ-Generation5.qst (or LOZ-Generation5-2.qst). There's one screen on the Alt. Overworld DMap with an internet meme reference and uses a secret sound effect on entry (Screen 16 on Map 1). In LOZ-Generation5-2.qst, this screen has a Golden Wizzrobe that phases whereas the Golden Wizzrobe in LOZ-Generation5.qst teleports.

(Click the link in my signature to find these quest files)

[XMuppetSB]

Additionally, I'm still getting the critical bug in which ZC randomly crashes when I hit enter!
EDIT: Well, fuck! I even got a random crash when I pressed start on the controller!

[jman2050]

I so cannot wait until this program is done with Allegro forever.

[XMuppetSB]

Yeah, me neither. Besides, Allegro is rather unstable anyway... But I won't have to worry about those stability issues once Allegro is done away with completely. However, I have all sorts of ideas for versions after 2.5.

[Wolfman2000]

I so cannot wait until this program is done with Allegro forever.

And what would replace Allegro? I don't know of that many libraries that will work on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

[Saffith]

SDL, most likely.

[XMuppetSB]

What exactly is this SDL? I've never heard of it.:rolleyes:

[Saffith]

Same type of thing as Allegro, a cross-platform audio/video/input library. It's better suited to modern systems, I think.

[Gleeok]

I so cannot wait until this program is done with Allegro forever.

Amen to that. I remember it was all I could do just to keep it from crashing when I was getting it to run using AllegroGL in the player. Realistically though, there's just no way Zelda Classic can be ported to another library at this point.

[XMuppetSB]

Okay, after copying some save files in build 1281, and exiting ZC, it kept crashing every time I tried to reopen it, and it crashed before displaying the Armageddon Games Logo every time. So I had to make a new folder altogether and re-extract all the files.
NOTE TO ANYONE WHO HAS BUILD 1281 AND IS USING WINDOWS VISTA OR WINDOWS 7: DO NOT USE THE COPY FILE FEATURE, AS IT WILL PERMANENTLY BREAK ZC!

[Joe123]

When you say 'copying some save files', what do you mean exactly? And by the 'copy file feature', do you mean 'Ctrl-C -> Ctrl-V' in Windows itself or something in ZC?

[XMuppetSB]

I mean, copying save files in in the ZC player itself.

[Joe123]

Could you be a little more specific about that feature? I'm not entirely sure what you're doing still.
Also deleting your save file should 'fix' ZC in this instance, as opposed to having to copy in all of the files again.

[Dark Nation]

I think he means copying a save slot to another save slot.

[Joe123]

Oh right, it'll be me that broke that then...

[bigjoe]

I am running Windows 7 (64-bit) and experience crashes in both ZC and ZQ. It is hard to pinpoint the cause. One of the causes seems to be leaving a window alone for too long. The backup feature is proving handy now.