VASL Freezing on LOS Check

burniefox

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I've had a couple instances of a VASL log "freezing" when replayed. In each case this has been on a LOS check. My opponents report this, and the same thing happens when I step through the log myself.

Is this a known issue?

Don't know that I expect anyone to do much, but I was just wondering if others experienced this or if it's just me. I can upload the log file in question if that would be useful.

Thanks-
 

Honosbinda

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yes, I've seen it. Usually you can wait it out and it will catch up on itself and it will unfreeze. It has happened with a lot of counters in a large game. We're using VASL 6.4.3. It's possible my opponent was on 6.4.2 at the time and he upgraded -- we didn't see this the last time we played.
 

hongkongwargamer

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Thanks for putting this out there.

It's been happening to me in live VASL weekly. Seems to happen only when I play one particular opponent. My whole computer freezes out several times until we abandon the game for the following week.

Do we (my opponent and I) have to match VASL versions ?
 

Jacometti

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we have had the same problem, usually one of us has to get out and back into the room or even restart VASL altogether. Never disrupted a game for more than 5 minutes or so, so workable..
 

Sully

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Do we (my opponent and I) have to match VASL versions ?
Yup. There was a bug in a previous version of VASL that caused problems during LOS checks.

It's always a good idea for both players to upgrade to the latest version of VASL before reporting bugs.
 

hongkongwargamer

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Yup. There was a bug in a previous version of VASL that caused problems during LOS checks.

It's always a good idea for both players to upgrade to the latest version of VASL before reporting bugs.
Okies .. I am on the test 6.4.5 .. I will take it down one and see. Which VASL version had the LOS issue? I thought that's a while ago.
 

hongkongwargamer

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Alright .. both my opponent and I are on 6.4.4

Froze out my system COMPLETELY when he did a LOS check.

Then we started announcing to the other guy when we decide to a LOS, at which time the non check party touches nothing at all.

Nothing froze with that little procedure. Not sure if that's the proper workaround.
 
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Eagle4ty

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Alright .. both my opponent and I are on 6.4.4

Froze out my system COMPLETELY when he did a LOS check.

Then we started announcing to the other guy when we decide to a LOS, in which time the non check party touches nothing at all.

Nothing froze with that little procedure. Not sure if that's the proper workaround.
Occasionally (but not often) my LOS button stays clicked ON (not sure of the reason) and I did have that problem. I simply re-clicked on the LOS toggle and it solved the problem. Perhaps too many thing on the toolbar?
 

bprobst

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Hmm ... in Live play, if both players click on the LOS button within some fraction of a second (i.e., near-enough to simultaneous) one of the two will experience the lock up.

Sometimes waiting for a short period will "release" the lock and everything's back to normal. More usually, closing and relaunching VASL is required.

I can't recall both players being affected, so it should always be possible to get back to where you were, even if the unaffected player has to save the game and create a new room.

How it can happen in a log replay though I don't understand. Obviously something other than a "simultaneous request" must be going on.
 

von Marwitz

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VASL freezing at least for one player when both try to check LOS simultaneously is an issue, which I have encountered for many years and across many versions of VASSAL (conceivably going back as far as version v5.9.x).

I think it sometimes helped if the non-stuck player ended his use of the LOS-thread. But sometimes, just as Bruce reported, relaunching of VASL was in order. Can't remember both sides freezing, though.

von Marwitz
 

DougRim

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This thread started with a comment about the playback of log files freezing after a los check. A new thread on the same issue just got started. I have done some debugging and found that in the instances of log file playback, the los engine is getting caught in an loop from which it cannot exit . . . to players that appears like a freeze. I have a fix for that.

I need to test this fix and make sure it doesn't do something nasty to los checks during play.

If so, it MAY (or may not) help with the freezing during play that some players have commented on later in this thread. It is much harder to recreate that during-live-play freeze. For those of you who have experienced the live play freeze, do you remember if there was a level difference between firer and target (in either direction) when things froze?

If my fix works, it will appear in the official version of VASL6.5 due in late April. Again, no certainty that it will fix live play freezing. That could be a whole other problem.
 

DougRim

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Believe it or not, I have been working on this over the past year.

I fixed one small bug that was causing a "freeze" due to multiple vehicle hindances close to the los thread. This is not a common enough occurrence to be the source of your problems.

I have had problems turning off the los thread at times. After extensive testing, I have identified operator error as the cause. I have a shitty mouse and poor hand eye coordination such that instead of clicking on the map to turn off the los thread, I was actually doing a small click-drag - which the los engine recognized as a new los check. LOL.

Beyond that I have not been able to replicate the freezing. I have simulated the two-players-clicking-at-once problem with my left hand and right hand and two devices. Even managed to draw two threads at just about the same time. Still no freezing.

Are you still experiencing freezes?

I hoped I had fixed the log file freezing bug. Is that continuing to happen in 6.5.1 or 6.6.1?
 

Von Kar

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Unfortunately, it does.

It happened in our latest session (v 6.6.1) only last week and I had to quit VASL and restart all over again. Then when I’d got back into the room, the frozen game was still there, so we both had to quit.
After setting up the scenario again, my opponent suggested to save our game at the end of each player’s turn, so we do that ever since to prevent losing it.

(Makes me wonder whether an autosave could be developed ?).

In the meantime we stick to the old fashioned LOS-check on the real map that’s laid out nearby.
 

MajorDomo

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Only one player at a time should check LOS.

If two check LOS, then the freeze up can occur.

Has happened many times, always the same circumstances.
 

DougRim

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Is anyone experiencing los freezes when NOT both players are checking los at the same time?

While I have not been able to cause a freeze with both players checking los at the same time, if that is the only situation when it is happening to you then it certainly narrows the problem.

I will continue to see if I can figure it out. I may see if I can prevent a player from invoking the los string if it is already active.
 

lt_steiner

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I experienced VASL freeze on LOS check on solo play when checking for a 23 hex long LOS in board 4 (VASL 6.5.1 / VASSAL 3.4.6). there was some kind of lag when tracing LOS before the freeze. When I restart the game, and checked the LOS once again, VASL freeze occured again. After moving on and several saves later, I juste checked this terrible LOS and no freeze at this time.
 

von Marwitz

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I have also experienced these strange LOS freezes with a combination as new as VASSAL v3.5.1 with VASL v6.6.1 (but also with earlier versions).

In some cases, the LOS seemed to check after some sort of lag. In some cases, VASL would recover after some erratic clicking around. In some cases, I had to restart it.

I had the impression - just the impression but nothing 'verified' - that the issue seemed to happen more often on longer LOS checks than on short ones.

von Marwitz
 

DougRim

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lt_steiner and von Martwitz:

Any chance that in those situations there were vehicles or wrecks close to (but not necessarily on the los thread)? There was a bug there due to the requirement that any vehicle hindrance be in the los of both target and source. In certain situations the presence of other vehicles could generate a recursive loop that would eventually end long after everyone had given up. It would be particularly noticeable on long los as it would generate many repeated checks along the entire los string.

This I have fixed in 6.6.2.
 
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