Altitude crashes on launch

[Wyse]

I'm trying to run Altitude on a new (for Altitude) Windows machine, with a 1920x1080 second monitor on the left and a 2560x1600 primary monitor on the right. When I run Altitude for the first time (on a fresh install), it switches the primary monitor to full-screen mode, shows a mouse icon for a second or two, then crashes and restores to windowed mode (with no Altitude left). The error seems to be

ERROR [2009-05-14 17:08:03,652] [main]: failed to load vapor client configuration file.

No config\options.xml is created from the run. I tried putting a single <graphicsOptions> line there to turn off fullscreen mode, but that didn't work (probably need a parent tag of something).

I don't think it is a firewall issue. I've set up Windows Firewall the same as other machines, I have a static IP on the global Internet, and the only routers in my way should be innocent. (Of course, I could be wrong.)

[lamster]

Strange! To try out windowed mode edit config/options.xml to look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AltitudeOptions>
  <graphicsOptions fullscreen="false" gamma="0.5" textureQuality="HIGH" particleQuality="HIGH" resolution="1024,768" vsync="true" renderParallax="true" stretchToFillScreen="false" colorBlind="false" updateTimeBufferSize="3" vsyncCycleTimeBufferSize="3" />
</AltitudeOptions>

Does that run?

[Wyse]

It works with that options.xml. So it is indeed fullscreen mode. I got an update from the successful run, but running it again without the config file still crashes in the same way. Let me know if I can test/diagnose more. (I guess I should try with one monitor disconnected?)

[lamster]

Here are a few things I'd be interested to know

1) Launch the game, click Options -> Graphics, then click the "Resolution" combo box. What options do you see?

2) Try picking the largest available option (2560x1600 I'm guessing) -- does the game change to that resolution correctly? Now try clicking fullscreen -- does the game run in fullscreen at that resolution, or crash as before?

3) Same as 2 but with the lowest resolution...does fullscren work with any other resolutions?

4) Yes, it would be handy to know if the game launches into 1024x768 fullscreen if the other monitor is disconnected!

Thanks for your help Wyse!

[Wyse]

Originally Posted by lamster

Here are a few things I'd be interested to know

1) Launch the game, click Options -> Graphics, then click the "Resolution" combo box. What options do you see?

2560x1600, 1920x1200, 1920x1080, 1856x1392, 1776x1000, 1680x1050, 1600x1200, 1600x1050, 1600x1000, 1360x768, 1280x1024, 1280x960, 1280x800, 1280x768, 1280x720, 1152x864, 1152x648, 1024x768, 800x600, 720x576, 720x480, 640x480. Looks like a good selection; allows me to size it to either monitor. (And there are situations where I'd like to run it on one monitor or the other.)

Originally Posted by lamster

2) Try picking the largest available option (2560x1600 I'm guessing) -- does the game change to that resolution correctly? Now try clicking fullscreen -- does the game run in fullscreen at that resolution, or crash as before?

It changes resolution to 2560x1600 correctly, with these log messages:

INFO [2009-05-15 14:25:33,083] [main]: changing display mode; initial = 1024 x 768 x 32 @60Hz
INFO [2009-05-15 14:25:33,084] [main]: setDisplayMode(2560 x 1600 x 32 @60Hz, fs=false, vsync=true)
INFO [2009-05-15 14:25:33,231] [main]: Display.reportedFrequency=60
INFO [2009-05-15 14:25:33,231] [main]: Display.targetedFrequency=60
INFO [2009-05-15 14:25:33,231] [main]: changed display mode; now = 2560 x 1600 x 32 @60Hz
WARN [2009-05-15 14:25:33,231] [main]: Inconsistent displaySize: 2560 x 1600 vs 2560 x 1582
WARN [2009-05-15 14:25:33,231] [main]: Correcting displayHeight: 1600 -> 1582
INFO [2009-05-15 14:25:33,633] [main]: reload images took 402 ms
INFO [2009-05-15 14:25:35,657] [main]: onVersionResponse: <invalidRequest=true, message=Timed out waiting for version response., version=0.0.0>
INFO [2009-05-15 14:25:35,657] [main]: extraneous version response

But when I click fullscreen, it crashes. The only added log messages are:

INFO [2009-05-15 14:25:40,678] [main]: changing display mode; initial = 2560 x 1600 x 32 @60Hz
INFO [2009-05-15 14:25:40,679] [main]: setDisplayMode(2560 x 1600 x 32 @60Hz, fs=true, vsync=true)

Originally Posted by lamster

3) Same as 2 but with the lowest resolution...does fullscren work with any other resolutions?

It crashes with every one I've tried, namely, 2560x1600, 1024x768, 800x600, 720x480, 640x480.

Originally Posted by lamster

4) Yes, it would be handy to know if the game launches into 1024x768 fullscreen if the other monitor is disconnected!

Bingo! I disabled the second monitor in Windows' Display Settings, and now I can run 2560x1600, 1024x768, and 640x480 in fullscreen mode. (Probably all of them; that's just all I've tried.)

I also tried setting up the second monitor (1920x1080) on the right instead of the left of the primary monitor. Altitude crashes in this scenario too.

Let me know if you'd like me to test anything else.

[lamster]

Thanks Wyse, very helpful!

I will let you know if I figure out a fix. In the meantime you're stuck with windowed mode.

[Wyse]

Thanks! I actually prefer windowed mode, so that's cool :-). (Personally, I'd prefer if the default mode upon installation were windowed--it's so disruptive to a multiwindow environment to go fullscreen and navigate menus to select windowed mode. And this crash is further reason :-). But I understand others' preferences on the default mode may differ.)