How do you tell what is causing the crash?

[Hesione.9412]

When my client crashes, as it does infrequently, I just do the send error report and leave it at that. The reason is that I find the list of lines impossible to interpret.

 

However, that can be done, see https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1422718/#Comment_1422718

 

How can you pick the specific line in the crash dump that points to the problem (in this case, dll)?

 

This would be useful to me for the next time the client crashes - again, which it does sometimes but not often.

[Danikat.8537]

My assumption is people who are able to do this know a lot more than I do about computers. It's the same when I'm at work, I send the IT department an error message that to me looks like someone alternated mashing the keyboard with random words from a dictionary, but they look at it and know exactly what the problem is.

 

If the game crashes and I get that box asking me to say what went wrong I just put in what I was doing at the time. I'm pretty sure it sends the whole text dump bit anyway, but I think maybe the context could be useful. It's usually just something short like "I was afk in LA, reading the forum, I'm not sure what happened" or "I closed the game using the X in the corner during a loading screen".

[Astyrah.4015]

> @"Hesione.9412" said:

> When my client crashes, as it does infrequently, I just do the send error report and leave it at that. The reason is that I find the list of lines impossible to interpret.

>

> However, that can be done, see https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1422718/#Comment_1422718

>

> How can you pick the specific line in the crash dump that points to the problem (in this case, dll)?

>

> This would be useful to me for the next time the client crashes - again, which it does sometimes but not often.

 

if you join dev/modding/tech-savvy communities like on discord or reddit (one example is VKx, where development of DXVK and VKD3D is usually discussed, can google if you curious what they are) you'll learn how to do this -- so like usually when your application breaks or crashes people will ask you to copy and paste the error message or post the logfile. if in case there was no logfile and/or there was no error message, people usually ask you to reproduce your crash while having logging enabled. ( it can be done with GW2 too, see https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Command_line_arguments#-log )

 

people then ask you to post the error message or the whole log online, usually if it's too long people ask you to use something like https://pastebin.com and just giving people the link to your paste, with that, people can review your error message or log and find out where in the application's usually routine did it fail or what caused it to fail and then give you possible solutions to resolve your issue.

 

 

_____________

 

 

it depends on the application or library but in a lot of cases the error message or logfile can be understood even if you aren't an IT person. GW2's error message is very user friendly in comparison to other games/apps and as with the thread you linked in your OP, in that example i quote a portion of what the OP there said:

 

> The stuff in the text field under it:

>

> *--> Crash <--*

> Exception: c0000417

> App: Gw2-64.exe

> Pid: 18724

> BaseAddr: 00007FF6EF250000

> ProgramId: 101

> Build: 111959

> Module: ASProxy64.dll

> When: 2021-02-24T06:05:17Z 2021-02-24T15:05:17+09:00

> Uptime: 0 days 0:00:03

> Flags: 0

> DumpFile: Crash.dmp

>

 

this may appear as non-sense do you but if you read each line, the first (and most important) part of the error message says *--> Crash <--* we can then imply that the application crashed. ---> App: Gw2-64.exe means this is the application that crashed. now the next few lines wont be of value to the typical computer user but head down a few lines and you'll come across -- Module: ASProxy64.dll -- this implies what caused the crash, it can either be a builtin or external library or another application that runs alongside the game. the sections below *--> Crash <--* such as *--> System <--* and *--> System Memory <--* and so on will not be as important but will/may provide relevant supporting information but in this case you can ignore it as it's not a memory issue for example but rather a library/dll issue.

 

you can then google: "_GW2-64.exe crashes with ASProxy64.dll at 3 seconds after startup_" or simply "_ASProxy64.dll game crash_" to find similar examples online where people may have had the same issue as you even if it's in another game but the solution could work for you since it's a similar library/dependency that caused the crash.

 

now not every error message can be as informative as GW2's many applications just simply throw a message which includes a random memory address (like a hexadecimal string or jumble of letters and numbers if you may) and the line of code where the error occurs or which library caused the crash, in which cased you can just google the whole error message if it's short enough or generate a log file and share it online where people can pinpoint what and where it goes wrong in the application.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

It's almost always the 'Module:' line, if that's included.

 

Otherwise, you have to go through the body of the 'Crash Details' to look for 3rd-party programs that may be causing issues, or other things that might be amiss.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> It's almost always the 'Module:' line, if that's included.

>

> Otherwise, you have to go through the body of the 'Crash Details' to look for 3rd-party programs that may be causing issues, or other things that might be amiss.

 

So it's a matter of knowing what should be there, or what is normal for the game and then looking for anything which isn't?

 

How do you learn that, other than comparing a lot of crash reports? To me the name 'module' doesn't suggest anything wrong, so without knowing that only shows up when there's a problem with it I don't know how you'd identify it as the cause as opposed to just another of many, many details in the list.

[Astyrah.4015]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > It's almost always the 'Module:' line, if that's included.

> >

> > Otherwise, you have to go through the body of the 'Crash Details' to look for 3rd-party programs that may be causing issues, or other things that might be amiss.

>

> So it's a matter of knowing what should be there, or what is normal for the game and then looking for anything which isn't?

>

 

sometimes what shouldn't be there can also appear as well. such as in that case with _ASProxy64.dll_ --> this is not a library/dll (dynamic link library) that normally ships/packaged with windows nor gw2. if you have a very intrusive application or service (services are applications that run hidden from the user and work on a system-level) installed somehow things like that can happen.

 

> How do you learn that, other than comparing a lot of crash reports? To me the name 'module' doesn't suggest anything wrong, so without knowing that only shows up when there's a problem with it I don't know how you'd identify it as the cause as opposed to just another of many, many details in the list.

 

the libraries or dlls that gw2 primarily call/rely on are mostly found in bin64 other libraries for example, will come from your graphics card drivers which directx9 will look for when trying to display the game for you. if the crash report is not the cause of a library/dll/another_application then Module may report Gw2-64.exe on itself or may be left blank -- if in the case it's a GPU driver issue, then it may be named something like atidxx64.dll for AMD or start with something like NVxx for Nvidia -- google will be the most helpful in this case for you to better understand.

 

"module" in the first section of the crash report simply implies what or which thing is the suspect of the issue. it can be better read as "Crashed due to/because of this thing: " instead of "Module: " ..

 

the name module itself doesn't suggest anything at all if it's without context.