How to Report Bugs and Crashes
Mar 6, 2016 18:01:22 GMT -8
Post by DukeFluffy on Mar 6, 2016 18:01:22 GMT -8
If my previous project is anything to go by, there are going to be a lot of bugs. Lots and lots and lots of them. But that's okay. With wonderful people like you reporting them, they can be fixed promptly and not occur again. You do want to be wonderful, right?
There's a bunch of code, objects, and sounds in the game. Without clear insight into what exactly is causing the problem, and what line of code is responsible, finding the problem will take forever- meaning it will be noted and put off until someone provides a solid report.
There are two ways to make your report solid- including as much information as possible, and reproducing the bug before you report it. If you do everything asked, it can save me hours of bugfixing time and help make the game more stable and fun. This appreciated by everyone, but especially me.
You should immediately press the 'Open Log File' button. Doing so will minimize the game and open the game log in Notepad. Save a copy of this to an easily accessible location on your computer- for the less tech savvy, the desktop suffices. Once this has been saved in a safe location you should then reopen the game, press Clear, and then press Close. This will ensure any later errors have a fresh file. Before sending the error log into us you should check this board. It's possible that the error may have occurred in the past, or it might be something that we're aware of already. If that is the case you should post a link or Pastebin of the log in the ALREADY EXISTING thread, and otherwise proceed to add all the information as normal.
If you see that someone has reported the bug already, please indicate that you also had the same problem. If I do not receive reports about an old problem I will assume that it has been fixed. Bugs/crashes that lots of people are complaining about and reporting also get priority over the others.
In total you should include-
If it is not a crash but instead some weird behavior that is replicatable, you should consider sending in your save file. These are normally stored in C:\Users\NameHere\AppData\LocalLow\Chivalric Games\Towergirls, and take the form of save#.txt and save#_info.txt. Put the relevant ones in a zip file and Google Drive or Mediafire them, and include the URL in your bug report. I'll take a look at them ASAP.
Because you are saving like a madnoun, and have autosaves turned on, hopefully you did not lose much play time. When this is the case it would be lovely if you could try to go back to the game before the crash happened and make it happen again. If it's just some weird bug try reverting to an earlier save and getting it to appear again.
If you do manage to recreate the bug/crash, in this fashion, list the steps that you performed in order to do so. This is one of the most helpful things you can possibly do, in addition to posting a crash log.
As mentioned previously, before reporting try and search the bug forum for similar bugs from the past. Report how you got the bug in THAT thread rather than making a new one.
Keep being awesome.
Edit: Added info on locating and sending in save files.
Edit: Updated for Unity
There's a bunch of code, objects, and sounds in the game. Without clear insight into what exactly is causing the problem, and what line of code is responsible, finding the problem will take forever- meaning it will be noted and put off until someone provides a solid report.
There are two ways to make your report solid- including as much information as possible, and reproducing the bug before you report it. If you do everything asked, it can save me hours of bugfixing time and help make the game more stable and fun. This appreciated by everyone, but especially me.
1. Mas Info, Por Favor
When the game encounters an error, a log will open on the bottom left. This log has three buttons- Open Log File, Clear, and Close.
You should immediately press the 'Open Log File' button. Doing so will minimize the game and open the game log in Notepad. Save a copy of this to an easily accessible location on your computer- for the less tech savvy, the desktop suffices. Once this has been saved in a safe location you should then reopen the game, press Clear, and then press Close. This will ensure any later errors have a fresh file. Before sending the error log into us you should check this board. It's possible that the error may have occurred in the past, or it might be something that we're aware of already. If that is the case you should post a link or Pastebin of the log in the ALREADY EXISTING thread, and otherwise proceed to add all the information as normal.
If you see that someone has reported the bug already, please indicate that you also had the same problem. If I do not receive reports about an old problem I will assume that it has been fixed. Bugs/crashes that lots of people are complaining about and reporting also get priority over the others.
In total you should include-
- The Code Error log, if applicable
- If you are in the Overmap/Dungeon/Battle/Siege/Management/Visual Novel Segment
- What button you pressed
- What happened a few seconds before the crash or bug
- What the bug did, if not a crash
- What you were expecting to happen instead of the bug/crash
- Any other information that may help
- A useful title, if making a new thread. Include [Bug] or [Crash].
- The save file with the problem, if doing weird stuff and not crashing.
If it is not a crash but instead some weird behavior that is replicatable, you should consider sending in your save file. These are normally stored in C:\Users\NameHere\AppData\LocalLow\Chivalric Games\Towergirls, and take the form of save#.txt and save#_info.txt. Put the relevant ones in a zip file and Google Drive or Mediafire them, and include the URL in your bug report. I'll take a look at them ASAP.
2. Reproducing the Bug
Because you are saving like a madnoun, and have autosaves turned on, hopefully you did not lose much play time. When this is the case it would be lovely if you could try to go back to the game before the crash happened and make it happen again. If it's just some weird bug try reverting to an earlier save and getting it to appear again.
If you do manage to recreate the bug/crash, in this fashion, list the steps that you performed in order to do so. This is one of the most helpful things you can possibly do, in addition to posting a crash log.
3. Organizing Stuff On the Forum
As mentioned previously, before reporting try and search the bug forum for similar bugs from the past. Report how you got the bug in THAT thread rather than making a new one.
Keep being awesome.
Edit: Added info on locating and sending in save files.
Edit: Updated for Unity