QLC+ 4.12.6 crashed mid Play

kenact · Sat Sep 24, 2022 2:39 pm

Running Windows 10, latest updates, on Dell D630, 8gb RAM, T9500 2.60GHZ processor, 1tb 7200 RPM drive, built in Sigmatel audio. Enttec USB OpenDMX, and an older Enttec D-Split.

10 minutes into my show last night, the application crashed. I will attach the workspace later. The QWX file won't copy properly to my cell phone.

The plot is pretty simple, 18 generic dimmers, 7 ADJ VPar LEDs and a generic moving head in 10/11 channel mode (I never got a full definition of the instrument, but I know where X & Y Axis are, Master Dimmer, the RGBW Dimmers, and the Focus are. Those are the only controls I use on the Moving Head.

I have several shows set up, that use audio files with lighting cues. All the shows are in the main Chase for the play. I had just played one that simulates lightning (the third of 4, the only difference being when the thunder SFX starts, getting closer each time), using the moving head and the 7 VPars, when the application crashed. I will also upload the 4 Windows event log entries and the one of the 2 WER files generated, once I get back to the theater. I mentioned my sound card, because I believe one of the WER crash report files, the one I can't access, referenced the STac (SigmaTel Audio). The only sounds prior to this were the preshow music, which is 5 songs in a separate Chase, which gets faded using a loopback, and a cell phone ring, which is in a Show and set as a Step in the main Chase, gets stepped into and stepped out of, when the "call" is answered.

Fortunately the happened during a death scene, and the audience wasn't aware of the problem. I had the lights back up in less than a minute. The show ran fine after that.

I have been using this workspace all week, and this is the first crash. I had run the Play the night before, and there was only one minor change, to the length of one Show, which occurs several minutes after my crash. Everything prior to, and including the step where the application crashed, had been static for 3 days.

The laptop was not online, and I had restarted it just before we opened the house.

kenact · Sat Sep 24, 2022 5:55 pm

These may be related.

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=15809

kenact · Sun Sep 25, 2022 2:52 am

Here are three of the event log entries.

kenact · Sun Sep 25, 2022 2:53 am

Here is the other event log entry and one of the Windows Error Reports.

kenact · Sun Oct 02, 2022 4:25 pm

I have added the 1ms Fade Out to the audio steps in my preshow Chase, as suggested in another thread (viewtopic.php?f=33&t=15809), and my workspace ran yesterday without crashing. I have 5 more performances. I will report the results, whether or not it crashes (hopefully not).

kenact · Sun Oct 02, 2022 9:56 pm

Unfortunately, it crashed again today, in about the same place as the last time. It crashed on step 17 of my "Eternity" Chase. I've included the workspace and the Windows Error Report.

I had a thought. I know you can't use a Scene in multiple Shows, but there's nothing to stop you from using the same audio file in multiple Shows. In this case I'm using a copy of the same Scene in 4 different shows, but I'm using the same audio file in three of them. I'm wondering if that's a problem.

GGGss · Mon Oct 03, 2022 9:49 am

I didn't read everything but have a hunge... I guess the audio-process-thread gets stuck (or the memory stack doesn't get released - a Qt problem)
I propose a deeper investigation thru a process monitor of some sort. It might well be that the audio-thread does weird stuff. A solution would be to manually kill that process or thread.
A more workable solution might be: copy the audio file 3 times and use these copies at different occasions. IF the audio threads wouldn't get released, running the show at a 2nd occasion would again letting things crash.

Investing some time in your reports I see a possible culprit : stacsv64.exe crashing -> looking up with Docter Google, it deduces itself to faulty audio drivers, or not correctly installed or malfunctioning.
I'd now replace your audio drivers with newer ones.

kenact · Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:54 pm

Thank you for taking the time to look at this.

GGGss wrote: ↑Mon Oct 03, 2022 9:49 am I didn't read everything but have a hunge... I guess the audio-process-thread gets stuck (or the memory stack doesn't get released - a Qt problem)
I propose a deeper investigation thru a process monitor of some sort. It might well be that the audio-thread does weird stuff. A solution would be to manually kill that process or thread.
A more workable solution might be: copy the audio file 3 times and use these copies at different occasions. IF the audio threads wouldn't get released, running the show at a 2nd occasion would again letting things crash.

I will test that, but not with my live play. I have 4 more performances, and I'm not going to risk another crash during the play. I will be going back to 4.14.4 for now. Using 4.12.4 at 5 performances, there were no crashes. Version 4.12.6 crashed twice in 3 performances.

GGGss wrote: ↑Mon Oct 03, 2022 9:49 am Investing some time in your reports I see a possible culprit : stacsv64.exe crashing -> looking up with Docter Google, it deduces itself to faulty audio drivers, or not correctly installed or malfunctioning.
I'd now replace your audio drivers with newer ones.

The first crash included a crash of stacsv64, but the crash yesterday did not. Instead, there were other simultaneous crashes of network processes. This is strange, since my wireless network adapter was physically turned off, and there was nothing connected to my wired network port.

This is a 14 year old laptop, and there are no newer drivers for the built-in IDT (formerly Sigmatel) audio system.

There is another issue with the audio for 4.12.6, with audio tracks in a Chase, if you do not add a 1ms fade out to each step in the chase, the audio does not stop when clicking into the next step, or fading it out using a loopback. I believe Massimo already has a fix for that.