Getting random crashes w/o a crash log being generated.

[Jotasran]

How do I go about diagnosing that? 

[traison]

If there truly is no crash log, and you're certain it crashed (freezing is not the same), then the exception was probably handled, but the result was to terminate the application. This would be visually identical, but technically very different. The crash loggers we have only focus on unhandled exceptions I would assume, so dealing with something like this is going to be considerably more difficult. Only thing I can think of now is to attach a debugger and hope it can catch the exception before the exception handler does.

Edited February 12, 2023 by traison

[Jotasran]

It was CTD, not a freeze, for sure.  I was actually surprised to find no crash log.  On occasion, windows will minimize the window... though this happens very rarely (1/month or so)?  I'll make sure to go through all my windows processes and make sure nothing's running that doesn't need to be.  If it happens again, I"ll install the debugger.

 

[Dorabella]

1 hour ago, Jotasran said:

On occasion, windows will minimize the window... though this happens very rarely (1/month or so)?

Is it during some Windows update?

[Jotasran]

I don't think so, though I"m unsure. I'll check if it happens again.

 

The CTD w no log just happened again, so I"ll start the process of downloading that debugger.

 

I downloaded that debugger, but I don't think I"m doing it right.  I started the debugger (the x64 one) and selected the process (skyrim) and hit run.  When I do... it crashes.  This program is well above my level.  Can you give me a simple explanation of step to do?

 

Edit:  Ok..  Starting debugger.  Then go to vortex and start skyrim.  Then alt tab back to debugger, select attach.. then skryim.  When I alt tab back to skyrim, everything locks up.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Jotasran

[traison]

Yeah well that's what I meant by "considerably more difficult". When I use tools like that I go by gut feeling more than anything, as in, I poke around until I see something.

 

Crashing when the debugger is attached: Yes, the skyrim exe has debugger traps. Usually you can get further by retrying. There are bypassers, but these are beyond me, and are probably the most blatant violations of any DRM and EULA. It is also possible the game won't run for long enough for you to actually trigger the random crash with the debugger attached, never really tried that. Depends on where the traps are located I suppose.

 

Freezing when debugger is attached: This is working as intended. All threads will be suspended when the debugger is attached, hit Run to resume operation.

 

As for what you should be focusing on here: I would ignore the assembly language entirely for now at least. In Options -> Perferences you'll find a tab called Exceptions. This is where I'd start. There's a group box called "Exception handled by"; I'd set this to "Debugger" in the hopes that that would save me from having to manually locate the exception handler.

 

Also, to not make things too simple, there's also the issue of us assuming this is the result of an exception. Applications can terminate without exceptions. It does seem quite likely given the circumstances, but its still an assumption. You'd be more likely to see a "CTD" without an exception during loading for instance: missing dll, can't proceed to load, terminate. You get the idea. Oh and there's multiple different exception types, I do not know if x64dbg deals with them all.

 

Edit: Also, "Break on" should be either First chance or Second chance.

 

Edit again: It is also possible the game will throw exceptions as part of normal operation. If it does this you *may* be able to filter out the bogus errors, if not then I'd drop this idea. Meaning, just because it stopped on an exception, does not mean its the one you're looking for. You'd have to document it (remember where it happened, what it was) then let it continue to see if it proceeds to CTD - that would be an indication you found something.

Edited February 13, 2023 by traison

[Jotasran]

Ok, I'll keep poking at it.  I played around 4 hours after my last post with no crashes (updating Faster HDT was the only difference).