nwnserver.exe hangs CPU at 100%

[Sir Elric]

My server from time to time crashes but the nwn process is still running so NWNX2 doesn't autoload it as it thinks it's still running.

Is there any setting to combat this?

Do other PW owners ever experience this type of crash?

TIA

SE
_________________
City of Melnibone - PW
ausnwn.dyndns.org:5121

[Lokey]

Tried the WatchdogGamespy settings?
_________________
Neversummer PW NWNx powered mayhem

[Senalaya]

The gamespy watchdog should definitly detect that. It works fine here.

Other than that, you might want to check your scripting. The most common reasons for the 100% CPU hangup are endless loops from broken GetFirst/GetNext browsing. A good method to prevent this is adding a 'sanity' counter:

int nCounter = 0;
object oObject = GetFirstxxx();
while (GetIsObjectValid(oObject) && (nCounter <= N)
{
...
oObject = GetNextxxx();
nCounter++;
}

Replace 'N' with a useful limit. i.e. when you browse the current players (GetFirst/NextPC), the limit should be the max player setting of your server.

[Sir Elric]

[Senalaya]

The GameSpy watchdog tries to access the nwserver.exe with a TCP/IP communication on the gameport (5121 in most cases) every x seconds (gamespy interval). If the nwserver.exe doesn't respond to that y times (gamespy retries), NWNX kills the server process and restarts it. In case of a 100% CPU hangup, NWN will fail to respond.

[Sir Elric]

Ah many thanks will give this a go.

Seem to be getting more and more of these types of crashes of late looks like it's time to wade back through all the core code

SE
_________________
City of Melnibone - PW
ausnwn.dyndns.org:5121

[Sir Elric]

Also will the GameSpyWatchDog still work even if you don't post the game to the internet via gameSpy?

And will it kill the process that is currently hung before restarting?

TIA

SE
_________________
City of Melnibone - PW
ausnwn.dyndns.org:5121

[Senalaya]

As stated before, yes the hung up process will be killed/terminated.
The name 'GameSpy' watchdog might be a bit misleading. The mechanism runs local, completely independent from the official GameSpy server. So, it works whether or not the game posts on the internet.

[Sir Elric]

Well I tried this on a test server and initiated a crash and have had mixed results.

1st time server hung and nothing happened.
2nd time server hung and was restarted.
3rd time server hung and got a port still in use error.
4th time server hung and got a port still in use error.

SE
_________________
City of Melnibone - PW
ausnwn.dyndns.org:5121

[Papillon]

1) As far as I know, nwserver needs to be set to "post to internet" in order for the gamespy type watchdog to work. Otherwise, NWN will not answer the polls NWNX sends.

2) If you get a "port in use" error, set the "restartdelay" parameter in the ini file (or on the command line) to something like 60 seconds.

3) We get these 100% lockups on Avlis from time to time on certain modules, while others do not have this problem. I doubt you can create a script that hangs the server (because of the TMI Too Many Instructions check), but there may be circumstances that lead to an endless loop in the core code of the server. My advise would be to NOT check the scripts for endless loops, this seems just unlikely.
_________________
Papillon

[Sir Elric]