Bug Reports / Press ESC from Test Game Mode=Editor Black Screen

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JosephB
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Posted: 4th Mar 2016 13:11
I am using Windows 10 Pro (OS Build 10586.104 on an Intel i5 3.4 GHz, 16 GB memory and x64 system) and whenever I press ESC to leave the Test Game mode I am returned to a black editor screen with no functionality. I have only just started using GG and am just familiarizing myself with the app, so very simple terrains so far with only a few entities. I can go to Task Manager and end the GG editor task to return to the editor. The editor will automatically reload the last level. Is this an issue anyone else has encountered?
Pirate Myke
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Posted: 4th Mar 2016 13:44
Welcome to the forums. What type or GPU do you have and what screen size and font percentage are you running?
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JosephB
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Posted: 4th Mar 2016 14:21
Thank you. I have a GeForce GTX 760 using a resolution of 1920 X 1080. Title bar font is size 9.
Pirate Myke
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Posted: 4th Mar 2016 17:10
ok, So font size under control panel, appearance and personalize, display fonts is at 100%?
If not then set to 100% and see if that will help.

Are you on the latest Nvidia driver?
If so that is good, cause the Nvidia bug has been fixed in update 1.12.
If not then try and add 3 light anywhere on the map and see if that clears the issue.
Have you updated to the latest Live build 1.12?

Are you running in Administrative mode
This just may take care of the issue completely.

Reported that a reboot of the machine after installation of Game Guru has cleared up a bunch of stuff also.
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JosephB
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Posted: 5th Mar 2016 08:47
I truly appreciate your help.

Yes fonts are at 100%. I tried other percentages, but no change.
I have updated to the latest Nvidia driver, just released March 1.
I am running Steam in Administrator mode, but am unable to set that for GG itself and am using build 1.12.

Rebooted several times, but still end with a black screen in the editor. I have not learned how to add lights, but am searching.

Again, thanks.
JosephB
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Posted: 5th Mar 2016 10:21
I learned how to add lights and that made no difference when added to the game and then exiting the game test mode. I still get the editor back which does not function and has a black screen for the editor window.
Pirate Myke
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Posted: 5th Mar 2016 13:24
To run Game Guru in admin mode you will need to go to the game Guru install folder, and you will see GameGuru.exe, Guru-Mapeditor.exe, and Guru-lightmapper.exe.

Right mouse click on each one and choose run in administrative mode in the options
After changing all of those, then try GAme Guru again and see if that works for you.
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JosephB
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Posted: 5th Mar 2016 14:32
Pirate Myke, It works if I do not make changes in test game mode using the Tab adjustments or in F9 3d mode. Sometimes I can make changes while using the Tab menus such as changing the sky or grass and sometimes I cannot as it may return to the edit map mode properly and sometimes it returns to a black screen in the map editor window. At least I can test the game, but cannot make some important changes to the game. Thank you for your help.
Pirate Myke
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Posted: 5th Mar 2016 14:48
ok, better, but still not right.

Is this in the standard steam install on the c drive?
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JosephB
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Posted: 5th Mar 2016 15:02
Yes, the standard installation by Steam.
JosephB
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Posted: 6th Mar 2016 11:03 Edited at: 6th Mar 2016 12:50
I have tested a few more things to include using compatibility mode for Windows 7 for all executables. This did not fix anything. I have reinstalled DX 9.0 c and no improvement. I have noticed that eventually the problem becomes worse as I continue to use Task Manager to exit out of the black screen problem as eventually I have to exit out of GG completely once using Task Manager to clear the black screen in the editor. If I do not, nothing works in the editor. Also, eventually Escaping from the Test Game mode always results in a editor black screen. If I reboot, then I am back to a system that will escape from the Test Game mode correctly, but only a couple of times. I have also deleted GG in Steam and then reinstalled it, but no change for the black screen issue.
JosephB
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Posted: 8th Mar 2016 11:03
Myke,

Any ideas on what is happening that causes the black editor screen? I have tested the games that came with GG and I have the same result, so it does not seem to be something that I have done while creating a level from scratch. I did notice that a .dat file has been created for one of my test levels, but it has no data about any crashes.
Belidos
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Posted: 8th Mar 2016 12:03
It's a long shot, but when you get the black screen, try minimizing GG for a few seconds, then maximizing it gain. There's a ui issue that does similar every now and again and minimizing/maximizing is a workaround for that.

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JosephB
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Posted: 8th Mar 2016 12:45
Belidos,

I gave it a try, but no change. I did notice that I cannot exit from GG when this occurs even using the X in the top right corner or File tab then exit menu. When I go to Task Manager to close the MapEditor process, the MapEditor is using about 25 to 30 percent of the CPU and continually changes as though something is processing and the same thing occurs when the MapEditor does not have the black screen. When I do end the MapEditor task from Task Manager, GG automatically resumes from the previous session. If this occurs a few times, eventually GG locks up and I can only exit GG and restart it.
smallg
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Posted: 8th Mar 2016 15:18
So GG loads fine and then after opening the tab menu is when when you get issues? Or is it loading into a black screen from the start?

Have you tried verifying the files through steam? Right click GG in the list -> properties -> verify game cache/local files.

Also I believe there is a way to check GG is using the correct graphics card if you have onboard graphics but I don't remember how, its in the setup.ini... Maybe myke can help check that?

Finally a long shot but make sure your virus protection isnt picking up any files or trying to sandbox GG (doesn't seem likely as GG is still working after a resume but you never know)

Have you tried any of the stand-alones? Do those work? You can find some in the showcase/wip.
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JosephB
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Posted: 9th Mar 2016 10:35
Smallg,

Thank you. There does not seem to be any particular action to cause the black screen when exiting the Game Test Mode. I can get to the test mode with no problems. Even if I do nothing while in the test made, when I press ESC, I end up with a black screen in the editor window. Sometimes I do not end with a black screen as sometimes it will exit properly, but this is mostly rare.

I tried all your suggestions as all files were verified with Steam, the setup.ini did not include any information on the graphics card, and the files are allowed access through Norton (virus app). I can play the games that came with GG while in test mode. It is when I exit that the problem occurs.

I tried the Curse of the Draugr and it seemed to play fine. Nice game.
Defy
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Posted: 9th Mar 2016 13:23
Not sure if this has anything to do with your issue. However when I have photo shop open, and want to test textures. If I leave it open and run Test game, I can not exit test mode. If photo shop is not running in background, Game Guru works fine. Just in case anyone has something running background, worth a check.
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smallg
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Posted: 10th Mar 2016 09:52
How about if you open setup.ini and change vsync to 1?

Another idea would be to check how much page file windows is allowed, although I'm not sure why it would be needed when you have 16gb of ram.
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JosephB
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Posted: 10th Mar 2016 12:59
Defy/smallg,

I do not have any other applications running when using GG, but do have many processes running in the background. Some I might be able to stop running if needed, so I will test those one-by-one during the weekend.

Changed the setup.ini for vsync=1, but no change. The page file is over 16,000 MB, so I don't think that is a problem.
Belidos
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Posted: 10th Mar 2016 15:04
Another off the cuff question.

You say you re using the latest NVidia drivers, do you have multiple monitors set up, or did you have multiple moniotrs set up when you installed the newest drivers?

If you do, or did, try disconnecting your second monitor, uninstalling the drivers, then reinstalling them with only one monitor, then adding the second monitor.

There's a known issue with the latest NVidia drivers where installing the new drivers with more than one monitor attached was causing application crashes, slow downs and even blue screens in windows 10, but if you installed it with only a single monitor attached then it would work fine and you could add the second monitor afterwards with no problem.

It's a long shot, but you never know.

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JosephB
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Posted: 11th Mar 2016 09:21
Belidos,

Thanks, but I only have one monitor. I keep trying by stopping some background apps, but nothing yet helps. I just do not know what happens within GG when I press ESC from the game test mode. Maybe if I knew what was occurring when it switches from the test mode back to the editor, then maybe we would have a better idea where to look for potential causes for interruptions to that switch over.
Pirate Myke
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Posted: 13th Mar 2016 04:45
Sorry you are still having this issue.

Let give this a try and see if we get some joy.

Locate the GameGuru.exe and right click to get the file properties, then click the Compatibility tab and tick the 'Disable display scaling on high DPI settings'.

We have tried everything else so far.

And sorry for the delayed response. Had an event to work the last few days.
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JosephB
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Posted: 13th Mar 2016 11:07
Not a problem as I have been trying different things myself. Disabling the display scaling did not improve performance. I rolled back the Nvidia driver to July 2015 and that had no improvement. I saved a level as a stand alone and it plays through until I exit. At that time it locks up because of an issue with the responsiveness of the mapeditor, which is the same problem when exiting from the test game mode.

I installed GG on my laptop and it works fine there. The systems are not very similar, but do have much of the same software running, so I really cannot determine why GG has problems on my desktop system, which is much newer and more powerful.
JosephB
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Posted: 15th Mar 2016 09:41
Just want to add some information about the black screen in the mapeditor. If I run the test game and actually test some of the game features such as moving around, when I press ESC, the mapeditor will always have a black screen. If I run the test game and only use the tab key functions, then it will ESC out properly about two times and then on the third try, the mapeditor will have a black screen. The only way to exit out is through the task manager using the end process button to stop the mapeditor. GG will automatically reload the last level, but many of the GG menus no longer work, so I must exit from GG.
smallg
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Posted: 15th Mar 2016 18:29 Edited at: 15th Mar 2016 18:29
have you tried the help desk? i would give them the summary of your issue and a link to this thread and see if they can help you further (be aware it is closed at weekends), hopefully they'll find a solution for you

p.s. the little green help box that appears on the page
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JosephB
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Posted: 16th Mar 2016 09:24
Thanks for the info--never noticed the Help box before. I summarized the issue and submitted the ticket.
JosephB
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Posted: 17th Mar 2016 12:15
I have also determined that when the mapeditor black screen issue occurs there seems to be a correlation with the files as when I validate the local files through steam, eleven files failed to validate and had to be reacquired. One of those files is the GameGuru.exe as it will start back as though it has not been opened before and all watched videos will show as unwatched.
smallg
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Posted: 17th Mar 2016 16:22
it's normal that the videos and such will show again, those are part of the setup files (such as tutorialonstartup.ini and showonstartup.ini) as you are changing a value from 1 to 0 when you untick the box.
there shouldnt be 11 each time though, are you sure your virus isn't adding anything to it's chest?
lua guide for GG
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JosephB
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Posted: 20th Mar 2016 04:12
I have turned off virus protection, as well as ensured that GG and associated exe's had permission within Norton, to test and the same result. I have no idea why Steam is unable to validate the files. I also have noted that the Steam validation errors also occur even if I do not run the game test mode.
3com
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Posted: 21st Mar 2016 15:38
In GG folder, there is a file named "MapEditor.log", the last line tell us how GG exit, it shoud be something like:
"797657920 : Terminated because 908=1 " withou the quotes, Not idea what 908=1 meants, I guess it is telling us as correct GG exit; I'm just looking for something different.

Another one:
Looking on depth that file, you can see all the process the editor takes to load, so you can see GG scan all the skies/terrain, whe it say something like "checking skybank files", I'm commenting that because has to do with the nex suggestion; it is not funny to do, but perhaps might help.

Go to test mode>change sky>back to editor, if nothing change, repeat the process. I afraid about some corrupted sky/terrain file.

3com






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JosephB
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Posted: 24th Mar 2016 04:42
3Com,

MapEditor.log does state that--Terminated because 908=1, but only after I properly exit. Within the log there is nothing about the failed "ESC" from the test game mode. The log mentions restoring from the last project, but all else in the log seems fine--no errors listed. When the black mapeditor screen occurs, I cannot exit GG normally, but must go to task manager to end the Mapeditor task. GG will then restore the last project. Many functions will no longer work, so I must exit GG.

JosephB
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Posted: 29th Mar 2016 12:58
Just a summary page and an update of MapEditor issues. I am using GameGuru (GG build 1.12 with a standard Steam installation) on a desktop Windows 10 Pro (OS Build 10586.104 on an Intel i5 3.4 GHz, 16 GB memory and x64) system with a NVidia GeForce GTX 760 2048 MB GDDR5 graphics card (resolution 1920 X 1080). I have the latest drivers. GG has been set to run as administrator for GameGuru.exe, Guru-Mapeditor.exe, and Guru-lightmapper.exe.

Most times when I press ESC to leave the Test Game mode I am returned to a black MapEditor screen with little or no functionality. This occurs if I create simple levels or try to edit the included games. I can only exit the MapEditor through Task Manager. The editor will automatically restart and reload the last level.

Additional details on the MapEditor black screen issue: If I run the test game and actually test some of the game features such as moving around, when I press ESC, the MapEditor will always have a black screen. If I run the test game and only use the tab key functions, then it will ESC out properly about two times and then on the third try, the MapEditor will have a black screen. The only way to exit out is through the task manager using the end process button to stop the MapEditor. GG will automatically reload the last level, but many of the GG menus no longer work, so I must exit from GG using the File Tab menu on GG.

I have verified with Steam, the setup.ini did not include any information on the graphics card, but changed the setup.ini for vsync=1, but no change to the problem. I have performed a complete install of Steam and GG after completely uninstalling them with no change to the problem. I have ensured that GG and Steam have proper permissions in Norton antivirus and have also stopped Norton. Neither helped or changed the issue. I have also disabled most applications running in the background or stopped the processes completely. Nothing changed the problem. Rarely if I minimize GG without even loading any levels, it will lose focus, so I must stop it through task manager and then exit from it, but this is rare. Finally, I have noticed that GG can lose focus if I am downloading purchased store items if they are large and I must exit it and then restart to have full functionality.

I submitted a request for assistance from the developers on 3/16, but have not heard from them yet. Any additional ideas for potential solutions are most welcome as the laptop is too slow to really do any game development.
Belidos
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Posted: 29th Mar 2016 13:23
I'm stumped, a few people have reported similar issues, but not the same issues as all of them have been fixed or bye-passed with the help we've already given you.

Judging by the fact that GameGuru is losing focus I would say there is very likely something running in the background that is stealing focus, apps/software don't just lose focus, something has to be demanding the focus for windows to take the focus away from the current app/software.

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JosephB
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Posted: 2nd Apr 2016 11:12
Still working on the problem. Have not solved it yet, but was able to retrieve a crash dump, which states: The thread tried to read from or write to a virtual address for which it does not have the appropriate access. I am not familiar with the issue, but if anyone has an idea, please feel free to provide it.

The full crash dump is as follows:
Pirate Myke
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Posted: 7th Apr 2016 01:38
Sorry you are still having this issue. Thanks for posting the above report.
Will email this to Lee and see if he can shed some light on a possible cause.

Quote: "I am using Windows 10 Pro (OS Build 10586.104 on an Intel i5 3.4 GHz, 16 GB memory and x64 system)
GeForce GTX 760 using a resolution of 1920 X 1080

and whenever I press ESC to leave the Test Game mode I am returned to a black editor screen with no functionality. I have only just started using GG and am just familiarizing myself with the app, so very simple terrains so far with only a few entities.

I can go to Task Manager and end the GG editor task to return to the editor. The editor will automatically reload the last level. Is this an issue anyone else has encountered?
"


See last post Crash dump report

Still having this issue.

Will refer this whole thread in the email

Thanks
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JosephB
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Posted: 7th Apr 2016 22:17
Thank you for your help. No rush right now as I am out of the country for several weeks.
synchromesh
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Posted: 10th Apr 2016 00:40
Have you tried an uninstall of GG and a clean Reinstall .... Sometimes this will clear issues that a verify wont ?
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JosephB
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Posted: 10th Apr 2016 01:12
Yes, I tried the uninstall and reinstall a couple of times, even uninstalled Steam to try a completely clean install, even trying different drives. No changes to the operation. Based on the crash dump report, I ensured that all drivers were up to date, still no change in the black screen issue. I have checked the drives and optimized them-no errors.
synchromesh
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Posted: 10th Apr 2016 01:38
Are you using any special desktop themes ..3rd party like windowblinds or similair ?
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JosephB
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Posted: 11th Apr 2016 00:21
No special themes or fonts.
LeeBamber
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Posted: 11th Apr 2016 12:46
Hi All,

Looks like Joseph has been getting lots of help here, so thanks everyone for that! If possible, could I get a small video recording of the event of going into test game then returning to the editor, maybe using Bandicam? From this, I can get a sense of how the black screen introduces itself. Also, if you could send me the Guru-MapEditor.map and Guru-MapEditor-last.log from the session you record, I can check the debug logs with what I see in the video. Thanks!
PC SPECS: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit, Intel Core i7-5930K (PASSMARK:13645), NVIDIA Geforce GTX 980 GPU (PASSMARK:9762) , 32GB RAM

LeeBamber
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P.S. You can email me directly at lee@thegamecreators.com to speed up the diagnosis of this issue
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JosephB
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Posted: 12th Apr 2016 09:23
Lee,

Very much appreciate the help. I will email you soon.

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