(RESOLVED) VA regularly crashing after brief period

[LM]

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ETA: The following fixed my issue.

VA settings, Audio page, changed Audio Output from Windows "Media Components" to "Integrated Components".
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Hi -

Windows 10 Home 1708, build 16299.431.
VA Version: 1.7

I'm using VA with Elite Dangerous (though I'm not sure it matters what I use it with). I start it up and it works for a bit, then it just crashes (I get a windows notice that VA has stopped working). This happens every time I try to use VA - it never lasts more than 10 or 15 minutes, and usually much less.

I don't have to be issuing a voice command at the time - I've seen it crash multiple times when I'm not giving it a command, and when there is nothing that the microphone would be picking up beyond low-level, non-speech-like background noise.

This happens both with plug-ins disabled and enabled. I had an older VA version until today (don't remember which) that the problem was happening with, so I updated to the latest in the hopes that it would help.

The prior VA version I had was running fine until recently. I know I had a Windows update not too long ago, as well as a software and firmware update for the headset I'm using when using VA. I unfortunately can't say for sure if VA's crashing started immediately after one of those updates, but it's definitely possible that it's related to one of them.

Anything else I can try? Does VA have a log? I do have VA set up to issue joystick commands.

Thanks!

[Gary]

Could you look to see if there is a VAFault.txt file in your installation directory?  That's usually C:\Program Files (x86)\VoiceAttack for the standalone version and C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\VoiceAttack for the Steam version.  If you want to, you can just post the text of the log here.

[LM]

Thanks for the response.

I've got VA installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\VoiceAttack, but I do not have a VAFault.txt file there; the only .txt. files I see appear to be license related.

I've got visual studio installed, and one time when it crashed, the crash window gave me an option to debug. I'm a Linux programmer, so I just have VS installed to play around with, but is it possible I could get a core dump or something out of it to give you? I've got VS C# and C++ installed.

Thanks again.

[Gary]

You may want to take a look in your Windows event log and see if there is anything in there that may be telling.

Also, you may want to take a look at this thread, as it seems to solve those kind of odd situations where nothing seems to make sense (ignore the title):  http://voiceattack.com/SMF/index.php?topic=64.0

[LM]

Hi Gary,

I tried creating a new profile, but that did not help.

I still need to look through the windows event log when I get a chance.

Maybe a clean install would help? I could try the same with my headset software and drivers.

Thanks again.

[jbartoli]

Having a similar issue (started around 15 May 2018).  Windows error logs and VoiceAttack fault text file are not helping.  I've already created a new profile, reinstalled VoiceAttack, and verified all drivers (sound and graphics) and windows updates  The only thing I've found to fix the issue is to disable plugin support in VoiceAttack, after which it runs perfectly.  This is sad because the only plugin I use is EDDI for Elite Dangerous.  I'm review the EDDI plugin forums to see if I can figure out why it might be causing the issue and I'll let you know what I find.

BTW - I run VA through Steam and Elite Dangerous, VoiceAttack, and EDDI are all up-to-date.  Steam cache is verified for both VoiceAttack and Elite Dangerous.

[jbartoli]

Additional Info:  I think I found a fix (at least for my issue).  My version of the plugin EDDI is 3.0.1-b2 (a beta)  and after troubleshooting it seems that EDDI causes the crash as it's initialized when VoiceAttack starts up.  The solution (for me) was to make sure that VoiceAttack  had the following set on the configuration panel:

Recognition Tab - Make sure the speech engine is set to system default.

Audio Tab - Ensure the "Set windows default audio" playback and recording boxes are check and set with the Change Now button.  And make sure the Audio Output type is set to Integrated Components.

General Tab - Enable Plugin Support

Obviously these setting might be different for you depending on your setup but playing around with these setting might fix the issue for you. 


Good luck

[LM]

Hi jbartoli -

Thanks for the info you posted. I read it and made one change: Audio Output type is "set to Integrated Components".

That did it. It was on Windows Media Components. I hadn't changed it to that, so either I'd been using it all along and the recent VA, Windows, or headset driver updates didn't like it, or the VA update changed my settings (doubtful - all other settings seemed to be as I'd left them).

Thanks again!