Voiceattack with HCS crashing randomly

[willk]

Hi All,

I'm having an issue with VoiceAttack crashing randomly, usually within five minutes. It doesn't matter if Elite is running or not. VoiceAttack has been reinstalled and I only have the HCS plugin installed (no other plugins).

Nothing is logged to voiceattackfault.txt (no file existing in either appdata or voiceattack directory).

Event viewer shows:
Faulting application name: VoiceAttack.exe, version: 1.8.3.0, time stamp: 0x5dfa820c
Faulting module name: AcLayers.DLL, version: 10.0.18362.449, time stamp: 0xd5a88fae
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x00028618
Faulting process id: 0x526c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d5c98cba10aee7
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\VoiceAttack\VoiceAttack.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AcLayers.DLL
Report Id: f8a8beab-07d7-487c-a750-aceab0e9db24
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

WER Entry for the crash
Fault bucket 1760585574409584103, type 1
Event Name: APPCRASH
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: VoiceAttack.exe
P2: 1.8.3.0
P3: 5dfa820c
P4: StackHash_2c6e
P5: 10.0.18362.449
P6: d5a88fae
P7: c0000374
P8: PCH_A2_FROM_ntdll+0x0007232C
P9:
P10:

Attached files:
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER23A3.tmp.dmp
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER252B.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER253B.tmp.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER2539.tmp.csv
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER254A.tmp.txt

These files may be available here:
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_VoiceAttack.exe_4fff3560e8ec263f9ba0e742f9fc4c9bd0cf9bc3_02398880_e16f009f-ed2c-4307-a6bf-8f3df37fd445

Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: f8a8beab-07d7-487c-a750-aceab0e9db24
Report Status: 268435456
Hashed bucket: c4bbb17351a2f432986edb407f5c3de7
Cab Guid: 0

I've also attached the windows error report, I can't find anything in it useful however.

I'm using VoiceAttack 1.8.3 and Singularity 2.2.9 with 6 crew members installed. HCS Plugin v 3.3.6.

I've tried switching Audio output types but that makes no difference.

This occurs with or without the microphone muted or not connected.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Will

[Pfeil]

Does this crash occur if you disable plugin support?

Either way you'll want to try this, in case it's a corrupted/broken .dll: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system

[willk]

I've run the scan - it found no issues:
Beginning system scan.  This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

I've disabled all plugins, unfortunately it still crashes after a short period of time. It was the only thing open on my computer. Noting that my computer is pretty high end 2080 Ti etc.

I've also tried switching the Audio Output Type between the three options, disabling bluetooth on my computer and disabling the microphone (so there's no audio input).

Is there a proper debug logging mode for Voice Attack which would identify what it's actually doing when the crash occurs? I actually find it strange that it crashes with faulting module of AcLayers.DLL even when there is no microphone or plugins, so I don't understand what it's actually doing when it really should be completely idle.

Thanks,
Will

[Gary]

That's a very strange and unique issue, will - I've not seen an issue regarding AcLayers.dll in the time I've been working on this project (started 2007), so, it will take some time to try to figure out.  I can only assume at this point that the scope of the issue is local, given this is the first report of this type of problem, and that the problem is not reproducible from this end.  I did, however, do a web search for others having problems with AcLayers.dll with different software.  I found this as a suggestion:

-Right-click the shortcut/icon used to launch the program (for you, I am assuming this is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\VoiceAttack\VoiceAttack.exe).
-Select the Properties option from the pop-up menu.
-Click the Compatibility tab.
-Remove the check mark from the box that states “Run this program in compatibility mode for:”
-Click the OK button.

I would then try running VA from there and not from the Steam client, just to make sure the Steam client isn't adding anything to the mix.

Hope that helps!

[willk]

Genius Gary, don't know how I missed that. I still received a new fault but at least it lasted a few hours before that happened. The new fault was Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll

Will see if it regularly occurs, if not all is good!

Cheers mate,
Will

[Gary]

Thanks for the update, Will.  Glad you got it sorted out so far!

It seems like you've got some issues going on with your box that you'll want to get fixed up

[willk]

Hi Gary,

Not issues with my box I don't think. I remember now as I hadn't played ED for over 6 months, that I gave up with Voice Attack back then and had left the compatibility mode checked trying to get it to work. Not sure why it saved it after reinstall and update. But anyway, the issue that made me give up 6 months ago is still happening:

Faulting application name: VoiceAttack.exe, version: 1.8.3.0, time stamp: 0x5dfa820c
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 10.0.18362.387, time stamp: 0xa4208572
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x000df94d
Faulting process id: 0x1dd0
Faulting application start time: 0x01d5cb94a5b8e15e
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\VoiceAttack\VoiceAttack.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: a88007b6-c924-4818-b123-5b62a4b21520
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

This seems very common as there are lots of threads about Voice Attack and this error, but I haven't been able to find anything with a resolution.

I'm testing without plugins to see if that helps. The only plugin I've been running when it's been crashing is the HCS packs, with the latest Singularity, Voice Attack and Packs.

Is there a debug logging mode so we can actually track down what is triggering it?

Thanks,
Will

[willk]

Hi Gary,

Trying with Joystick support disabled...will let you know how it goes.

[Gary]

I don't have a command/action-level logging feature, however, that's wouldn't be a big deal to add - it really wouldn't add much overhead.  I have debug logging for internal reasons, but it's not to that level (and would show mostly detail that's not even relevant).

The reason I was saying that there was a problem with your box is because VA is touching a chain of components that, somewhere in that chain, there is something out of sorts.  Ntdll.dll (the NT kernel, heavily used - probably the most used dll) is involved in this chain somewhere, and the problem source may not be the same from machine to machine.  If I had to guess, I would start looking at drivers as your system scan provided no results.  Did you run DISM.exe by chance? -> https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026529/windows-10-using-system-file-checker   Exceptions coming from ntdll.dll as well as aclayers.dll combined with a full reinstall of VA, to me, indicate underlying system problems.

Also, I would definitely turn off plugins for a while to see if anything crops up.  Trying this out on another machine would help establish a pattern if you have one available.