tron won't boot up

[Freewheelin'56]

Just started. when I start armagetron I get the splash page up for a sec then a black screen and then
back to my desktop.The icon is in the taskbar but it will not run >:( .
I log onto the other user on the system and it works fine there. Something on my user end it seems to crap out.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled but no luck. One time it did come up, changed a few settings, tried to run it and
same. Black screen and back to my desktop ???
Anyone have some ideas.

[admax88]

If it works on other users, maybe its a preferences thing. You can try deleting the .armagetronad folder from your home directory.

Code: Select all

cd
rm -rf .armagetronad

[Z-Man]

Yeah, your user.cfg is probably borked; this is not the first time this happens to someone, so before you delete it, could you attach a copy of it here? Cleaned of passwords if it contains any, of course.

[Freewheelin'56]

Dang. On my user end I cannot run the program, tried different versions. On the other user end I can run all versions. Now the program stays running for 15 seconds or so then poof gone.

Humm. In the version I have of Armagetron Advanced, in my user profile, I see no user.cfg file. I all so do not see the VAR folder. On the other versions I see the VAR folder with the user.cfg file. I will add a one of those. The file belongs to Lunacy.

I think I have a gremlin or something



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INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_4_1 LOL!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_4_2
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_4_3
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_4_4 Well done!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_4_5 Almost got you...
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_4_6 Hehe!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_4_7 Got one!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_4_8
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INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_3_2
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_3_3
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_3_4 Well done!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_3_5 Almost got you...
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_3_6 Hehe!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_3_7 Got one!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_3_8
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INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_2_2
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_2_3
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_2_4 Well done!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_2_5 Almost got you...
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_2_6 Hehe!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_2_7 Got one!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_2_8
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PLAYER_2 Player 2
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INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_1 LOL
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_2 :}
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_3 :{
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_4 hehe
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INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_6 ack
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_7 noms
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_8 Blarg!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_9 Kaboom
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_10 Fnarg!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_11 What?!
INSTANT_CHAT_STRING_1_12 www.mindlessselfindulgence.com
ALLOW_CAM_1_0 1
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[Z-Man]

Looks like gremlins, indeed. Could you try to copy Lunacy's configuration over to your profile?

[Freewheelin'56]

Ya I tried that, I also copied the whole folder over and nada. Dang.

[Lucifer]

I think I'd be after whether or not it's user error. We've actually had some folks with similar complaints where it turned out to be things like the screensaver kicking on, or they're hitting a certain key combination that's causing it. So I'd be looking for something that can vary among users (like screensaver settings).

So, fire it up and watch it, don't touch any keys or anything, and just watch what happens. Try to pin down if, when it disappears, it's happening at some regular interval. Also, after it disappears, bring up your task manager and see if the process has quit or if it's still running.

Has anything outside arma changed on this computer? For example, did you get a new video card, or sound card, or even a new printer? Anything that may have required you to change user-specific settings?

[Freewheelin'56]

Ya I think it is an user problem. Never have a screensaver on.
After I start it up, it may just turn to a black screen then back to the desktop, or it may get to the splash page and then go back or it may get to the menu page and then go back. Only a few times I got into a local game and then it went back. Yes in the task manager it shows it is running, is allso in the task bar.
The only thing new in hardware would be a new wireless router. But I have played on the grid with it before the gremlin came in.

[Lucifer]

Two choices that I see. You're a victim of focus-stealing, in which case switching focus back to the arma application should at least let you play. I assume you've already tried this.

In which case you're a victim of a program freeze of some sort, which doesn't fit with the focus-stealing symptom.

I'm thinking you should check for sticky keys. I had a focus-stealing problem causes by a sticky tab key, every time I pressed alt for any reason, I lost focus and it went some random place. Of course, sticky keys would cause the same problem for lunacy. Have you developed some new habit of putting the keyboard in your lap or leaning on the desk a certain way?

Anyway, the reason the symptom sounds like focus-stealing to me is because when arma goes to full-screen mode, it uses what's kind of a special desktop mode. I forget what it's called, and I'm sleepy and have my head stuck to a breadboard right now, but basically the desktop goes into some memory cache and arma gets the screen memory. If you shift away from arma, such as with an alt-tab, you'll see it in the taskbar like you'd expect any application, but you can never see the taskbar icon for arma focused, because when you focus arma, you get fullscreen again and can't see the taskbar.

So, when this happens, does the arma icon in the taskbar have the unfocused look to it? Or does it look focused? Do you have any ideas of what else could be stealing focus from arma? Look around very carefully when you get stuck to your desktop and see if there are any OS dialogs open that might indicate you're running out of memory/hard drive space/arma tried to access a file to which it doesn't have permission/etc. Look very carefully for anything that might be different from what your desktop had on it when you started arma up.

[Z-Man]

Maybe it is also time to hum my mantra: a debug recording may help. If the reason for the problems is arma-internal and only the trigger is external, we'll find out. If the problem is focus stealing, we should at least catch the focus loss event.

Also, have you tried windowed mode?

[Freewheelin'56]

Argggg my head hurts

Not sure what focus-stealing is,never heard of it. How to switch back?
The icon in the taskbar looks ok
I see if I right click on the arma icon in the taskbar the cursor jumps up to the top left corner of the desktop.

As for the debug recording, dang been so long that I used dos commands.
E:\armagetron advanced (brings me to the folder)
E:\armagetron advanced\armagtronad --record tron (says can't find E:\armagetron)

Will get back into it tonight. My brain hurts.

[Freewheelin'56]

Ok, I found the gremlin. Seems the program Folding@Home was the problem. I turned it off and wala Odd but nice to know.
Thanks for all of the help.