Problem with assertions

[Prometheus]

I downloaded HD the other night, but I'm running into an error that crashes the install.

When I get to the Choose Shortcut Folder screen, continuing- regardless of the shortcut option chosen- always gives me the following error:

Assertion failed!

Program: c:\WINDOWS\TEMP\1047450473\WINDOWS\SETUP.EXE
File: ../../../src/share/native/sun/awt/font/fontmanage...
Line: 506

Expression: errno == 0 && count == (size_t) size


Choosing abort, retry or ignore all terminate the install.

Any thoughts?

[Simon]

Yup...you're running into a problem with a corrupt font file which Java is trying to load.

If you had the app installed, it would be easy to trouble shoot, as the current versions of the app list each font file in a log as it is accessed, for precisely this reason. Makes it easy to see which font file has been corrupted.

SInce you're running into the problem on the installer, it's going to be a bit more difficult to track down. You might start by going to your system fonts directory and trying to open each file listed in it....if any of them have problems opening, then delete the file.

[Prometheus]

I went through every single font file I've got- everything comes up fine, nothing looks corrupted. I even went so far as to remove every font (except Marlett, it's write protected) and then tried to run the setup. Same error, same place.

Any other ideas? Could my setup file have a problem?

[Simon]

Nope. It's definitely a font issue.

If you have another machine that you can install HD on, install it and then copy the directory over to the problem machine. Update HD to version 1.22 and then try to run it. It will crash out during startup. If you open the file "trace.log" the last line will list the "problem font"

[Prometheus]

I got my hands on another machine and did as suggested. Everything installed fine and worked great on the borrowed machine, just the way it should. I downloaded v1.22 as well and test ran it on the borrowed machine- again, no problems. I transferred everything over to my own computer, and that's when things went wrong:

1) Opening Hero Designer did not give me an error. I was able to start the program, but when I select File/New Character, I get the same error as before, with the following difference:

Program: C:\PROGRAM FILES\HERODESIGNER\HERODESIGNER.EXE

2) For the sake of being thorough, I had a look at the error details:

HERODESIGNER caused an exception 03H in module MSVCRT.DLL at 016f:7800e877.
Registers:
EAX=00000004 CS=016f EIP=7800e877 EFLGS=00000246
EBX=11c4f16c SS=0177 ESP=125de814 EBP=125deb38
ECX=80005a08 DS=0177 ESI=00000024 FS=0f9f
EDX=80004268 ES=0177 EDI=00000000 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
5e c9 c3 83 f8 05 74 f8 e9 1a bd ff ff 66 f7 05
Stack dump:
0083ace0 505c3a43 52474f52 46204d41 53454c49 5245485c 5345444f 454e4749 45485c52 45444f52 4e474953 452e5245 12004558 125deaf0 00cbfa2e 125deb38

I don't know if that helps any, but I figured it might narrow down a cause.

3) Looking at the trace.log, it listed all my font files. I removed the last one listed and ran everything again. Same results as above. I repeated the process and removed each font listed in turn until I got to Marlett, a write protected font that cannot be removed. I also tried it again with every single font but Marlett removed. Again, same results.

Looking at three other platforms, it looks like Marlett is a write protected font everywhere- it can't be deleted. Deleting my FONTS folder altogether might get rid of it, if it is somehow corrupted- doubtful, since trace.log went right past it multiple times. Regardless, deleting Windows system folders is an option I'm not quite ready to explore.

Considering everything so far, is there something I missed, or could still try?

[Simon]

Post your trace.log file.

The cause is your font files. Guaranteed. My suspicion is that you're not removing the right files. The reason it crashes when you load a character is because that is the point at which Java tries to scan all of the font files (since it's loading up an HTML component...several, actually).

[Prometheus]

Here is the first of three trace.log files to, to illustrate what's happening:

[Prometheus]

And a second:

[Prometheus]

And a third.


The process (I've does this at least 5 times since I downloaded the app) goes like this: I check the last line of the trace.log and delete the font listed. Run program and crash. Repeat.

As I posted above, I've already gone so far as to remove all of my fonts- save Marlett, a write protected font. The last line of the trace.log file seems to just list all of my fonts in turn.

[Simon]

Keep on going. I'm telling you that the problem is with your fonts. It is the exact same error message that I have seen previously...and the exact same behavior.

[Qelan]

I notice on your trace log you have been deleting the last font that loaded succesfully but I would think your problem would be the font that didn't load. Also it seems your problem font is in the "M" section.

I suggest going to Housecall Virus Scan (http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp) let the page install the virus scan software in your browser then scan your machine.

I feel that Marlett font has been corrupted by a virus.

[Prometheus]

It's unlikely that Marlett is corrupted. Windows uses Marlett for displaying scroll bar arrows, maximize and minimize buttons, option buttons, check boxes, etc., in place of using bitmaps. That's why you can't delete Marlett through windows- any time you have a window open, Marlett is in use by Windows. If Marlett were corrupted, those controls would either be displayed incorrectly or simply crash- and that just isn't the case.

Regardless, after about 3 hours of deleting fonts with no success, I've updated my system to XP and the issue has gone away. Dan is probably half right (sorry, but as a tester, I've been conditioned to be skeptical of programmers ;) ); the issue was probably font related, but I'm not convinced it was a font problem.

[Qelan]

7am and all is well :D