Init tool keeps crashing on me.

sodium noir · Post by **sodium noir** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:31 pm

OK, i downloaded both the dice roller tool and the initiative tool to my laptop (running windows XL) less than a week ago and was mightily impressed with both. Started setting up groups / encounters for the inititaive tool for the game I was going to run on Sunday (Serenity RPG) but after closing the tool and then reopening it a couple of minutes later the tool crashed. I got the first small splash screen, then the second one with the progress bar and then an error message telling me ..

Java web start - Unexpected error
Unable to launch RPTools InitTool

So I thought, hey ho, these things happen. tried a few times to get it to start (rebooted the PC etc) and eventually had to download the tool again from the site. Entered another two groups in preperation for the game, tested it a couple of times and all seemed great.

So, at the game I opened intiTool to show a friend while we getting ready, everything was fine. Then I closed it. once the game hit an encounter I happily tried to open the tool again to see it in actual use only for it to crash again in exactly the same manner.

So now I am thinking, great tool, but can I trust it? Is this a common problem or is it just my innate Goblin blood causing rogue crash stuff?

Cheers and thank you.

jay · Post by **jay** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:40 pm

I've not heard of anybody complaining about Web Start not working correctly. You can download a zip version and run it directly on your laptop. You can download Build 18 here. Just unzip it on your machine and double click the jar file initiativetool-1.0.b18.jar. You can run it from the command line as well: java -jar initiativetool-1.0.b18.jar.

You can also try to turn on the Java console by opening the Control Panel and selecting Java. This will pop up a little dialog. Select the Advanced tab and then Java Console item in the tree. Select show console and run Init Tool again. If anything displays in this panel after it starts up, especially if it is an exception of some kind, you can post it here and I'll see if I can figure out what the problem is.

sodium noir · Post by **sodium noir** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:12 pm

Well the webstart aspect works fine. As I say, i installed it with no problems both times and it wasn't until after I had used the tool several times that it crashed. same both times I tried to use it.

Is there any difference in the software if I install from the zip file rather than from the webstart? If so, I'll install from the zip file and get back to you. thanks.

jay · Post by **jay** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:29 pm

The software isn't any different, but the way it is started is different. I'm pretty sure from your description that there is an exception happening that is causing IT to quit. I need to see that exception to figure out what the problem is. You can see the exception in the Web Start console. Instructions for viewing the console were in my earlier post. If you run java from the command line it will show up in the command window. Then post the exception that occurs in this thread so I can see what is happening.

sodium noir · Post by **sodium noir** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:16 pm

Java Web Start 1.5.0_11
Using JRE version 1.5.0_11 Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM
User home directory = C:\Documents and Settings\Spike
----------------------------------------------------
c: clear console window
f: finalize objects on finalization queue
g: garbage collect
h: display this help message
m: print memory usage
o: trigger logging
p: reload proxy configuration
q: hide console
r: reload policy configuration
s: dump system and deployment properties
t: dump thread list
0-5: set trace level to <n>
----------------------------------------------------
TinyLaF v1.3.03
'Default.theme' not found - using YQ default theme.
#### Java Web Start Error:
#### : expected = after attribute name (position: TEXT seen ...</dam>\n <To hit>... @20:15)
---- Debugging information ----
message : : expected = after attribute name (position: TEXT seen ...</dam>\n <To hit>... @20:15)
cause-exception : com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.StreamException
cause-message : : expected = after attribute name (position: TEXT seen ...</dam>\n <To hit>... @20:15)
class : net.rptools.inittool.model.InitEncounter
required-type : net.rptools.inittool.model.CreatureInitItem
path : /encounter/combatants/combatant
line number : 20
class : net.rptools.inittool.model.InitEncounter
required-type : net.rptools.inittool.model.CreatureInitItem
path : /encounter/combatants/combatant
line number : 20
-------------------------------

jay · Post by **jay** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:25 pm

I'm guessing here, but that looks like the default encounter data file is bad. Was that the entire message in the console? Was there something that looks like the text posted here: http://forums.rptools.net/viewtopic.php?p=16639#16639 ? That info would be useful as well.

I looked at the code and I'm not checking for that problem, so it tries to load it again the next time you log on. If you know what that file was named you can rename it and Init Tool should start working again. If you want you can send me the file and I'll take a look and see if I can figure out what the problem with it is. I might be able to fix it for you as well. Just send it in an email to the address at the bottom of this post.

sodium noir · Post by **sodium noir** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:13 am

jay wrote:I'm guessing here, but that looks like the default encounter data file is bad. Was that the entire message in the console? Was there something that looks like the text posted here: http://forums.rptools.net/viewtopic.php?p=16639#16639 ? That info would be useful as well.

No that was the entirety of the message. I didn't see anything that resembled the text in that post you linked me too. Sorry.

jay wrote:I looked at the code and I'm not checking for that problem, so it tries to load it again the next time you log on. If you know what that file was named you can rename it and Init Tool should start working again.

I'll try that next, thank you.

jay wrote: If you want you can send me the file and I'll take a look and see if I can figure out what the problem with it is. I might be able to fix it for you as well. Just send it in an email to the address at the bottom of this post.

Let me do that and get back to you. Thanks again.

In addition, I cannot get the zipped download version of initTool to load on any of my machines. A tower running win 2000, one running windows XP and the laptop. Just opens the progress bar and never finishes unpacking. I'm renown for causing previously unknown glitches in technology but ....

Phergus · Post by **Phergus** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:30 pm

What zip archiver are you using to extract the downloads?

jay · Post by **jay** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:43 pm

sodium noir wrote:No that was the entirety of the message. I didn't see anything that resembled the text in that post you linked me too. Sorry.

Very strange. That makes me want to see your file even more.

sodium noir wrote:In addition, I cannot get the zipped download version of initTool to load on any of my machines. A tower running win 2000, one running windows XP and the laptop. Just opens the progress bar and never finishes unpacking. I'm renown for causing previously unknown glitches in technology but ....

That is strange too. How long did you let it run? It might take awhile on an older machine because it is loading a database of monsters in the background.

You can check the files that are unpacked. They are in the C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\.inittool directory on Windows. There are four files in this directory when IT finshes unpacking; default.rpgame (4K), defaultDnD.rpgame(5K), defaultMonsters.rpdat(1376K), and version.xml (1K). There will also be a directory named database and there may be a directory named images. The directory database should have 3 or 4 files in it and all of them start with INITTOOL. If one of the files is named INITTOOL.trace.db send it to me as well and I'll see if it sheds any light on the subject. Thanks for providing all of this information to help me debug. Hopefully I can get you up and running again soon.

sodium noir · Post by **sodium noir** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:21 pm

Cheers.

If I can't reply or mail anything to you until after the weekend, i appologise in advance.

The wife to be seems to be labouring under the impression that getting the wedding organised is more important than role playing.

Girlls, waht can you do?

sodium noir · Post by **sodium noir** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:23 pm

Phergus wrote:What zip archiver are you using to extract the downloads?

Winzip ... must be up to date as I only downlaoded / installed it a fortnight ago.

Dalna · Post by **Dalna** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 10:58 am

Did you tell Winzip to keep the file structure...If not this could be the problem.

jay · Post by **jay** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:54 pm

sodium noir wrote:In addition, I cannot get the zipped download version of initTool to load on any of my machines. A tower running win 2000, one running windows XP and the laptop. Just opens the progress bar and never finishes unpacking. I'm renown for causing previously unknown glitches in technology but ....

I just saw this mentioned on another topic so I thought I'd ask you about it. When you downloaded the zip files did you actually extract the files or just click on the jar in the zip file? Windows lets you click on a zip file so that you can see the contents, but you can't actually run Init Tool without extracting all of the files. If you right-click on the zip files there should be an extract option. Extract them to a directory and then run Init Tool there.

AndrewD2 · Post by **AndrewD2** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:16 am

On another note that I'd seen before, WinZip likes to hijack JAR files sometimes and tries running them with that.

jay · Post by **jay** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:26 pm

I have fixed the problem that was causing Init Tool not to load when a broken Encounter file is loaded by default. It is in build 19.