Military Commander fails on Dedicated Server

7 years ago

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Bryan
3 Sep 2016

I'm not sure where to look, there aren't any messages in the logs and there aren't any SQF or chat output complaints.
I've been developing my mission the entire time by testing single and listen multiplayer. The mission seems to be working fine running it one of these ways. However as soon as I start it up on a dedicated server I get a kind of behavior that I can't figure out where it's coming from.
Active on my map are three commanders, one for BLUFOR, OPFOR, and Independent. BLUFOR is occupying while the other two are invading the island. This gives me this kind of result, which is what I would have expected:
http://i.imgur.com/lVb8a4P.jpg
However, starting it up on the dedicated server the majority of the AI doesn't show up on the debug. On top of that, it's not consistent. Sometimes OPFOR doesn't show up, sometimes BLUFOR, sometimes Indepedent. What I end up with is something like this:
http://i.imgur.com/iMcogRX.jpg
I have absolutely nothing to go off of as far as finding it, there is nothing extra in the error logs and testing it locally it works perfectly fine.
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HeroesandvillainsOS
3 Sep 2016 Moderator

I've seen units not spawning similarly to this when I've had startup errors. What mods/scripts are you using and are you getting any script errors or errors you need to click ok past?
Although I've never seen this exclusively in a dedicated server environment, I'd say the first thing to do would be to try a simple vanilla mission on the server first just to see if it behaves normally.
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Bryan
3 Sep 2016

No click errors, I'm using task force radio and ace. Is there anyway to figure out if there are start up errors?
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HeroesandvillainsOS
3 Sep 2016 Moderator

In SP you'd see them by default. Can you try a totally vanilla (ALiVE and CBA only) test mission just so we can make sure "vanilla" ALiVE is functioning ok? It'll help narrow the issue down.
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Bryan
3 Sep 2016

I loaded up the quick start mission on tanoa and it seems to be working fine:
http://i.imgur.com/YW0opFo.jpg
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Bryan
3 Sep 2016

This will probably help, here is the output from the last rpt:
https://gist.github.com/abramsba/03bd161a7599fb61ea3bc1d411345ac1#file-rpt-output-L1173-L1176
I could load the quick start and another mission I had though which also uses these factions.
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HeroesandvillainsOS
3 Sep 2016 Moderator

Edited 7 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

Ok so I see it's not detecting any groups. Try opening and closing all of the modules in your mission and put the updated version back on your server.
I've seen that message pop up on odd occasions and when I'm positive I'm using groups that are defined correctly, that usually fixes it.

Bryan

3 Sep 2016

I reinstalled the server, opened the mission and all the modules, double checked the factions. Reuploaded the mission and the result is similar:

13:30:24 There are are no groups for OPCOM faction(s) ["IND_C_F"]! Please check if you chose the correct faction, and that the faction has groups defined in the ArmA 3 default categories infantry, motorized, mechanized, armored, air, sea!
13:30:24 ALiVE [m_14|180] Module ALiVE_mil_OPCOM INIT COMPLETE TIME:  3.892
13:30:24 ALiVE OPCOM created 39 new objectives!
13:30:24 There are are no groups for OPCOM faction(s) ["OPF_G_F"]! Please check if you chose the correct faction, and that the faction has groups defined in the ArmA 3 default categories infantry, motorized, mechanized, armored, air, sea!
13:30:24 ALiVE [m_23|180] Module ALiVE_mil_OPCOM INIT COMPLETE TIME:  3.77901
13:30:24 ALiVE OPCOM created 38 new objectives!
13:30:24 There are are no groups for OPCOM faction(s) ["OPF_T_F"]! Please check if you chose the correct faction, and that the faction has groups defined in the ArmA 3 default categories infantry, motorized, mechanized, armored, air, sea!
13:30:24 ALiVE [m_22|180] Module ALiVE_mil_OPCOM INIT COMPLETE TIME:  3.826
13:30:26 ALiVE [m_9|100] Module ALiVE_civ_placement INIT COMPLETE TIME:  6.40399
13:30:26 ALiVE OPCOM created 39 new objectives!
13:30:26 ALiVE OPCOM WEST Initial analysis done...
13:30:26 OPCOM and TACOM WEST starting...

http://i.imgur.com/Le8cMIs.jpg

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HeroesandvillainsOS
3 Sep 2016 Moderator

Edited 7 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

That message is telling you you are trying to spawn groups that don't exist within the faction. For example, if you try to spawn mechanized units and nothing else with the British 3CB units pack, you'd get this message because they don't have any mechanized groups defined within the mod.
I've seen this message occur during the mission editing process, most commonly when adding objects to the map in a mission that's already built (and working perfectly). I can reproduce this with almost 100% certainty and opening and closing the modules always fixes it. Though clearly as that didn't work something else is going on here.
Seeing as how you showed evidence the mission works fine in SP (so it seems the groups you are trying to spawn aren't the issue), and that in general, ALiVE itself is working fine for you with just ALiVE and CBA, my next best guess would be for you to remove mods until you find the culprit. One of them seems to be breaking the initialization process.
Can you remove the ACE and TFAR modules and try again? Are there any other mods?
What groups are you trying to spawn with OPF_T_F and OPF_G_F? Just infantry?
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Bryan
3 Sep 2016

Edited 7 years ago by Bryan

The results are from a vanilla (including apex) arma with only alive. I know what the error message is trying to say, but the factions that it complains are missing are seemingly random. One time it's BLUFOR, the next time it's OPFOR and so forth.
The only thing that looks odd is that it seems to create the first one ok, but none of the remaining.
I'm going to try the default vanilla factions and see if that helps.
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HeroesandvillainsOS
3 Sep 2016 Moderator

Edited 7 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

I thought you said you were using ACE and TFAR? I take it you must have removed them which is a good call for testing.
Yeah this is very strange if it's strictly vanilla. So just to recap, this is a mod free mission (ALiVE and CBA only) and it works in SP/LAN but not on a dedi? Could you post the full rpt file from a session when it fails so a dev can check it out?
Honestly, the last thing I'd try is replacing the factions to BLU_F, OPF_F or any of the new Apex factions used in the Tanoa QuickStart mission which seems to be working for you (for the sake of narrowing the problem down). You said the QuickStart mission worked perfectly on the server, correct?
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Bryan
3 Sep 2016

I removed TFAR but I couldn't remove ace, it's a dependency in the mission file so I'll have to remake it without ace. Above was an RPT from a failed session, one where only the BLUFOR loaded.
https://gist.github.com/abramsba/03bd161a7599fb61ea3bc1d411345ac1#file-rpt-output-L1173-L1176
I'm going to create a non-ace version and try that.
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HeroesandvillainsOS
3 Sep 2016 Moderator

Edited 7 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

I see Spyder Addons in that rpt. Is it up-to-date? I had to remove the civ interaction module because it was causing this exact issue when other errors were already present. I *think* Spyder may have fixed the error I'm referring to (author is not a value) with the newest version but I'm not sure.
I also saw this same bahavior on another person's mission that used his civ interaction module along with TFAR and ACE. At the time, I believe it was ACE that had this error and when combined with Spyder Addons, it was causing the initialization to fail periodically and groups to not spawn.
I have a feeling once you remove these dependencies you will fix this. Then add them back one by one until you reach a point where it's relatively feature complete but it doesn't break again.
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Bryan
4 Sep 2016

Unforunately, editting the mission with ace created a dependency that I can't remove from the mission.sqm without ruining it. I'm going to have to recreate it, I'll post an update later when I have time to do this.
SpyderBlack723
4 Sep 2016 Moderator

Edited 7 years ago by SpyderBlack723

Is your mission.sqm unbinarized? You can manually remove the dependencies if so.
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HeroesandvillainsOS
4 Sep 2016 Moderator

Edited 7 years ago by HeroesandvillainsOS

I actually just spent some time removing ACE as a dependency from AuTigerGrad's British Steel and it's a little more complicated than that (this is the first time I've had to delete anything other than the Binarized Addons section). For whatever reason, ACE seems to attach itself to certain in-game objects, such as vanilla supply crates and even vanilla fences and things. It's strange.
What I had to do was, un-binarize the mission.sqm and delete the Binarized Addons section in the file like normal, but also search the remaining mission.sqm with ctrl+F ("ACE_") and find the other vanilla objects ACE had attached itself to. Then delete and replace those objects in the editor to remove the dependency entirely.
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Bryan
13 Sep 2016

A late reply from me, but since I've just recreated the mission. I haven't been able to figure out the cause. Perhaps it was my fault and I synced something incorrectly but I'm confident it was ok.
@SpyderBlack723 the mission.sqm file was unbinarized, I tried to remove all the references to ace and when I would try to reload it it was always corrupt.