Memory Leak causing lots of data loss to friend's computer

[Christoph]

I'm definitely not the expert here but my gut says your good. I highly doubt that the behaviour is different on Windows. But due to the experience you had with your friend, better to check whatever you can.

I honestly believe that your game didn't had anything to do with the crash on your friends computer and that it just was a coincidence.

[misterjuly]

Well, my friend let me test it again on his computer and it happened again. My friend seems to think Playmaker is to blame somehow. Is this possible? I should note I tested the exact same build on a different windows system and it worked fine. The only difference I'm aware of is the fact that I uploaded the build on a different cloud service (my friend's didn't work on mega while mine worked on google drive). I doubt this has anything to do with it but I thought I'd mention it. Also, no scenes loaded asynchronously anymore. And it happened right as he started the game this time. Here's what his computer screen looks like afterwards. This is also a different project, but the same thing happened! I'm at a loss. Thanks for your help!

[misterjuly]

Now its not working on my pc. It froze it and then I exited out of it and its fine (it is a virtual desktop from my college), but the game won't run. (no data lost though). Just wanted to update you that it is probably a windows issue. Why won't my build work right on windows but will on Mac and linux? Thanks!

[misterjuly]

bump.

[djaydino]

Hi.
Have you tried making a build on a pc instead of mac (not a virtual desktop)?

it's very hard to say what the issue is, it can be many things

[misterjuly]

The problem is I don't have access to a pc myself (other than the virtual desktop) and I don't want to test it on someone else's pc for fear of messing it up. I noticed the results seemed fairly consistent across the Remote Desktop and the time it crashed my friend's computer. (mainly it sometimes working okay and sometimes crashing it). So my point is I think I can test what I need to test on the virtual desktop. Is there anything you would recommend testing specifically on the pc build? Thanks!

[misterjuly]

Bump.

[Christoph]

Take it to a office max or some internet cafe and install it there. Try out some 5-10 different computers (older and newer) and see if it crashes. If it does you definitely have a case.

At the same time maybe try as well with a clean project but built with the same machine. Does it crash too?

Then I would as well try to update playmaker to the latest and Unity to the latest lts. Does it still happen?

And if yes, start to dismantle your project. From big to small. Meaning, take out big junks of your game (delete FSMs or plugins) and test again. If you delete a part and everything works, you know the problem (probably an infinite loop) is in there. So start to go from big to small until you find the culprit. That’s how you debug.

Now, having said that, if it’s an infinite loop that causes this, you should see it as well in console in unity while in play mode. Do you effectively have no errors in editor?

[misterjuly]

No infinite loops that I'm aware of in the editor. It seemed to happen as soon as the project was loaded (and on two different unity projects). I would be scared to take it to office max because according to my friend, he had to reinstall windows. (I wouldn't want to be responsible for more damages, especially at a public venue). I can test it on a virtual pc from school without fear of damaging it (I think) because it is just a virtual desktop. Are there any logs or anything I could check? Where would those be? In the project folder? I'm not sure... But I do know that it has been (at least) a slight problem (but often a huge problem) on three PCs (my friend's, my friend's friend's, and my Remote Desktop). Is there anything outside the project that could make it work on Mac and Linux but not Windows (Unity version, files in different folders, DLL files, or anything else that I'm not thinking of.). Thanks again for your help.

[misterjuly]

bump.

[misterjuly]

bump again.

[Christoph]

I think we're all lost on how to help you. It's not normal what you are experiencing, that's for sure.

If I were you, I would try to start debugging step by step. Make an empty project, build, does the same thing happen?

Then use your own project, take a part out, build, does the same thing happen?

Step by step you will at one point be able to isolate the issue and find the culprit. I can't give more advice than that.

[misterjuly]

I think we might finally be on to something. @Christoph, I think you might have been right about the infinite loop thing.

See: https://forum.unity.com/threads/unity-bricks-computer-on-play.522907/

The question now is why does an infinite loop cause problems on a Windows build, but not a mac build. Surely I would have ran into the bug(s) he is talking about as he only played it maybe a few times while I’ve played it hundreds of times. Note this has happened for a variety of projects, so I’m not sure what to make of that. Is there a way to get unity/playmaker to let you know if there is a potential infinite loop BEFORE you build/start playing in the editor. Thanks again for all of your help and sorry if I have been annoying; I just really need to get this fixed.

[djaydino]

Hi.
As far as I know, Playmaker already has a checker for infinity and will disable the fsm if it reaches that. (by default 1000)

Do you have any other 3rd party assets running?
As it might not be playmaker related.

[misterjuly]

The only other thing, to my knowledge at least, is rewired and some custom actions (gotten mostly from the ecosystem browser, but it is possible some I downloaded online). I'm still stumped on why an infinite loop wouldn't affect a Mac, but could affect a PC regardless of editor or build. Do the different operating systems handle infinite loops differently in terms of if it crashes/bricks a computer or not? Or do you not think it is infinite loops, despite the link I previously linked? Thanks!