I'm starting this thread mostly for myself to keep track of some bugs that tend to happen from time to time, mostly stuff that we discuss in Discord. And more importantly only bugs that have solutions that we haven't yet fixed in the game. We have a couple of internal ways to track bugs as well but it's harder to open them publicly. We'll see if this evolves into something else later. We'll probably integrate some kind of a FAQ into the Feedback Tool at some point, or provide some website for the same.
# General bug reporting information
We highly prefer the ingame Feedback Tool (press F1 ingame) for bug reports. That said, sometimes there's stuff to discuss in e.g. Discord or email or otherwise. In that case, here's a quick list of things to include in a bug report:
* Your computer specs (namely CPU, GPU, RAM, and Windows version)
* What build number # you are on (see main menu and the bottom-left corner for e.g. "Build 200")
* What game branch (are you using the Beta "candidate" branch in Steam client settings)? If not, the answer is main branch.
* Check %APPDATA%\Starbase\starbase.log for any lines with ERROR ("TrophyManager is nullptr" is normal until we initialize Steam Achievements)
* Include the above starbase.log file in your bug report
# General troubleshooting for strange technical issues
* Restart Steam
* Restart the computer
* Uninstall/reinstall Starbase
# Can't see any other players in the universe / "Shadowrealm" (SOLVED most)
On rare occasions, it's possible that you don't see other players in the universe (the "Social" tab in menus is completely empty) - essentially meaning that it's a singleplayer game. There can be a couple of reasons for this, but at least one has been confirmed:
## Wrong computer clock time - We've had cases where the computer clock was off by 1 hour, and by 1 day, and by 3 hours (clock was correct but Windows wanted to use -3 hours compared to EST time zone). In the first two cases, returning to normal time solved the problem and logging in showed all players again, and in the third letting Windows use automatic time even if it was wrong for the user's timezone solved the problem. We have fixed most of this issue in December 2020 and it shouldn't be happening as often anymore.
## The other case is more difficult - from our investigations it seems that some players are not able to connect to our servers for more than a few seconds, and don't really show up in our data. This could be caused by network connectivity issues. Some possible solutions or things to try: 1) Try the game on a different computer/network, 2) Try VPN or WiFi/mobile network, 3) Try a different internet/network router, 4) Check all firewall options and antivirus programs if any.
If any of our Alpha Testers run into more information/other solutions, please DM a CM on Discord or ping a CM or JoelFB in #alpha-tech-problems.
# Random crashes - check that pagefile.sys is enabled (SOLVED)
If you're getting random crashes in Starbase, there can be a myriad of reasons - however, if you have disabled pagefile.sys (see e.g. How-To Geek's article for more information), then that might be a possible culprit. Try enabling pagefile.sys again or increasing its size and see if that helps. Typically crashes related to this have similar characteristics: 1) They will not bring up the internal crash dump reporter, 2) starbase.log file may have lines like "ERROR: - Assertion failed: (, 137)", and the crash dumps are e.g. 500-800 kB in filesize, 3) crashes can be pretty serious, like black screen crashes or freezes, possibly even requiring computer restart.
For further information - Starbase can reserve a lot of memory (optimizations will come in later). Check the recommended system specs on Steam. In addition, Windows may duplicate GPU VRAM to the pagefile, meaning that a static pagefile, even if it's large, may not be enough for the system to not run out of memory. There's a post on NVIDIA Developer forums for those curious about this.
# Random crashes - insufficient disk space
This can be related to the pagefile above. We've had cases where the disk (SSD or HDD) has been running out of disk space, causing random crashes, with a crash message. Crashes can happen before the game window even appears on screen, in the main menu, while loading into the universe, or while in game. Try freeing up some additional disk space on your main drive (not necessarily the same drive the game is installed in).
# Multi-monitor crash
Starbase supports up to 8K resolution. After 8K there may be problems, such as the game crashing at startup. This can happen with e.g. a three display setup with 3x 4K monitors, or 2x 4K and one 1440p monitor. Also note that supersampling also affects this, so if supersampling is enabled, you'll hit the limit earlier. If you have a multi-monitor setup and experience a crash at startup, try using a lower resolution and disable supersampling if used (it's off by default). This problem will be fixed at some point during Early Access.
# Gamepads, joysticks, HOTAS
As of December 2020, Starbase has only rudimentary support for gamepads/joysticks. Starbase will recognize some control devices and it may be useful in e.g. flying spaceships. As of December 2020, there's some quality of life issues but you can go to Settings, click on the secondary control field for an action, and map the controller action (except the triggers and some of the Start/Menu buttons). The secondary field will remain empty visually but the bind may work regardless (same for the ship custom controls). Please note that all controller binds get deleted upon restart until a future update.
If you cannot bind your controller properly ingame or the quality of life issues get in the way, there are also generic third party programs available, including commercial and free options. One option is the shareware JoyToKey (free to try without limitations), and for a more commercial option there's e.g. reWASD. Better support for gamepads and joysticks in Starbase is coming gradually but in the meantime these software may help in specific cases. Additionally, regarding HOTAS and other joysticks, we plan to support them in the long term future but they're not a high priority yet. In the meantime, you may be able to use a HOTAS with each controller's own software. For example, Thrustmaster has T.A.R.G.E.T that can configure and control the controllers.
# Steam download stuck at 99%
Sometimes when we do an update, Steam can get stuck at 99% and the network and disk seem to be idling. This is a generic Steam issue that sometimes happens and is most likely related to Steam's content propagation, and gets fixed on its own in a few hours. But if you're itching for the update, and the 99% issue happens to you, one fix that has helped a lot of Starbase users is to switch the download region to a different one (Steam > View > Settings > Download). For example, "UK - London" has often worked well, same as a different region U.S. server. This should only be done temporarily, so remember to switch back after the download is complete or the next day etc. Whether or not any of this has an actual, factual effect can be debated. Normal Steam tricks are to restart the client, reboot the computer, verify the installation files, etc.
# Closed Alpha: Custom Steam artwork
Starbase ALPHA doesn't have a proper artwork on Steam because Steam doesn't support it for unreleased games. However, here's how you can set your own:
1. For the client background and logo, right-click the empty black space and choose "Custom Background" or "Custom Logo". You can find some materials on our Press page.
2. For the Library artwork, right-click the game -> Manage -> Set custom artwork to choose a custom artwork. We have a 6x9 size artwork here that you can use.
# General bug reporting information
We highly prefer the ingame Feedback Tool (press F1 ingame) for bug reports. That said, sometimes there's stuff to discuss in e.g. Discord or email or otherwise. In that case, here's a quick list of things to include in a bug report:
* Your computer specs (namely CPU, GPU, RAM, and Windows version)
* What build number # you are on (see main menu and the bottom-left corner for e.g. "Build 200")
* What game branch (are you using the Beta "candidate" branch in Steam client settings)? If not, the answer is main branch.
* Check %APPDATA%\Starbase\starbase.log for any lines with ERROR ("TrophyManager is nullptr" is normal until we initialize Steam Achievements)
* Include the above starbase.log file in your bug report
# General troubleshooting for strange technical issues
* Restart Steam
* Restart the computer
* Uninstall/reinstall Starbase
# Can't see any other players in the universe / "Shadowrealm" (SOLVED most)
On rare occasions, it's possible that you don't see other players in the universe (the "Social" tab in menus is completely empty) - essentially meaning that it's a singleplayer game. There can be a couple of reasons for this, but at least one has been confirmed:
## Wrong computer clock time - We've had cases where the computer clock was off by 1 hour, and by 1 day, and by 3 hours (clock was correct but Windows wanted to use -3 hours compared to EST time zone). In the first two cases, returning to normal time solved the problem and logging in showed all players again, and in the third letting Windows use automatic time even if it was wrong for the user's timezone solved the problem. We have fixed most of this issue in December 2020 and it shouldn't be happening as often anymore.
## The other case is more difficult - from our investigations it seems that some players are not able to connect to our servers for more than a few seconds, and don't really show up in our data. This could be caused by network connectivity issues. Some possible solutions or things to try: 1) Try the game on a different computer/network, 2) Try VPN or WiFi/mobile network, 3) Try a different internet/network router, 4) Check all firewall options and antivirus programs if any.
If any of our Alpha Testers run into more information/other solutions, please DM a CM on Discord or ping a CM or JoelFB in #alpha-tech-problems.
# Random crashes - check that pagefile.sys is enabled (SOLVED)
If you're getting random crashes in Starbase, there can be a myriad of reasons - however, if you have disabled pagefile.sys (see e.g. How-To Geek's article for more information), then that might be a possible culprit. Try enabling pagefile.sys again or increasing its size and see if that helps. Typically crashes related to this have similar characteristics: 1) They will not bring up the internal crash dump reporter, 2) starbase.log file may have lines like "ERROR: - Assertion failed: (, 137)", and the crash dumps are e.g. 500-800 kB in filesize, 3) crashes can be pretty serious, like black screen crashes or freezes, possibly even requiring computer restart.
For further information - Starbase can reserve a lot of memory (optimizations will come in later). Check the recommended system specs on Steam. In addition, Windows may duplicate GPU VRAM to the pagefile, meaning that a static pagefile, even if it's large, may not be enough for the system to not run out of memory. There's a post on NVIDIA Developer forums for those curious about this.
# Random crashes - insufficient disk space
This can be related to the pagefile above. We've had cases where the disk (SSD or HDD) has been running out of disk space, causing random crashes, with a crash message. Crashes can happen before the game window even appears on screen, in the main menu, while loading into the universe, or while in game. Try freeing up some additional disk space on your main drive (not necessarily the same drive the game is installed in).
# Multi-monitor crash
Starbase supports up to 8K resolution. After 8K there may be problems, such as the game crashing at startup. This can happen with e.g. a three display setup with 3x 4K monitors, or 2x 4K and one 1440p monitor. Also note that supersampling also affects this, so if supersampling is enabled, you'll hit the limit earlier. If you have a multi-monitor setup and experience a crash at startup, try using a lower resolution and disable supersampling if used (it's off by default). This problem will be fixed at some point during Early Access.
# Gamepads, joysticks, HOTAS
As of December 2020, Starbase has only rudimentary support for gamepads/joysticks. Starbase will recognize some control devices and it may be useful in e.g. flying spaceships. As of December 2020, there's some quality of life issues but you can go to Settings, click on the secondary control field for an action, and map the controller action (except the triggers and some of the Start/Menu buttons). The secondary field will remain empty visually but the bind may work regardless (same for the ship custom controls). Please note that all controller binds get deleted upon restart until a future update.
If you cannot bind your controller properly ingame or the quality of life issues get in the way, there are also generic third party programs available, including commercial and free options. One option is the shareware JoyToKey (free to try without limitations), and for a more commercial option there's e.g. reWASD. Better support for gamepads and joysticks in Starbase is coming gradually but in the meantime these software may help in specific cases. Additionally, regarding HOTAS and other joysticks, we plan to support them in the long term future but they're not a high priority yet. In the meantime, you may be able to use a HOTAS with each controller's own software. For example, Thrustmaster has T.A.R.G.E.T that can configure and control the controllers.
# Steam download stuck at 99%
Sometimes when we do an update, Steam can get stuck at 99% and the network and disk seem to be idling. This is a generic Steam issue that sometimes happens and is most likely related to Steam's content propagation, and gets fixed on its own in a few hours. But if you're itching for the update, and the 99% issue happens to you, one fix that has helped a lot of Starbase users is to switch the download region to a different one (Steam > View > Settings > Download). For example, "UK - London" has often worked well, same as a different region U.S. server. This should only be done temporarily, so remember to switch back after the download is complete or the next day etc. Whether or not any of this has an actual, factual effect can be debated. Normal Steam tricks are to restart the client, reboot the computer, verify the installation files, etc.
# Closed Alpha: Custom Steam artwork
Starbase ALPHA doesn't have a proper artwork on Steam because Steam doesn't support it for unreleased games. However, here's how you can set your own:
1. For the client background and logo, right-click the empty black space and choose "Custom Background" or "Custom Logo". You can find some materials on our Press page.
2. For the Library artwork, right-click the game -> Manage -> Set custom artwork to choose a custom artwork. We have a 6x9 size artwork here that you can use.
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