Error running OnDamage script in Entity

Rama

The mod is AI Wave Survival. The script can spawn hundreds to thousands of units per wave, so the error shows for any type of units that can be spawned in a wave. I played one game that had over 8000 such errors before crashing after 1 hour in.

The spawn script first runs

unit = aiBrain:CreateUnitNearSpot(rspawn, posX, posZ)

It checks if the unit was created, and if not, tries again using

unit = CreateUnitHPR(rspawn, aiBrain:GetArmyIndex(), posX, terrainAltitude, posZ, 0, 0, 0)

It then checks if the unit exists with the following code, before modifying things like the units health, veterancy, and damage.

if unit and unit ~= nil and not unit.Dead then

It then runs an attack script for each unit, which chooses a random target from a list, and issues orders where:
pUnit = Random Target
aUnit = Spawned Unit

local pUnit = nil
  if Random(1, 3) <= 2 then
    if Random(1, 2) == 1 then
      pUnit = RandomEnemyUnitsLandDefenseList(self)
    else
      pUnit = RandomEnemyUnitsLandEconomyList(self)
    end
  else
    if Random(1, 3) == 1 then
      pUnit = GetClosestEnemyNearAntiNavy(self, aUnit)
    else
      pUnit = RandomEnemySubsForAntiNavyList(self)
    end		
  end
  if pUnit and not pUnit:BeenDestroyed() then
    IssueClearCommands({ aUnit })
    local VECTOR3
    local pUnitPos = pUnit:GetPosition()
    if Random(1, 8) <= 6 then
      IssueMove({ aUnit }, pUnitPos)
    else
      if Random(1, 4) <= 3 then
        IssueMove({ aUnit }, pUnitPos)
        WaitSeconds(Random(20, 60))
        IssueClearCommands({ aUnit })
      end
      IssueAggressiveMove({ aUnit }, pUnitPos)
      WaitSeconds(Random(48, 78))
      repeat
        WaitSeconds(12)
        if aUnit:BeenDestroyed() or pUnit:BeenDestroyed() then
          break
        end
        if Random(1, 12) == 6 then
          break
        end
      until pUnit:BeenDestroyed() or pUnit == nil
      WaitTicks(20)
      if aUnit ~= nil and not aUnit:BeenDestroyed() then
        IssueClearCommands({ aUnit })
      end
    end
  end

Actually writing out all the code, it looks like the error might be from having orders issued to units that may already be dead, as I forgot to add checks for when I have a delayed order.

And what would be a faster way to check if a unit is dead or not, if I wanted to optimize the code a little?

Resin_Smoker

Units spawned may take 1-2 ticks before becoming fully initialized. In theory it should be instantaneous but I know from experience that it's not. Hence, it maybe nessisary to add a small delay between the request for the unit, and your checks to confirm its existence. While also placing a limit on the number of units spawned in at any given moment to keep the overhead down.

Jip

@Rama what other mods are you running? Your mod does not hook the unit class and there's no reference to GetArmy at line 5560 in the base game.

Rama

@jip

The modlist I was using when playing was:

ACU Boost 1.5x (Increases all ACU stats by 1.5x)
AI Wave Survival
50% Air Crash
All Factions Quantum Gate
BlackOps FAF: ACUs
AntiNuke 50% Cost
Half Commander Upgrade Costs
Hardened T1 Point Defense (Adds new T1PD with 4x health)
Hive Engineering Stations for All
No Friendly Fire
Reclaim Turret
Wreck Reclaim 33%
1.3x Build Range

And this would be the replay # with the crash, though I don't know if it is related to the error.
#22741098

Rama

@resin_smoker

Units are spawned in batches, but there is no wait between when a unit is created and when it is checked if it is dead or not. One player likes to host games with waves as large as 3500 units spawned per wave. Adding a 1 tick delay on such waves would add up to 350 seconds to spawn the entire wave.

Resin_Smoker

@rama but have you localized the error yet?

Rama

@resin_smoker

Not yet! I did find a few things I could optimize, though.

Resin_Smoker

After re-reading all the above posts I was thinking... Rather than issue orders to unit, why not have the units retrieve or ask for orders? At least this way, they'd be alive and fully in play when orders are given.

Oh and those 3rd party mods just compound things as you've no way of knowing the source of the errors. Hooks, upon hooks upon merges that make the error log useless.

Rama

@resin_smoker

I finally got around to running a test without extra mods enabled. Looks like the error is mod related. I would guess it is related to the No Friendly Fire mod, as that mod is the only mod that affects all the units.

Resin_Smoker

@rama but that's an assumption unless the log supports it.