Author Topic: TD slowing/hanging and/or crashing  (Read 32602 times)

mrowland1

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Re: TD slowing/hanging and/or crashing
« Reply #30 on: November 26, 2016, 06:32:23 PM »
I'm experiencing the problem as Benn. TD3 doesn't always register a key press. Very annoying. I also run Windows 10. Would it help to go back to another Windows version?

It might, but I don't know for sure and rolling back the operating system is asking a lot of someone so I can't possible officially recommend it.

I am having the same issues, so much so, that I had to go back to another piece of software because I couldn't even run my home game. I have a fully upgraded Windows 10 laptop.

Corey Cooper

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Re: TD slowing/hanging and/or crashing
« Reply #31 on: November 28, 2016, 01:44:39 PM »
That's unfortunate.  I wish Microsoft would address this.  I did some more debugging this weekend to see if I could find a workaround.  It seems the degree to which this issue affects typing/mouse clicks isn't consistent.  At times I could type complete paragraphs with no issues.  Other times every other or every 3rd key press was missed.  No clue as to what made the difference.

I'm still working on it.  If I can figure out a workaround, I'll definitely release a patch to deal with it if possible.

mrowland1

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Re: TD slowing/hanging and/or crashing
« Reply #32 on: December 01, 2016, 08:30:29 PM »
That's unfortunate.  I wish Microsoft would address this.  I did some more debugging this weekend to see if I could find a workaround.  It seems the degree to which this issue affects typing/mouse clicks isn't consistent.  At times I could type complete paragraphs with no issues.  Other times every other or every 3rd key press was missed.  No clue as to what made the difference.

I'm still working on it.  If I can figure out a workaround, I'll definitely release a patch to deal with it if possible.

We appreciate your assistance Corey. I know being a one man show, your time is valuable. I use this software for charity poker tournaments I run as well, and I take November and December off, but January through March is my busy time. I hope you find some sort of work-around by then.

Al1_fr78

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Re: TD slowing/hanging and/or crashing
« Reply #33 on: December 14, 2016, 06:00:07 AM »
Same problem with version 3.3 on a new computer with just TD installed. If any clew, please let us know !

Corey Cooper

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Re: TD slowing/hanging and/or crashing
« Reply #34 on: December 14, 2016, 09:41:36 AM »
The current theory is that something has been changed in Internet Explorer (inside of which the TD runs) such that when IE is rendering in a window, any keystrokes or mouse clicks that happen during the rendering may be lost.  This probably isn't a big deal for most applications that use IE in this way, because windows are typically rendered and then remain static for a long time.  However, the Tournament Director is constantly rendering (several times a second) in the main window, to update the clock, time of day, and whatever else may change at any time.  It is unfortunate that the TD is uncommon in this respect because it means it's less likely to receive attention from Microsoft.  But I'm hopeful.

If you want to see how rendering affects typing/clicking, do this:

  • Create a new tournament
  • Add and buy-in to the tournament 30 or 40 players
  • Display the Player Rankings screen (press F3)
  • Open the Settings window and go to the Game tab
  • Start typing in the Notes field

If you have the same results as me, you'll see that keystrokes are highly affected when the Player Rankings screen is scrolling the list of players up or down.  When the list is stationary (when the list reaches the top or bottom, or by right-clicking and selecting "Disable Auto scroll"), few if any keystrokes are lost.

Can the effect be mitigated?  Somewhat, I've found.  Reducing how much rendering has to be done can reduce the amount of lost keystrokes or mouse clicks.  Disabling Auto scroll on the built-in screens (Player Rankings, Seating Chart, etc).  Removing time-of-day and any other fields that would be updated often (except for the game clock, of course).  Reducing the size of the game clock so rendering takes less time.  None of these things will fix the issue, but they may make the application more usable.

I'm still investigating whether or not there's anything within the software I can do to further mitigate the issue, but so far haven't found anything significant.

Corey Cooper

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Re: TD slowing/hanging and/or crashing
« Reply #35 on: January 03, 2017, 04:23:48 PM »
A kind user has contacted me with a possible workaround for the missed keypresses/mouse clicks issue!  I've given it a run and it does seem to fix this issue for me.  I'm continuing to test to be sure, and to see if there are any other obvious side effects.  Once I'm satisfied I'll post a new topic with specific instructions for anyone who wants to give it a go.  I'm hoping to leverage this into version 3.4 to provide a fix until I can get off of the Microsoft framework the application is currently built on.

For those of you who want to jump in now and give it a try, it involves replacing mshta.exe with an older version.  I copied mshta.exe from a Windows 7 PC onto a Windows 10 PC and it appears to work just fine.  I also grabbed a copy of mshta.exe from a stock Windows 10 installation (with no updates) and copied it to the same Windows 10 PC and it also worked fine.

Quick steps: Rename mshta.exe (or delete it, but renaming is better since it is reversible) in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 (for 64-bit versions of Windows) or C:\Windows\system32 (for 32-bit versions of Windows).  To do this you'll have to take ownership of the file first (the file is owned by the TrustedInstaller user by default), and then add Full Control permissions for your Windows user.  After that you should be able to rename (or delete) the file.  Then copy an older version of mshta.exe into its place.  Then try the TD.

I'm still running tests, but what I have thus far discovered is mshta.exe version 11.0.14393.0 is the culprit.  This is what is installed on my Windows 10 PC and it exhibits the issue.  mshta.exe version 10.0.9200.16521 was found on my Windows 7 PC, and copied to my Windows 10 PC, and the issue was resolved.  Version 11.0.9600.16428 was found on another Windows 7 PC, and does not exhibit the issue.  Version 11.0.10240.16384 was found on a stock Windows 10 installation and does not exhibit the issue.  I'm still updating the Windows 10 PC to see if there are other versions out there, and where the problem appears to start.

Corey Cooper

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Re: TD slowing/hanging and/or crashing
« Reply #36 on: January 05, 2017, 10:46:48 PM »
Please see http://www.thetournamentdirector.net/forums/index.php?topic=5209.0 for detailed steps to work around this issue.