Toonstruck - Android app crashes on certain scene switch

[bmolsbeck]

I try to play the game Toonstruck with ScummVM on my Android phone.
This works nicely until a certain scene switch. Then the app crashes. It is during the scene switch from the medow where Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun sits, to the scarecrow scene.
When trying this using ScummVM on Windows with the exact same game files, this scene switch works perfectly. This means the files cannot be corrupted.
I tried saving the game just before and retrying the scene switch, but that didn't help. Also starting over from the start doesn't help.
I also tried changing several graphics settings, like render and stretch mode, but that doesn't help either.

Version details:
My phone has Android 13
The version of the ScummVM app installed on my phone is 2.7.0.5
The version of the Windows ScummVM is 2.7.0
The game files are from the original Toonstruck CDs from 1996 which I own. I tried copying only the folders ACT1, ACT2 and MISC, and I also tried copying everything from the CDs.

Does anyone know how I prevent this crash so I can play the game on my phone?

[sev]

We saw the crash in the logs and were hoping that somebody comes with a bugreport, so it is finally happening.

Could you please provide a save game right before the crash?


Eugene

[bmolsbeck]

Hi Eugene,
Thank you for the fast reply!

I added a save game in the attachments. I had to zip it, because the forum didn't allow the original file extension.
I believe you only need this file and not the "timestamps" file that is also present?

After loading the save game you just have to click on the left side of the screen to move the character to the countryside screen, where the scarecrow is.
I hope you can reproduce the crash with this!

[Praetorian]

So far I'm unable to reproduce this with 2.7.0.5 on Android 12.
Does the crash occur always and is it right away at the scene transition?

[bmolsbeck]

Hm, that's unfortunate.
Yes, it always occurs and it happens exactly when the scene transition occurs. So when leaving the medow scene (with Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun), and before the scarecrow scene should be shown.

[Praetorian]

The version I tried with is the one I own from GOG, in English.
I don't have the CD retail version to test.

Does the log view (from the laucher, Global Options-> Paths) provide info on any related error?

[bmolsbeck]

There are no errors shown in the log view.

I do want this crash to be fixed.
Can I somehow send you a ZIP with the required folders of my CDs, so you can test it with that exact version?

[Praetorian]

There are no errors shown in the log view.

I do want this crash to be fixed.
Can I somehow send you a ZIP with the required folders of my CDs, so you can test it with that exact version?

For now, let's try to debug it remotely, by checking the most likely things that could be the culprit.

A lot of times when I copy stuff to Android (I do it with the Device File Explorer from Android Studio) something may fail (usually cable connection or insufficient SD card space) but the error message is not that obvious, and I end up with folders that have missing files. Maybe that's the case here as well?

I see that this transition loads up the following files. Could you check that those are present on your Android game data folder under the shown path? And if they are, could you re-copy them and make sure they're copied ok (with no errors) just in case?

Code: Select all

ACT1/FARMEX1/FARMEX1.PAK
ACT1/FARMEX1/FARMEX1.SVL
ACT1/FARMEX1/CLS11141.MUS

[bmolsbeck]

Yes, those 3 files are present in that folder. Those 3 are also the only files in the folder FARMEX1.
I tried recopying, but that didn't help. The crash still occurs.

But the files are OK, since when I try this on my Windows laptop with the Windows version of ScummVM, it does work correctly.

[bmolsbeck]

OK, I tried something interesting:

I used ScummVM on my Windows laptop and saved the game AFTER the scene transition. So when I am on the screen with the scarecrow.
I then copied that save game to my phone.
ScummVM on my phone CAN successfully load that file, and I am on that scene and can play further!
But when leaving that scene and move back to the medow scene, the app crashes again.

That's something strange, isn't it?

[Praetorian]

That's interesting. So it's something specific to the transition but not to the loaded resources.
But I cannot guess what it could be as of yet.

I'll test a bit more tomorrow (it's getting late here).

[bmolsbeck]

I remember something else that might be useful:
At some point in the game the scene of the scarecrow changes via a cutscene video. After that if you move from the medow scene to the scarecrow scene, a different version is shown. I'm guessing the scene in the folder "FARMEX2" instead of the first one "FARMEX1".
Could it be that the error occurs in the process of determining what scene and thus what folder to use when moving from the medow scene to the scarecrow scene?

[Praetorian]

I am able to reproduce this on an Android 13 emulated device (I am loading from your saved game), and it consistently happens at the transition to the scene to the left (but not to the right).

The crash log is not helpful so far though .

[Praetorian]

I think I've figured out the issue and I have a fix, but I need to clean up my code from all the debug messages and extra checks and asserts before pushing the patch. But at least now it switches to the farm scene with no crash (and I've tested a few times, and with the other neighboring scenes too).

Hopefully I will have some time to clean this up today. Otherwise, early tomorrow.

It was not an Android-specific issue though despite only Android 13 catching it; maybe they enforce some more strict checks about overreading memory, and it seems that's a good thing (if only our Android apk was easier to debug!).

[bmolsbeck]

That is great news! Thank you very much for the quick response!

What is your experience with the app store? How long does it usually take after publishing a new version until it is available for end-users?