Just added a bunch of mods via ckan, game now hangs on boot

[finglebob]

I'm posting here because although I'm running on Linux, I didn't see a specific forum for that platform, plus I imagine my issue isn't Linux specific. Please feel free to move this elsewhere if necessary.

Okay so been running KSP fine for couple of months. Just last night decided to install some mods after I read some interesting posts on Reddit.

After looking through what looks like slightly older/out of date stuff on Realism Overhaul, and seeing that there is now no RSS mod listed, I installed CKAN and ran it under mono.

Using the GUI, and filtering only by "compatible" I installed what are essentially texture and atmosphere updates, including scatter, plus some mods like

Now when the game loads (no surprise?) it hangs and then quits, but always at the same place, which is when loading:

squad/spaces/mk2InlineInternal

at which point it quits.

Now I could of course go back and remove all the installed mods and then reinstall them one by one, booting the game each time, but that seems like a rather lengthy fix.

I've checked thoroughly with CKAN and noted for each mod installed that all dependencies, recommends, suggestions and conflicts (none) are satisfied.

Do any of you clever bods happen to know where I might be looking for the  culprit? Do I need to remove some of the "default" config settings added with the mods? Or do I just remove all and start again.

Thanks :0)

[steve_v]

14 hours ago, finglebob said:

where I might be looking for the  culprit

In the log, for a start. It may be obvious. Also make sure you are running the 64bit executable.

14 hours ago, finglebob said:

Or do I just remove all and start again.

Better to do a binary search, remove half your mods and test, half again etc... until you can identify the culprit.

[finglebob]

2 hours ago, steve_v said:

In the log, for a start. It may be obvious. Also make sure you are running the 64bit executable.

Better to do a binary search, remove half your mods and test, half again etc... until you can identify the culprit.

Thanks for the help! As it happens, I ended up doing what you suggested i.e. removing mods in groups until it loaded. I then restored a few until it broke again. The culprit appears to be the "Real Solar System" mod. Without that the game loads.

Since I don't have desktop icons, how do I check which version of the game is being loaded? Currently looking into that now, but  it's not clear how I confirm this.

[steve_v]

51 minutes ago, finglebob said:

how do I check which version of the game is being loaded?

If you mean 32bit vs 64bit, they're separate binaries:

$ file KSP.x86 KSP.x86_64 
KSP.x86:    ELF 32-bit LSB executable
KSP.x86_64: ELF 64-bit LSB executable

Just ensure you start the right one. Or set that steam thingamajig to start the right one, if you use steam.

If you mean release number, game version / build number is in BuildID.txt, and in-game on the lower right corner of the menu screen.

51 minutes ago, finglebob said:

The culprit appears to be the "Real Solar System" mod.

Now that you know where the issue lies, (and once you are sure you're not running 32bit and simply out of memory address space) It might be worth a shot to ask (and post logs / mod list etc.) in the relevant mod release thread.

Edited January 10, 2017 by steve_v

[finglebob]

34 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Just ensure you start the right one. Or set that steam thingamajig to start the right one, if you use steam.

If you mean release number, game version / build number is in BuildID.txt, and in-game on the lower right corner of the menu screen.

Now that you know where the issue lies, (and once you are sure you're not running 32bit and simply out of memory address space) It might be worth a shot to ask (and post logs / mod list etc.) in the relevant mod release thread.

Thanks again. Have now done exactly this i.e. used Steam to "add non-steam game" and pointed it my 64bit exe. I get a different splash screen but beyond this everything looks exactly the same as before once the game starts loading.

Oddly enough (or not) I've since re-added the offending mod, and lo and behold the game runs! No idea why, but I'll take that thanks. Not that it's really part of this discussion, but it beats my why half this stuff isn't already in KSP by default (atmospherics, planets etc).

[steve_v]

46 minutes ago, finglebob said:

No idea why, but I'll take that thanks.

Without seeing your log file, I'd guess the game was running up against the 32bit address space limit trying to load the additional textures ->  out of memory -> crash.
This used to be the #1 cause of all crashes before 64bit builds were available, and the #1 reason for switching to GNU/Linux, which had stable 64bit first .

48 minutes ago, finglebob said:

it beats my why half this stuff isn't already in KSP by default (atmospherics, planets etc).

Agreed, though it would kinda require dropping 32bit support. The game is pushing it as it is.