Simulation stalls while minimized or under lock screen

dcd111 · 03-24-2016, 08:23 AM

edit: NEVER MIND FOR NOW, I seem to have jumped the gun here as it seems to be working now. I need to do more testing, might have been my own issue or misunderstanding of what was going on.

Version 17.3.33, in Windows 7-64 bit. AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor, 12 GB RAM.

To start off my fictional league, I always sim around 20, 30, 40 years to create some history before taking over a team. In previous versions, I would tell the game to sim to a date several decades in the future, minimize the game (I play windowed mode), and go about doing other things while it ran.

I tried that with OOTP 17 yesterday, and after a few hours I brought the window back up. The sim had stalled a few days after I minimized it, but started up again a few seconds later.

Okay. So I left the window up yesterday evening, and walked away. Never came back to the computer until the morning. When I logged back in (lock screen is set to come up after a few minutes of idle time), it had only simmed around six years overnight, and was stalled again. A minute or so after logging back in, the sim started up again.

I should note that I have a desktop and don't have any energy management features activated, like turning off the hard drive after a period of idle time or anything like that. Overnight, my computer did its online backup, so I know it was operating regardless of the lock screen being up.

Is this a bug, working as intended, or likely something strange with my own setup? Is this a consequence of the new multi-core simming?

I should also note that, although I haven't done a rigorous comparison yet, I find the simming seems a little slower compared with OOTP 16, even though I have fewer teams in my league now by far compared with what I had in my last OOTP 16 setup. Which doesn't make sense because it is opposite what everybody else is saying. It's using all six cores of my processor, but the usage graphs for all six are bouncing up and down like a yo-yo, and I don't have anything else running that is CPU-intensive. So maybe these issues are all symptoms of the same problem.

Sheffflad · 03-24-2016, 05:46 PM

Similar problem- after minimizing the window, or having the lock screen come, on causes problems. When I try to bring back the ootps window back, only a blank screen appears. The program is still running, though. When I attempt to shut the program down (using the x in the corner, or off the task bar), I can confirm the shut down hy moving the cursor to where the confirmation button would normally appear.

NoOne · 03-24-2016, 06:10 PM

i've seen this when simming. when the simulation catches in certain spots (massive slow down) it will be unresponsive.

if by chance it does move from taskbar to the screen it's an ultra-minimized window. you can see min/max/close buttons etc but not much esle.

if you wait a bit, you will be able to resize it, maximize it or make it visible from taskbar click etc.

it is definitely slower as you suspect, and they mentioned that this saturday's patch might fix that... which also might fix this problem in this thread.

i see what you are experiencing when the program bogs down greatly. if it stops doing that, it should remain responsive to minimizing/maximizing etc.

for those using win 7 - do not use sleep mode. many systems will come back awake with 1 core going 100% balls out for no reason. many people have this problem, make sure you are not one. a program like CoreTemp will show if one chip is going crazy after waking.

i think hibernation does not have this problem??? there is an alternative if you want to continue to be "Green"

Guyzter · 03-25-2016, 12:14 PM

I have the same problem. Whenever I minimize the game for more than a few minutes, when I maximize it back, I have a blank screen and it won't respond.

I haven't been able to play a single game as of now...

Thanks!!!

Guyzter · 03-26-2016, 02:02 PM

Are there any devellopment on that issue? I have seen a post similar on a forum in Steam and, there seem to be no solution based on an answer by Markus. If that is the case, can we get a refund. Personnally, as soon as I minimize OOTP's screen, it becomes not responsive and stays like that forever. I have tried to reinstall the game but, it does the same. Even when the game loads (right after I double click the icon, you have the loading screen, I have minimized to see what would happen and, I have the blank screen as soon as I maximize it again). I am running Windows 10 on a more than ok computer (8gb RAM).

NoOne · 03-26-2016, 05:00 PM

on my pc, it's still working in the background, even if i cannot see the window.

i can't click to un-minimize from taskbar, but eventually once the sim stops or hits a point of less processing it does kick back in.

Guyzter · 04-11-2016, 07:00 AM

Will I get an answer on this matter at some point? Can I get a refund? I have asked Steam for a reimbursement but they say that I played more than 48 hours so, I can't get a refund. TYhe thing is, I haven't played more than 1 hour. I have only tried to setup games but wasn't able to as the game is not responding. The reason I have this 48 hours is that I let it wait to see if it would respond at some point.

Thanks for giving an answer at least!

dcd111 · 04-15-2016, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guyzter

Will I get an answer on this matter at some point? Can I get a refund? I have asked Steam for a reimbursement but they say that I played more than 48 hours so, I can't get a refund. TYhe thing is, I haven't played more than 1 hour. I have only tried to setup games but wasn't able to as the game is not responding. The reason I have this 48 hours is that I let it wait to see if it would respond at some point.

Thanks for giving an answer at least!

You seem to have a different problem than the one I described in my OP, which might be why you're not getting any response here (and my issue seems to have been corrected, if it was a problem at all, in one of the patches). You should probably make a separate thread with your problem and post your league files (see the sticky post in this forum for details) for them to look at, something must be seriously wrong if you're not able to sim at all.

Matt Arnold · 04-15-2016, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guyzter

Will I get an answer on this matter at some point? Can I get a refund? I have asked Steam for a reimbursement but they say that I played more than 48 hours so, I can't get a refund. TYhe thing is, I haven't played more than 1 hour. I have only tried to setup games but wasn't able to as the game is not responding. The reason I have this 48 hours is that I let it wait to see if it would respond at some point.

Thanks for giving an answer at least!

Please file a support ticket (Submit a ticket - Powered by Kayako Help Desk Software) with more details about your system and exactly what is happening (with screenshots) and we can try to work with you on it.

03-24-2016, 08:23 AM	#1
dcd111 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 131	NEVER MIND (was: Simulation stalls while minimized or under lock screen) edit: NEVER MIND FOR NOW, I seem to have jumped the gun here as it seems to be working now. I need to do more testing, might have been my own issue or misunderstanding of what was going on. Version 17.3.33, in Windows 7-64 bit. AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor, 12 GB RAM. To start off my fictional league, I always sim around 20, 30, 40 years to create some history before taking over a team. In previous versions, I would tell the game to sim to a date several decades in the future, minimize the game (I play windowed mode), and go about doing other things while it ran. I tried that with OOTP 17 yesterday, and after a few hours I brought the window back up. The sim had stalled a few days after I minimized it, but started up again a few seconds later. Okay. So I left the window up yesterday evening, and walked away. Never came back to the computer until the morning. When I logged back in (lock screen is set to come up after a few minutes of idle time), it had only simmed around six years overnight, and was stalled again. A minute or so after logging back in, the sim started up again. I should note that I have a desktop and don't have any energy management features activated, like turning off the hard drive after a period of idle time or anything like that. Overnight, my computer did its online backup, so I know it was operating regardless of the lock screen being up. Is this a bug, working as intended, or likely something strange with my own setup? Is this a consequence of the new multi-core simming? I should also note that, although I haven't done a rigorous comparison yet, I find the simming seems a little slower compared with OOTP 16, even though I have fewer teams in my league now by far compared with what I had in my last OOTP 16 setup. Which doesn't make sense because it is opposite what everybody else is saying. It's using all six cores of my processor, but the usage graphs for all six are bouncing up and down like a yo-yo, and I don't have anything else running that is CPU-intensive. So maybe these issues are all symptoms of the same problem. Last edited by dcd111; 03-24-2016 at 08:49 AM.

03-24-2016, 06:10 PM	#3
NoOne Banned Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,273 Infractions: 1/2 (4)	i've seen this when simming. when the simulation catches in certain spots (massive slow down) it will be unresponsive. if by chance it does move from taskbar to the screen it's an ultra-minimized window. you can see min/max/close buttons etc but not much esle. if you wait a bit, you will be able to resize it, maximize it or make it visible from taskbar click etc. it is definitely slower as you suspect, and they mentioned that this saturday's patch might fix that... which also might fix this problem in this thread. i see what you are experiencing when the program bogs down greatly. if it stops doing that, it should remain responsive to minimizing/maximizing etc. for those using win 7 - do not use sleep mode. many systems will come back awake with 1 core going 100% balls out for no reason. many people have this problem, make sure you are not one. a program like CoreTemp will show if one chip is going crazy after waking. i think hibernation does not have this problem??? there is an alternative if you want to continue to be "Green" Last edited by NoOne; 03-24-2016 at 06:13 PM.

03-24-2016, 05:46 PM	#2
Sheffflad Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 9	Similar problem- after minimizing the window, or having the lock screen come, on causes problems. When I try to bring back the ootps window back, only a blank screen appears. The program is still running, though. When I attempt to shut the program down (using the x in the corner, or off the task bar), I can confirm the shut down hy moving the cursor to where the confirmation button would normally appear.

03-25-2016, 12:14 PM	#4
Guyzter Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 5	I have the same problem. Whenever I minimize the game for more than a few minutes, when I maximize it back, I have a blank screen and it won't respond. I haven't been able to play a single game as of now... Thanks!!!

03-26-2016, 02:02 PM	#5
Guyzter Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 5	Are there any devellopment on that issue? I have seen a post similar on a forum in Steam and, there seem to be no solution based on an answer by Markus. If that is the case, can we get a refund. Personnally, as soon as I minimize OOTP's screen, it becomes not responsive and stays like that forever. I have tried to reinstall the game but, it does the same. Even when the game loads (right after I double click the icon, you have the loading screen, I have minimized to see what would happen and, I have the blank screen as soon as I maximize it again). I am running Windows 10 on a more than ok computer (8gb RAM).

03-26-2016, 05:00 PM	#6
NoOne Banned Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,273 Infractions: 1/2 (4)	on my pc, it's still working in the background, even if i cannot see the window. i can't click to un-minimize from taskbar, but eventually once the sim stops or hits a point of less processing it does kick back in.

04-11-2016, 07:00 AM	#7
Guyzter Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 5	Will I get an answer on this matter at some point? Can I get a refund? I have asked Steam for a reimbursement but they say that I played more than 48 hours so, I can't get a refund. TYhe thing is, I haven't played more than 1 hour. I have only tried to setup games but wasn't able to as the game is not responding. The reason I have this 48 hours is that I let it wait to see if it would respond at some point. Thanks for giving an answer at least!