Masheen

My main account is an admin and is the first account created on this system, the second account is a hidden standard account that I use to share files on my LAN. The root cause seems related to my main account in some way, but I have no idea what it could be. For now, I use a modified shortcut to arma2oaserver.exe that uses /runas to always run the server as the alternate account. So the "fix" is largely invisible and painless on my end.

Great news! I believe I finally found the solution to my problem. It isn't a proper fix since it doesn't solve the cause of the problem, but at least I can reliably run the Arma 2 server on my main PC. As promised, these are the steps I used to run arma2oaserver.exe without any crashing: Create a new "standard user" Windows account (I'm using Windows 7), making sure to assign a password. Hold Shift + Right click the icon/batch file used to run the Arma 2 server. Select "Run as different user". When prompted, enter the user/password info you created in the first step. Arma2oaserver.exe is now executed under the new user account and should no longer crash. Testing process used to verify stability: Open arma2oaserver.exe directly, move it to one corner of the screen Open arma2oaserver.exe indirectly, using the steps I used above to solve the crash issue. Move this second window to another corner of the screen. Wait for a while (1-30 mins). The instance of the directly-opened Arma2 server should crash while the indirectly-opened one should remain functioning. Again, thanks to everyone in this thread who took some time out of their day to contribute help. I don't know why my "fix" works and why another user account was needed to run the server without crashing issues, but I'm not complaining after 3 months of headaches.

My old laptop that I mentioned in an earlier post runs XP and it's able to run the server flawlessly with files copied from my main PC. This is a less-than optimal solution but workable for the time being, but I don't know how much more life it has in it. Thank you very much for your efforts. I'll continue looking into this issue and if I ever find a solution, I'll be sure to post it here for anyone else with the same problem. I know they will have many hairs pulled due to the frustration.

My video card was shipped with that version of the bios pre-installed. I double-checked by downloading and running the bios installer, but it gave a popup saying that I already have the most recent version. I also have the most updated version of the Catalyst drivers. Other attempted fixes: Updating network card drivers to most recent version Updated .NET Framework to 4.5.2 (most updated)

Reporting back to say that I ran Microsoft's Web Installer for DirectX, but it said I had the most up-to-date version and stopped, then I ran the installer included with A2 OA as I wrote in my last post, which copied and installed some DX-related files. The crashing continues to occur some time after I run arma2oaserver.exe directly, unfortunately.

@SavageCDN: For DirectX, I've tried reinstalling without uninstalling, but I will attempt that again as I didn't track exactly which versions were reinstalled. I'm extremely hesitant about a complete OS re-install due to all the setting-up I would have to do again. I will reserve it as a "nuke it from orbit" last resort if I have some other issue that also needs a reinstall. Thanks for your assistance by the way, much appreciate it. Edit: It looks like DirectX can't be uninstalled, and I have already attempted reinstallation of every version of DirectX available (9/10/11). I ran the installers from Arma 2 OA's folder and Microsoft's site again just to be sure, but I don't have high hopes it will have an effect.

I have tried that before, unfortunately it didn't do anything to prevent crashes. I've also tried deleting all .pbo files from the A2 OA directories and restoring them through cache verification to no avail. I have tested my A2 OA files by transferring them to my laptop and using them to run arma2oaserver.exe, and none of the crashing issues have happened. It's a very old laptop from 2006. This suggests that the files are perfectly fine and that the problem is related to my computer system specifically. I have doubts that it's hardware-related issue since my PC is able to handle any game I've thrown at it at maximum settings (Crysis 3 comes to mind). I am thinking that the problem is software/driver related but I can't see how, I've uninstalled all software that I don't absolutely need, and updated all my drivers. The fact that only arma2oaserver.exe is experiencing issues is very puzzling. A few more details that I recall but might not be relevant - I assembled my PC sometime in June 2014 and it ran arma2oaserver.exe perfectly fine for the first 3 months or so, after which I stopped doing anything related to A2 due to boredom. At this time I installed a few games: Batman Arkham Asylum Batman Arkham City Batman Arkham Origins A few weeks later when I went back to running A2, I found the issues first appearing. The Batman games installed Nvidia PhysX as part of the installation process, but uninstalling PhysX did nothing to solve the problems. I've already uninstalled all the games a while ago but this also did nothing. I'm not aware of anything else that was installed with these games that I did not already uninstall. Again, thanks for the help and patience. At this point I'm way past out of ideas and only grasping at straws.

Thanks again, I will look into forwarding my crash reports. The strangest thing is that the game itself (A2 OA and A3) has no crashing issues even with all graphical settings maxed besides AA, just the server that is acting up.

@Günter Severloh Thanks for the reply. However, the fact that the issue persists even without any mods involved should hint that the CCP isn't responsible? Just simply opening arma2oaserver.exe and letting it sit there doing nothing still leads to a crash.

Hi, I'd like to start off by saying that I have researched my issue for a good 3+ months before resorting to posting here. At this point, I'm at my wit's end. I will try not to overload any readers with info, but if you require any more information to lend assistance, please don't hesitate to ask. I will provide any needed info upon request. Description of the problem: arma2oaserver.exe is constantly crashing for no apparent reason after being run. Sometimes it takes a minute, sometimes it takes a few hours. The strange part is that simply opening arma2oaserver.exe directly without attempting to interact with it with a client still leads to a crash eventually. Description of my system hardware: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/sampc/saved/MrTPxr Description of system OS: Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) Description of my A2 OA installation: Most up-to-date Steam version of Arma 2 OA (version 1.63) Description of the issue: 1. Event viewer details of a crash: 2. arma2oaserver.rpt excerpt of crash details: http://pastebin.com/T1fvEtUn Steps taken to attempt fixing the issue: Complete uninstallation/deletion and reinstallation of Arma 2 and Arma 2 OA Complete installation/reinstallation of MS Visual C++ Redistributables (x64 and x86) versions: 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 Updated BIOS to most current version Updated chipset drivers to most current version Completely uninstalled and reinstalled graphics card drivers Limited virtual memory to 1GB, 4GB, 8GB. Also allowed Windows to manage virtual memory settings. Tested with RAM speeds of 1600, 1866, 2133 MHz Ran /sfc scannow to check for corrupt Windows system files (no corrupt files found) Ran Windows memory diagnostic tool (no errors found) Updated MS .NET Framework to version 4.5.2 (most recent version) Disabled antivirus (Avast) Tested with Windows DEP (Data Execution Prevention) enabled or disabled Used each and every available malloc .dll provided with A2 OA. Also tested using default "system" memory allocator. Ran arma2oaserver.exe as Administrator Ran arma2oaserver.exe under every compatibility mode available. All Windows 7 updates installed Checked Device Manager for any warnings/errors (none found) Copied all Arma 2 files to a separate hard drive and ran A2 client and server through separate installation folders. Description of different scenarios leading up to the crash: System is running DayZ mod (any variant of DayZ mod produces the same crashing), both server and client. Server may crash at any point between arma2oaserver.exe starting and regular gameplay. System is running only DayZ mod server with no clients connecting System is running arma2oaserver.exe without any mods loaded Note: I'm playing only in an isolated environment with only me running both the A2 OA client and server. --- If any more information is needed to help find the solution of this problem, please do ask. Thank you very much for any and all help.

I took a part of Muzzleflash's suggestion about vehicles and groups, so I rearranged the script so that the sequence of events is now as follows: - Create the group - Spawn the AI crew and assign them to the group - Spawn the helicopter in flight with engines on and rotors spinning - Assign pilot and gunner positions and load units into helicopter - Begin waypoint assignment Right now it seems that the issue is fixed. I had two helicopters crash but it was because one helicopter spawned too quickly and collided with another. Discounting that incident, there is now a 100% success rate in a trial of 15 spawns. I would also like to thank Animus and Muzzleflash for their assistance in this matter. Edit: 15 more trials produced a 100% success rate. Looks like this issue is fixed for good.

Thank you XxAnimusxX for your help. Unfortunately having the helicopter spawn at ground level is not a very attractive option in a DayZ scenario since there is the ever-present risk that a player is nearby, which means the helicopter and its crew are vulnerable until the helicopter achieves flight. However, I will still consider this option. After multiple trial runs, I observe this sequence of events for each helicopter spawned: - Helicopter spawns in air with rotors spinning (as expected) - Heli moves slightly upwards due to setVelocity command (expected) - This is where the events diverge -- 50% of helicopters hover for a second before adjusting orientation and continuing flight as expected -- 50% of helicopters fly directly into the ground, without attempting to reorient themselves. Update: The culprit of the crashing appears to be just before the helicopter's waypoint is assigned. Interrupting the script just after the combatMode is set causes the helicopter to hang around in the air just fine. It's the waypoint assignment that seems to cause the heli to fly into the ground. Edit: Removed setVelocity command since it didn't help the crashing issue. I'm having trouble figuring out why some helicopter spawns fly directly towards the ground while others travel along to their waypoint just fine. Video of several helicopter spawns using the same script (some crash, some do not): I'm now suspecting that the pilot has not made it into the helicopter. Edit: Suspicions confirmed - the null groups is the cause of the helicopter crashes, as no crew is inside.

I'll edit in the full text of the script in a moment. After the part where I've cut off the code sample is where I spawn the AI crew individually. The thing that baffles me is that 50% of the time, the AI crew is fully spawned, board the helicopter and proceed to successfully patrol around the map.

I have already bypassed DayZ's legit vehicle check with the necessary edits, so this is now essentially a generic ArmA2 scripting issue. This script is part of an AI addon I'm working on for DayZ, but this is one of the parts that does not rely on any DayZ-specific code.

UPDATE: The root cause of this issue appears to be due to the AI helicopter occasionally flying directly into the ground after being assigned a waypoint. I am still trying to figure out why this happens. UPDATE: This issue has been resolved. For those looking for the solution, I've outlined the steps I've made here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?158901-Created-group-becomes-null-group&p=2438215&viewfull=1#post2438215 Hi there. I've been encountering a problem that's had me completely stumped for the past few days. I'm working on a simple script to create a helicopter patrol group. The problem is that a few lines after the createGroup is used, the group immediately becomes a null group. Sometimes the group "survives", allowing the AI crew to to be spawned in later steps, but this happens only occasionally. Here is the relevant part of the script. I can post the rest of the script if it is helpful in figuring out the root cause of this problem. if (!isServer) exitWith {}; if (DZAI_heliActive || DZAI_cancelHeliPatrol) exitWith {}; private ["_heliType","_startPos","_helicopter","_heliCrew","_unitGroup","_unitSide","_pilot","_gunner1","_gunner2"]; _heliType = "UH1H_DZ"; //_startPos = [(getMarkerPos DZAI_centerMarker),random(DZAI_centerSize),random(360),true] call SHK_pos; _startPos = [7175.6,9482.49]; //Create the patrol group _unitGroup = createGroup (call DZAI_getFreeSide); _unitGroup setVariable ["DZAI",1]; diag_log format ["Created group %1",_unitGroup]; //Create the helicopter and set variables _helicopter = createVehicle [_heliType, [_startPos select 0, _startPos select 1, 200], [], 0, "FLY"]; _helicopter setFuel 1; _helicopter engineOn true; _helicopter setVariable ["DZAI",1]; _helicopter setVehicleAmmo 1; [_helicopter] joinSilent _unitGroup; _unitGroup setVariable ["helicopter",_helicopter]; diag_log format ["Helicopter group is %1.",_unitGroup]; _helicopter setVehicleInit "if (isServer) then {[this] spawn fnc_heliResupply;};"; if (DZAI_debugLevel > 0) then {diag_log format ["DZAI Debug: Created patrol helicopter for group %1 at %2.",_unitGroup,_startPos];}; //Create helicopter crew _pilot = _unitGroup createUnit [(DZAI_BanditTypes call BIS_fnc_selectRandom), [(_startPos select 0) + 5, _startPos select 1, 0], [], 0.5, "NONE"]; _pilot assignAsDriver _helicopter; _pilot moveInDriver _helicopter; [_pilot] joinSilent _unitGroup; _unitGroup selectLeader _pilot; _gunner1 = _unitGroup createUnit [(DZAI_BanditTypes call BIS_fnc_selectRandom), [_startPos select 0, (_startPos select 1) + 5, 0], [], 0.5, "NONE"]; _gunner1 assignAsGunner _helicopter; _gunner1 moveInTurret [_helicopter, [0]]; [_gunner1] joinSilent _unitGroup; _gunner2 = _unitGroup createUnit [(DZAI_BanditTypes call BIS_fnc_selectRandom), [(_startPos select 0) + 5, (_startPos select 1) + 5, 0], [], 0.5, "NONE"]; _gunner2 assignAsGunner _helicopter; _gunner2 moveInTurret [_helicopter, [1]]; [_gunner2] joinSilent _unitGroup; _heliCrew = [_pilot, _gunner1, _gunner2]; { 0 = [_x,2] spawn fnc_setSkills; _x addWeapon "NVGoggles"; _x addEventHandler ["Killed",{[_this,"banditKills"] call local_eventKill;(_this select 0) setDamage 1;(_this select 0) removeWeapon "NVGoggles";}]; } forEach _heliCrew; _helicopter setVariable ["crew",_heliCrew]; _helicopter setVariable ["unitGroup",_unitGroup]; processInitCommands; if (DZAI_debugLevel > 0) then {diag_log format ["DZAI Debug: Created AI helicopter crew for group %1.",_unitGroup];}; //Set group behavior and waypoint _unitGroup allowFleeing 0; //_unitGroup setBehaviour "AWARE"; _unitGroup setBehaviour "SAFE"; _unitGroup setSpeedMode "NORMAL"; //_unitGroup setCombatMode "RED"; _unitGroup setCombatMode "BLUE"; _searchArea = getPos (DZAI_dynTriggerArray call BIS_fnc_selectRandom); [_unitGroup,0] setWaypointTimeout [5,10,15]; [_unitGroup,0] setWaypointCompletionRadius 75; [_unitGroup,0] setWaypointStatements ["true","[(group this),0] setWPPos (getPos (DZAI_dynTriggerArray call BIS_fnc_selectRandom)); (group this) setCurrentWaypoint [(group this),0];"]; [_unitGroup,0] setWPPos _searchArea; _unitGroup setCurrentWaypoint [_unitGroup,0]; The following is the diag_log output in my RPT log: 0:18:20 "Assigned side EAST to AI group" //This is output from the function DZAI_getFreeSide 0:18:20 "Created group O 1-1-A" //The group is being created successfully 0:18:20 "Helicopter group is <NULL-group>." //The group immediately becomes null I'm at my wit's end at this point, and I would be extremely grateful if someone could lend a helping hand. I will provide any additional information to help anyone who is willing to assist. I'll keep this post updated as to my progress so that anyone with similar problems may be helped by this thread. - I tracked down the helicopter's location when the group suddenly becomes null. I found the helicopter as a burning wreck, so a collision with terrain must have happened. - I now have reason to believe the issue is collision related. However, I've seen other very similar scripts that spawn helicopters at a far lower altitude (< 80) that do not have this issue. - Updated the code sample, same problem persists. - I'm suspecting the problem is because I'm spawning the AI crew at the same altitude as the helicopter (in the air), causing the units to die. Note: the helicopter is scripted to destroy itself when the pilot is killed. - I've set the AI crew to spawn at Z value of 0 (ground) and set the heli self-destruct script to wait until crew has been loaded in before monitoring for pilot's death, so that the pilot's death does not cause the heli to self destruct before he's been loaded in. Helicopter is still a burning wreck. - I "cheated" a little by using setVelocity [0,0,10] on the helicopter to give it velocity in the Z axis after it spawns. First attempt has the helicopter crew successfully spawning and beginning their patrol. - After repeat testing, it seems that 3 out of every 10 helicopters spawned take a nose-dive after spawning. - Update: The cause for the crash appears when the group's first waypoint is modified. Removing the waypoint-related lines results in the helicopter hovering indefinitely without crashes.