How to Post a Bug

[MalReynolds]

Can someone give me a quick description of how to make a thorough description of a bug, including how to generate/get to the stdout file?

I assume I need computer type, ToME version number and any add-ons, short description of activity at bug time, nature of bug, and ideally the stdout.

In my case:
Mac; 2 yr old MBP
1.04 (no changes to add-ons)
going into the Maze, being hit by confuse ("@ wanders around!")
whole computer freezes: Cmd-Alt-Esc doesn't help; have to do a hard restart

This has happened four times now, each within a few minutes of entering the Maze. Three out of four times, I got confused by a rare. The fourth time, I didn't see the confuse, but it could have frozen before reporting it (?).

I think it's an effects rendering issue. Do I need to do anything...get new SDKs, ...?

Also, let me know what I have to do to generate/find stdout, and I'll include it.

[Grey]

Well this is a bug report you've just made :)

What's your graphics card? Have you got up to date drivers? No, seriously, have you got up to date drivers? Honestly, do go check - this is almost definitely the issue.

If that doesn't work out for you then try disabling shaders in the video options. There's lots of cool shaders though, so would be a shame to lose that :-/

[MalReynolds]

Generally, Macs don't have separate graphics driver updates. They're just part of the operating system, and come with the magical "Software Update..." button.

I agree it's probably a shader/rendering issue. I can disable that, but, as you say, I'd prefer not to.

I suspect this is probably a pretty generic issue that may affect a lot of Macs, since my setup is extremely generic, and my MBP is about average-old. Would a stdout dump help to diagnose the bug, or is the shader run at such a low level that there might not be output available from it? (Keeping in mind that the bug hard-freezes my computer.)

In the meantime, I'll disable the shader, and see if the bug continues.

Thanks!

[MalReynolds]

Disabling the shader gets rid of the computer hard-freeze. It's a workaround, I suppose.

However, now areas that used to have a misty glow (like, what's it called, font of life, I think) now show up as a pure white block on the screen, hiding everything. That's another bug--if the shaders are disabled, effects like that should disappear, not occlude things.

Promptly killed by a worm that walks. Lvl 25. I'm 13, and have had bad luck with equipment. Got a bad teleport, putting me down a dead-end hall still with him, and then a bad phase door. No chance.

[Kaja Rainbow]

Macbooks can come with underpowered graphic cards (integrated chips), but I think a MacBook Pro'd come with better than that? Nevertheless, check what graphical card you have. Look for something like system information, it's been a while since I used a Mac computer.

[MalReynolds]

The graphics stuff from the system report is this:

Intel HD Graphics 3000:

Chipset Model: Intel HD Graphics 3000
Type: GPU
Bus: Built-In
VRAM (Total): 384 MB
Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
Device ID: 0x0126
Revision ID: 0x0009

The Intel HD Graphics 3000 is a 2011 model -- like I said, 2 years old. It was okay in its time.

Like I said, I don't think this is a graphics chip issue. I think there's a subtle bug in the renderer that only shows up in certain cases.

I'm well past the Maze now. I'll turn the shader back on, and see if I get the bug again if I can manage to get the "confused" status. If it disappears, I think it might be a rendering issue associated with something in the Maze (as unlikely as that sounds).