How to make a good tech support post --***READ ME FIRST!!***--

ConfusedConfused Wait. What? Join Date: 2003-01-28 Member: 12904Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester
edited September 2019 in Technical Support
Since the time we spend replying to threads here is limited, here is a list of things you can do to help those of us who are trying to help you out.

Just so people don't miss it, you can find the Linux Guide Here - @AurOn2

Before you post
  • Use the search function, or at least eyeball the first page of results and this page. You are very likely to not be the only person with a problem. Check those other threads out, let us know if you are having the problem and if the fix works. Replying in the thread is a handy way for us to be sure that something is working or not and also lets us know if the problem is really widespread.
  • Have you tried this with all your mods disabled? Especially, right after a patch mods can and do tend to break stuff. If it works with your mods off, there isn’t a whole lot we or UWE can do to help you because it is a problem with a mod someone else wrote. You can always try to get in touch with the mod’s author and report the bug to them. Try it on a different server and see if you can reproduce it from there. You can get rid of your mods 3 ways:
    • Unsubscribe from using the button in the workshop, through steam.
    • You can deactivate things in the mods menu by clicking on things so that the active column reads NO
    • If all else fails, you can go to %appdata%/Natural Selection 2/ and delete the workshop folder. The easiest way to get there is to press the windows button and the letter r, as in pirates, type in in %appdata%/Natural Selection 2 and press enter
      Ml2xnME.png
  • Try resetting your system options file. Delete this file: %appdata%/Natural Selection 2/system_options.xml (resets system options by generating a new system_options.xml the next time you start NS2). Instructions how to enter the %appdata% folder can be found above.
  • Try resetting your remote options file. Delete this folder: /Steam/userdata/[steamid]/4920 (resets remote options by generating a new options.xml the next time you start NS2)
  • Be sure you downloaded all the files. Sometimes Steam for whatever reason, misses some files when downloading games. You can verify you have everything by right clicking Natural Selection 2 in your steam library > Properties > Local Files tab > Verify Intregrity of Game Cache. This should download anything you are missing. (or if you've deleted something)
  • Make sure that the VC 2017 Redistributable Packages x64 is installed. The packages are needed to run NS2. Follow these steps to install them:
    1. Hover over Library and click at Tools
    2. Install the Steamworks Common Redistributables if they are not already installed
    3. Right-click at Steamworks Common Redistributables -> Properties -> Local Files -> Browse Local Files
    4. Open _CommonRedist -> vcredist -> 2017
    5. Now run the vcredist_x64.exe
  • Run the Techsupport.exe (located the x64 folder in your NS2 install directory) and attach the zip file it makes to your post. This gives us a log NS2 makes, possibly containing errors, as well as provide us with your system’s hardware and driver information so we can spot issues.
  • Upload your crash reports.If ns2 crashes for you please wait for your crash report to upload completly, then click at copy (crash) Dump Id to save it for later.
Okay, so, you have all the debug data you could ever want, you checked out the forum, you have a new, exciting, non mod related issue. What next? Clearly it is time to MAEK PAOST!

Making a post:
  • Title it something informative. Posts titled things like AARRRFHGGHGH!!! or ITS BROEKD HALPS! are hard to eyeball, and don't show up in search particularly well. Naming your post something like: “Shooting onos with rifle causes you to catch fire” or “ARCs deployed in gorge tunnels can siege anywhere” make it easier for people with the same problem to talk about the problem, post logs, or offer solutions.
  • Write a quick summary with reproduction steps. How did you cause the issue? For example: I was doing X when out of nowhere Y happened and now I can’t do Z anymore.
    If you got an error message please include the full text of the error. “I got an error” is sort of like yelling fix it. It makes everyone trying to help you have to track down the error spend time trying to figure out the error you are having and not spend time trying to help you out.
  • Provide a link to your Techsupport.exe zip.You can either attach the file directly to your post or use a cloud service like Dropbox or Gdrive (just post the link). This gives us all the error messages the game had, and a pretty good idea what your system looked like at the time this happened.
  • Demo Recording. Need to provide an in game demo of your problem? See this guide to record your demo.
At this point you are golden. Like woah golden. Just in case you are still reading. I am going to include a sweet sample post because, heck, why not.

Sample Post(s):
note: I am pretty sure that this is not a real problem.
When I parasite kill the Command station The game does not end

Yesterday, I finally achieved my ns2 dream and parasite killed the last command station. After such amazing success, I was confused to discover that the game was not over. Everything continued as normal until all the ips were killed and all the marines as well. It was really weird. Should killing the CC trigger the end of the game? Seems like a Bug to me.

I attached my Tech support zip.


From there it is just a matter of playing like supermodels. All the time.

Comments

  • GhoulofGSG9GhoulofGSG9 Join Date: 2013-03-31 Member: 184566Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter, Pistachionauts
    edited January 2017
    Maybe add Verifying Game Cache Files
    and deleting /Steam/userdata/[steamid]/4920 (resets options)
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    @ghoulofgsg9 added and cleaned up the post for easier reading.
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    Good stuff Confused, kudos!
  • CrispyCrispy Jaded GD Join Date: 2004-08-22 Member: 30793Members, Constellation
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    Bumped to keep this the top, obvious sticky
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    another bump to stay on top.
  • GhoulofGSG9GhoulofGSG9 Join Date: 2013-03-31 Member: 184566Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter, Pistachionauts
    Bump for post-257 issues
  • aaronbarrettaaronbarrett PK Join Date: 2013-11-27 Member: 189588Members
    That's good i appreciate your information.
  • PierceBrosnanPierceBrosnan Join Date: 2013-11-27 Member: 189592Members
    Thanks for your suggestion. I really appreciate that you took all this time to try and help us. Keep up the good work. Keep on taking action.
  • AurOn2AurOn2 COOKIES! FREEDOM, AND BISCUITS! Australia Join Date: 2012-01-13 Member: 140224Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Forum staff
    Techsupport.exe doesnt come with the linux distro (or any other util app that comes with the game for that matter)
  • ConfusedConfused Wait. What? Join Date: 2003-01-28 Member: 12904Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester
    edited December 2013
    @AuroN2

    I will try to update the linux guide at some point to include a list of all the stuff in a tech support zip. Or someone could help me out and just do it since its on the wiki.

    For now the big ones are as follows (using default directories):

    ~/.local/Natural Selection 2/
    log.txt - the games last run log
    system_options.xml - engine Config

    ~/.local/share/Steam/userdata/<steamId>/4920/remote
    options.xml - your bindings/options settings.

    Tools to run(assuming your distro supports them):
    sysinfo - similar to dxdaig, give hardware overviews
    glxinfo|grep OpenGL - should return what your opengl version is.


    edit formatting
  • waflzwaflz Join Date: 2012-09-07 Member: 158459Members
    I have tried everything I can with this error message, im not sure whats wrong.


    Exact error message.

    Authentication failed. If other multiplayer games do not work ethier, then steam could be down or your firewall is blocking it.
  • ConfusedConfused Wait. What? Join Date: 2003-01-28 Member: 12904Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester
    This happens if your game cannot connect to steam to verify the fact you own the game. Basically its a step in teh connection process. If you get that error message it means that you cannot connect to steam. If it happens for more than an hour or so try changing you steam download region.
  • alizacarvoralizacarvor Hurst Join Date: 2014-02-13 Member: 193969Members
    Actually it will be help my friend i share with online and he is now happy.
    Thank You
  • tuxatortuxator Join Date: 2010-01-07 Member: 69958Members, Reinforced - Gold
    @Confused I'd say use inxi instead of sysinfo.

    inxi -G (details about the graphic part)
    inxi -S (system info. Kernel version and so on)
  • MinimarshmanMinimarshman Northern Ireland Join Date: 2014-05-18 Member: 196110Members
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/odpy0u1upz8qv9u/tech_support.zip
    here is a dropbox link to the tech support launcher left for me. this is what i have done
    it crashes with a debug report right after starting up the game with a black screen i can see and move around the cursor though. i have looked up some posts on how to fix and none have worked(source) http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/122577/x&st=0#entry2002080. i have reinstalled ns2 completely (deleted the files and then reinstall through steam)
  • ConfusedConfused Wait. What? Join Date: 2003-01-28 Member: 12904Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester
    Traditionally, it is considered good juju to make one's own thread. But, it looks like your issue occurs during the mounting of mods. I would disable them and try again. If oyu need instructions on ow to do that from out of game check the tech support link in my signature.

  • soccerguy243soccerguy243 Join Date: 2012-12-22 Member: 175920Members, WC 2013 - Supporter
    Crash to desktop. Submit but report just sits on sending.
  • LeeuwLeeuw Join Date: 2013-09-06 Member: 187898Members
    edited February 2015
    Ok.. the bug count on Linux seem to increase iso decrease. :(
    And I hear you developers seem to be unware.. so I will try to give some info on this site.

    First I want to be a good bug reporter follow protocol so I am reading this "how to make a good tech support post"
    and I read nothing about the handling the Linux version.
    The file locations differ.. I cant run windows Techsupport.exe

    So please describe here for the Linux users what to do.

    Also I am a software programmer myself and expected a good logfile wrapper script
    around the NS2 executable.. I found the file "~/.config/Natural\ Selection\ 2/log.txt"
    but it only contains a minimum of the info the executable is sending to its stdout.

    As an example of the differences.. the following happens when the game is started.
    The stdout of the executable:
    ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/stephan/.steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.
    ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/stephan/.steam/ubuntu12_64/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.
    Fontconfig error: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 70: non-double matrix element
    Fontconfig error: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 70: non-double matrix element
    Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 78: saw unknown, expected number
    Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "overlay-scrollbar"
    Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "unity-gtk-module"
    ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/stephan/.steam/ubuntu12_64/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.
    Setting breakpad minidump AppID = 4920
    Steam_SetMinidumpSteamID:  Caching Steam ID:  xxx [API loaded no]
    Fontconfig error: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 70: non-double matrix element
    Fontconfig error: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 70: non-double matrix element
    Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 78: saw unknown, expected number
    ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/stephan/.steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.
    warning: The VAD has been replaced by a hack pending a complete rewrite
    warning: The VAD has been replaced by a hack pending a complete rewrite
    


    The logfile however shows only:
    Date: 01/30/2015
    Time: 11:47:20 PM:
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Build 274
    Ubuntu x86_64
    Steam initialized
    Num displays: 1
    [  0.994] MainThread : Error: Couldn't get glXCreateContextAttribsARB function
    [  0.994] MainThread : Error: glXCreateContextAttribsARB failed
    [  0.995] MainThread : Error: Couldn't get glXCreateContextAttribsARB function
    [  0.995] MainThread : Error: Couldn't get glXCreateContextAttribsARB function
    [  0.996] MainThread : Error: Couldn't get glXCreateContextAttribsARB function
    [  0.996] MainThread : Error: Couldn't get glXCreateContextAttribsARB function
    [  0.997] MainThread : Error: Couldn't get glXCreateContextAttribsARB function
    [  0.997] MainThread : Error: Couldn't get glXCreateContextAttribsARB function
    [  0.997] MainThread : Error: Couldn't get glXCreateContextAttribsARB function
    [  0.998] MainThread : Error: Couldn't get glXCreateContextAttribsARB function
    [  0.998] MainThread : Error: Couldn't get glXCreateContextAttribsARB function
    OpenGL 4.4.0 NVIDIA 337.12 initialized (NVIDIA Corporation GeForce GTX 780M/PCIe/SSE2)
    GLSL version 4.40 NVIDIA via Cg compiler
    ARB_texture_storage extension present
    ARB_get_program_binary extension present
    Sound Device: default stereo
    Record Device: default
    Loading config://ConsoleBindings.json
    Loading config://FavoriteServers.json
    Loading config://HistoryServers.json
    Resampling uncompressed animations at 1/2 frame rate to conserve memory
    Main Menu Initialized at Version: 274
    Steam Id: xxx
    

    So maybe the developers can make a wrapper script to catch this extra info and write
    that to the logfile also.


  • ConfusedConfused Wait. What? Join Date: 2003-01-28 Member: 12904Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester
    it turns out that most of the first log looks like it is related to the steam overlay and not to ns2 directly.

    The linux stuff is here: http://wiki.unknownworlds.com/ns2/Linux_Guide

    However, I have not had the time to update it for a while, so it may be out of date depending on what other stuff has gone on in the last 10 builds
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    Renamed thread to make more obvious, as well as bumpin this thang
  • ToonguyToonguy Join Date: 2018-02-26 Member: 238350Members
  • DukeDankinsDukeDankins Join Date: 2020-02-03 Member: 257601Members
    edited February 2020
    I am putting a tech support post here since I only made this account to make a tech support post and I apparently cannot do that until I wait for a day and post a comment, so here it is.

    I cannot connect to any servers. Either I get disconnected while loading in, or I load in, the map loads in, the game freezes for a moment and then I get dc'd. Sometimes I can spectate for awhile, sometimes I can get into a game and play for a couple hours before getting booted and then I cant reconnect to the server. Sometimes the whole game crashes, sometimes I just get kicked back to main menu. Nothing is consistent, I have already tried everything in this post, except running techsupport.exe because when I try to run techsupport.exe it opens for a moment, then immediately closes without creating a zip file.

    Edit: Got a crash dump b541b6a1-c431-4e3c-af42-c43fa983cc43
  • GhoulofGSG9GhoulofGSG9 Join Date: 2013-03-31 Member: 184566Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter, Pistachionauts
    I am putting a tech support post here since I only made this account to make a tech support post and I apparently cannot do that until I wait for a day and post a comment, so here it is.

    I cannot connect to any servers. Either I get disconnected while loading in, or I load in, the map loads in, the game freezes for a moment and then I get dc'd. Sometimes I can spectate for awhile, sometimes I can get into a game and play for a couple hours before getting booted and then I cant reconnect to the server. Sometimes the whole game crashes, sometimes I just get kicked back to main menu. Nothing is consistent, I have already tried everything in this post, except running techsupport.exe because when I try to run techsupport.exe it opens for a moment, then immediately closes without creating a zip file.

    Edit: Got a crash dump b541b6a1-c431-4e3c-af42-c43fa983cc43

    Hi,

    looking into your crash dump you are having troubles with concurrent I/O access calls. We are currently investigating a number of similair issues that users have been reporting since the last few updates. Hopefully we are able to find solutions for the new game update.

    For additional help I would ask you to provide at least a dxdiag.txt of your system: Press win + r and enter dxdiag. Then click at save all information.
  • Tristan379Tristan379 Join Date: 2013-12-22 Member: 190564Members
    Since the forum prevents me from making bug reports until I make a comment, here's my small UI one in comment form:

    The server browser doesn't seem to properly load servers as being blocked if they are also in your server history. When clicking the block server button, it would correctly add the server to the BlockedServers.json, and begin hiding it/showing it consistent with the current setting; But the next time I loaded the server browser the blocked server would be visible, and not marked as blocked in-game at all. In trying to troubleshoot the problem, I blocked a larger number of servers and noticed the 'only unvisited blocks work' pattern, then confirmed it by deleting the HistoryServers.json and seeing all blocked servers correctly load in and be hidden.

    Given that server blocking is likely to be mostly done after visiting and disliking a server(shitty moderation, many troll comms, etc), it sorta makes the whole feature a lot more awkward to use, although the fix on the user-side(nuking/editing the HistoryServers.json) is super simple so hopefully anyone else with the issue can find this solution in the meantime.
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